The Best of 2013: The Best Around, Nothing's Gonna Keep Them Down

This is it - the final countdown! Cue the music! (Europe is playing in the background somewhere) I have to say, I was excited to get this list started and I had a hard time getting the top 5. Any one of these movies could have been number one. But I had to make choices which were very hard. These movies are worth repeat viewings for sure!

The Best of 2013: The First Five

After a long time scratching off titles and adding new ones all last year, I've decided upon my top 10. There are a few movies I've yet to see that could very well end up in my honorable mentions list, but I think the Top 10 here is my final statement for the year. As much as sequels dominated the box office in 2013, only two of them ended up in my top 10 compared to the 6 that are in the top 10 of 2013's box office. Which is awesome - there's been a healthy amount of original titles and a lot of them have been quality viewing. There were quite a few surprises as well - 3 of the top 10 weren't even on my most anticipated (4 if you're going by my original list).

The biggest thing that struck me this year was the theme of relationships - whether romantically or of the best friend variety. A lot of my favorite films dealt with deeply personal and troubled relationships. There were also a lot of great action and science fiction fare. Not surprising, coming from me, but I think there were a lot of reasons to love 2013 in film. Now on to the first five!

The Best of 2013: Mentioning of Honors

Between solid coming-of-age stories and epic superhero movies, 2013 had pretty much something for everyone. Well, at least it had everything for me. I'm a pretty easy going guy when it comes to movie watching. Some may say I'll watch anything. Well, it's true, much like my unhealthy appetite for all the foods, I really can't say no to a movie (unless it's one of those awful musicals where people sing and dance for no reason. Or most horror movies. Okay, so I do draw the line somewhere, but I'm pretty easy to please). It's no surprise that I found a lot of movies last year highly enjoyable. There were quite a few movies that I know I can watch again, if not a few times. I'm also a pretty positive dude - so I try to stay away from lists that involve the worst of...

The Most Anticipated Movies of 2014: Risk it for the Biscuit

The List: 1-5 | 6-10 | 11-15 | 16-20 | 21-25 | 26-30 | 31-35 | 36-40 | 41-45 | 46-50 | Runners-Up

We've made it to the mountaintop, folks. Despite the extended breaks in between, I made it! It's been fun to speculate (as always) about what's going to be awesome next year. I said at the beginning that 2014 is a filler year - and while I'm still way, way more excited for 2015, next year should be filled with some really fun movies and way more original titles. As I'm writing this, I've already had a victim of push back - Fast and Furious 7 has been officially moved to an already-crowded 2015. So stay tuned on a replacement, as soon as I can figure that out!

The Most Anticipated Movies of 2014: Sequelitis

 The List: 1-5 | 6-10 | 11-15 | 16-20 | 21-25 | 26-30 | 31-35 | 36-40 | 41-45 | 46-50 | Runners-Up

Well, we've reached the Top 10. Most of these movies are sequels. While I do enjoy original stories, there's nothing quite like seeing a movie transcend it's original and become something great. Star Wars did it. The Terminator did it. Bill and Ted most definitely did it. So despite everyone's whining about sequels, these are the moments when a movie can become a cultural phenomenon (The Dark Knight) or at the very least, a good franchise. I expect nothing but awesome sauce for these next 10 movies. It won't be surprising if they fail to meet my expectations, but there's always a chance we'll get to see something special!

The Most Anticipated Movies of 2014: Kickstarting!

 The List: 1-5 | 6-10 | 11-15 | 16-20 | 21-25 | 26-30 | 31-35 | 36-40 | 41-45 | 46-50 | Runners-Up

They gave it 6 stars!

 I'm not going to bore you with my mother's garden stories, let's get to the list!

The Most Anticipated Movies of 2014: Geekdom!

The List: 1-5 | 6-10 | 11-15 | 16-20 | 21-25 | 26-30 | 31-35 | 36-40 | 41-45 | 46-50 | Runners-Up

"I wanna dip my balls in it!" "Louie! Louie! Louie!"

2 sequels and 3 original science fiction movies. It's no surprise that about a third of my top 25 is science fiction. I grew up with it, I get excited about that stuff. It's been a wonderful 5 years to be a science fiction geek. In fact, it's been an awesome time to be a geek or a nerd - they've been ruling the internet and pop culture now for what seems like a really long time. Growing up in the 90s, it was definitely not cool to like Star Trek or read Robert Heinlein novels or enjoy MTV's The State. Now you're considered out of the loop if you don't watch Game of Thrones or enjoy comic books or their film adaptations. It's been pretty fun, that's why I'm enjoying my time here at the top. Because I know at some point science fiction, fantasy and other "Geek culture" might become not cool again. And then I'll be forced to discuss my love for Battlestar Galactica on a fansite message board. Sigh.

The Most Anticipated Movies of 2014: Nostalgia

The List: 1-5 | 6-10 | 11-15 | 16-20 | 21-25 | 26-30 | 31-35 | 36-40 | 41-45 | 46-50 | Runners-Up

We've entered the Top 25 - these are by far the films I will more than likely plunk down some of my mostly hard-earned dollars to see right away. These next few movies are an eclectic mix of reboots, sequels and totally original films. And in part, this list sums up how 2014 is going to shake out - there's a lot of risky movies and reboots being planned alongside a healthy amount of sequels and guaranteed blockbusters. Nestled in between is all that original stuff that people tend to forget about when they complain every year about the lack of originality in Hollywood. Most of the oldies I see at work are the one who complain the most, but I always find it refreshing when I see a sweet old lady come up to the register and plunk down five or so movies with a big smile on her face because she's excited to check out Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters or Cloud Atlas. I'm gonna miss those old ladies. (I just realized while re-reading this last sentence that it may come across as either A) I will murder those old ladies possibly in their sleep or B) they will be dying soon because they are old. I can neither confirm nor deny these possibilities).

The Most Anticipated Movies of 2014: Reboot!

The List: 1-5 | 6-10 | 11-15 | 16-20 | 21-25 | 26-30 | 31-35 | 36-40 | 41-45 | 46-50 | Runners-Up

I didn't mean to leave everyone hanging last week. I didn't die! In fact, I'm busy building IKEA shelves to fit all my movies and I was way too excited for that task than the more important task of bestowing upon the world my vision for 2014. Don't fret, I'm back and I will make sure your world is collectively rocked. Now let's get it on!

The Most Anticipated Movies of 2014: Delayed

The List: 1-5 | 6-10 | 11-15 | 16-20 | 21-25 | 26-30 | 31-35 | 36-40 | 41-45 | 46-50 | Runners-Up

Sometimes writing these lists, you end up picking some duds. But the worst is when I pick a movie and it doesn't even come out that year. There's been a few in 2013 that got pushed back to 2014 and a couple of them are in this next section. Most of the time it has to do with post-production problems. Other times it's simply that the studio does not have any faith in the project. I always can find a filler if that happens this year (hell, I even forgot until the last minute that the Veronica Mars movie was coming out next year!). As much as I love doing these lists, I relish the moments when I find myself in the theater watching something that I haven't previewed or heard little about and it just blows me away. Good times, those are.