Tag Archives: The Dallas Buyers Club

Lisa Marie Picks The Best 26 Films of 2013

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

UpstreamColor_KrisJeffEscalator_3000x1277

2o13 was an unusually good year in film.  While there was never any doubt what my number one film would be, it took me considerably longer to narrow down my other favorites to just 25 movies.

Also complicating matters is that a film that I’m very much looking forward to, Spike Jonze’s Her, is not going to be opening here until next weekend.  Because I haven’t seen it, I could not consider it for this list.  If, after I do see it, I feel that it belongs in the top 26, I will add it.

(Update: I have since seen Her and I have modified my original list. — LMB, 1/1o/14)

You may be asking, “Why 26 films?”  Lisa doesn’t do odd numbers, that’s why.

Without further ado, here’s the list!

  1. Upstream Color
  2. American Hustle
  3. Frances Ha
  4. Her
  5. Before Midnight
  6. Blue Is The Warmest Color
  7. Spring Breakers
  8. 12 Years A Slave
  9. Fruitvale Station
  10. Inside Llewyn Davis
  11. The Wolf of Wall Street
  12. Warm Bodies
  13. The Counselor 
  14. Gravity
  15. Blue Jasmine
  16. The Spectacular Now
  17. Much Ado About Nothing
  18. Dallas Buyers Club
  19. The Conjuring
  20. Drinking Buddies
  21. Iron Man 3
  22. Nebraska
  23. The Place Beyond The Pines
  24. At Any Price
  25. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
  26. All Is Lost
  27. The Iceman
  28. Frozen

Upstream Color

(Now that you’ve seen my favorites of 2013, check out my picks for 2010, 2011, and 2012!)

Other Entries In TSL’s Look Back At 2013:

  1. Lisa Marie’s 12 Favorite Novels of 2013
  2. Lisa Marie’s 12 Favorite Non-Fiction Books of 2013
  3. Semtex Skittle’s 2013: The Year in Video Games
  4. 20 Good Things Lisa Marie Saw On Television in 2013
  5. 10 0f Lisa Marie’s Favorite Songs of 2013
  6. Lisa Marie’s 16 Worst Films of 2013
  7. Necromoonyeti’s Top 10 Metal Albums of 2013
  8. Things That Dork Geekus Dug In 2013
  9. Lisa Marie’s Best of 2o13 SyFy

The NYFCC Honors American Hustle

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Oscar season has begun!  This afternoon, The New York Films Critics Circle announced their picks for the best of 2013.  Fortunately, I had the office to myself so I was able to follow along online.  Here are the winners and a few random thoughts:

BEST PICTURE
“American Hustle”

(This is something of a surprise, no?  Most award watchers were expecting 12 Years a Slave to pretty much sweep all of the critics’ awards.  It will be interesting to see if American Hustle does with the other critic groups but, for now, it seems like American Hustle has taken a major step forward to scoring a best picture nomination.)

BEST DIRECTOR
Steve McQueen, “12 Years a Slave”

(This was much more expected.)

BEST ACTOR
Robert Redford, “All Is Lost”

(Ditto.  I recently saw All Is Lost.  It’s interesting to note that Redford has only a few more lines than Jean Dujardin in The Artist.)

BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, “Blue Jasmine”

(Deserved and expected.)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Jared Leto, “Dallas Buyers’ Club”

(I haven’t seen this one yet but I hope to soon.)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jennifer Lawrence, “American Hustle”

(I was kind of surprised how angry some people on twitter got over Lawrence’s victory.  However, from my own personal experience, being intelligent, talented, and pretty really brings out the haters..)

BEST SCREENPLAY
“American Hustle”

(A lot of people on twitter were upset over this.  I haven’t seen American Hustle yet so I can’t judge.)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Bruno Delbonnel, “Inside Llewyn Davis”

(This was the award that managed to tick off thousands of Gravity fans.  Don’t get me wrong — I liked Gravity.  But some of the pro-Gravity people actually make the pro-Avatar people look calm and collected.)

BEST ANIMATED FILM
“The Wind Rises”

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“Blue is the Warmest Color”

(I agree.)

BEST NON-FICTION FEATURE
“Stories We Tell”

(I agree.)

BEST FIRST FEATURE
“Fruitvale Station”

(And, for a third time, I agree.)

One final note — unlike the Academy, in which a simple majority determines the winner, the NYFCC awards were determined by consensus and, as a result, several of the categories apparently required multiple ballots before a winner was agreed upon.  As such, some of the winners listed above are definitely compromise picks.

Myself, I still have to see a lot of the potential Oscar nominees — including 12 Years A Slave, American Hustle, and Dallas Buyers Club.  However, for now, my favorite film of 2013 remains Upstream Color.

Here Are The Winners of the 2013 Gotham Awards

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Inside-Llewyn-Davis(1)

The Gotham Awards were awarded earlier tonight.  Here are the winners:

X = Winner

BEST PICTURE
“12 Years a Slave”
“Ain’t Them Bodies Saints”
“Before Midnight”
X – “Inside Llewyn Davis”
“Upstream Color”

BEST ACTOR
Chiwetel Ejiofor in “12 Years a Slave”
Oscar Isaac in “Inside Llewyn Davis”
X – Matthew McConaughey in “Dallas Buyers Club”
Robert Redford in “All Is Lost”
Isaiah Washington in “Blue Caprice”

BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett in “Blue Jasmine”
Scarlett Johansson in “Don Jon”
X – Brie Larson in “Short Term 12”
Amy Seimetz in “Upstream Color”
Shailene Woodley in “The Spectacular Now”

BEST BREAKTHROUGH ACTOR
Dane DeHaan in Kill Your Darlings
Kathryn Hahn in Afternoon Delight
X – Michael B. Jordan in “Fruitvale Station”
Lupita Nyong’o in “12 Years a Slave”
Robin Weigert in “Concussion”

BEST BREAKTHROUGH DIRECTOR
X – Ryan Coogler for “Fruitvale Station”
Adam Leon for “Gimme the Loot”
Alexandre Moors for “Blue Caprice”
Stacie Passon for “Concussion”
Amy Seimetz for “Sun Don’t Shine”

BEST DOCUMENTARY
X – “The Act of Killing”
“The Crash Reel”
“First Cousin Once Removed”
“Let the Fire Burn”
“Our Nixon”

The Gothams themselves are not considered to be that strong of a precursor to the Oscars.  However, 12 Years A Slave has been so widely perceived as being such a lock for Best Picture that any time it loses to another film, it’s going to be noticed.

Trailer: The Dallas Buyer’s Club

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

PCAS

A lot of people, like me, felt that Matthew McConaughey deserved an Oscar nomination earlier this year for his performance in Killer Joe.  It looks like he’ll get a second chance this year with his performances in both Mud and the upcoming Dallas Buyer’s Club, the trailer of which can be found below.