The Best Films of 2013.

The time has come. 2013 has already come to a close, but now that the film year is winding down with awards season, it is the perfect time to reflect on the year as it was. And it was a busy one. As of this posting, I have a list of 105 (!) films that I saw this year (the vast majority of those were free, before you begin thinking that anyone can rightly afford to see that much with ticket prices being what they are) and still plenty more that I couldn't quite get my hands on (I made up this list before seeing Philomena so please be aware that I cannot conclusively say Philomena is not the best at everything ever).

It must be said that 2013 was a fantastic year for movies. Certainly, looking back at 2012 when I had trouble even deciding on ten films that felt worthy of being on a Best Of list, it has surpassed even my depleted expectations. But what was even more impressive was how diverse the lineup of films were - numerous genres feeling accurately represented and a number of ambitious achievements that won't soon be forgotten.

List making is an inherently difficult task because there's little chance that your personal preferences won't vary as films age and tastes change. But this year, looking at my lineup, I feel confident that I've narrowed down ten films that I confidently love (and another ten that I greatly admire) that will stay with me long after the year is over. So here are ten runners-up (ranked alphabetically) and my top ten favorite films of the year. Enjoy!

RUNNERS-UP

THE ACT OF KILLING

The first film on the list is perhaps the most ambitious: a documentary that is part talking head, part recreation and part cinematic fantasy all melded to form a devastatingly moving hybrid. Director Joshua Oppenheimer takes a historical atrocity - the Indonesian massacres of 1965 - and turns them on their head by inviting the proud killers to recreate their murders senselessly until, in the film's powerful closer, the emotions finally boil over.

THE BLING RING

Sofia Coppola's aesthetic gifts are always on point, but with The Bling Ring she takes on a critical eye and examines one of Hollywood's most notoriously fascinating crime capers. Headed by a uniformly great cast, Coppola proves herself once more to be of Hollywood's most important directors of either gender, while providing her most scathing and incisive film yet.

CAPTAIN PHILLIPS

One of cinema's most reliable directors still manages to surprise well into his stunning career. Paul Greengrass' tautly executed drama moves with a stern confidence and features a matchup of two of the year's most committed performers. But while the edge-of-your-seat thrills are reliably impressive, its the gut punch finale and that takes the film to new emotional heights.

ENOUGH SAID

Another slice-of-life comedic offering from Nicole Holofcener transcends even her own immense talents thanks to a moving script and a cast of wonderful performances lead by the impeccable Julia Louis-Dreyfus and the late James Gandolfini. Some people call it episodic, but when the episodes are as warm and strong as this, who would have it any other way?

THE GREAT BEAUTY

Few films this year managed to capture the raw potential of cinema in the way Paolo Sorrentino's stunning Italian drama was able to. The Great Beauty is pure excess that melts down into a powerful examination of the life of one man - an extravagant socialite reflecting on his passions and regrets - as he travels through the city he loves while it evolves around him. Even as the lavish parties settle down and the film tightens its focus, we're left with one of the most visually absorbing films this year.

LIKE SOMEONE IN LOVE

Another of director Abbas Kiarostami's humanist experiments among unlikely pairings of individuals, Like Someone In Love continues his winning streak by examining the lives of a young prostitute and her elderly client as their lives collide on a series of eventful days. Kiarostami is fascinated by his characters and uses their interactions to examine deeper truths about human relationships in ways few other modern auteurs are capable of right now.

NEBRASKA

Alexander Payne's latest film takes a hypothesis - what if a man received a nonsensical $1 million sweepstakes prize in the mail and set off on a journey to claim it - and turns it into one of the year's most quietly touching and effective dramedies. With a dedicated cast and a crisp black-and-white shooting style, Nebraska glides through a story of family strife, personal redemption and humble beginnings to land at a place of warmth that few films in 2013 could touch.

THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES

The year's most unfairly maligned film is also one of its most startlingly realized. Derek Cianfrance's beautifully shot and emotionally resonant film got a bad rap for its sprawling length and operatic heights, but features a stunningly assured vision that makes it one of 2013's hidden treasures. "If you ride like lightning, you're gonna crash like thunder," proclaims the film, and so it did, more thrillingly than any other film (consider this the official #11 spot) in a year full of ambition.

THE SELFISH GIANT

One of 2013's best films made it just under the buzzer - released in New York only a week and a half before the year ended - but deserves to find a wider audience as it makes its way further along. Another in British film's long line of kitchen sink realism, The Selfish Giant is one of the most quietly effective and devastating films to have not garnered more attention this year. Let's hope that changes soon.

SHORT TERM 12

Set in a foster-care facility for at-risk teenagers, Short Term 12 tells the story of Grace, a stern-but-conflicted counselor who looks out for the well-being of the kids she cares for often at the expense of her own. Tackling familiar themes of teenage strife and growing up, writer-director Destin Cretton refuses to settle for another facile examination of these topics, but instead treats his characters with a maturity that is often lost among similar films. Smartly scripted and featuring one of the year's best ensembles, Short Term 12 moves you with the ease of the very best of independent cinema.

THE TOP TEN

10. BEFORE MIDNIGHT

Richard Linklater's trilogy caps off a nine year period away with another visit from our familiar protagonists, Jesse and Celine, as their lives settle into domesticity. But, as Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy prove, the relationship remains as electric as it was when it began eighteen years ago even as the dynamics have changed. Watching their relationship evolve over the course of each film has been a fascinating accomplishment, and with this latest installment the trio has proven once more how lucky we are to have witnessed it.

09. 12 YEARS A SLAVE

Steve McQueen's film has already earned a reputation as a movie that will be with audiences for a while and how could it not? Capturing the experience of a free man forced into slavery through McQueen's careful eye and a stunningly committed ensemble, 12 Years a Slave sticks out in the end not just as a historical depiction but for capturing the human spirit as effectively as any film could. Sometimes movies earn their deafening hype.

08. STORIES WE TELL

In the year of documentary, no film stood out more as a brazen exploration of how humans tick than Sarah Polley's incredible Stories We Tell. The less said the better, but as Polley's film deftly examines her family lineage, she seems to accidentally stumble upon a story that tackles how we perceive everything from relationships and love to the wall between cinema and personal life itself. But with a filmmaker this talented, how could it be an accident?

07. ALL IS LOST

The most harrowing film of the year is perhaps its most simple. In the end, All is Lost can be summed up in the most concise of tag-lines: a man trapped on a sinking ship struggles to survive. But over its brisk runtime, All is Lost captures your attention with an unrelenting story of survival, some of the year's most bravura direction and a dedicated lead performance to ground it all. A thrilling, complete piece of filmmaking.

06. HER

It might not be possible for Spike Jonze to make an uninteresting film, but even with that caveat, Her represents an advancement of his many talents. With its sleek direction and ambitious script, Her finds Jonze at his peak in both directing and writing, as he uncovers great emotional depths to the story of a man falling in love with his advanced computer operating system. A tale like this wouldn't automatically lend itself to such a moving depiction, but with Jonze's keen senses he turns it into a journey of deep consideration that speaks to something even greater than expected.

05. INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS

The Coen Brothers should be boring by now. We've come to expect only the most fascinating and accomplished filmmaking from the pair, and yet with Inside Llewyn Davis they provide another immensely satisfying tale as told only they way they could. Examining the New York folk music scene of the 1960's through the eye of a struggling musician, Inside Llewyn Davis finds the Coens at the height of their talents: a perfect balance of casting, scripting and aesthetics that sits alongside their filmography deservingly accompanied by one of their best leading men yet.

04. BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR

The buzzwords surrounding Blue is the Warmest Color make it sound more like a stunt than the astonishing film it turned out to be. The seriousness of an epic painted over the simplicity of a coming-of-age relationship tale, the film transcends any single love scene or any of its hype. Each scene is astonishingly fluid, as if the camera is simply observing the life of a young woman as she dips in and out of the tumultuous relationship of her first love. As the film captures its incredible lead through her most mundane actions (eating, dancing, laughing), it slowly creeps up on you to provide an incomparably intimate emotional journey.

03. SPRING BREAKERS

The year's biggest provocation - and its greatest. Spring Breakers landed in theaters this spring promising only to titillate and ended up delivering one of the most cutting cinematic experiences of 2013. A surprising visual feast that elegantly waded through the waters of the most troubling rites of passages in young adulthood, Harmony Korine's film descends down a rabbit hole of debauchery and vulgarity that you won't soon shake. You've heard it before, but for old time's sake: spring break forever.

02. GRAVITY

A great way to diminish a film is to decry it as "just a good time." This year, once it became clear the phenomenon that Gravity would inspire, its detractors attempted to paint it as just a cinematic diversion on the scale of typical summer blockbusters. If only that were true. Gravity promises a thrilling ride and delivers - a feat of visual filmmaking that takes you on a 90 minute excursion through one woman's attempt to survive stranded in the most foreign setting possible to man.

And then, in its quietest moments, Alfonso Cuaron's stunning direction makes way for an emotional current that cements the film's status as legendary. When we watch films, we expect to be taken on a journey, but with Gravity we're placed on an unrelenting trajectory that takes us to the heights of technical filmmaking and emotional resonance and moves beyond "good time" into something unforgettable.

01. FRANCES HA

In a year as abundant as 2013, picking a favorite seems futile. Surely, any number of the films listed below could feel justified landing at this spot. But list-making should be primarily personal and, in a year when my top two could not seem more different, I was struck by how the smallest film on this list could feel the biggest. Frances Ha is not much more than the story of a young woman caught at a peculiar time in her life, but in its execution it provides one of the warmest film experiences of the year.

Shot in black and white, Frances Ha feels like it fits any number of genres: comedy, drama, screwball, coming-of age, romance, satire.  It carries the deceptive lightness of early Woody Allen, the peculiarity of Wes Anderson and an unlucky protagonist that wouldn't feel out of place in a Coen Brothers film. But whats most moving about Frances Ha is that it doesn't feel specifically tied to its protagonist's experience. As a matter of fact, anyone older or younger could watch the film and immediately relate to the sense of loss and confusion that it attempts to capture. More than anything, Frances Ha is about that uncertainty as captured through one woman (Greta Gerwig, continually fantastic) as she sets about getting on her feet. Its a difficult feeling to capture, but the film does so with a blissful ease that sets it apart from 2013's many other treasures.

And since there's no limit to how many films you can enjoy in a year, I like to leave these posts with another group of films that didn't quite make my best but still stood out for me this year and are well worth seeking out. Those are, in alphabetical order, as follows: 20 Feet from Stardom, About Time, August: Osage County, Berberian Sound Studio, Beyond the Hills, Concussion, The Conjuring, Evil Dead, Frozen, Gimme the Loot, The Grandmaster, The Heat, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, In A World..., Leviathan, Only God Forgives, The Past, Prisoners, Rush, The Sapphires, Side Effects, Simon Killer, Stoker, This Is Martin Bonner, Upstream Color, and The World's End.

And lastly, I am not a particular fan of singling out the bad films in a year (nor do I seek out enough of those to accurately put together a "Worst Of" list), but if I had to choose a group of films that stood out to me in my particular distaste for them this year, my Least Favorite of 2013, they would be: 01) Kill Your Darlings, 02) Don Jon, 03) This is the End, 04) The Hunt, 05) Saving Mr. Banks.