This is undoubtedly available elsewhere on my Criticwire submission and Letterboxd. I figured with the added space--that I forgot to add to the IW/CW space--I may as well go into it with as much detail as one should.
Tribeca Film/Nerdist Industries
10) Zero Charisma
Dirs. Katie Graham, Andrew Matthews
The best joke in this tale of nerd semantics is when Miles reveals to a room of RPG players that he freelances for Geek Chic Daily, which now is better known as Nerdist News. But that's just a fortunate Easter egg in a film that breaks down creativity, roles and a 20-sided take on life that plays to the same notes as Inside Llewyn Davis if you're not keen on folk music.
9) No
Dir. Pablo Larraín
Like Leviathan I watched this back at NYFF 2012 and then became obsessed with finding the original video. What you can watch above on YouTube is almost the exact same quality as the CVs in Larraín's film--sometimes literally the original video is used, which is why he shot around on U-matic tape.
Paramount Pictures
8) Nebraska
Dir. Alexander Payne
I dunno, MacGruber punching out Stacy Keach is pretty fucking poignant. Maybe even stranger in this world of evolving media is hearing how Forte got the part.
7) Computer Chess
Dir. Andrew Bujalski
Bujalski performs vintage ownage by taking Demon Seed, chess and programming paradoxes into a single Days Inn.
kino loriber via netflix
20th Century Fox
6) The Counselor
Dir. Ridley Scott
D'Angelo summed it up best. Two things stand out to me:
The Fourth Barrel: This features a pop culture 1-2 combo when John Leguizamo takes a moment to explain to Dean Norris why Mexican cartels include a fourth barrel when shipping their drugs. It brings everything to a crashing halt, hundreds of miles away from the A and B plot to go into one of Corman McCarthy's nuances.
The Car Fuck: Malikina (Cameron Diaz) fucks a windshield and whose terrifying vagina is literally displayed to Reiner (Javier Bardem) but this is unappealing. Or, girls are icky and shouldn't be mature, but they're the ones who can emotionally take control of say a drug exchange and be professional about it.
5) Pain & Gain
Dir. Michael Bay
This is a "small movie" to Michael Bay. Keeping this in mind is a key part to enjoying the insanity when this is Bay "limiting" himself.
Also The Rock is a standout MVP throughout this film.
4) Leviathan
Dirs. Verena Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor
This is many things. It is a look into the daily life of a fishing trawler off the coast of Massachusetts. It is a tone poem. It is a mutation of traditional documentary narrative. It is a cyclical example of tradition.
It also syncs up incredibly fucking well to Mastodon's Leviathan. If you listen closely, you can supposedly hear it from one of the deck hands.
3) The Unspeakable Act
Dir. Dan Sallitt
I've managed to annoy Dan for almost as long as I've tried to seriously reevaluate my cinephile nature. Back when I co-ran a podcast from a bar in the Village, we had Dan on to discuss being featured at the Off-Camera Film Festival and later with the Siren to go over auteur theory.
But that's not important. The Unspeakable Act is quiet, darkly funny and examines how family deals with unseen tragedy, progression and love in their own way. Tallie Medel stands out for her performance along with Sky Hirschkron.
It's on DVD and that is literally filled with more value if you're a cinephile, fake cinephile or idiot savant.
Cinema Guild
Poor Rich Kids
2) The End of Love
Dir. Mark Webber
I interviewed Webber back at Sundance 2012 about his film and I got floored by it. In a year where This is the End was heralded by having Hollywood make fun of itself, End of Love would be if those same actors took themselves seriously to look at everything it's easier to make a joke about.
1) Behind the Candelabra
Dir. Steven Soderbergh
Pure ownage from Soderbergh for his baby boys.
HBO