Favourite film of 2013?
 

I know we have both a movie discussion thread and a best of the year thread for this to get lost in, but as film is my biggest passion outside of tokusatsu, I decided to give this question its own thread and see if it survives the night!

Anyway, we're coming close to the end of 2013 and if you're like me you still have a list of 2013 movies as long as your arm to get through but speaking of everything you've seen released this year, up until this point, what has been your favourite?

For me, it's a tough call between Gangster Squad and Frozen.

Untouchables is one of my all time favourite flicks, so to see it reimagined with a 2013 budget, full of huge spaghetti western like shootouts and an attitude of fun for substance, I just loved the hell out of Gangster Squad. I also think the film had more depth than a lot of people want to give it credit for, perhaps because pretty much the whole movie is told through extreme violence. Which is fine by me.

Frozen would have easily topped Gangster Squad for me, but it lacks consistency. The characters are stunning, the animation beautiful, the writing is razor sharp and the third act was glorious! But it isn't until you've seen the whole movie, that you realise that despite Frozen's short length, there were still whole chunks of this movie that really served no wider purpose. And that is problematic. Still, overall, I'm so glad to see Disney return to its roots of hidden depth, and thoughtfulness, for a movie primarily aimed at six year old girls.

I'd have to say Carrie.

Iron Man 3 was the only newer movie I've seen this year, and it was alright. Though him blowing up every piece of armor he owns, pepper being infected with Extremis, and how they handled Mandarin all left me a little confused.

Mandarin left me disappointed. AIM and no MODOK? Wtf?!

I thought Gangster Squad was terrible. Not bad because it plain out sucked (but it kind of did), but was bad because I keep forgetting the movie even existed until someone brings it up or something. At least it wasn't the insult that was The (Not So) Great Gatsby.

Anyway, my favorite movies of the year that I have seen in theaters are A Clockwork Orange, Alien, Aliens, Akira, Escape from New York, and Halloween.

Oh wait, you probably mean movies of 2013. :lol

Then my favorite movie of the year is easily The Hobbit 2 followed by The World's End, Frozen, Thor 2, and Star Trek 2. However, this year was pretty ***** when it came to movies. In fact, most of the best movies came out in the last two months.

I don't know why Gangster Squad gets such a bad wrap, a movie that is just about being pure fun shouldn't be hated. Especially as it was a multiplex film, which are all about mindless popcorn entertainment. It was right at home, and did its job beautifully. I thought Star Trek 2 and Thor 2 were much worse than Gangster Squad.

I also think 2013 was a better year for the independent scene, than the multiplex scene with great movies like The Dirties, Prince Avalanche and Maniac being released which were some of this years highlights for me, moviewise.

My favorite movies of this year were The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug, Super Hero Taisen Z, Kyoryuger: Gaburincho of Music and G.I. Joe: Retaliation.

Thanks for reminding me about Retaliation, I think I was one of the two people who liked the first movie and am interested to check out the second.

My favourite movie of 2013 is Frozen, which was a big surprise in a year of pretty decent movies (in my opinion). It is rare that an animated movie reaches the level of polish that Frozen has and it is spectacular. Though, I must say I disagree with your assessment that parts of the movie served no purpose because I felt that the majority of the scenes benefited the characterization and theme, which is more than one can say for the average animated movie. There were no "big-lipped alligator moments" to use TV Tropes terminology.

But well, that's just my opinion. :)

My biggest problem with the movie was the character of Kristoff. Frozen was basically a critique of its own genre, pointing out its inherent flaws and where it may feel outdated in modern times, I dug that. But Kristoff's role in the archetypal princess tale was basically what Disney appeared to be saying was everything wrong with the genre, so Kristoff basically existed to be the films punching bag as the movie exploded into unnecessary action set pieces where the movie seemed to be missing the irony. Then the fact that Kristoff and Anna get together anyway right at the end also undermines perhaps the most poignant moment of the entire flick.

I get that that is just my reading of the film, and you can think I'm over thinking it or whatever, but my personal reading clouded my personal enjoyment of an otherwise stellar flick.

Okay, SPOILER WARNING FOR FROZEN everyone!

I can see how one can have that view, but I don't think Kristoff was unnecessary. His character was muted compared to the usual male leads, but his part is simply to show the common theme of romantic love in these sorts of fairy tales.

The difference of course, is that the main theme is familial love instead of romantic love, but there is no reason to completely discard one in favour of the other. It's just that one has to be downplayed to give way to the other.

A tumblr user said that this movie explores love in its many forms, chiefly familial, but also romantic, platonic and friendship. So while one is emphasized over the others, it is just as important to round up the theme of love with other forms of love too.

And besides, it's not the main emphasis of the ending. The movie ends with Anna and Elsa, not with Anna and Kristoff. There isn't anything about getting married, for example. The emphasis is still clearly on Anna and Elsa, but it takes some time to acknowledge Anna and Kristoff too. In this way, it ties up loose ends that people would have complained without.

Also, without Kristoff and Anna's relationship, there would be no foil or comparison to the bit of "true love" emphasized by the movie: Anna's and Elsa's. The movie would be unable to deconstruct the traditional romantic tale without it.

So yeah, I felt Kristoff's story was a welcome addition that the movie would have suffered a bit without.