The Top 10 of the year... so far!

From my list on TasteOfCinema.

2012 was a magnificent year in movies, and so far 2013 looks like it will exceed in greatness. Venice and Toronto film festivals are upon us, and with the arrival of film festivals comes the arrival of Oscar contenders. The first 2/3 of 2013 however still deserves a fair share of recognition and awards, so without further ado, here are the best movies of 2013 (so far)! (Note: I have yet to see Blue Jasmine)

Only God Forgives (2013)- 'Drive' on steroids (3½ Stars)

Ever since the first trailer premiere, I've been hotly anticipating what could have been one of the year's best films.

Guess what? It is!

Ryan Gosling stars as a Julien, a Thai drug dealer who also manages a boxing ring. He is conflicted between good and evil when his devilish mother (note: DEVILISH) pays a visit when Julien's brother is killed. A god-like cop played by Vithya Pasingram comes between Julien's mom's plan for Julien to take revenge.

That's just the plot. And the plot is only a small part of the film. That is what is potentially dividing so many viewers: the lack of a strong plot. I thought the plot (at least for material like this) was perfect in importance, since a stronger plot would only complicate the religious themes even more, and a lesser plot... less plot would lead to a pointless movie.

Only God Forgives, red-band trailer

Announced for Cannes. Looks great.

Cannes 2013 lineup!

Can't wait!

In Competition

Only God Forgives, dir Nicolas Winding Refn
Inside Llewyn Davis, dir Ethan and Joel Coen
Borgman, dir Alex Can Warmerdam
La Grande Bellezza, dir Paulo Sorrentino
Behind the Candelabra, dir Steven Soderbergh
La Venus a la Fourrure, dir Roman Polanski
Nebraska, dir Alexander Payne
Jeune et Jolie, dir François Ozon
La Vie d'Adele, dir Abdellatif Kechiche
Wara No Tate, dir Takashi Miike
Soshite Chichi Ni Naru, dir Kore-Eda Hirokazu
Tian Zhu Ding, dir Jia Zhangke
Grisgris, dir Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
The Immigrant, dir James Gray
Heli, dir Amat Escalante
Le Passe, dir Asghar Farhadi
Michael Kohlhaas, dir Arnaud Despallieres
Un Chateau en Italie, dir Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi