31 comments on “Top 10 Best and Worst Movies of 2013”
MH on said:
If you liked “American Mary”, you should try “Alyce Kills”. Although “American Mary” had better production values, there were problems with it that “Alyce Kills”… “fixes”. It is similar to “May”, with it’s humor. It is far better than “American Mary”.
Everybody involved with Movie 43 should be banned from movies (writing, acting, directing, hell, even watching them!) for a year. Die Hard 5, ugh, it’s like Bruce Willis spent the year intentionally trying to alienate his fans. HORRIBLE movies.
And All Is Lost not getting any award attention is criminal.
No love for Pacific Rim? I know it’s CG, but come on! Giant robots beating the shit out of giant monsters! I loved the hell out of it.
Also, for the viewers, quite a few of the smaller movies Cecil mentioned are on Netflix instant. I already added Resolution, +1, and Europa Report. Sadly, The Battery doesn’t seem to be there in any form.
I didn’t mention Pacific Rim because I felt if I didn’t say anything overwhelmingly positive I would just get grief for it. (not here but on youtube and such) I liked it but I felt a tad underwhelmed. So many people were telling me it was this amazing film and I thought it was just “good”. I’m going to give it another shot in a few months.
The Battery is available via Amazon (for streaming) or their site. They just signed a deal with Shout Factory and the DVD/Blu will be out later in the year. Most likely it will be on Netflix instant before then I would think.
Heh. I liked Pacific Rim more the second time (oh, how I love the dollar show). I think it’s a lot more clever than it lets on, and there’s a lot of neat stuff in there. And, you know, giant robots beating the shit out of giant monsters. That’s good too. And I still think that scene with Gipsy Danger walking down the street, dragging an ocean liner that it’s using as a club is one of the greatest visuals in any movie ever.
I’ll try to keep an eye out for the Battery, but my instant queue is pretty bloated as is. I really need to stop rewatching Archer episodes and get cracking on it.
Evil Dead was good. The production looked great and I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would. I think if they would have tweaked things and made it its own entity it would have worked better. As it is, it will always be compared to the original.
Inside Llewyn Davis
Man Of Steel
Pacific Rim
Warm Bodies
Parker
The Way, Way Back
The Bling Ring
The Kings Of Summer
Before Midnight
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Deluxe Edition
Honorable mentions:
Elysium (like Man Of Steel, this flick gets unfair hate. Maybe it’s too damn honest. Wasn’t Blomkamp honest with District 9?)
Star Trek Into Darkness (ditto)
The Purge (I give it credit for having a chilling premise and the social effects. You didn’t like it, it’s ok.)
Mixed:
The Lone Ranger (not a bomb, but mismanaged. Can a 19th century hero, created in the 20th century, be relatable to a 21st century audience? Nope, despite the success of “Justified”, but that’s a TV show based in the real world. Still, this film is better than the 1981 misfire, which you should review for a future episode)
Iron Man 3 (too jokey and the plot twist was a cheap trick on fanboys)
The Hangover 3 (there was some residue from the flawed second
film, but Melissa McCarthy and John Goodman saved it).
I didn’t see any bombs because of my job. Anyway, I’m looking forward to your examination of Man Of Steel. Some people just can’t come to accept that the Chris Reeve version can’t exist in a post-Sept. 11 world. It’s not a knock against him as an actor, but time can’t stand still.
That’s it from me, and remember…”Watch out for snakes!”
I hated the Resolution movie that was just so bland and boring.
2013 was a much better year than 2012 that 2012 seemed to have more high profile releases that were either disappointing like The Hunger Games or just crap like The Avengers.
10) Dead Man Down
9) The Call
8) Escape Plan
7) Prisoners
6) Oblivion
5) Man of Steel
4) Kick Ass 2
3) Stoker
2) The Last Stand
1) Side Effects
I know 1 and 2 came out in the US in 2012 but were not released here in the UK until 2013.
Honourable mentions.
Haunter – An original horror film concept that I didn’t know how it would develop that starts of like Groundhog day.
Old boy – Surprisingly good remake of the original that is similar yet different enough from the original.
Redemption – Jason Statham film that only has one brief action sequence
Machete Kills
Assault on Wall Street
This is the End
Force of Execution
Ninja: Shadow of a Tear.
Worst:
5) The Family – A generic comedy that they use to make in the 90’s
4) Now You See Me – I expected this to be good but turned out to be a pretty dull film.
3) Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D – The only good thing was Alexandra Daddario who was smoking hot in the film and turned leatherface into a Kane Hodder Jason Jason Voorhees character. http://i.minus.com/ic6JT7W1OVlg7.gif
2) Parkland – You know those clips of the Kennedy assassination documentaries they have with dramatic recreations of what happened on the day apparently someone thought it was a good idea to make a sub-par TV film of that and release it in the cinema.
1) Boot Tracks
Dishonourable Mentions:
Suddenly and Name of the King 3 – Assault on Wall Street was a rare except to Bolls stinker of movie films.
Out of the Furnace – Just boring and anti-climatic.
Just saw Haunter and put it on the recommended list. Great flick. Ninja 2 was terrific! Scott Atkins does it again.
I know this is going to sound crazy but I liked Texas Chainsaw. It baffles me and I wouldn’t recommend it but something won me over. Ok, a large part was Alexandra Daddario but beyond that I still dug it. She is stunning.
enjoyed your thoughts, i liked drive but did not care for only god forgives. i agree with you on man of steel. as far as worst movie the Lone Ranger. trully awful. A friend of mine picked it we went. Seriously maybe the worst film i have ever sat through that i paid for. so freakin boring.
Where do you find all of these movies that I have never heard of before. Amazon can thank you as I will now be renting/streaming (I love my Roku) +1, The Battery and Resolution. Never heard of any of them but man I am really intrigued by them once I saw you speak on them. I have to agree with You’re Next, VHS2, Maniac, and Conjuring all three were really, really good movies that made me remember that when good people do them (James Wan, Aja, Barrett) we can have good horror films again.
I have to agree with Spring Breakers. That movie was HORRIBLE I had such high hopes for it due to the hype it was getting and when I saw it was free to stream on Amazon Instant I got excited and jump on and watched it right away. Got to the point where they meet Alien and I tapped out. My brother said oh no you missed the best part of the movie (James Franco) go back and watch it through to the end. So I did. And I wasted two nights on that POS.
I actively seek out a lot of these. I go by word of mouth or hear about movies that were screened at film festivals and are getting a positive vibe. Some of them end up being ok, like I heard Dark Touch was really good but I thought it was just ok. Also, movies are kind of my thing. I make it my business to try and get some of these underdogs out there because they truly deserve to be seen.
Spring Breakers is one of the few movies that made me angry. It ruined my night and then, editing the clips for the video was just pissing me off. Horrible movie.
I loved Spring Breakers and loathed Only God Forgives. The strangest thing for me about Spring Breakers is that with all the eye candy, James Franco was my favorite part. I’ve seen it Three times now and am always counting down until Alien shows up. That movie was so funny to me. Different strokes for different folks. Good lists.
Great list! Now all of these I havent seen are absolute must sees. Lemme just run down a few youve mentioned.
Im glad that Escape Plan seems to be very much loved. I went in expecting a dumb action film and imagine my surprise that it was a smart action film. Love me some Stallone and Arnold together.
How can All Is Lost not be recognized at the Oscars? My theory is that we’ve had such a really good year of performances and films that it got somehow nudged out by the more “traditional” style of acting and filmmaking.
Thanks for mentioning The World’s End, I was seriously impressed in how that movie came out and one of the few times I was caught off guard by some plot points.
And yes, thanks for not mindlessly hating Man of Steel. Ill admit there are flaws in the movie, but overall it was just so much fun and well made. It was made with the intention of actually trying to understand Clark Kent but i get that many people just write it off as just another superhero movie.
These others, such as The Battery, look so interesting that Ive gotta check em out soon.
Oh, one last thing, I enjoyed The Purge but for me what killed it was the absolutely dumb and annoying characters, especially the kids. Maybe my girlfriend was right for not liking it?
The Purge was such a waste of a good idea. They really could have done any stupid horror film within the same confines. I think that is what bothered me the most.
Hmm well I don’t disagree that spring breakers was, but I think that Movie 4….(vomit a little)3 was much worse. But that was not the worst in my opinion, no the worst was Inapporpriate comedy. Take my word on this DON’T WATCH THIS MOVIE. It will make you projectile vomit for as much time it take to watch this movie. I’m serious don’t see this film.
2013 was a crap year for blockbusters but a great year for everything else.
It’s not out in the US yet but an amazing film from last year was Filth starring James McAvoy easily his best performance. Some of my other favourite movies of the year not in your list Rush, Pain & Gain, Don Jon, Gravity, Place Beyond the Pines, Fast & Furious 6, the Iceman and Frozen.
I heard Filth was good I’ve just been waiting for it to make it over here.
I have Pain and Gain, A Place Beyond the Pines, Iceman, Don Jon here I just ran out of time to watch them. Plus, I felt confident in what I chose to be in the top spots.
follow:
If you liked “American Mary”, you should try “Alyce Kills”. Although “American Mary” had better production values, there were problems with it that “Alyce Kills”… “fixes”. It is similar to “May”, with it’s humor. It is far better than “American Mary”.
I just saw Alyce Kills pop on instant so I’ll give it a look.
Everybody involved with Movie 43 should be banned from movies (writing, acting, directing, hell, even watching them!) for a year. Die Hard 5, ugh, it’s like Bruce Willis spent the year intentionally trying to alienate his fans. HORRIBLE movies.
And All Is Lost not getting any award attention is criminal.
Someone needs to be punished for Movie 43.
No love for Pacific Rim? I know it’s CG, but come on! Giant robots beating the shit out of giant monsters! I loved the hell out of it.
Also, for the viewers, quite a few of the smaller movies Cecil mentioned are on Netflix instant. I already added Resolution, +1, and Europa Report. Sadly, The Battery doesn’t seem to be there in any form.
I didn’t mention Pacific Rim because I felt if I didn’t say anything overwhelmingly positive I would just get grief for it. (not here but on youtube and such) I liked it but I felt a tad underwhelmed. So many people were telling me it was this amazing film and I thought it was just “good”. I’m going to give it another shot in a few months.
The Battery is available via Amazon (for streaming) or their site. They just signed a deal with Shout Factory and the DVD/Blu will be out later in the year. Most likely it will be on Netflix instant before then I would think.
Heh. I liked Pacific Rim more the second time (oh, how I love the dollar show). I think it’s a lot more clever than it lets on, and there’s a lot of neat stuff in there. And, you know, giant robots beating the shit out of giant monsters. That’s good too. And I still think that scene with Gipsy Danger walking down the street, dragging an ocean liner that it’s using as a club is one of the greatest visuals in any movie ever.
I’ll try to keep an eye out for the Battery, but my instant queue is pretty bloated as is. I really need to stop rewatching Archer episodes and get cracking on it.
I’ll give it another look. I think it was just overhyped for me.
Yes, the bat/boat was awesome.
Not even an The Evil Dead mention? 🙁
Great List as usual!
I Saw ur They Live! review and i think u should do another movie category on ur site like “great movies overlooked”
there are so many movies outthere who deserves to be watched by an greater audience like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Dredd 3D, In Bruges, Smokin Aces etc.
my apologies for my bad english.
Keep on the great work Cecil!
Evil Dead was good. The production looked great and I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would. I think if they would have tweaked things and made it its own entity it would have worked better. As it is, it will always be compared to the original.
Thanks!
My list in no order:
Inside Llewyn Davis
Man Of Steel
Pacific Rim
Warm Bodies
Parker
The Way, Way Back
The Bling Ring
The Kings Of Summer
Before Midnight
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Deluxe Edition
Honorable mentions:
Elysium (like Man Of Steel, this flick gets unfair hate. Maybe it’s too damn honest. Wasn’t Blomkamp honest with District 9?)
Star Trek Into Darkness (ditto)
The Purge (I give it credit for having a chilling premise and the social effects. You didn’t like it, it’s ok.)
Mixed:
The Lone Ranger (not a bomb, but mismanaged. Can a 19th century hero, created in the 20th century, be relatable to a 21st century audience? Nope, despite the success of “Justified”, but that’s a TV show based in the real world. Still, this film is better than the 1981 misfire, which you should review for a future episode)
Iron Man 3 (too jokey and the plot twist was a cheap trick on fanboys)
The Hangover 3 (there was some residue from the flawed second
film, but Melissa McCarthy and John Goodman saved it).
I didn’t see any bombs because of my job. Anyway, I’m looking forward to your examination of Man Of Steel. Some people just can’t come to accept that the Chris Reeve version can’t exist in a post-Sept. 11 world. It’s not a knock against him as an actor, but time can’t stand still.
That’s it from me, and remember…”Watch out for snakes!”
I heard the Way Way Back was really good. I just didn’t have time to see it. I’ll check it soon.
I avoided the Lone Ranger because the only thing I like less than mafia movies is cowboy movies.
Watch out for snakes! Did Arch Hall Jr make an appearance? 🙂
I hated the Resolution movie that was just so bland and boring.
2013 was a much better year than 2012 that 2012 seemed to have more high profile releases that were either disappointing like The Hunger Games or just crap like The Avengers.
10) Dead Man Down
9) The Call
8) Escape Plan
7) Prisoners
6) Oblivion
5) Man of Steel
4) Kick Ass 2
3) Stoker
2) The Last Stand
1) Side Effects
I know 1 and 2 came out in the US in 2012 but were not released here in the UK until 2013.
Honourable mentions.
Haunter – An original horror film concept that I didn’t know how it would develop that starts of like Groundhog day.
Old boy – Surprisingly good remake of the original that is similar yet different enough from the original.
Redemption – Jason Statham film that only has one brief action sequence
Machete Kills
Assault on Wall Street
This is the End
Force of Execution
Ninja: Shadow of a Tear.
Worst:
5) The Family – A generic comedy that they use to make in the 90’s
4) Now You See Me – I expected this to be good but turned out to be a pretty dull film.
3) Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D – The only good thing was Alexandra Daddario who was smoking hot in the film and turned leatherface into a Kane Hodder Jason Jason Voorhees character.
http://i.minus.com/ic6JT7W1OVlg7.gif
2) Parkland – You know those clips of the Kennedy assassination documentaries they have with dramatic recreations of what happened on the day apparently someone thought it was a good idea to make a sub-par TV film of that and release it in the cinema.
1) Boot Tracks
Dishonourable Mentions:
Suddenly and Name of the King 3 – Assault on Wall Street was a rare except to Bolls stinker of movie films.
Out of the Furnace – Just boring and anti-climatic.
Just saw Haunter and put it on the recommended list. Great flick. Ninja 2 was terrific! Scott Atkins does it again.
I know this is going to sound crazy but I liked Texas Chainsaw. It baffles me and I wouldn’t recommend it but something won me over. Ok, a large part was Alexandra Daddario but beyond that I still dug it. She is stunning.
enjoyed your thoughts, i liked drive but did not care for only god forgives. i agree with you on man of steel. as far as worst movie the Lone Ranger. trully awful. A friend of mine picked it we went. Seriously maybe the worst film i have ever sat through that i paid for. so freakin boring.
Thanks!
Yeah, Only God Forgives is odd but it appealed to me. Lone Ranger just looked like a disaster.
I find it funny how often you seem to disagree with Brad Jones…
But then when ya’ll agree (like Die hard 5), that’s when I get scared.
We seem to agree on exploitation, B movies and such but when it comes to mainstream (or current stuff) we usually are way off.
Where do you find all of these movies that I have never heard of before. Amazon can thank you as I will now be renting/streaming (I love my Roku) +1, The Battery and Resolution. Never heard of any of them but man I am really intrigued by them once I saw you speak on them. I have to agree with You’re Next, VHS2, Maniac, and Conjuring all three were really, really good movies that made me remember that when good people do them (James Wan, Aja, Barrett) we can have good horror films again.
I have to agree with Spring Breakers. That movie was HORRIBLE I had such high hopes for it due to the hype it was getting and when I saw it was free to stream on Amazon Instant I got excited and jump on and watched it right away. Got to the point where they meet Alien and I tapped out. My brother said oh no you missed the best part of the movie (James Franco) go back and watch it through to the end. So I did. And I wasted two nights on that POS.
I actively seek out a lot of these. I go by word of mouth or hear about movies that were screened at film festivals and are getting a positive vibe. Some of them end up being ok, like I heard Dark Touch was really good but I thought it was just ok. Also, movies are kind of my thing. I make it my business to try and get some of these underdogs out there because they truly deserve to be seen.
Spring Breakers is one of the few movies that made me angry. It ruined my night and then, editing the clips for the video was just pissing me off. Horrible movie.
I loved Spring Breakers and loathed Only God Forgives. The strangest thing for me about Spring Breakers is that with all the eye candy, James Franco was my favorite part. I’ve seen it Three times now and am always counting down until Alien shows up. That movie was so funny to me. Different strokes for different folks. Good lists.
Thanks!
Yeah. Spring Breakers just wasn’t for me.
Great list! Now all of these I havent seen are absolute must sees. Lemme just run down a few youve mentioned.
Im glad that Escape Plan seems to be very much loved. I went in expecting a dumb action film and imagine my surprise that it was a smart action film. Love me some Stallone and Arnold together.
How can All Is Lost not be recognized at the Oscars? My theory is that we’ve had such a really good year of performances and films that it got somehow nudged out by the more “traditional” style of acting and filmmaking.
Thanks for mentioning The World’s End, I was seriously impressed in how that movie came out and one of the few times I was caught off guard by some plot points.
And yes, thanks for not mindlessly hating Man of Steel. Ill admit there are flaws in the movie, but overall it was just so much fun and well made. It was made with the intention of actually trying to understand Clark Kent but i get that many people just write it off as just another superhero movie.
These others, such as The Battery, look so interesting that Ive gotta check em out soon.
Oh, one last thing, I enjoyed The Purge but for me what killed it was the absolutely dumb and annoying characters, especially the kids. Maybe my girlfriend was right for not liking it?
The Purge was such a waste of a good idea. They really could have done any stupid horror film within the same confines. I think that is what bothered me the most.
Thanks! I hope you enjoy them.
Hmm well I don’t disagree that spring breakers was, but I think that Movie 4….(vomit a little)3 was much worse. But that was not the worst in my opinion, no the worst was Inapporpriate comedy. Take my word on this DON’T WATCH THIS MOVIE. It will make you projectile vomit for as much time it take to watch this movie. I’m serious don’t see this film.
2013 was a crap year for blockbusters but a great year for everything else.
It’s not out in the US yet but an amazing film from last year was Filth starring James McAvoy easily his best performance. Some of my other favourite movies of the year not in your list Rush, Pain & Gain, Don Jon, Gravity, Place Beyond the Pines, Fast & Furious 6, the Iceman and Frozen.
I heard Filth was good I’ve just been waiting for it to make it over here.
I have Pain and Gain, A Place Beyond the Pines, Iceman, Don Jon here I just ran out of time to watch them. Plus, I felt confident in what I chose to be in the top spots.
Go watch Pain & Gain (2013), now! The fact that it’s not on your list means that you haven’t seen it. 🙂
I’ve had a few people tell me that. I wanted to watch it I just ran out of time.
HEY LIVE JADEN SMITH ALONE CECIL HE WAS GOD IN THE DAY THAT EARTH ATOOD STILL REMAKE AND THE KARATE KID REMAKE
He is terrible!