Jonathan R. Lack’s 20 Next-Best Films Of 2013

As I said in my Top 10 Films of 2013 article, 2013 was more than just a great year for films – it was a year filled with movies that were themselves filled with countless cinematic riches, a year made deep by both the number of quality titles, and the boundless depth of the titles themselves. Narrowing the best of the best down to just 10 was no easy task – though it resulted in a Top 10 comprised solely of masterpieces, I feel – and in making the list, I was left with a large number of leftovers I knew merited discussion.

Jonathan R. Lack

Published: Dec 23, 2013 05:00 pm

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[h2]Man of Steel[/h2]

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It is hard to know what to say about Man of Steel at this point. I love this movie. I love everything about it. I love that it takes a smart and thoughtful approach to reimagining Superman’s origin story, creating a firm and touching thematic core centered around the notion of Clark’s two fathers, and I love how completely the crisis and action of the movie rise out of Clark’s basic internal identify conflict. I love how far Zack Snyder pushed the scale of this film, and how much weight each beat of action has in developing Clark and Zod as characters, and in realistically depicting what might happen to our planet if we were visited by such superpowered beings. I love Henry Cavill’s Clark Kent, I love Amy Adams as the smartest Lois Lane we have ever seen on film, and I cannot get enough of Michael Shannon’s stirring General Zod. I think David S. Goyer has written an absolutely top-notch script, one that is more thematically unified and fully thought out than most films this year, and I think this is easily Snyder’s best work to date in the director’s chair. I love Hans Zimmer’s forceful and compelling score, which completely makes me forget about the iconic John Williams music.

And yet…no matter how many times I lay out, clearly and coherently, all the things I love about this movie, the people who hate Man of Steel will continue to act like I and all other fans of the film are illiterate jackasses for suggesting it could have positive merits. Never mind that nearly every complaint I have ever seen lodged against this movie is a willfully ignorant misinterpretation of what happens on screen – I just wish the film’s detractors were willing to have a calm and friendly discussion about the movie, rather than twisting and abusing everything the film presents so they can shout loudly at people who liked it.

I saw Man of Steel before a single review landed, and it felt like I was walking on cloud nine coming out of that theatre. I suspected it might be divisive, but I didn’t expect that the subsequently created atmosphere would be so positively toxic. That isn’t the movie’s fault, and it will all fade away with time, but being a Man of Steel fan in 2013 was a chore, and liking a movie should never have to feel like hard work. In any case, I still firmly believe Man of Steel is a tremendous film, one of the all-time great superhero movies, a blockbuster that is well ahead of its time, and easily one of 2013’s best.

Man of Steel is now available on DVD and Blu-Ray. Read my full review of the film here.

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Author

Jonathan R. Lack

With ten years of experience writing about movies and television, including an ongoing weekly column in The Denver Post's YourHub section, Jonathan R. Lack is a passionate voice in the field of film criticism. Writing is his favorite hobby, closely followed by watching movies and TV (which makes this his ideal gig), and is working on his first film-focused book.