MY TOP 12 OF 2012!

 It's that time of year again, where we reflect on the movies that meant the most to us. This was a special year in film, in that I rarely saw a bad one... and I see loads of them. This year was so strong it reminded me of the summer of 89 in which we had Batman, Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade, Star Trek, Lethal Weapon 2 and a film named The Abyss by a fella named James Cameron. That was a very geek-tastic summer. 2012 was the equal, maybe even surpassing it. It was tough choosing my 12 favorite films this year. Many great films had to be left off the list.

These are the 12 films which moved me in 2012. Why 12? The answer will always be the same. There are 12 months in a year, thus I choose one great film you can watch per month for a total of 12 awesome slices of entertainment. Here. We. Go.

12) THE AVENGERS

Joss Whedon managed to do what no one thought was possible: Take several characters who were introduced in other films and bring them together to form a cohesive whole. He made history. The impossible became possible. He made a flat one-note character like HULK shine. Of course, the always extraordinary Mark Ruffalo helped. Could the plot have been less generic? Yes. But the final battle when everyone came together was a candy store for your eyes. I had a huge smile on my face as The Avengers stomped on Loki and his alien horde. Very much looking forward to Thanos in the forthcoming sequel. Now that's an adversary worthy of earth's mightiest heroes.

 

11) SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK

 Mental illness is a serious subject. It's not to be trifled with or ridiculed. SILVER LININGS is about two depressed people who come together and ultimately help each other become the best version of themselves. Bradley Cooper gives a career best performance as a hot-headed Italian. He's an infuriating powder keg of emotion. He's sweet, he's smart, he's scary. He's all this, sometimes in the same breath. The moment when he revealed that he lived most of his life not knowing he had manic depression and had to deal with it without the proper tools is heart-breaking. Great stuff. As for Jennifer Lawrence, she's a luminescent acting prodigy who has many years of Oscar parties to attend. She's wildly inappropriate, controlling and sexy as hell. Deniro hasn't been this good since... I can't remember. He's an OCD gambler who loves his son almost as much as he loves football. Watching these damaged souls bump into each other is David O. Russell's specialty. This could've easily devolved into smaltz but damn if I wasn't rooting for Bradley and Jennifer too win the dance competition and live happily ever after. A good-hearted movie that warmed mine.

10) PROMETHEUS

 From the opening frames of a white giant (the Engineer) walking across a jagged mountain cliff and dissolving himself into the churning ocean below I knew I would love this film... despite the many plot holes that riddled Prometheus. This was one of the most visually stunning movies I saw in IMAX 3D. Sir Ridley Scott gets a free pass because his movies continue to influence and innovate. His grand ambition dwarfed the inclusion of idiotic scientists who sometimes made really stupid decisions. But damn, if I wasn't entranced by the whole film. It was breathtaking. I dare you to name a more visceral, frightening sequence on film this year than the self-abortion. Worth the price of admission alone. Scott wields light and imagery like a ninja and I can't wait for his next foray into the future. As long as Sir Ridley keeps working at this level, filmmaking will benefit.

9) THE HOBBIT

 
You owe it to yourself to see this film in IMAX HFR (High Frame Rate) aka 48fps (frames per second) aka the clearest most detailed movie I've ever seen. This is the future of epic film making. Were some of the movements jerky? Yup. Did it take me about 30 minutes to adjust to the unparalleled clarity? You betcha. Watching THE HOBBIT in HFR was initially jarring. Especially the opening scenes that were lit with rust and yellow tones. They almost looked like porn or soap quality. But once we went into the blue tones the film kicked in and it looked magnificent. This was the most visually stunning film I saw on the big screen. The detail on the Gollum and the Pale Orc was next level stuff. It was great to see Gandalf on the big screen again. Freeman was a great, sympathetic Bilbo. It was a non-stop action, adventure story that plastered a huge smile on my face.

8) SAVAGES

Oliver Stone continues to make slick, sexy, daring movies like nobody else's business. Critics maligned this movie for it's have-your-cake-and-eat-to-ending but it's pure Oliver Stone toying with his audience, as he's been so deftly doing for the past 25 years. This movie was more vibrant and alive than most films made by directors half his age. Taylor Kitch is great in it. He's stoic thunder. Lively pops off the screen, a siren that can entrance not one but two alpha males. Benicio brings the big sleaze and it leaves a nasty stain on the big screen. He's awesomely creepy as a brutal hitman. Travolta and Hayek clearly relish playing in the sleaze sandbox, as well. Both are great and up for the task. This is a lurid, pulpy film that was too much for critics too handle. But it hit me just right, with it's easy California lifestyle mixed with buckets of blood. One of the best surprises of the year.

7) END OF WATCH

I'm a huge TRAINING DAY fan and when David Ayer decided to delve deeper into that world my interest was stoked. Everyone is saying that END OF WATCH is a buddy cop film. I agree, on the surface it is. But what this film is truly about is the changing of the guard on the mean streets of Los Angeles from African American gangs to the ruthless Mexican Cartels. Gone are the days of Boys in The Hoods and Menace II Society. Mexican Gangs rule the streets of Los Angeles and they operate on a completely different level. It's a new regime that has no compunctions about filling a house with severed heads and torsos. It's dark, grisly stuff and End of Watch doesn't shy away from it. Gyllenhall gives a career best performance. Pena is solid as usual. This is the pitch black, dark-hearted movie of the year. More so because it brings you into the intimate lives of the two cops who you grow to love and then sets the animals in the streets who pretend to humans upon them. Riveting. Powerful. See it. 

6) DJANGO UNCHAINED

I have a great fondness for Quentin Tarantino. He's one of the few filmmakers who has yet to make a mediocre film. Django stayed with me for days after seeing it. Not because of the clever banter, or great reversals and solid screenplay. It imprinted on me because it brings images of slavery, which I had only read about in high-school to life in a brutal, ugly manner. I can't believe slavery happened less than a 150 years ago. This is an important film that blasts open old wounds and then goes about getting it's own brand of restitution. Seeing Django wipe out an entire slave plantation was as thrilling as seeing a group of Inglorious Basterds shred Hitler with bullets. This movie was a long time coming. What can I say about Christophe Waltz. He's a master class actor. His delivery of words in his mellifluous accent is poetry. Pure and simple. Foxx sears a lifetime of pain into our hearts with his every glance. And Samuel L. Jackson is the worst black motherf-cker in the history of film. A betraying, Uncle Tom, step-and-fetcher that is more concerned with keeping his place on the plantation by his master's side than helping his own race. Jackson is amazing and deserves Oscar recognition. As does Leo Dicaprio and his dirty, stained teeth. Watching Leo play against type, dirty himself up and play a devilish scoundrel is one of the many joys of seeing this very smart, confident and thrilling piece of high-grade entertainment. 

5) ZERO DARK THIRTY

The greatest detective story of our time. This film is about work, vision and perseverance. Hard work isn't glamorous. The results are glamorous. But real hard work. Keeping at something when the world laughs at you. Ridicules you. That's hard. It's shitty and lonely. Maya (the girl who nailed Bin Laden and I LOVE that a girl nailed this monster. Consider the irony for a moment if you will) stayed on Bin Laden's trail for 10 years. 10 YEARS! While everyone around her said she was crazy. This is what separates greatness from mediocrity. She never let go. The scene when they ask her what is the probability that Bin Laden is hidden in the compound, she looks at Leon Panetta (awesome Gandolfini) in the face and tells him 100%. No uncertainty in her eyes. Just steel. Jessica Chastain will win the Oscar for that moment alone. The attack on Bin Laden's compound is filmed in such a matter-of-fact way. It's not bombastic. Seal Team 6 go in there and casually put bullets in bad guys in such an understated manner that it seems like another day at the office for them. Even if that day involves accidentally crashing a chopper and killing public enemy number 1. This movie defies expectations at every turn. It's smart. It doesn't pander. It doesn't manipulate. It presents brutal torture as an ugly fact. It doesn't try to make up your mind... that's your job. The best procedural film ever made. If I was a betting man, this will win the Best Film of the Year come Oscar Night. Zero Dark Hurry-up and go see it.

4) CHRONICLE

Chronicle caught me off guard. I'm a superhero nerd. Always have been. Always will be. Watching these young punks acquire abilities I would dream of as a kid was one of the most thrilling movie going experiences of the year. CHRONICLE asks the central question: "What would you do if you suddenly became Superman?" The answer in our iERA scares the living shit out of me. We live in a world of profit margins, fiscal cliffs and lone lunatics with a propensity for violence. I very much doubt that people who suddenly developed superpowers would go the way of heroism. They would become what Dane DeHaan became in CHRONICLE. A twisted, gnarled, angry God that needed to be stopped at all costs. Dehaan gives an extraordinary performance. This is a star-maker role. Look for him in the near future to explode. This is the first film to actually do something interesting with the found-footage scenario. We get views from multiple cameras and it genuinely works in the film. I loved every minute of this film and hope that a worthy sequel is in the works.

3) LOOPER

 What would you say to your younger self if you could go back in time? What advice would you give yourself? This is the central question of Rian Johnson's masterful time travel film LOOPER. Bruce Willis is so vibrant and badass in this film. Such a great nuanced performance. Jo Gordon-Levitt has the best year in his life with this film and The Dark Knight Rises. He's great beneath all the latex. It's a film that will surprise you at every turn. I'm gonna be vague with this one because many people haven't seen it yet. The film becomes especially surprising as we arrive at a quiet farm in the 3rd Act. The movie morph's into a treatise on fate and destiny. The kid in the film gives the best kid performance since Henry Thomas in E.T. Amazing stuff. The ending broke my heart but really, there was no other way for LOOPER to end. A great film and one of my very favorite of the year. A must see.

2) THE GREY

Once more into the fray. Live and Die on this day. The Grey was almost my number one movie of the year. It was beaten by another tortured soul who we will talk about in the next paragraph. Joe Carnahan's masterwork THE GREY gut-punched me so hard when I saw it on the big screen. This felt like a very personal film for Liam Neeson. It felt like every moment Neeson reflected upon his past cut right through him leaving a bloody streak on his heart. Liam Neeson MUST receive an Oscar nomination for his performance. The moment he defies God in the forest, admonishing the Lord "To Prove it!" --shook me to my core. I'm pretty sure you know after seeing the movie which side Neeson falls on when it comes to God. This film makes you re-examine your core beliefs and makes you appreciate those you love. I loved THE GREY. One of the films which resonated deeply with me this year. THE GREY is a profound and moving cinematic experience.

1) THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

Was there ever any doubt THE DARK KNIGHT RISES would be my top film of 2012? Christopher Nolan is the Stanley Kubrick of popular entertainment. A master at the top of his game, with a meticulous visual language, who laces his films with powerful subtext. TDKR is about many things but first and foremost it's the BRUCE WAYNE story. In fact, the final film of the Dark Knight trilogy could've easily been called BRUCE WAYNE BEGINS. I can give you many detailed reasons why I loved this film. I could talk and write about it all day long. But I won't. Those who know me, know why I love this character so much. Nolan was brilliant in that he amplified the story of the damaged orphan and surrounded him with 4 other fractured orphans: Selina, Talia, John Blake and Bane. In the end, each of these tortured souls worked their way through the pain of abandonment in their own specific ways. Seeing the most adjusted orphan, Robin John Blake rising on that platform in the Batcave still gives me chills. Batman telling Jim Gordon that "a hero can be anyone, even someone who puts a coat on a kid and tells him the world hasn't ended"-- still brings tears to my eyes. Seeing Bruce Wayne get his happily ever after is the greatest surprise of the year in cinema. The final 20 minutes of TDKR are the finest moments in any film this year. Everyone expected Bruce to die. The spector of death hung heavy throughout the film. Watching Bruce be happy for the first time in his life gave me hope that even the darkest lives can be redeemed. This is a great message for our times. A message we need. A message we deserve.
 

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

CLOUD ATLAS: The Wachowski's are brave. They wore their hearts on their sleeves and were lambasted by the cold-hearts which permeate our world. This is the most ambitious film of the year. It's emotional and beautiful and demands multiple viewings to appreciate.

THE IMPOSSIBLE: Critics gave this film static because it focused on a white affluent family instead of the residents of Thailand who perished. But it WAS about a white family! Watts and Ewan give great performances and I have to say this film brought tears to my eyes many times. As a parent there's nothing scarier than losing your kids in the storm of the century.

GOON: One of the best hockey movies ever made. Sean William Scott finally sheds Stifler's skin and shows us he has a soul. Goon was a great surprise and has a high rewatchability value.

JACK REACHER: Tom Cruise in badass mode. What's not to like? Great time at the movies, can't wait to see Reacher again on the big screen.

KLOWN: This film from Norway makes The Hangover look like a sleepover. Hilarious, inappropriate, and the best comedy of the year.

ARGO: Ben Affleck is incapable of making a bad film. I've loved every one of his films. Argo is tense, riveting and well-directed. One of the best of the year.

Happy New Year!

Your Friend,

D.