Genre: Drama

Run Time: 2 hours, 5 minutes, Rated PG-13

Starring: Tom Hanks, Emma Thompson, Colin Farrell, Paul Giamatti, Ruth Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, Rachel Griffiths, Bradley Whitford, Victoria Summer, B.J. Novak

Directed by John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side, The Alamo, The Rookie

​Walt Disney, the man, has never been portrayed in a work of fiction before, until now. The much heralded, much anticipated Saving Mr. Banks (opening today) features Uncle Walt in a supporting role, in a tale that is based on the true story of the making of Mary Poppins, the Disney classic that almost never was.

It's time to make sense of the year that was in movies. Yes, it's yet another "year-end" list for you to chew on. As the year draws towards its conclusion, here is a look back at the best films of 2013.

Last year, I compiled a Top 25, because there were just so many films worthy of mention. This year the list is down to 15, because quite frankly, there were only 15 films (or so) that I felt remotely passionate about this time around. There was still a lot to like within films that didn't crack my list (Daniel Bruhl's performance in Rush, Bruce Dern in Nebraska and Brie Larson in Short Term 12 come to mind), but here are my personal best of the best.

Of course, these lists rarely have any lasting resonance. They are meant to be easily digestible, read mainly as a means of comparison to see just how closely a particular critic falls in-line with your own personal preferences. Most movie-goers will read these lists with hopes of finding their favorite films listed among the obscure, mostly irrelevant (to them), independent or foreign films that seem to populate many critic's year-end lists. Others will scour over the choices waiting to pounce. "You picked that?!? That movie sucked!"

Surely, my list will produce similar cries of foul and maybe a few agreeing cheers, perhaps both well warranted. They are subjective picks and I assure you that these selections are not meant to be "controversial" or to "raise eyebrows." These are simply my favorite films of the year, reputation and stature be damned (worthy to note that I sadly missed The Great Beauty, Philomena and Justin Bieber's Believe. I beg your forgiveness for their exclusion).

So without further ado, sink your teeth into this: My Top 15 films of 2013:

Genre: Drama

Run Time: 3 hours, Rated R

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Margot Robbie, Matthew McConaughey, Jonah Hill, Jon Bernthal, Jon Favreau, Kyle Chandler, Jean Dujardin, Joanna Lumley

Based on the book by Jordan Belfort

Written by Terence Winter (Get Rich or Die Tryin, HBO's Boardwalk Empire & The Sopranos)

​There is a coked-up, rapid-fire, over-the-top way about The Wolf of Wall Street (opening today) that makes for simply mouthwatering cinema. It's the latest from legendary director Martin Scorsese, a film made with his usual panache yet laced with fervorous enthusiasm. Don't mistake the reckless way in which it appears to be put together, for recklessness. This is a conscious, stylistic choice, one that only matches the excessive nature of the world and characters it's portraying.

Genre: Biography, Drama, History

Run Time: 2 hours, 19 minutes, Rated PG-13

Starring: Idris Elba, Naomie Harris, Deon Lotz, Fana Mokoena, Tony Kgoroge

Directed by Justin Chadwick (The First Grader, The Other Boleyn Girl)

​The great Nelson Mandela passed away on Dec 5, so the release of the new film, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (opening today), couldn't be more appropriately timed. Those who lived through his time know the man as a legendary figure and in my generation (thirty-something-ers), it would be impossible not to remember his release from prison in 1990, after spending 27 years in captivity, and the media storm that followed at that time. In the last few decades since his release, he was an important public servant, becoming South Africa's first black president in 1995.

Genre: Comedy, Sport

Run Time: 1 hours, 53 minutes, Rated PG-13

Starring: Robert De Niro, Sylvester Stallone, Jon Bernthal, Kim Basinger, Kevin Hart, Alan Arkin

Directed by Peter Segal (Get Smart, The Longest Yard, 50 First Dates, Tommy Boy, Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult)

To determine the worth of the new Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro comedy, Grudge Match (opening today), look no further than the film's TV trailer. In it, there are the usual positive comments ("It's a knock-out! Or, "A great time at the movies!"), but if you look closely, they are pulled directly from random Twitter handles instead of the usual "respectable" pool of film critics.  

Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Drama

Run Time: 1 hours, 54 minutes, Rated PG

Starring: Ben Stiller, Kristen Wiig, Sean Penn, Kathryn Hahn, Shirley MacLaine, Adam Scott, Patton Oswalt

Directed by Ben Stiller (Tropic Thunder, Zoolander, The Cable Guy, Reality Bites)

​The concept of following your dreams is given a literal interpretation in the new film, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (opening today). It's a remake of a 1947 film of the same name, with Ben Stiller in the title role (portrayed originally by Danny Kaye).

Genre: Drama, Music

Run Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes, Rated R

Starring: Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake, Ethan Phillips, Robin Bartlett, John Goodman, Garrett Hedlund

Directed by Ethan & Joel Coen (True Grit, A Serious Man, No Country for Old Men, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, The Hudsucker Proxy, Raising Arizona)

​After the 2003 Christopher Guest comedy, A Mighty Wind, it's not too clear that the world needed - or wanted - another movie set in the world of folk music. Thanks to the Coen Brothers, we now get a much more serious take on the life of a folk musician with Inside Llewyn Davis(opening today).

Genre: Crime, Drama

Run Time: 2 hours, 9 minutes, Rated R

Starring: Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lawrence, Louis C.K., Jack Huston, Michael Pena, Shea Whigham

Co-written & Directed by David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook, The Fighter, I Heart Huckabees, Three Kings, Spanking the Monkey)

​Essentially merging the stars of his previous two films, The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook, director David O. Russell has concocted a greasy, bubbly and bittersweet cocktail with his latest film, American Hustle (opening today). But don't mistake greasy for slick, as this one doesn't go down quite as smooth as it's intended. While American Hustle is emerging as a front-runner this awards season, the film's parts are greater than its sum.

Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Drama

Run Time: 2 hours, 45 minutes, Rated PG-13

Starring: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Benedict Cumberbatch, Evangeline Lilly, Richard Armitage, Orlando Bloom, Luke Evans

Directed by Peter Jackson (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the Lord of the Rings trilogy)

​It’s the second chapter in the bloated, overlong Hobbit trilogy of films, following last year’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. In The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (opening today), Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf and their assortment of unmemorable and indiscernible dwarven friends finally arrive at the realm of the evil dragon Smaug.

Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller

Run Time: 1 hour, 56 minutes, Rated R

Starring: Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, Woody Harrelson, Zoe Saldana, Forest Whitaker, Willem Dafoe

Co-written & Directed by Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart)

​Out of the Furnace (opening today) begins with a less-than-ideal date, where a woman is abused and her would-be rescuer is beaten senseless. We need this scene to know just how violent Harlan DeGroat (Woody Harrelson) can be, and he doesn't disappoint: Nobody plays a scumbag quite like Woody.