The Best Movies of 2013: #50 – #36

Welcome back, sports fans! Once again, if this is all coming as news:

Day 1: #85 – #66
Day 2: #65 – #51

Now that we’re all on the same page, let’s keep this gravy train rolling.

50. Frances Ha
A bit too white and “hipstery” for my taste, but Greta Gerwig rocks, man. That woman rocks hard.

49. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Liked it for a lot of the same reasons as I did the last one, so points for consistency. Seriously though, it’s ridiculous how good this series is in comparison to all the coattail riders out there. Serenity now.

48. Oz, the Great and Powerful (Full Review)
The last thing the world needs is another fairy-tale adaptation, but, what can I say? I’m a sucker for Sam Raimi.

47. Bridegroom
Some straight people, man. Homeys need to get their act together. Sad stuff.

46. Ain’t in it for my Health: A Film about Levon Helm
Gotta say, it was pretty sad seeing how bitter he was about some of his former bandmates after all these years. Then again, I’ve never been broke or been screwed out of royalties. Anyhow, Levon was the man and this was just further proof. Not for nothing, but watching him cover “Atlantic City” was one of the best scenes of the whole damn year.

45. A Band Called Death (Full Review)
As surprisingly heartfelt as it was kickass. What a great band name, what a great family.

44. War Witch
Harrowing, important stuff that became even more so upon learning how terribly accurate it is.

43. The Way Way Back (Full Review)
Would have been higher if Steve Carrell hadn’t been such a huge dick, but if we could get more Duncans in our coming-of-agers, that would just be grand. And, as always, much love to Sam Rockwell, especially DANCIN’ SAM ROCKWELL!

42. Pacific Rim (Full Review)
Since anime is awesome, so, therefore, is this. Way more fun than I was expecting it to be.

41. Sound City (Full Review)
If this doesn’t make you want to start a band, I don’t know what will.

40. Blue Caprice
I always have trouble with movies that are based on real-life people who, you know, murdered a lot of real-life people. Kinda seems in bad taste, right? With that said, this was one truly haunting portrait. Isaiah Washington deserves more credit than he got.

39. Prisoners
For a movie where none of the characters really grew or changed, this sucker did a bang-up job of grabbing my attention and not letting go. That Hugh Jackman sure likes to yell, huh?

38. Blancanieves
Like I said, enough with the fairy-tale adaptations. But if you’re going to do it, bully to you for doing it as a silent film starring six bullfighting dwarves.

37. Gimme the Loot
I love these kinds of movies. Low-budget stuff driven by snappy, genuine dialogue and true-to-life characters that are just plain fun to be around. More of this, please.

36. The Great Gatsby (Full Review)
Granted, anything would have been better than the Robert Redford version, but after dreading this movie’s arrival for good couple years, color me impressed by the way it turned out. Honestly, I wish more adaptations would have the guts to do what this did rather than stick to the source material like they (almost) always do.

And that’s it for Day 3, folks! See you back here tomorrow for the next 15. Same Bat time, same Bat channel.