FILM REVIEW 2013

When I began to review films I had seen at the cinema in the summer of 2012, I decided to begin with reviewing every film I saw whether old, new or if I had seen before. At the end of 2012 I decided that I found it comparatively more difficult to review films that were not new releases. This is why there has been less film reviews this year & intend to continue to only review new films.

I also decided at the end of 2012 that I was going to impose a ban on seeing films at multiplexes, I find these places to be vacuous and generally physically uncomfortable to be in. Edinburgh is serviced by two very good cinema in the city centre that are not multiplexes, the Cameo & the Filmhouse (although the Cameo is beginning to let the side down - the refurbishment is not an improvement). I decided that if a film is not being shown at either of these then it is probably not for me.

Even with this new approach I still went to see 101 screenings at the cinema in the past year. This is only 19 down on the previous year. These split as follows: 44 Films released before 2013, 51 Films released in 2013, plus 3 repeat screenings and 3 which were screenings of T.V. material or short film/stand-up comedy performance. 45 screenings were at the Cameo and 56 were at the Filmhouse, This is the first time since I came back to live in Edinburgh in 2006 that most screenings have not been at the Cameo.

Overall I have to say I feel that 2013 has not been a classic year for film, and in my mind has not been as good as 2012 was. There was certainly no film that came close to touching the magic of Tabu. Simply there were not as many films across the year that I would consider to be outstanding. Having said this there was still no problem looking back over the year and being able to find enough 10/10 films to make up my Top 10 for 2013, which is as follows:  

TOP TEN FILMS OF 2013 

1. Blancanieves (Pablo Berger 2012) (Spain)

2. Stoker (Park Chan-Wook 2013)

3. Frances Ha (Noah Baumbach 2012)

4. Short Term 12 (Destin Cretton 2013)

5. Before Midnight (Richard Linklater 2013)

6. The Sessions (Ben Lewin 2012)

7. The Artist & The Model (Fernando Trueba 2012) (Spain/France)

8. The Stone Roses: Made Of Stone (Shane Meadows 2013) (Documentary)

9. Fuck for Forest (Michal Marczak 2012) (Documentary)

10. West Of Memphis (Amy Berg 2012) (Documentary)