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| Every film by a McDonagh brother is a must see. |
We've come to one of my favorite times of the year for movies. The summer blockbuster season, with all of its overly polished bluster, is coming to a close while Oscar season, & the awards grappling that inevitably comes with it, has yet to descend upon us. This allows the independent films that debuted at Sundance, & elsewhere, a chance to come out & breath. Last year's best* film,
Short Term 12, came out during this period. So it should comes as no surprise that half of the 20 films I am about to recommend are independent. Before we get to that though, I'd like to give a few recommendations from the first 7 months of the year.
*
It would, of course, be more accurate to call it my favorite film of 2013 as all film criticism is, on some level, subjective. If you were to favor "12 Years a Slave," "Her," "Gravity," or "About Time" I wouldn't take issue with you. Also, "Short Term 12" is currently streaming on Netflix.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier shot to the top of the Marvel catalog with a twisting & turning script that smartly hewed to the issues of the day & a cast in, Evans, Johansson & Anthony Mackie, that was overflowing with chemistry.
The Grand Budapest Hotel is the best comedy to come out this year & one of the better works, in an already storied carrier, by writer/director Wes Anderson. It has a wonderful screwball wit, with enough darkness added to make the action matter & give it the emotional depth that elevates above nearly everything else to come out this year, & Ralph Fiennes is sensational––he likely won't get an Oscar nomination because the Academy long ago abandoned comedies, but he should absolutely win a Golden Globe.
Neighbors edged out
22 Jump Street, & demolished
A Million Ways to Die in the West &
Sex Tape, for the title of mainstream comedy of the year.
Jump Street may have the funniest moment, thanks entirely to Channing Tatum,
but
Neighbors proved victorious thanks to its strong casting of performers who had not previously been given the comedic roles they deserved. Rose Byrne proved her comedic chops in
Bridesmaids but here she gets to go toe to toe with Seth Rogen the entire film & never does she feel out her element. Dave Franco has been elevating bit parts in comedies for half a decade but finally got the chance to shine here. Finally Zac Efron, after years of struggling to make it big as a dramatic actor, came back to the comedy side of things & bested his winning performance in
17 Again.
Obvious Child is the more realistic version of the one night stand scenario from
Knocked Up, which is to say it's a romantic comedy that revolves around an abortion. That may immediately turn some off of the movie, but those who aren't bothered by that premise will find a surprisingly sweet movie that allowed Jenny Slate to show she can play much more than Jean-Ralphio's sister.
I may be biased towards
Veronica Mars, seeing as I was one of many Kick Starter contributors, but creator Rob Thomas (not of Matchbox 20) gave us Marshmallows a fun little adventure that we could savor, & Kristin Bell a film role she could actually be proud of, while proving that if given the chance there's still much more story to tell in Neptune, California.
Snowpiercer, which can be seen at The Loft in Tucson or On Demand, may have topped
The Winter Soldier as the most captivating action film of the year, though that shouldn't bother Chris Evans seeing as he's the lead here as well.
Snowpiercer is similar to
Raid: Redemption with its characters single minded goal to reach a certain destination, here being the front of a train rather than the top floor of a slum, but with an allegorical bent that makes it far more than an action movie.
One last thing before I get to the list. This list is in no way meant to represent all of the movies worth seeing over the next three months, if it were it would be twice as long. If you want to watch half of the male cast of
New Girl pretend to be police officers go for it, I'll probably be in the seat next to you. Want to see
Liam Neeson kick ass in a movie with an actual brain for the first time since
The Grey? Awesome, me too. What about
Denzel going all Man On Fire again? Sounds pretty good, right? Ready for
Teen Wolf's Dylan O'Brien to be the
next young adult hero sensation? I know I am. Want to see Thomas Middleditch & T.J. Miller of
Silicon Valley,
Happy Ending's Adam Pally, & ultimate dream woman/
Community star Alison Brie
in a comedy from the writer of Old School?* You'd be crazy not to. How about
Keira Knightley stuck in arrested development & hanging out with
Chloë Grace Moretz & Sam Rockwell? Seems like that would be fun.
What about Michael Bluth, Liz Lemon, Peter Russo, & Adam Sackler all playing siblings? That's got to be interesting. That's seven movies that didn't make the list & I want to see all of them. So if a movie's not on this list don't take that as my recommending you not see it, rather the films below are movies I very much recommend you see if they even remotely interest you as much as they do me.
*
Part of the reason "Search Party" didn't make the list is it's lack of a trailer.
Now on to the top 20 films of the next three months...*
*
Click on the name of the film to go to a preview of it.
