By Kyle Osborne
You can see my Top Ten Films of 2013 here:http://www.examiner.com/review/the-top-ten-films-of-2013?cid=db_articles
And these are other excellent films that, in any other year, would have made a Top Ten list, and just barely missed it this year. They’re all highly recommended.
SIDE EFFECTS, PRISONERS, PHILOMENA. PLACE BEYOND THE PINES, BLUE JASMINE, THE SPECTACULAR NOW , FRUITVALE STATION, STAR TREK:INTO DARKNESS
The worst films this year were mostly bloated, big budget action flicks:
WORST OF 2013
LONE RANGER
AFTER EARTH
THE FAMILY
MAN OF STEEL
GROWN UPS 2
But it took just 3 former action superstars to collectively come up with a special collection of the worst films of 2013—see who they are here:http://www.examiner.com/review/which-movie-stars-had-the-worst-year-2013?cid=db_articles
And my buddy Ric Sandlas from http://www.DearFilm.net has come up his list of 2013’s worst—Ric, take it away:
By Ric Sandlas
In any given year it’s usually quite easy for a critic to pick the best films of the year. However ask them what the ten worst films of the year are, and you may draw a lot of blank faces or pondering looks. So, in order to warn away the public at large;
#10 is “To The Wonder.” In a film devoted to the glory of love it is not acceptable to leave the man out of the story. Malick dropped the ball so bad with this one that I may never get over being so pissed at him!
#9 is “Elysium” for the simple reason that the sophomore slump was just so heinous for Neill Blomkamp after “District 9,” that not only did he miss the mark, he missed the backstop and killed a perfectly good premise.
#8 is “After Earth.” I rank it higher than “Elysium” for the simple reason where the premise was just as wasted but it also had twice as much bad acting and story inconsistencies.
#7 is “Identity Thief for the simple reason that is tried so hard and missed so completely with a premise that should have been a shoe-in for laughs along the way.
#6 is “Spring Breakers.” The Hodge-Podge of good and bad is what sank this film. When you jump the shark so much that girls mowing down hoodlums wearing pink ski masks without a scratch seems like high action, you have gone too far.
The next 4 are considered worse than the bottom 5 purely based on the fact that they are based on true stories or established franchises.
#5 is “Pain & Gain.” This is just a wee bit worse than number 6 because it’s Michael Bay trying to direct like Harmony Korine in number 6 and using a series of real events that ultimately wastes every actor in the mess, especially a great portrayal by the Rock (Dwayne Johnson.)
#4 is “The Lone Ranger.” This train wreck had train wrecks and cast white man Johnny Depp as Tonto and cardboard cut out Armie Hammer as The ranger and it just got worse from there. Some action sequences did keep me from gouging my eyes out. Thanks Gore Verbinski!
#3 is “Man of Steel.” When you turn a legendary omnipotent nice guy into a blasé city wrecking killer where his earthly Pops dies saving the stupid family dog, I just cant be bothered! I may end up tracing my future hatred of superheroes to this particular film.
#2 is the abysmal “Oz the great and Powerful. When James Franco can shine so surprisingly in a film turd like “Spring Breakers,” and drop the ball so hugely in the audacious prequel to one of the greatest films of all time, you may think there could be nothing worse!
Oh but there was. Drum roll please.
The top dog, numero uno worst film of the years is the questionable comedy “A Haunted House.” Malcolm (Marlon Wayans) and Kisha (Essence Atkins,) move into their dream home, but soon learn a demon also resides there. What transpires should not have been seen let alone filmed. Just take it away please.
So what was your worst of the year? Comment or twitter @filmric