Retrospective: Summer 2013

CONFESSIONS AND DISAPPOINTMENTS: SUMMER 2013 IN REVIEW

by Bennett Campbell Ferguson 

“I confess myself…disappointed.”  So said one of the greatest movie villains of all time in a thoroughly memorable film.  But whereas Ralph Fiennes’ Voldemort spoke those words in reference to his treacherous followers, I write them now because they are the only ones I can think of to properly sum of the summer movie season of 2013. 

I know what you’re thinking—was it really that bad?  And the answer is yes.  Oh sure, maybe people who saw different films than I did felt otherwise, but for me the summer’s movies were finely-tuned best and brutally bludgeoning at their worst.  There may have been films I admired, but there were precious few that I passionately loved.

            Still, I wanted to take time to reflect on the season.  And since I haven’t seen enough satisfactory films for a top ten list (or even a top five), I chose to create the following—a best-to-worst list of the past summer’s movies.  It may make for a retrospective tainted by negativity, but in reality it gives me an opportunity to call your attention not only to extremely worthwhile movies like “Blue Jasmine” and “Fruitvale Station,” but flawed films like “The Lone Ranger” and “Star Trek Into Darkness” that didn’t quite work but still spewed some strikingly powerful scenes. 

So, as we set a course for the awards season and begin salivating films as different as Kenneth Branagh’s “Jack Ryan” and James Gray’s “The Immigrant,” don’t forget to glance over your shoulder.  Because for all the flaws in this summer’s movies, there were some wondrous moments, even if they found themselves struggling through fields of rubble, fighting to be seen.

 

Summer 2013: The Films I Saw, From Best To Worst

1.       “In a World…” (Lake Bell)

2.       “Blue Jasmine” (Woody Allen)

3.      “Fruitvale Station” (Ryan Coogler)

4.       “Pacific Rim” (Guillermo Del Toro)

5.       “Much Ado About Nothing” (Joss Whedon)

6.      “Star Trek Into Darkness” (J.J. Abrams)

7.      “The Lone Ranger” (Gore Verbinski)

8.      “Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters” (Thor Freudenthal)

9.      “Iron Man 3” (Shane Black)

10.    “The Wolverine” (James Mangold)

11.   “The World’s End” (Edgar Wright)

12.   “The Bling Ring” (Sofia Coppola)

13.   “Only God Forgives” (Nicolas Winding Refn)

14.   “Elysium” (Neill Blomkamp)

15.   “Man of Steel” (Zack Snyder)

See you at the movies this fall!

Ben :)