Bill’s “Right on” Blog: Top 10 Movie of 2013 (#10-6)

Posted On 06 Dec 2013

Tag: Bill Stevenson, Identity Thief, Man of Steel, Pacific Rim, RezX, rezxsouth, Top 10 Movies of 2013, Two Guns, World War Z

10. World War Z – 123 Minutes. Action, Adventure, Horror. Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, Matthew Fox, James Badge Dale

Not your typical Zombie Apocalypse movie but worth the price of admission or rental at this point. What got me so turned off were the moments of convenience that the plot needed to carry out in order to make Brad Pitt the hero; one of the scientist trips and shoots his own brains out, his family needs a safe place to stay, an observation that no one else made. True his character has qualities of his own that place him in a position of importance to this apocalypse role, but not to the point of being humanities saviour. As for the movie itself it comes across as being smart with action dialogue and thrills that help it to make the cut. Barely.

9. Two guns – 109 minutes. Action, Comedy, Crime. Denzel Washington, Mark Wahlberg

I watched this film while on a plane trip back from Toronto this Fall and it was quite entertaining. Two bank robbers steal millions from the mafia only to find out it wasn’t the mafia’s money they stole, it was the CIA’s. Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg play partners in this movie so well that it was hard to figure out how close their relationship was at any given time. The pair start the movie as buddies, find out they’ve double crossed each other, then are forced to work together to try to clear their names. All while fending off The Mafia, the CIA, police, and the Navy. Purely entertainment and this movie rocks your socks with clever lines and a fun ending that leaves you smiling.

8. Pacific Rim – 131 minutes. Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi. Idris Elba, Charlie Hunnam, Rinko Kikuchi

The Future! Giant robots! Huge monsters! Intergalactic travel through wormholes! Apocalypse! This movie had everything and the nerd in me is screaming in my head to place it higher on the list, but with so many great movies this year I had to place it at number 8. This movie is tightly written to include aspects of Robotech with pairs of co-pilots manning incredible defensive robots designed to defend the cities of earth against these massive beasts that are suddenly appearing out of the Pacific Ocean. The movie calls to mind Godzilla and Cloverfield seemingly explaining that all these previous monsters from the sea were in fact scouts to prepare for this invasion. With a memorable cast of characters adding a needed human touch to this story, both the comic relief and human relationship drama are injected almost perfectly making this movie a must see for your next nerd-gasm party!

7. Identity thief – 111 minutes. Comedy, Crime. Jason Bateman, Melissa McCarthy

A heartwarming crime/comedy of a lady determined to make her own way in the world and do things on her own until she meets a person whom her actions have impacted. Determined to maintain her way of life she fights him off at every opportunity and refusing to cooperate with any of his suggestions, suggestions which will restore his life back to the normal he had before she got involved. Gleefully unaware of how her actions make any difference the two finally begin to work together to keep the Russian gangs and the police off their tails until they can make it back to the safety of Denver, CO. Both Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy do a bang up job of making this movie come to life and the laughs you get will keep you giggling long after the last kernel of popcorn is gone!

6. Man of steel – 143 minutes. Action, Adventure, Fantasy. Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon

Incredible back story work is done in this film to really flesh out the Man of Steel. His origins from the end of Krypton and how his real parents sacrificed to save him, his development as a young boy on earth, how his new parents raised him to be more than a mere human. Much of the movie was dedicated to making his character believable to the audience, a man of high moral standards, ingrained with a deep sense of justice, a man who wanted his powers to be used for good and not for evil and this first half is what I loved. The character development is near perfection.

It’s just too bad the action in the second half gets blown out of proportion, I mean, millions of people die but you don’t see that, you just see the writers attempt at creating an injustice big enough to make The Man of Steel falter. The end of the movie is unbelievable to me simply because too much destruction happens, the military trusts him to fast, and the writing at this point seemed worn out. So why did it make the list?

As corny as it sounds, the character development of The Man of Steel gives us an ideal we can all strive for. His sense of justice, moral sense of right and wrong and endearing qualities as a wonderful human being make this man somewhat of a role model for humanity to aspire to. Even though he has the power to do whatever he wants, whenever and where ever he wants, he still acts within the bounds of “good” morality. For me this is the kicker for society where we glamorize bullies in our TV shows, (Gordon Ramsay from Hell’s Kitchen, Dr Gregory House on House, Sue Sylvester on Glee, Simon Cowell on American Idol, etc) and Movies, (Mean Girls, Anger Management, Despicable Me) seemingly to the point of wanting to see them as role models for their no nonsense and go get them attitudes. Instead the Man of Steel who could be the biggest bully of all rather comes in using patience, courage, and justice as his weapons of war against bullies. And fists and lazer eyes and super speed and flying too because he is after all, Superman. But in the end he is a character juxtaposed to what society could be staring out at us from the huge silver screen.