Okay…here we go. Gravity had the potential to be the greatest movie of 2013. It was a very, very good movie and will finish in my Top 10 of 2013 by the time everything is said and done. My preliminary thought is that it currently will be my #3 for the year, behind World War Z and Elysium. What do these three movies, in my opinion, have in common? Originality. I thought that, in a time where there Hollywood seems to be lacking great original ideas that aren’t based on true stories, these three movies achieved just that. I loved World War Z. I do not think it will end year #1, but it will be tough. It was an amazing, adrenalin-pumping story that had an awesome twist. Gravity aimed for the same, albeit in a slightly different way. Was it as successful? Unfortunately, it wasn’t. I will discuss, in-depth, the one or two major problems I had with this movie and will give you plenty of warning before I get there so that you can skip this section if you have not seen this movie yet.
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Category Archives: Year of Release
World War Z (2013)
World War Z is, hands down, the best movie for the first half of 2013. For the longest time, the film was being compared to a movie like Waterworld, which had grand ideas but was hampered by extensive reshoots, long delays, and a ballooning budget. Reports have swirled that the movie cost over $170 million to make. If the movie had not been good, it would have been considered a colossal failure by all accounts. But with the film, at last count, grossing over $535 million worldwide, Paramount Pictures is getting the last laugh. I am disappointed that this movie only earned a 67% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes. I recently watched Aliens, a great movie. But the fact that Aliens gets a 98% positive rating and World War Z gets only a 67% positive rating is a bit of a joke.
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The Road (2009)
John Hillcoat’s (Lawless, The Proposition) The Road is the best film adaptation of a Cormac McCarthy novel. Yes, I know that this means I preferred The Road over 2007’s Academy Award-winning Best Picture No Country For Old Men. The Road is a good adaptation of McCarthy’s novel, though not a great one. The novel, with the same name, presents a desolate 2929 America where nomadic tribes scour the earth, looking for any signs of life that would allow them to sustain existence. With the animals and vegetation extinct, cannibalism is alive and prevalent, though the number of people inhabiting the earth dwindles yearly.
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The Painted Veil (2006)
I will mark The Painted Veil as the best movie I may have *never* seen. A friend and I talked about how much we each love (500 Days) of Summer, and she said I needed to see The Painted Veil, her second favorite movie. She and I have very similar tastes in pop culture, so I told her I would give it a chance. I remember seeing the preview back in 2006 and thinking it was just another typical romantic period piece that I would probably find boring. I was more than pleasantly surprised. This movie was incredible, and I’m so grateful my friend and I had the conversation we had, and she encouraged me to see it.
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Elysium (2013)
The best summer movie of 2013? I’m divided between World War Z and Elysium. Let me preface this by saying I have seen fewer movies in the theater this summer than in any summer in recent memory, but that was by choice, not the options for movies. I’ve been concentrating on other writing avenues and have taken a break from my blog. I’ve seen a few movies this summer that I probably will not review, but I’m committed to reviewing movies that will end up in my end-of-year top 10. Even with all the amazing movies this fall, I don’t see a scenario where Elysium or World War Z finish outside the top 10. I’ll venture to say they will finish in the top five.
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