12 Years a Slave (2013) - ★★★★½

Director: Steve McQueen
Writers: Solomon Northup (novel), John Ridley (screenplay)
Stars: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Lupita Nyong'o, Sarah Paulson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Brad Pitt, Paul Giamatti

12 Years a Slave is one of the most important films ever made. It has brought to life a terrible period of history that hasn’t been explored in such a way for a very long time. It’s a remarkably emotional film, that left me swamped with tears and feeling better for having seen it. It’s not quite the masterpiece I expected it to be, but it certainly deserves praise for being one of the best films of the past few years.

It is the true story of Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), an educated free man who lived in Washington with his family. He is kidnapped and sold into slavery, where he ends up working on the plantation run by a ruthless owner, Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender). 

Prisoners (2013) - ★★★★½

Director: Denis Villeneuve
Writer: Aaron Guzikowski
Stars: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Paul Dano, Melissa Leo, Viola Davis, Terrence Howard, Maria Bello, Dylan Minnette

In my personal opinion, Prisoners is a thriller movie. In fact, I truly believe that it is one of the best thrillers made in years. The atmosphere, the story, the suspected kidnappers, and the urgency of it all had way more suspense in it than your average crime-drama. The setting and tone of the film reminded me of Winter’s Bone (2011) and Mystic River (2003), the suspected kidnappers are as creepy and memorable as the stalker from The Bodyguard (1992), but most importantly, it was almost as suspenseful as The Silence of the Lambs (1991). It isn’t filled with dynamics or action, but rather a grim urgency that echoes in every scene. There haven’t been many movies like this in a long time, so I embrace Prisoners with open arms and say, “Thank-you for saving 2013 from being a boring year of cinema.”

Little Miss Sunshine (2005) - ★★★★

Directors: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris
Writers: Michael Arndt
Stars: Steve Carrell, Toni Collette, Abigail Breslin, Alan Arkin, Greg Kinnear, Paul Dano

One of my personal favorite films of all time, Little Miss Sunshine is a beautiful and inspiring story of a quarreling family's journey to help their youngest member achieve her dream of winning the Little Miss Sunshine Pageant. With a flawless cast, brilliant dialogue, beautiful destinations and a great moral, it's hard not to fall in love with this film.

Toni Collette and Greg Kinnear are Richard and Sheryl Hoover, the parents of a dysfunctional family on the brink of falling apart due to financial difficulties and lack of things in common. Their son Dwayne, played by Paul Dano, has taken a vow of silence until he achieves his goal of becoming a fighter pilot and visibly hates his parents. Olive, their daughter played by the marvelous Abigail Breslin, is a cute little girl that is completely oblivious to the fights and troubles that is going on around her. The innocence of this little girl that doesn't sweat the small stuff and only focuses on the fun things in life shows that although she doesn't have the life experience or knowledge that the other adults do, she is more mature many aspects. Alan Arkin gives one of his greatest performances as the sex and drug addicted Grandpa of the family. He mentors Olive in her dance routines and constantly builds up her self esteem when her father knocks it down. In one of the most touching scenes I've seen in many years, Olive asks Grandpa if she is pretty. He tells her "I think you're the most beautiful girl in the world." Of course we cannot forget the knockout performance of Steve Carrell, playing a gay, intelligent and suicidal man that slowly gets his spirit to live back throughout the journey. All of these performances were just incredible and were the highlight of the movie.

There was much hilarity in this film as well as subtle jabs at the pageant industry for being too critical and judgmental of little girls who just want to feel pretty. I believe this is one of the best road-trip movies that has been made. It packs so much feeling and conflict between the family members that you don't know whether to feel sorry for them or to hate them. The ending brought them all together and made them see the bigger picture. That no matter how much we may hate our lives, at least we've got a family to fall back on and build us up again.