Swiss Army Man
Blu-ray | DVD
Directors: Daniel Scheinert, Daniel Kwan
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Paul Dano, Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Lionsgate Home Video
Release date: October 4, 2016

Swiss Army Man is the story of hope, friendship, and farting. The first full-length feature from writer/director team Daniel Scheinert and Dan Kwan …aka “The Daniels.” I don’t want to give any intimate details of the film, because it may be the single most original film I’ve ever seen. If you’ve heard of Swiss Army Man, you probably know the basic plot. A shipwrecked man (Paul Dano) on the verge of suicide finds a washed-up corpse on the beach (Daniel Radcliffe), and their insane friendship restores the hope that our main character can survive his ordeal. Oh yeah and the corpse farts”¦ a lot. The two Daniels won the Directing Award at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and the film has quickly developed a cult reputation.

Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World, stated that “experience is not what happens to you; it’s what you do with what happens to you.” This quote lingered within my thoughts for the majority of the 2013 movie year because there is a remarkable number of films that confirm Huxley’s statement with shocking clarity. During 2013 the majority of characters in cinema experienced a relentless assault of either irrepressible physical violence or emotional turmoil, resulting in each character clinging to their lives, praying that they won’t become defeated. Characters had to either sink or swim. No film provided for them a middle ground that would grant them an easy way out or provide a buoy for them. Characters had to act, and act fast.

In Gravity, becoming disconnected from her partner in the infinite void of space, Dr. Stone had to gain composure quickly or endure an onslaught of debris and isolation. In The Place Beyond the Pines, a cop had to rely on his survival instincts and the ramifications of his decision reverberated throughout generations. In Blue is the Warmest Color, a confused teenage woman, utterly love-sick, discovers the throes and pangs of first love and is left even more confused after the indelible experience. In Dallas Buyers Club, an AIDs victim with a guaranteed death-sentence uses his situation to give hope to thousands of other AIDs victims. And in The Counselor, a man’s experience overwhelms him and he is soon exposed to the most unsavory circumstances that are beyond his control and the most heinous individuals.

Without further hesitance, the best 2013 had to offer.

12 Years a Slave
Director: Steve McQueen
Screenwriter: John Ridley
Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, Lupita Nyong’o, Sarah Paulson, Brad Pitt
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Rated R | 134 Minutes
Release Date: November 1, 2013

Directed by Steve McQueen (Hunger, Shame), 12 Years a Slave is an adaptation of the 1853 autobiographical memoir by Solomon Northup, who was kidnapped in 1841 and sold into slavery.

Written by John Ridley (U Turn), 12 Years a Slave stars Chiwetel Ejiofor (Children of Men) as Northup, a free black man living with his wife and children in Saratoga, New York. Northup is a respected member of the community there, earning a living as a masterful violin player.

He is kidnapped by a pair of men (Scoot McNairy and Taran Killam), drugged, and sold into bondage. In chains, Northup (now called “Platt”) is transported to Washington D.C. where he is purchased by slave owner William Ford (Benedict Cumberbatch).

Prisoners
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Screenwriter: Aaron Guzikowski
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Maria Bello, Terrence Howard, Melissa Leo, Paul Dano
Warner Bros. Pictures
Rated R | 153 Minutes
Release Date: September 20, 2013

Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) and his wife Grace (Maria Bello) are facing every parent’s worst nightmare. Their 6-year-old daughter Anna (Erin Gerasimovich) is missing, along with her best friend Joy (Kyla Drew Simmons). Minutes turn to hours – panic sets in. The families pray for the best, but prepare for the worst.

After searching the surrounding woods, Dover’s son (Dylan Minnette) mentions he saw the girls playing near a creepy old RV that had been parked on their street. Heading the investigation, Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) arrests its driver, Alex Jones (Paul Dano), a peculiar young man with the IQ of a 10-year-old.

Due to a lack of evidence, Jones is released. A frantic Dover decides he has no choice but to take the law into his own hands. As Loki pursues other leads, Dover tracks down Jones and holds him captive. He brutalizes the seemingly innocent man in hopes of getting a confession – in hopes of finding the little girls – but Jones remains silent. The further Dover goes, the closer he comes to losing his own humanity.

The first trailer for Brick writer-director Rian Johnson‘s forthcoming sci-fi action thriller Looper, which has been teased relentlessly all week, has been released today by Columbia Pictures and Film District. You can check it out here below.

Looper takes place in a world where time travel exists, but only as black market technology used by the mob to eliminate their enemies. They send hired killers, called “loopers,” thirty years into the past with their quarry. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a looper whose life is threatened when his employers decide to target his future self (Bruce Willis) for assassination.