Posts
A few honorable mentions before we get started:
Django Unchained: Here's the thing with this movie. I understand why people love it. I understand why it was some people's favorite film of last year. I just am not a huge fan of Tarantino. I appreciate what he does, I respect what he does. Obviously he's a brilliant man. He's made some unbelievable films and is certainly one of the best directors of our time. I just can't get into very many of his films. Some of his films in the past I've adored. This wasn't one of them. It was solid, but it got really slow in certain points. I will say this: I thought Leo Dicaprio was going to WIN Best Supporting Actor. Not only did he not win, he wasn't even nominated. Granted, the category was full of winners. It was a great year for supporting actors in 2012, that's for sure.
Beasts of the Southern Wild: This movie touched my heart. Quvenzhane Wallis deserved all of the acclaim she got last year. She carried this movie. I've never seen a girl this young give a performance this great. She was brilliant. The movie felt a little documentary to me, though. Which was one of the few problems I had with it. A great film, a great directorial debut, just not good enough to make it into my Top 10.
Alright let's get started. As always, in reverse order:
10) Perks of Being A Wallflower
An important thing to remember here is that this is a re-ranking. Which means, this is a list based on rewatchability to go along with the other elements that originally qualified a film in a Top 10 list. This movie shocked me. I didn't read the book. It looked silly. Emma Watson sounds British for most of it. But it really was the performance of Logan Lerman and Ezra Miller that carried this movie for me. It was funny, it was enjoyable, and it had a lot of heart. Easily the most shocking movie from 2012.
9) Cabin in the Woods
 |
| The Cabin in the Woods poster |
If you know me well, you also know that I hate horror films. I hate them mostly due to the fact that they've gotten so over the top and ridiculous. The plot doesn't matter, the mystery elements have disappeared for the most part and yet, this film gave me a little bit of hope that the genre isn't done just yet. Honestly, when was the last time you saw a horror film and came out of the theater or turned off the Blu-Ray player and said: "Damn, that was so good!". Never. Never is the answer. Because it's a genre that has been stained for a decade, maybe even longer. Every once in a while, a film comes along, like this one, that makes you think that horror isn't dead just yet. Paranormal Activity 1 was like that. And then it just got out of hand with sequels. I loved Cabin in the Woods. There are a lot of people out there who think this movie is so stupid and over the top, but if you understand some of the satire and homages to past horror films, it's one of the most enjoyable horror films in recent years. It has some comedy, but not as much as people are saying it does. I went into it thinking there would be more comedy based off what I was told. Were there comic moments? Sure. But the mystery and the plot were so brilliant and original that I loved it. That's the thing with this film-it's original. In a genre where originality has become so scarce, Cabin in the Woods got it right. PS: Has there ever been a cooler movie poster than the one for The Cabin in the Woods? It's perfect, especially after having seen the film.
8) The Grey
 |
| Liam Neeson in 'The Grey' |
This is a movie most people forgot about. It had a January release date, which is codeword for "this is gonna suck". But it was, like Perks, such a surprisingly good movie that I appreciate it even more. Its rewatchability is high. It is an intense survival film that really makes you feel like you're lost in the arctic with them. I love this movie. The ending was one of those things where people are split on it. But when you step back and look at the overall picture, you appreciate what it did, and you understand what they were going for with the ending. The soundtrack is also very underrated. It's very moving and it helps drive the story and the intensity. A very underrated movie, and great one at that.
7) The Impossible
 |
| Tom Holland and Naomi Watts in 'The Impossible' |
Another underrated movie, a heart-wrenching film that describes the survival story of the Belon family. While on vacation in Thailand, a tsunami hits, dividing the family and sparking a search to reunite the family. I thought this was one of the best acted films of last year. Naomi Watts was recognized, however, to me she wasn't the best part. Or even the second best part. Ewan McGregor had some unbelievable scenes. He had some heart-wrenching scenes and just a great emotional performance. He's not in the film for long, though. The story mostly revolves around Lucas (Tom Holland) and Maria (Watts). And Tom Holland was brilliant as Lucas. He's basically the lead for this film, and he showed an unbelievable amount of dramatic talent. This kid's going to go places for sure. We haven't seen the last of him, I can guarantee that. This movie was such an emotional roller coaster and it makes you think, "What if that were me? What if that happened to my family?". It is a superbly acted film, and a superbly directed film as well.
6) Argo
I enjoyed this film for what is was. Did I think it deserved Best Picture? No. Do I understand why it won? Yes. Here's the thing-I was happy this film won Best Picture. It was a film I couldn't be mad that it won. Which is always nice. I hate when a film you don't think deserves to win it, ends up doing so. I was fine with this winning. I liked this movie a lot. Loved? Certainly not. Has anyone ever resurrected a career at a magnitude equal to Ben Affleck? I can't think of anybody. He went from a laughing stock of Hollywood into one of the industries best filmmakers. The guy knows how to make a film, that's for sure. His speech at the Oscar's after winning Best Picture made you feel for the guy. It made you want to be an Affleck fan. He seems like such a great guy. This movie is great. He definitely deserved it, and so did this movie.
5) The Dark Knight Rises
Yes this movie is flawed. Yes this movie isn't as good as The Dark Knight. Yes this movie let a lot of people down. But it's only because of the ridiculous standards everyone had for it. Doing what it did on the scale that it did, under all that pressure, really is a testament to how good this movie is. I've rewatched this movie almost as many times as any movie I've seen. I really enjoyed it. I love Bane. I loved everything about Bale and what he did as Batman. Yeah I have a few complaints, but I enjoyed the hell out of it and that's all that should matter. It already had unfair standards to live up to and the fact that it was a good as it was should say enough about this movie. It was entertaining as hell. Anne Hathaway didn't suck as Catwoman which was shocking and fun to see. Arthur is always great. The plot was great. It was such a great film. This movie was everything I wanted Iron Man 3 to be. Nolan is arguably the best in the business right now, until something he touches isn't gold or a very large amount of silver, then we can discuss who's better. But the guy knows how to make movies. And he knows how to make them well. But, even with all that said, there still were 4 movies I enjoyed better than TDKR.
4) Wreck-It Ralph
 |
| Ralph and Vanellope |
Easily the best animated feature of last year. It also had the animated short Paperman attached to it, which was easily the best animated short of 2012 as well. So basically this film dominated the animation world of 2012. The only reasons it didn't win Best Animated at many awards ceremonies was because voters have a hard on for Pixar. Which isn't a bad thing and certainly is understandable, I just thought Wreck-It Ralph was far and away the best animation of 2012. It had the feel of a Pixar film. It was weird-it seemed like Brave should have been the Disney film and Ralph should have been the Pixar release. But, what do I know. I do know that this movie was hilarious, fun, creative, and also very heart wrenching. It had the heart that Pixar movies and old Disney animations had. It tears you up a bit at the end. I love this movie so much. I like it better than a lot of Pixar movies, actually. Which isn't a hit on Pixar at all, it's a complement for Wreck-It Ralph.
3) Zero Dark Thirty
This is a movie that has really changed since the end of 2012. It was a film like Argo to me. I thought it was good, not great. It was a good action film, not a great movie. But having rewatched it a few times, I realized that this is a fantastic movie. Jason Clarke was phenomenal in his role, as was the entire cast. Jessica Chastain was a badass, and was my runner up to Jennifer Lawrence for Best Actress last year. I think that she was brilliant. The whole movie was excellent. This is one of those movies that I have all sorts of questions about. Like the fact that the movie was already in production before Bin Laden was killed. How was the movie going to end? What was the plot like? This movie was improved drastically by Bin Laden's death. It allowed for the climactic ending that was some of the most intense action ever put to screen. I loved it. At first I liked it a lot, and then I loved it. It's a great film. One that I would have been more than happy to see win Best Picture.
2) The Avengers
I mean, what else is there to say. To do what this movie did, and to do it as well as it did, is truly remarkable. It put a 6 year plan from Marvel to screen, and didn't suck. It was fantastic. I had such a good time with this movie, and it was easily the fastest 2 and a half hour film I've ever seen. I wanted this movie to be 6 hours long. I didn't care. It was just so much fun. It was so fucking good. That's all there really is to say. The ending is so epic, too. The ending is like every ending of Transformers combined, except you can actually tell what's going on, as well as the fact that you care so much about these superheroes. You have emotional attachments to Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, etc. Something I really fucking hate about responses to this movie is the "there's no character development and plot! It's just action!" complaints. That's why you have all the other movies! That's why Iron Man had 2 films. That's why Thor got his own movie. That's why Captain America and Hulk had theirs. Shut up. You knew exactly what you were getting into with this movie. And my god did it blow every expectation I had for it out of the water. I want every superhero movie to be the Avengers. It raised the bar for Superhero movies forever. I don't see any movie ever really touching it, until Avengers 2 comes out. I loved this film. Everything about it was perfect. The humor was perfectly executed, the action sequences were fantastic. Everything was fantastic. This would have been my favorite movie that came out in 2012, if it weren't for another movie that came out...
1) Silver Linings Playbook
 |
| Cooper and Lawrence were brilliant in 'Silver Linings Playbook' |
Everyone who knows me, knows how heavily I endorse this movie. It's the best movie I've seen in years. It's so god damn funny. Everything comes together so perfectly. It was such a greatly directed and acted movie. I loved Bradley Cooper, and I think he would have won Best Actor had Daniel Day-Lewis not made a movie this year. I mean, come on. It's almost unfair at this point. I loved everything about it. Jennifer Lawrence only further increased my love for her. She was fantastic and certainly deserved her Best Actress victory. De Niro I thought deserved Best Supporting Actor, but as I said earlier, it was an incredibly competitive category in 2012. Listen, I could talk about this movie for the rest of the day if I wanted to. I love this movie so much. It was perfect. There wasn't anything wrong with it. The more and more I think about it, the more I want to just go watch it again. Easily my most rewatched movie from 2012. I think I'm in the 40s for how many times I've seen it. I think I've seen it more than most people that were even involved with the film. It never gets old. It's a movie where you're always in the mood to watch it. I'm never going to say "no" when someone offers to watch Silver Linings Playbook. It's my favorite movie of all time. It really is. Which is such a hard question to answer, by the way. When someone asks you what your favorite movie is, you end up listing off like 8 different movies. I love everything about it. It certainly is one of those movies that if someone you know hasn't seen it, you just can't even believe it. At least for me anyway. It certainly isn't on the level for people who have never seen Shawshank, Pulp Fiction, or The Godfather among others. But I think in a few years, it could be. It certainly is for me. I'm fucking weird, though. Which is a key thing to remember. There's really not much more I can say at this point. I've basically got this movie memorized. I'm just going to stop talking so that people don't think I'm clinically insane like Pat and Tiffany...
No comments:
Post a Comment