TOP 10 MOVIES OF 2013

2013 was an interesting year for movies.  I went to the movies 30 times this year (several repeat viewings).  Overall there weren’t tons of stellar movies, but there were many good-decent movies.  I thought compiling the list would be easier than it was until I had seven choices and then had six movies left for the final three spots.  The Top 4 choices also kept shuffling around over and over. 


 Below I’ll give a brief summary of my Top 10 favorite movies from this year and then recap some of the various other offerings I saw.  Reminder that my Top 10 is solely based on movies I saw at the theatre and I kept it to original movies only and not retro movies or repeat viewings from previous years (i.e. Jurassic Park 3D or Avengers)

Sorry Khan haters.  This is the best movie of 2013 and one of the strongest Trek films ever.

1. Star Trek Into Darkness – For me, this was the best movie of the year.  I loved the storyline which stayed faithful to changes that have taken place in the Star Trek universe timelines thanks to the events in the 2009 Star Trek reboot.  There’s two outstanding villains and at a key point in the movie when a villain reveal was made (on opening weekend) a startled audience member loudly said, “OH-MY-GOD!” which had my brother and I in tears.  The movie is frenetic in a good way and by the time things end you're glad to see Kirk in the captain's chair and the crew settling in for their five year mission.  I couldn't be happier with this franchise.  Boldy going on and on!  Best time I had at one movie all year.

"Giant robot, use your lasers!"

2. Pacific Rim – This was the movie I expected to me my #1 movie of the year.  It was a good movie but not as great as I had hoped.  I wanted an epic but instead was treated to a solid action movie.  Seeing it in IMAX 3D added quite a bit to the experience as well.  My wife (always a fan of giant monsters) needed to be dragged to the first showing but then willingly went back for a second viewing (something she rarely does at the theatre).  The movie delivers some excellent giant monsters vs. giant robots battles but then suffers by delivering far too much of Charlie Day’s annoying comic relief character.  I hope there’s a sequel that makes the needed improvements to epic level.

"More like Ass Kicked." - Big Daddy (Kick Ass)

3. Kick Ass 2 – Speaking of sequels that made improvements.  I loved Kick Ass 2!  This sequel amps things up nicely and develops the characters of Kick Ass and Hit Girl in believable ways all while presenting a stronger cadre of villains with a great deal of violence and humor spread throughout.  While I missed Nicholas Cage’s Adam West-style hero from the original, I did not miss the out of place rocket pack used in the original’s ending.  The climax of this movie is very fun and believable and makes me eager to see if a Kick Ass 3 will ever be seen.

4. Man of Steel – People seem to be all up in arms about the amount of damage done by the attacking Kryptonians in Man of Steel.  My reply – If Superman hadn’t been on Earth to stop them, and then the entire planet would be destroyed, so feel lucky that the damage was as small as it was.  The other whining point of people is that Superman does in fact kill someone in this movie.  Fine, if you go back and watch the ending to Superman 2 (which people seem to conveniently forget) you’ll see Superman crush General Zod’s hand before tossing him against an ice wall and watching him sink into the frigid arctic waters to his death.  In comparison, a neck snap isn’t all that bad.  Those points aside, this is a good (if not epic) origin story for Superman.  I loved all the flashbacks to growing up in Smallville and how his parents molded him into the hero he becomes.  The fights in the last hour may seem a bit long, but after the bore fest that was the previous movie Superman Returns, I think the producers were afraid to not deliver enough action.  I liked the movie and am excited to see if the DC Universe can successfully build off of it.

"You are my son." - Kevin Costner

5. The Wolf of Wall Street – This movie is taking some serious knocks from it’s over use of the F-word, to its 3 hour run time, to the fact that the unrepentant Wall Street thieves basically go unpunished.  Upon seeing the movie I felt similarly, however in researching some of the back-story I saw that in essence this is what happened in real life…they were not fittingly punished.  So what remains is a long movie of 80’s greed.  But make no mistake; there are some laugh out loud hilarious moments in this movie.  The Quaalude scene alone is worth the price of admission. Of all the Scorsese-DiCaprio collaborations, I think I enjoyed this one the most.

6. Riddick – Thank God this movie was made!  I love the character of Riddick.  I was a huge fan of Pitch Black but felt like the ending to Chronicles of Riddick left the character in an odd role that I did not accept at all.  This movie corrects that mistake in the first ten minutes and then gives us an entertaining sci-fi desolate world monster movie on top of it.  I had a fun time seeing this and was thrilled that even if they never make another Riddick movie, the mistakes of the second entry were rectified so I can actual enjoy the entire trilogy as it currently exists.

7. Fast & Furious 6 – Wow more Vin Diesel!  I looked back my list from 2011 and was stunned that Fast Five did not make the Top 10 for that year.  Big mistake on my part!  Fast Five is a better movie than F&F 6, but this one is still damn fun.  Very fast paced with some real stakes in play, and so much fun that I was even able to accept “The Jump” moment, and an ending that had me very pumped up for Part 7.  Sadly Paul Walker’s death in real-life may have shrouded the series for me, so this may be the final entry I watch since I enjoyed the brotherly bonding between Toretto and O’Connor the most in this series.



Let's toss some midgets!

8. Gravity – Gravity is the kind of movie that will lose a great deal on a TV screen and will eventually have people saying, “What was the big deal?”  To understand the big deal you had to experience this on an IMAX screen.  While the heavy on symbolism story of “rebirth” didn’t always impress me, the visuals did.  I’ve never seen an outer space movie like this one and it kept my eyes glued to the screen the entire time.

9. The Wolverine – I’m not a fan of the X-Men movies.  I loved X-Men First Class and hated all the rest.  I didn’t expect much from Wolverine but I had a hell of a lot of fun watching it.  The movie is quite serious with the out of place killing machine character trying to fit into Japanese societal drama.  When there is action, it is justly deserved.  The battle atop the bullet train was great (but not as good as Tom Cruise’ in the original Mission Impossible) and there’s also a neat scene where Wolverine has to perform self surgery on his heart.  The biggest stumbling point for this movie is in the climax which seems very routine and comic-booky considering the mostly adult drama we’d been presented with for the previous two hours.

10. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – This was the final movie I saw for the 2013 season.  I had not read the book so I went into the movie knowing nothing.  For the second film in a trilogy (quadrilogy) I felt they did a nice job of raising the stakes and building a larger scaled universe.  The game scenes were intense and did not feel repetitive from the first movie.  I’ll need to read the book and Mockingjay before I tackle the next movie in the fall of 2014.

And the rest of the movies I saw this year that missed out of Top 10 status…

Thank you for saving this series!

*Enter the Dragon (retro midnight movie) – I love going to these summer midnight movies in my area.  There’s always great crowds and it’s my only chance to see movies of my youth on the big screen.  This Bruce Lee classic was a hell of a fun time to watch in a crowded theatre.

*Escape from New York (retro midnight movie) – One of the seminal movies from my cable-watching youth.  Escape from New York stands alongside The Road Warrior and Excalibur as R-rated movies that I watched repeatedly growing up.  To finally have the chance to see this movie on the big screen…a smile was plastered across my face the entire time.  One of the all time sci-fi antihero best movies!

*Oz the Great and Powerful – I enjoyed this movie more than I expected.  Sam Raimi played fair as far as connecting this to the original Wizard of Oz; however Mila Kunis was badly miscast as the Wicked Witch and not frightening enough.

*G.I. Joe: Retaliation – I am not a G.I. Joe fan but my brother is.  He tolerates seeing the Fast and the Furious movies with me and this is the trade-off.  The martial arts moments with Snake Eyes were fun but I don’t feel there was much fan loyalty connecting this movie to the original one, and poor Channing Tatum.

*Evil Dead – I loved the pure violence on display in this movie.  It was nice to see very little CGI and mostly practical effects.  It was a tense gross out, but lacked any sense of fun or legitimate scares.  This was a missed opportunity for sparking a new franchise.

*Jurassic Park 3D – I just saw Jurassic Park a year ago at a midnight movie, and it’s playing pretty much 24-7 in our house because it is Mrs. Jumper’s favorite movie of all time.  So this year she dragged me back to see this in 3D on IMAX.  Still totally worth it!

I will miss you Paul Walker.

*Iron Man 3 – This was a nice improvement from Iron Man 2 (which I feel is the weakest of all the Marvel movies) but there were plenty of areas that could have been improved.  I’m in the minority of people who enjoyed The Mandarin twist, but all the action at the end felt like there was no real danger in play, mere spectacle.

*This is the End – There are many laugh out loud moments in this movie!  I love that each of the leads plays extreme caricatures of themselves amped up to ‘11’.  If My Top 10 list was Top 11…this would have the final spot.

*World War Z – I’m not a fan of Max Brooks highly praised book.  It was OK but not the game-changer that so many people praise when they’re not boring me to death with examples of George Romero’s “social commentary” in his zombie movies.  Zombies are what they are, the end.  This movie could have been a blast, but they missed the mark by focusing too much on one character (Brad Pitt) when they could have gone with an old school disaster flick style movie and a bunch of B-list actors in various roles.  I enjoyed the scenes in Jerusalem and on the plane, and found the ending dull and anti-climatic.

*Despicable Me 2 – My wife loves all the Pixar and animated movies.  I try to avoid them whenever possible.  The two Despicable Me movies are the easiest ones for me to sit through.  It was fun.

*The Conjuring – There’s an awesome creep factor to this movie.  The set-up is dynamite and it doesn’t resort to cheap jump moments.  The first 2/3 of the movie were A+ material but the ending felt a but over-inflated and “been there done that”.  I love the cast though and enjoyed reading about some of the real-life cases of The Warrens, so I hope they make a sequel.

*Machete Kills – I was a huge fan of the original Machete movie.  I felt Robert Rodriguez perfectly captured the grind house-action feel.  This one though goes way off into left field and turns everything into so much of a joke that you can’t really take anything seriously.  One of the bigger disappoints for me in 2013.

*Thor the Dark World – The original Thor movie was OK.  I’m not the biggest Thor fan but I did enjoy Loki.  What I didn’t like was Natalie Portman and Kat Dennings.  Sadly both of them return for the sequel, albeit in smaller roles.  Loki is given stronger dialogue and scenes and he dominates this movie to great effect.  I hope the third movie is simply scenes with Thor and Loki because when those two share screen time I am glued to every minute.  This movie was a nice improvement from the first Thor, but the Dark Elves were dull villains, so there’s still plenty of room to improve.

*Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues – I’m not a huge fan of Will Ferrell’s original Anchorman movie.  It was OK.  I’m a bigger fan of his work in Step Brothers or Talladega Nights.  Comedy is a tricky genre though because what causes one person to laugh causes another person to grumble “that was stupid”.  There are some solid gut-busting moments in this movie.  They had me with the opening two minutes and I enjoyed the entire movie.  This was a nice step up from the original one.

Overall 2013 was a decent year.  While some movies left me disappointed, I didn’t thoroughly hate any of them.  My money was well spent and even though there are not too many offerings that will make their way into my permanent collection, it was an enjoyable time at the movies and based on early previews I don’t see as much in 2014 to make me think it will top 2013 for total offerings.

Chronologically my visits to movie theatres in 2013…

 

Oz the Great and Powerful

G.I. Joe: Retaliation
Evil Dead
Jurassic Park 3D
Iron Man 3
Star Trek Into Darkness
Enter the Dragon (retro midnight viewing)
Fast & Furious 6
This is the End
Man of Steel
World War Z
Despicable Me 2
Pacific Rim
Escape from New York (retro midnight viewing)
The Conjuring
The Wolverine
Kick Ass 2
Riddick
Gravity
Machete Kills
THOR MARATHON: Thor, Avengers, and Thor the Dark World
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
The Wolf of Wall Street
The Hunger Game: Catching Fire

See you at the movies in 2014 and remember to save me the aisle seat.

BEST MOVIES OF 2009 (my personal picks)

The Old Barrel Jumper went to the movies 22 times in calendar year 2009 (the movies I paid to see are… in order): My Bloody Valentine 3-D, Friday the 13th, Watchmen (3 times), Monsters vs. Aliens, Fast & Furious, Observe & Report, Star Trek, UP, The Hangover, The Hurt Locker, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, District 9, Inglorious Basterds, The Final Destination 3-D, Paranormal Activity, Zombieland, 2012, Twilight Saga: New Moon, and Sherlock Holmes.

So now it’s time to compile the annual list (been doing this since 1995…and it was much easier when I could just record it for a podcast). Keep in mind that my choices are limited to movies I saw in the theatre only. Movies that I saw on DVD do not count since there’s still something to be said about seeing a film in front of the big screen and with a live audience. Also, before I am lynched, remember that I didn’t see all of the big movies of 2009 yet…I’ll see Avatar as we move into 2010 and some just missed me completely.

As I’ve grown older I know longer try to influence people with what they should interpret as a “good” or “lousy” movie. Please don’t take offense if I rip on a personal choice of yours…it’s more that the movie was not my “cup of tea”.

I’m picking my top ten based on the criteria: was I entertained, was I entertained enough to see the movie again or want to own it on DVD, did the movie make me think about it after it had ended, did I feel like the movie delivered something original, was the movie something I would recommend to my friends, and how did the crowd interaction help liven that particular movie-going experience.

#10 – MY BLOODY VALENTINE 3-D – Sure this will be when some people stop reading and throw all my credibility out the window but dammit, I had a fun time at this movie. The 3-D boosted the experience to a new level for me as I hadn’t seen a 3-D movie in decades (I think the last time was 1985 with Metalstorm)…but man when that first eyeball shot out at me…AWESOME! What I appreciated with MBV-3D was the fact that the film makers tried to elevate the genre and not just produce a slasher body count movie…but also a decent mystery. The effects and gore are great and there’s a subtle homage to the original 1979 MBV which almost treats this one as a sorta sequel (and the creators wisely chose to deliver a different twist on the killer’s true identity).

#9 – HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE – I have read all the Harry Potter books. When I read them, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was my least favorite…and yet that movie entertained me like no other. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was one of my favorite books…and yet the movie seemed to miss something. I guess what can excite and entertain on the printed page doesn’t always translate to the big screen. The cave finale was gangbusters in the novel…but in the movie it comes off as a slightly suspenseful moment and nothing more. Harry’s dealings with Snape were also wonderful to read…but on the screen…so-so. Still it was a good movie…but I was expecting something great and didn’t get that. Certainly this was one of the calmer and weaker of the Harry Potter movies.


#8 – SHERLOCK HOLMES – While this is a pale imitation of the Sherlock Holmes character, I guess Hollywood was at least attempting to do something new. I couldn’t get beyond Robery Downey Jr’s performance though…to me it was just Downey playing Downey. The movie is high on frenetic energy and action and lower on plotting and mystery. But when all was said and done…I still had a good time…but I’d rather rent and watch Young Sherlock Holmes which I felt was a superior Hollywoodization of the Doyle character.

#7 – PARANORMAL ACTIVITY – Much like Blair Witch Project we have here a movie that many people scoff at as not being scary. However, Paranormal Activity is one of those “think grenade movies”. I saw it, enjoyed it. Then days later I found my brain returning to some of the creepy moments of the movie and saying, “What if that happened to me?” Then the goosebumps start. That to me is the sign of a good scary movie…it’s not about the cheap scare but about the long tension and what remains with you after the initial experience as ended. Paranormal Activity also achieves a spooky ending that doesn’t follow the clichéd “it all must be happy” formula…anything but. As far as cheap-indie 1st person movies go…I’m impressed at what the film makers were able to deliver to me.


#6 – THE HANGOVER – I really liked this movie…however it’s not as funny the 2nd time I saw it (at home) and that surprised me. Maybe this is a movie that the “thrill of a live audience” brings a lot to the table. Still, when I saw the movie it made me laugh a lot and delivered plenty of Non-PC humor…something I always enjoy. Still it was the best comedy of 2009.

#5 – THE HURT LOCKER – I’m not much of a fan of war movies (and yet 2 of my Top 5 fall into the genre) but there was a realism in The Hurt Locker that really pulled me in. There’s some terrific film making that takes place in this movie that had me 100% believing that this is what the Iraq experience is really like. It certainly made me never want to have to defuse a bomb or duel with a sniper in the open desert. This is all topped by a superb performance by Jeremy Renner (who I have been a fan of since SWAT) – mark my words Mr. Renner will be busy actor in Hollywood over the coming years. Maybe due to the material or marketing many people missed The Hurt Locker, but it’s a drama that you should not let skip you by.

#4 – UP – I’m not a big fan of the kiddie fair movies. However about 2 minutes into UP I realized that this was not a kiddie movie (maybe in the visuals and presentation it is, but the plotting is for adults) and I really let myself get pulled into the plot and world that Pixar were presenting. I’m also a sucker for the Hollywood formula of old cranky mentor and young envious mentee…that gets me at the heartstrings every time. UP was certainly the most emotional experience I had in the theatre in 2009. Plus it's cool to see that Ed Asner is still working in Hollywood! “SQUIRREL!”

#3 – INGLORIOUS BASTERDS – When I first saw Inglorious Basterds I was expecting something closer to The Dirty Dozen. What I got was something – ORIGINAL. Hats off to Quentin Tarantino for delivering a fun and intense war movie that is nothing more than Tarantino paying homage to WAR MOVIES (yes, he throws history completely out the window). Once you get past the heavy violence and the classic haminess of Brad Pitt, Inglorious Basterds delivers three of the most tension inducing moments that I have seen in a movie…frankly anytime someone drinks a glass of milk in this movie…I was clutching the arm rest. Pay attention to the original ways that Tarantino manages to shift from subtitles to English without breaking a moment of pacing and making the switch relevant to what is occurring on camera. The movie is clearly not for everyone, but I do find it ironic that as Hollywood award season is coming around that it is being recognized. When I saw the movie this summer, I liked it…but then 6 months later I was thinking about it so much that I went out and bought the DVD (something I rarely do anymore) so clearly the ranking needed to increase as well…it was tough if IB would actually be #2.

#2 – STAR TREK – It’s not just a good Star Trek movie, it’s a good movie! That’s the easiest way to sum up Star Trek. J.J. Abrahams successfully made a movie that paid homage to the entire Star Trek history while inviting non-fans to come along for two hours of entertainment. While all the casting was perfect, I especially enjoyed Karl Urban’s portrayal of Doctor Leonard “Bones” McCoy…spot on. Future film makers should take note…the way to relaunch a franchise is to not alienate the core fan base that love the franchise to begin with. I also had to buy this one on DVD…and had I not gotten married this summer…I probably would have had time to see this multiple times in the theatre. Great science fiction is delivered as the time-travel and multiple time-line dimensions can be analyzed for years.

#1 – WATCHMEN – This was an easy pick. Frankly 2009 was a weak year for movies for me and this was the only movie that got me to pay to see it three times (and buy it on DVD…and then on BLU-RAY). It absolutely blew me away when I saw it on the IMAX. Watchmen is my favorite novel of all time and I lived in fear of it being butchered by Hollywood. However, thanks to film maker Zach Snyder, they got it as right as they could. The movie clearly skews to a select audience, and it’s a thinking persons superhero movie but overall this movie put a huge smile on my face…not an easy thing to do considering the focus is on the end of the world. I know people who liked Watchmen and I know people who hated Watchmen…I loved this movie and if I’m the only one…that’s OK. If you’ve been to my house you clearly know that this concept is one of my favorites of all time…and the movie couldn’t have been any better.


And the annual closing categories…

WORST MOVIE THAT I PAID MONEY TO SEE IN 2009: OBSERVE & REPORT…so strange and uncomfortable…and NOT funny.

MOVIE THAT MADE ME SHOUT…”SOMEONE PLEASE KILL BELLA!” TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON…seriously…Bella needs to die.

MOVIE THAT I JUST DON’T GET THE HYPE OVER: DISTRICT 9…seriously…everything in this movie I have seen in plenty of other sci-fi films…it managed to both bore and annoy me and don’t get me started on the ending that I called long before it was “shockingly” delivered.

MOVIE THAT UNSUCCESSFULLY THREW THE ENTIRE NATURE OF SCIENCE OUT THE WINDOW: 2012…oh so bad…someone get Roland Emrich out of Hollywood – STAT! Seriously, once the fault split the supermarker in half…come on man!

BEST DECAPITATION, DEATH BY ESCALATOR, AND HEAD RIPPED OFF BY A TIRE: THE FINAL DESTINATION…in 3-D…and the 3-D was also better than Monsters vs. Aliens.

MOVIE THAT COULD HAVE EXCELLED TO BE A CULT CLASSIC BUT DIDN’T ACHIEVE IT: ZOMBIELAND…Woody Harrelson was good but the movie was fairly bland…and just like District 9…I don’t get what all the fuss is about?

MOVIE THAT NEEDED TO DELIVER SOMETHING NEW INSTEAD OF THE SAME OLD FORMULA: FRIDAY THE 13TH…I went into this with huge expectations…the look was great but everything else felt tired…the producers should look at Star Trek for how to enliven a long running franchise, but I did enjoy the boat and water-skiing deaths.

BEST DEATHS BY CAR WASH MACHINE AND AMBULANCE HIT & RUN: THE FINAL DESTINATION…seriously this was like watching a snuff film in 3-D.

BEST PREVIEW I SAW FOR A 2010 MOVIE: HOT TUB TIME MACHINE…I am so there…and yes it will probably suck but the title and concept crack me up!

Ok, thanks for reading and feel free to share your comments and recommend movies that you think I need to see.

-Barrel