Here it is folks, the best films of 2012 ranked by your friend Curtis, that's me. I've decided to give you my top twenty films, top 5 documentaries, and then at the bottom I'll include a link ranking all the films I've seen this year (there's over 40 of them.)
1. Django Unchained
2. Amour
3. Killer Joe
4. The Master
5. Looper
6. Beasts of the Southern Wild
7. The Grey
8. The Hobbit
9. Seven Psychopaths
10. Moonrise Kingdom
11. Cloud Atlas
12. Magic Mike
13. Cabin in the Woods
14. Prometheus
15. The Dark Knight Rises
16. Dredd 3D
17. John Carter
18. Skyfall
19. Chronicle
20. The Avengers
Top Five Documentaries
1. The Imposter
2. Bones Brigade: An Autobiography
3. Indie Game: The Movie
4. Jiro Dreams of Sushi
5. The Queen of Versailles
My complete movie ranking of 2012
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Django Unchained
(2012) [Trailer]
Director: Quentin Tarantino [IMDB]
Django and The Hobbit were my two most anticipated films of the year and I knew when I heard the release date for this where I'd be Christmas day... at my house opening up presents. Well, that and at the theater to lay my eyes on Mr Tarantino's new baby.
Synopsis: A German bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) frees a slave named Django (Jamie Foxx) who he enlists to help track down felons. The two then team up to help Django free his enslaved wife.
I had a real good time watching Django Unchained tonight, it's an extremely fun movie. Waltz and Foxx work so well together on screen and their dialogue is something you would come to expect from a Tarantino film, but the two of them really sold it well. Django is a hilarious film, but then the next minute it's serious and then the next minute after that it's brutally violent. It's a hard line to walk but one Quentin does very effectively. I loved the score and cinematography, as I normally do with most his films. Leonardo DiCaprio played his role perfectly... it was actually one of my favorite performances from him. It was also nice to see some cameos in Django, especially Walter Goggins from The Shield and Crockett from Miami Vice. I can't really think of anything bad to say about the film, it won me over and I would highly recommend it.... unless you're offended by bad language and the killing of slave owners.
Monday, December 24, 2012
The Bay
(2012) [Trailer]
Director: Barry Levinson [IMDB]
The wife and I spent Christmas eve with our good friends Shawn and Doug. We decided to get into the holiday spirit with a great Christmas classic... The Bay.
Synopsis: A small town on the Chesapeake Bay starts to get infected with a mysterious plague.
It's hard to believe the same guy that brought you Rain Man, Sleepers, and Good Morning Vietnam is responsible for this film. It's a 180 from any of those and pretty bad by comparison.
The Bay employs the use of the "found footage" genre which is so hot these days. I enjoy a good found footage film as much as the next guy and The Bay does a good job holding to that aesthetic. It also delivers some great practical effects work... the hives people got and the little trilobite critters were pretty awesome. That's about it for the good stuff.
The science in The Bay is really wack and the way these events come to play and the way they are resolved are really unbelievable. The acting was pretty bad, but in a unique way, everyone seemed to be real enough but there was no emotion behind anything. Levinson also kept using these flashbacks to try and help the viewer piece the narrative together... the film's only 80 minutes, I think we can figure it out.
There's some unintentional funny moments throughout The Bay's run time, but I'll save them for now until you see the film... ok? Cool, email me when you're done.
The Man with the Iron Fists
(2012) [Trailer]
Director: RZA [IMDB]
Back in high school I was quite fond of the Wu-Tang Clan, who wasn't? 36 Chambers changed the face of hip hop, spawned tons of clones, and also put the names... Method Man, Raekwon, RZA, GZA, Ghostface, U-God, and Old Dirty Bastard (RIP) on the tongues of youth all across the world. So when I heard RZA was directing a Kung-Fu flick with the help of Quentin Tarantino and Eli Roth, I was a bit intrigued to see if The Scientist could bring his directoral game like he can his rap game.
Synopsis: A blacksmith in feudal China teams up with a prince, Lucy Lu, and Russell Crowe to defend a village from the onslaught of the Wolf Clan.... or Lion Clan... I'm not really sure.
The Man with the Iron Fists is pretty much exactly what I expected. It's a glossy looking film that rides the line between classic and modern martial arts flicks. There was lots of wire works, well performed fights, and blood, but nothing that stood out as new or unique. It was fun and entertaining, but from a technical stand point there are some major flaws.
The score is very bad... and seemed really out of place in a lot of parts. I had a feeling RZA would add hip hop into the fold, but it just doesn't work here. His narration is pretty awful too and took me out of the film every time. The story is kinda shitty too and seem overly complicated.
I had read about RZA's acting being really bad, but you know what... he was ok in my book and seemed to get the job done.
I'd say go ahead and pass on this, unless you're a die hard kung-fu fan... but then again maybe it'd be worse if you are really into that genre... who knows.
Holy Motors
(2012) [Trailer]
Director: Leos Carax [IMDB]
This year is coming to an end and that means "best of 2012" lists are popping up everywhere. In preparation for putting my own together, I figured I'd pop on Holy Motors, a film which has been making its way into many "best of" lists this year. So... here we go.
Synopsis: A guy in a limo drives around Paris and is given assignments where he takes on the lives of different characters.
I'll start by saying if you're looking for some kind of narrative in your movie going experience and you wanna check out Holy Motors... you're gonna have a bad time. This film has zero storyline and is more like a group images and events linked together by the protagonist and his limo. It's a beautiful looking film and there are lots of stunning visuals (like the dog in theater at the beginning.) What do these cinematic paintings and their sporadic dialogue interlaced throughout them mean? This enigmatic title's main point is to question the viewer. It's confusing and basically leaves you scratching your head. For me, there are other movies that do this much better (Synecdoche, New York), but I still applaud the film maker for trying to do something different. It just didn't work for me... mainly I found the movie tiresome and a little slow.
I don't think Holy Motors is horrible and it's something that I'd like to revisit, but if you're not into artsy films... you will loathe this.
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