Top 10 Rated Movies of 2013

These are the top rated movies that deserve our attention based on the opinions of the best critics in the business (if you are in to that sort of thing). User reviews are important too, the list compiled also take into consideration what the general moviegoers had to say about the top rated movies. We looked to a reputable source to gather the information so that we have the best pick of the crop from the best authority.  Courtesy of Rottentomatoes.com we group together the Top 10 Rated Movies of 2013.

 

1. The Selfish Giant (2013)

Based on 32 Critic reviews (97%) and 567 User reviews (100%)

Brian Viner – Daily Mail [UK] Full Review  – Watch the trailer

“The Selfish Giant is a stunning film, almost literally so in the sense that it leaves you dazed with its forensic and uncompromising depiction of Britain on the breadline, as well as its achingly sad ending.”

The British drama film directed by Clio Barnard is inspired by the Oscar Wilde story of the same name. The contemporary take on the story follows two teenage boys who get caught up in the world of copper theft, assisting a local scrap-dealer Kitten (aka the Selfish Giant). Arbor (Conner Chapman) and his best friend Swifty (Shaun Thomas) start to drift apart when Kitten favors Swifty. Swifty becomes greedy and start emulating his boss, tensions build as the dynamics change, leading to a tragic event which transforms them all.

 

2. In Fear (2013)

Based on 23 Critic reviews (100%) and 459 User reviews (92%)

Peter Debruge – Variety Full Review  – Watch the trailer

“Crisp camerawork and amplified sound yield paranoia aplenty in this sharp-looking Sundance midnight movie, making it hard to imagine another director getting anywhere near this much mileage out of three actors and a car.”

In Jeremy Lovering’s chilling debut, a young couple fights to survive one night-turned-nightmare. Driving to a music festival, Tom and Lucy have plans to stay at a countryside hotel. But with hotel signs leading them in circles and darkness falling, they soon become lost in a maze of country roads…and the target of an unknown tormentor.

 

3. Short Term 12 (2013)

Based on 122 Critic reviews (98%) and 5664 User reviews (94%)

Richard Roeper – Chicago Sun-Times Full Review – Watch the trailer

“It’s one of the best movies of the year and one of the truest portrayals I’ve ever seen about troubled teens and the people who dedicate their lives to trying to help them.”

Short Term 12 is told through the eyes of Grace (Brie Larson, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World), a twenty-something supervisor at a foster-care facility for at-risk teenagers. Passionate and tough, Grace is a formidable caretaker and in love with her long-term boyfriend and co-worker, Mason (John Gallagher Jr., The Newsroom, Jonah Hex). But Grace has her own difficult past and the surprising future that suddenly presents itself throw her into unforeseen confusion, made sharper with the arrival of a new intake at the facility, a gifted but troubled teenage girl with whom Grace has a charged connection.

 

4. Let The Fire Burn (2013)

Based on 29 Critic reviews (97%) and 262 User reviews (95%)

Steven Rea – Philadelphia Inquirer Full Review – Watch the trailer

“Piecing the components together, and only sparingly deploying intertitle cards for clarity, Let the Fire Burn brings this 28-year-old tragedy front and center again – vividly, viscerally..”

In the astonishingly gripping Let the Fire Burn, director Jason Osder has crafted that rarest of cinematic objects: a found-footage film that unfurls with the tension of a great thriller. On May 13, 1985, a longtime feud between the city of Philadelphia and controversial radical urban group MOVE came to a deadly climax. By order of local authorities, police dropped military-grade explosives onto a MOVE-occupied rowhouse. TV cameras captured the conflagration that quickly escalated—and resulted in the tragic deaths of eleven people (including five children) and the destruction of 61 homes. It was only later discovered that authorities decided to “…let the fire burn.” Using only archival news coverage and interviews, first-time filmmaker Osder has brought to life one of the most tumultuous and largely forgotten clashes between government and citizens in modern American history.

 

 

5. Blackfish (2013)

Based on 105 Critic reviews (98%) and 13220 User reviews (92%)

Colin Covert – Minneapolis Star Tribune Full Review – Watch the trailer

“Blackfish” makes a compelling case that the cruelty of life in captivity is the cause for a rash of fatal attacks by orcas on their trainers, aggressive behavior that no so-called killer whale ever has exhibited in the wild.

A mesmerizing psychological thriller with a killer whale at its centre, Blackfish is the first film since Grizzly Man to show how nature can get revenge on man when pushed to its limits. Blackfish unravels the complexities of this dichotomy, employing the story of the notorious performing whale Tilikum, who has taken the lives of several people while in captivity.

 

6. Call Me Kuchu (2013)

Based on 38 Critic reviews (97%) and 418 User reviews (93%)

Jose Solís Mayén – PopMatters Full Review – Watch the trailer

“With this heartbreaking premise, directors Malika Zouhali-Worrall and Katherine Fairfax Wright directed Call Me Kuchu, a revealing documentary that takes a look at how a small group of people are working hard to take Uganda out of this dark ages.”

In Uganda, a new bill threatens to make homosexuality punishable by death. David Kato, Uganda’s first openly gay man, and retired Anglican Bishop Christopher Senyonjo work against the clock to defeat state-sanctioned homophobia while combatting vicious persecution in their daily lives. But no one is prepared for the brutal murder that shakes their movement to its core and sends shock waves around the world.

 

7. Sound City (2013)

Based on 34 Critic reviews (100%) and 4195 User reviews (89%)

Peter Howell – Toronto Star Full Review – Watch the trailer

“Even if you don’t know what [Grohl’s] talking about when he says a room gives “great decay,” or when somebody else extols “24-track sensibility,” the passion of this project really pops right out of the groove.”

Conceived by David Grohl after purchasing the legendary custom-built Neve 8028 recording console from Sound City Studios last year. Grohl’s personal connection to Sound City began with the 1991 recording of Nirvana’s breakthrough album, Nevermind. Selling over 30 million copies worldwide, Nevermind changed the entire musical landscape and forever altered the course of Dave Grohl’s life.

 

8. Wadjda (2013)

Based on 75 Critic reviews (99%) and 6612 User reviews (90%)

Lisa Kennedy – Denver Post Full Review – Watch the trailer

“In Saudi filmmaker Haifaa al-Mansour’s winsome wonder Wadjda, a young girl’s aspirations provide an intimate glimpse into the possibilities and limitations of a cloaked culture.”

Wadjda, twelve years old, lives in a suburb of Riyadh, capital of Saudi Arabia. Although she grows up in a conservative environment, this is a girl full of life that bears jeans and sneakers, listen to rock and dream only of one thing: buy the beautiful green bike that will allow him to race with his friend Abdullah. But the Wahhabi kingdom, bicycles are restricted to men because they are a threat to the virtue of girls. Wadjda therefore denied by his mother the amount required to purchase. Determined to find the money on its own, Wadjda decided to participate in the Quranic recitation competition organized by his school, with the winner, the sum as desired.

9. Muscle Shoals (2013)

Based on 70 Critic reviews (97%) and 1748 User reviews (92%)

Bill Goodykoontz – Arizona Republic Full Review – Watch the trailer

“The movie is more a collection of cool people telling great stories than it is a structured documentary (despite Camalier’s attempts in that direction). But in this case, that’s enough.”

The incredible documentary film is about a tiny Alabama recording studio that produced some of the greatest hits of all time. Rick Hall overcame crushing personal hardship to put together a recording studio and house band (the Swampers) that became legendary for its electrifying musical chemistry. Luring some of the biggest figures in 20th century pop music, like Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, theStaples Singers, the Allman Brothers Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Simon and Garfunkle, the studio produced all time classic songs like “Mustang Sally,” “I Never Loved a Man,” “Wild Horses” and many more, uniting black and white musicians in the deep south during an incendiary period of racial hostility.

 

10. 12 Years a Slave (2013)

Based on 191 Critic reviews (96%) and 48422 User reviews (93%)

Moira MacDonald – Seattle Times Full Review – Watch the trailer

“12 Years a Slave” isn’t easy to watch, and it shouldn’t be; it’s one man’s tragedy, but it’s also the tragedy of countless thousands of souls beaten down, literally and metaphorically.

The film is based on an incredible true story of one man’s fight for survival and freedom. In the pre-Civil War United States, Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery. Facing cruelty (personified by a malevolent slave owner, portrayed by Michael Fassbender), as well as unexpected kindnesses, Solomon struggles not only to stay alive, but to retain his dignity. In the twelfth year of his unforgettable odyssey, Solomon’s chance meeting with a Canadian abolitionist (Brad Pitt) will forever alter his life.