Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Top 25 Older Films I Saw in 2013

The Rules of the Game is one of my new favorites.

It's been an interesting year. I watched a lot of movies (over 700), but my blog also went through some changes. I gained more followers, passed 100,000 views, reviewed my first DVD screener, had a few guest posts, introduced some new features, and even received a LAMMY nomination. Thanks for your support, readers, and here's to an even better 2014!

Since I watched so many films this year, here are the best of the bunch.

25. Stardust Memories (Woody Allen, 1980)

24. Odd Man Out (Carol Reed, 1947)

23. The Sacrifice (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1986)

22. Army of Shadows (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1969)

21. The Lady Eve (Preston Sturges, 1941)

20. Children of Paradise (Marcel Carné, 1945)

19. Stray Dog (Akira Kurosawa, 1949)

18. The War Zone (Tim Roth, 1999)

17. Brief Encounter (David Lean, 1945)

16. A Matter of Life and Death (Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, 1946)

15. The Set-Up (Robert Wise, 1949)

14. Kes (Ken Loach, 1969)

13. Come and See (Elem Klimov, 1985)

12. Rocco and His Brothers (Luchino Visconti, 1960)

11. The Seventh Continent (Michael Haneke, 1989)

10. Duel in the Sun (King Vidor, 1946)

9. Festen (Thomas Vinterberg, 1998)

8. The Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir, 1939)

7. The Cranes are Flying (Mikhail Kalatozov, 1957)

6. Blow-Up (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1966)

5. Sabotage (Alfred Hitchcock, 1936)

4. The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (John Cassavetes, 1976)

3. Mona Lisa (Neil Jordan, 1986)

2. Chungking Express (Wong Kar-Wai, 1994)

1. Masculin Féminin (Jean-Luc Godard, 1966)

14 comments:

  1. Such an awesome list! It's been a great year for blogging for sure, and your site is still one of my favorites!

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  2. Glad to see the inclusion of Killing of A Chinese Bookie... like that film a lot from Casavettes

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    1. I watched several Cassavetes films in 2013, but Killing was easily my favorite.

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  3. So many great flicks here, whatta round up. The Seventh Continent gutted me the first time I saw it. So real and heartbreaking.

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    1. Thanks man. I had the same reaction to The Seventh Continent. One of Haneke's best, for sure.

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  4. My favorites of those (that I've seen) are Chungking Express and The Seventh Continent. I actually gave my mum the Michael Haneke dvd trilogy (1989-94) for xmas.
    Have a great 2014!

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    1. Thanks, Chris! You too!

      Nice gift idea. My mom would never watch them. ;)

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  5. Chungking Express is my favourite non-2013 film of last year. And I love Festen, Stardust Memories and The Rules of the Game too :)

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    1. Chungking Express is such a lovely film. Glad you dig those other films as well. :)

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  6. Wow ... it's been over 20 years since I saw Mona Lisa. I'm glad you saw Kes, I thought that was a good film. And Sarah just watched and reviewed The War Zone too. I didn't see it -- it sounds like a really tough one to watch but a worthwhile movie.

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    1. The War Zone is brutal, but VERY good. I wish that film had received more praise when it came out.

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  7. Loved Blow Up, the tennis match at the end was bizarre, but in a way I loved.

    Clearly a lot of stuff I have to catch up on, for example the works of Jean-Luc Godard, but as I hated Breathless (and I mean hated) I find it hard to urge myself to do so.

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    1. I agree on Blow-Up. It's an interesting film, for sure.

      I don't hate Breathless, but I do think it's slightly overrated. I'm sure there is a Godard film you'd like. Maybe Pierrot le Fou, for instance.

      Thanks for the follow by the way!

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