When MarBelle asked me for my Top Ten of 2013 I wondered if I should bother. He’s seen 12 Years a Slave and I have not. However, it would be churlish of me to junk it all in for a film I suppose I can be blown away by in 2014 and put it in my list then. Here is my Top Ten.
10. A FIELD IN ENGLAND | Ben Wheatley
Deserving of a place if only for the fact that it’s forging the way forward for the simultaneous multi-platform release. Sometimes you wondered if you had accidentally taken mushrooms but maybe that was the point.
9. OZ THE GREAT & POWERFUL | Sam Raimi
I was completely captivated by the colours and graphics of this film. The script could have done with a bit of work but sometimes all you want is smoke and brightness.
8. THE WORLD’S END | Edgar Wright
So it’s not perfect but it rounded off The Cornetto Trilogy nicely. Paddy Considine shows he’s as great playing the funny man as the insane mentalist who’s on a rampage.
7. SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED | Colin Trevorrow
I’d travel back in time with Aubrey Plaza. And Jake Johnson (even though he had nothing to do with going back in time really). Sometimes the person you think is a mentalist isn’t a mentalist at all.
6. THE LOOK OF LOVE | Michael Winterbottom
Steve Coogan has had a great year in my opinion. Playing Paul Raymond, the King of Soho, this is another one that had me in tears. Raymond made his money on parading flesh to the Soho masses but when it came to actual relationships he didn’t have a clue.
5. FILL THE VOID | Rama Burshtein
It’s hard for me to imagine what it’s like to be told who to marry and how to live without murmuring a word of dissent. However, this film does an admirable job of putting me in the shoes of such a girl.
4. DON JON | Joseph Gordon-Levitt
I have a soft spot for Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Time and again he shows himself to be an adept actor and he continues the theme with his directorial debut. This film stars some of my favourites and the cinematography reminded me a lot of Requiem for a Dream, which can only be a good thing.
3. FILTH | Jon S. Baird
James McAvoy is superb. With the aid of a good script (I have not read the book so can’t compare) he manages to make you sympathise with an abhorrent character. This culminated in me crying silent tears in a pretty empty cinema at the end.
2. SAVING MR BANKS | John Lee Hancock
Emma Thompson predictably nails PL Travers in a story that charts how Mary Poppins went from page to screen. However, Colin Farrell was my stand out performance as her feckless father. Giving Mary Poppins a new nexus Emma Thompson is likely to win the Golden Globe which she has been nominated for.
1. ALAN PARTRIDGE: ALPHA PAPA | Declan Lowney
Yes, it’s lowest common denominator but this made me laugh until I thought my face would crack. There are very few, genuinely funny films in the cinema these days. I can’t remember the last time I wept with laughter at a film. Plus I came home the other day and found MrSubs rocking out to Roachford in the front room like no one was watching. Which they weren’t until I came home.
