THE 10 BETTER-THAN-EXPECTED MOVIES OF 2013

We have all perused those Best Of… and Worst Of… lists over the years, and in 2013 the web is flooded with them. But what about those movies that fall in between; the films that weren’t quite good enough to make the grade but were far better than anyone had any right expect. SCREEN-SPACE slaps the backs of ten movies that were never serious contenders for the end-of-year honour lists, but were a whole lot better than any of us thought they would be…

PAIN AND GAIN
Michael Bay’s oeuvre encapsulates muscle-headed tributes to all-American machismo (Bad Boys; Armageddon; Pearl Harbour; the Transformers trilogy). Who would have thought that he had within himself a smart, scathing satire of that very mindset? That he wrangled dimwitted action-movie poster-boys Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson (pictured, above) to sell the gag is as inspired as the conceit itself. Sort of Get Shorty crossed with Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

EVIL DEAD
“Don’t touch it,” screamed the holier-than-thou webheads who rose up in defiance of Fede Alvarez’s remake of Sam Raimi’s low-budget horror classic. “F*** you!” said Alvarez, who delivered an R-rated, high-octane splatterfest gem that both honours the anarchic energy of the original and the expectations of the fan base who hold the series in such high regard. 

DARK SKIES
Scott Stewart’s slow-burn, small-scale, suburban-set alien invasion-meets-haunted house thriller bombed (it went straight to DVD in most territories). Yet this expertly-crafted story of a terrorised family and the phenomenon that befalls them is a goose-pimply joyride that rewards the patient viewer; The Conjuring wooed the ticket buyers, but Dark Skies is a better film. Keri Russell channels Poltergeist’s Jobeth Williams as the every-mom coping with unwanted intruders.

WARM BODIES
The Gen-Y cynicism of director Jonathan Levine (All The Boys Love Mandy Lane; The Wackness; 50/50) meets the romantic warmth of author Isaac Marion; the result is Romeo-&-Juliet for The Walking Dead generation. Scary, funny and sweet in equal measure, Warm Bodies preaches ‘love the one you’re with’ to a movie-going demographic that that seeks out both thrills and truths.

CLOUD ATLAS
It proved impenetrably dense for the mainstream mindset (the US box office topped out at US$27million), but the Wachowski’s weren’t pandering to the multiplex mentality; how they convinced Warner Bros to back this project is anyone’s guess. The upshot is that the sibling’s extraordinary vision of David Mitchell’s novel now exists in that rarefied realm that includes Brazil and Waterworld; expansive, ambitious visions that with a derisive repuatation yet have established a fierce following. 

WHITE REINDEER
Zach Clark’s pitch-black Christmas tale is dark Yule-tide classic; sort of an ‘It’s a Not So Wonderful Life’. As real-estate agent/Donna Reed wannabe Suzanne Barrington, Anna Margaret Hollyman should get Oscar attention, but won’t; her journey from WASP princess to drugged-up orgy participant to fully rounded self-fulfiller is 2013’s strongest character arc.

THE HISTORY OF FUTURE FOLK
A nutty narrative about an alien invasion that fails because ‘they’ fall in love with our capacity for love and music draws you in; the soundtrack provides the greatest toe-tapping moments in 2013. The most wonderfully engaging comedy this year.

MADRAS CAFÉ:
US cinema had Argo, Ben Affleck’s zippy, giddy cinematic poltical thriller. International cinema had Shoojit Sircar’s volatile Madras Café , a work that blends fictional construct and factual background to form a deeply humanistic take on regional conflict. John Abraham is a great lead, mixing action-hero muscle with conflicted moral foil.

YOU’RE NEXT
The best Australian actress on screen this year was Sharni Vinson. As the ‘final-girl’ archetype at the heart of Adam Wingard’s home-invasion bloodbath, Vinson resurrected the ballsy action-heroine lead character that once belonged to Sigourney Weaver. This gory, funny, terrifying film didn’t start as her star-making vehicle, but by the final frame, she emerged every bit the next decade’s Jamie Lee-Curtis.  

THE SPECTACULAR NOW
Director James Ponsoldt’s adaptation of Tim Tharp’s novel is as potent a study of alcoholism as Mike Figgis’ Leaving Las Vegas. But it also encompasses teenage alienation, first love anxiety and familial discourse; why is this stunning work not an Oscar front-runner? Leading man Miles Teller is this generation’s Tom Hanks; Shailene Woodley outdoes her Oscar-nominated turn in The Descendants.