The Best Films of 2012

Hey there, cats and kittens. Here are some of the best movies of 2012:

(In no particular order.)

Argo
Ben Affleck (has anybody been able to explain why he wasn't nominated for Best Director?) succeeds at easily blending genres and styles in this movie. Its opening is reminiscent of the intensity of "Saving Private Ryan," and from the beginning one gets the sense that Affleck and his team went to great lengths to get the details right. It's actually this point--details--that hurt the movie, because eventually the movie strays from them. Towards the end, "Argo" seems to evolve from a smart thriller to a dumbed-down action flick, simply because the filmmakers underestimated their audience. But it's still quite a good film.

Undoubtedly, this movie will win the Best Picture Award. Voters will feel bad for not nominating him for Best Director, so they'll compensate by giving him this award (and to fellow nominees George Clooney and the white guy in this clip).

Django Unchained
Just as Affleck was robbed of a nomination for "Argo," so too were Leonardo DiCaprio and Samuel L. Jackson for Best Supporting Actor nominations for Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained." Tarantino's style may be overly inspired by various different sources, as expected, but his screenplay is superb, particularly the sequences at Candy Land, as Django (Jamie Foxx) and Dr. Schultz (Christoph Waltz) attempt to rescue Django's bride (Kerry Washington). DiCaprio is brilliant as Calvin Candy, a horrible slave owner with no empathy or remorse (or soul), and equally entertaining to watch is Jackson as Stephen, the Uncle Tom slave supervisor. While it's a shame that neither of them were nominated, Waltz is considered a favorite for Best Supporting Actor, though it's a peculiar nomination for him as he has the majority of lines in the film. DiCaprio, Washington, Foxx, Waltz, Jackson and the others who show up along the way all have different styles of acting, but Tarantino does a commendable job in directing them all.

Amour
Michael Heneke's "Amour" is a love story filmed as a horror movie. Just like last year's "A Separation," it's so suspenseful and intense without the use of music or the usual gimmicks. By the end of the movie, with a uniquely quiet climax, I was on the edge of my seat, and thought to myself that I rarely, if ever, have a reaction like that to movies when so little is happening on the screen.  Heneke figures out how to establish an emotional connection without playing the usual notes; we feel for these characters, and there's no score to tell us to do so.

The Woman in Black
Just when haunted house movies seemed to be too dull, "The Woman in Black" brings us that rich tradition of Hammer Films horror. Rotten Tomatoes summarizes this movie as foregoing "gores for chills." But this movie is so much more than that. Yes, it's atmospheric, but it's also terrifying.  (And it's also underrated; I couldn't find any other list where this made the top ten.) Hammer is back.

Monsiuer Lazhar
My bias towards this film is that I am a teacher, and so many memories (good and bad) were constantly coming back to me as I watched this movie. The role of the teacher, and the delicate balance one plays, is demonstrated well here, especially with Mohamed Fellaq's performance as an immigrant from Algeria teaching an elementary class in Quebec. So many elements were running through my head: fragile students, even picked on by teachers; favorite students and least favorite students (but of course equality toward all of them), East versus West in teaching styles, and young students' search for their identities. This is close to being the best film of the year.

But that goes to...

Moonrise Kingdom
This is not only the best film of the year but also Wes Anderson's best film.  Just as I have a bias towards "Monsiuer Lazhar" because I'm a teacher, I have a bias towards "Moonrise Kingdom" because I am a former Boy Scout and Eagle Scout. While watching the movie, I picked up all the bizarre eccentricities of what it's like to be a Boy Scout, but even if one has never been a member of the Scouts, it's still immensely entertaining. There are wonderful characters here: Edward Norton as a hapless Boy Scout leader, Bruce Willis as the town's police chief, and Bill Murray and Frances McDormand as the parents of a young, rebellious girl. But the real stars here are young actors Kara Hayward and Jared Gilman, playing two loners who run away for self-discovery in a far more humorous way than we usually see. I hope to see many more fantastic movies with them.

The Oscars await...


Turbo-tastic!

                           

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The Most Overrated Movies of 2012

There were some good movies this pasty year, some great ones (emphasis on the word "some"), and some bad ones. Unfortunately, there were some that we were told were good, but actually were quite bad. How easy it is to pick on those which were destined to be bad; I only wish more critics would call out those movies that were truly bad even though they received such high reviews. Here's a look at some of those such films:

Brave
Educator and writer Herb Kohl noted in a review of books written for elementary school students that the literature sections included classic European tales like Snow White and Cinderella, "tales of royalty and wealth filled with passive or wicked females, evil step-parents, pure and handsome princes...Young women need to be rescued from older women, purified for marriage into royalty or sacrificed to save their fathers." Pixar's "Brave" offered an opportunity to break away from this typical Disney portrayal of princesses. At first it seemed it would be true. Not only is the princess portrayed in the movie a lot tougher than the male characters but also is up against her mother, who is both un-evil and her actual parent. Unfortunately, that's where the opportunity ends. This movie is dull, and disappointingly so. What could have been a unique moment for tough princesses shies away into an unfortunate mess.

Beasts of the Southern Wild
Angry that Ben Affleck wasn't nominated for Best Director?  You can blame A) the Academy, B) the critics who for some reason adored "Beasts of the Southern Wild," and C) director Benh Zeitlin, who was for some odd reason nominated for Best Director instead of Affleck. Admittedly, Zeitlin has a talent, and I hope I enjoy his future work more than this one, but "Beasts of the Southern Wild" is interesting and appealing only if you've never seen "Whale Rider," "Where the Wild Things Are," and a whole host of other surreal movies about children.

The Cabin in the Woods
What a joy it was to see Bradley Whitford and Richard Jenkins in such wonderful roles. Unfortunately, the focus of the movie is on the "horror" scenes, which are not only un-scary but ridiculous. But that's the point, some will say. It's a joke, they will say. If it's a joke, then the joke's on me.

Killing Them Softly
Director Andrew Dominik and star Brad Pitt tried to recreate what worked so well in "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford." They failed. They would have us believe that in the world of "Killing Them Softly," angry thugs and murderers sit around watching C-SPAN and talking politics. At different points, Pitt's character goes on diatribes about Jefferson and different current events. "America's not a country," he says, "it's a business." Wow. That's deep.

Pitch Perfect
You've seen "Mean Girls" and "Bridesmaids," so skip "Pitch Perfect," because it's basically the musical version of these two movies, stripped of any enjoyment.

The Avengers
Can somebody please, please tell me what's so fantastic about this movie? Is it the silly dialogue? The annoying characters? The orgy of CGI effects? The headache-inducing fight scenes? The wooden dialogue? The bad acting to match the wooden dialogue? What a terribly overrated movie.  


I don't have the energy to complain any more, but I'd also like to issue a hiss to "Oslo, August 31st," "Gayby," and "The Master."  Hopefully, next year will feature less overrated movies.




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Oscar Predictions

Best Supporting Actor
This is one of the most challenging to predict this year. If the Oscar's play it safe, they'll pick Tommy Lee Jones for his role as abolitionist congressman Thaddeus Stevens. Particularly if it turns out that "Lincoln" ends up sweeping the Oscars, then Jones will easily ride those coattails. But "Lincoln" has had a rough couple of months; it owes it's likely win for Best Director due to the fact that Ben Affleck simply isn't nominated, and there has been a bit of a backlash against Tommy Lee Jones, I think for good reasons. For one, while it's hard not to admire Jones as an actor, in this performance he doesn't do much except yell a lot. Whereas the scenes with Daniel Day-Lewis in the title role are riveting, with Jones they are distracting. He hits usual, expected notes and with his usual Southern accent (Stevens was from Pennsylvania).

Jones' chief rival is Christoph Waltz for "Django Unchained." I would prefer Waltz to win over Jones, but (and this is a bit unfair), I don't think it's as good as a performance as he gave in the other movie with Tarantino he did ("Inglorious Basterds") which won him an Oscar. Alan Arkin was fine in "Argo," but he gives essentially the same performance he gave in his Academy Award-winning role in "Little Miss Sunshine," and if I didn't think he deserved it then, I don't think he deserves it for "Argo." That leaves Philip Seymour Hoffman for "The Master" and Robert De Niro for "Silver Linings Playbook." Hoffman is fine in "The Master" but not particularly noteworthy. De Niro, however, shines in one of his best performances in years. Here is an actor who is noted for his violent yet frequently complex characters and comedic roles in more recent ones. But it's rare to see De Niro in an emotional role, one in which the movie partially depends on how the father-son relationship plays out. He pulls it off terrifically.

While De Niro has not won any major prizes this cycle, the good folks over Goldderby have him only slightly behind the frontrunner, Tommy Lee Jones.

Who should win: Robert De Niro
Who will win: Tommy Lee Jones

Best Animated Feature
As long as the Academy does not award "Brave," I will mostly be happy. How disappointing a movie like "Brave" is (please see "The Most Overrated Movies of 2012," coming soon). Anyway, while "Wreck-It-Ralph" and "ParaNorman" are both admirable, enjoyable movies, the really winner here should be "Frankenweenie." This is Tim Burton's best movie in years, an homage to the B-movies of his youth (though I will concede it's getting old) and a unique reminder about the importance of science. Not only is the animation more impressive, but it's also a better movie. Still, with the Golden Globe going to "Brave" and the Annie Awards going to "Wreck-It-Ralph," it doesn't seem like this is Burton's year (the Academy has never shown much appreciation for him).

What should win: "Frankenweenie"
What will win: "Wreck-It-Ralph"

Best Supporting Actress
Nobody thinks Anne Hatheway won't win for her emotional performance in "Les Miserables." It is a commendable performance, and she will (and probably should) win. With that being said, not enough praise has been given to Helen Hunt in "The Sessions." Playing a character much more dangerous and complex than any found in "Les Miserables," Hunt navigates a precarious role that few other performers could. Some will say that she should be denied the award because she was "only nominated because of all the nudity." But her performance is so much more than this. Scenes with her and her interactions with John Hawkes, who stars as a paralyzed man in need of sex education, are some of the most emotional scenes of the year. Hatheway was excellent in "Les Miserables," but the Academy voters should consider Hunt as well.

Who should win: Anne Hatheway or Helen Hunt
Who will win: Anne Hatheway

Best Picture

So many nominees. What shouldn't win? I didn't hate "Les Miserables" like some did, and I highly recommend seeing a theatrical production of it. Still, "Les Miserables" is one of the weakest of the nominees (but not as weak as "Beasts of the Southern Wild"). "Zero Dark Thirty" is provocative, well-written, and controversial, but it's a bit dull compared to Kathryn Bigelow's previous film, "The Hurt Locker." "Life of Pi" and "Silver Linings Playbook" are both crowd favorites but are certainly underdogs here. That leaves a horse race between "Lincoln" and "Argo," with the latter having the most momentum. But the really terrific movies here are "Amour" and "Django Unchained." Both don't have a shot, but both are certainly better. "Amour" is Michael Haneke's most impressive work and Quentin Tarantino does a fine job with his tribute to spaghetti westerns in "Django Unchained."

What should win: "Amour"
What will win: "Argo"

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