The Best Movie of 2013: Inside Llewyn Davis

by Tony Dayoub

As I write this in a coffee shop, the wind chill outside makes it feel a number of degrees below 0°. That's chilly enough to remind me that I still haven't shared my thoughts on my favorite film this year, the Coen Brothers' Inside Llewyn Davis. A musical that's not a musical, Inside Llewyn Davis is set in the kind-of-blue/kind-of-snowy, early 60s folk scene of Greenwich Village. And its eponymous protagonist is not a character you easily... pardon the pun... warm up to. Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) is a talented singer-songwriter, and we know it not just because of his excellent performance of the traditional "Hang Me, Oh Hang Me" that opens the film.

Nominations for the 86th Academy Awards (and Brief Analysis)

by Tony Dayoub

The Dayoub household is under a flu quarantine of sorts, so it was hard to muster any kind of my usual enthusiasm for the Oscar nominations announcement this morning as I lay watching them from my sickbed. But here's the most complete list of nominees I could find. I'll chime in with my thoughts as necessary (in italics), primarily in the form of pointing out any major snubs. Highlighted in red are the nominees I'm rooting for, not my predictions. I know there are many who try to predict Oscar winners, but this way lies madness, in my humble opinion. Feel free to leave your thoughts or tell me who you're rooting for in the comments section.

Here's the list of nominees, all in all, not a bad one in this very competitive year:

UPDATED: Best of 2013: The 12 Best Films of the Year

by Tony Dayoub

This may be the earliest I've posted my top films of the year. That's because this year I voted in critic polls fairly early, including one for IndieWire and two for organizations I belong to, the Online Film Critics Society and the Southeastern Film Critics Association. That still doesn't mean I didn't fail to see some films that are probably worthy of consideration. But at this point my mind is jelly, and any other films coming my way might suffer from my condition. So onward and upward.

For your consideration, my top films of 2013, followed by the winners of the respective polls I voted in.

2013 So Far: Midterm Top 10

by Tony Dayoub

So far, 2013 has been a stronger year for American cinema than I expected. But admittedly, my near complete ignorance of this year's foreign films probably has more to do with my lack of easy, timely access to them. By awards season I'll have seen most of this year's movies, and that usually upsets my list considerably. So I'm sure you'll see representation of the overseas contingent then. Anyway, whatevs... the list of 2013's best films so far, my response to Indiewire's recent Critics Poll, appears after the jump.

The Week in Review: Richard Matheson, World War Z and Maniac (2013)

by Tony Dayoub

Between a well earned vacation down in my hometown (which just won the NBA Finals, people), Wendy Davis's Texas filibuster and the Supreme Court rulings rightfully dominating the conversation online this week, I just haven't felt up to posting anything major. (If a blogger posts a movie review online and no one is around to read it, does it still make a cogent argument?) Still, the world keeps turning, so here's some stuff worth mentioning if only in brief.