[oman]

[Short version:  Scorsese disappointing me really puts me in a bad mood until the next Scorsese flick, and doesn't make my posting any less crazy.]

I loved Mud.  Whether I'd see it again would not change that; there aren't many movies that I need to see twice.

Well, I actually loved American Hustle, but that doesn't mean I'm crowning 2013 one of the three best years in cinema. 

Very few movies are great, top to bottom and inside out.  Godfather Two and then the list thins out for me.

Well, that's a broad and somewhat limiting (and erroneous, IMO) statement.  I'm trying to figure out what is wrong with about five John Ford flicks, probably seven Kubrick flicks, a few Spielberg flicks, two Renoir's, a couple of Orson Wells flicks, a few Powell and Pressberger flicks, etc., let alone a couple of US and Japanese animated features and 2012's A Separation.  Polanski has two top to bottom great flicks, arguably three.  (Although maybe I am just overestimating what you mean by "thin out".)

And it may be getting hard to tell us great storie because we have read or seen virtually every permutation of every possible theme: coming of age, the journey, revenge, stranger in a strange land, Horatio Alger, men at war, Romeo and Juliet.  That leaves it to the non-storytelling aspects to make a movie sing at least a little.  Gravity in 3D on a brobdingnagian screen floored me. . .

Heck, that's arguably an issue after Homer, and certainly after Shakespeare.  Story is one aspect of it.  As to the 3D, I respect it but when I see a movie as lacking as Gravity all I wonder is is how it would have enhanced 2001: A Space Odyssey let alone Alien.

I think last year had a nice variety of movies for lots of tastes. And I certainly think there are movies that a great top to bottom like Godfather 2.  Just not in 2013.

[oman]

[Short version:  Scorsese disappointing me really puts me in a bad mood until the next Scorsese flick, and doesn't make my posting any less crazy.]

I loved Mud.  Whether I'd see it again would not change that; there aren't many movies that I need to see twice.

Well, I actually loved American Hustle, but that doesn't mean I'm crowning 2013 one of the three best years in cinema. 

Very few movies are great, top to bottom and inside out.  Godfather Two and then the list thins out for me.

Well, that's a broad and somewhat limiting (and erroneous, IMO) statement.  I'm trying to figure out what is wrong with about five John Ford flicks, probably seven Kubrick flicks, a few Spielberg flicks, two Renoir's, a couple of Orson Wells flicks, a few Powell and Pressberger flicks, etc., let alone a couple of US and Japanese animated features and 2012's A Separation.  Polanski has two top to bottom great flicks, arguably three.  (Although maybe I am just overestimating what you mean by "thin out".)

And it may be getting hard to tell us great storie because we have read or seen virtually every permutation of every possible theme: coming of age, the journey, revenge, stranger in a strange land, Horatio Alger, men at war, Romeo and Juliet.  That leaves it to the non-storytelling aspects to make a movie sing at least a little.  Gravity in 3D on a brobdingnagian screen floored me. . .

Heck, that's arguably an issue after Homer, and certainly after Shakespeare.  Story is one aspect of it.  As to the 3D, I respect it but when I see a movie as lacking as Gravity all I wonder is is how it would have enhanced 2001: A Space Odyssey let alone Alien.

I think last year had a nice variety of movies for lots of tastes. And I certainly think there are movies that a great top to bottom like Godfather 2.  Just not in 2013.