Tag: topfive

Best of 2013: Movies

~ EMM ~ 1 Comment

By rough count I watched around 55 movies and/or TV or web series in 2013.

In an attempt to select my “top five” movies of 2013, I decided to only consider movies (not TV or web series), and only movies that I watched for the first time in 2013. That brought the list of contenders to just under 50 movies.

Picking my “top five” movies from that list of 50 was not easy. I ended up with eight favorites and considered making this a “top eight” list instead. But, after careful consideration, I realized that three of these movies were not like the others. You see, sometimes I really enjoy things because they are cheesy, fun, feel-good movies. Other times I am blown away by a more serious or tense drama because of an excellent story and/or casting and filming.

When it came down to it, five movies stood out as the “best” movies I watched this year, and the other three were good, but I realized that I primarily liked them because they fell firmly in the feel-good camp. So, I dropped those three movies from the list (as painful as that was for me).

But, before I give you my “top five” list, I want to highlight the best TV and web series I watched this year…

I don’t watch actual TV. I don’t have time for it and I don’t have the patience to tune in every week to catch the next episode. I really only watched two TV series in 2013: Season 2 of Game of Thrones and Season 1 of House of Cards. As much as I like Game of Thrones, I’m going to have to give this year’s win for best TV series to House of Cards. (Season 2 comes out on 2/14/2014!)

The best (and only) web series I watched in 2013 was The LIzzie Bennet Diaries. This is a modern “video-blog” version of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, and the creators / actors just nailed it. Check it out if you haven’t already.

Now, what you’ve been waiting for… here are the “top five” movies I watched in 2013 (with the reviews I wrote in previous “By the Numbers” monthly update posts):

  1. Argo — How did I miss this one when it came out? This movie was so good. I absolutely loved it. And now that I’m thinking about it, I want to watch it again.
  2. Much Ado About Nothing — Just watch this. Shakespeare’s words in a modern day setting. It’s so good. And I’m not just saying that because Joss Whedon made this.
  3. Winter’s Bone — resisted watching this for a while because I wasn’t sure I would like it, but boy was I wrong! This was a really good movie.
  4. Star Trek Into Darkness — You have to see this if you like “Space, the final frontier.” It is a really good movie. And not just because brimming with hotties. I love space. The effects in this movie are so good. We saw it in 3D which made it even better.
  5. Salvador — (for some reason I never posted about this movie and Hubby had to remind me of it… this was a mid-eighties movie that Hubby and I were too young to watch at the time it came out, so it was new to us…)

And, in case anyone is interested in the three movies that were left behind as close runners-up to my “top five” movies… they are: Galaxy Quest, Perks of Being a Wallflower, and Pitch Perfect. The funny thing is, even though the movies on my “top five” list were better movies than these three, I’ll probably end up re-watching these three movies more times than any on the top five list (except for Star Trek Into Darkness).

Best of 2013: Books

~ EMM

I like lists. Especially “top five” lists (like in the movie High Fidelity). So I thought I’d do a “top five” list of my favorite books I read this year.

I only finished five non-fiction books this year (and abandoned two other non-fiction books). Most of those were writing craft related books. So, I’m not doing a “top five” list for non-fiction (but I am making a mental note to read more non-fiction in 2014…).

However, the book that was possibly my hands-down favorite book I read this year is non-fiction. That book? Swim: Why We Love the Water by Lynn Sherr. I bought and read this on my Kindle, but I think it is a book much better suited to hard cover / print edition. So, I’m thinking about buying myself a really nice hard cover edition of this book. I did this last year with my favorite book of 2012 (The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern). It’s a sure sign that a book is one of my favorites if I feel the need to own a print edition *and* the ebook edition.

So, given that my favorite book of 2013 was a non-fiction book, here are my “top five” favorite fiction books I read in 2013:

  1. The Dog Stars by Peter Heller
  2. Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
  3. Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
  4. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
  5. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

I know, there are two books by Rainbow Rowell up there. I have a feeling that she could write grocery lists and I’d find them lovable. But, in case you want a little more diversity in your top five list, I also loved Glaciers by Alexis M. Smith (consider that an alternate, or runner up for my top five list).

I know that technically there are a few days left in 2013, and I will probably finish at least one more book before the year is over. However, I think it is unlikely that I’ll love anything in my TBR pile more than I loved these five books this year.