By Dave Montalbano
http://cinemadave.livejournal.com
Top 10 films of 2013
(in reverse alphabetical order)
Still Mine
One Chance
Lone Survivor
The Lone Ranger
Gravity
Frozen
42
The Conjuring
CinemAbility
American Hustle
Honorable mention:
(These might not have been technical masterpieces, but these films had something to say…)
Wolf of Wall Street
Star Trek Into Darkness
Philomena
Metallica Through the Never
Hunger Games: Catching Fire
The Great Gatsby
Flight of the Butterflies 3D
Comedy Warriors
Bianca Nieves
Before Midnight
All is Lost
2014 looks like a tentative year compared to the franchise blockbusters planned for 2015, with the release of Star Wars: Episode VII, The Avengers: Age of Ultron, the Avatar sequel and a James Bond movie. Yet, when the award season wraps up after the Winter Olympic Games, there will be some fascinating movies opening up (maybe not as dramatic as Florida State Seminoles Championship Game, but fascinating nonetheless).
George Clooney directs and leads an all-star cast in The Monuments Men, in which a team of soldiers rescue art from the destruction of World War II. 300: Rise of an Empire is graphic artist Frank Miller’s story about the Spartan’s ancient conflict with Persia before Jesus Christ was born. Frank Miller’s much anticipated film noir anthology, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For opens in August with most of the ensemble cast returning.
Comic books and graphic novels have proven to be reliable box office hits, with 2014 exploiting full potential. X-Men Days of Future Past combines the ensemble of actors from all six of the XMen movies. April sees Chris Evans return in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, with Robert Redford as a government liberal.
For non-comic book aficionados, Clint Eastwood steps behind the scenes to direct Jersey Boys. Based on the Broadway hit show, Jersey Boys details Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons’ rise in the music industry. Christopher Walken portrays a mobster/ mentor.
In terms of local events, the 19th Annual Palm Beach International Film Festival will resume the first week in April, while Fatality Fest is scheduled to compete with the 29th Annual Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival in October. The locally-produced Fright Asylum has completed its 7th year. With founder Woody Meckes and co-host Manny Colon, I have joined Fright Asylum as a semi-regular inmate.
Reporting on films for 15 years for the Observer has been a joy that has allowed me to branch into a variety of projects in public performance and writing. Besides funding Steve Hunter’s The Manhattan Blues Project, my latest book Davy Jones & the Heart of Darkness would not have been created without the discipline of writing a column each week. This month, I have begun editing my latest book, a Christian horror novel about an aging actress, that I hope to publish this year. As long as I keep receiving positive feedback from my neighbors, I will keep writing in the South Florida community.
Thank you, dear reader, for sharing the ride.
