2013
12 Years a Slave
(2013)
John Ridley (screenplay by), Solomon Northup (based on "Twelve Years a Slave" by)
Won 3 Oscars. Another 239 wins & 335 nominations.
Based on an incredible true story of one man's fight for survival and freedom. In the pre-Civil War United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery. Facing cruelty personified by a malevolent slave owner, 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 will forever alter his life.
2 Guns
(2013)
Blake Masters (screenplay), Steven Grant (based on the Boom! Studios graphic novels by)
2 wins.
Two hardened criminals get into trouble with the US border patrol after meeting with a Mexican drug lord, and then revelations start to unfold.
47 Ronin
(2013)
Chris Morgan (screenplay), Hossein Amini (screenplay), Chris Morgan (screen story by), Walter Hamada (screen story by)
5 nominations.
While hunting in the forest, Lord Asano of Ako and his samurai find a young half-breed and take him with them to live in the castle. Several years later, Lord Asano holds a tournament to welcome the Shogun to Ako. The night after the tournament, Lord Asano is bewitched into hurting Lord Kira of Nagato, and is punished into committing seppuku by the Shogun. Realizing that it was a Lord Kira's evil plot, the samurais and the half-breed sets out for revenge against the Shogun's order.
A Good Day to Die Hard
(2013)
Skip Woods, Roderick Thorp (certain original characters by)
3 wins & 7 nominations.
John McClane travels to Russia to help out his seemingly wayward son, Jack, only to discover that Jack is a CIA operative working undercover, causing the father and son to team up against underworld forces.
Alan Partridge
(2013)
Peter Baynham (based upon characters created by), Peter Baynham (screenplay), Steve Coogan (based upon characters created by), Steve Coogan (screenplay), Neil Gibbons (screenplay), Rob Gibbons (screenplay), Armando Iannucci (based upon characters created by), Armando Iannucci (screenplay), Patrick Marber (based upon characters created by)
1 win & 7 nominations.
Radio DJ Alan Partridge is facing uncertain times with his radio station being taken over by a corporate conglomerate. He makes things worse when he talks down a colleague after a promise to talk him up. The colleague handles things badly and takes the radio station into his own hands, literally, by taking them all hostage. Envisioning all his action heroes in his head, Alan is going to save the day by becoming a go-between for the Scotland Yard. His method though will put himself and others in harm's way because Alan Partridge just can't keep his mouth shut.
All Is Lost
(2013)
J.C. Chandor
Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 3 wins & 48 nominations.
Deep into a solo voyage in the Indian Ocean, an unnamed man (Redford) wakes to find his 39-foot yacht taking on water after a collision with a shipping container left floating on the high seas. With his navigation equipment and radio disabled, the man sails unknowingly into the path of a violent storm. Despite his success in patching the breached hull, his mariner's intuition and a strength that belies his age, the man barely survives the tempest. Using only a sextant and nautical maps to chart his progress, he is forced to rely on ocean currents to carry him into a shipping lane in hopes of hailing a passing vessel. But with the sun unrelenting, sharks circling and his meager supplies dwindling, the ever-resourceful sailor soon finds himself staring his mortality in the face.
American Hustle
(2013)
Eric Warren Singer, David O. Russell
Nominated for 10 Oscars. Another 66 wins & 202 nominations.
A fictional film set in the alluring world of one of the most stunning scandals to rock our nation, American Hustle tells the story of brilliant con man Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale), who along with his equally cunning and seductive British partner Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) is forced to work for a wild FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper). DiMaso pushes them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and mafia that's as dangerous as it is enchanting. Jeremy Renner is Carmine Polito, the passionate, volatile, New Jersey political operator caught between the con-artists and Feds. Irving's unpredictable wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence) could be the one to pull the thread that brings the entire world crashing down.
Carrie
(2013)
Lawrence D. Cohen (screenplay), Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (screenplay), Stephen King (novel)
6 wins & 7 nominations.
The outcast teenager Carrie White is bullied by her classmates at high school. Her mother, Margaret White, is a pious and paranoid woman that sees sin everywhere and the need of self-inflicting punishment. When Carrie has her first period, she does not understand what is happening to her and her classmates humiliate her in the changing room. The spiteful Chris Hargensen videotapes Carrie with her cell phone and posts it on the Internet. Their teacher Ms. Desjardin punishes the students, but when Chris challenges her, she is suspended and consequently is banned from the prom. Meanwhile, Carrie discovers that she has telekinesis and learns how to control her ability. Sue Snell, one of the girls that tormented Carrie, feels bad and asks her boyfriend Tommy Ross to invite Carrie to go with him to the prom to make up for what she did to Carrie. But Chris and her boyfriend Billy Nolan plot an evil prank with her friends to seek vengeance for Carrie
Elysium
(2013)
Neill Blomkamp
1 win & 9 nominations.
In the year 2154, the very wealthy live on a man-made space station while the rest of the population resides on a ruined Earth. A man takes on a mission that could bring equality to the polarized worlds.
Filth
(2013)
Jon S. Baird, Irvine Welsh (novel)
9 wins & 12 nominations.
A corrupt, junkie cop with Borderline Personality Disorder attempts to manipulate his way through a promotion in order to win back his wife and daughter while also fighting his own borderline-fueled inner demons.
Gangster Squad
(2013)
Will Beall, Paul Lieberman (book)
4 nominations.
It's 1949 Los Angeles, and gangster Mickey Cohen has moved in, with the intention of controlling all criminal activity in the city. He has bought local judges and police, and no one is willing to cross him or testify against him. Everyone except Seargant John O'Mara, a former World War II soldier, whose goal is to settle with his family in a peaceful Los Angeles. Police Chief William Parker decides to form a special unit whose mission is to take down Cohen, and chooses O'Mara to lead the unit. O'Mara chooses 4 cops and asks another cop and vet, Jerry Wooters to join him but Wooters is not interested. But when he witnesses the murder of a young boy by Cohen's people, he joins them, and they decide to take apart Cohen's organization. Cohen wonders if a rival is going after him, but eventually he realizes it's the cops.
Gravity
(2013)
Alfonso Cuarón, Jonás Cuarón
Won 7 Oscars. Another 205 wins & 164 nominations.
A medical engineer and an astronaut work together to survive after an accident leaves them adrift in space.
Hummingbird
(2013)
Steven Knight
N/A
Homeless and on the run from a military court martial, a damaged ex-special forces soldier navigating London's criminal underworld seizes an opportunity to assume another man's identity -- transforming into an avenging angel in the process.
I Spit on Your Grave 2
(2013)
Neil Elman (screenplay), Thomas Fenton (screenplay)
N/A
Katie is trying to make it in the cutthroat world of modeling. When she innocently accepts an offer to have new photos taken for her portfolio, the experience quickly turns into an unthinkable nightmare of rape, torture, and kidnapping. When a twist of fate finally frees her from her captors - beaten, battered, bruised, and broken, she will have to tap into the darkest places of the human psyche to not only survive her ordeal, but to ultimately find the strength to exact her brutal revenge.
Inside Llewyn Davis
(2013)
Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 46 wins & 157 nominations.
Follow a week in the life of a young folk singer as he navigates the Greenwich Village folk scene of 1961. Guitar in tow, huddled against the unforgiving New York winter, he is struggling to make it as a musician against seemingly insurmountable obstacles -- some of them of his own making.
Man of Steel
(2013)
David S. Goyer (screenplay), David S. Goyer (story), Christopher Nolan (story), Jerry Siegel (Superman created by), Joe Shuster (Superman created by)
7 wins & 42 nominations.
Clark Kent, one of the last of an extinguished race disguised as an unremarkable human, is forced to reveal his identity when Earth is invaded by an army of survivors who threaten to bring the planet to the brink of destruction.
Now You See Me
(2013)
Ed Solomon (screenplay), Boaz Yakin (screenplay), Edward Ricourt (screenplay)
1 win & 3 nominations.
Four magicians each answer a mysterious summons to an obscure address with secrets inside. A year later, they are the Four Horsemen, big time stage illusionists who climax their sold out Las Vegas show with a bank apparently robbed for real. This puts agents Dylan Rhodes of the FBI and Alma Dray of Interpol on the case to find out how they did it. However, this mystery proves difficult to solve even with the insights of the professional illusion exposer, Thaddeus Bradley. What follows is a bizarre investigation where nothing is what it seems with illusions, dark secrets and hidden agendas galore as all involved are reminded of a great truth in this puzzle: the closer you look, the less you see.
Oblivion
(2013)
Karl Gajdusek (screenplay), Michael Arndt (screenplay), Joseph Kosinski (graphic novel original story)
11 nominations.
A veteran assigned to extract Earth's remaining resources begins to question what he knows about his mission and himself.
Oldboy
(2013)
Garon Tsuchiya (manga), Nobuaki Minegishi (manga), Mark Protosevich (screenplay)
4 nominations.
An advertising executive is kidnapped and held hostage for 20 years in solitary confinement. When he is inexplicably released, he embarks on an obsessive mission to discover who orchestrated his punishment, only to find he is still trapped in a web of conspiracy and torment.
Olympus Has Fallen
(2013)
Creighton Rothenberger, Katrin Benedikt
1 win & 5 nominations.
Disgraced Secret Service agent (and former presidential guard) Mike Banning finds himself trapped inside the White House in the wake of a terrorist attack; using his inside knowledge, Banning works with national security to rescue the President from his kidnappers.