For me, 2012 was the best year for movies in a long time,
probably the best year in the last decade.
As of this writing, between theaters, DVDs and cable
television, I saw 88 2012 releases. I didn’t see everything, obviously, and
“Amour” has yet to make it to my neck of the woods, Usually I have to struggle
to come up with 10 worthwhile titles, but 2012 offered an abundance of riches.
This year, I decided to put together a list of the top 20 movies. In any other
year, many of the picks 11-20 would have easily made the top 10.
I’m a bit surprised I saw that many when I tallied up the
list. I’m not even working full-time, so I shouldn’t be wasting money going to
the movies. But it’s a lifelong habit that I can’t seem to break, though I may
have to lessen my viewing in the year ahead. (I said that at the beginning of last
year, and see what happened).
Seeing more than 80 movies in the theater isn’t as expensive
as it may sound. I’m fortunate to live within a 15-minute drive time of three
second-run theater complexes (average price $4) totaling 11 screens. Seven of
those screens offer unlimited refills on any size soda and popcorn, so it’s not
too much of a drain on the wallet. So if one is patient, one can see a wide
variety of movies at a not unreasonable cost. And the movies are coming to the
second-run theaters much quicker than they used to.
To seek respite from the multiplex fare, and for an annual
membership fee of $25, the local film society I am a member of, The After Hours
Film Society, screens movies twice a month for only $5 each and offers a wide
range of art, foreign, independent and classic films. Like I said I didn’t see
everything, and there were some titles you couldn’t pay me to go see (i.e. “The
Watch”), but I think I saw a good variety of the year’s offerings.
One welcome trend I noticed this year is two of the year’s
biggest hits, “The Avengers” and “Skyfall” were blessedly free of the annoying
shaky-cam effects. Directors Joss Whedon and Sam Mendes, respectively, should
be given honorary Oscars this year for bringing back well-staged, shot and
edited action scenes to movie screens.
At the end, I will include a short list of some titles I
thought were wildly overrated, as well as the worst films of the year.
Anyway, in descending order, are my picks for the best films
of 2012.
20. Damsels in
Distress. Director Whit Stillman’s film was a polarizing one – a lot of
people hated it – but I enjoyed the good heartedness of this gentle satire on
college mores and pretensions. Yes, the title does allude to the 1937 Fred
Astaire musical “A Damsel in Distress” by having the leads break into a song
and dance routine to “Things are Looking Up” from that film. And that’s
followed by another dance number, the Sambola. It’s all part of a sorority’s scheme
to create a new international dance sensation. Dance routines in movies make me very happy, and
I found this movie utterly beguiling
19. To Rome With Love.
Another polarizing title, but I genuinely enjoyed Woody Allen’s latest, offering
big laughs and scenic, postcard views of Rome.
Many complained it’s not as good as last year’s “Midnight in Paris”, and it isn’t, but for me average
Woody is still miles ahead of the competition.
18. Chronicle. I
loathe found footage movies, but I like being surprised, and “Chronicle” was
one of the year’s biggest sleepers. Yes, it’s a found footage movie about a
group of teenagers who find an alien artifact that turns them into superheroes,
but the footage is augmented by Hollywood
gloss and technical expertise, and watching the wish fulfillment of the
characters take on ominous shades was fascinating to watch.
17. Ted. Even I,
who in my middle age find myself responding less and less to coarse body
function humor and language, admit to laughing uproariously through most of
this. He wasn’t mentioned in any lists for the year’s best performances, but
Mark Wahlberg’s performance was one of the year’s best, and the hotel fight
room scene between Wahlberg and his magical teddy bear Ted offered the year’s
most sustained laugh sequence. But heck, I thought the year’s Three Stooges
remake was surprisingly good, so what do I know.
16. Lincoln. A film I admired more than I liked.
Great acting (of course) by Daniel Day-Lewis, but for me it took a long time to
get to the historic vote to end slavery. I must admit I thought I would like
this one more than I did.
15. Zero Dark Thirty. Substitute Jessica
Chastain for Daniel Day-Lewis, and Osama bin Laden for the 14th
amendment vote, and I felt the same thing for this movie than I did for “Lincoln.” A good trim of
20 minutes or so would have helped.
14. Bernie. When
they say truth is stranger than fiction, they mean stories like “Bernie”. Local
mortician and good citizen Bernie Tiede, played by Jack Black in the
performance of his career, is loved by everyone in the community. So much so
that when he confesses to killing the town shrew (Shirley MacLaine) no one
believes him and the town wants to see him acquitted. It’s too bad Black wasn’t
remembered with an Oscar nomination. It’s a superb performance in a wonderful
film.
13. Paranorman.
The year’s best animated film was a haunting evocation of childhood fears and
trauma, and offered more heart than most live-action films. Beautifully
animated and voiced, this one, I think, is a cult movie in the offing.
12. Salmon Fishing in
the Yemen.
A joyous film about the attempt to stock a lake in Yemen with salmon to increase
tourism to the country. It reminded me of a 1950s film by Ealing Studios with,
say, Kenneth More and Joan Greenwood. Instead we have a radiant Emily Blunt and
Ewan McGregor, who has become one of our most charming actors. A lovely, whimsical
story with some of the most likeable characters in any movie this year.
11. The Sessions.
Another fact-based story anchors a luminous performance by John Hawkes as a
paraplegic living in an iron lung who wants to experience sex. Enter a sex
surrogate, played by Helen Hunt. Hawkes was also most deserving of a Best Actor
nomination, far more than the (often unintentionally funny) facial contortions
courtesy Joaquin Phoenix in “The Master.” Some of the biggest laughs of any
move this year are found in “The Sessions.” Helen Hunt has never been better.
Forget “Les Miserables”, this is the movie that delivers the emotional goods.
Bring handkerchiefs.
10. The Avengers.
There’s no reason why a big colorful comic book can’t be one of the year’s best
movies. It rarely happens, so let’s celebrate it when it does. Director Joss
Whedon does a remarkable job of juggling all those balls (read superheroes) in
the air. There’s also some of the year’s most witty dialogue here. I just wish
it was a tad shorter (the big battle at the end does go on a bit long). Still,
it’s probably my favorite comic book movie since “Superman” (1978).
9. Seven Psychopaths.
The year’s funniest movie is unbelievably profane and violent, but had more
laughs than any other movie I saw last year. Some friends of mine rave over Sam
Rockwell but I never got his appeal, until witnessing his brilliant comic turn here.
Christopher Walken and Woody Harrelson are hilariously deadpan. I think this
one has all the makings of a future cult film, one that will be re-discovered
on DVD and on cable.
8. Sliver Linings
Playbook. Lovely movie, even though I had a few problems with it. While
mental illness is not glamorized here, to me it’s still often paid here for
easy laughs. People say old movies are filled with clichés, but what is more
clichéd than having a man, finally realizing the woman he loves has been in
front of him the whole time, run down
the street surrounded by houses loaded with Christmas decorations? But the
acting is so good, that I forgave some of the trite situations on display here.
7. Argo. Really
can’t add too much about this terrific fact-based film that hasn’t been said
already. Years ago, I remember not liking Ben Affleck at all, thanks to his
smugness and smarminess in lots of star vehicles, but when he played George
Reeves, a new maturity formed. I’ve been an admirer ever since, and no one is
more surprised about that than I am. Director-wise, I like how he doesn’t
over-inflate the material, but treats the situations as realistic as possible
while amping up the dramatic levels to a quiet tension.
6. The Best Exotic
Marigold Hotel. A movie unjustly ignored at Oscar time, probably because
the cast makes everything look so easy. But you won’t see better acting on the
screen this year than this winning ensemble, including Judi Dench, Maggie Smith
and Tom Wilkinson. A handful of British citizens travel to India and find
new dimensions about life and how it should be lived. For most of the year,
this was my favorite movie of 2012. A winner on every level.
5. Moonrise Kingdom.
Exceptionally melancholy comedy from director Wes Anderson regarding two
precocious 12-year-olds who fall in love and run away together. A search party
is formed, but the two kids turn out to be much smarter and resilient than the adults
looking for them. Some people I know really hated this movie, but I thought it
was pretty great. Composer Alexandre Desplat’s Benjamin Britten-inspired music
for the end credits is wonderful and is probably one of my most favorite credit
sequences ever. I wish his score had been Oscar nominated here, instead of his
respectable, but not particularly inspired, score for “Argo.”
4. Life of Pi. I
avoided this one like the plague, not really caring to see a movie about a guy
trapped in a lifeboat with a tiger. Wow, was I wrong! The best use of 3-D I
have ever seen anchors this wonderfully spiritual tale about man and his
relationship to nature and the universe. I wasn’t bored for a minute and I was
impressed with how gripped the audience was for this. I saw it in a packed
auditorium with a largely family audience and you could have heard a pin drop
for the whole movie. A genuine classic.
3. Skyfall. The
most viscerally pleasurable experience I had at the movies all year, and a
splendid way to mark 007’s 50th birthday. Daniel Craig is a Bond we
haven’t seen before, questioning his superiors while given orders that go
against his nature. Still, the underlying message doesn’t get in the way of a
thrilling story. We also get the year’s best action sequences and the best Bond
title song since Duran Duran’s “A View to a Kill” (1985). (A million thank
yous, Adele). The last scene is an immensely satisfying one, and everything is
now in place for what I hope is a memorable series of films in a franchise that
won’t die. Still, the last three Bonds have been pretty small-scale in their
threats, so for me, I would welcome a return to a global catastrophe threat.
And, maybe, just maybe, an exploding control room?
2. The Perks of Being
a Wallflower. Wonderful coming-of-age movie about learning to be yourself ,
despite the challenges life throws at you. I think I became more wrapped up in
these characters than any other movie this year. Never mind that the movie is
set in the 1990s, I have a feeling that teenagers in any country, at any time,
will relate to this story. Two of my
happiest movie-watching experiences of the year came courtesy of star Logan
Lerman, here and as his turn as D’Artagnan in Paul W.S. Anderson’s terrific re-telling
on “The Three Musketeers” (2011), a movie I avoided in theaters due to the
trailers, but caught on Blu Ray and was blown away by how entertaining it was.
Looking forward to whatever this young man does next. And yes, Emma Watson was
pretty wonderful too. Goodbye, Hermione.
1. Flight. The
year’s most gripping film and the year’s best acting performance, courtesy
Denzel Washington. (Sorry, Mr. Day-Lewis). Washington’s heroic performance while saving
a disabled airplane is called into question when it is discovered he was
abusing drugs and alcohol at the time. I’ve rarely seen a reluctant hero played
so well by anyone. A hard film to shake and director Robert Zemeckis gave us
the year’s most memorable sequence, the airplane saving sequence. Haunting,
thoughtful and ultimately uplifting, this one was a winner on every level.
From the Department
of the Overrated: “The Dark Knight Rises” (never so glad to see a trilogy
conclude); “The Master” (psst…hey everyone…let me let you in on a secret. Amy
Adams delivers a more nuanced performance in the Clint Eastwood baseball drama
“Trouble with the Curve” than she does in the “The Master”); “End of Watch” (I
loathed every shaky-cam frame of this film); and “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
(the acclaim for this film totally eludes me).
Worst films of the
year, and why spend any more time necessary to talk about these turkeys:
“21 Jump Street”; “This Means War”; “Wrath of the Titans”; “Battleship” “Rock
of Ages”; “Les Miserables” (sheesh, 2012 was a terrible year for screen
musicals); “Magic Mike”; “The Campaign”; “End of Watch” and “Total Recall”, the
absolute nadir of my 2012 movie going.
Onward and upward to 2013.