These are the best new movies I saw in 2013… as determined by a mixture of UK release schedules and what I managed to see at the 2013 LFF.
Not yet seen: Before Midnight, The Selfish Giant, The Great Beauty, The Act of Killing, Blue Jasmine.
Narrowly missing out: Sightseers (which is excellent and would be in my top five, but I saw it last year), Captain Phillips (very good, sagged a little in the middle), and Cloud Atlas (which came out in the UK in 2013, but in the US in 2012. It feels like forever ago, though, so I left it off. Hugh Grant was never better than as a slimy Nuclear Power boss).
Anyway.
11. The Place Beyond the Pines
Epic family crime drama that plays out like it was conceived as three seasons of a TV show compressed down to 140 minutes. The earlier stuff is better, but it’s all good (some disliked the teen-centric ending, but I thought it worked). Ryan Gosling was all over the poster, but this was also yet another step in convincing me Bradley Cooper might actually be a decent actor. Plus: Ray Liotta, Dane DeHaan and (closest to my heart) Eva Mendes. The reason this is a top 11 rather than a top 10 is so I can find a place for Eva Mendes.
Due the presence of bikes, in the run up to this movie’s release I kept getting it confused with dire cycle-messenger thriller Premium Rush. To this day, my subconscious is absolutely convinced Premium Rush has Ryan Gosling in it.
Bonus photo featuring Eva Mendes:
Whitlock&Pope 