There's been a lot of movies about survival in 2013. In All is Lost Robert Redford was trying to survive on an open sea. In Captain Phillips Tom Hanks was abducted by Somali pirates, who were hoping for ransom. In Gravity Sandra Bullock was floating in space and desperately looking for ways to return to Earth. In 12 Years a Slave Solomon Northup had to endure the terrors of slavery in order to stay alive. Nature, greed, space, hatred. All as relentless and vicious as a disease. But at this time - 1985, in this place - Dallas - this disease was also something those four things weren't - unbeatable.
Martin Scorsese's outrageous new film The Wolf Wall Street is the director's return to formula known from films such as Goodfellas and Casino. A story of crime, money and ultimate consequences. Or in this case - perhaps a lack of them? 
There is a fairly new pattern in the world. Every two years Woody Allen makes a good movie. Between that his movies are either really, really bad or truly acquired taste. After an unholy abomination that was From Rome with Love, truly one of Allen's worst, comes delightful, mature, insightful and surprisingly dark Blue Jasmine.
American Hustle, David O. Russell's follow up to hugely successful Silver Linings Playbook is an entertaining mess. It has moments of brilliance, moments of artistic confusion, scenes that are lovely and scenes that are completely misguided. While the cast is excellent, I'm only convinced of the greatness of one performance. Fortunately for the film, this ensemble's efforts are enough to entertain.
I like Joseph Godon-Levitt. I wouldn't go as far as to call myself a fan of his, but he is a talented guy and he seems to be a likable, cool person. He has given us a lot of good performances in many great films - just recently in Looper, The Dark Knight Rises and 50/50. And now he is trying his efforts in a new endeavor - writing and directing.
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Imagine that you are a cook. In fact, you are an excellent cook. You've spent the whole day cooking delicious meals of many different cuisines. By the end of the day you are left with various ingredients. They are all superb individually, but they don't make sense together. You could come up with some new sort of meal and make it delicious, you have a talent for it. But instead you go the easy way - you put them in a shit-stainted shaky bowl, you say it's great and you serve it to your customers.
Based on true story of one man's fight for survival and freedom. In the pre-Civil War United States, Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery. Facing cruelty, as well as unexpected kindnesses, Solomon struggles not only to stay alive, but to retain his dignity. In the twelfth year of his unforgettable odyssey, Solomon's chance meeting with a Canadian abolitionist will forever alter his life.
And just like the Devil keeps coming back, so do Carrie remakes.
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Let me just begin by saying Mud has the most heart I've seen in any movie this year. It's incredible that a story that is mostly based on characters talking and interacting, a story that unfolds so slowly and patiently on the screen, can be so gripping and affecting. But this is what Jeff Nichols does. His last film, Take Shelter, was also a slow-paced, very character driven tale. And while both films have many elements in common and I give a slight edge to Take Shelter, Mud is still among the best movies I've seen this year.
There is a number of movies that genuinely infuriated me. Sometimes it's because they end up being disappointments when I wanted them to be great. Sometimes it's because they are a waste of my time. But there are actual great films that infuriate me so much, I'm angry just thinking about them weeks, months, years after seeing them. Those are the films that accurately show that the majority of human race is weak, contemptible and genuinely pathetic.
Let me just start by saying - I have absolutely no problem with porn. I think everyone should be able to do what they want, as long as it involves consensus between people. You wanna do something hardcore? You wanna film it? Go ahead. That said, I don't necessarily have to feel sympathy or any respect for the people involved in porn industry. 
I remember siting in the theatre more than a decade ago (God, I'm so freaking old...) and watching The Others. During one particularly intense jump scare, when the medium found the kids hiding in the closet, a woman who was sitting in the row few seats away from me jumped so high her popcorn fell out of the bucket. When I saw The Conjuring a woman in my row was weeping actual tears. It happened during the finale of the film and I'm not sure why it was, out of fear or because what was on the screen was so intense.
Let me say this upfront - I don't mind silly movies. Just few days ago I had a great time watching Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy in The Heat. It was dumb, but at least it wasn't boring. This is pretty much the minimum I ask of summer film - to entertain. So when I was checking my text messages during Pacific Rim, I knew that it failed for me.
6 friends. One house. A party. A milky way. Apocalypse.
In the immortal words of legendary Aldous Snow from Forgetting Sarah Marshal - "Awful bloody movie". I was left with a number of reflections other than this one as soon as the end credits of the new Superman movie Man of Steel came up on screen - how the hell can a movie with Henry Cavill 1. shirtless 2. in a tight suit be so dull? How in the world Adams and Cavill had zero chemistry? Why did they make Diane Lane look like a homeless person? But among those questions there was also one request - don't ever let Zack Snyder direct a movie again.
Unusual. That is the first word that comes to mind when thinking about Stoker. The film is unlike anything I've seen recently - the director Chan-wook Park has very unusual, vivid style and his movies always feel like stepping in a very weird and creepy dream. Stoker is his English language debut and the film blends between usual Park's style and this new component which is the story that is much more approachable than any other told in Park's movies yet at the same time it's very hard to understand what drives the characters and guess what lies ahead.