THE ARTSWIRE'S FAVORITE FILMS OF 2013

BY MATEO MORENO

BY LIZ WHITTEMORE

Looking back on 2013, one thing is clear: it was a GREAT year for movies.  There were fantastic Hollywood films, fantastic indies, breathtaking foreign films, and touching documentaries.  And the performances?!  One gem after another.  We couldn't include ALL of the great films of this year (Blue Jasmine, Greetings from Tim Buckley to name a couple) and several of our Film Festival favorites won't be released until later in 2014 (hello Hide Your Smiling Faces & Only Lovers Left Alive)!  However, here are "The ArtsWire's" Picks for the best of 2014, in two VERY different opinions.

MATEO'S TOP 10

1) HER (R) - Spike Jonze has crafted an extrodinary and utterly original film with Her and you feel more and more alive watching each and every moment.  Joaquin Phoenix is sublime as Theodore Twombly, a young man in the not so distant future searching for love and finding it, but not with a human.  Amy Adams turns in a great supporting turn and just with her voice, Scarlett Johansson is passionate, sexy, and compelling.  Romantic, wistful, and expertly crafted, Her will linger with you LONG after you leave.

2) GRAVITY (PG-13) - Never before has a film brough such a true feeling of weightlessness in space and matched it with such a heartwrenching story of survival.  Sandra Bullock gives the performance of her career as Ryan Stone, an astronaut having a really, REALLY bad day.  George Clooney gives just the right amount of smug charm and support as her co-pilot and the magic of Alfonso Cuarón does the rest.  What Cuarón does here is simply remarkable, and truly a fest for the heart and the eyes.  The visuals are the best I've ever seen of any movie set in space, and it truly defines seeing a movie in 3D and IMAX.  Rarely do I insist that if you can, see a film in those higher priced formats.  However, this movie relashes how to use each one perfectly.  Simply marvelous.

3) THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN (R) - Felix Van Groeningen's hearbreaking musical film comes with Belgium romance and English Bluesgrass.  It tells the story of Didier (Johan Heldenbergh) an Athiest Bluesgrass singer who falls in love with Elise (Veerle Baetens), a religious tattoo artist with a voice made of gold.  Together the fall in love, team up behind the microphone, and look into having a family.  However the road is paved with incredibly hard travels ahead, and from the second scene (told completely out of sequence), you realize this charming, gorgeous film is going to break your heart.  And it does, a few times over.  But it also encaptures you and lifts your spirit.  Heldenbergh (who co-wrote the play on which the film is based) is a wonderfully (sometimes unstable) beaut of a character and Baetens turns in truly one of the best performances of the year (one that has won her Best Actress at the European Film Awards).  Bring your tissues and hold onto your heart (and immediately after, buy the soundtrack.  Trust me).

4) 12 YEARS A SLAVE (R) - Stunning, bleak, moving, and transcendent, 12 Years a Slave puts a bleak and dark face on the strange and uncomfortable history of American Slavery.  Telling the true story of Solomon Northup, a free man who in 1841 was drugged and sold into Slavery, Director Steve McQueen brings Northup's story (based on his own account published in 1854) to light in a brave, wonderous vision.  Chiwetel Ejiofor is simply magnificent as Northup, and takes you through every single emotion with the likes that only someone of his caliber can.  Lupita Nyong'o gives a raw and breakout supporting performance, Benedict Cumberbatch brings warmth to a conflicted man, & the one two punch of Sarah Paulon and Michael Fassbender's bring the true terror of the white racist slave owners of the south.  Not an easy watch, but an unforgettable one.

5) BEFORE MIDNIGHT (R) - Never in the history of cinema has two followup films proceeded to outdo the other.  Richard Linklater's whispy romance of Before Sunrise let to the heartbreaking reunion of Before Sunset (which still holds, for my money, one of the best cinematic endings in history).  Now comes the third installment in the Jesse & Celine series Before Midnight.  Linklater and co-writers/co-stars Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy have created two truly wondrfully facinating characters with no bells and whistles.  Just two ordinary, intelligent people who met and have fallen in love.  They delve deliciously into what it takes to have passed the "swooning" periods of love and now are dealing with compromises inside of marriage.  It's a glorious passage into their story, wonderfully shot, and I can't wait for the next story in 9 years.

6) INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS (R) - The Coen brothers have navigated through just about every kind of water, from slapstick comedy to dark fables, country retellings of a Greek Poem, and beautiful dramas.  They also have a spectacular ear for music driven storytelling and Inside Llewyn Davis is no exception.  Llewyn Davis, as played wonderfully by Oscar Issac, is not what you'd call a likable fellow but you still feel and root for him anyway.  He's in the midst of the 1960's folk scene in Greenwich Village and on the brink of everything getting ready to explode.  But as the Coen's center in on his story during one turbulant week, it's not necessarily his tale that's going to explode, and that's the beauty and heartbreak of it all.  The dialogue is crisp and fresh, the filmmaking wonderful, the performances by Issac, Cary Mulligan, Justin Timberlake, and John Goodman all shine, and the folk filled soundtrack is wonder (T-Bone Burnett's influence and involvement is felt throughout).

7) AMERICAN HUSTLE (R) David O. Russell has completely reinvented himself since his early days in filmm (Spanking the Monkey, I Heart Huckabees) and his latest, though not his best film, is a rollicking great time.  Christian Bale once again soars as a small time criminal who goes into business with his girlfriend (a wonderful Amy Adams) and they both get caught by a definitely not by the book agent, played by Bradley Cooper.  All three pull in tremendous performances, as does the spitfire Jennifer Lawrence as Bale's livewire wife.  Russell's film starts as one thing and shoots off as another, quickly grabbing you on for the ride.  After the sweet charm of Silver Linings Playbook, Russell now vears into a Scorsese esque world and it fits him quite nicely.

8) THE SPECTACULAR NOW (PG-13) Last year, Stephen Chbosky's novel turned film The Perks of Being a Wallflower became the first film to encapulate the magic of John Hughes since, well, John Hughes.  It became one of my favorite films of the year.  This year, another filmmaker (Jams Ponsoldt) has managed to bottle that magic and create a teen film that brings the wonder of Say Anything and The Breakfast Club into the year 2013.  The Spectacular Now follows High School Senior Sutter (Miles Teller, in a phenomenal performance) as he drinks, screws around, and parties his way through high school.  His reputation is widly known that although he's a great time to be around, you don't take him seriously.  Enter Aimee (Shailene Woodley, beautifully vulnerable), a good girl in high school who crosses Sutter's path and suddenly they fall in a way they've never experienced before, to a kind of person they've never known before.  The acting by Teller and Woodley, along with the rest of the supporting cast, is spot on and director Ponsoldt crafts the film without any clichés, showing the human experience as a teen in a beautiful and, shall we say, ultimately spectacular fashion.

9) THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (R) To tell a story without one hero in the main cast is a daunting task.  To tell that story, full of vile, money hungry men is even more so.  To make them theives on Wall Street could be considered story suicide, especially when there's no moral lesson being learned.  I'm not sure I could give that story justice.  But then again, I'm not Martin Scorsese, and if there's one thing he really knows how to do, it's making people with extremely ethical moral identities facinating characters.  The Wolf of Wall Street, the most polorizing movie out this year, features Leonardo DiCaprio as Jordan Belfort, a real life Wall Street Broker who defines the meaning of "playing dirty."  He's a dispicable character, a charlaton who cares only about money and teaches everyone around him to do the same.  DiCaprio soars in the role, and fully embodies Belfort (one particular scene of him far too high on Quaaludes is epically hilarious).  Jonah Hill also comes to play ball with a very funny performance as Donnie Azoff, Jordan's second in command.  The movie is a lengthy one, clocking in at 3 hours, but for me never dragged.  It soars through these scammers lives not with reverance but with a birds eye view of curiosity.  It may madden you that the good guys don't always win, but you can't say it's not a facinating ride.

10) THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY (PG-13) - Somewhere down the line it became "uncool" to create a movie without without any dark edges around it.  To simply have a film that's heartwarming, filled with a positive message and some stellar filmmaking.  Critics were hard on The Secret Life of Walter Mitty this year, yet for the life of me I can't figure out why.  The movie is, to date, the best work Ben Stiller the actor and Ben Stiller the Director has accomplished thus far.  Stiller performance of Mitty is layered and charming, Kristen Wig has a great supporting turn as his object of affection, and the entire rest of the supporting cast match perfectly (especially Adam Scott as the douchiest boss ever and Sean Penn perfectly cast in the role of Sean O'Connell, the photographer everyone admires).  With heartfelt early moments, hilarious and thrilling fanasy moments, and a build to an ending that really folds together perfectly, Walter Mitty is now the anti-movie: a movie that explores and tackles the warmess of life and not the cynicism that we all tend to fall into anymore.

A SECOND OPINION - LIZ'S TOP FLICKS

1) NEBRASKA (R) - This story is funny from start to finish and shot in black and white.  Nebraska is what would happen if you audio taped a packed house for Thanksgiving and then had it interpreted by Bruce Dern, June Squibb, and Will Forte.

2) INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS (R) - Coen Brothers, music both old and new, Oscar Issac, plus Justin Timberlake in a turtleneck.  If nothing else, Issac's melodic voice is worth buying two tickets.

3) HER (R) - Joaquin Phoenix tackles a place in society that will most likely not be too far into the future.  In our obsession with technology, it's only logical that an IOS with Scarlett Johansson's voice would make you wanna get saucy.

4) 12 YEARS A SLAVE (R) - This epic true story is not only masterfully acted by a massive cast, but will move you to tears...unless you are dead inside.

5) FROZEN (PG) - Yes, the new Disney film.  Teaming up Kristen Bell (who has an amazing singing voice, by the way) and Broadway vocal powerhouse Idina Menzel (RENT), it's a story of sisterly love that's very refreshing, touching, and frankly hilarious.

6) ABOUT TIME (PG-13) A terrible marketing plan helped ruin this film's potential with audiences.  Touted as a Rachel McAdams rom-com, the story is actually about a father-son relationship, with time travel thrown in.  Incredibly charming and heartfelt.

7) THE SQUARE (NR) - This in-your-face documentary about the uprising in Egypt will make you angry with the media.  The filmmakers have promised to keep updating the film as the subjects move forward.  Facinating.

8) DRINKING BUDDIES (R) With nothing but an outline of the plot, Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson, Anna Kendrick, and Ron Livingston improv their way through this very sincere love story.  Wilde and Johnson are brilliant together.  Everyone has lived through the relationships in this film on one level or another.

9) DALLAS BUYERS CLUB (R) - Matthew McConaughey and Jared Lato made startling physical transformations.  Go ahead and give Leto all of the awards now.

10) THE INVISIBLE WOMAN (R) - Ralph Fiennes directs and stars in a story based on the novel of the same name.  Fiennes plays Charles Dickens as he begins an affair with a much younger woman.  Because of his fame she is forced to remain in the shadows.  Beautifully shot, ever engaging, this film is any English Literature major's dream.  You may leave understanding where the meaning of the phrase "Dickensian" really comes from.