Honorable Mentions:
Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s This is the End is not only one of the funniest and most deliriously creative films of the year so far, but also one of the most heartfelt, as Rogen and Goldberg use the dual conceits of the apocalypse and celebrities playing themselves to deliver an unexpectedly touching and intimate character study.
I had lots of problems with J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness, and multiple viewings have made me less enthusiastic on the film as a whole (I really wish that ending could have been at least a little more daring), but this is still one of the best examples of modern sci-fi/fantasy world-building out there, and features many of the year’s best performances to date, particularly from Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and Benedict Cumberbatch.
Michael Bay’s Pain & Gain is a lesser film than The Bling Ring or Spring Breakers, but it fits into that same mold of unorthodox explorations of what the American dream means today; like all of Bay’s films, it is overlong and overstuffed, but it is also spectacularly performed (Dwayne Johnson, you crazy bastard), and undeniably bold.
And finally, Steven Soderbergh’s supposedly final theatrical feature, Side Effects, was one hell of a send-off, an audacious and biting commentary on the way we get invested in fictional stories, and a cynically clever argument against letting oneself be swept away by falsehoods, no matter how authentic they may seem.
Follow author Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack.
What are your favorite films of 2013 so far? Sound off in the comments!
