Since the early 1990s, I’ve been rating every movie I see according to the DTMTBD system: how it compares to Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead. DTMTBD  is my movie equivalent of what sports statheads call a “replacement-level player” – what you could expect to pick up off the waiver wire if your starter went down. I’m still catching up on a lot of 2013 releases, but here’s what I’ve got so far.

Best Movies of the Year

• Gravity
• Before Midnight

Much Better than Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead

• Warm Bodies
• This Is the End
• We’re the Millers
• The Heat
• Pain and Gain
• American Hustle
• Behind the Candelabra
• The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
• The World’s End
• Iron Man 3
• Much Ado About Nothing

Better than Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead

• Elysium
• Trance
• Admission
• Clear History
• The Fast and Furious 6
• Anchorman 2
• The Great Gatsby

About as Good as Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead

• Captain Phillips
• World War Z
• Thor: The Dark World
• The Hangover 3
• Star Trek Into Darkness

Worse than Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead

• Identity Thief

Much Worse than Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead

• Man of Steel