When I’m partial to a film, I will often devotedly adhere to whatever preferred version of it the filmmaker puts out there, including an alternative styling of the title. For example, I strongly advocate for the exclusive use of lowercase … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2013 — Number One
I’ve now written about Frances Ha so many times that I’ve effectively given up on trying to make certain I come up with something new to say when I take another crack at it. I don’t bother to review how … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2013 — Number Two
I think American Hustle is a fine name for David O. Russell’s latest film, but I prefer the title printed across the front page of the script he agreed to direct: American Bullshit. That has less to do with a … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2013 — Number Three
Of the many pleasures in the Coen brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis, the one that inspires the most gratitude in me is the sibling writer-directors’ ability to be sentimental about an era while steadfastly refusing to give in to undue romanticism. … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2013 — Number Four
When director Richard Linklater unexpectedly delivered a sequel to the 1995 romantic drama Before Sunrise, he revisited the same characters nearly ten years later, largely sticking to the established formula. In Before Sunset, released in 2004, Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) had another decade of mileage on them, but the film offered a similar dance of philosophizing and courtship in a European capital. The novelty in seeing characters who were slightly more mature didn’t necessarily change the dynamic all that much. To me, at least some of the praise heaped on the second installment felt like a critical … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2013 — Number Five
There’s a widely-shared view that Alfonso Cuarón delivered the sort of virtuoso directing job with Gravity that should end with a mic drop at the close of the credits. Even the film’s detractors typically can’t help but marvel at the … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2013 — Number Six
There are few things in cinema more pleasurable than a movie that manages to signal from the very beginning that it’s something special, that it’s been put together with care and honesty. Short Term 12, directed by Destin Cretton, does … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2013 — Number Seven
In some quarters, the effectiveness of 12 Years a Slave was attributed to the emotional distance director Steve McQueen had from the specter of American slavery, since he was born and raised in England. That theory ignores McQueen’s own record … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2013 — Number Eight
The kismet of cinematic artistry is elusive, which unfortunately alleviates the unfair sense of disappointment when the most creative individuals struggle through dry spells. By now, it’s understood that Woody Allen is too prolific (and too unconcerned with anything other … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2013 — Number Nine
Director Paul Greengrass is great at the particulars of a film’s story. That’s what made United 93 comes across a model of titanic restraint when it arrived, its keen attention to the simplest details of people reacting to terrible turns of history providing an emotional poignancy that Hollywood script speechifying could never muster. Even his contributions to the Bourne series are at their best when tightly focused on the physical mechanics of the scenes. And that’s what gives Captain Phillips its bracing immediacy. Based on actual events that took place in 2009, the film follows the hijacking of a cargo … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2013 — Number Ten
Coffee for Two 