Strat's 20 of 2012

2012 mirrored 1999 in some rather interesting ways - it started off slow and picked up the pace and highly anticipated second trilogies by well-respected filmmakers meet with good box office, but disappointing fan reactions.  That said, putting the 2012 list together was an exercise in deciding what got left off. Notable films that didn't make it were Amour, Magic Mike, The Sessions and Ted (go ahead and laugh).

20. Amazing Spider-Man (action)
I was ready to write this off as re-boot with no business being made. Then I realized Andrew Garfield managed to find a portrayal of Peter Parker that is both vulnerable and bold.

19. Frances Ha (drama)
This is a film that I was not exactly looking for as a "ooh I have to see it" from the ads or the recommends on Netflix. That said, it's a great film. An honest film about friendships and love and growing up in your late 20s.

18. Skyfall (action drama)
What happens when someone decides to make one of the most visual Bond films ever? What happens when you actually think Bond could be broken or that he really exists? You get awesomeness.

17. Wreck-It Ralph (animated comedy)
It's about time that someone brought the video game world to the big screen without trying to make it about the video games.  The filmmakers here triumphantly went for substance much deeper than the 8-bit pixels.

16. Looper (sci-fi)
It's not often than you see a single, but complex story executed with such precision and depth that it is a moving and exciting experience. Kudos to getting this story made.

15. Django Unchained (western)
The star of this film isn't Jamie Foxx or Leonardo DiCaprio.  That honor is bestowed to Tarantino for delivery another sharp, clever, written performance to an otherwise tired genre.

14. Hitchcock (drama)
It only makes sense that the "Master of Suspense" himself was a creepy, strange fellow.  It's part bio pic, part horror film.  All excellent.

13. The Master (drama)
No, this movie has NOTHING to do with Scientology.  What is Scientology you say?  Watch this film.  For once, a film that shows the genesis of how a spiritual following starts.

12. Cloud Atlas (sci-fi)
One of the most intriguing films I've seen in years.  Not to mention actors in roles you would not ever imagine.  I mean Halle Berry as a man? Come on.  It's part Matrix, part Tree of Life.

11. Brave (animated adventure)
I would never have watched it based on the trailers, but the film shows it's much better than that.  With fantasy and fun suitable for small children and mature themes for the older audience.

10. Safety Not Guaranteed (sci-fi/comedy)
This is one of the more touching and funny films of the year. Aubrey Plaza's dry delivery mixes perfectly with the absurdity of her time traveling partner.

9. End of Watch (drama/thriller)
The most intense, thrilling cop film I've seen since Training Day.  With the decision to intermix "found footage" with traditional cinema techniques, it takes on a fresh vibrant life of it's own.

8. Indie Game: The Movie (documentary)
It might be about the independent video game developer world, but it's difficult to not see connections with their struggles and that of anyone else in the creative side of the entertainment industry.

7. Flight (drama)
Yes, it's a movie about addiction.  Yes, it's about a crazy airline crash.  But unlike an actual flight, this film is about the journey much more than the destination.

6. Ruby Sparks (comedy/drama)
One of the sweetest and definitely darkest romantic comedy I've ever seen.  There are a lot of opportunities for this movie to have taken a well worn direction, but it never ceases to find something interesting and insightful.

5. To Rome With Love (comedy)
Just when people were starting to write off Woody, he churns out 3 great movies in 5 years.  As daring as some of his early work was at the time, it's become evident that while not that daring anymore he has an innate ability to do what many filmmakers fail to recall - tell an good story.

4. 21 Jump Street (action/comedy)
This movie jumped up and surprised me.  I really had not considered how much the high school culture itself has changed in the last 10 years until I saw the dots connected in this surprising remake of the old TV series.

3. Searching For Sugarman (documentary)
If you don't know what this movie is about, don't look it up.  It will make the movie THAT much more surprising and moving. Not that it needs much help.  Certainly one of the most uplifting movies that you'll ever see - and it's a true story!

2. Silver Linings Playbook (comedy/drama)
Just great writing and great acting just chewing through scenes; always taking the unconventional road. Up and down as much as someone with bi-polar.  Good thing that's part of the story.

1. Argo (drama)
It's your classic historical drama. Like Flight, it's a story that is about the journey rather than the destination.  What makes this that much better is that the story is so insane, it has to be true.  Fortunately it is.

Lupe's Top 20 of 2011

All of Hollywood's millions of hours of hard work don't amount to much in the worst year for movies since I started doing these lists.  Try harder, celebutards!

20. The Artist (drama)
Critics can see through style over substance when its in service of a big dumb action movie, like 300, but always get taken in by the novelty when it's Oscar bait, like Moulin Rouge, or like The Artist.  But it doesn't make the characters any less flat, or the story less shallow.

19. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (crime)
If the original Swedish version didn't make you feel uncomfortable enough, this should do the trick.  About as bad as the shot for shot remake of Psycho.

18. Super 8 (sci-fi)
A cross between ripoffs of ET and The Goonies, if that's your thing.

17. Young Adult (drama)
The writer behind the Mary Sue is an unpleasant alcoholic.  Kinda makes sense.  Diablo Cody without the charm of Juno. Or even Jennifer's Body.

16. Hugo (family)
Scorsese has two passions: filmmaking and the mob.  Sadly, this movie is about filmmaking.

15. The Adjustment Bureau (sci-fi)
Matt Damon plays a politician whom the world actually revolves around.  As if a politician's ego isn't big enough already.

14. Source Code (sci-fi)
Jake Gyllenhal sure can play a torso.

13. Hanna (action)
A seventeen year old girl experiments with murder and lesbianism.  That's a small and scary target audience.

12. The Help (drama)
Nothing makes me love my fellow man more than a poo pie.  I wonder if Gandhi ever borrowed that recipe?

11. The Descendants (drama)
George Clooney opens the movie by telling us that Hawaii is as humdrum as any other place.  Then we find out that he owns this vast, unspoiled tract of idyllic beachfront paradise.  Up yours, George Clooney.

10. Thor (action)
The son of Odin is just a bad dude until Natalie Portman tames his impudent heart.  He may be whipped, but he still knows how to hoist his hammer.  For Asgard!

9. My Week With Marilyn (drama)
In the real world, Lawrence Olivier's "be a dick" approach would be way more productive than falling in love with your psycho starlet.

8. The Lincoln Lawyer (drama)
Feels like a big budget TV pilot, though I doubt they'd get Bongo McConaughey to come back for the series.  Maybe if it was on HBO and they offered him copious nude scenes.

7. Captain America (action)
Heil Hydra.  Cut off one head and two more shall take its place.  Cut off their balls, though, and they'll be a little more housebroken.

6. A Dangerous Method (drama)
This looked like a lot of fun for the actors, especially the spanking scenes.  And then she was murdered by Hitler.  As Freud would say, sometimes a cigar is just a Nazi firing squad.

5. Moneyball (drama)
One of the better movies from this otherwise regrettable year, but they could have made the porn version of its title just a little less obvious.

4. X-Men: First Class (action)
Mystique never does the whole "mutant and proud" thing with Banshee because he's a ginger, and that's nothing to be proud of.

3. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (spy thriller)
Before long, George Smiley finds out that his frumpy Panamanian housemaid was secretly Karla all along, if that Soviet spymaster's name is anything to go by.  Power to the Smiley's People!

2. 50/50 (comedy/drama)
JGL: "I have cancer."  Seth Rogen: "And your girlfriend's a bitch."  Definitely one of the year's few good movies.

1. The Devil's Double (drama)
They could do this same story by replacing Uday Hussein and his Iraqi schoolgirls with Michael Jackson whisking away young boys to Neverland Ranch and it might be even more horrifying.  Or is it still too soon?

Strat's 20 of 2011

While 2011 had several very solid films, it did not see any truly remarkable, timeless films come to the silver screen. Sci-fi fare tended to dominate more than any year I can recall.  Independant material ruled and of 9 movies nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, only 2 made this list (Moneyball and Midnight in Paris). I also had the honor and privilege this year of seeing two friends' first features make the list that really deserved more attention than they received.

20. 5 Broken Cameras (documentary)
This remarkable story that follows a Palestinian man and his encounters with the Israeli army and settlers is unsettling for not only the courage in making this film but how much restraint is shown when not trying to victimize the village.

19. Melancholia (drama)

Yes, it's depressing. It's also very provocative (no surprise there from Von Trier) and well acted.

18. The Lincoln Lawyer (suspense drama)
I never thought I would add a film on this list that includes Matthew McConaughey, but that's what it looks like. A sharply written, glimpse into the world of free wheeling hucksterism.

17. Source Code (sci-fi/thriller)
A not-so futuristic look at the tie in between humans, computers and our relationships to one another through them.

16. Kumaré (documentary)
This film was overlooked by many when it made the festival circuit, but as lighthearted as the film seems, I imagine that some will find its message quite deep.

15. Crazy, Stupid, Love (romantic comedy)
I overlooked this movie for awhile, thinking Steve Carell was a one note guy. Well he is. But he hits the note with ease. With a great cast and few fun twists, this movie is quite enjoyable.

14. Take Shelter (drama/thriller)
It's been awhile since I've seen a movie relatively about nothing terrify me. This is definitely a psychological scary movie not to be missed.

13. Bernie (dark comedy)
This movie is the quientissential depiction of life behind east Texas' "Pine Curtain". While Jack Black's performance is okay, it's the use of interviews with people about the true story of Bernie that make this movie shine.

12. The Adjustment Bureau (sci-fi)

It's another cool concept film with a surprising emotional connection that I unexpectedly discovered. 

11. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (sci-fi)

Franco has a knack for picking interesting projects. This is the first time I have ever seen animal CGI that looked convincingly real. It sure didn't hurt that the movie was generally compelling and set up the world that we know in the Apes franchise so well.

10. Natural Selection (comedy/drama)
Hats off to Robbie Pickering in his feature directorial debut.  It's a well-crafted/acted film that reminds me of an early Coen brothers movie.

9. Drive (drama)

Not often that a small budget movie makes a car chase scene exciting again. Let alone really intrigues me for a whole film. Here's your warning - the violence is pretty graphic.

8. Post (drama)

Jim Parrack directs his former wife (Ciera) and best friend Scott Haze in a gripping emotional film about a wife coping with the loss of her husband off at war and the trials and tribulations of moving on.

7. The Intouchables (foreign drama)
The film is a lot funnier than I thought it would be and although rather predictable, does a great job of saying a lot through saying little. Excellent performances all around and some rather nice cinematography.

6. Midnight in Paris (comedy)

Just when you thought Woody Allen was washed up, he pops up with a gem. Not just any gem, but his best since Vicky/Christina Barcelona and one of his all time best.  Owen Wilson nails the Allen-esque role.

5. The Devil's Double (drama)

On the surface, you wouldn't expect a movie about the son Saddam Hussein's son's body double to be loaded with visual effects, but you'd be wrong. In fact, you wouldn't expect this movie to be much more than filler. Wrong again. Dead wrong.

4. Hot Coffee (documentary)

Before seeing this movie, I admit I was one of those who panned about the merits of frivolous lawsuits until I saw the other side of this story. The side that has been silenced most of the time since.

3. The Adventures of Tintin (animated adventure)

Quite possibly the most fun Spielberg movie I've seen since Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. It's not going to blow anyone away when it comes to animation, but following Zemeckis' lead, Spielberg crafts a wonderful motion capture movie and nails the comic. 

2. My Week With Marilyn (drama)

I fell in love with Michelle Williams' Ms Monroe as well with the other performances in this one.  I've never felt like I really understood this old Hollywood icon until this movie. Great cinematography by Ben Smithard.

1. 50/50 (drama/comedy)
I never thought you could do a comedy about cancer without it feeling melodramatic, but that's what director Jonathan Levine manages to do in what should have been an Oscar-nominated/best picture of the year film in my book. See for yourself.