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?)
