My Top 25 Favorite Movies of 2012, Final Chapter

Thus endeth the lesson for today.

Chronicle

Found footage movies and superhero movies.  Just when I think I've gotten sick of these genres, some new flick comes along and pulls me right back in - like "Chronicle", which manages to blend both of these genres into one vital, gritty package.  Director Josh Trank did an excellent job not only in combining genres, but in creating a timely story about a troubled teen's misplacement of rage.  Now give the troubled teen superpowers.  Oh crapballs.  Dane DeHaan's excellent performance as the troubled teen is the heart and soul of the movie, giving the movie a gravity and depth that you rarely encounter in either found footage or superhero movies.  When he starts to sink into a downward spiral you not only fear for the safety of his family and friends, but for the whole world!  Talk about tension.  Thankfully his super-powered friends (capably portrayed by Alex Russell and Michael B. Jordan) are there to help him - or stop him, if need be.  For an independent picture, the special effects are quite excellent and well-utilized, adding to the realistic feel.  The sequences where the kids explore the limits of their powers and goof off with them also strikes me as realistic - I could easily imagine being the same way if I had superpowers at that age.  It's a fun way to get in with the characters before things go wrong.  "Chronicle" is short, sweet and surprisingly affecting.

And what's up with this Michael B. Jordan guy?  Not only was he in the excellent film "Fruitvale Station", but he's attached to the "Fantastic Four" reboot (as "The Human Torch" Johnny Storm), the new "Batman vs. Superman" movie (as Cyborg), the new "Rocky" spin-off "Creed" (as Apollo Creed's grandson), the new "Independence Day" sequel (as Will Smith's grown-up stepson) and he may even have something to do with "Star Wars Episode VII".  Wow.  I can say that I knew him back when he was "the black guy" in "Chronicle".

Zero Dark Thirty

Ah, Jessica Chastain.  I couldn't let a year go by without putting one of her films on my list.  "Zero Dark Thirty" (based on a book based on real events) is the story of the manhunt for Osama Bin Laden.  Subtextually, it's the story of a woman making a name for herself in what is, primarily, a "man's world", something director Kathryn Bigelow knows plenty about (she's been directing action movies since the 1980s).  Mrs. Bastard -  I mean Miss Chastain, plays Maya, the C.I.A. analyst responsible for the major breakthroughs in the case.  She is, as always, an asskicker of the highest degree, and the rest of the cast ain't bad either.  I love that the movie is a straightforward thriller, engaging and tense from start to finish, with the final assault on Bin Laden's compound standing out as the major highlight.  I also love that the movie is generally apolitical.  The political realities of the situation are very much present and affect the story, but, as in real life, the focus is mainly on the hunt.  The quagmire of the World of Politics is merely seen as something one has to put up with in order to get the job done.  And the story doesn't shy away from the morally gray stuff.  Sure, in the end it's a bit of a flag-waving movie, but what the heck's wrong with that?  I'm an American and I love America.  At least the core of what America should stand for.  And I love Jessica Chastain (crazy obsessive fanboy alert).  My only regret is that she wasn't starring in a movie called "Zero Dark Dirty". 

That's sickening.  I'm stopping now.

The Pirates: Band of Misfits

Have I mentioned how much I love stop-motion animation?  The answer to that question is YES.  As a child, I made a few crappy stop-motion short films of my own, using action figures, Play-Doh, LEGOs (I was way ahead of the times there) and anything else that I could animate one frame at a time to simulate realistic (a.k.a. sickeningly jerky) movement.  I was inspired to do this by my love of stop-motion in movies.  "King Kong" (1933) was always one of my favorite examples of the art form, as was the extensive filmography of "The Master of Special Effects", Ray Harryhausen ("The 7th Voyage of Sinbad", "Jason and the Argonauts", "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms", "One Million Years B.C.", "Mighty Joe Young", "Clash of the Titans", "The Valley of Gwangi", "20 Million Miles to Earth", and on and on).  In the 80s and 90s, Industrial Light and Magic called it "Go-Motion" and used it in many of the movies they worked on (the "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" trilogies, "Robocop", "Aliens", etc.) until the fateful year of 1993, when a little movie called "Jurassic Park" introduced the world to CGI, and changed everything.  Stop-motion refused to die, however.  1993 saw not only "Jurassic Park", but also the stop-motion-heavy "Army of Darkness" and Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas", a banner film that kept the art alive.  Since then, Tim Burton has continued to fan the stop-motion flames, as have filmmakers like Wes Anderson and companies like Aardman animations, makers of "Wallace & Gromit" and "Chicken Run".   Which brings me to "The Pirates: Band of Misfits", Aardman's latest gem, based on a series of kids books by Gideon Defoe.  It's hilarious, exciting, wonderfully animated, and far more fun than those "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies.  Plus, it features the voices of the cannibal king from "Cloud Atlas", Doctor Who, Bilbo Baggins, Dolores Umbridge, Ari Gold, Satanica Pandemonium, Boss Nass, Pavel Chekov, Beowulf and Al Roker.  Not to be missed.

The Raid: Redemption

Well, actually it's just called "The Raid".  The studio which released the movie in America added "Redemption" to the title of this Indonesian action flick in order to separate it from the inevitable remake, which was recently announced to star the brothers Chris and Liam Hemsworth (from "Thor" and "The Hunger Games", respectively).  Until then, we've got this tense little action puppy to kick our collective butts.  It's a simple premise:  An elite police unit enters an apartment building controlled by a powerful drug lord with the intention of bringing him to justice. Unfortunately it's populated by the drug lord's personal army - and he knows they're coming.  Trapped inside, it becomes a brutal fight for survival as the cops struggle to live to see another day.  But one cop has a secret agenda which may save their lives. . . or maybe not.  From start to finish, it's a tense, extremely violent ride through a little slice of Indonesian hell, expertly directed by Gareth Evans, who is an amiable Welsh chap.  I like how the movie starts off at a slow boil as a tense cop thriller and eventually morphs into a furious martial arts extravaganza (once the bullets run out).  The character of Mad Dog is one of the scariest and most amazing (and shortest) martial arts badasses in film history!  It's also one of those rare movies that manages to be satisfying while, at the same time, leaving things open for a sequel.

And lookee here - the sequel hits American shores next month.  Woo hoo!

The Avengers

I had an epiphany the other day when watching this movie again:  Joss Whedon is a really talented guy.  Okay, so maybe I've had that epiphany before (like in My Favorites, Part 1), but it was for slightly different reasons this time.  To assemble all of these weird, iconic screen characters, give them ample, fulfilling screen time and full character arcs, satisfy both the hardcore fans and the Hollywood Big Shots while at the same time giving casual moviegoers an entertaining ride - simply put, Whedon is a master juggler, and juggling is a tough skill to master, especially in filmmaking.  This is a cool movie.  While it's a more fulfilling experience if you've seen all of the previous entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it works just fine all on its own.  Be it the action and special effects, the humor, the great performances, Alan Silvestri's rousing music, the cool cameos, the witty asides, the re-jiggering of old clichés, it all adds up to something unique and wonderful - the first superhero crossover/team movie ever attempted.  As the end of MCU's Phase I (it's all set to conclude at the end of Phase III with "The Avengers 3") the bar is set quite high, but I have faith that 2015's "The Avengers: Age of Ultron" will live up to the original movie in every respect - although, Whedon has said in a couple of interviews that his goal with "Age of Ultron" is to hurt the audience, emotionally.  Uh oh.

See you next year!

Or maybe next week.  Yeah, let's go with next week.. .

My Top 25 Favorite Movies of 2012, Part 4

I'm going on an adventure!


The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

So what, precisely, is wrong with this movie, Part One of "The Hobbit" trilogy?  Well, for starters, it's full of musical numbers and childish humor.  - It was written for kids. -  It's got the exact same story structure as "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy.  - Just like the original novel. -  It's drawn out with too much extra stuff from the appendices of "Rings".  - People complained that too much of the original novels were left out of the "Rings" trilogy. -  We already know how it's going to turn out.  - Of course we do.  It's a prequel .-  Peter Jackson is waaaaay too overindulgent as a filmmaker.  - Absolutely.  But if you love what he's indulging in, it's heaven on Earth.  A four-hour extended cut of "King Kong"?  Bring it on, says I! -  I like "An Unexpected Journey".  It's the least best of the five "Rings" movies released so far but, heck, the riddle scene with Gollum, on its own, is better than most of the movies released in 2012.  Returning to the rich and detailed cinematic world of Middle Earth that Jackson and company have created is always a pleasure.  Note:  My preferred version of this movie is the Extended Edition.  The difference is not as great as the one between the theatrical and extended versions of the original trilogy (I can't watch the theatrical versions of the OT - too much of my favorite stuff is missing, it's distracting), but it's still improved:  The pacing is better, there's more focus on Bilbo Baggins (who often felt like he was missing from his own movie in the theatrical cut), the funniest jokes in the movie are in the extended cut, and the Rivendell and Goblin Kingdom sequences are filled out and much more satisfyingly complete.  But that's just my opinion.  It's your call.

Dredd

Remember the 80's?  Remember all of the hyper-violent police thrillers and sci-fi epics released during that golden decade?  Well, one filmmaker certainly does.  His name is Pete Travis, director of "Dredd", the latest movie incarnation of the cult hit British comic book character named "Judge Dredd".  Sylvester Stallone previously attempted to portray the character in the 90's, but that didn't really work out (the first two thirds of the movie was fun, but it fizzled out miserably in the final act).  They got it right this time.  Despite having a lower budget than the Stallone version, "Dredd" manages to be the gritty, entertaining action flick it should be, with a whopping dose of in-your-face violence, dark satire and good 'ole lovable 1980's cheese.  Karl Urban is the new Judge Dredd, and while, yes comic book fans, he keeps his helmet on the entire time, he also play it perfectly, complete with a "Dirty Harry"-era Clint Eastwood line delivery.  Since Dredd is an immovable rock of absolute justice, the real character arc of the story belongs to Judge-in-training Anderson, played very well by Olivia Thirlby.  The plot, while heavily reminiscent of the superior action movie "The Raid: Redemption", remains effective nonetheless and the 3D effects are quite stunning, so catch it in that format if possible.  "Dredd" is a straight-up point-A-to-Point-B sci-fi action flick that satisfies.

Sinister

Here's an example of a perfect cross-genre movie.  What's a perfect cross-genre movie, you ask?  Well, if you remove one the movie's genres, it still manages to be a great movie.  Example: "Sinister".  I describe it as a horror/drama.  Take out the drama and it would be a fantastic horror flick.  Take out the horror and it would still be a gripping drama.  Instead, it's a pitch-perfect blend of both.  Drama-wise, it's about a controversial real-crime writer (Ethan Hawke) who moves his family into the house of his latest subject, an unsolved murder case involving an entire family.  Tension mounts with local law enforcement, the strain on his family threatens domestic turbulence, and his obsession with the case may lead him down the path of madness.  Add to that the real cause of all the tragedy - an ancient Babylonian demon named Baghul, who targets the writer's family as his next victims.  It's great to see Hawke in a horror movie.  Besides just being one of my favorite actors, he's also really, really good at being scared (and fun to watch).  Director Scott Derrickson ("The Exorcism of Emily Rose", "Hellraiser: Inferno") is a master of building tension, creating effective jump scares, and composing disturbing imagery.  The only "drawback" is this: While the end twist of the film is too easy to see coming, at the same time, you don't want it to be true.  It's fine, though.  The icing on the cake is the utterly frightening score.  The music, in and of itself, is freaky as hell.  If you put this score over a Muppet movie, you will still brown your shorts in fear.  "Sinister" is the best horror movie of 2012.

Moonrise Kingdom

A mix of French New Wave cinema, cartoon realism, East Coast 60's retro trappings, fairy tale romanticism, stage play theatrics, madcap comedy, and a dash of dark satire, "Moonrise Kingdom" is the latest gem from Wes Anderson, whose entire filmography is composed of all those disparate elements.  In fact, it's safe to say that if Anderson releases a movie in a year, it will appear on my favorites list of that year.  This time the comedy is centered around a whimsical romance between two young lovers, gifted kids with inventive minds enraptured by the fog of first love.  Swirling around these two love birds is an entire East Coast island full of eccentric characters played by cool character actors (Bob Balaban rocks).  Everything about this movie tickles my funny bone.  Plus, the Khaki Scouts of America bring back my fond memories of the Boy Scouts and all of the lightweight wilderness adventure that came with it.  Ah, memories. . .

. . . of poison ivy, leeches, ticks, sunburns, nasty pranks, splinters, soaking rain, bloodthirsty bears. . .

Skyfall

James Bond received a wonderful present for his 50th birthday when "Skyfall" opened in theaters in 2012.  Not only was it the first Bond movie to make over $1 billion, but it was intelligently made and just plain wicked cool.  Under the direction of accomplished filmmaker Sam Mendes ("American Beauty", "Road to Perdition"), it manages to be one of those rare sequels that satisfies all of the genre requirements while simultaneously turning all of the old standby conventions on their head.  It always amazes me how captivating this movie is, and it's all due to the performances.  Daniel Craig remains one of my favorite Bond actors, Javier Bardem is one of the best and scariest Bond villains ever, Judi Dench finally gets the lengthy screen time she deserves, and the rest of the cast, all the way down to the extras, are fantastic.  Aside from the big, bold opening sequence, it's not the most action-packed Bond of all time.  It's very character-driven, and the reason you can't look away is because the actors involved are so high caliber that every scene is an electric charge of awesome.  That's not to say that the rest of the film is lacking - it's not.  Everything is quality with "Skyfall":  the music, the cinematography (especially the cinematography), the editing, the stunt work, etc.  Speaking as a longtime Bond fan, this was not only a fine tribute to all that's come before, but it's a vital reinvigoration that leaves you craving more.  James Bond will return?  You bet your finely-tailored ass he will!

Next time - the final chapter.