If you love movies, you’re probably a romantic or an idealist, and you’re used to bold proclamations. But I’m going to make one that might surprise you: 2013 will be remembered as one of the best years for movies ever.
By Noah Gittell
If you love movies, you’re probably a romantic or an idealist, and you’re used to bold proclamations. But I’m going to make one that might surprise you: 2013 will be remembered as one of the best years for movies ever.
I know it’s not the prevailing storyline so far. We have just come to the end of a summer that most critics have classified as an unending series of flops, but while major-studio stinkers like “The Lone Ranger” and “R.I.P.D.” got the headlines, it was a great year for the independent film. Any other year, movies like “Fruitvale Station,” “The Way, Way Back,” “Blue Jasmine,” and “Before Midnight” would be considered for Oscar’s top prize.
But not this year. The upcoming slate of fall movies is enough to get any fan of serious movies salivating. The Oscars are going to be a fiercely competitive event this year, folks. Here are just a few of the many contenders:
“Gravity” (October 4)
The concept alone will be enough to get people in the theater. Sandra Bullock and George Clooney play astronauts. When a mission goes tragically wrong, Bullock is sent careening through space in just her suit, while Clooney struggles to find her and bring her back. The trailer, released last month, is both lyrical and terrifying. There is no room for skeptics here: Clooney’s track record is too good for this one to be a flop.
“Captain Phillips” (October 11)
I remember hearing the story of the Somali pirates who hijacked a U.S. cargo ship in the Indian Ocean a few years ago and thinking: that would make a great movie. Hollywood beat me to it and hired a terrific team – director Paul Greengrass (“United 93,” “The Bourne Supremacy”) and Tom Hanks, who gives what critics are saying is his best performance in years – to bring the movie, based on a true story, to life.
“12 Years a Slave” (October 18)
Director Steve McQueen and his lead actor Michael Fassbender have made two terrific, challenging films together – 2008’s “Hunger” and 2011’s “Shame” — but “12 Years a Slave” may be their most accessible work to date. Early reviews say the story of a black northerner who is sold into slavery in the pre-Civil War era is absolutely riveting, with Fassbender stealing the show as a sadistic slaveowner.
“Dallas Buyers Club” (November 1)
Matthew McConaugheyis in the middle of a career renaissance, having followed a long streak of unimaginative rom-coms with a series of small, independent movies such as “Magic Mike, “Mud,” and “Killer Joe.” “Dallas Buyers Club” might be the one that gets him his first awards attention. McConaughey lost 40 pounds to play a homophobic Texan who contracts AIDS and, frustrated with the government’s lack of action, begins illegally importing drugs from Mexico and selling them to his fellow victims.
“The Wolf of Wall Street” (November 15)
Few got excited when they heard that Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio were collaborating on a film about an ’80s-era stockbroker who makes a bundle and then loses it all. The legendary director and actor have made three movies together already, plus the story seems passé at this point. But then the trailer hit, and everyone got interested in a hurry. It looks to combine the restless energy of Scorsese’s best work (think “Goodfellas”) with the liveliest performance DiCaprio has given in years. Commercial Scorsese is, in my opinion, better than Oscar-bait Scorsese, and this one looks like a surefire hit.
“The Monuments Men” (December 18)
If ever a movie was built for Oscar, this is it. George Clooney directs and stars in this mostly true story of a group of art historians who were commissioned to travel through Europe in the waning days of WWII and determine which pieces of art stolen by the Nazis are worth saving. Clooney is one of the Academy’s favorites, and the art-is-worth-fighting-for message will certainly appeal to Academy members who spend their lives making movies. Oh, and it also stars Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett, Bill Murray, Jean Dujardin, and John Goodman. See you in February.
Those are the top five contenders, but just to reinforce how strong a year this is, consider that we also have films from celebrated filmmakers such as Alexander Payne, Spike Lee, Ethan and Joel Coen, David O. Russell, Ron Howard, and Ridley Scott, all of whom routinely garner Oscar consideration.
It’s going to be a long, wonderful autumn at the movies.
