Journal: 2012 in Film

[StevePulaski]

2011 left me with a warm sense of optimism in my stomach for the future of cinema. We had so many brilliant releases, mainstream and independent, that it was almost impossible to account for all of them in a top ten list. I wound up extending both my favorite and least favorite lists by five just for the sole purpose to account for more films that I felt deserved recognition in their appropriate areas. I even had to make a list featuring what I found to be the "underrated" films of the year, since there were so many great pictures that didn't seem to find an audience. By the halfway point in 2012, my hope was turning a tad sour. When I saw a good film, I wasn't floored by it, and when I saw a bad film, I was just disgusted. That was until the third quarter, when week after week, I was given some of the best films I've seen in years. I'm actually quite nervous about the Oscars this year, for they could not account for all the gold that was released this year properly. 2012 wasn't as grand of a year as 2011, but few years finish with the gleaming, unstoppable finale that 2012 has.

In total, I've seen 118 films that have been released this year, more than half, I suspect, in the theater. I've selected twenty-five films below that either stand out as the best, the worst, or the decent pictures 2012 has offered us.

My Top Ten Favorite Films of 2012

1. Samsara: Words can not describe the beauty and the impact Ron Fricke's mesmerizing Samsara has on the eager, intellectual viewer. It is a picture of incomprehensible style and gorgeousness, shot over the course of several years on twenty-five different countries. Less than ten words are spoken throughout this whole film, and yet there is scarcely a day goes by that I do not reflect on its beauty and its message. I write in my original review, "Fricke paints Samsara, which is Sanskrit for "the ever turning wheel of life," as a film that sometimes can laud human activity and then turn around and condemn it. It is predominately a loose picture, that wants you to search for meaning in its images, but[...]we can see the images represent something and there's enough ambiguity that we are able to extract many different messages from the source material and are able to provide sufficient evidence to back up our claims." The film will be released on DVD January 8, 2013. I hope that everyone reading this will make a conscious, respectable effort to watch one of the most intellectually stimulating and emotionally stunning films of the last decade.

My review of Samsara, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=perfect&thread=3344&page=1

2. Life of Pi: After watching Samsara, I assumed that I'd never see another film as beautiful or as deeply concerned with its look and feel than that one. Life of Pi does not surpass it in its beauty, but it comes achingly close. Ang Lee has successfully adapted a seemingly "unfilmable" novel, and has worked the imagery, the story, and the characters to be the most emotional picture of the year. With a fearless performance by newcomer Suraj Sharma and an honest, realistic look at the relationship between a boy and a tiger, both deserted after shipwreck on a small lifeboat in the middle of the ocean, if this film does not win an award for its beauty or its performances, it will go down as one of cinema's biggest shams.

My review of Life of Pi, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=perfect&thread=3439&page=1

3. Teddy Bear: I'm very happy I could incorporate Mads Matthiesen's Teddy Bear on my list of favorites for the 2012. It seems like the kind of film I would've foolishly overlooked until next year and then could not add it or make any adjustments to my yearly list. The same thing happened with A Separation, which I would go on to dub one of 2011's top five films. Teddy Bear gives us a simple, deep look into the life of a lonely bodybuilder, whose rough and rigid exterior can not hide a feeble, hurting interior as he slogs away day after day, loveless and bound by the clutches of his demanding, overcompensating mother. Kim Kold offers one of the performances of the year as Dennis, our main character, and his mother, Elsebeth Steentoft, perfectly accentuates her character in a subtle, realistic manner that does not off-put nor over-reach the idea of a domineering mother figure in an adult's life. Truly wonderful foreign filmmaking here.

My review of Teddy Bear, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=perfect&thread=3460&page=1

4. The Intouchables: I would still be hardpressed, even in January 2013, to think of my favorite scene of the entire year from any film, but one that continues to run through me like a wildfire is the scene from Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano's The Intouchables, showing François Cluzet and Omar Sy speeding to the "hospital" on the freeway jamming and singing to Earth, Wind, and Fire's infectious "September." The scene provides us with the same snappy, consistently funny cuteness that plagues The Intouchables, a wholesome drama about a quadriplegic and the black caretaker he hires to care for him, even though he only wants his signature so that he can continue receiving welfare. It reminded me of an experience you do because you feel obligated to or you are forced to go about doing, but then life catches up with you and you realize you did an important, noble thing. The Intouchables went on to be one of the highest grossing French films ever made, but sadly in the U.S., it didn't even gross $1 million dollars.

My review of The Intouchables, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=perfect&action=display&thread=3256

5. Moonrise Kingdom: I made the split, on-the-dime decision to view every Wes Anderson movie this past June and accomplished it right in time to watch Moonrise Kingdom at the end of the month, seeing as it was lucky enough to get a release near me thanks to its consistent popularity with critics and audiences. For a good month I was obsessed with Wes Anderson's style and even if I didn't like it, it didn't stop me from trying to examine it to make an attempt to admire it more. Moonrise Kingdom is one of his strongest works, shedding light on the whimsicality, quirkiness, and uncertainty of young adolescent life, and erects its own little world all around it. The location shots are just gorgeous, photographed through the iconic Wes Anderson lens of perfectness (or "pretentiousness" for some of you), and the music choices, above all, combined with the stellar, immersing performances make this a brilliant sleeper hit.

My review of Moonrise Kingdom, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=reviews&action=display&thread=3176

6. Argo: Argo is a hard film to make with the level of professionalism that it achieves, yet Ben Affleck, a man once associated with mediocrity and mockery, makes this drama/thriller work from beginning to end, combining a wealth of grand talent, truly suspenseful sequences, wry wit with potent satire, and a truly enigmatic eye for detail and craft. I went on to rewrite parts of my three and a half star review and modify it to a four star review. It truly deserves it.

My review of Argo, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=perfect&thread=3448&page=1

7. Flight: Robert Zemeckis' Flight has gotten called out for having an ending too obvious and schmaltzy for its own good. An ending clearly attached to garner sympathy votes from a so-easily smitten Academy. Initially, I agreed with this statement, upon writing my four star review, but the more I think about it, the more I feel the ending kind of works in the regard for closure. Yet this is a small little detail in the grandiose case of Flight, which is a spectacular drama, taking a microscope and directly examining the heart of addiction and substance abuse at first hand, with a thrilling and honest performance by Denzel Washington, an airplane pilot who amidst struggling with alcohol and drug dependency, saves dozens of lives by pulling off an impossible emergency tactic on a seemingly doomed aircraft. Not only does it pose a fabulous question of ethics, but also works in the sense that it fools people into thinking it's a tiresome courtroom drama when it's actually a deep, intimate character study. Another difficult film to make that never trips below its level of professionalism.

My review of Flight, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=perfect&thread=3418&page=1

8. Cloud Atlas: There will be a plethora of bitter detractors who say Cloud Atlas is nothing more than a pompous exercise in deeply pretentious filmmaking and is a heavy-handed mess of stories haphazardly blended into a film the weight of a lion. Whatever. I found almost every bit of Cloud Atlas immersing and thrilling, because of the mature way it handles its idea of transcendentalism and the idea of how karmic revenge plays into all our lives. It features some of the best makeup effects in years that demand recognition from the Academy come February and feature a laundry list of talented performances cementing the fact that they're excellent actors by having them cross the lines of sex and race. Your best bet is to go in with the mindset of enjoying it rather than simply dissecting it.

My review of Cloud Atlas, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=reviews&thread=3400&page=1

9. Lincoln: Not long ago, a friend came up to me and asked me if I had seen Lincoln. I informed him I had and found it to be one of the best pictures of the year. "Really? I feel asleep. It was too boring," he casually told me. This is not an uncommon reaction, apparently, as I have heard a multitude of the same complaints online and from other close friends. When you go into a film called Lincoln, directed by Steven Spielberg, who, no matter what any cynic will say, I find to be one of the worthy godfathers of cinema, you should know what you're getting into and you should know that you will not see something cheap, disposable, or even so much as enthralling in an actioneer sense. You will see a thorough character study on the man himself, and also, the issue of the thirteenth amendment. I do not disagree that at times the film is a task to watch, but to sit through the entire 150 minutes, you will be awarded with the richly crafted, superbly detailed elements of cinema in one healthy, fulfilling package.

My review of Lincoln, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=reviews&thread=3432&page=1

10. Red Hook Summer: I conclude with a film not many have seen, unsurprisingly, and that is Spike Lee's riveting Red Hook Summer, which serves as a long-awaited "return to form" for the director as he has tested the water with war films and documentaries these last few years. Red Hook Summer fearlessly details the inherent generation gap, between a nation once adhering to the word of God and the one currently adhering to the word of the iPad. The film centers on a young boy, who is sent to live with his grandfather in Brooklyn, New York for the entire summer. His grandfather is a devout preacher in the slums of the Brooklyn area, delivering fiery sermons and deeply religious lectures to his patrons and fellow god-fearing friends. Lee is essentially doing the "trial and error" method of filmmaking, where he will throw as many things as he can against a wall just to discover what sticks and what doesn't. There's one particular twist the film throws in rather late and the game and unfortunately can not look past it, yet it doesn't derail a near-perfectly human experience.

My review of Red Hook Summer, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=reviews&thread=3423&page=1

Other honorable mentions of the year - in no particular order: Bernie, Compliance, God Bless America, Hope Springs, Indie Game: The Movie, Killer Joe, Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, The Pill, Safety Not Guaranteed, and Wreck-It Ralph.

[StevePulaski]

When reciting the good, we must come full circle to recognize the bad. These were the worst, most atrocious films the 2012 year had to offer; overwrought science fiction, disastrous comedies, an unnecessary, immature sequel, and several, several others.

My Top Ten Worst Films of 2012

1. Branded: Here is one of the worst, most agonizing science-fiction films in a blue moon. To call Branded a functioning film would be insulting and a completely untrue statement. It's a messy, indistinct, and incoherent film that combines false-advertising trailers and a surprisingly capable cast to make one of the most horrifically unexplainable movies in history. Shots are largely lacking cohesion, there's little consistency in tone, the acting goes from bad to worse in a matter of minutes, the whole screen looks colored in visual ugliness, the anamorphic widescreen ration changes for no real purpose, and too often do we feel our sense annihilated by a plot that doesn't bother to explain itself. Branded is a front-runner for the worst film of the decade. What could've been a true artistic portrayal, centered on modernism and current marketing dictatorship of consumers cops-out for a film one can barely explain without running into a wall of confusion.

My review of Branded, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=avoid&thread=3333&page=1

2. The Devil Inside: Few could say they found their "worst film of 2012" the first weekend they ventured out to the multiplex in 2012, but up until September, when I saw Branded, it was no question what my worst film of the year would be. The Devil Inside is an atrocious exercise in two genres that have been dead for years now, the found-footage genre and the exorcism genre. Merging them gives us nothing but an unpleasant result. The dialog is methodical and virtually worthless, the scares are obligatory and easily-predictable, and the ending is arguably the worst of the year. It's foolish to believe the genre of horror is dead. It's realistic to believe it's desperately holding on on life support.

My review of The Devil Inside, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=avoid&action=display&thread=2340

3. Project X: It was surprising to many of my high school friends that I loathed Project X, but if one would know what I look for in films, they will see that it lacked everything I consider almost vital for a good film. Here's a deeply disturbing exercise in nihilistic behavior that did nothing but sadden me for eighty-eight minutes. It's a film that furthers confuses the moral compass of American youth, showing the unacceptable as acceptable and showing teens that debauchery, sexism, selfishness, and narcissism is perfectly fine as long as you climb up in the popularity food chain. It's too sad to see other foreign countries portray their youth as smart, caring, and compassionate, while we depict them as selfish, ignorant snobs. Guess one can't say it's an inaccurate depiction if we're going for the lowest common denominator.

My review of Project X, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=avoid&action=display&thread=2845

4. Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie: Here's a comedy that doesn't have the luxury of providing its audience with one healthy laugh. It's a random skit-show by Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, two anti-humor comedians who've garnered a fanbase because of their program Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, which airs on the after-hours Adult Swim block on Cartoon Network. Featuring desperate "laugh at me" performances by Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, and concocting setups featuring a "used toiler paper store" and repeated defecation in a bathtub, this is a sick, depraved, and grossly unpleasant film that knows its audiences and knows how pleased they will be with these disgusting setups, which truly say something about some people. I was fortunate enough to see Heidecker and Wareheim's film The Comedy, released later in 2012, which I wouldn't let touch the worst list of 2012, but would keep it distanced from the favorite list.

My review of Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie,
stevethemovieman.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=avoid&thread=2842&page=1

5. Piranha 3DD: Piranha 3DD further capitalizes on the unexpected success of 2010's Piranha 3D, which featured A-list stars showing their competence and love for C-list material. It was a fun, occasionally repetitive romp, slighted tilted off scales because of its use of unnatural CGI. I didn't hate it, however, and went on to slightly admire its creativity and goofiness a tad more not long after watching it. Now comes the obligatory, unnecessary follow-up, with one of the most gimmicky titles in the history of cinema. There's one completely deplorable sequence in this film, which I elaborated on in my original review; "It involves a piranha festering around the part of a woman that goes without saying, before it leapfrogs and jumps out onto that part of a man that goes without saying, before he has to cut the whole thing off with scissors. The scene is nothing short of unnecessary and borderline reprehensible." The film is also gift-wrapped in the same sexism and unnecessary nudity that plagues Project X, giving us nothing but shallow horror and dirty, filthy comedy. Due to the limited success of this picture we, thankfully, shouldn't be seeing Piranha 3DDD any time soon.

My review of Piranha 3DD, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=avoid&action=display&thread=3134

6. That's My Boy: As I reflect on the year, I can see that 2012 was definitely a year where dirty comedy thrived above all. Sure there were several "raunch with heart" pictures, such as the enjoyable 21 Jump Street and Ted, which could serve as one of my favorite comedies of the year, but there were several films that were just loathsome and deeply disturbed pictures, one of them being the Adam Sandler film That's My Boy. The film tries to establish that same "raunch with heart" formula as those previous two works, but simply can not function without being a stupid, senseless, vulgarian, bigoted, hateful, intolerant, misogynistic mess of a movie. The great charisma of Andy Samberg and the dramatic talent of Adam Sandler is yet again disposed of in this comic wasteland that offers no fun or hope for the future of either mans' careers.

My review of That's My Boy, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=avoid&action=display&thread=3162&page=1

7. Madea's Witness Protection: This should come as no surprise. Anyone that sees a "Madea" film and makes a worst list at the end of the year will visit it again while constructing it. Madea's Witness Protection is a comic exercise one can dub as hopeless, as there are no touches of wit, charm, or cleverness within its material. It uses Eugene Levy and his "poster-boy white middle class family" as the basis of all its joke, none offensive, none politically incorrect, all stupid and facile, and continues using his "Madea" character as the idiom of moronic behavior, unjust yelling, "old-time" ways, and schmaltzy sentiment the few minutes before the credits begin rolling.

My review of Madea's Witness Protection, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=avoid&thread=3223&page=1

8. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: One thing about writing various reviews, trying to get them out to the public as soon as you can, while at the same time emphasizing quality and content, is that occasionally, your views on movies begin to alter for better or for worse. Examples both positive and negative are Friends With Benefits, I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, No Strings Attached, and one of the biggest U-turns I believe I've ever had with a film, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. One of the worst things I could've possibly done with this film is let it stew in my system. My two-star review could now be re-written as a one-star review. This is a pathetic attempt to dictate the viewer's emotions by concocting a tear-jerking premise and deliberately depressing characters that feel like the film is extracting every tear from your duct one-by-one. The biggest flaw is not the actor Thomas Horn himself, but the character he is giving to work with, who is not "borderline insufferable" like I originally stated in my review, but completely insufferable. The two A-list headliners, Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock, are given lame sideline roles, Hanks dying early on in the picture only to turn up in selective flashbacks and Bullock playing the battered, distraught mother. The only time her character shines is when she is the subject of a lame, incredulous twist the film tacks on at the end of the film. And do not get me started on how this film collectively misses the point of its own premise, which is a character study on different walks of life involving people with the same last name, yet it shows almost none of them. This is the worst, most facile drama in years.

My review of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=reviews&thread=2386&page=1

9. The Apparition: What's one more lackluster horror film? The Apparition has no ambition to be anything more than a disposable horror endeavor, clearly shown from its limited marketing campaign and the abrupt spoiler it gives the audiences. Don't worry if you haven't seen it. Just don't look at the theatrical poster or DVD cover when you go to check it out, if you want. Next.

My review of The Apparition, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=avoid&action=display&thread=3459&page=1

10. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days: It has gotten to the point where I now almost feel the need to save a spot on my "worst lists" for the latest installment of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid franchise. The first film almost topped my worst list of 2010, only being beaten by a hair thanks to Fred: The Movie. In 2011, it placed twelfth, a notable improvement on its original, yet, absolutely nothing to write home about. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, the third installment of the franchise based on the popular series of books, concludes my list of 2012, offering the same line of immature, labored, tired gags that offer no wit or humor. I end things the same way I ended my review saying it is films like these that are dangerous to children because they risk lowering the attention spans of them to meager proportions so they can continue to feed on "the next big thing" instead of challenging themselves with more substantial material. I'm sure people thought I was kidding when I said that, but to take your kids to Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days is to have the film serve as a babysitter; one that isn't influential, that is.

My review of Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (scroll all the way down to view), stevethemovieman.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=franchise&action=display&thread=3282

Other honorable mentions - in no particular order: The Babymakers, Girl in Progress, House at the End of the Street, Last Ounce of Courage, Paranormal Activity 4, Red Tails, Taken 2, Think Like a Man, and The Three Stooges.

My Top Five Decent Films of 2012 - In No Particular Order

1. Journey 2: The Mysterious Island: A goofy, fun adventure romp that follows the formula of early 1950's Disney adventure films creating a light-hearted, memorable adventure, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=reviews&action=display&thread=3194

2. Seven Psychopaths: An enjoyable, quick-witted comedy, heavily reliant on self-referential, meta-material which contributes to its success and its repetitiveness, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=reviews&thread=3379&page=1

3. Beasts of the Southern Wild: A memorable drama centering around a young girl and her father as they struggle to sustain themselves on a woodsy island called "The Bathtub," located far off the levee system of New Orleans, as it is consumed by rising sea levels. Easy on the eyes, somewhat rough on the soul, but noticeably heavy on the emotional manipulation, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=reviews&action=display&thread=3449

4. Silver Linings Playbook: A romantic comedy that pulls no punches in being gravely honest and brutally realistic in its depiction of mental illness, buoyed by two talented, capable actors, Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, also assisted by Robert De Niro's best performance in years, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=reviews&thread=3454&page=1

5. The Do-Deca-Pentathlon: An admirable addition to the genre of mumblecore, with noted mumblecore filmmakers (also two of my favorite men in the film industry) Jay and Mark Duplass manning the camera, giving us an intimate look in the eye of sibling disconnect, where a brotherly relationship is defined by success and defeat, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=reviews&action=display&thread=3202

Other honorable mentions - in no particular order: The Collection, Koch Brothers Exposed, Pink Ribbons, Inc., To Rome With Love, and V/H/S.