Jan 1, 20142 min read

The cinematic elite of 2013.

Here you go, my favorite films of 2013! A whopping 14, versus 8 from last year. When I first started this year’s list I was thinking this wasn’t that great of a year for film, but I found more worthy for the list than last year. I guess my memory is just fading as I get older. So, anyway, well done, Hollywood! As I’ve said, you either are the best, or you aren’t. So my totals are always different. I’m waiting for the year when there is only one stand out movie, as that would mean it just put everything else to total shame. I again graded all the films I saw this year, after much thought, and those in the ‘A’ range and the very top of the ‘B+” range receive this highly coveted recognition. The rest of the grades are listed below – so scroll down for the worst of the year – of which there were a few “winners”.

I’ve wondered why I don’t spend as much time writing movie reviews as I do for music, at least when it comes to these lists. Film is equally rewarding an experience as music for me (and hey, why aren’t music fanatics called “music buffs”, like “film buffs”?), but time is an issue and for whatever reason I’ve just gravitated towards doing a more in-depth music post. So there you go. Film. Simple + sweet.

There was one film released in 2013 that I still want to see, Spike Jonze’s new film Her, but I haven’t had a chance to see it, so it will have to wait until next year if it’s good enough to make the cut. Last year I said the same about Starlet, Zero Dark Thirty, and The Impossible, and out of those I still only saw one of them (Zero Dark Thirty – which didn’t make the cut), and one is still sitting on my stack of Blu-Rays I haven’t had a chance to get to.