FAVE FILMS 2013

Sorry my list is so 'mainstream' this year. 8/10 of my top-10 favorite films are nominated for at least one Oscar. That rarely happens. I normally have very eclectic taste. I haven't had the chance to see some films that others have praised. Films that only played in special festivals or select cities for example & haven't yet reached the Internets. But they're still on my need-to-watch list. Maybe you've seen some of them. Let me know. I try to watch everything my friends recommended to me. Just the fact that these films are included should, hopefully, be enough to encourage you to watch them if you haven't already. Watching them should give you a great time. And that's really all I'm saying.

There are no spoilers here. My hope is that you will read all the reviews, especially about the films you haven't seen, so that you'll become more motivated to see them. I share these lists with you to better reveal who I am, what my interests are & hopefully to motivate you to share titles with me whenever you watch something you think I'd like too. I'm very proud of this list & give every film in my top-10 the highest possible recommendation. I've searched long & hard to find these select relative few & they've all enriched my life & have helped define my year. OK, let's get on with it...

THE ACT OF KILLING

This film would be in my top-10 below if I hadn't decided to do a separate documentary section. I hope it wins the Oscar for best documentary. Director Joshua Oppenheimer's amazing film is about Indonesian former death squad leaders in North Sumatra, now in their 60s-70s, who were invited to reenact killings they'd personally done in the 1960s during Indonesia's 'war' on Communism. Not in the theatre of battle - in cold blood. They have never been punished. And in fact, they are considered heroes. Champions of the mass killing of over a million people. In this film, they are given a choice on how they wanted to re-portray their famous killings & demonstrate their inventions of death. They could choose whatever cinematic style they preferred. Primarily inspired by classic Mafia films, Westerns & even Musicals. Sometimes it's filmed in the actual locations where hundreds of people were killed. By the individuals on camera. This is some real-life Hunger Games shit.

Imagine if Germany had won WWII &, in the 1960s, the top SS men dressed up in costumes, including in drag, & created movies demonstrating how they killed people. That's essentially what this film is. Except unlike the hypothetical Nazi example, these murderers are still in power in Indonesia & no justice has been served. These guys killed countless 'Communists' personally, raided & burned villages & got their rape on, even with children, & were supported by the government while doing so. And because it was against 'Communists,' the U.S. government didn't interfere as well.

Both Werner Herzog & Errol Morris were executive producers on the film. Oppenheimer refers to the film as 'a documentary of the imagination.' Some of them now believe the killings were wrong, others have no regret, while others begin to break down before our eyes as their reenacted fiction starts to become a real nightmare within them. It's not an extremely difficult film to watch though. Nowadays, the older guys are laid-back and to be honest, a little boring. Except for that big guy who keeps dressing up in women's clothes in more than one reenactment. He admits to enjoying raping a 14-year old girl one time. That guy freaks me the fuck out.

ROOM 237

There are 'better' docs to choose from, with more universally interesting & vastly more important subjects, I know. So this is a very subjective choice. Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film THE SHINING is one of my favorite films of all time and I've seen it around 20 times. Do not watch this doc until you've seen it. ROOM 237 presents 9 different perceived meanings of the film. Their speculative film analysis attempts to reveal & find meaning & symbolism within Kubrick's film suggesting various topics and themes such as: the impossible architecture of The Overlook Hotel, the genocide of the Native Americans, the Holocaust & even how Kubrick 'helped Washington fake the Apollo 11 moon landing.' More on that can be seen in this follow-up doc which fans of ROOM 237 shouldn't miss called THE SHINING CODE. Each section presents THE SHINING as one of the most incredibly planned films ever made with various intended ways of affecting your subconscious. Much of this criticism doesn't present anything that hasn't been written about before. But now you can simply sit back & watch it before your eyes without cracking open a book.

Manohla Dargis of The New York Times wrote, "an ode to movie love at its most deliriously unfettered. The doc positions THE SHINING as a comparably coiled, thematically overflowing microcosm - standing in for cinema, for history, for obsession, for postmodern theory buckling under the film's heft." I rather like that. 2013 also brought us Stephen King's sequel to the classic novel. In the new novel, Doctor Sleep, we follow the all-grown-up character Danny who is still dealing with his powers & his haunted past. I recommend it even if you haven't read the original novel though you should read it if you love the film.

SOUND CITY

Another very subjective choice. SOUND CITY is the greatest film about a sound board ever made. Perhaps the most famous console at the most famous recording studio in modern history, especially due to this film. Sound City was a music recording studio in Van Nuys, California. Countless classic albums were recorded there. Including Nirvana's Nevermind. The film shows film footage of many bands recording & hanging out, then & now, & interviews all of those people listed on the poster, and more. From Fleetwood Mac to Tom Petty, Neil Young, Tool, Rage Against the Machine & many more. It's now out of business, but Dave Grohl has moved the famous console to his own studio where he records new music with many great guests, including Paul McCartney, Stevie Nicks & Trent Reznor. The sound quality is great. Listen to the songs from the DVD then the same song on YouTube and compare the quality. It's not even the same song. Any song. YouTube quality really isn't that good generally. Classic Rock stuff especially. Just watch the trailer & you'll know if this is for you. I think it's fantastic.

The runner's-up (in order)

BLACKFISH

STORIES WE TELL

MUSCLE SHOALS

A BAND CALLED DEATH

LEVIATHAN

 

Special Mention

 

FINAL CUT: HÖLGYEIM ÉS URAIM (LADIES & GENTLEMEN)

This is probably my favorite film of the year but because it's basically a 'cut and paste' job, I'm not including it in my top-10 list. But I'm going to begin by mentioning it. This is a film comprised entirely of parts of other films - hundreds of them. It's the story of love between a man & a woman. They fall in love, get married, have a child, etc... made entirely of bits & pieces of classic films edited together in a way that tells a continuous story. It's like DOCTOR WHO on crack meets Martin Scorsese's brain on acid. You get the picture. The characters change age, appearance, race, languages, etc.. but every time it's the same man and woman. Yes, it's a gimmick, but taken to this extreme, it ascends to the level of a masterpiece. It's an amazing homage to the history, purity & beauty of cinema itself.

Hungarian director/editor György Pálfi was able to get this film into the festival circuit. I saw it at Prague's Febiofest in March. And it absolutely blew my mind. I felt giddy throughout the film & caught myself playing the 'name that film' game almost the whole time. Not an easy feat since the film changes every 1 -10 seconds. One of the highlights is the fantastic fight scene montage which edits together everything from silent swashbucklers to anime to STAR WARS.

In fact, I recommend a drinking game. Do a shot every time there's a STAR WARS clip. Or, whenever there's a David Lynch scene. Although you'll get a lot drunker. Because the director limited clips to 2 films per each individual director featured. Except for David Lynch, who Pálfi loves. He even uses clips from TWIN PEAKS, one of the only TV shows featured in the film. But there are multiple clips from the same films, all of which are perfectly selected. This is movie porn to a serious cinema lover, like myself.

My favorite feature films

This list is in order

All my reviews are spoiler-free

After an exhaustive search, I deem these my favorites. I watched well over 90 films in total. Including re-watching my favorites. To decide what to watch each year, I watch the trailer of every film all year that my radar reaches as well as on every top-film list I came across at the end of the year. And I made a serious attempt to watch as many of those that I found interesting. Because I'm thorough. And I didn't want to miss out on anything. I urge you to watch these films. Even if you never tell me you have. But I'd rather you did. Here are my 10 favorite films of 2013.

HER

This is my favorite scripted film of the year. I hope it wins the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Everything about this film hit me in the perfect way. After time, & many more viewings, this is a film that very well could end up being one of my 10-favorite films of this decade. I think it's the best film Jonze has made, period. And I'm a huge fan of BEING JOHN MALKOVICH. I also think this is the best film Scarlett Johansson has been in since LOST IN TRANSLATION which is one of my top-10 films of the previous decade & which Sofia Coppola directed while she was married to Spike Jonze. I love that it's a science fiction film which infuses technology into the world Jonze has sculpted so effortlessly that it's easy to suspend our disbelief & accept that not only is this story believable but, one day, it's probably inevitable.

This is only Jonze's 4th feature film & the first he's written himself. The entire cast shines, especially Jaoquin Phoenix, & this is my favorite film he's ever done. During filming he was actually talking to actress Samantha Morton who was just off camera. She was on set every day because she was cast as Samantha, the A.I. operating system crossed with Siri who Phoenix has a relationship with. Jonze even recorded her dialogue separately & began editing the film when he decided to completely recast her, with Morton's blessing, with Scarlett Johansson. Which turned out to be a great decision because Johansson's role in the film, which is only audio, feels more human & 3-dimentional than some other performances I saw last year. Amy Adams is always great as is Rooney Mara who just might be the actress I'm most attracted to these days. She also starred in the 2013 film AIN'T THOSE BODIES SAINTS, directed by former Terrence Malick cinematographer David Lowery, which I really liked, but not enough to make this list. Her sister is Kate Mara who gained a lot of popularity recently for her role in the Netflix series HOUSE OF CARDS, which is great.

I really think this film is truly remarkable in that I believe 99/100 directors, if given the same script, wouldn't have been able to make this film with such subtle ingenuity. It's something I refer to as a 'miracle film.' And that's why it's #1 on my list. This story's concept would have been extremely easy to fuck up. But Jonze absolutely nailed it in the best possible way. The music for the film was composed by Arcade Fire by the way which helped influence & shares a song with their great 2013 album Reflektor. Fans of HER shouldn't miss Jonze's 30-minute, 2010 short I'M HERE, which is a beautiful love story involving robots with similar themes and tones.

AMERICAN HUSTLE

Nominated for 10 Oscars, David O. Russell's latest, & in my view greatest, is impeccably cast by great actors all around who he typically gives enough improv space to run wild in. No wonder it took three editors to put all the pieces together. This is my favorite ensemble cast as well as favorite soundtrack of the year. This is the film, & it's position on this list, that will spark the most controversy. In Drama/Comedy (the capitalization is key here), character is more important than story. Because character IS the story. Something we seem to have forgotten since ancient Greece. In most films, the actors can be exchanged with other actors & the result will be different; sometimes better, sometimes worse. In films like this, the actors ARE the story to such a degree that exchanging them for any other would destroy the entire dynamic of the film itself. No other film on my list represents this theatric truth to a better degree. That is why I praise it over most others.

I love how ridiculous these characters are & how seriously they take themselves. That's what makes this film so funny. It's like a farcical GOODFELLAS, which is a much better film in every possible way, don't get me wrong. And the synergy effect onscreen of all of them together makes this portrait of the 1970s feel fresh & very modern. Four of the five main actors have worked with Russell previously. Christian Bale & Amy Adams in 2010's THE FIGHTER & Bradley Cooper & Jennifer Lawrence in 2012's SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK. Russell wrote six of these characters for the six main actors who play them. He even let the actors improvise their own dialogue on set. I can't imagine, nor would I want to, anyone else playing these roles. Amy Adams is also in HER, so she's had one hell of a great year. I hope she wins the Oscar for Best Actress because she's the only one nominated who hasn't already won an Oscar.

The script is dense with pointed dialogue that cuts to the center of these assumed identities to reveal their various strengths & weaknesses while they struggle to stay afloat in rising waters well over their heads. You can tell this cast was enjoying every minute of embodying these flawed & self-deluded people who are drawn to situations they're clearly unprepared for like overzealous moths to a hip flame. There are so many subtle details in each actor's nuanced performance that a second viewing is highly recommended. You'll notice things you hadn't upon your first viewing.

I had many issues with this film after watching it only once. And I understand every criticism I've heard of it by you & others. The characters are not very likable. They're all morally corrupt. In real life, we'd never want them to succeed. But after repeat viewings, I've become a big fan of this film &, for me, it's the most rewatchable film of the year. And certainly one of the most entertaining. I'm sorry, I know many of you didn't think much of this film. I've watched this film 7 times now since December when I first saw it. So you can say I've had a change of heart. Maybe you will too.

BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR

This is my favorite foreign language film of the year. As soon as it won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in May, whose 2013 jury president was Steven Spielberg, this was one of my most anticipated films of the year. It was snubbed of any Oscar nominations - my biggest disappointment of this year's ceremony. Adèle Exarchopoulos gives my favorite performance by an actress in a leading role of the year. She's so tender, raw & fragile while at the same time gives a fearless & uncompromising performance. Tunisia-born director Abdellatif Kechiche's epic film, adapted from a graphic novel, is so elegantly composed & vast in depth it forces you to question the general quality of every other coming of age / romance film you've ever seen & thought was great. And if you're like me, you'll find many of them lacking this film's intense freshness & timely relevance. For the record, I know there's a lot of controversy related to the male director 'exploiting' the young actresses and I will agree that the intimate scenes are directed for a male audience & are actually a topic of legit criticism. In spite of this, I found a lot to love in this film and will not ignore what I found memorable for the sake of appeasing an ideal that subverts the merits of this accomplishment.

Some of you might question whether or not it's the film's explicit eroticism itself that influences me to regard this film so highly. It's rated NC-17 & contains explicit nudity. To which I'd respond that this entire film is erotic & that theme penetrates every aspect of this film: from the symbolism of food, within the moral prejudice & mild violence & all the way through the specific colour scheme. After watching this film, if the most memorable aspect of it to you is the physical intimacy, then you've missed the point of this incredibly moving, morally uplifting & poignant portrayal of humanity at it's most vulnerable & beautiful. It's rare in the more tame films the typical (American) viewer probably watches. But sex is every much a part of (ahem, some of) our lives that to shy away from it in such an intimate character study would be deliberately insulting. It's not exhibitionism for the sake if it. Rather it's a true representation of how much we give to another in a relationship & a brave choice the actresses made to be honest in their portrayal of all aspects of love.

Interestingly, there are numerous, subtle & deliberate references & themes of other films throughout this one. The character of Adèle says she's a film buff. My favorite being the outdoor garden dinner party scene in which G.W. Pabst's classic 1929 film PANDORA'S BOX is playing in the background on a large screen. There's deliberate juxtaposition between what's happening in the story among the characters & with Pabst's expressive & deliberate storytelling among his characters. It's this symbolic depth that speaks to me in a deeply moving way as a film lover & historian. To be honest, the ending is a bit ambiguous, which is something that generally bothers me, especially after investing so much time in a story. But in the context of this genre, which is essentially 'life,' one might argue that any film that doesn't end in death is equally so. I regard it as 'true to life' & accept it for what it is, which, like life, is all we can really ever do.

THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

Sorry, I couldn't resist using that poster! Nominated for 5 Oscars, this is my favorite Scorsese film since 2006's THE DEPARTED, winner of the Oscar for Best Picture that year, & which I think is a better film if you want to know. Arguably America's most respected director made what many feel they have to compare to AMERICAN HUSTLE to somehow justify their opinion that this is 'better'. Which is completely unnecessary. Both are about glorifying corruption & sympathizing with a morally corrupt band of characters. But that's basically where the comparisons end. Scorsese's film is great, has a bigger scope, a more complicated story &, in most aspects of filmmaking, is technically more accomplished. But AMERICAN HUSTLE is more character-driven & each has a distinctive arc that this film doesn't quite accomplish as well. It's a strong script but the cast is much larger & isn't given enough space to evolve to such an extent. DiCaprio gives one of the very best performances of his entire career & perhaps the best of 2013. Yet as an ensemble, the majority of this cast isn't as well-developed as in Russell's film. Which is why I appreciate it a little more.

Leonardo DiCaprio is an actor who I've greatly admired ever since he blew my mind 20 years ago in 1993's WHAT'S EATING GILBERT GRAPE, for which he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. In this film, his 6th film directed by Scorsese, he outdoes himself. Since he brought this project to Scorsese in the first place, he certainly made sure he gave it his all. And you can tell he inspires everyone around him while doing so. That's a big part of why this film is so dynamic and mesmerizing. Jonah Hill is an actor who it takes me some effort to like. But I greatly admire his performance in this film, maybe his best ever. Hill wanted to work with Scorsese so much that he took the minimum amount of payment, a mere $60,000, for the 7 months he worked on this film. By contrast, DiCaprio is said to have been paid $10 million for his part. It was a labor of love for Hill & this time he certainly helped me enjoy this film greatly. If he wins the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor over Jared Leto, I'd completely understand.

THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN

My second favorite foreign language film of the year. And the one I hope wins the Oscar for that category (since BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOUR was snubbed). As well as my second favorite soundtrack. Belgian director Felix Van Groeningen's beautiful, heart-wrenching & intimate portrayal of love & loss in a morally-divided world was adapted from a stage play of the same name. Both the play & screenplay were written (mostly) by the leading actor Johan Heldenbergh who gives one of the very best & moving performances I saw by an actor in a leading role of the year. The story is a mournful meditation upon mortality & transcendence, told in discontinuous montages, framed inside a shared love of Bluegrass music. And actress Veerle Baetens absolutely owns the role of the apple of Heldenbergh's eye & gives one unforgettable performance herself. Their bond is shaken by tragedy & the contrasted themes of religion & atheism add a somber tone to this musical theater. There are some scenes which I think are a bit over-the-top & detract something from the overall solidity of this great script. But I can forgive it that & was truly surprised by this tasteful & stylized film.

If you've seen INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS, take note that I have as well. And it isn't anywhere on this list, sorry. But any fan of that should love this film & hopefully, a lot more. I know I'm in the minority when I say I didn't much care for the Coen Brothers' recent effort, but I'm not trying to create a rivalry between it & this film. I only mention it to draw the Coens' fans here to bring more attention to this less well-known masterpiece.

DALLAS BUYERS CLUB

This film is nominated for 6 Oscars. French-Canadian director Jean-Marc Vallée brought to stunning life the true story of one man's moral crusade to save people's lives during the early years of the A.I.D.S. epidemic. Against the tyranny of America's FDA preventive bureaucracy which to this day favors greed over helping the needy. That trailer pretty much tells you all you need to know so I'll make this brief. Matthew McConaughey had the best year of his career in 2013. He's featured here in 2 top-10 picks (a brief appearance in THE WOLF OF WALL STREET) & one alternate (MUD). But this one rises above not only those other two, but most films in general. His performance is equal to or second only to DiCaprio's in my opinion. I'd be happy if either won the Oscar. He lost nearly 50 pounds for this role, having emerged out of an almost entire career of self-parody to assert himself as an Oscar-caliber heavyweight with an uncanny choice of roles recently, all of which I like a lot. I mean, only about 5 years ago, I shared Stewie's opinion of him (http://tinyurl.com/p58e4b9). Stewie had probably seen the 2009 film GHOSTS OF GIRLFRIENDS PAST, in which Jennifer Garner & McConaughey also worked together. Which I have no intention of ever watching based on the trailer (not included).

Who would have thought Jared Leto would have ever been regarded as Oscar-worthy? His supporting role was amazing & the best he's ever done. He stayed in character throughout filming, even off the set. He'd go into shops in full drag & makeup. He was really good in 1999's FIGHT CLUB too, which is one of my top-10 favorite films of the 1990s. He's come a long way since I first discovered him in the amazing TV show MY SO-CALLED LIFE, which I've been a big fan of since it first aired in 1995. However, I think his rock band, 30 Seconds to Mars, is epic fail, though their music videos are sometimes mildly entertaining.

THE GREAT BEAUTY

My third favorite foreign language film of the year is also nominated for an Oscar for that category. Paolo Sorrentino's ravishing Felliniesque, tragicomedy masterpiece is an ambitious arrestment of modern Rome's idle leisure class. Obviously inspired in part by Fellini's masterpiece LA DOLCE VITA (though Fellini's 8 1/2 is my personal favorite), Sorrentino's masterpiece arrests & immortalizes the ancient & timeless city anew for the modern Berlusconi era. It's a carnival of loosely connected vignettes, a jamboree of the beautiful & the ugly, the holy & the damned. It's a sensational overload of love & sex, art & death in a city whose superficial extravagance reveals the deeper yearnings concealed within. It's a sophisticated, suave & beautifully introspective character study invoking the sentimentality of Proust. All the while bombarding you with a cornucopia of dazzling imagery & some of the best cinematography of the year. In fact, the single shot at the very end, during the credits, is the best in the film & the best use of end credits I've seen in a very long time.

Any lover of 1960s Italian cinema should love this. It's noteworthy that Fellini seemingly hasn't influenced that many next-generation film directors despite his global popularity then & now. With the obvious exception of Serbian director (who I love very much) Emir Kusturica (please write a detailed comment if you have anything to add). Sorrentino has come a long way since his previous efforts, especially his last film, the odd & underwhelming (but nonetheless compelling) THIS MUST BE THE PLACE, which doesn't bear the talent nor scope of THE GREAT BEAUTY, his best & most accomplished film to date.

BEFORE MIDNIGHT

This is nominated for a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar. Which taught me that, if a film is a sequel, it can't be nominated for Original Screenplay. Which I think is stupid. I guess we're calling it the 'Before Trilogy' now. Filmed 9 years apart, it's been 9 years since BEFORE SUNSET & 9 more since BEFORE SUNRISE. We meet up with Jesse & Celine once again to find them having relationship issues. I feel like these films were all made specifically for me. And are rare examples of films with sequels that aren't action-oriented. Like François Truffaut's Adventures of Antoine Doinel series (of 5 films, beginning with THE 400 BLOWS, which is outstanding).

I think BEFORE MIDNIGHT doesn't quite reach the level of greatness of the original, but I like it more than the previous film. Except the ending of the previous film, which is amazing. Much like the end of this film. And most things that come before. If you're a fan of this series, you won't be disappointed. The only thing I would have done differently is, during the end credits, have a montage of the photographs the characters take during this film (in a homage to the brilliant ending of BEFORE SUNRISE). Oh, & have the characters take many photographs during the film, which they don't actually do. I just can't help wanting to be a part of these films!

BORGMAN

This dark-humored & somewhat disturbing film could be described as a cult recruitment thriller with subtle supernatural undercurrents. I suppose that's as good a description as any. The film centers around a family which becomes gripped by evil, which exercises subliminal mind control over them & is bent on increasing its numbers. The idiosyncratic plot & characters are presented in a deadpan, observational style. The story constantly simmers with the threat of violence by the insidious intruders & slowly builds up a growing tension that is released in constantly unexpected ways. The point of the film might have something to do with the precariousness of affluence & bourgeois complacency - or not. 'Whatever,' this film seems to say. Some mysteries are unsolved, but this film gives the audience a lot to debate about afterwards.

Films like this are extremely rare. BORGMAN shrugs off any attempt to adhere to a particular genre & instead favors a vague absurdity to always keep you guessing as to what might possibly happen next. The most recent film of relative comparison & brilliance that I can think of to compare this to is 2009's DOGTOOTH, which is a better film in my opinion, & would make a great double feature. There are certainly elements of Michael Haneke's original, 1997 FUNNY GAMES as well, though nowhere near the amount & degree of violence. Another film I saw at Prague's Febiofest last year is THE FIFTH SEASON, which has similar themes & tones, & which I really liked & spoke to the director about afterwards. So you can see that BORGMAN has earned it's way into this select company. Acute eyes will notice that the main antagonist in this film, played by Belgian actor Jan Bijvoet, is also in THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN. Because both films were produced by both The Netherlands & Belgium. For either of those countries to make up 2/10 of my fave films is unprecedented & noteworthy.

GRAVITY

I don't know where to put this film on my list. Only that it needs to be in my top-10. If this is your favorite film of 2013, I completely understand. It could go almost anywhere on my list & I'm betting that, of all the films on my list, this is the one most of you have seen. I saw it in IMAX 3D, so my experience of this film might have been much better than yours. It's nominated for 10 Oscars. To put it simply, Mexican-born director Alfonso Cuarón's technical masterpiece is a thrilling, nerve-shredding phenomenon. He spent 4 years simply trying to get technology to catch up to his vision. Which is why he hadn't made a film in 7 years. His last film was 2006's CHILDREN OF MEN, which is amazing. And in 2004 he directed my favorite Harry Potter film (PRISONER OF AZKABAN) which very much helped inspire me to read the books, all of them. Cuarón has been on my radar for 12 years now. And GRAVITY is the coolest damn thing he's ever done.

Something you probably didn't already know is that the character Aningaaq, the man Sandra Bullock talks to by chance on the shortwave radio, who doesn't understand he's in turn talking to an astronaut in space because they speak different languages, is the main character of Cuarón's 2013 short film ANINGAAQ. So you get to watch what Bullock was hearing. To be honest, I'm not a big fan of Sandra Bullock in general, but I didn't mind her at all in this film. In fact, I'd say she was extremely convincing & gives a powerful performance. She spent 6 months preparing for this film before production even began. Bullock had to remember countless movements & positions to perform correctly - all the while remaining in character. Except that her hair doesn't behave like it really would in zero gravity.

Though described as a Sci-Fi film, partly due to it being clearly set in the future due to real technical details, such as the yet-to-be-realized space-mission numbers, the space debris cascade in the film, known as the Kessler Syndrome, is a real possibility. If it actually happened, it would make launching new satellites nearly impossible for many decades at least. And destroy many, if not a great many, of the ones already there. You know, just something else to worry about when you're not thinking about meteors.

 

The runners-up (in order)

THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES

MUD

SIMON KILLER

THE GRANDMASTER

THE COUNSELLOR

 

The rest (alphabetically)

 

12 YEARS A SLAVE

BLANCANIEVES

BLUE JASMINE

THE CONGRESS

THE CONJURING

ESCAPE FROM TOMORROW

MANBORG

SHORT TERM 12