Tag Archives: Best movies of 2013

And the 2013 COFCA Award Winners Are….

Gravity pulls in top prize at 12th annual Central Ohio Film Critics Association awards

 

(Columbus, January 2, 2014) Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity has been named Best Film in the Central Ohio Film Critics Association’s 12th annual awards, which recognize excellence in the film industry for 2013.  The film also claimed two other awards.  Cuarón was honored as Best Director.  Director of Photography Emmanuel Lubezki won for Best Cinematography.

 

Columbus-area critics recognized these screen performers: Best Actor Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave); Best Actress and Breakthrough Film Artist Adèle Exarchopolous [Blue is the Warmest Color (La vie d’Adèle)]; Best Supporting Actor James Franco (Spring Breakers); Best Supporting Actress Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle); and Actor of the Year Matthew McConaughey for his exemplary body of work in Dallas Buyers Club, Mud, and The Wolf of Wall Street.

 

Other winners include: American Hustle for Best Ensemble; The Wolf of Wall Street’s Terence Winter for Best Adapted Screenplay; Her’s Spike Jonze for Best Original Screenplay and Arcade Fire for Best Score; Best Documentary The Act of Killing; Best Foreign Language Film and Best Animated Film The Wind Rises (Kaze tachinu); and Short Term 12 as Best Overlooked Film.

 

Repeat COFCA winners include: Jennifer Lawrence (2012 Best Actress for Silver Linings Playbook); Matthrew McConaughey (2012 Actor of the Year for Bernie, Killer Joe, Magic Mike, and The Paperboy); James Franco (2010 Best Actor for 127 Hours); and Emmanuel Lubezki (2011 Best Cinematography for The Tree of Life).

 

Founded in 2002, the Central Ohio Film Critics Association is comprised of film critics based in Columbus, Ohio and the surrounding areas. Its membership consists of 20 print, radio, television, and internet critics. COFCA’s official website at www.cofca.org contains links to member reviews and past award winners.

 

Winners were announced at a private party on January 2.

 

Complete list of awards:

 

Best Film

1. Gravity

2. Her

3. American Hustle

4. Frances Ha

5. The Wolf of Wall Street

6. 12 Years a Slave

7. Inside Llewyn Davis

8. Before Midnight

9. Upstream Color

10. Nebraska

 

Best Director

-Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity

-Runner-up: Spike Jonze, Her

 

Best Actor

-Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave

-Runner-up: Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club

 

Best Actress

-Adèle Exarchopolous, Blue is the Warmest Color (La vie d’Adèle)

-Runner-up: Brie Larson, Short Term 12

 

Best Supporting Actor

-James Franco, Spring Breakers

-Runner-up: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club

 

Best Supporting Actress

-Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle

-Runner-up: Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave

 

Best Ensemble

-American Hustle

-Runner-up: The Wolf of Wall Street

 

Actor of the Year (for an exemplary body of work)

-Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club, Mud, and The Wolf of Wall Street

-Runner-up: Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

 

Breakthrough Film Artist

-Adèle Exarchopolous, Blue is the Warmest Color (La vie d’Adèle) (for acting)

-Runner-up: Brie Larson, Don Jon, Short Term 12, and The Spectacular Now (for acting)

 

Best Cinematography

-Emmanuel Lubezki, Gravity

-Runner-up: Hoyte Van Hoytema, Her

 

Best Adapted Screenplay

-Terence Winter, The Wolf of Wall Street

-Runner-up: John Ridley, 12 Years a Slave

 

Best Original Screenplay

-Spike Jonze, Her

-Runner-up: Destin Daniel Cretton, Short Term 12

 

Best Score

-Arcade Fire, Her

-Runner-up: Steven Price, Gravity

 

Best Documentary

-The Act of Killing

-Runner-up: Stories We Tell

 

Best Foreign Language Film

-The Wind Rises (Kaze tachinu)

-Runner-up: Blue is the Warmest Color (La vie d’Adèle)

 

Best Animated Film

-The Wind Rises (Kaze tachinu)

-Runner-up: Frozen

 

Best Overlooked Film

-Short Term 12

-Runner-up: Mud

 

COFCA offers its congratulations to the winners.

 

Previous Best Film winners:

 

2002:  Punch-Drunk Love

2003:    Lost in Translation

2004:    Million Dollar Baby

2005:    A History of Violence

2006:    Children of Men

2007:  No Country for Old Men

2008:  WALL·E

2009:  Up in the Air

2010:  Inception

2011:  Drive

2012:  Moonrise Kingdom

 

For more information about the Central Ohio Film Critics Association, please visit www.cofca.org or e-mail info@cofca.org.

 

The complete list of members and their affiliations:

 

Richard Ades (Columbus Free Press); Kevin Carr (www.7mpictures.com, FilmSchoolRejects.com); Bill Clark (www.fromthebalcony.com); John DeSando (90.5 WCBE); Frank Gabrenya (The Columbus Dispatch); James Hansen (Out 1 Film Journal); Nicholas Herum (Columbus Underground; Movies Hate You Too); Brad Keefe (Columbus Alive); Kristin Dreyer Kramer (NightsAndWeekends.com, 90.5 WCBE); Joyce Long (Freelance); Rico Long (Freelance); Hope Madden (Columbus Underground and MaddWolf.com); Paul Markoff (WOCC-TV3; Otterbein TV); David Medsker (Bullz-Eye.com); Lori Pearson (Kids-in-Mind.com, critics.com); Mark Pfeiffer (Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema; WOCC-TV3; Otterbein TV); Melissa Starker (Columbus Alive, The Columbus Dispatch); George Wolf (Columbus Radio Group and MaddWolf.com); Jason Zingale (Bullz-Eye.com); Nathan Zoebl (PictureShowPundits.com).

Countdown: Best Films of 2013

10. Blue is the Warmest Color

The engrossing and immersive romantic drama may be best known for its NC-17 rating, but the beauty and heartbreak in this loose narrative make it one of the best films of 2013. Adele Exarchopoulos provides among the strongest performances onscreen this year in a love story that is as emotionally explicit as it is sexually frank.

9. Stories We Tell

Sarah Polley proves her mettle as a documentarian with a private story that becomes universal, entertaining and genuinely moving. Through a profoundly personal investigation, Polley looks at the validity of those comfortable truths that live in every family, and it’s all clever, fascinating, funny stuff. Polley has quickly become a filmmaker you cannot ignore, and it is a testament to her own storytelling skill that even as she turns her focus inward, you can’t help but look at your own world in a different way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytq4VZ2Nyxg

 

8. The Wolf of Wall Street

Director Martin Scorcese’s three hour showcase of unchecked hedonism is a terrifically frenzied, wickedly funny ride. Leonardo DiCaprio is electric as Jordan Belfort, the real life Wall Street wizard who made millions before the Feds brought him down for rampant securities fraud. This is no hand-wringing reflection on the wages of sin, just a swaggering, appropriately superficial and completely entertaining lesson in the American dream.

7. Nebraska

The great Alexander Payne exceeds admittedly high expectations with this gracefully restrained father/son journey. The Oscar favorite will no doubt pull in a nomination for its lead, an unforgettable Bruce Dern, but the entire ensemble – June Squibb as Dern’s spitfire of a wife, in particular – beautifully convey the spite, regret, hilarity and insanity of family. Wistful and rambunctious, the film packs a dramatic punch but still leaves you smiling.

6. Gravity

Alfonso Cuaron redefines SciFi with a jaw-dropping interstellar adventure – undoubtedly this year’s most surprisingly tense action flick. He untethers a novice astronaut in outer space, and his audience with her, in the most intimate and epic journey of the year. His stunning directorial achievement reminds us of why people started making movies in the first place.

5. Her

Though it won’t hit many theaters until January, this film is too magnificent to be relegated to the category of afterthought. Spike Jonze has written and directed this year’s most poignant love story, cast it impeccably and set it just far enough into the future to let breathe. The eternally underappreciated Joaquin Phoenix breaks your heart as the lonesome lover in a world that encourages isolation, while Scarlett Johannson – in her second excellent turn this year, following Don Jon – delivers an award worthy performance with just her voice. It’s a beautiful, imaginative, relevant image of love in the modern world.

4. Inside Llewyn Davis

The Brothers Coen offer just another nearly flawless film, this time immersing us in the tribulations of a struggling musician in the 1961 Greenwich Village folk scene. Boasting a beautifully nuanced lead performance from Oscar Isaac and populated with hilarious and touching supporting turns, the film is the brothers’ most impeccably crafted character study. It’s also another great exploration of the artistic connections possible between cinema and music, reminding us again of that Coen genius.

3. The Act of Killing

Those responsible for exterminating more than a million Indonesians during the 1965 government overthrow re-enact their savagery for Joshua Oppenheimer’s camera in the most surreal and riveting documentary of this year, or perhaps any other. You simply cannot believe what you are seeing. The film is absolutely not what you expect it to be, regardless of what those expectations may be. It is essential viewing.

2. American Hustle

With a dream ensemble, wickedly sharp writing and an explosive pace, director David O. Russell gives us a con movie that explodes with heart and humor. Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper erupt while Christian Bale, Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner anchor a very human, impossibly captivating comedy/drama.

1. 12 Years a Slave

Intimate storytelling and flawless acting come together to eliminate the distance of time and create a powerful, visceral, unforgettable cinematic and human experience. Director Steve McQueen has created a film that makes all others set during the shameful American history of slavery seem almost precious. His film is a profound and brutal experience, and an awe-inspiring feat of moviemaking. There is no close second in a list of the best films of 2013.