EWB's Top 30 Movies of 2013: THE RESULTS

[zero]

I just don't get dismissing an entire genre.

I don't think it's the same as dismissing another genre though, modern horror films have been following the exact same pattern for years, since maybe even before the first Paranormal Activity. The trailers are near identical, they're all shocky rather than actually scary, and they look like the same three people are making them all judging by 'from the directors of [insert very similar looking film here]' on every one.

Yeah, if you're judging by the movies that get released to theaters, and there are maybe 5 horror movies that get that far every year. And I don't mean to be all "indie movies, maaaaaaaaaaaan," but in the era of Netflix and VOD, good horror is easily accessible.

And in defense of the theater releases, their marketing might suck, but that's on the studio. Oculus doesn't have a great trailer, but there are very few "shock" scares in it. And even though it's "from the producers of..." and has a pretty cliche premise, it's a really good horror movie.

And really, you can level those same charges against every superhero film, or more specifically, any action movie, but that doesn't stop everyone from creaming their jeans over the new Marvel movie.

[Colly]

I think that's fair, I'm just saying from the point of view of someone who's not particularly a horror fan the trailers really never make me think 'I fancy seeing that' and I'm unlikely to take a gamble on the off chance one isn't shit.

[Benjamin]

Okay, I need to reiterate, I don't hate horror movies, just those ghosts or spirit ones. They just seem really silly to me, with all these evil spirits doing some silly dance around the characters before actually attacking them, like pulling the blanket off the kid in The Conjuring, for example.

I like zombie movies and stuff like that, and some gore stuff like Saw, just not these ghost movies. The only good ghost movie is Ghostbusters, and anything with Scooby Doo in it.

[Colly]

And Bill and Teds Bogus Journey.

[Skummy]

and Ghost Dad.

[Colly]

And Scrooged.

[Sousa]

And Casper.

[GoGo Yubari]

FTR my post was not meant to dismiss horror so much as to specifically dismiss TKz. That is important.

Anyway!

20. Fruitvale Station (22 points, appeared on five ballots)

19. The Act of Killing (23 points, appeared on four ballots)

18. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (25 points, appeared on four ballots)

17. Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (26 points, appeared on four ballots)

16. Before Midnight (27 points, appeared on three ballots)

Next Time, on EWB's Top 30 Movies of 2013: Don't shoot! Seriously, I don't even like working here. They are so weird.

[Jimmy]

Boo at Anchorman being ahead of The Act of Killing, which I think is one of the best films I've seen in a long time. Overall, the list's not been half bad so far. I thought this was a really good year for film. Nice to see Before Midnight at the halfway point, would've liked to have seen it higher, but hey. So far so good ish.

[apsham]

I really loved the first Anchorman - it just struck a perfect balance. But dear god did I despise Anchorman 2 when I watched it last week. Nothing seemed to happen for any rhyme or reason, and I'm the kind of person that automatically turns my brain off when I watch movies like that - so for me to pick up on that was a huge turn off. Call it the charm of the movie or what have you, but there was just so little of that charm there. Some of it was really uncomfortable when I really don't think they were intending it to be.

[TKz]

It really turned everything up to 11 in comparison to the first one. And the first one was already hovering around 11.

There's a lot of stuff I didn't really laugh at, but it was alright. It was way better than I ever thought an Anchorman 2 would be.

Hobbit 2 was alright! It wasn't anywhere near as good as the first... and the sudden ending really hurt it. But there's a pretty solid two hours of fantasy adventure in there. Obviously no one knows what the third film will end up being, but if it's what I think it will be (the end of Smaug and then some kind of mini-war), I get the feeling we'll always look back at this trilogy and wish they'd just done it with two.

[Jimmy]

Yeah, I just didn't laugh a lot. It's like someone really didn't have the balls to give it the good cut it needed. There was like 30 mins of stuff that could've easily been cut.

[LittleDaniel]

I've seen none of these so far!

[Your Mom]

I've seen none of these so far!

There are a lot I haven't seen but none?

[GoGo Yubari]

LD's list was literally like three movies. Maybe even two.

[Benjamin]

Fruitvale Station was really, really good, especially Octavia Spencer and Michael B. Johnson's performance.

Act of Killing was probably the best documentary of 2013, and better than the past several years' as well. Some seriously chilling stuff there.

Hobbit 2 was a ton of fun, especially the Smaug parts. Was so looking forward to the Barrel Run, and it didn't disappoint.

I really liked Anchorman 2, though of course it was never going to beat the original. Baxter was awesome.

Before Midnight was the best movie of 2013, this next 8 years are going to pass by slowly. I only hope we get a fourth one.

[Your Mom]

I wish I had seen Philomena before this Such a good movie!

[Skummy]

I didn't like Hobbit 2, which is the only film out of that lot I've seen.

I thought the first one was overlong, but it at least had a charm and a sense of fun to it. The second one not so much. Overly elaborate Peter Jackson-tastic set-pieces, far, far too long, stupid ending, un-necessary fan service and cameos, an utterly pointless romance subplot that goes absolutely nowhere, and some genuinely baffling directorial choices; "let's just film this bit on a Go-Pro, shall we?".

Peter Jackson has hit the stage of his career where people can't quite remember why his big films were successful, so everyone sees him as a genius and refuses to say no or make any cuts or edits to his work in case they lose whatever makes them a hit, so they end up being self-indulgent plodding messes. Peter Jackson has become George Lucas.

Also, it's clumsily written - which you think you wouldn't notice in a Tolkein adaptation, but it is. Smaug is consistently distracted by "look, over there!", which you think he'd have learned from after the first or second time. He stops being a genuine threat, and starts to feel like a pantomime villain about five minutes after he shows up.

Also, he can't pronounce Smaug properly.

[ZJ Penn]

I've only seen Anchorman and The Hobbit out of those five and they were okay, a lot of films have already been that I'd rank higher.

[LittleDaniel]

LD's list was literally like three movies. Maybe even two.

It was two, I went back to check yesterday. Hopefully one of them makes the list!