A lot of people are saying that 2013 was a great year for movies. And I guess it was. An unusually large number of memorable films were released last year.
However, by that same token, a huge number of truly terrible films were released in 2013 as well. With that in mind, here are my personal picks for the 16 worst films of 2013. Why 16? Because Lisa doesn’t do odd numbers, that’s why.
16) Carrie
15) Getaway
14) After Earth
13) Broken City
11) See Girl Run
10) Would You Rather
7) Movie 43
6) Disconnect
5) A Dark Truth
4) Freeloaders
3) Unhung Hero
And finally, my pick for the worst film of 2013…
1) Man of Steel
It’s only been recently that I’ve come to realize that Man Of Steel was the worst film of 2013. When I first saw it, I thought it was bombastic and rather silly but I also thought it was just another mediocre action film. However, the more that I’ve thought about the film, the more I’ve come to realize that Man of Steel truly represents everything that I dislike about mainstream film. Beyond the fact that it took itself way too seriously, Man of Steel spent millions of dollars to celebrate the destruction of a major city but couldn’t find five minutes to devote to character development or memorable dialogue. Two years ago, a lot of people disagreed with me when I announced that Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch was one of the best films of 2011. I wonder how those same people feel about Man of Steel.
Tomorrow, I’ll continue my look back at the year that was with my 10 favorite songs of 2013.
(You can see my picks for the worst films of 2010, 2011, and 2012 by clicking on the links in this sentence.)
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I wasn’t wild about “Man Of Steel” either — I can’t remember if I reviewed it for this site, or my own, but regardless my thoughts on it are posted somewhere — and generally agree that it took itself way too seriously and was a huge letdown from Snyder’s under-rated “Watchmen” and extremely under-rated “Sucker Punch,” but I’m not sure I can go so far as to say that it’s worse than “Tyler Perry’s Temptation,” which linked a laughably absurd and obvious lot with atrocious acting and howlingly lousy dialogue in service of a repulsive, right wing “women get back in the kitchen and go to church or you’ll get AIDS and die while your nice, saintly ex-husband goes on to find true love and raise a family” message. That was one seriously messed-up,film.
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Up until about a week ago, I was prepared to announce that Temptation was the worst film of 2013, for exactly the same reasons you mentioned. But then I thought about it some more and it occurred to me that, while Temptation was bad, it was also exactly what you would expect from Tyler Perry. Man of Steel, on the other hand, could have been a good film if the people making it had been willing to make the effort.
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I absolutely agree that Perry’s films are pretty by-the-numbers, but as wretched and predictable as they are, at least they do offer a positive portrayal of black women — most of the time. the average Perry flick will feature a hard-working, raise-the-kids-against-all-odds, strong black female character — but for some reason, he got a really mean-spirited, anti-woman — hell, even downright misogynistic —vein tapped in this one, and he probably paid the price at the box office since, if I remember correctly, this one didn’t perform as well as most of his schlock usually does.
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I agree completely about Man of Steel and (as you know) Sucker Punch.
I mean, even my 15 yr old son didn’t like MOS. I pretty much hated it, excepting a few scenes here and there.
And now we have the Aflac duck -man to look forward to…
Geez
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The problems with Man of Steel are, to me, exemplified during the end battle between Superman and General Zod where the action occasionally cuts to the morons from the Daily Planet. Not only did I not know those character’s names… but I had no connection whatsoever to them, and did not care whether they lived or died. This was the film’s only attempt to connect me with the people whose lives were being destroyed by Superman’s reckless devastation of a major city (I blame him, because as Superman, it’s his job not to let things like that happen, another issue with the film).
Did anyone else have this exact experience? I was already bored by the seemingly endless battle with Zod… but the idiots from the Daily Planet really were too much.
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That did bother me. Essentially, Superman destroyed an entire city and thousands were undoubtedly killed as a result of his fight with Zod but we were just supposed to be happy because the Daily Planet people were all still alive. The assumption seemed to be that we would care about them because the film had ordered us to do so (as opposed to giving them any sort of personality). To me, this pretty much epitomized the aesthetic of Man of Steel.
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I have seen only one film on that list…which I am definitely glad is the case. The one of course being MoS, which I enjoyed, though I can hardly disagree with your reasons for not liking it.
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This is a great list, and it’s good to see Sucker Punch get some love in any way. I disagree with Man of Steel being the worst one though. I enjoyed it a lot, but truth be told, everything that’s been mentioned here is on point. The destruction in that movie is like Dragonball.
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I haven’t seen any of the films on this list.
You all should’ve known better in regards to “Man of Steel”. Quite frankly, if you were disapoointed by “Man of Steel”, you got what you deserved. It’s my sincere wish that discerning movie fans become even more discerning this year and in future years, so that Hollywood finally puts the lid on such films.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Hollywood is out of ideas. Time for something different.
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I think for many Man of Steel had all the potential for setting up the Superman character to becoming something relevant again the way Nolan did with Batman, but the writers (David Goyer being the main culprit) just misjudged who the character was.
Yes, Superman didn’t need to be the clean-cut All-American Hero, but Goyer and Snyder tried to turn him into such a complex, brooding character they totally missed out on why the character has been such an important and popular pop culture icon for over 70 years.
The Metropolis destruction itself was just one piece in what made Man of Steel a let down. I mean, I know people like to point out how The Avengers had some major New York destruction, but at least in that film the writers actually made the characters care about trying to minimize the destruction and actually attempt to save the population in addition to fighting.
Anyone who tries to defend Superman for saying he was still new to being a hero. In The Avengers, pretty much the whole team was still new to the hero game.
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I’d like to see Hollywood move away from churning out superhero films and try something new. It speaks volumes when Hollywood can’t even make a Superman film that pleases most. Do you want to know how Superman became so big in the first place? Once, he was new. Time to try something new again.
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sucker punch was really dumb. I guess if your into that kind of movies you might have liked it but I also liked Man of Steel. I don’t care “how similar it is to the comics” cause it’s NOT a comic and as “movie viewers” should forget how similar you THINK it should be to the books in any movie. Cause directors are different and go about things differently. Not to say MoS has no flaws cause it did but sure as HELL shouldn’t be on a worst movie list. I can’t remember the few movies you had put in your top of 2013 but you put some garbage films in it.
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Blah blah blah. You’re too boring to consider.
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