Great Movies of 2013: Dramas

In continuing with my two earlier blogs I'm summarizing my favorite movies of 2013 and this time it is Dramas.  I realize that there are other common genres of movies including Horror and Animated/Family movies. I'm really not a fan of blood and gore, and as for cartoons I typically see them years later with my nephew and niece.  Can't give an opinion when I'm willfully ignorant.  My next blog will be on my favorite Action movies of 2013.

Dramas:

My favorite drama of 2013 was Dallas Buyers Club, followed by 12 Years a Slave.  I have already previously commented about them in my Top 5 Blog.  

American Hustle

American Hustle (Drama/Crime) - This film combines a good story with a great ensemble cast (Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Renner, Louis C.K., Jack Huston, and Robert De Niro.) This is a fictionalized tale based on the Abscam scandal that occurred in New Jersey during the late 1970's. It tel;s the story of con man Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale), along with his partner in crime (Amy Adams) who are forced to work for a rogue FBI agent Richie Dimaso (Bradley Cooper) who is fishing for corrupt politicians.

This is a fun film to watch for the 70's costumes, hair styles, decor and boat sized cars.  Batman really let himself go in order to get into role and Christian Bale's reportedly gained 40 pounds to play the lead.    Overall acting was great with Christian Bale standing out along with  Louis C.K. who pleasantly surprised. This film is nominated for 10 Oscars which is impressive, but I doubt David O. Russell film will win any other than Costume Design.  This movie did a lot of things well, but was not as exceptional as Dallas Buyers Club or 12 Years a Slave.  His last movie Silver Linings playbook was also great, but with 9 Oscar nominations only walked away with the Best Actress award for Jennifer Lawrence.  Certainly worth seeing and you can still find it in Theaters.
(MY IMDB vote 8/10)

Her 

Her (Drama/Romance) - This movie was impressive and eerie as we are so close to having AI (Artificial Intellgence) that can have a conversation with us.  This movie takes place in the near future when a lonely and recently separated writer (Joaquin Phoenix) develops a romantic relationship with a newly developed operating system voiced by Scarlett Johansson.  Written and directed by Spike Jonze who initially had the idea in the 90's long before Apple's Siri and is his first movie completely written and directed by himself.  What is impressive is the seamless interplay between between Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johannson off-screen voice.  Furthermore that Spike Jonze decided on the editing room floor to completely recast the voice to Scarlett Johansson from actress Samantha Morton who did all the initial voice work.

Joaquin Pheonix demonstrates again that he is a phenomenal actor and shows considerable range compared to 2012's The Master or 2005's Walk the Line.  Other notable actors in the film include Amy Adams, Olivia Wilde and Rooney Mara    After seeing the movie it made me look at my smartphone differently and wonder if the next one will be able to do more than simple commands like the computer on the USS Enterprise.  You can currently see it in theaters. (MY IMDB Vote 8/10)


Other dramatic movies that I enjoyed in 2013 include Captain Phillips and Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.   Both have good stories and solid acting, although I think Mandela movie would have been better if it was a mini-series or broken into two long movies.  It suffered from showing too much history into a too short of a movie.

Agree? Disagree?  Should I have waited to watching Philomena or Nebraska before saying my favorites of 2013?  Add your comments below.