Quentin Tarantino Picks The Best of 2013

Quentin Tarantino isn’t really a critic, but there are few people in Hollywood that possess an encyclopedic knowledge of film like the director of Pulp Fiction and Inglourious Basterds does, so a list of his top ten films of 2013 (thus far) is a must-read for any fan of cinema. His lists aren’t identical to almost any critic’s assemblage, nor is it made up of solely Oscar-bait or box-office titans, it is pure Tarantino.

The list below is in alphabetical order and still only a partial list as there is still plenty more waiting to be seen in this young year.

Afternoon Delight 

Before Midnight 

Blue Jasmine

The Conjuring 

Drinking Buddies

Frances Ha 

Gravity

Kick Ass 2 

The Lone Ranger 

This Is The End 

Before readers get their hackles up, yes, The Lone Ranger and Kick-Ass 2 are not considered great movies, but a bad rating on Rotten Tomatoes doesn’t mean that a film is incapable of being liked, just that the overall reaction leans toward one end of the spectrum more than another. Few attitudes are more annoying to mainstream moviegoers than the condescension that comes along with discussing a movie and soon getting the response than “I didn’t like it, so if you did, your taste is worse than mine.”

The mentions of Kick-Ass 2 and The Lone Ranger stand out in a year that has included such delights as Mud, Rush, The World’s End and Prisoners, but given the last two lists that Mr. Tarantino put out in 2010 and 2011, the inclusion should not be such a surprise. Genre rollicking features are common is his year-end lists and this particular year has been rich with them.

Now to ask readers: What makes up your top-ten list of 2013 thus far?

Source: TIME