First, an update on yesterday’s roundup of year-end lists. The Village Voice‘s film poll now has a nifty microsite and, like Indiewire‘s poll, there are countless ways of navigating your way through it. And there’s a nice batch of tie-in articles as well.
Critics at the Dissolve have cast their votes, and Sam Adams, Mike D’Angelo, Genevieve Koski, Noel Murray, Keith Phipps, Nathan Rabin, Tasha Robinson, Matt Singer, and Scott Tobias have blurbed the top 20 films, noting that “only one film appeared on all Top 15 ballots: Spike Jonze’s Her, a forward-thinking science-fiction/romance that takes place in the near future, but captured the tenor of the times like no other film this year.”
La Furia Umana has posted its editors’ lists, nearly 20 in all, opening with Nicole Brenez’s.
Newcity Film‘s “Top 5 of Everything” collects just that in 16 categories, ranging from American and foreign films to soundtracks and film books, most of them put together by Ray Pride.
Flavorwire‘s Jason Bailey lists five top docs (#1: We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks) and 20 top films (#1: 12 Years a Slave).
The Guardian‘s countdown is almost there. #3’s a tie: Catherine Shoard argues that Behind the Candelabra “took an outlandish affair—between the sex addict closeted super-diva and an apple pie dog handler—and it made it relatable,” and as for Gravity, Andrew Pulver writes that “the immersive brilliance of those zero-grav scenes is without equal—certainly this year, and possibly the entire century to date.” Xan Brooks takes on #2, The Great Beauty, “Paolo Sorrentino‘s astonishing satire on la dolce vita and the withering flesh.”
Dennis Dermody‘s list for Paper is full of surprises. Not so much the #1 (Inside Llewyn Davis), but perhaps the #2 (Xavier Dolan’s Laurence Anyways) and certainly the #1 on his 10 worst list: 12 Years a Slave. More worst lists: Jake Cole (Film.com) and Sarah Salovaara (Filmmaker).
“Simply realized and yet breathtakingly profound,” writes Richard Lawson of his #1 at Vanity Fair: Nebraska.
“There are about eight billion ways Frances Ha could have stepped wrong and become the hipster cliche I think many were expecting it to be.” It didn’t for Joe Reid, who puts it in the #1 slot at the Wire.
HitFix‘s Drew McWeeney‘s turned his list into a longish article and a 6’22” video. His #1: Her.
The list of best DVDs and Blu-rays of 2013 at PopMatters goes all the way to 35. #1: Kino Lorber’s Nosferatu. The Midnight Marauder posts his favorite movie posters of the year. At Twitch, James Marsh introduces the best docs while Ben Umstead showcases the disappointments and surprises.
CRITICS AWARDS
“The Black Film Critics Circle has given top honors to 12 Years a Slave and its director, Steve McQueen.” Francesca Bacardi has the full list at Variety. 12 Years has also scored with the Florida Film Critics Circle and Las Vegas Film Critics Society. Peter Knegt has those winners at Indiewire.
MEANTIME
At Bookforum, Christian Lorentzen has notes on the best novels, while the Brooklyn Rail‘s Phong Bui lists the ten best art books of 2013.
Lists and Awards 2013 Index. For news and tips throughout the day every day, follow @KeyframeDaily on Twitter and/or the RSS feed. Get Keyframe Daily in your inbox by signing in at fandor.com/daily.