The list of “best” movies that Michael and I compose each year is of course very subjective. It is difficult sometimes to define or even agree on what “best” means,  For me, the “best” are those movies that are highly entertaining, evocative and/or educational. I love movies that stay with me long after I have seen them.  Unfortunately I felt that 2013 was not a great year for “best” movies. Most of what I saw was immediately forgettable. These are the exceptions…

OK-this movie probably wouldn’t make anybody’s “best” list but I thought it was fun. Turn your brain off and just sing along.

As always, I look forward to Tarantino’s wonderful storytelling. However, “Django” is less a story and more a series of wonderfully detailed and acted scenes. Not Tarantino’s best but certainly entertaining.

Worth watching for the scenes when zombies are swarming over major cities like a tsunami and scaling  the sides of buildings and walls like army ants. The story lags toward the end but the middle is terrific.

Visually amazing and a well told tall tale.

Another war gem from Kathryn Bigelow. Jessica Chastain was brilliant.

I agree with Michael-David O. Russell is on fire. 

A very smart and likeable comedy from Lake Bell. Keep an eye on her.

This documentary is a few years old but I watched it on Michael’s recommendation. It is a wonderful conspiracy story of the biggest art “heist” in history.

Another documentary movie-this one about one of the most interesting and enigmatic movies in Stanley Kubrick’s portfolio. Is The Shining an allegory on the treatment of Native Americans, a hidden story about Nazi Germany or Kubrick’s admission that he helped fake the moon landings? All these theories and more are seriously explored in an entertaining and fun way.

A disturbing and horrifying movie about the abuse of authority and the desire to avoid conflict at all cost. The fact that the story is based on a real-life scenario makes it even more frightening.