2013 Top 10 Best & Worst Films: No. 1

No. 1 Best - The Great Beauty (La grande bellezza) dir Paolo Sorrentino

The Great Beauty is something of a masterpiece, there are comparisons to be made with the likes of Fellini and previous masters of Italian Cinema; the film doesn’t really stick too much to an over arching narrative story of it’s main character Jeb, but we are given a moment in time into the life of a once highly thought of novelist who’s turned to a comfortable journalism writing career and while becoming wealthy and having a close group of friends who are all just as wealthy; Jeb begins to look back on his life and questions what he has done with his life up until this point. Essentially as the viewer we are getting a look into the lives of those of the super rich i.e. the Berlusconi’s of Italy; with their outlandishly vibrant parties, lavish high rise apartments and expensive cars. The Great Beauty is not only absolutely stunning visually to look at but it’s complemented with a soundtrack that uses music perfectly, something that transcends the film into another level of entertainment and not relying too heavily on dialogue to put across the inner thoughts and emotions that are running through Jeb’s mind as he begins to find himself disillusioned with the lifestyle of which he has been living for the past 40+ years, later when it’s reveals a past true love has passed away the reflection that the character takes is felt really prominently throughout the rest of the film and conveyed to use strongly through the visuals and the soundtrack. There really isn’t a bad word that I could say about the film; the performances not only from Toni Servillo as Jeb, but also the supporting cast; especially during the dialogue driven sequence of Jeb’s quiet friend gatherings is so delightful and exquisitely acted you’re constantly engaged with the characters and their stories despite the fact that we the audience wouldn’t necessarily like these super rich people for their actions and attitudes to society in general. I’ve not seen a film quite like this all year and the cinematography is so beautiful that the films title really does describe the film extremely well and for me The Great Beauty gives a more interesting look at Rome than Fellini’s Roma (1972) and that is why the film is my number 1 of 2013.

No. 1 Worst - Dark Touch dir Marina de Van

A horror film that shows little children committing hideous violent acts, at the centre of which a young girl that brutally murders her parents; yes this is the film that tells the story of how child abuse can derange the minds of young boys and girls, turning them into violent killing machines. Dark Touch I saw at last years FrightFest and I have to admit that I actually had a blast during the screening of the film, as with most of the worst films that screen at FrightFest, the audience seems to collectively get together and embrace the shittiest of shit movies and create their own joyful experience by laughing and cheering as the film plays out. But I couldn’t let this fun experience stand in the way of making this film my number 1 worst film of 2013; as it’s just completely absurd and during some of the films more excessively violent scenes that depict children doing some disturbing things – you really do question whether this is ethical to employ young children to act out the scenes on a set. I’m not sure that I can actually remember what the plot of this film actually was, as it was that poorly executed – we see a young girl kill off her family and become increasingly deranged and singled out by other children who are nothing more than a replication of a Satanic Cult of Children akin to the likes featured in The Children of the Corn (1984) – everything is played out at face value and is outstandingly misjudged in tone, I assume Dark Touch was an attempt at a dark psychological thriller looking into the effects of child abuse and broken families, but instead of being disturbed you can’t help but laugh as you’re exposed to god awful dialogue and characters that act in some of the most stupid ways imaginable, this film is so bad that I really wouldn’t be surprised if it failed to get distributed – I don’t recall it getting a release on the big screen, though I’m sure that it will no doubt be destined for the Straight-to-DVD route at a cut down price on release; truly painfully bad all round and questionable filmmaking on ethical and moral grounds – you’ll be hard pushed to find a worse film from 2013.

2013 Top 10 Best & Worst Films: No. 2

No. 2 Best - Blackfish dir Gabriela Cowperthwaite

This documentary’s core story is the one of the notorious Killer Whale Tilikum, one of SeaWorld’s biggest attractions and is also responsible for the deaths of three individuals that includes one of their own highly regarded top Killer Whale trainers. The documentary not only reports and investigates the three deaths that Tilikum has been responsible for over the years, but also takes a look at the possible reasons for why these tragic events have occurred; ultimately looking at the way in which these beautiful creatures are treated once the SeaWorld parks are closed and out of sight of their paying customers. We are brought to question not only the standards in which these Whales are housed, but it also makes you the viewer question captivity in general, this is just a relentlessly emotional trip that beats hard on your heart and had me in tears on a good number of occasions, honestly even though it’s been a fair few years since I’ve visited SeaWorld; by the end of this film, I’d never felt so guilty about anything in my life as I did about my one visit to SeaWorld all those years ago.  There are many comparisons to be made to the likes of The Cove (2009) and Sharkwater (2006), but what I feel separates Cowperthwaite’s documentary from those is that, you don’t get that sense that the filmmakers behind the documentary here didn’t already have a hidden agenda when going into the making of the film; Blackfish feels more natural in its revelations and with its personal interviews with many people that these three deaths have affected, a particular harrowing moment comes when an original Whale Hunter retells his story and experience from when hunting these beautiful creatures first boomed for these companies like SeaWorld. On the surface the film is anti-SeaWorld and the negativity of captivity in general, but the documentary has so much more to offer and is guaranteed to hit you extremely hard emotionally – I don’t think it’s a case that Blackfish is necessarily a better ‘Doc’ than the likes of The Cove and Sharkwater, it just offers something different in it’s approach to tackling the issue of captivity. A must see documentary that is a real eye opener and very harrowing and one to watch with a good supply of tissues to wipe away the tears that will inevitably flow.

No. 2 Worst - Les Miserables dir Tom Hooper

I believe that I actually started the year off by going to the cinema to watch Les Mis; having been dragged along with a group of friends quite unwillingly, I’m not a person that is totally dead against the idea of musicals but in general they aren’t my ‘cup of tea’ though given the fact this was directed by Tom Hooper who directed The King’s Speech (2010) a film that a really did enjoy quite a lot, I was heading into the film quite open minded and rather interested in the over arcing story of the Les Miserables play. If you’re going to make a musical surely one of the first things you’d make sure of is that your cast are able to sing, which you can’t say for the actors here, with Russell Crowe being the main culprit – he just sounds absolutely terrible, not only that but the sound of the voice recordings don’t gel with the visuals on screen, making it feel all too disconnected. It’s not only the singing that is unbearable, but the films editing is outright horrendous, I’d imagine that the Les Miserable play is actually very interesting and has a solid story to tell, but Tom Hooper’s film doesn’t do enough to connect the dots – it jumps between characters throughout various periods of time which leaves us the audience struggling to grasp a sense of any of the characters journeys and turmoil’s – instead it’s like viewing little snapshots and highlights of a story rather than getting the whole picture, and to cap all of this off there is some rather terrible camerawork that looks very amateur. Not to mention the fact that this film is over 2 and a half hours long, which you’d think would be long enough to put together some cohesive storytelling, but with Les Miserables flittering and jumping around through time and bouncing around characters it’s an even greater failure that it fails to deliver even a mildly adequate screenplay. It sounds horrible and looks terrible and drags on for what seems like an eternity hence why Les Mis is my second worst film of 2013.

2013 Top 10 Best & Worst Films: No. 3

No. 3 Best - The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug dir Peter Jackson

I don’t think you could find anyone better to retell the stories of Tolkien than Peter Jackson; Yes with this second part of the trilogy, Jackson has again added to the source material for cinematic purposes and I must say that given the format for which Tolkien’s book The Hobbit takes, it’s utterly justifiable to expanded upon the story for the big screen to add some gravitas to the story of Bilbo Baggins journey. This middle part of the trilogy really does feel like the big action piece of the trilogy with huge set pieces that play out including the quite spectacular barrel sequence and ending with the introduction of Smaug for the films finale. As a stand-alone film this sequel definitely feels like an improvement from its predecessor, Martin Freeman again encapsulates the essence of Bilbo Baggins with another wonderfully charming performance and there’s the outstanding voice work from Benedict Cumberbatch as Smaug who I could just listen to for hours on end, he’s so captivating in the role. The Hobbit series has of course taken a lighter tone than the Lord of the Rings trilogy and while the film does have a more family and lighter feel to the film overall, Jackson still manages to incorporate some of the darker moments that are prevalent throughout his LOTR films and certainly doesn’t feel out of place where compared directly next to the previous trilogy. The Desolation of Smaug is the brilliant thrill ride that we’d all had hoped for after the narrative driven first part and the exceptional high standards of beautiful sets, captivating score/music and compelling storytelling are all met here, whether or not The Hobbit trilogy will ultimately live up to the extraordinary high reputation of the Lord of the Rings trilogy we will just have to wait and see after Jackson has wrapped up this story, but I think it’s pretty safe to say that he has succeeded in retelling Tolkien’s The Hobbit story with the upmost respect and appreciation for the source material whilst managing to improve upon what would have existed if some other director/screenwriter had come in and just gave us a page-for-page transfer to the big screen; its very rare to see a film live up to the reputation of it’s source material let alone surpass it, but with hand on heart I can honestly say that in my opinion Peter Jackson will eventually succeed in this by the end of next year and we’ve seen his Hobbit trilogy told in full and would argue that it might not be the last time that the director visits the literary work of Tolkien. The Desolation of Smaug again brings us into the wonderful world of Middle Earth and fills you with that magical feeling that only a Peter Jackson adapting Tolkien film can truly do, these films are one of a kind and probably not likely to see anything in the near future that is able to replicate the effect of which these films have managed to do on such a large cinematic scale.

No. 3 Worst - Only God Forgives dir Nicolas Winding Refn

Yet another appearance for Ryan Gosling in my worst films of the year; this time it’s with the Nicolas Winding Refn film Only God Forgives; I couldn’t have been more excited for this film given the directors back catalogue of work and the trailer for the film, which teased just enough to spark interest and hope that Refn would return back more to his older style that featured so heavily in Valhalla Rising (2009) but unfortunately Only God Forgives makes absolutely no attempt to string together any narrative and is nothing more that shots of a bland character going from violent scene to violent scene, each time trying to up the level of grotesqueness and boy is the film aggressive, but this time where in the past the cinematography has been gorgeously bright and full of colour that oozes vibrantly off the screen; the boldness of it in Only God Forgives does nothing but to blur the imaginary and bloodshed that’s so prominent throughout the film. It’s essentially mindless violence that really has nothing interesting to say or any deep hidden meanings, the only half-baked theme that one could take from the film is the feeling of dealing with male impotency, but even that really isn’t that well executed here. As mentioned just above, Only God Forgives is a brutally violent film, but most of this is awash with a blur of red which just makes the film look utterly vile and not at all artistic – you couldn’t care less for what is happening on screen and due to it’s lack of narrative approach, all of the violent sequences carry absolutely no gravitas to them at all because what happens on screen just feels totally disjointed and unconnected; the film is a complete mess that serves nothing more than to try and push certification boundaries, over the years the horror genre has been viciously attacked for the so called ‘Torture Porn’ sub-genre, but I’d argue that Only God Forgives is a far more offensive film than all of those films combined for it’s senselessness. It might only been 90 minutes long, but it feels like a much longer experience that is pretty unbearable after only 20-25 minutes.