Best of 2013: Mark Olsen picks ‘Spring Breakers,’ ‘Her’

In this time when news is disseminated ever more quickly, we asked our critics to list the best of culture in 2013 in tweet form:

SPRING BREAKERS loops between raging party & spaced-out bummer, fun & its consequences. Smart about being dumb, it’s of & for our times.

If any film this year pointed to a future cinema, UPSTREAM COLOR was it. An innovative marvel from how it was made to how it was released.

COMPUTER CHESS comes on as a jokey goof, then slyly finds the spiritual in new machines. Not the revenge of the nerds, but their triumph.

FRANCES HA brings out best in Noah Baumbach & Greta Gerwig, collaborating on a warm, wise movie about the struggle of growing into yourself.

A bittersweet take on intimacy, technology & the loneliness of modern life, HER also feels like a near-perfect vision of near-future LA.

GRAPHIC: Best of 2013 | Entertainment and culture

A prismatic death-bed reverie on what makes a life, POST TENEBRAS LUX tumbles from one haunting image to the next. Challenging & worth it.

Heartbreaking & eye-opening, doc AFTER TILLER looks at the four US doctors doing third-trimester abortions, bypassing issues for people.

The year’s scariest movie, the flash-trash true crime satire of THE BLING RING is a blank stare at identity, celebrity & obsession.

The swooning romance of AIN’T THEM BODIES SAINTS, steeped in twilight Americana, touches the struggle & sacrifice of love at its purest.

A TOUCH OF SIN examines matrix of societal & economic pressures that burst into violence. Bracing & touching, angry & sad: a modern tragedy.

Twitter: @IndieFocus