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.

I must be the other person who enjoyed the first movie then, and I hated the second :lol

There's a lot of great films that have only just come out that I haven't had a chance to see yet (Hobbit, Saving Mr Banks, Frozen...plus a couple of others that probably wouldn't be considered "great") so this is a harder one for me. Never had a chance to see Gravity either.

Iron Man 3 sucked and Thor 2 was okay, so Marvel are out.
I really enjoyed Man of Steel despite its flaws, so I guess that's a contender.
I thought Gatsby was great, despite what people say.
Star Trek was meh.
World's End was alright.

To be honest the only films I can remember seeing and REALLY enjoying we're Kick Ass 2 and Pacific Rim, so I guess the latter wins out.

The other two films I would place in my top are Star Trek Into Darkness and Pacific Rim, although I can see where people might have problems with the former. I had a lot of fun with them and Pacific Rim in particular was a joy to behold with its originality and world-building.

Pacific Rim, because reasons. *stomps around room smashing things*

Hello, good to see another kindred spirit in liking Pacific Rim. :D

Well it was designed to be a B-movie with a massive budget, tropes and all. How could I not love that? Add to the mix Ron Perlman and sentai like nature of some of the fights and I was sold, it's flawed, stupid, over the top but that's the point. It's one of the worlds loudest meta statements.

My biggest issues with Gangster Squad was from its final quarter of the movie. We had this out of no where Matrix-style shoot out with bullet time and stuff in the middle of a hotel lobby that felt tacked on. I know they changed the ending because of the theater shooting, which is bull because delaying the movie was good enough, they did not have to change the historical aspect of it, and it showed that it was made up at the last second. Another issue I have with the movie is just how predictable it was. It felt more like Public Enemies 2 than a movie about Cohen.

I've been told that tv mini series that had just aired does Cohen justice compared to Gangster Squad.

Never heard of any of those, but honestly, I don't pay too much attention to the independent movie scene. Nothing against them, but I'm not going to look for movies that never come out in the theaters around me, and a lot of times, they just aren't my type of movies.

Anyway, if I did a top 10 list of 2013's releases, it would probably be:

1. The Hobbit 2
2. The World's End
3. Frozen
4. Star Trek 2
5. Thor 2
6. Catching Fire
7. The Wolf of Wall Street
8. Monster's University
9. Man of Steel
10. Pacific Rim

I know why they did it, but I don't feel that it made for interesting viewing, he just felt like a waste of space. Perhaps if the movie was longer, and more fleshed out, they could have used him better to explore different kinds of love but as it stands when he wasn't being used for target practice he felt tacked on for me and I don't feel him needed.

There was no bullet time? There was slow motion and I personally found that pretty cool, "Here's Santa Claus!" then all those presents exploding in slow motion.

I don't care about historical accuracy, it isn't a documentary, it's a popcorn flick - I find the criticism about the historical accuracy one of the most hilariously daft criticisms of the film and of films period. Since when was Cohen's tale sacred? It was more like an Untouchables remake, then a remake of the utter shite that was Public Enemies.

My top ten, in descending order, would probably have to be:

10) How I Live Now.
9) The Package.
8) Pacific Rim.
7) Maniac.
6) Spring Breakers.
5) The World's End.
4) Prince Avalanche.
3) The Dirities.
2) Frozen.
1) Gangster Squad.

Goodness me, if there's anything I can't stand is animated movies going longer than average. :D He's not a waste of space if he contributes something, even if it's a little. Of course, whether you think that is enough, I guess, is entirely subjective, but I like my movies short and to the point so it works perfectly for me. Besides that, it keeps the focus on Anna and Elsa.

To an extent I'd agree, I'd rather the movie shorter and cut him out all together.

Yours is the either/or neither/no approach. The movie can have its cake and eat it, why not? Cut Kristoff out and you're left with 3 main characters and 2 funny sidekicks. Really sparse set there, I'd think.

And I've said before, you need Kristoff there to contrast his relationship with Anna with that of Anna's and Elsa's. The movie needs variety, and while Anna and Elsa are strong, it would be a rather empty world with just them.

And by that logic, why not cut out Hans, Olaf and Sven too? Oaken maybe? The Duke?

Kids movies tend to overcrowd their supporting cast, so for a kids movie to have few too would make a nice change.

I get your reading, but I don't think there were enough scenes between Kristoff and Anna, and enough to Kristoff himself, to make the concept work.

Because Hans, despite being a walking cliché, was fantastically handled and one of the strongest characters in the entire flick. Olaf and Sven get a free pass for being some of the only comedy sidekicks to actually be genuinely amusing.

Oaken and The Duke weren't really supporting characters, and although they added little to nothing to the movie, their scenes were short, self contained and strong.

Funny you should mention Hans, my sister thought that you could remove his character and it wouldn't do anything to the movie, and while I don't fully agree with her, I can see her point. :lol

Since I just saw it I want to throw in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug as one of my favorite movies of this year.

Seems people have been saying good things about it. It was just released here so it's time to plan another trip to the cinema.

I actually agree as well, but I think it would still be to the movies detriment as he was the best written and acted character.

Haha, well, we'll have our opinions, I guess. :) We're not going to convince each other.

At least it's both one of our favourites of the year!

i love frozen movie - two sisters is so cute

I'm gonna go with the only movie i watched that came out this year. Pokemon Genesect and the legend awakened.

I think you are missing the point of Kristoph in Frozen Locke. He was not pointless, he was there to throw you off of what you were expecting to happen, especially after the unexpected plot twist with prince charming.

I get that, like I say the genre defying third act was a masterpiece, but your movie can't live for the third act, each act should stand on their own. But I honestly found the second act of Frozen weak at best, and it harmed the rest of the movie.

Compared to other movies this year, I was quite happy the third act did not suck. The biggest problem with nearly everything, Iron Man 3, The Wolverine, etc, is that its third act was crap.

BTW, I changed my list because I completely spaced on Catching Fire.