Ah, Time magazine… the once venerable publication that might actually name Miley Cyrus as their Person Of The Year (she’s currently leading online voting). Last year, the mag angered certain corners of the internet by declaring “Cloud Atlas” as their worst film of 2012, while their mostly decent top ten also included “Frankenweenie.” And this year, critic Richard Corliss has increased the oddball choices.
While expected stuff like “American Hustle,” “12 Years A Slave” and “The Act Of Killing” make the cut, some truly head-scratching choices like “Fast & Furious 6” (featuring “the poetic limning of the closest camaraderie many men can ever know: with their cars”—what?), “The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug” (“a teeming ingenuity of action and character”) also elbowed their way in. Huh. Tastes vary we suppose. Check out the full list and commentary below. [Indiewire]
Richard Corliss’ Best Movies of 2013
1. Gravity. “In depicting the fearful, beautiful reality of the space world above our world, Gravity reveals the glory of cinema’s future; it thrills on so many levels.”
2. The Great Beauty. “Giving even the cynics a faith in the vibrancy of movies, The Great Beauty is the year’s grandest, most exhilarating film that takes place on Earth.”
3. American Hustle. “This portrait of the ’70s revels in the decade’s gaudiness — its disco dancing and casino dreams, its ugly coiffures and facial hair — and in the eternal abrasion of sexy women and covetous men.”
4. Her. “Spike Jonze… creates a splendid anachronism: a modern rom-com that is laugh-and-cry and warm all over, totally sweet and utterly serious.”
5. The Grandmaster. “A fittingly elegiac climax for a world-class filmmaker who’s always in the mood for lost love.”
6. Furious 6. “This adrenaline-stoking series is addictive, for its chases, crashes, crushes — and for its poetic limning of the closest camaraderie many men can ever know: with their cars.”
7. Frozen. “The first animated feature in the Walt Disney studio’s glorious history to offer two princess heroines, Frozen transforms Hans Christian Andersen’s ‘The Snow Queen’ into a fable of modern, timeless sisterhood.”
8. The Act of Killing. “Making the movies, which vault from film noir to bizarre musical, eventually gets under Anwar’s skin and into his dreams…. For any viewer, the effect is no less haunting.”
9. 12 Years a Slave. “The movie has the eerie impact of a museum exhibit; it is a diorama of atrocity.”
10. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. “Each complex encounter, especially a flume-ride escape of the dwarves, boasts a teeming ingenuity of action and character.”
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