Honorable Mentions: Fruitvale Station, Mud, Prisoners, Before Midnight, Dallas Buyers Club, The Spectacular Now, The Act of Killing, Philomena, Saving Mr. Banks, The Conjouring.
10. Captain Phillips
Paul Greengrass (of The Bourne Trilogy fame) knows a thing or two about suspense. He depicts the true events of Captain Phillips with conviction, never romanticizing or manipulating, but delivering sequences of drama so authentic you might forget you're watching a staged reenactment. Aside from its pedestrian (almost laughable) first scene, Captain Phillips is downright riveting storytelling. Once the sweaty-palmed, nerve-shredding tension begins to build, it doesn't let up until the films gutting climax. Throughout the film, but especially during those final moments, Tom Hanks delivers a remarkably powerful performance—possibly one of the best of his career—and further cements himself as one of the greats. If you're up for 134 minutes of relentless, nail-chewing, high-stakes drama, look no further than the incomparable Captain Phillips.
9. The Wind Rises
A bittersweet swan song from one of the all-time greats, Hayao Miyazaki's final animated feature is a dream-like ode to imagination set in the rubble of 1920's Japan. It has the grace and majesty of an animated classic, yet feels fresh and sweepingly now. It possesses such a sure-footed grasp of reality despite its fantastic premise, it's easy to overlook the fact that the story unfolding is actually a true one. It also helps that the animation is absurdly gorgeous. If you're fortunate enough to see The Wind Rises in theaters, you'll be swept away to a land and time when life was fueled by the possibility of what could be, and the promise that with enough passion and purpose, human beings are capable of extraordinary things.
8. Blue Jasmine
Woody Allen's latest outing is an acidic, yet entirely mesmerizing portrait of a woman in the midst of complete emotional collapse. The film only works thanks to a bulldozing tour-de-force from Cate Blanchett. Jasmine is a train wreck of epic, historic proportions. As if whisked right from the pages of a Tennessee William's play, the character is an intoxicating blend of funny and sad, poise and panic, beauty and repugnance. While the film is a highlight in Allen's recent repertoire, it certainly wouldn't be anything without Blanchett's Oscar-bound portrayal of a neurotic verging on psychotic. Once you're able to see straight, you'll see Blue Jasmine for what it is: one of the most painful and painfully funny doses of dark humor in years.
7. Blue Is the Warmest Color
Warning: this film is about lesbians. If that, in any way, offends you, please skip to #6. Thanks, in part, to its explicit nature, Blue made quite a splash at the Cannes Film Festival last year. Sparing no detail of its central characters' turbulent love affair, it captures young love through a very, very realistic lens. But that's just a footnote. What really secured this film's place on my Top 10 list was its uncompromising depiction of the human heart and its many vagaries. The story is emotionally intricate yet universally applicable. Including this movie in my Top 10 list will likely put me in hot water with certain someones, but so be it. For me personally, this movie was momentous. When you're left emotionally ravaged, weepy and wistful, you know you've experienced something far too exceptional to be defined by its controversies.
6. American Hustle
There wasn't a more raucous, entertaining, or vibrant confection in cinemas this year. David O. Russell continues his winning streak with yet another entry of his trademark character-before-plot approach to film making. No complaints here. The film isn't without its flaws (often unfocused and untidy), but Russell's loose, energetic direction and the obscenely talented cast make up for its bouts of convoluted con-artistry. Having worked with Bale, Adams, Lawrence, and Cooper before, Russell establishes himself, yet again, as an actor's director and draws four of the best performances of these fine actors' careers (all of which earned Oscar nods this year). Stylish, sexy and uproariously funny, American Hustle hits sparkling highs that are hard to come down from.
5. Gravity
2013's most groundbreaking achievement in film, Alfonso Cuaron's technical triumph launched into cinemas with dazzling and dizzying results. Its much-hyped state-of-the-art special effects and impressive one-woman showcase for star Sandra Bullock certainly lived up to the hype. While slightly hampered by uninspired dialogue (just minor quibbles) the film manages to be both technically grand and emotionally resonant, not to mention it features some of the most white-knuckled sequences of jaw-dropping action ever seen on film. Beginning to end, Gravity is a masterfully directed thrill ride that has changed the big-budget epic forever. James Cameron, it's your move.
4. Frances Ha
Oh, the endearing plights of the defining decade! Rarely captured with such unabashed openness, Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach's collaboration feels like a time capsule for Generation Y-ers clamoring for adulthood. It's a perfect incarnation of insecurity, aimlessness, and living paycheck to paycheck, told with a deft blend of awkwardness and earnestness. Gerwig literally dances across the screen in a role that will certainly put her on the map. Many compare it Lena Dunham's Girls, but where Girls feels like a cast of caricatures, France Ha juggles its themes and characters perfectly imperfectly.
3. Her
At a glance, Spike Jonze's latest marvel is about a not-too-distant future where handheld devices and artificially intelligent operating systems rule us. But upon further inspection, Her reveals itself to be so much more than just a commentary on our present day communication conundrum. It also examines universal truths about human connections. With anyone. In any way. It's about rising and falling relationships and the flailing players who are left picking up the pieces. Her is many things to many people, but to me, it stands out as an innovative meditation on human loneliness and our innate need to connect.
2. Short Term 12
We're lucky to get movies this good three or four times a year. It truly transcends its seemingly one-note premise, averting melodrama and manipulation in favor of unmistakable authenticity. Often so real, raw, and natural, it feels like a documentary. For all its heartrending and lump-in-the-throating, Short Term 12 is also incredibly warm and funny. It wears its compassion on its sleeves, much of which is a result of its star, Brie Larsen. She delivers a truly lived-in performance, gradually peeling back Grace's straight-faced exterior to reveal a complex and tortured core. What could easily come off as a made-for-TV special instead feels refreshingly uncool and unpolished and all the more interesting, as a result. I will never stop recommending this unshakable little movie.
1. 12 Years A Slave
How could anything else top this list? Steve McQueen's devastating depiction of the most loathsome period in American history hits like a sledgehammer and lingers for days, weeks after. It's hard to watch, to say the least, but it's even harder to look away. Every scene is artful, profound, and exquisitely performed. From Fassbender's spit-flinging rage to Lupita's soul-crushing scenes of agony, the cast is pitch perfect. Some film pundits fear 12 Years A Slave could lose Best Picture at the Oscar's to a technical marvel or all-out crowd pleaser (Gravity or American Hustle, respectively), but it shouldn't matter; 12 Years A Slave has already secured its permanent place in American culture and movie history. More than just a masterpiece, Steve McQueen's unflinching tale of slavery in America is a flat-out milestone.