At the movies: Her.

So, I got to talk about what I widely consider to be the best film of 2013 for The Scene. There's some stuff I couldn't find a way to fit in completely (like the queerness of Chris Pratt's character, the economics behind the OS One launch, and how rather than children, the creative-minded reproduce through ideas which are exploited by higher-ups) which I will happily go into if asked. But give a read, and then see the film.

This is it, y'all. The winners - 2013!

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:
Rob, for MANIAC.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG:
"Oblivion," from OBLIVION, performed by m83 and Susanne Sundfor

BEST DOCUMENTARY:
STORIES WE TELL

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE:
The Wind Rises

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
Bastards (Les Salauds)

BEST EDITING:
Adam Wingard, for YOU'RE NEXT

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
Richard LaGravenese, for BEHIND THE CANDELABRA

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Jem Cohen, for MUSEUM HOURS

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Benoit Debie, for SPRING BREAKERS

BEST DIRECTOR:
Shane Carruth, for UPSTREAM COLOR

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Lupita Nyong'o, for 12 YEARS A SLAVE

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Jeffrey Daniel Phillips, for THE LORDS OF SALEM

BEST ACTRESS:
Adele Exarchopoulos, for BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR

BEST ACTOR:
Joaquin Phoenix, for HER

Best Scenes and Films, annotated, coming soon.

The Best of 2013: The Nominees.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE


Broadcast, Berberian Sound Studio
Joe Hisaishi, The Wind Rises
Cliff Martinez, Only God Forgives
m83 and Joseph Trapanese, Oblivion
Rob, Maniac
Tindersticks, Bastards



BEST ORIGINAL SONG

Do You Wanna Build a Snowman, Frozen
Let It Go, Frozen
The Moon Song, Her
Oblivion, Oblivion

Please Mr. Kennedy, Inside Llewyn Davis


BEST DOCUMENTARY


The Act of Killing
Call Me Kuchu
The Source Family
The Square
Stories We Tell


BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Despicable Me 2

Frozen
Monsters University
Turbo
The Wind Rises


BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM

Bastards
Drug War
The Grandmaster (HK Version)
I Killed My Mother
Post Tenebras Lux
Safe Haven (from S-VHS)
The Wind Rises


BEST EDITING

Annette Dutertre, Bastards
Andrew Bujalski, Computer Chess
Pietro Scalia, The Counselor
Matthew Newman, Only God Forgives
AJ Edwards and Keith Fraase and Shane Hazen and Christopher Roldan and Mark Yoshikawa, To The Wonder
Adam Wingard, You're Next


BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Richard LaGravenese, Behind The Candelabra
Danny Strong, The Butler
Gavin Hood, Ender's Game
Shane Black and Drew Pearce, Iron Man Three
Don Coscarelli, John Dies At the End
John Ridley, 12 Years a Slave


BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Todd Berger, It's a Disaster
Jem Cohen, Museum Hours
Alice Lowe and Steve Oram and Amy Jump, Sightseers
Shane Carruth, Upstream Color
Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, The World's End
Simon Barrett, You're Next


BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Shane Carruth, Upstream Color
Benoit Debie, Spring Breakers
Agnes Godard AFC, Bastards
Emmanuel Lubezki AMC/ASC, To The Wonder
Iris Ng, Stories We Tell
Brandon Trost, The Lords of Salem

Dariusz Wolski ASC, The Counselor


BEST DIRECTOR

Rama Burshtein, Fill The Void
Shane Carruth, Upstream Color
Claire Denis, Bastards
Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity
Spike Jonze, Her
Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
Rob Zombie, the Lords of Salem


BEST SCENE

Child Beauty Pageant, Bad Grandpa
Funeral, Bad Grandpa
Tscherkassky-style freakout, Berberian Sound Studio
Audrina Patridge robbery, The Bling Ring
Adele and Thomas talking about literature, Blue is the Warmest Color
Oprah thinks this dinner is done, The Butler
last questions, Computer Chess
"...over in the corner," The Conjuring
Gina Carano vs Michelle Rodriguez, Furious 6
Ip Man and Gong Er's 'don't break anything' fight, The Grandmaster
trainside fight, The Grandmaster
Spiders in the Forest, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug 3D
Biaggio Family Discussion, The Kings of Summer
"All Tomorrow's Parties," The Lords of Salem
The Ritual, The Lords of Salem
Bruegel Lecture, Museum Hours
What witch tears do, Oz The Great and Powerful
Splitscreen view to a kill, Passion
Opening Scene, Post Tenebras Lux
Graffiti Run, Something in the Air
"Everytime," Spring Breakers
Opening Credits, Texas Chainsaw 3D
portal chase, Thor: The Dark World
The Lemmons, Wolf of Wall Street
Be vewy vewy quiet in the lab, World War Z



SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Ashley Benson, Spring Breakers
Gaby Hoffman, Crystal Fairy
Scarlett Johansson, Her
Joanna Lumley, Wolf of Wall Street
Angela McEwan, Nebraska
Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave
Mickey Sumner, Frances Ha
Oprah Winfrey, The Butler


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Matt Damon, Behind The Candelabra
James Franco, Spring Breakers
Ben Foster, Kill Your Darlings
John Gallagher Jr, Short Term 12
Jeremie Laheurte, Blue is the Warmest Color
Rob Lowe, Behind The Candelabra
Olafur Darri Olafsson, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Jeffrey Daniel Phillips, The Lords of Salem

BEST ACTRESS

Amy Adams, American Hustle
Sandra Bullock, Gravity
Cameron Diaz, The Counselor
Adele Exarchopoulos, Blue is The Warmest Color
Brie Larson, Short Term 12
Lindsay Lohan, The Canyons
Alice Lowe, Sightseers
Hadas Yaron, Fill The Void
Ziyi Zhang, The Grandmaster
Sheri Moon Zombie, The Lords of Salem


BEST ACTOR

Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
Oscar Isaac, Inside Llewyn Davis
Vincent Lindon, Bastards
Clement Metayer, Something in the Air
Joaquin Phoenix, Her
Robert Redford, All is Lost
Bobby Sommer, Museum Hours 


BEST PICTURE

BASTARDS
FILL THE VOID
HER
THE LORDS OF SALEM
MUSEUM HOURS
SHORT TERM 12
SPRING BREAKERS
STORIES WE TELL
12 YEARS A SLAVE
UPSTREAM COLOR

The Worst of 2013.

The 9 WORST FILMS of 2013.

It's odd. Usually, there are ten films that I hate strongly enough to immortalize in whatever shame a list like this instills. But I sincerely couldn't find ten films worthy of my contempt. There were a lot of flawed films that had enough redeeming facets to pull them out of consideration for this list, so I'm stuck with just the nine, in ascending order of awfulness.


09) Texas Chainsaw 3D
08) The Last Days on Mars
07) Fright Night 2: New Blood
06) Escape Plan
05) Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters
04) Free Birds
03) A Good Day To Die Hard
02) G.I. Joe Retaliation
01) A Haunted House

Some Quality Time with John Waters.

John. Waters. Christmas. Interview.

At the movies: Seventeen.

Showing once. Tonight. On 16mm. Just go. Do that, for me.

You can read this beforehand, or after. Just go. Don't miss this.

Famous People talked to me: Adele Exarchopoulos.

While my response to Blue is The Warmest Color/La Vie d'Adele is measured, there's one aspect of it that I am completely bowled over by, and that is the central performance of Adele Exarchopoulos. After the film's tempestuous post-Cannes history, it was nice to be able to hear from Adele herself. This article in the online version of the Scene (supplementing Jim Ridley's exceptional review of the film, which makes me want to rewatch the second half, keeping some of his points in mind) was taken from the press conference interview with Exarchopoulos and Abdellatif Kechiche, whom I have omitted from the piece because he is dickish and kept dodging thoughtful questions. But enough of that- on to Adele.