THE BEST & WORST FILMS OF 2013
by chris carpenter
SEVERAL OF THE BEST MOVIES of the last year presented the American experience— especially the African-American experience—in all of its dramatic, sometimes harsh but ultimately liberating beauty. LGBT stories, of which there were a higher-than-usual number of domestic and international releases, were definitely part of these cinematic history lessons. Sadly as usual, I was unable to screen a handful of last-minute holiday movies (The Wolf of Wall Street, August: Osage County, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty andHer) before press time. Also, I’ve linked together a few films of equal critical assessment and related themes, so you’ll find more than the traditional critic’s top ten on my list below.
1. 12 Years a Slave (Fox Searchlight) and Lee Dan- iels’The Butler (The Weinstein Company). Neither is a perfect film, with the former excessively graphic in spots and both overly dependent on sometimes dis- tracting big-name actors in bit parts. That being said, each is a vibrant, engrossing and inspiring depiction of how far Black citizens have come in triumphing over the forces of oppression and exclusion. Power- ful lead performances by Chiwetel Ejiofor and Forest Whitaker, respectively, ground both films. 2. Gravity (Warner Bros.). The term “space race” takes on new meaning in Alfonso Cuaron’s gripping account of two astronauts, memorably portrayed by a wounded Sandra Bullock and an ever-cool George Clooney, stranded in space and struggling to get back to earth. 90 minutes of non-stop intensity and dazzling 3D visual effects.
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