Year in Review: Terry's Top 10 Films of 2013

For yet another year, it takes me halfway through the following year to publish my top 10 list of the year before.  I blame my busy schedule.  I could put out my list a little earlier, but I don't feel right about settling on a top 10 list without at least seeing all the Best Picture nominees.  Sometimes I get grief for fixating a little too much on the Best Picture nominees, especially last year when eight of the nine nominees found their way into my top ten.  (That is not the case this year.)  There are still many top films from 2013 I haven't seen (viewed only 70% of Todd's Top 10, 40% of Zach's Top 10), but if I wait to see them all you will never see my list.

Last year was a fairly strong year in film with many great films coming from many different genres.  In my top 10 alone (which only contains five Best Picture nominees this year, thank you very much), there are heart-warming inspirational stories, fun family films, dark psychological thrillers, intense sci-fi visual effects masterpieces, and futuristic ground-breaking original stories.  However, what ruled this year for me was the "based on a true story" genre.  Hollywood seemed to really take the perspective of Jack's future father-in-law to heart in that there are so many great non-fiction stories out there, why waste your time with fiction.  Half of the films on my top ten list (and one honorable mention) are based on true stories.  Whether it be a story focused on a high-profile public icon or an average guy faced with an impossible situation, Hollywood truly found some powerful stories and the real life people that made them possible.

Films seen: 46
"Thumbs Up" Percentage: 67%
Best Actor: Oscar Isaac - Inside Llewyn Davis
Best Actress: Emma Thompson - Saving Mr. Banks
Supporting Actor: Barkhad Abdi - Captain Phillips
Supporting Actress: June Squibb - Nebraska
Breakout Performances: Michael B. Jordan - Fruitvale Station, Lupita Nyong'o - 12 Years a Slave
Most Overrated: American Hustle
Most Underrated: Side Effects
Biggest Surprise: The World's End
Biggest Disappointment: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Bottom Five: Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, About 111 Girls, The Wolverine, Oz the Great and Powerful, Now You See Me

Top 10 List

Honorable Mention: Rush, Inside Llewyn Davis, Nebraska

10.  Before Midnight (dir. by Richard Linklater)

I am a recent fan of this series, but I can't help but be fascinated by the story of Jesse and Celine, portrayed by Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy.  We get a window into their relationship together every 9 years with this being the third installment.  I will say it was the weakest of the three "Before" films so far as it, for the first time, I felt produced some less than genuine, authentic moments.  However, this is being very picky as we should be allowed to be when it comes to such a beautiful and original franchise as this.  Once again the film is driven by wonderfully rich dialogue that truly allows us to see into these characters souls and, in this one especially, see how they have changed since they first met 18 years ago.  I hope we get the fourth installment in 2022.

9.  Her (dir. by Spike Jonze)

Every now and then a film comes along that is so original and groundbreaking in its premise that it's just fun to experience it.  Ever rarer are the times when these groundbreaking stories are so well executed that they become one of the best films of that year.  It's the difference between Synecdoche, New York and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.  Her belongs in that second category.  Looking ahead to, I'm sure, the not-too-distant future, it tells the story of a man falling in love with his computer that is designed to think and have a full range of emotions.  Joaquin Phoenix gives a brilliant performance as he appears to be talking to himself the majority of the time, but Scarlett Johansson makes the film work as she brings Samantha to life in a way that you forget you are watching a man interact with a computer.  It simply turns into one of the most unique love stories you will ever see.

8.  Philomena (dir. by Stephen Frears)

In the first of the true stories to come across my list, we have the tale of a sweet, endearing old Irish lady and a smug, sarcastic, self-righteous British reporter (basically, the perfect stereotype of a British reporter).  Martin Sixsmith (News at 10) has decided to write a human interest story about Philomena Lee who is looking for her son that was taken from her as a toddler.  Going into this movie, I thought I had a grasp on what it was going to be.  It really was so much more than I thought.  It really surprised me in its depth and emotion.  Judi Dench once again shows why she is one of the most decorated actresses of the last 20 years, but the real revelation was Steve Coogan.  Up until now, when I thought of Steve Coogan, I thought of things like Tropic Thunder and singing "Rock Me, Sexy Jesus" in Hamlet 2.  In this film, he reinvents himself and shows what he is truly capable of, both in his acting and screenwriting.  It is one of those films you never get tired of seeing.

7.  Fruitvale Station (dir. by Ryan Coogler)

With the second true story of the top ten comes one of the independent darlings of the year.  This film tells of the last 24 hours in the life of Oscar Grant, a young Oakland man wrongfully gunned down by law enforcement officers.  Of all the characters created in 2013, Oscar might be the most well-rounded and complete of them all.  Michael B. Jordan brilliantly brings to life the spirit of Oscar, a young troubled ma trying to do what is right but often falling short.  It is a tragic story that breaks your heart knowing the eventual outcome and seeing the life that wasn't able to play its course.  Soon after it starts, you forget you are watching a drama with actors and start to think of it as a documentary with archival footage, which is the best a film like this can hope for.

6.  Saving Mr. Banks (dir. by John Lee Hancock)

In what became possibly the best feel-good movie of the year, we have the third true story of the top ten.  This tells the story of Walt Disney's attempts to woo author P.L. Travers to let him make her beloved Mary Poppins into a movie.  As we watch the struggle and debate progress, we also see why Travers holds this story so tightly as we learn about her childhood and the story of her father.  Emma Thompson is spot-on perfect as the tight-lipped, highly skeptical Travers, and Tom Hanks brings Walt Disney back to life in a way few others could.  This is one of those films that makes you laugh, makes you cry, and finds you finishing the movie with a smile on your face and the warm and fuzzies in your heart.  It's another film that I can't get enough of.

5.  Frozen (dir. by Chris Buck & Jennifer Lee)

This is not a true story (however it would be cool if Olaf were real).  Following the film about Walt Disney, we have a Disney animated film.  More times than not recently, an animated film has been making it into my top ten.  Usually it is the Pixar installment of the year, but Monsters University didn't quite reach the heights of the original.  Instead we have a return to old-school Disney with this movie musical that is the best Disney has put out since the days of Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King.  Frozen is different though.  It has the feel of a classic Disney film with the princesses and the beautiful original music, but as the movie goes on you realize it is less about the princesses finding their Prince Charming and more about them finding each other.  It has all the magic that you expect out of one of Disney's best efforts and songs that you can't help but hum for days (or months) after.  It is a film that is impossible to not like and easy to love.

4.  Side Effects (dir. by Stephen Soderbergh)

With one of the biggest surprises of the year comes this very underrated film.  I'm always a sucker for a good psychological thriller; one that loops a story around to the point that you are constantly questioning what is real and what isn't until the final twist at the end that makes sense (or doesn't) of the last two hours.  The best in this category 2013 had to offer was Side Effects, the story of a young woman who is dealing with some life-altering side effects to her psychiatric medication.  As if The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo didn't prove enough just how talented and diverse of an actor Rooney Mara is, she proves it once again with this brilliant performance.  It's one of those films that forces you to say at the end, "Stop!  Rewind that!" because you want to experience the whole film again knowing how it all ends up just so you can make sense of it all.  Also, when a film is made with a good Jude Law performance, well that is an accomplishment in itself.

3.  Captain Phillips (dir. by Paul Greengrass)

An average ordinary day, all of a sudden, becomes a life-threatening ordeal.  This is the story of Captain Phillips, as Tom Hanks portrays the titular character who has his freighter ship boarded by Somali pirates.  This true story leaves you on the edge of your seat from start to finish as Paul Greengrass once again shows that he is the master of this type of film.  Much like he did in United 93, Greengrass finds unrecognizable young actors to portray his villains.  This time around, the leader of the group is played by Barkhad Abdi, who gives a truly landmark performance in his first acting role.  Much like how I described Fruitvale Station, this film forces you to forget you are watching a dramatization.  It becomes real.  Tom Hanks gives one of his best performances as he subtly explores the full range of emotions this experience takes his character through.  Between Hanks, Abdi, and the dramatic story portrayed, it is a film you won't soon forget.

2.  Gravity (dir. by Alfonso Cuaron)

Not knowing what I was getting myself into, I went to the theatre one day to experience a double feature of Captain Phillips and Gravity.  I was so emotionally exhausted the rest of the day that I couldn't useless for anything else.  I love movies about space (Apollo 13 is my favorite movie of all time) which made this film even more anticipated than it already should have been.  In what became the most intense 91 minutes of the year, I sat on the edge of my seat with my jaw dropped as I watched George Clooney and Sandra Bullock find to stay alive after an unforeseen catastrophe strikes their spaceship.  The story is great, the performances are top notch, but the real story here is the amazing achievement of Cuaron's directing.  The visuals are beautiful and haunting at the same time.  It is a movie worth watching just to look at, but the story  and struggle of the main characters make it truly special.  Oh yeah, and it's in space!  I thought for sure this would be my top movie of the year.

1.  12 Years a Slave (dir. by Steve McQueen)

For the third year in a row, my top film of the year was the winner of the Best Picture Oscar.  It's good to know the Academy has been getting it right.  This is the true story of Solomon Northup, a 19th century Black man that is kidnapped from his home in the north and enslaved for 12 years.  It's a star-studded affair along the lines of Saving Private Ryan where every supporting character is played by a recognizable face.  Like I said, it was going to take something special for Gravity to not be my top movie of 2013, and this was that good.  The moving and inspiring story portrayed is one of the most powerful stories put to film in recent years.  Every performance is spot on, from Chiwetel Ejiofor's Solomon to slavemasters Benedict Cumberbatch and Michael Fassbender to fellow slave Lupita Nyong'o, and help bring to life the incredible vision of director Steve McQueen.  This is a movie that will be remembered for years to come as a film that brought an era to life much like Schindler's List brought the Holocaust to life.  This movie will go down as a landmark achievement as one of the greatest and most important movies of our generation.

So there's my top 10 list.  Hopefully, my top 10 list of 2014 can come out before we are too far into 2015...

Read More

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013) Review

Directed by

Ben Stiller

Ever since the first trailer for this film came out, I have been intrigued by this film.  The scope and scale of this story of a simple-minded man I was told several times was the perfect "Terry" movie.  It sounded like it had great potential to be an Oscar candidate.  At its best, it could be the next Forrest Gump.  At its worst, it could end up just being an average family holiday movie like Jack Black's Gulliver's Travels or Adam Sandler's Bedtime Stories have been in recent years.  I was very excited to see which it would be, hoping it would be that Oscar contender it looked like it could be.  So which would it be?  The answer is ... neither.

Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller) is a man of no great consequence that lives a simple, uneventful life as a negative photo analyst for Life magazine.  He gathers photo rolls from the magazine's photographers, and touches them up to make them printable.  He has done nothing significant in his life, but often daydreams and "zones out" thinking about the amazing things he could be doing.  Many of these fantasies are spurred on by famous free lance photographer Sean O'Connell (Sean Penn) who Walter has developed a good working relationship with by working with his photos.  O'Connell is a perfect foil to Walter.  He is a complete nomad who travels the world looking for the best photographs the world has to offer.  No one every knows where he is.  His pay stubs have to be sent to several different places hoping that eventually he will end up in one of those spots.  O'Connell is everything Walter dreams he could be.

Several events start to bring about some changes in Walter's life.  First, he starts to fall for a co-worker, Cheryl (Kristen Wiig), who doesn't really know he exists which is something he actually tries to change.  There is also a mix-up with a very important roll of film from Sean O'Connell that requires Walter to meet his idol for the first time, but he has to find him.  With some encouragement from Cheryl, he decides to live out some of his dreams and try to chase down O'Connell.  Re-tracing O'Connell's steps turns Walter into the globetrotting man of significance he always wanted to be.

The strength of this film is by far its direction.  This is Ben Stiller's fifth feature film as director and first since 2008's Tropic Thunder.  The scope and scale of his films have been increasing with this being his most ambitious effort yet.  He continues to prove with every movie that he is extremely talented behind the camera.  Some of the visuals in this film look like a director who is competing for a Best Director Oscar.  If he hadn't done so already, he definitely proves with this film that he needs to be taken seriously as a respected director.  The direction is what gives the impression of an epic.

As far as the story is concerned, it's no Forrest Gump for sure.  Walter Mitty is definitely an interesting character that the audience enjoys watching go from epic situation to epic situation, whether real or imaginary.  However, the plot falls short of what a character like Walter Mitty deserves.  The premise that leads to Walter's adventure is fairly unbelievable and underwhelming.  It also screams of a predictable and underwhelming resolution that you can guess 10 minutes into the film, and although the ending didn't go quite like I thought it would, I knew from the start that the premise would never produce an ending one could consider "epic."  With that said, a story doesn't have to be epic to be good.  The relationship between Walter and Cheryl is very real and believable with both actors giving stellar performances.  Also, the premise that leads to Walter's journey, although it may not be epic, is still fun and able to keep one's interest throughout the film.  I just had such high hopes for the film to be a masterpiece, I couldn't help be a little underwhelmed.  I realized quickly its aspirations were never as high as my expectations were.

So which one is it?  Is it Forrest Gump or Bedtime Stories?  I said earlier that it's neither.  It's better than the common family holiday comedy.  However, it never reaches the heights of an instant classic.  Like I said, it never wanted to be.  If I were to compare it to a film, it is more on the level of something like Stranger Than Fiction, which is a film I loved.  It's not quite as good as Stranger Than Fiction, but there are some definite similarities to the characters and plights of Ben Stiller's Walter Mitty and Will Ferrell's Harold Crick.  So where does that leave Walter Mitty and his secret life?  Well, it won't get the Oscar attention so many were predicting.  It might get some technical attention for Cinematography or Production Design or something along those lines.  At the end of the day, it is a solid, feel good holiday film with some characters that add more depth and quality than your average family holiday film.  I liked it for what it was.  Now if only it could have tried to be more...

Rating:

View the trailer here:

Read More

2013 MLB Preview and Predictions: Post-Season

So let's review my predictions for the standings in 2013.  The bold denotes a playoff bound teams.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

AL East

1.  Toronto Blue Jays

2.  Tampa Bay Rays

3.  Baltimore Orioles

4.  New York Yankees

5.  Boston Red Sox

AL Central

1.  Detroit Tigers

2.  Kansas City Royals

3.  Chicago White Sox

4.  Cleveland Indians

5.  Minnesota Twins

AL West

1.  Los Angeles Angels

2.  Seattle Mariners

3.  Texas Rangers

4.  Oakland A's

5.  Houston Astros

AL MVP Top 5 Candidates

1.  Miguel Cabrera

2.  Jose Bautista

3.  Albert Pujols

4.  Mike Trout

5.  Alex Gordon

The Triple Crown winner has got to be thought of to be the favorite again this year.  He has continued to improve year after year.  If the Blue Jays are going to be as good as advertised, someone will have to have an MVP caliber year, so why not the guy who has been around awhile.  I honestly think all the Angels players will cancel each other out, but Pujols or Trout (most likely Trout more for the hype than anything else) will sneak into the conversation.  My dark horse in the mix is the leader of the Royals offense.  This name could easily be Eric Hosmer, but someone will have to break out with an MVP-type season for the Royals to break out.

AL Cy Young Top 5 Candidates

1.  Felix Hernandez

2.  Jared Weaver

3.  James Shields

4.  Justin Verlander

5.  David Price

With an actual offense behind him this year, Felix will actually be able to rack up wins along with his dominant stats in every other category.  He has to be the favorite for the Cy Young.  Weaver deserves consideration as well after a 20-win season last year, and now he is the definite ace of the team.  James Shields needs to start getting some recognition for being one of the most consistent starters in the league.  Maybe moving away from the stable of pitchers in Tampa Bay will help him gain the recognition he deserves.  The last two guys on the list always have to be considered in any season they are healthy.  I just think it is a year for someone other than the last two winners to be honored again.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

NL East

1.  Atlanta Braves

2.  Washington Nationals

3.  Philadelphia Phillies

4.  Miami Marlins

5.  New York Mets

NL Central

1.  Cincinnati Reds

2.  Milwaukee Brewers

3.  Pittsburgh Pirates

4.  St. Louis Cardinals

5.  Chicago Cubs

NL West

1.  Los Angeles Dodgers

2.  San Francisco Giants

3.  Arizona Diamondbacks

4.  San Diego Padres

5.  Colorado Rockies

NL MVP Top 5 Candidates

1.  Justin Upton

2.  Joey Votto

3.  Adrian Gonzalez

4.  Andrew McCutchen

5.  Buster Posey

Justin Upton now being on an elite team with some great protection around him should have an outstanding season, and if the Braves are going to beat out the Nationals he's going to have to.  Any year the Reds are in the playoffs means Joey Votto is being considered for the MVP.  There are many Dodgers that could be considered, but I think Gonzalez being back in southern California will bring him back to the form he had when he was almost winning MVP's for the cellar-dwelling Padres.  McCutchen is a freak athlete that could be a 30-30 or 40-40 guy this year.  Also, you can't count out the reigning MVP.  I just think there will be too many other players worthy of the honor for him to get it again.

NL Cy Young Top 5 Candidates

1.  Clayton Kershaw

2.  Matt Cain

3.  Jordan Zimmerman

4.  Kris Medlen

5.  Johnny Cueto

Kershaw is so good, it's time for him to win another one.  He is going to be special for so long.  Matt Cain being the leader of the best rotation will certainly get some consideration.  There are three Nats that could win this award.  I'm going with the one nobody knows about.  Strasburg could struggle this year after the way last year ended, and Gio Gonzalez might end up getting distracted by the whole steroid investigation.  Zimmerman deserves some recognition for being part of the three-headed monster at the top of Washington's rotation.  Medlen has a chance to have a big breakout year this year for Atlanta.  Look for him to be a dark horse along with Cueto, the ace of the Reds' staff.

PLAYOFFS

Wild Card Round

Tampa Bay def. Kansas City

The Royals will make the playoffs, but not get very far in their first shot at it since the '80s.  Also, if you need to win one game, it is hard to do better than David Price.

Washington def. San Francisco

The Nats know what the playoffs are all about.  They might struggle some in the regular season, but once they are in the playoff they will be all business and go deep.

League Divisional Series

Detroit def. Tampa Bay

The Tigers will have the best record and take on the Wild Card winner.  With that offense and that pitching, I say they win 3-1.

Toronto def. LA Angels

The old adage is "pitching wins championships."  The Jays basically have 4 aces in their rotation.  They will shut down the Angels crazy good lineup and win in 3-1.

Washington def. Atlanta

The Braves will get the best of the Nats in the regular season, but Washington will be a freight train in the playoffs that will be hard to stop.  Nationals win 3-2.

Cincinnati def. LA Dodgers

The Reds have been close every year they make the playoffs, but they get bounced early.  The Dodgers are taking steps in the right direction, the it's the Reds turn to move on. Reds win 3-1.

League Championship Series

Detroit def. Toronto

Pitching wins championships, but both teams have pitching.  The Tigers have been there before and experience (another aid in success) will win out.  Tigers win 4-2.

Washington def. Cincinnati

The Nationals are just too good all around for the Reds.  They took their step in the right direction, now exit stage right.  Nationals win 4-1.

World Series

Detroit def. Washington

What a great World Series this would be!  Verlander vs. Strasburg Game one?!?  Cabrera taking on those pitchers?!?  Bryce Harper trying to catch up to the Verlander fastball?!?  The storylines are endless.  However, the Tigers are ready to win.  They will take the championship, Jim Leyland will retire on top, and the best hitter and best pitcher in the game will get the one thing each of them is still lacking in their trophy case: World Championship.  Tigers win 4-2.

Read More