Not that this year was devoid of good movies. There were
plenty. However, it did seem harder to prioritize them in order of how much I
enjoyed them. It seemed like every time I sat down to weigh my opinion of each
film, I was forced to rearrange the list almost entirely. It got to the point
where I thought I might do this year’s list alphabetically. That seemed like
too much of a cop-out, though. So, in being aware that this is not the ten
commandments being carved into stone tablets and that I’m merely one out of a million
online jackasses spouting off about which movies I liked better than all the
others, I said “screw it” and finally settled on an order that I’m happy with.
For the moment, anyway. By this time next week, I could have the list
completely redone again. It’s certainly true that my previous lists are all in
a constant state of flux and often changed significantly after catching up with
movies I missed the first time around. So, with that in mind, here are my top
ten favorite films from 2012 in the order that makes the most sense to me right
now at this very second:
#10: Moonrise Kingdom
– Here’s a perfect example of why compiling this year’s top ten list was like
pulling teeth. Of the ten listed, I probably saw this one first (earliest in
the year, I mean) and, consequently, I remember very little about it except
that I really liked it a lot. Seeing it again and reacquainting myself with its
magic would probably bump it up further, but given the fact I don’t recall many
specifics indicates it didn’t leave that much of a lasting impression. So, my
conscience dictates it be relegated to the number ten slot. It just barely
edged out Argo, which I had seen more recently, do remember, and did really like, so that should give some perspective on how good Moonrise Kingdom was given that Argo won the Best Picture Oscar. What I
remember most about Moonrise Kingdom was
its overall impression. It felt like a live-action “Peanuts” comic strip. Very
charming and sweet but also rambunctious and kinda dark. I’ve always appreciated
Wes Anderson’s work, but, with the possible exception of The Royal Tenenbaums, I think this could be his best film. I’ll
hafta see it again, though, to make sure.
#9: Silver Linings Playbook – Romantic
comedies are tricky. They have an automatic tendency towards schmaltzy
sentiment. In fact, they almost can’t exist without it. Silver Linings Playbook has it in bits and pieces, even ending with
the male lead literally running after the female lead once she’s walked out and
he realizes he loves her (if you think that’s a spoiler then I’m afraid I’ve
spoiled the ending of pretty much every romantic comedy ever made), but the ways
it differs from garden-variety romantic comedies outweigh the similarities and
thus justifies itself. The lovers in question are flawed to the point of
literally being mentally ill which makes their romance more powerful and
volatile. It’s brilliant, really, because their instability makes for a
suspenseful relationship while at the same time making you root for them more
than you would a well-adjusted couple. That’s about as good a complication as
any romantic comedy has to offer.
#8: Kon-Tiki – I read this book back
when I was in sixth grade and remember very little about it except that it had
a lot of sharks. Naturally, that memory was enough for me to want to see the
movie many years later. I had also read “Life of Pi” many years ago (not as
early as sixth grade, obviously, but probably about a decade ago) and saw that
movie as well. While I enjoyed the book for “Life of Pi” more than the book of
“Kon-Tiki”, I definitely liked the film version of Kon-Tiki more than the film version of Life of Pi. Not only did it
strike me as a more authentic portrayal of being adrift at sea (due in no small
part to being a true story, I’m sure), but I found Kon-Tiki to be much more visually breath-taking. This is largely
because the special effects seemed so much more realistic. Watching Life of Pi, I was thinking, “Wow, the
CGI for that (insert name of any of the
many animals that appear in the film here) looks pretty real.” Watching Kon-Tiki (which, although no tiger, had
just about as many sea creatures in it as Life
of Pi did), it didn’t even occur to me that they were using CGI, although
they must have, right? Even the scene where they pull a great white shark onto the deck must have been a model of some kind, but I’ll be damned if I could
tell the difference. That kind of authenticity makes all the difference. Plus,
it’s just a great movie.
#7: Brave – I usually try to see PIXAR
movies in the theater because they’re always such a feast for the eyes. This
one somehow got by me, though, and I saw it on DVD a couple months ago. Maybe I
didn’t make it a priority because a lot of critics seemed to say it was a
fairly pedestrian and unspectacular PIXAR flick, inferring that they’d reached
some kind of plateau and were just kinda going through the motions at this
point. At least that was the impression I was getting from the press. I don’t
know what they were talking about, though. This film is fantastic and meets all
the requirements of the high bar that PIXAR has set for itself: A great story,
vivid characters, beautiful imagery, exciting action sequences, intelligent
humor, truly touch moments and, most importantly, an uplifting and valuable message.
It even had the heroic female lead that audiences specifically asked for. I
loved it and was mad at myself for not going out of my way to see it in the
theater. I don’t know where the disappointment other movie-goers experienced
came from. Maybe I’m just easier to please than most other PIXAR fans, but, if
that’s the case, I’m totally okay with it.
#6: Flight – I often roll my eyes whenever
somebody (usually Spike Lee) accuses Hollywood
of overlooking exceptional work of black people in filmmaking. But, given the
track record of Denzel Washington, sometimes I wonder. It’s not that he’s gone
unappreciated, but let’s review: Mr. Washington
has been nominated for six Academy Awards throughout his acting career and, of
those six, he’s won two. Not too shabby, right? However, the roles he won for
were Glory, where he played a Civil
War slave, and Training Day where he
played a corrupt ghetto cop. Those were both great roles that he was amazing
in, but I’m reminded of a speech Eddie Murphy’s character gave in Bowfinger: “White boys get all the
Oscars. It’s a fact! Did I get a nomination? No, and you know why? ‘Cuz I ain’t
played none of them slave roles and get my ass whipped. That’s when you get the nomination. Black dude play a slave role,
get his ass whipped, he get a nomination. White boy play an idiot, they get the
Oscar. Find me a script as a retarded slave, then I’ll get the Oscar.” That’s all for
laughs, of course, but when you look at the roles Denzel Washington has been
nominated for and didn’t win, it’s a
bit odd. There’s no doubt that Daniel Day-Lewis is a fine actor, clearly one of
the best actors alive today, but let’s face it; for the role of Abraham Lincoln, 50% of that performance is putting on the hat and the beard. Watch
Denzel Washington as a hopelessly addicted yet somehow functional chronic
alcoholic dealing with conflicting emotions of being both a hero and a culprit
in the midst of a highly-publicized tragedy and tell me that his wasn’t the
best performance of the year.
#5: Django Unchained – This film
probably bounced up and down the list more than any other, so I finally settled
on putting it right at the halfway point. At times, it feels like the best
movie of the year and, in other places, it feels incomplete and slightly awkward.
Ultimately, I think the film is either too long or too short. Some characters
and scenes seem undeveloped to the point where I think they should have been
cut out altogether. But, at the same time, I feel like there’s more there we’re
not seeing and the movie would greatly benefit from it. Could this be because
it’s Tarantino’s first film made without his usual editor, the late Sally Menke? Tarantino has said that there’s an “Extended Cut” that he may or may not
release after the film has completed its international screenings. That’s what I wanna see. After that,
I’ll feel better about my final verdict. Either way, though, this is an
incredible and impressive flick that further illustrates Quentin Tarantino’s
ever-growing talent and even maturity as a writer/director. He just may be too
big for the movies and better suited for mini-series. I, for one, am sick of
filmmakers being forced to snip their films in order to fit some pre-determined
cookie-cutter timeframe. Anybody who’s seen the extended director’s cuts of The Wild Bunch or Das Boot would have to agree with me. The theatrical cuts of both
those films are tragically inferior, as is Django
Unchained, I suspect. As Roger Ebert says, “No good film is too long and no
bad film is short enough.”
#4: Sleepwalk with Me – I’m not sure
what to say about this film, honestly. It came to me through word of mouth and
I knew very little about it when I finally sat down to watch it. I’m reluctant
to say much about it and deprive anyone who hasn’t seen it of the same
experience. It has all the traits and ingredients of a semi-autobiographical
independent film. You can take that as either a plus or minus. It’s very quirky
(some friends of mine thought it was too self-indulgent and, while I can’t
argue with them, I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing in this case)
with lots of dry humor and amusing, albeit highly clichéd, characters. Overall,
it’s an interesting look at one man’s search for himself and his passion –
which, throughout most of the movie, he’s not even sure exists. That’s a pretty
good way too sum it up without revealing too many details. I also thought it
was modestly profound (even accidentally, perhaps) and could be very inspiring
to the right person. What kind of person I couldn’t say any more than I could
effectively describe this movie without telling you the entire story. It’s a
“ya had to be there” kinda thing.
#3: Celeste and Jesse Forever – I’ve
been waiting for years to see a romantic comedy where the leading characters
are broken up and don’t get back together. They came close with (500) Days of Summer, but that film had
too many flashbacks of when they were together and in love. This film only
glazes over the real relationship via photos shown during the opening credits.
When the movie begins, Celeste and Jesse are broken up and the rest of the
movie explores what a couple does when they seem to everyone (including each
other) to be a perfect match yet still cannot be together. It begins modestly by
going for easy laughs and light conflict, but it sneaks up on you with matters
that are simmering below the surface of its gregarious façade culminating into
a pretty deep and insightful dramedy about the complexity of relationships,
whether they be romantic or platonic. There are times where we, the audience,
want Celeste and Jesse to get back together and other times when we feel they
shouldn’t. Best of all, at the end, when the past has been set and the lessons
have been learned, we’re left with a sense of hope rather than happiness. Isn’t
that the best life has to offer us most of the time? When romantic comedies
(even ones as good as Silver Linings
Playbook) tend to finish with either living happily ever after or
tragically broken-hearted split-ups, it’s refreshing to see one that’s
realistic enough to acknowledge that, in many cases, people usually end up
somewhere in between.
#2: Chronicle – Movies wherein people
possess superpowers are appealing to us for a variety of reasons, first and
foremost because of escapism. We all want to be powerful and we all like to
fantasize about what we’d do if we were. Most times these scenarios are
manifested in such ways as the wizards of “Harry Potter” or the Jedi of “Star Wars” or the mutants of “X-Men”, but occasionally, somebody’s ambitious enough
to take a step back and look at the more human elements of superpowers. This
was done with great hypothetical insight in such films as Unbreakable and Hancock,
but Chronicle is much more thoughtful
and surprisingly haunting than any other rendition I’ve seen. The stroke of
brilliance is making the lead characters teenagers. Already brimming with their
own social angst and changing bodies, when they stumble upon powers that they
learn can be harnessed in a variety of ways, they’re faced with the conundrum
of realizing that what they want doesn’t often line up with what is right. With
the first-person “found footage” technique employed here, we see the once
powerless teenagers using their abilities to go from amusing themselves to
playing pranks to self-serving indulgences that escalate into mass destruction.
Another significant aspect of using teenagers is that, in that period of
experimentation that all adolescents go through, we see first hand how some
kids, with even the most seemingly inconsequential behavior, will evolve into
conscientious adults while others will inevitably destroy themselves, whether
it be through drugs or sex or telekinesis.
#1: The Avengers – As good as Chronicle was, you just can’t beat The Avengers. This was a throwback for
me, not just because it contained superheroes I grew up admiring, but because
it reminded me of those kinds of movies (prolific in the 80’s) when
action/adventure flims were fun and light-hearted and more akin to
rollercoaster rides than merely stories. Superhero movies like this are hard to
pull off, too. Not only are they as naturally inclined to be campy every bit as
much as romantic comedies are inclined to be sappy, ensemble casts like this
are often spread too thin and not given enough to do. That’s what killed the X-men series, in my opinion. In The Avengers, everybody’s given their
moment to shine. Ask anyone what their favorite part of The Avengers was and you’ll probably get a different answer every
time because there’s so much good stuff. If movies are meant to entertain, this
has to be the most economical movie in years because there truly is never a
dull moment. I enjoyed this movie so much that I didn’t particularly care for The Dark Knight Rises when it came out a
month later. “Lighten up, Batman. Otherwise that Justice League movie's gonna be a real downer.”
2013 ought to be an interesting year for me personally. I
won a year’s worth of free movies at any Cinetopia location, so I’ll probably
see every movie that comes out this year (that I can stand to sit through, that
is). So, next year’s list will be nothing if not thorough. Until then: So long,
2012. And thanks for the movies.
