Your Movie Picks of 2013

[KissingSunlight]

What's your choices in the following categories about the movies of 2013? If you think of any other categories, feel free to include them.

Best Movie of 2013: Spring Breakers. This was a disappointing year in movies. Almost all the movies were mediocre. Some I enjoyed more than others, but none of them really excited me. However, Spring Breakers stuck with me the whole year. It's not a movie I would recommend to everyone. It was a visually spectacular, artistic take on what our society has become.

Worst Movie of 2013: Iron Man 3. Patton Oswalt has a funny stand-up bit where he takes a time machine to talk to George Lucas before he made the Star Wars prequels. Iron Man 3 reminds me of that, because they took out everything fun and enjoyable about Iron Man. They turned into a 1970 TV detective show.

2nd Worst Movie of 2013: Star Trek: Into Darkness. JJ Abrams had reset the Star Trek universe. They could have done a million different original stories as a result. Instead, they remade the best Star Trek movie in history with mediocre result.

Most Underrated Movie: The Lone Ranger. The way people reacted to this movie. It sounded like Johnny Depp sexually molested a dead baby on the screen. Let's be honest about why it bombed. Nobody in the targeted demographic knew anything about who or what The Lone Ranger was. Seriously, a kid working at the concession stand at the theater thought it was a remake of Walker, Texas Ranger. The Lone Ranger was Pirates of the Caribbean set in the old west. If you liked POTC, you should have enjoyed this movie.

Most Overrated Movie: Gravity. Full disclosure. I haven't seen this movie. When a movie has the same plot as Open Water, about two divers being stranded in the middle of the ocean. It has a been-there-been-bored-by-that feel.

Best Movie Trend: Narcissistic people gone bad. Spring Breakers, Pain and Gain, The Bling Ring. To a lesser extent American Hustle and Wolf of Wall Street. The fact that all but one of these movies was based on a true story should be a wake-up call for people to start re-evaluating their lives.

Worst Movie Trend: White guilt movies. Fruitvale Station, The Butler, 12 Years a Slave, and Captain Phillips. Admittedly, the reaction to the George Zimmerman verdict turned me off to watching anything about racial politics this year. I will watch 12 Years a Slave sometime next year. The rest I'll skip.

 

[tippy2k2]

I loved Iron Man 3. That's fine that you didn't but you completely lost me at this:

"Most Overrated Movie: Gravity. Full disclosure. I haven't seen this movie."

You have absolutely no clue if it's overrated. For all you know, it would completely blow your face off with it's awesome. It might be the second coming of Jesus of movies for all you know but it's "Overrated" because it is similar to a different movie? You're punking me, right? That's gotta be it...I'm getting punked. Where are the cameras?

Anyway, with that out of the way...

EDIT: Just saw Wolf of Wallstreet. New favorite movie of this year. That was absolutely excellent as you got to watch the flying highs and the crashing lows. Brilliant acting by Caprio and freaking hilarious. I would strongly recommend it to anyone, especially those who are fans of Scorsese.

I greatly enjoyed "White House Down". Now granted, I have not seen many movies this year but WHD was incredibly entertaining and surprisingly funny. The best description I've heard of it was "modern day Die Hard" and I 100% agree with that. Very good movie.

I also greatly enjoyed The Heat, Iron Man 3, Thor 2, Pacific Rim, Now You See Me, Warm Bodies, Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Amazing Spider-Man, Hangover 3, and Prometheus

I thought World War Z was a'ight. Not great but not bad either.

I didn't really see anything I hated. I have a limited budget for movies and therefore I am very careful about what I go see. I suppose if I had to put something down, it'd be World War Z by default because I liked it the least.

 

[Strain42]

I only go see a small handful of films per year because going to the movies is expensive. Because of this, I pretty much only go see movies that I'm already like 90% certain I'm going to enjoy.

So in that regard, I loved Iron Man 3, Pacific Rim, Monsters University, and Thor 2.

I liked Frozen and The Wolverine (the latter I think I just enjoyed more than the previous Wolverine movie...)

and I did not like Man of Steel.

I didn't think it was bad...I was just bored. Two hours of bored...

 

[Kenbo Slice]

Out of the movies I've seen so far this year, I would have to say Prisoners was the best. I didn't even realize it was 2 and a half hours long because the movie kept me so invested.

The Conjuring is an honorable mention for top movie. It was a perfect horror film. It also got rated R solely because it was too scary. That's the ultimate positive review.

Worst movie, I don't know, probably Man of Steel. It wasn't terrible, it was just okay.

 

[DreddMnky]

Best Movie of 2013: Pacific Rim. I thought it was a very fun movie. The effects were amazing and it was evident that a lot of heart was put into making it the ultimate ode to giant robots and monster movies. The after credits scene was just wonderful.

Worst Movie of 2013: Iron Man 3. I have to agree with you but for different reasons. It had some good action, but after watching the Avengers I can't stand any more Tony Stark. Maybe it's a stupid complaint, as I am not too into Marvel comics, but after all the stuff Mr. Stark has been through I find it hard to believe he could be such a goofball. I absolutely despised the 2nd film so I guess I shouldn't have expected much.

Most Underrated Movie: Man of Steel. I liked how Superman was portrayed in the film and I enjoyed how the story was told. Great cast too. I am a big fan of Superman and I think that the "controversial" aspects of the movie were done greatly. The product placement and the destruction were a little off-putting though.

I can't say I saw too many films this year to notice trends and other than Iron Man I enjoyed all the ones I did see. I really want to see Spring Breakers though. One of these days I'll make sure to nab it because it's pretty cheap.

 

[Spambot 3000]

I rarely watch movies - though I did end up seeing this year:
- The Croods
- Rush
- Now You See Me
Which I all felt passed the benchmark of 'worth remembering' to me and would be my Top 3 picks. I have barely seen even close to enough movies this year to make categories anyway.

 

[KissingSunlight]

I loved Iron Man 3. That's fine that you didn't but you completely lost me at this:

"Most Overrated Movie: Gravity. Full disclosure. I haven't seen this movie."

You have absolutely no clue if it's overrated. For all you know, it would completely blow your face off with it's awesome. It might be the second coming of Jesus of movies for all you know but it's "Overrated" because it is similar to a different movie? You're punking me, right? That's gotta be it...I'm getting punked. Where are the cameras?

How is two people stranded in the middle of the ocean and two people stranded in outer space really that different? It's going to be 2 hours of the couple saying, "Oh, gee. This sucks!" The reason I put Gravity in the overrated category is because this movie is on a ton of best movies list this year. I could be wrong. I might check this movie out at a second run theater. I usually have a good feel about movies that I would like or not regardless of the hype about it.

 

[tippy2k2]

How is two people stranded in the middle of the ocean and two people stranded in outer space really that different? It's going to be 2 hours of the couple saying, "Oh, gee. This sucks!" The reason I put Gravity in the overrated category is because this movie is on a ton of best movies list this year. I could be wrong. I might check this movie out at a second run theater. I usually have a good feel about movies that I would like or not regardless of the hype about it.

That's a good point.

I mean, Warm Bodies and World War Z both involve zombies. You've seen one you've seen the other, right?
Lethal Weapon and The Heat are both buddy cop movies. Seen one you've seen the other?
Avatar and Pocahontas (or Dances with Wolves)?
Rampage and Falling Down?
White House Down and Olympus has Fallen?
Spider-Man (Toby McGuire edition) and The Amazing Spider-Man?
The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings?

Hell, E.T. and Alien both has things from outer space in them, right? Same difference, Alien is just going to be a group of people trying to get a little alien back home and loves Reese's Pieces so why would I waste my time with that over-rated garbage?

And it must be on all those "Top 10" lists by critics because critics are nothing but people who like to impress other critics so they choose snooty movies that no one has ever heard of, right? That's why Gravity was one of the top grossing films this year and has a 8.2 metacritic (the "peoples" website).

Hate on whatever you want but you don't have a leg to stand on when you slam a movie for being bad(or boring or overrated or whatever other word you want to use) if you haven't seen the movie.

 

[Uhura]

@KissingSunlight
Huh, Gravity is very much a space action movie and I would never compare it to Open Water. It's nothing like what you described. (I wonder if this is a case of 'poor advertising'? Can't remember what the trailer was like).

I haven't watched that many "new" movies this year and many of the more interesting releases haven't reached the local theaters yet. So I'll probably end up watching my 'favorite movies of 2013' sometime next year. My current top 4 would have to be: The Place Beyond the Pines, Only God Forgives, Pacific Rim and Adjust Your Tracking (a documentary about VHS collectors). I managed to not waste money on any shitty movies this year, so yay!

 

[shootthebandit]

Best movies of 2013: 'now you see me' and 'django unchained'. Now you see me probably went under most peoples radar but it was actually really good and I love to see micheal caine and morgan freeman share a screen

Best animated movies of 2013: 'monsters university' and 'the croods'

Best popcorn flicks of 2013: 'iron man 3' and 'RED 2'. I actually thought RED 2 was better than the original

Most overrated movies of 2013: 'hunger games'

 

[Casual Shinji]

I can't say I've seen that many movies this year.

Pacific Rim
Gravity
Oz the Great and Powerful
The Croods
Star Trek: Into Darkness
World War Z

Out of those, the only one that stood out was Gravity, by how disgustingly hamfisted it was. Are people really giving Oscar nods to Sandra Bullock's performance?! Oy... Maybe if there was a category for 'Most Incompetent Astronaut In a Movie', sure.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Best movie of 2013- Pacific Rim. It's just my sort of film (mech, action, aweseom soundtrack etc).

Worst movie of 2013- The Hangover Part 3 (I give credit that it was an original plot this time round but it is still an awesome and unfunny film!).

Second worst movie of 2013- Oblivion (plain, preditable and it made me realise how much I am bored with Tom Cruise in general).

Overrated movie of 2013- World War Z (This is a fine example of given too much away in the trailer as the film itself without the trailer scene was just plain).

Uncerrated movie of 2013- Man of Steel (I admit I like the setting apperance of Kryton and the theme to it and honestly I thought the fight scene did justice to Superman to show how powerful he really is!).

 

[Kyrian007]

I thought Gravity was fine. I liked it, but was more amazed because my Mom told me that my Dad stayed awake through the whole movie... I'm not sure he's ever stayed awake for a whole movie.

The most enjoyment I got out of a film this year was probably "The Worlds End." The most surprising (in a good way)... I'd have to say "Frozen." The most surprising (the other way)... Man of Steel (no summer comic book blockbuster has any right to look that cheap and crappy.) Star Trek, Thor, and Iron Man just carried on... good enough to keep going. Smaug was the standout of sequels. Wolverine was ok, better than some of the other recent non-Marvel Marvel properties.

 

[Thomas Barnsley]

I haven't seen that many movies but of the ones I have seen:

Highest quality/most intellectually satisfying movie: Blue Jasmine. OP was saying something about modern society being displayed, well this movie does it too.

Movie I enjoyed most: the Worlds End. The fight scenes were amazing, the violence was extreme while remaining humorous and tasteful, and it was FUNNY!

Prettiest movie: Pacific Rim.

Most overrated movie: World War Z. When you take into account the book it's based off, the film is found EXTREMELY lacking and unoriginal. The only thing taken from the book was Jerusalem, and that was probably the best part.
Also no main characters died. You can't have a zombie movie where NO main characters die...

Most underrated film: Man of Steel. Basically the script was pretty bad, but everything else was pretty good. Especially the visuals; this film would have gotten Prettiest movie if Pacific Rim and Gravity were out of the equation.

Overall winner: Breaking Bad. Fight me.

 

[b3nn3tt]

Of course, the following is all purely my opinion. Feel free to tell me that it's wrong, however.

Best Movie Of The Year: Gravity
I loved Gravity. It is the first movie where I have actively noticed and been wow-ed by the cinematography, and Alfonso Cuarón should be commended for his incredible direction. The entire film gripped me, and I felt that there was a real sense of danger at several points for the characters, which I find very rare in films. Even in the third act, where they rely on a fairly poor cliché to progress the plot (I won't spoil it), I didn't care, because I was just enjoying the film so much. I have never really cared for Sandra Bullock before this film, but her performance absolutely blew me away. Just an all round fantastic film, and definitely my favourite of the year.

Worse Movie Of The Year: Spring Breakers
I get what the film was trying to do and say. But it just did absolutely nothing for me. I couldn't get into it at all. I did vaguely appreciate some of the performances (James Franco in particular), but I just did not like the overall film at all. Part of this may be that I'm not American, so Spring Break as a concept has no really meaning to me, but I don't think that an understanding of it would have made me appreciate the film any more. For me, it feels like a film where the only thing going for it is the subversive message. If that message doesn't grab you, you won't like the film, and that seems to be what has happened to me.

Most Underrated Movie Of The Year: The Place Beyond The Pines
I went to see this at the cinema mostly because I love Ryan Gosling as an actor, and I absolutely loved the director's previous film (Blue Valentine). I only had a vague knowledge of the plot, which to be fair is all you get from any plot summary of the film. I was not expecting such a twisting storyline, with several new protagonists introduced throughout the film. I thought that how it told it's story was an incredibly refreshing twist, and while not something I'd like to see in every film, I thought it was handled wonderfully here. This is the most underrated for me because, although it received positive reviews at the time, I get the impression that many people didn't see it, and I think that is a shame.

Most Overrated Movie Of The Year: Despicable Me 2
This may seem rather odd considering my choices for other films, but everyone I know was raving about this film when it came out. I loved the first film, I thought it was hilarious, and I still laugh out loud every time I watch it. I went into the sequel expecting a less compelling story, but still plenty of laughs, and I was just very disappointed. There were still plenty of funny Minion moments, but it felt like the film relied too heavily on them based on their popularity in the first film. I just felt a bit let down by the film, in view of how much I enjoyed the first one.

EDIT: Most Disappointing Movie Of The Year: Now You See Me
I will specify that I only award this because of the last 15-20 minutes of the film, where it completely destroys itself for me. I loved the film, the magic was entertaining, the various minor twists were quite good, and the fight scene was incredibly inventive and very enjoyable. However, the ending completely ruined the entire film for me, to the point that I will never be watching it again, in spite of how much I enjoyed the vast majority of it. I won't go into any detail, for those who haven't seen it, but I just felt that the film as a whole suffered horribly because of it. A shame, and for me, the biggest let-down of the year.

 

[shootthebandit]

EDIT: Most Disappointing Movie Of The Year: Now You See Me
I will specify that I only award this because of the last 15-20 minutes of the film, where it completely destroys itself for me. I loved the film, the magic was entertaining, the various minor twists were quite good, and the fight scene was incredibly inventive and very enjoyable. However, the ending completely ruined the entire film for me, to the point that I will never be watching it again, in spite of how much I enjoyed the vast majority of it. I won't go into any detail, for those who haven't seen it, but I just felt that the film as a whole suffered horribly because of it. A shame, and for me, the biggest let-down of the year.

Whilst I agree with you about the ending it didnt detract too much from the fact that the movie was great. Id say it was about 7.5/10 but with a better ending it would be an 8.5 or a 9. The magic was great, the characters worked really well together and the plot twists were very good if not a little predictable at times. It just done everything incredibly well and ive seen so many good movies lately with dreadful endings that this one was actually ok

Spoiler

What really bothered me about the end was the whole "real magic" thing. I actually liked the idea that the FBI agent was actually the son of the magician looking for revenge but the whole carousel and card in the tree thing ruined the atmosphere a bit for me

 

[Alarien]

Best Movie: Pacific Rim

Can't really say too much about this one because there's not much to say. It's a giant robots fighting giant monsters movie... and it was awesome. Dumb plot, silly plotholes, awesome execution. Just a fun movie and when I go to the movies, sometimes fun is all I really want.

2nd Best: Star Trek: Into Darkness

I get it, this is a split audience love or hate thing. Mostly, this depends on whether you hold up (the other version) as the greatest Star Trek movie ever. While I might agree that (that movie) was one of the better Trek movies, by a longshot, that, to quote a great comedian, is like being valedictorian of summer school. The original had goddawful acting, a silly plot, a fake plastic chest, and, worst of all, a supposedly genius enemy who basically behaved like a drooling moron. Benedict Cumberbatch, whether you think he's "whitewashing the part" or not, just plain pulls off "brilliant villain" in a more satisfying way. I like the reboot, and I like this movie.

3rd Best: The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug

I'm a Tolkien nerd. No, a real one, like I read the Silmarillion when I was 13 and have read it several times since. I've studied Sindarin. I'm a nerd. I really enjoyed this one, however, it wasn't perfect. The things that they did better in this one, as compared to the first one were really good. On the other hand, the things that they didn't do as well, really brought the film down a notch. This was the first time I felt that scenes really dragged, particularly the entire section that takes place after the dwarves enter Erebor and faced Smaug (which never happened, but fine, whatever, I get it). The side romance thing between Fili (or Kili? I can't remember) was just forced and unncessary and a lot of the action in Esgaroth is a bit "meh." Also, I really like Evangeline Lilly's character as a side addition, but her acting didn't really pull off that ethereal arrogance that every other actor playing elves in Peter Jackson's films have managed. Even the most sympathetic and "down to Earth" of the elves have this mild air of "I am a better being than you are" feeling about them, and I think that's appropriate. She came off too much as "human with a bow." Still, I loved Orlando Bloom's more arrogant, obnoxious Legolas and the guy who played Thranduil absolutely nailed the arrogance and edge of insanity xenophobia that really comes as a reference back to Thingol, the first Sindarin king. Overall, great movie, but for once, I'm not sure I'm looking forward to the "Extended Edition" of some scenes.

Worst Movie: No idea. I try not to go out of my way to watch bad movies.

Least Interested: Gravity. I just can't do it. Sandra Bullock and George Clooney playing their only capable roles (that of Sandra Bullock and George Clooney) in a space action movie? I can't even explain the level of "bleh" this rises to for me.

Want to see but can't hit play: Elysium. This reminds me of District 9 too much. Seems like a movie that I'll really like, but will be too exhausting to watch. I want to see it, but every time I feel like just watching a movie lately, I just want something big and dumb. Like Pacific Rim!

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Out of the 60+ movies I saw this year, in alphabetical order...

Blue Jasmine
Don Jon
Gravity
The Counselor
The Wolf of Wall Street
Wakolda

Movies like Elysium and Pacific Rim belong in the Stupid Fun category.
Worst movie would be After Earth. Hangover 3 stung because it betrayed my enjoyment of the first couple of movies, but After Earth takes the cake as The Worst Movie.

 

[KissingSunlight]

How is two people stranded in the middle of the ocean and two people stranded in outer space really that different? It's going to be 2 hours of the couple saying, "Oh, gee. This sucks!" The reason I put Gravity in the overrated category is because this movie is on a ton of best movies list this year. I could be wrong. I might check this movie out at a second run theater. I usually have a good feel about movies that I would like or not regardless of the hype about it.

That's a good point.

I mean, Warm Bodies and World War Z both involve zombies. You've seen one you've seen the other, right?
Lethal Weapon and The Heat are both buddy cop movies. Seen one you've seen the other?
Avatar and Pocahontas (or Dances with Wolves)?
Rampage and Falling Down?
White House Down and Olympus has Fallen?
Spider-Man (Toby McGuire edition) and The Amazing Spider-Man?
The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings?

Hell, E.T. and Alien both has things from outer space in them, right? Same difference, Alien is just going to be a group of people trying to get a little alien back home and loves Reese's Pieces so why would I waste my time with that over-rated garbage?

And it must be on all those "Top 10" lists by critics because critics are nothing but people who like to impress other critics so they choose snooty movies that no one has ever heard of, right? That's why Gravity was one of the top grossing films this year and has a 8.2 metacritic (the "peoples" website).

Hate on whatever you want but you don't have a leg to stand on when you slam a movie for being bad(or boring or overrated or whatever other word you want to use) if you haven't seen the movie.

OK. For the very last time, Gravity was a movie I skipped this year, because it had a very weak premise. It's being lauded by every critics' top ten list as the best movie. Thus, my low opinion conflicts with everybody's high opinion means I think it's overrated. Read the praises about the movie. They all concede that Gravity has a weak story. It gets redeemed by great special effects. So, in other words, it's like a summer blockbuster movie. Enjoyable, but empty.

2nd Most Underrated Movie: Man of Steel. It would be number one, but a lot of people appreciated the attempt of making Superman more than a one dimensional character. It was a loud minority of Superman purists who complained about the moral ambiguities that Man of Steel had.

 

[Kenbo Slice]

How is two people stranded in the middle of the ocean and two people stranded in outer space really that different? It's going to be 2 hours of the couple saying, "Oh, gee. This sucks!" The reason I put Gravity in the overrated category is because this movie is on a ton of best movies list this year. I could be wrong. I might check this movie out at a second run theater. I usually have a good feel about movies that I would like or not regardless of the hype about it.

That's a good point.

I mean, Warm Bodies and World War Z both involve zombies. You've seen one you've seen the other, right?
Lethal Weapon and The Heat are both buddy cop movies. Seen one you've seen the other?
Avatar and Pocahontas (or Dances with Wolves)?
Rampage and Falling Down?
White House Down and Olympus has Fallen?
Spider-Man (Toby McGuire edition) and The Amazing Spider-Man?
The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings?

Hell, E.T. and Alien both has things from outer space in them, right? Same difference, Alien is just going to be a group of people trying to get a little alien back home and loves Reese's Pieces so why would I waste my time with that over-rated garbage?

And it must be on all those "Top 10" lists by critics because critics are nothing but people who like to impress other critics so they choose snooty movies that no one has ever heard of, right? That's why Gravity was one of the top grossing films this year and has a 8.2 metacritic (the "peoples" website).

Hate on whatever you want but you don't have a leg to stand on when you slam a movie for being bad(or boring or overrated or whatever other word you want to use) if you haven't seen the movie.

OK. For the very last time, Gravity was a movie I skipped this year, because it had a very weak premise. It's being lauded by every critics' top ten list as the best movie. Thus, my low opinion conflicts with everybody's high opinion means I think it's overrated. Read the praises about the movie. They all concede that Gravity has a weak story. It gets redeemed by great special effects. So, in other words, it's like a summer blockbuster movie. Enjoyable, but empty.

But you haven't seen it. You can't really state that it's overrated or have a true opinion on it.