Top Ten Looked Forward to Movies of 2013 - How did they stand up?

2013 is wrapping up, so it's time to take a look at my year of going to the movies.  This time last year I did a blog post wherein I discussed my ten (technically eleven) most looked forward to movies of the year.  Now let's see whether they were worth the wait.  To save repeating myself, I'm only going to talk about the titles that didn't end up in my final top ten of the year.

10) Silent Night of the Living Dead

Nothing I can say about this one, because it never came out.  I haven't been able to find out what's happened to this, no idea if this has been pushed back, or if it's even getting made at all.  Oh well.  However, Paul Davis, the director made a short film called The Body this year, which has been getting a lot of praise, and screenwriter James Moran has done one called Crazy For You, so they've been keeping busy, maybe there's hope.  Also, I did get to see a very strong alternative to this, which I'll be talking about in the top ten list.

9) The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

I'm still not entirely convinced this needed to be three films, it does feel somewhat indulgent.  However, I can't really complain too much as this entry was a lot of fun.  The whole thing is like one long chase, with a lot of events round the periphery setting up the main climax.  Even though not a huge amount actually happens (hell, in the BBC Radio 4 version, my gold standard for the story, the events here are covered in two and a bit episodes), there's plenty to take in.  There's the design work of Laketown, lorded over by Stephen Fry, new character Tauriel (Evangeline Lily) who's a damn good addition, and touches of the old school Peter Jackson in the amount of glee Orcs and giant spiders are eviscerated in this.  But it's when the film is closest to the book that is the best, Bilbo's lone encounter with Smaug.  It's tense, very well directed, and Smaug is, in design, effects, and Benedict Cumberbatch's voice, the Best.  Dragon.  EVER!  Still a bit of a bum-number, but having a bit more of a Lord of the Rings feel than last time.  Given the editing though, I'm expecting quite a long extended cut this time, not least because if you get Stephen Fry in your movie, you are going to get the most you can out of him!

8) Oz: The Great and Powerful

Two hours of Sam Raimi going "See Tim Burton?  This is how you do a 3D CGI-filled live-action Disney follow-up to a classic family tale!".  A strong return to Oz (that's at least on par with Return to Oz) with a lot of charm and fun.  Now some have pointed out that the Oz films have been very female orientated and giving the lead to a male this time was kind of a betrayal of that.  A fair concern, but the film does get around this by having excellent female supporting roles.  Not only is the Little China Girl now perhaps my favourite character in anything ever, but it's the conflict of the Witches that's what drives the story and where the real dramatic weight lies.  Perhaps the biggest surprise was how similar in plot structure it was in many ways to Raimi's own Army of Darkness, even down to a similar montage leading from act two to three.  Let's hope the next movie Disney's planning in this vein turns out as good.  Oh, and Bruce Campbell was in it playing one of the Winkies.  Yes, he did get bonked on the head, most probably by Sam.

6) Warm Bodies

In an age when zombie movies and shows are getting so unrelentingly grim and nihilistic, it's nice to see one where there is a note of hope in the story.  Indeed, the biggest surprise this film has is that it's a far better tribute to George Romero than this summer's World War Z.  It actually expands from some ideas from Day of the Dead and Land of the Dead, keeping a hefty satirical edge too (though in this case more a satire of the whole supernatural romance concept).  The romance is pretty well done too, and it's great seeing two leads having really good chemistry even when one is just moaning and shuffling for most of it.  (No I am not going to make a "Still a better love story than Twilight" joke!  Oh, wait...)  This was a pretty neat little bit of fluff film, a neat little watch that does still show there's still live in the ol' reanimated corpses yet. Actually, for similar fare done tragically, check out the TV series In the Flesh from this year too...

5) John Dies at the End

When I mentioned this last year, the last sentence went "the only reason this isn't higher on the list is that it's coming pretty early in the year, so not long to wait."  Boy was I tempting fate.  The original UK distributor, Revolver, went bust right before the March release date; don't get too upset about that, they were dicks by a lot of accounts.  Eureka got the rights, and only in November did it come out on DVD, in fucking ASDA! (I suspect those were meant to be rental discs, but then Blockbuster collapsed, and they had to do something with them)  It was worth the wait though, this film's a blast to watch.  Now it did leave out a lot from the book, but the book is a huge, sprawling thing, which comes from its origins as a bunch of short stories edited together, so it's understandable.  Also, there are all sorts of things in the book that it would take a huge budget to pull off, like the Las Vegas scenes.  What is in here works very well, and has a lot of the spirit of the book.  It's funny, has shitloads of creativity, and is honestly like nothing else.  Seriously check this one out when it gets a full DVD and special edition Blu-Ray release in February, KORROK WILLS IT!

Joint 2) Thor: The Dark World

So Man of Steel showed that the main problem with DC's current wave of superhero movies, particularly the ones Nolan is making, is that they seem kind of ashamed to be superhero movies.  The name Superman is mentioned and then apologised for, and the filmmakers talk more about a serious, sci-fi epic direction.  Thor: The Dark World starts by introducing Elves.  In Spaceships.  This movie is just plain fun through and through.  Chris Hemsworth (who's had a good year between this and Rush) has established Thor as an iconic, likeable screen hero.  The rest of the cast are a blast to spend to spend time with, especially the eagerly awaited return of Tom Hiddleston's Loki.  It's got a great sense of wonder, pacing, drama, does great things with the female characters, and a truly inventive climactic battle in London.  It's not flawless; I love how all fellow Londoners I know agree on the "you can't get to Greenwich in three stops from Charing Cross on the Tube" nitpick.  For me though, I did get the sense there's a bit more we're not seeing (and apparently there was a lot cut for time), so Marvel?  Director's Cut Blu-Ray plz?

So, the only disappointment on the list was that one film didn't get made, and about half of the titles made it to the top ten.  But how did those that made the grade stack up against each other?  Did one of them claim the top spot?  All will be revealed soon.  Next time, it's time for a trailer reel of a load more great 2013 films that didn't quite make those top spots...