The Top Five Films of 2013.

It’s that time of the year again, the Globes, BAFTA’s and Oscars have passed by and at last it’s come to big one. The Stu-ies. It’s the same deal as last year. Any film released in the UK in the last twelve months or if they became eligible for the Oscars were all in the mix to be on this most exclusive of lists.

5. The Place Beyond The Pines

Derek Cianfrance’s generational crime drama, was one of the biggest surprises of the year for me. Initially when I saw the first few images from it, I was less than enthused about seeing seeking it out. For a film that shows the damage a parent, or lack of one can do to a child, it also entertained from start to finish. Yes, the films chapters get stronger as the film progresses, but no chapter drags and each presents a fully formed film, at the mercy of what came before and affecting what follows.

Director: Derek Cianfrance

Writers: Derek Cianfrance, Ben Coccio and Darius Marder.

4. The Hunt

How would you react if someone you had known all your life was accused by your young daughter of exposing himself to her? Would you believe your best friend? Or your young daughter? Within that premise and those questions is the truly horrible scenario we see primary school teacher Lucas forced into. Ostracised and instantly hated, his life is torn apart, not by the truth or his own actions but the fear of those around him.

Mads Mikkelsen, should have quite honestly been nominated for every single Lead Male acting category this year. Few got close to the level of performance he gave us this year. But no doubt due it not being in English, it counted against him, Thomas Vinterberg and the film as a whole. Expect an English language remake in the next two to three years.

Director: Thomas Vinterberg.

Writers: Thomas Vinterberg and Tobias Lindholm.

3. The Wolf of Wall Street

Let’s be honest, the trailer for this film was better than a lot of what came out this year. It shut people up in the cinema, it actually got their attention and you could people saying “I want to see that” after it finished.

For, me the third in a loose trilogy with Goodfella’s and Casino, Wolf is the funniest Scorcese film in a long time and arguably his best film since Casino. It’s sprawling but also closely focused on this one man who climbed so high and became so powerful that he could almost do anything he wanted, have anything he wanted and get away with it…almost.

Did anyone write a better script than Terence Winter this year? No. He made a took an unlikeable man who took advantage of countless people to make himself stupidly rich and didn’t make him that likeable. He made him and his group of followers interesting, funny, depraved, stupid but never likeable. This, right here, is the secret of the films success and it’s greatest strength.

Director: Martin Scorcese.

Writer: Terence Winter.

2. Captain Phillips

I could quite easily have put this joint first place. It was that close. Both films in which life on the water plays an integral part to the story.

I could only vaguely remember the events as they played out a few years ago and as a result wasn’t sure what happened or how the hostage situation ultimately came to an end.  So I was relatively blank when this film started and let it carry me along. Like Paul Greengrass’s other work, after about five minutes you hooked and in Phillips you are only introduced to both Phillips and Muse. By the time the two meet, you are in deep as the tension starts to crank.

A lot of people talk about stakes when it comes to films. Here the stakes are, as far as action films go, relatively low, just one man. Although what that one man signifies is a lot bigger. As you see from America’s response. It’s by this time, roughly half way through, that you’ll know if you’re in. As tensions become almost unbearable in the lifeboat and the SEALs wait for instructions from their commanders before the lifeboat reaches the Somali coast.

How Tom Hanks was overlooked by the Academy is quite frankly, farcical. There wasn’t a better two or three minutes of acting than at the very end of this film.

Director: Paul Greengrass.

Writer: Billy Ray.

1.Mud

Jeff Nichols third feature film, his best so far and the best film of the year. Captain Phillips pushed it close, but for me this never dropped from my top spot from when I say it back in October. A mix between a modern western and Huckleberry Finn, Nichols created a whole world and filled it with messed men, women and children (Two of the best child performances you’ll see anywhere).

Considering that Matthew McConaughey has just one an Oscar for Dallas Buyers Club, I am actually surprised that he didn’t get anything for Mud, as for me he gives a much more interesting and engaging performance here.

I could go on and on about Mud, but the best advice I could give to you is to go and buy it and watch it for yourself and see a film that has been tragically overlooked by the academy and hasn’t received the worldwide recognition it deserves.

I eagerly await Jeff Nichols next film.

Director: Jeff Nichols.

Writer: Jeff Nichols.

The Place Beyond The Pines

I saw this film on the same day as Iron Man 3 and to put it very briefly, I enjoyed this film much more. Maybe it was that this was the first film I saw that day, or could have been the scale, story and ambition that this film had in abundance. It was by no means perfect, but as everyone says “no film is perfect”.

Pines is the second film from director and co-writer Derek Cianfrance, who gave us the bruising Blue Valentine in 2010. In this film we are given a generational story about fathers and sons, manhood and coming of age that underlines every action and plot point in the film. As with Valentine, Cianfrance has attracted an impressive cast that really helps to bring depth to every character, even those whose lives we only meet briefly.

Spoilers below.

One of the films biggest talking points and most ambitious elements is its structure. Arguably the film could be interpreted as having two, three or even four parts. This is down to two similarly substantial changes in each of the two time periods, which dramatically change the events and nature of the characters and the narrative.

To explain, the film is broken into two time periods, separated by a fifteen year time jump that occurs around two thirds of the way through the film. In the first part we follow, first Ryan Gosling’s Luke, a motorcycle stunt driver who takes to robbing banks to support his one year old son.  We then transition to Bradley Cooper’s Avery, a police officer who chases Luke down.

What makes Pines so interesting is that the two leading men only have one extended sequence together, other than that they spend no time together on camera.

Following the jump forward we meet each man’s son.  They both go to the same school and become friends. It is a coincidence, but by this point the film has earned that and it is never emphasised, it is down to luck, in much the same way that their fathers met.

As for the structure, the film is driven in its individual parts by the male leads of that chapter. Gosling is the first we meet, so it seems only right that we start there. Gosling gives one of his better performances, but it still feels forced and at times over acted as he tries to make this character come across as believable. It’s hard to say where it doesn’t feel right, or comes across as natural, there just seems to be a feeling that it isn’t completely working. He is light years better than he was in Drive, but not quite on the level of Half Nelson.

Quite simply, this is one of, if not the best performances I have ever seen Bradley Cooper give and tops off a great year for him with this and Silver Linings Playbook. The film picks up whenever he is on screen, as he deals with the press and police force following his heroics in his meeting with Luke.  Corruption is all around him as he tries to make sense of it and find a way out, one that benefits him. In the space of forty minutes, we see Cooper manage to drive this character through his arc and evolve before our eyes. It is undoubtedly his character and actions that anchor and centre the film. A lesser performance would have caused the films third act pay off to fall flat and all of its stakes to fade.

Finally the two sons are played by Dane DeHaan (Luke’s son) and Emory Cohen (Avery’s son), some people have argued that this section is the film’s strongest section and has the most interesting characters. Maybe this is true because we get to see the consequences and conclusion to everything that has come before with their fathers, as well as the end of the own story.

Cohen as AJ, gives a flamboyant, arrogant performance that fits with his cocky snide character who you at first like, but quickly start to dislike and then ultimately downright dis-guard. DeHaan as Jason is a much subtler subdued character, playing a working class down trodden young man who seems to find life a struggle, despite the home he comes from, where his stepfather has done everything he can bring Jason up properly, something his father could have never done.

It may have been given an odd release date, post awards and next to one of the summers biggest releases, but this is one film that shouldn’t be missed and definitely experienced on a big screen.