2013 AARP Movies for Grownups Awards

Billy Connolly, Maggie Smith,Tom Courtenay, Pauline Collins in "Quartet." — Courtesy The Weinstein Company

Breakthrough Accomplishment

Dustin Hoffman (Director, Quartet) 

It's hard to believe that the consummate movie actor had never before directed a film. His sensitive portrait of the residents of a home for retired classical musicians makes us wonder what took him so long. Of course he had the good sense to enlist a cast that includes Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly, Pauline Collins and Michael Gambon. But Hoffman doesn't just cut his cast loose; he guides them through a minefield of possible missteps to create a film bursting with sentiment, yet stubbornly dry-eyed.

• Read our review and watch the trailer for Quartet

Helen Mirren and Anthony Hopkins. — Courtesy Fox Searchlight

Best Grownup Love Story 

Helen Mirren and Anthony Hopkins (Hitchcock)

He's the public face of their combined genius; she's the devoted wife who overlooks his peccadilloes. True, Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Hitchcock bicker in both the living room and the editing room, and at times we wonder what she sees in him. But above all, the two settle into each other with reassuring comfiness. In one thrilling scene, as the two labor over the infamous Psycho shower sequence, we see them in their element: best friends and gleeful partners in crime.

• Read our review and watch the trailer for Hitchcock

WE ALSO LOVED: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel | Hope Springs | Lincoln | Quartet

Bradley Cooper, Jacki Weaver, Chris Tucker — The Weinstein Company/Everett Collection

Best Intergenerational Movie

Silver Linings Playbook 

The world already conspires to keep generations from understanding each other; throwing mental illness onto the pile just doesn't seem fair. Still, in this gritty-but-warmhearted story of a Philadelphia family in crisis, parents (Robert DeNiro and Jacki Weaver) and their grown son (Bradley Cooper, who plays opposite a much-nominated and winning performance by Jennifer Lawrence) bravely grasp for each other, defying the odds. In practical terms, they don't stand a chance. But this is family, and in the end, of course, they do.

• Read our review and watch the trailer for Silver Linings Playbook 

WE ALSO LOVED: Moonrise Kingdom | Parental Guidance | Starlet | Trouble With the Curve

Rodriguez. — Courtesy Sony Pictures Classics

Best Documentary

Searching for Sugar Man (directed by Malik Bendjelloul) 

Surely you remember that '70s Detroit rocker named Rodriguez, don't you? Well, maybe not, but two of his biggest fans in South Africa sure did. Deeply touched by reports that the singer, down and out, had committed suicide while performing onstage, the pair decided to get to the bottom of their hero's sad story. The discovery that changed their lives is an inspiration for anyone who's ever asked, "Whatever happened to …?" 

WE ALSO LOVED: Betting the Farm | Charles Bradley: Soul of America | How to Survive a Plague | Surviving Hitler: A Love Story 

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