With award season specials dominating every major network this month, it’s time to play catch up on all the best 2013 movies you may have missed. Our Signal entertainment reporters round up the best of the year — from quirky RomComs to grueling dramas — that you should watch at your next movie marathon.
Best non-cliche RomCom
By: Sydney Cunningham
Romantic movies have a reputation of being the fodder of the movie industry, cranked out every year with no artistic value or meat to them. They are simply a money-making scheme that rakes in first dates and yuppies.
But Spike Jonze’s “Her” is much different than this typical first-date movie. Phoenix leads the movie, playing Theodore Twombly, a lonely man who writes love letters for people who have trouble expressing their feelings to loved ones.
With a divorce in the making from his childhood sweetheart (Rooney Mara), Scarlet Johansson’s character is introduced as his new love interest—only we never see her.
Samantha (Johansson) is an operating system with artificial intelligence and the ability to evolve as humans do. Theodore begins to get attached to Samantha’s voice and develops romantic feelings for her. With a thin veil of sci-fi, Jonze uses this odd relationship to explore romance and how one can find love in the modern age.
If you’re daydreaming about your renegade life of crime…
By: Sydney Cunningham
It isn’t uncommon to sit and fantasize about a lifestyle without rules or limits, and well-written crime movies allow the audience to live vicariously through the characters and ponder on the many possibilities.
As the fifth collaboration between director Martin Scorsese and actor Leonardo DiCaprio, “Wolf of Wall Street” is the adaptation of the similarly named black comedy memoir. Jordon Belfort (DiCaprio) is a stockbroker in Wall Street who is shown the ropes of corrupt rich-living by his boss.
After losing his job, DiCaprio lands a gig in penny stocks and creates a Wall Street firm himself with the help of friend Donnie Azoff (Jonah Hill). Hiring employees that are up for living the same debaucherous life he does, the company reguarly partakes in lavish parties (read: money, sex and addictive drugs).
The egomania and moral corruptness of Jordon Belfort and the actions of the company don’t quite show you how wonderful it is to live a criminal life, but they do show you how many ridiculous power trips are within a rich criminal’s grasp.
If you want to be left wondering how much can happen in one movie
By: Sydney Cunningham
Some movies make you feel as if you’ve lived in that theater your entire life––and sitting through the film is your death. The good ones can startle you with how much plot and story progression they can fit into a film’s time. Whether the beginning of the film is irrecognizable to the end or it’s so fast paced you witness so much change, these films explore the characters and story to a phenomenal degree.
Adapted from the 1953 autobiography, “12 Years a Slave” is the very grueling story of New York-born free man Soloman Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who gets kidnapped and sold into slavery. Directed by Steve McQueen, the story follows the 12 years Soloman survived as a slave.
Slated “hard to watch” due to it’s truthfulness and raw depiction of the horrors of slavery, “12 Years a Slave” reveals a snippet of someone’s life.
If you hide your feelings but want to express them through the characters you see in movies, see these three
By: Endia Mathews
For
those guys who every now and then prefer to reveal their feelings to their
pillow, here are two films with just the right amount of sappiness.
Cinematic gem “The Way Way Back” stars familiar
faces Toni Collette and Steve Carell, but the movie really focuses on 14-year old Duncan’s (Liam James) emotional rollercoaster
of a summer vacation.
The “coming-of-age” story of the quiet and self-kept Duncan, who is often ignored
by his mother in favor of her emotionally abusive boyfriend, is relatable for both male and female audiences who might have experienced something
similar.
With an outstanding story and direction from the writers of 2011’s award
winning film The Descendants, the cast
flawlessly deliver both a comedic and emotionally moving performance.
On the surface, “This is the End” may seem like a movie about famous actors acting as themselves all set during the apocalypse, but it is so much more than that.
The movie starts off with Jay Baruchel, who is visiting long-time friend Seth Rogen in Los Angeles. Baruchel isn’t really fond of the stereotypical, stuck-up attitude that many people in Los Angeles seem to have, and fears that Rogen is becoming more like his new celebrity friends. Thus, he isn’t too thrilled to go to fellow actor James Franco’s house party.
In the midst of the party, chaos erupts with an enormous hole opening up and swallowing many of the party guests. This is when the good stuff gets even better as the three leads along with Jonah Hill, Danny McBride, and Craig Robinson try to stay alive at the world’s end.
It’s obvious this movie is a bit of a romantic comedy as it details the undying love two best friends have for each other. Franco and Rogen may have shown some bromance in their parody of Kanye West’s Bound 2, but clearly the Baruchel-Rogen relationship is an “until death do us part” kind of deal.
Contrary to what many of the promotional trailers entailed, “The Spectacular Now” is not simply a love story. The story is told all through the eyes
of Sutter Keely (Miles Teller), a high school senior who is all about partying and living in the “now”. It’s obvious that he has no plans for the future and has a worsening drinking problem.
Enter Aimee Finecky, your typical nice girl whom Sutter initially sees as rebound to his recent ex-girlfriend, but begins to fall in love with her as she helps him deal with his problems.
On the surface, it’s another teen movie. But superb direction, a relatable script and brilliant
performances make it a standout among others like it. Male viewers can
find some true connection with Sutter as he puts on airs for the public but
goes on an emotional renovation through the course of the movie with the help
of his new girlfriend played by Shailene Woodley. The chemistry and dialogue between Woodley and Teller is not forced.
Nothing about this movie screams
“cheesy” or “chick flick” and nothing is over dramatic or unrealistic, making it a truly genuine and unforgettable film.
