Best of 2013

The Hunt may be more formally skillful, but the film that had the greatest impact on me was without a doubt David Lowery's exquisite, Malick-ian take on the lovers-on-the run picture; rarely has a movie felt less like it was filmed in a place (Texas) than simply borne out of it.

Intelligent, beautiful, and finally, frightening, The Hunt is perhaps the greatest attack on societal insecurities and the dangers of persecution in recent memory. Vinterberg is back and Mads Mikkelsen reminds us that he is nothing less than a titan of his field.

A spectacular tale of fathers and sons that hearkens back to the Hollywood filmmaking of the 70's that perhaps is not as distant a memory as previously thought.

Noir-y, dark, and uncompromising, both morally and stylistically, this is the kind of film the studios don't make anymore. At two-and-half hours, it never bores, weaving a tangled and complex narrative unrivaled in cinemas today. Roger Deakins also provides some of the best cinematography of the year.

A stunner - it's the film that needed to be made, but that's not to say watching it is a chore. It's brutal, ugly, and at times unforgiving, but how could it not be? McQueen and his crew (particularly his DoP Sean Bobbitt) have crafted a paradoxically beautiful, almost impeccable picture.

The McConaissance continues with perhaps its finest entry yet. The bittersweet growing pains of adolescence have never felt truer as they have in this hard-bitten Southern fairy tale.

It's far from the most essential film here but maybe the most enjoyable - Russell and his impeccable cast of players deliver a wild, blow-dried, and pomaded ode to depravity and immorality.

A fitting conclusion to the Cornetto trilogy -an uproarious and irreverent installment that courses with a sense of deep melancholy that seems oddly fitting.

In the era of found footage and cheap, moronically superficial horror movies, it's refreshing to see one so truly deranged, especially when it's made with such expert care as this.

It's a testament to the weakness of 2013 as a whole that this picture made it onto the list, but regardless it's a massively enjoyable caper that accomplishes the rare feat of mixing pathos and comedy effectively.