Movies of 2013

For posterity and personal reference, here is my movie list from 2013. My favorites are in bold; avoid-at-all-costs are in italics.

• We're the Millers (funny)
• Saving Mr. Banks (charming and funny; candidate for favorite of the year; Emma Thompson's fantastic 60s wardrobe was inspiring and introduced me to sweater guards)
• Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Peter Jackson ruined The Hobbit)
• Red 2 (great cast : Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich; based on the DC Comic of the same name; better than the first movie, which isn't often the case)
• The Internship (Owen Wilson never fails to make me smile)
• The Girls, season two (looking forward to season three)
• Superstar (part of boys' ongoing Will Ferrell film fest)
• Catching Fire (satisfying; for the record, I'm in the Gale camp and the boys and I have lots of debates/arguments about this; in the end, really, Katniss rocks!)
• Blackfish (stunning documentary about the cruelty of keeping orcas in captivity; I will never give SeaWorld a penny)
• Man of Steel (background noise while knitting)
• Hangover 3 (funny as the previous two)
• Anchorman (twice)
• Bling Ring (yucky, sad characters)
• Admission (Paul Rudd, Tina Fey; utterly predictable but still enjoyable)
• Escape Plan (not great, but entertaining; entire family saw at the theater)
• Elysium (huge disappointment; predictable with shallow acting efforts)
• Jack Reacher (not horrible, even though I dislike TC)
• Wolverine 2 (family night at the theater! we had so much fun)
• Homeland, season one (hooked from the first episode)
• Cloud Atlas (thoughtful, great layers in the multiple storylines)
• 2 Guns (date night; funny movie)
• Despicable Me 2 (after seeing this, son # 1 declared he didn't want to [get caught] watching animated movies at the theater)
• Pacific Rim (would have been better at the drive-in)
• World War Z (more scary than creepy; zombies are my 21st century nuclear war)
• Silver Lining Playbook (powerful)
• Red (could have been more-ish re: performances and plot)
• The Heat (Sandra Bollock & Melissa McCarthy are comic gold)
• Magic of Belle Isle (heartwarming; transatlantic in-flight movie; Morgan Freeman)
• Guilt Trip (Seth Rogan is terribly one-note, but I kinda like that note; transatlantic in-flight movie)
• Safe Haven (predictable and a little boring; transatlantic in-flight movie)
• Side Effect (wish I had seen this in the theater; in-flight movie)
• Summertime (Katherine Hepburn; Venice)
• Epic (dollar theater = good value)
• Identity Theft (great comedic duo in Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy; she would make reading the phonebook funny)
• Young Frankenstein (classic; M's bat mitzvah party)
• What to Expect When You're Expecting (background noise; pretty unmemorable)
• Time Bandits (annoying, but all my boys love it and recite lines)
• Star Trek: Into Darkness (yes!)
• To Rome with Love (hoped this Woody Allen movie would have been as strong as the one set in Paris; pretty unmemorable)
• Jack the Giant Slayer (okay)
• Life of Pi (wonderful; inspired Winston to read the novel)
• Oz the Great and Powerful (snooze)
• Warm Bodies (saw with John and Simon; we enjoyed this teen zombie romance)
• Zero Dark Thirty (date night with all of St. Paul at Grandview; deserving of all Oscar accolades)
• Waveriders (surfing in Ireland; transported us back to our summer vacation where the boys learned how to surf on teeny, tiny waves of Dingle Peninsula)
• Amazing Spiderman (Andrew Garfield made a pleasing Spidey)
• Ted (funny, and oh so inappropriate; Simon was horrified to watch with his parents)
• Bourne Legacy (why don't I remember the previous Bourne's better?)