Well, finals week is here, so I have finally put together my list of all the movies I’ve seen this year. This was a great year for me for movies, both in terms of the quality of movies and in the number I was able to watch. I think I set my own record for most movies watched in one year with 80. That doesn’t happen without a lot of good movies and a little extra time (thank you paternity leave!). Once again the list is split into four sections: Movies I didn’t like, Movies that are enjoyable if you’re in the right mood, Movies I liked, and Movies I loved. If you would prefer to think of them as 1, 2, 3 or 4 stars, be my guest, but remember that just because I didn’t like a movie doesn’t mean it wasn’t a well-made movie, it just means I didn’t enjoy watching it. Last year’s best picture, The Artist, is a perfect example of that. I decided to just rank the movies that came out in the last year or so, and the older films that I watched this year have a short summary at the end.
Movies I didn’t like
58. The Grey It takes a little something special to take the bottom spot on my yearly movie list, so allow me to go off on this movie for a minute. Interestingly enough, this movie got decent reviews, which leads me to believe that the film is one of those things that I hated somewhat irrationally, like the song Don’t Stop Believin’. Actually, no. That song, and this movie both are horrible. The premise of the movie is that a bunch of roughneck oil workers end up getting in a plane crash in the arctic. If it weren’t bad enough to get in a plane crash, they end up being stalked by a pack of wolves, including The Grey, a wolf that is approximately the size of a horse and a canine serial killer. Had the makers of this film decided to have the crash survivors attacked by a group of bloodthirsty aliens, it would’ve been significantly more realistic than this movie. But as someone who has worked with wolves, and spent a summer in northern Minnesota doing wolf education, it was maddening to see how they depicted wolves in this movie. Also, it stars Liam Neeson, who has become a parody of himself. The man was in Schindler’s List back in the day, but now he is reduced to punching wolves and revenge movies where he hunts down the people that have kidnapped yet another member of his family. Here he plays the leader of the group, a self proclaimed wolf hunting expert, who spouts “facts” about wolves that are so ridiculous that it made me actually start rooting for the wolves to kill everyone. There were more casualties from wolf attacks in this movie than there have been in the entire recorded history of North America, by a significant margin. Some of my favorite Liam Neeson wolf facts (none of which are, you know…actually, true):
“Wolves are the only animal that will seek revenge.”
“They paid me to kill these things, to keep them from killing you. So it makes sense for me to know they’re man eaters.”
“Is that the big one? No, this was the omega, not the alpha. They will send in the weak one to test us.”
“Wolves have a territorial range of over three hundred miles and a killer range of thirty. If we're close to their den, and if we're within that radius, then they'll come after us."
I actually laughed out loud at that last one. It’s portrayals like this that help keep people scared about wolves coming back to Oregon, worried that they are going to kill all their livestock, and maybe eat their children, when the reality is they never attack people and it was actually humans that nearly drove wolves to extinction in the United States. Worst movie of the year.
“They paid me to kill these things, to keep them from killing you. So it makes sense for me to know they’re man eaters.”
“Is that the big one? No, this was the omega, not the alpha. They will send in the weak one to test us.”
“Wolves have a territorial range of over three hundred miles and a killer range of thirty. If we're close to their den, and if we're within that radius, then they'll come after us."
I actually laughed out loud at that last one. It’s portrayals like this that help keep people scared about wolves coming back to Oregon, worried that they are going to kill all their livestock, and maybe eat their children, when the reality is they never attack people and it was actually humans that nearly drove wolves to extinction in the United States. Worst movie of the year.
57. The Cabin in the Woods – I know some of you liked this movie. It’s supposed to be both a horror movie and a satire of horror movies and their archetypes. It was a little funny at times (not in a Scary Movie kind of way, just a satirical way). But the thing is, it was still a horror movie, and I hate horror movies. If you like horror movies you’ll probably enjoy this, but it wasn’t my cup of tea.
56. Savages – What a stupid, stupid movie. A really hot woman is involved with two guys that grow really good marijuana. Then she is kidnapped as Mexican cartels get involved, and the two guys work together to get her back. Lots of violence ensues. I can’t remember all of the details because I think I watched the second half of the movie in fast forward. Didn’t Oliver Stone used to make good movies?
55. Identity Thief – To be fair, I was in a bad mood when I went to see this movie. We couldn’t get into the movie that we wanted to see, so we ended up going to this. I saw the trailer for the movie several times, and really felt like I knew everything that was going to happen, and had seen most of the funny parts. Jason Bateman gets his identity stolen by Melissa McCarthy, so he sets out to clear his name and bring her to justice. I love the actors, but they were just not very funny. I’m normally the kind of person that actually thinks seeing someone get punched in the throat is pretty funny, but by the 4th or 5th time, it’s not even funny for me.
54. The Dictator Sascha Baron Cohen plays the leader of the fictional country Wadiyha, who ends up losing his power and working in a health food store in New York. There are actually some pretty funny parts, but Cohen’s humor, which to me once seemed both outrageous and original now just seems cruel and sophomoric. It’s not nearly as bad as Bruno, but compared to Borat, which I thought was hilarious, this is just boring.
53. Snow White and the Huntsman Kristen Stewart plays Snow White, and Chris Helmsworth plays the Huntsman. I’m not sure what’s behind it, but it seems like there is a new, modernized fairy tale movie coming out every couple months that is “darker” and geared toward an adult audience. Jack the Giant Slayer and Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters come to mind from this year alone. I’m not sure anyone has successfully pulled it off yet. This is one of those movies where I kept watching the whole thing, and at times found myself thinking “It’s not that bad!” but then something totally predictable or ridiculous would happen and I’d think “Yes, it is that bad. Why am I still watching?” I made it to the end, but it didn’t get any better. I think I’ll skip the other fairy tale remakes too.
52. Ted Mark Wahlberg has a teddy bear that comes to life when he is a kid, but now that he’s an adult the bear is still around, interfering with his life. I heard great things about this movie. In fact, I remember hearing at least one person say it was the funniest movie they had seen in years. I wish I could remember who that person was so I could never trust anything they said about movies ever again. Even the stuff about Flash Gordon, which should have been funny, just wasn’t. I don’t get why so many people thought this was good, but I guess I don’t understand why so many people think Family Guy (also Seth McFarland) is funny either.
51. The Campaign I am a sucker for both Will Ferrell and Zach Galifanakis. I will watch almost anything they are in, even if it gets bad reviews (except Hangover 3 – after watching Hangover 2 last year, there is no way I will ever see that movie). So when this got bad reviews, I ignored them (well, at least I didn’t see it in the theater), and told myself that I’ll enjoy the sophomoric humor and jokes that I can probably see coming a mile away. Only I didn’t enjoy it. It just seemed kind of lazy, and it was yet another example of the trailer showing most of the funny parts and plot for the movie. If you want to watch something with Zach G. that’s actually funny, watch an episode of Between Two Ferns on FunnyorDie.com.
50. John Carter Let’s be clear – this isn’t a very good movie. It’s all special effects, very little character development, actors that aren’t good, even for an action movie, and a plot that is a head scratcher. But it isn’t quite as bad as you might have heard. I guess when a movie loses somewhere around $150 million and causes the head of the movie studio to resign, it could be considered a flop. But there are some cool scenes, the special effects are good, and because I had such low expectations, I actually enjoyed parts of it. So while it may have lost more money than any other movie ever has in the theater, it wasn’t the worst movie of the year. And if that isn’t damning by faint praise, I don’t know what is.
49. The Master A lot of movie critics had this movie in their top 10 of the year, so you may be surprised to find it in my bottom 10. But that’s because good acting aside, I tend to prefer movies where I have some idea what is going on, or when I finish them, am not left asking the question “What the hell was that movie about?” The premise of the movie is that Phillip Seymour Hoffman is the leader of a Scientology-like cult, and Joaquin Phoenix plays a WWII veteran that is one of Hoffman’s protégés. Hoffman is terrific, and Phoenix is truly amazing. He is mesmerizing to watch, and even though I have this movie ranked very low on the list, in a lot of ways this is worth seeing just to watch the two of them act. I had forgotten what a good actor Phoenix is. He can play such a variety of characters, and here it feels like you are watching a caged animal – there is this ferocity that is always just waiting to come out. But as far as the movie itself, there’s no real narrative or plot so to speak, and I’m just not a huge fan of that type of movie. I spent most of the movie thinking that at some point it would all come together, or make sense in some way. Nope. It doesn’t.
48. The Hobbit Even though there were worse movies this year, this was my most disappointing movie. The Lord of the Rings trilogy is in my top 10 movies of all-time, so to say I was excited for this to come out was an understatement. I began to be a bit worried when I heard they had turned the book into 3 movies, especially considering the last movie in the trilogy was about an hour too long. It turns out those fears were well-founded. I almost fell asleep several times, and I kept wishing that the movie would just hurry up and end. The only interesting scene in the whole movie was the scene with Gollum, and even that went on too long. The movie looks just as great as the original trilogy, and I wanted so much to like it, but it just has none of the magic that made the others so great. At least there was no Jar Jar Binks.
Enjoyable if you’re in the right mood
47. In Time In the future, everyone gets 23 years to live. The amount of time you have left to live is displayed on your arm. Time is also currency. So the rich live longer, the poor are doomed to live their lives hour to hour. It sounds kind of silly, and in this movie it was, but there were times when I watched it and felt like with the right director and the right cast this actually could have been a good movie. Had it starred Arnold Swarzenegger instead of Justin Timberlake and had a few more cheesy one-liners instead of taking itself too seriously, it might have been 20 spots higher on the list.
46. John Dies at the End This movie is all over the place. Stoner college buddies, time travel, different dimensions, aliens, Paul Giamatti, a mysterious alien drug called “soy sauce”, and the fact that the title tells you that one of the main characters dies at the end. I found this movie mildly amusing, and it was unique, I’ll give it that. I’m pretty sure that if you were high while watching this movie, it would be amazing.
45. Celeste and Jesse Forever I thought this movie was going to be pretty good. It stars Rashida Jones (from Parks and Rec) and Andy Samberg (from SNL), both of whom I like. They play a couple that are divorcing, but still hang out together all the time and are still best friends. Eventually they find other people but still like each other. It’s not bad, but I thought it would be significantly funnier and cuter than it was.
44. The Artist I still can’t understand how this movie won Best Picture last year. If you don’t know anything about it, it is a black and white silent film. The story is somewhat charming, and for the most part I enjoyed it. It certainly was different than all of the other movies on this list. But it was also boring and slow for long stretches, and I ended up watching most of the second half on 2X speed on my DVD player (but I still didn’t miss any dialogue!) In my book the movie that wins best picture shouldn’t be boring. Then again, the other Best Picture nominees weren’t exactly a spectacular bunch. At least they didn’t give it to War Horse.
43. Total Recall – Everything about this movie looks great. The cities look great, the effects are very cool. The actors look great. But there is just nothing special about it. It’s been some time since I’ve seen the original, but what I remember is that it was fun. That was what made Arnold the king back in the 80’s. He certainly couldn’t act, but he was fun. He was a real-life comic book superhero, complete with the ridiculous physique and the cheesy one-liners. This movie takes all the fun out of the original and replaces it with special effects and sterile performances. Not unpleasant, but kind of pointless.
42. Bernie Well, this is a different type of movie. It’s a little on the slow side, which is why I don’t have it ranked higher, but it’s an interesting idea. Jack Black plays Bernie, a funeral home employee who befriends a wealthy widow (Shirley McLean) after her husband passes away. She’s an incredibly mean person, and he’s pretty much the only person on Earth that can put up with her. For a while, at least. What’s unusual about the movie is that it’s a true story, and it’s filmed in a documentary style. Only all the people they interview about Bernie are the real townspeople, talking about the real Bernie.
41. Lawless A pretty straightforward prohibition-era gangster movie, with the new sheriff not afraid to go beyond the law to get rid of the brothers running a moonshine racket in his town. It’s told from the brother’s perspective, and is also based on a true story. No real surprises with this kind of movie, but the cast is pretty terrific, with Tom Hardy as one of the brothers, Guy Pearce as the sheriff, and Jessica Chastain as the love interest. It also stars Shia Lebouf, who doesn’t exactly make a convincing moonshiner.
40. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (the American version) I may be one of the only people out there that hadn’t read these books and knew nothing about the plot when I rented this movie. Wow. Where to start. I’d imagine this is a movie a lot of people hated. It has a couple of the most disturbing, hard to watch scenes that I’ve seen in any movie for a long time. There were images from this movie that were hard to shake. For that reason alone I could never recommend this movie. But it is a well crafted story. I thought the acting was very good, and it was a very engrossing mystery story. Are the books that graphic too? If so, why is it such a popular series? As good as the movie was, I don’t think I’d want to see the other ones if they are like this.
39. Safe House Ryan Reynolds (blah) plays a CIA agent that is bored with his job looking after a fugitive safe house where nothing ever happens. That is until Tobin Frost shows up. Tobin Frost is a ridiculous name, and the fact that is the name of the main character tells you quite a bit about the movie. The other thing that is worth knowing is that Tobin Frost is played by Denzel Washington, who does his typical Denzel things in the movie, making it watchable. I was about to write that anything he’s in is made watchable because he’s in it, but I just looked up his recent filmography, and that’s not really an accurate statement anymore. More on Denzel later in this list.
Movies I liked
38. 50/50 Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a public radio writer who has just been diagnosed with cancer, and Seth Rogen plays his friend who is supposedly helping him deal with it. The movie is based on the life of the screenwriter Will Reiser, who is friends with Seth Rogen in real life and really did have cancer. Gordon-Levitt’s girlfriend and buddy (Rogen), vow to be with him through the whole treatment, but end up being incredibly selfish, essentially leaving him to deal with the chemo on his own. I guess what I liked about it is that while it was depressing, it felt much more real than the movie I thought I was going to see from the previews. Surprisingly good.
37. Rampart Remember when Woody Harrelson was just Woody from Cheers? The guy who took over the lovable buffoon role after Coach passed away? Who would’ve thought that guy would go on to have the movie career that he’s had? I still have a hard time thinking of him as a serious actor, but when you look at the movies he’s made, he’s done some really good work, including a lot of dark roles that I never would’ve imagined when he was Woody Boyd on Cheers. Probably my favorite movies of his are Zombieland (a comedy) and The Messenger (about the furthest thing possible from a comedy). In this one he’s in serious mode, playing a bad cop whose personal life is falling apart at the same time he’s under an internal investigation for an incident that was captured on video. It’s tough to watch at times, but Harrelson is terrific, and his downward spiral is hard to look away from.
36. Beasts of the Southern Wild I will admit, I couldn’t really figure this movie out. It got rave reviews, and was even nominated for Best Picture, despite being made by an unknown director. I repeatedly heard it described as “magical” and “enchanting”. The acting is great, sure, and the characters have a grittiness that you don’t see in many movies. But the whole thing was just kind of non-sensical to me. It set in a southern bayou community that is about to be overrun by floods (either from melting icecaps or a huge storm – like many other things in the movie I was unclear about this point). The main character is a little girl that is fantastic – she was nominated for Best Actress, deservedly so. Probably the biggest reason I didn’t like the movie is that the girl’s father is a terrible parent and she lives in this terrible, neglectful situation, and that is an issue that is so close to me that I can’t see past it. I think there is supposed to be a greater point about love and community and family that shines through despite the poverty and hard times, but I couldn’t get past the fact that this girl has to live in such difficult circumstances and to me that is hard to see as magical or enchanting, even if she does have a lively imagination.
35. Promised Land Matt Damon and Frances McDormand play sales reps for a big oil company, trying to convince residents of a small town to sign over property rights so their company can drill for natural gas using the controversial ‘fracking’ technique. They are surprised to find resistance in the form of an environmental activist (John Krasinsky) and a retired science teacher (Hal Holbrook). It’s a well done drama about a current political and environmental issue, and for the most part the film manages to discuss the issue without getting too preachy. Holbrook is the best part of the movie as the science teacher (no, I am not biased about that).
34. The Ides of March I went into this film with virtually no expectations. I’m not a huge fan of political movies, but this one stars George Clooney and Ryan Gosling, and got decent reviews, so I thought I’d check it out. It ended up being a very pleasant surprise. I don’t remember hearing much about this when it came out in the theater, which surprises me because Clooney and Gosling are kind of a big deal, and the movie is actually good.
33. The Troll Hunter I doubt I’m going to convince many people to see this one. It’s a Norwegian movie with English subtitles. It’s about trolls. I’ve probably lost most of you already. But it was actually a very fun movie. It’s one of those “found footage” movies, which I’m not a huge fan of in general, but in this case it worked pretty well. A group of college students start out making a makeshift movie about a series of “bear” attacks that seem suspicious. What they find is something much more interesting than bears.
32. The Amazing Spider Man It was less than ten years ago that they made the Tobey McGuire Spider Man movie, and only a couple years since the sequels to that one. So I’m not quite sure what the point of making a new one was, other than to make a lot of money. I guess that’s always the point with this type of movie. This movie is not really any better or any worse than the other one. The kid that plays the new Spider Man is fine, just like Toby McGuire was fine. The bad guy (the lizard!) is pretty cool, just like the Green Goblin and Doc Oc were pretty cool. Emma Stone plays the love interest, which is an upgrade in my book, but overall it felt like the same movie. There should be a rule that it has to be at least 20 years before you can remake a movie or franchise (so Man of Steel, coming out this summer, would be ok because the original came out in 1978, and Superman Returns from 2006 never really existed), or you have to have a totally different take on the hero (see the recent Batman trilogy, which is far, far superior to the older ones). This one fails on both counts. I watched it with my oldest son, who hadn’t seen the other ones, and he thought it was good, but not great, so I guess even on its own it is only decent.
31. Another Earth There are two storylines that run throughout this movie. In one, a promising high school student causes a car accident that kills a family. When she gets out of jail she finds herself wanting to help the husband who barely survived the wreck. The other story has more of a sci-fi bent to it, as a strange “mirror” planet called Earth 2 has appeared in the sky, and is drawing closer to Earth. Not everything about the movie works, but as a whole it is worth watching. Added bonus: The guy who plays the husband is Ethan from Lost, only he’s not as creepy here.
30. The Impossible Best Picture Nominee. Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts play a couple on vacation in Thailand when a tsunami hits, separating them from each other and their children. The tsunami scenes are pretty amazing to watch, and there are some touching and heartbreaking scenes too. I enjoyed it, but it didn’t stand out to me as something that was so good it should’ve been considered for Best Picture.
29. Man on a Ledge Sam Worthington plays a former police officer who has been accused of stealing a valuable diamond, and is on the run from the law. He shows up on the ledge of a downtown building threatening to jump, and demanding to talk to a police negotiator. As the story unfolds we realize there is more to what is happening than meets the eye. Not perfect, but a lot of fun, and very watchable.
28. Brave A Pixar film, which is always a good sign. I went to see it with my son, and he really enjoyed it. I’m glad I didn’t bring either of my daughters because they would’ve been terrified. Although it would’ve continued the tradition of my kids being terrified by Pixar films. Caleb’s first movie in the theater was Finding Nemo, and during the shark scenes he was out in the lobby, near tears. A couple of years ago all of them were clinging to me and freaked out during the incinerator scene in Toy Story 3. During Brave, Blake was old enough to not be terrified, but afterwards he told me he was pretty nervous during the bear scenes. Good movie, maybe not quite at the level of the Toy Story series or Finding Nemo, but still good.
27.5 This is 40 (forgot to put it on the original list) I saw this movie with Mark and Andrew. Three forty-year-olds watching a movie about turning 40. Awesome. Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd (always fun) play a married couple turning 40 and at a bit of a crossroads in their life and marriage. There are lots of funny parts that hit the mark, but it was a little too long, and the main thing that kept me from liking the movie as much as I thought I would is that more than half of the movie is watching the couple argue with each other. In a lot of ways it was what I hope my marriage doesn’t become, so it was uncomfortable to watch at times. There is something to be said for a movie that doesn’t try to portray a marriage in a glossed-over Hollywood way, and also doesn’t try to make either person the “bad guy” or have the relationship lead to an affair, so for those reasons I liked the movie, just not enough to rank it higher.
27. The Watch This movie was pretty amusing. Not quite as funny as I thought it would be after seeing the previews, but still good. Ben Stiller is an uptight Costco worker that starts a neighborhood watch after a co-worker is mysteriously killed. The only people that join him are Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, and Richard Ayoade, all of whom seem more interested in hanging out and having fun than doing any real watching. It turns out that aliens are responsible for the killing, and the four of them have to do their part to stop the invasion. Not everything about it is funny, but Vaughn and Ayoade are amusing, and overall it was entertaining.
26. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World Another underrated pleasant surprise. I didn’t expect much from a movie that had Steve Carrell and Kiera Knightly cast as potential love interests. Isn’t he like 20 years older than her? Yuck. Well, it turns out that’s kind of the point. Steve Carrell has a certain charm that he brings to every character he plays, even someone that is as annoying as Michael Scott on The Office. Carrell plays a recently divorced, depressed man who sets out to find an old high school flame after learning that the Earth is going to end in a couple of days. Knightly ends up joining him for the road trip. This was so much better than I thought it would be. I genuinely enjoyed it from start to finish.
25. Rust and Bone This movie was made by French director Jacques Audiard, the same person that directed A Prophet, one of my favorite movies of 2011. This isn’t quite as powerful, but is still really good. I didn’t love how the movie ended, but the characters in this movie (Mathias Schoennaerts and Marion Cotillard) are fascinating people, and I just enjoyed watching them interact. Both play wounded people (she works at French Seaworld - who knew there was such a thing? and loses her legs in an accident), and he is a bit of a loser, working as a security guard, making money on the side in street fights, and doing a poor job of taking care of a son that was left with him by the mother. The two help each other heal, although their relationship is not what you would call normal.
24. End of Watch The previews for this movie make it seem like the whole thrust of the movie is that two young cops (Jake Gyllenhall and Michael Pena) stumble into a crime ring run by a drug cartel and get in over their heads. Really, it is a movie all about the relationship between the two cops. Gyllenhall and Pena have great chemistry, and the movie follows their day to day life and thier friendship over the course of a year. It’s another found footage/documentary style movie, and to be honest, I’m not sure why movies use this perspective so often. I don’t really see what it adds to the film. That aside, this is a gritty, interesting, (and supposedly pretty realistic) look at life as a cop.
23. The Big Year A little background for non-birders here: A Big Year is when a person sets out to see as many birds as they can during a calendar year. Owen Wilson plays Kenny Bostick, the world-record holder with 732 birds in one year. Jack Black and Steve Martin play rival birders who set out to break Bostick’s record. This ended up being a charming movie that I liked way more than I thought I would. It’s a true story based on the book of the same name, and one of the things I liked the best about it is that it’s the opposite of The Gray – all of the bird stuff in the movie is actually accurate. The birds they show and play the calls of are actually the right birds, and while that may seem like a small detail, it’s not. In a sports movie when the actors in the movie stink at the sport they are supposed to be a star at, it loses a lot of credibility. The same goes for things in the natural world, which are so often depicted incorrectly. So kudos to the film-makers for getting the little things right, and for putting it together in a pleasant story.
22. Chronicle Yet another found footage-style movie, but this one was my favorite of the year. For all the superhero movies out there, most of them have a very familiar feel because we know the heroes and bad guys from comic books and TV shows. I can’t think of any movies that have successfully created a new superhero (although the movie Kick-Ass sort of does in an amusing way), but movies like this one and the underrated Unbreakable make me think it could be done. As long as they don’t make the hero wear some silly costume and have a cheesy name, it might actually be pretty cool. In this movie a group of teenage boys makes a discovery that gives them strange powers. At first they don’t have much control and don’t really know what to do with their abilities, and the film follows them as they learn just what they are capable of. The powers bring them together, but conflict also arises as they begin to argue about how they should use these powers. An original take on a superhero story.
21. Prometheus I really thought this was going to be a top 10 movie for me this year. Alien and Aliens are among my top 50 favorite films of all time, and this is sort of a prequel to those movies. It’s one of the best, if not the best looking movies of the year. The ships, the planet, the aliens, everything about it looks amazing. And the plot is actually pretty substantial, diving into the subject of the origin of life in the universe. So why did I only like it instead of love it? The characters. For all the great action scenes, cool special effects, and terrifying scares of the first two Alien movies, they wouldn’t have been nearly as satisfying without good characters. Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley is one of the all-time great action movie characters, and the supporting casts work well too. In this one the character development is awful. Not only did I not care about the human characters, I actually disliked all of them. I say human characters because the one good character in the movie is the android, played by Michael Fassbender. The movie is worth watching, but I left feeling a little disappointed that it wasn’t even better.
20. Silver Linings Playbook This one also goes down as a case of high expectations dooming me to be disappointed. If I’d watched it on DVD and hadn’t know much about it, I’m sure I would’ve thought it was enjoyable. As it is, I went to see it in the theater because it was nominated for Best Picture, everyone in it got nominated for acting awards, and it got rave reviews. I’ll agree with the good acting part for Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, (not for DeNiro, more on that in a second) but I didn’t think there was anything special about the movie. I can’t remember who said it, but I thought one critic put it perfectly when they said “How is this different from every Drew Barrymore movie?” My other gripe about the movie was that Robert DeNiro was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role. Talk about getting a nomination on reputation alone. The dude is seriously washed up. I thought some of his scenes in this movie were cringeworthy. They were the worst thing about the movie, and it felt like you could actually see him trying to “act” his scenes. The emotion just seemed so phony. I know he has a great reputation, but was he done in the last 20 years, other than Meet the Parents sequels and cartoon voice-overs? I think the last really good movie he made was Heat, in 1995.
19. 21 Jump Street This goes down as the funniest movie of the year. I was never a fan of the TV show by the same name, and I’m not a huge Jonah Hill or Channing Tatum fan (or at least I wasn’t until I watched this). Hill and Tatum play incompetent cops sent undercover to a high school to help break up a drug ring. The movie is laugh out loud funny at times, and it is consistently funny throughout. I expected this to be more along the lines of Identity Thief – predictable, boring at times, and a few funny lines that weren’t that funny because I’d already seen them a dozen times in the commercials for the movie. Instead it was something much, much better. The supporting cast is great, and although I never thought I’d say it, Hill and Tatum are terrific together.
18. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter I realize that I will probably lose any remaining shred of credibility I have when I say that I enjoyed this movie but haven’t seen Lincoln yet. Oh well. This got poor reviews, and was dismissed by any serious moviegoers because of the title. I guess those people just don’t like awesomeness. The director, Timur Behkmambetov, has a unique visual style. He directed a couple of Russian vampire movies (Night Watch and Day Watch) that I plug every year, trying to get someone else to see them and realize how awesome they are. This movie doesn’t take itself too seriously, and has some great action scenes. I’d rather watch this than a rehash like Total Recall any day. Who wouldn’t want Abraham Lincoln slaying vampires with an Axe? Most people, I guess. But I still got a kick out of it. And I have Lincoln on DVD right now, just haven’t watched it in time for this year’s list.
17. Flight Safe House. Unstoppable (that’s the one with the train). The Book of Eli. The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (that’s the other one with the train). Those are the movies Denzel Washington made before appearing in Flight. That’s a pretty mediocre list. I don’t think I can still safely say that anything he’s in is worth watching, but I can say that when he’s at his best, which he is in this movie, he makes anything good. Denzel plays Whip Whitaker, a pilot that makes an amazing maneuver to save a plane that has lost its power and is going to crash. He’s hailed as a hero, until we come to find out that he was drunk and on cocaine when he was driving the plane. After that, not so much. Angry Denzel is pretty entertaining (Training Day, Glory, Man on Fire, etc), and this is Angry Denzel at his best. Plus John Goodman has a terrific role as well. The film has some flaws, but it’s worth a rental just to watch Washington.
16. Iron Man 3 There are some actors that just seem meant to play a certain character. Sean Connery was meant to play James Bond. Harrison Ford was perfect as Han Solo. And Robert Downey Jr. was meant to play Iron Man. These movies will never be Academy Award material, but they are great summer movies. Iron Man 2 wasn’t quite as good, and this doesn’t match the first, but if you like superhero/action movies, you will like Iron Man 3. All of the Iron Man movies have great action but they tend to have smarter stories than the likes of Spider Man and other superhero films. I consider this to actually be the 4th Iron Man movie, because Downey Jr. steals the show in last summer’s The Avengers as well.
15. Bully Everyone that has kids or teaches kids should see this movie. It’s a powerful and sad, but also hopeful documentary following the lives of three kids that have been bullied at school. My heart ached for the kids in this movie, hearing them talk about how they are bullied, and even seeing what kids at school were doing to them. The bullying of one kid on the bus gets so bad that the makers of the movie realize they need to intervene before they are done filming and show the footage to the school and to the parents before something awful happens. Another girl ends up moving to a new city and a new school because she can’t take what people are doing to her. The movie leaves you angry, both at the bullies, and the incompetent adults that don’t do enough to protect the kids. The film has a powerful message that bullying is not just something that has always happened so kids should deal with it, or that it’s just kids being kids. It is something that can have tragic consequences, and schools and adults need to do all they can to create an environment where it doesn’t happen and is dealt with seriously when it does. I watched it with my 12 year old and he thought it was powerful too.
14. The Interrupters This came out in theaters a little over a year ago, and it’s been impossible to find on DVD. Then I found out that it had also been shown on Frontline, and I could just stream it on the PBS website. I’m so glad I did. This is made by the same people that made Hoop Dreams, maybe my favorite documentary ever. The movie is filmed in Chicago, with the backdrop of some of the worst gang violence the city has ever seen. We hear from victims of gang violence, we hear from people that have committed gang violence, and we hear the statistics that explain the scope of the violence. All that stuff is pretty standard documentary fare. What makes this movie so good is that it follows a group of people that are putting their lives on the line to be part of the solution. CeaseFire is an incredible organization that has the belief that the spread of violence is an epidemic in our country, and the only way to stop it is to “interrupt” the cycle of violence where it is at its worst. Any documentary is only as good as the characters it follows, and there are some good ones here. All three of the main characters are former gang members, but are now working for CeaseFire as violence interrupters, going into the middle of potentially violent altercations, and working as mentors to people that have committed violence in the past and are likely to do so in the future. All of the interrupters had different styles, but I was in awe of how good all of them were. One character in particular, Ameena Matthews, is a force of nature. Her father was one of the most notorious gang leaders in Chicago, and she was a former gang enforcer herself, but now her Muslim faith has given her a new direction in life, and to watch her wade into the middle of altercations and be able to talk people down is something to behold.
13. Skyfall Daniel Craig is a terrific James Bond. Javier Bardem is a terrific bad guy. Put them together, and you’ve got an entertaining movie. At times this was a little slow, but there are enough cool scenes to make it fun, and the last act, at Skyfall, is a classic James Bond scene. You should have a pretty good idea what you’re getting if you watch a Bond movie, and this doesn’t disappoint.
12. Searching for Sugar Man Academy Award winner for Best Documentary. In the 1970’s, a folk singer from Detroit named Sixto Rodriguez seemed destined for stardom. He made good music, wrote compelling protest music, and was well thought of by many people in the industry. Only he never really made it big – his albums didn’t sell, and his career never really got started. In South Africa, an album called Cold Fact by a mysterious artist known as Rodriguez was one of the most popular albums in the country. His songs like Sugar Man and Inner City Blues became anthems for whites in the anti-apartheid movement. No one knew much about Rodriguez, other than the fact that he had died (supposedly on stage) before he could make more music. So a couple of South African fans get together to try to find out more about Rodriguez, and what really happened to him. What they find, and what happens in the second half of the movie is better than any story you could make up.
Movies I Loved (The top 11)
11. Jeff, Who Lives at Home In some ways, this was my favorite movie of the year. I’m certain very few other people will like it as much as I did, and part of why I like it is so subtle that if I had seen it in the theater I wouldn’t have even noticed it. Jeff is played by Jason Segal, a pot-smoking loser that lives in his mother’s house. His brother, a more successful loser, is played by Ed Helms (Andy from The Office). Jeff is a huge fan of the movie Signs, which actually is a crucial part of the movie. If you have seen, and like the movie Signs, which I do, you might get why this movie is so great. Jeff believes, like in the movie Signs, that everything happens for a reason. Then he gets a wrong-number phone call from someone asking for Kevin. The phone call sets off a chain of events that gets more absurd as the day goes on. Most of the movie is ok, but at the end of the movie there is a cameo that is probably the greatest movie cameo I can remember (besides maybe Zombie Bill Murray in Zombieland). What’s so great about it is that it is so brief that it I doubt most people even realized who the actor was. The end of the movie in general made me go from thinking it was a decent movie to one that I really, really enjoyed. I’d love to hear what other people thought about this, and if I’m the only one that thought it was so good.
10. Argo This won Best Picture, so it shouldn’t be any surprise that it is good, but I thought it looked kind of boring in the previews. Boy was I wrong. This wasn’t my absolute favorite movie of the year, but I have no complaints with it winning Best Picture. There’s nothing particularly original about it, but it’s a good story, it’s entertaining, it’s smart, it’s funny at times, and even though we know something about how it ends, it never feels boring. Ben Affleck has turned out to be a much better director than actor, with Gone Baby Gone, The Town, and now Argo to his credit.
9. The Life of Pi I take back what I said about Prometheus. This is the best-looking movie of the year. I read the book several years ago and enjoyed it, but it was long enough ago that I forgot most of what happened. The plot is straightforward: An Indian boy and his family are moving, along with the zoo that they own, to North America. A huge storm sinks the ship, and our hero, Pi, ends up on a lifeboat, stranded in the middle of the ocean. Oh, and there’s also a tiger on the lifeboat. I saw it in 3D, and it was well worth the extra $3. This is just a beautiful movie, from the cinematography to the pacing to the story of survival between the boy and the tiger.
8. Safety Not Guaranteed “Wanted: Somebody to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. You’ll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. I have only done this once before. Safety not guaranteed.” When this ad is placed in a Seattle area newspaper, one of the writers and three interns at Seattle Magazine set out to find the writer of the ad and do a story on him. Mark Duplass plays the potential time traveler, and Aubrey Plaza plays one of the interns that tries to get close enough to figure out what is really going on. There are so many things I loved about this movie, but the great characters are probably at the top of the list. See this movie.
7. Moonrise Kingdom I get why not everyone loves Wes Anderson movies. I don’t really care. Every movie he makes (with the exception of the Darjeeling Limited) ends up in my top 10 for the year. His style is unique and quirky and I love it. In this one a couple of kids on a small New England coastal town fall in love and run away. A group of adults, including Bruce Willis (the cop), Bill Murray (the dad), Frances McDormand (the mom), Tilda Swinton (the mean social worker), and Ed Norton (the boy’s scoutmaster), as well as the scout troop, head off to search for the kids in the face of an approaching storm. Great cast, good story, and the best word I can think of to describe this movie is delightful.
6. Star Trek: Into Darkness I’m a huge sci-fi fan, but I’ve never really connected with the Star Trek series. I didn’t dislike the older movies, but I didn’t think they were that great either. These last two have changed that. This is just a fantastic action movie. The casting for this series has been spot on. Every character seems just right for their role; close enough to the old character to seem familiar, but different enough to seem fresh. Benedict Cumberbatch in particular makes a great bad guy. I have an aversion to stupid summer movies like the Transformer series or The Fast and the Furious, but this kind of action is what summer movies should be all about. Just because it has good special effects and looks great doesn’t mean it has to be stupid.
5. Django Unchained It might’ve been nominated for Best Picture, but there’s no way a movie like this would ever win. It’s waaaaaay too violent for one, and the film is unsettling in a lot of ways. To enjoy this even a little bit you pretty much have to be totally calloused to movie violence, because this one is over the top. But Christopher Waltz and Jamie Foxx alone make this a top 10 movie. In terms of genre, I guess you’d say it’s closest to a western, and the themes in the movie will certainly seem familiar to anyone that has watched a Tarantino movie. In Christopher Waltz Tarantino seems to have found someone that is perfectly suited to deliver his style of dialogue. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if he finds a way to write Waltz into pretty much every movie he makes from here on out – they are that perfect together. My favorite scene: A Ku Klux Klan gathering begins to unravel as the eye holes in the hoods that they have over their heads aren’t big enough to see out of clearly, and the group begins to argue over whether or not they should wear the hoods. The dialogue and the absurdity of the situation are classic Tarantino.
4. Undefeated This movie will go down as one of my favorite documentaries and favorite sports movies of all time. In a year where I saw a lot of good documentaries, this one was my favorite for a number of reasons. It’s a scenario we’ve all seen before dozens of times in pretty much every sports movie ever made: a down-on-their luck sports team comes together, and with the help of an inspirational or offbeat coach, they end up being victorious. It’s a lot more interesting when you see it happen in real life. The team in the movie is a Memphis-area public high school that has been terrible in the past and is filled with rough-around-the-edges kids. The coach is a volunteer, an amazing man that spends almost all of his free-time coaching, counseling, giving kids rides, keeping tabs on how kids are doing, and acting as a mentor to many of the boys. The movie focuses on three players, a huge, talented lineman being recruited by major colleges, a short overachiever who dreams of being the first person in his family to go to college, and talented but undisciplined linebacker that is incredibly immature and causes huge problems within the team. The football part is fun to watch, but what makes it great is the way playing a team sport impacts the lives of these young men. Watching the movie makes you appreciate how important high school sports is in the lives of young men, and how much difference a good coach can make, not just in terms of wins and losses, but also on their lives. There’s a scene in this movie that made me get choked up, which never happens in movies, and was probably my favorite scene in any movie the whole year.
3. The Perks of Being a Wallflower One of my favorite movies about high school students ever made. I haven’t read this book, (I want to now), but I’ve heard that the film gets everything right from the story. It’s a story about a kid trying to fit in at a new school, it’s about friendship and relationships, it’s about so-called misfits finding their way in high school, and it’s about dealing with loss and depression and a lot of other things that kids and adults struggle to handle. It’s a story with great characters, great acting, and great music. This is no John Hughes teen movie – don’t get me wrong, John Hughes movies were great, but they were all pretty silly. I can’t think of any other ‘serious’ movies about high school that were able to be this good and try to play it straight without veering into melodrama.
2.5 The Dark Knight Rises (forgot to put this one on the original list!) The Dark Knight trilogy goes down as my favorite superhero series/movie ever. This may be the best of the three. I thought it would be tough to top The Dark Knight, which was smart, had great chase scenes, and in Heath Ledger’s Joker, one of the greatest movie villains ever. But I thought this film was great – not just superhero movie great. Bane might not be quite as nuanced of a badguy as The Joker, but he is pretty damn scary, and a lot more complex than say, a Spiderman villain. I’ve heard it said that a superhero movie is only as good as its bad guys, and in that sense, the Batman movies soar. The Dark Knight movies also succeed because they check off all of the necessary superhero boxes – great gadgets, great actions scenes, great chases, etc, but Christopher Nolan is the rare action director that makes thoughtful movies with significant depth. His movies deal with the nature of good and evil, and what lengths we’ll go to fight evil. You know that action movie that quotes from A Tale of Two Cities is not just your standard superhero fare.
2. Looper In the future that Looper is set in, organized crime is still rampant, but it is almost impossible to kill someone and get away with it. Mob leaders use time travel to send back people they want to put a hit on, where they are promptly knocked off by a present day “looper”, a criminal with a gun and a short-term outlook on life. Eventually, when their usefulness has run out the loopers themselves will be sent back and they’ll kill their future self, closing the loop. Joseph Gordon-Leavitt plays the younger Bruce Willis, and is amazing. His mannerisms, facial expressions, and speech are an incredible impersonation of the real thing. The Bruce Willis part of the story is great, but what surprised me about the film was that there is a second act that has a new set of characters and the story goes in a totally different direction than what I was expecting. A sci-fi classic.
1. Zero Dark Thirty All anyone wants to talk about with this movie is the torture scenes, and that’s a shame because it misses the fact that this is a remarkable movie. I expected it to be more of an “action”, navy seals movie, but really it’s a detective story, led by Jessica Chastain as a badass CIA agent named Maya that has made it her mission in life to find Osama Bin Laden. Everyone knows how the story ends, but it was still one of the more suspenseful and interesting movies I’ve seen in years. Much like Katherine Bigelow’s earlier film The Hurt Locker, there is a certain moral ambiguity about the actions depicted in the movie. We see Bin Laden shot and killed, we see people tortured to get information, we see suicide bombers retaliate, but the film doesn’t really pass judgment, it leaves it to us to decide if we think our country’s revenge against Bin Laden was worth the human cost that it took to achieve it. Well acted, well made, and simply the best film of the year, in a year with a lot of terrific movies.
Older Movies
58 is a lot of movies, but I also managed to watch a bunch of older movies this year as well, many of which are considered classics. Rather than a long review, I just wrote a brief summary of why I watched each of these movies, and whether or not that they held up as the classics their reputation suggests.
Heathers Why I saw it: A classic teen movie and dark comedy from the ‘80’s. Hadn’t seen it since then.
Was it a true classic? Nope. The mean-girl satire hits the mark most of the time, but I just didn’t like the characters enough to love the movie, and it gets absurdly over-the-top in the second half.
2001: A Space Odyssey Why I saw it: Stanley Kubrick’s space epic is considered one of the great sci-fi films of all time. I’d never seen the whole thing.
Was it a true classic? Sort of. Kubrick is one of the greatest directors ever, and there’s some great stuff in this movie – you can see how it influenced future sci-fi movies. I especially love the parts with Hal. But it gets too weird, especially at the end, which is just bizarre.
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre Why I saw it: A classic western I’d never seen.
Was it a true classic? Nope. This fits into the category of older “classics” that are just way too slow for me to enjoy. They don’t make movies like they used to, and in a lot of ways, that’s a good thing.
The Breakfast Club Why I saw it: Classic teen movie from the ‘80’s.
Was it a true classic? Yup. One of John Hughes best movies, this was one of the classics in the ‘80’s and it holds up pretty well today. It has an undeniable charm.
Deliverance Why I saw it: Drama about an adventurous canoe trip gone wrong, it is much talked-about, but I’d never seen it.
Was it a classic? Yes. It certainly is disturbing – there’s a reason people talk about the “squeal like a pig” scene, but it is great. A tight drama that still feels tense and well-made 40 years after it came out.
Body Heat Why I saw it: Film noir classic that I’d never seen.
Was it a classic? Sort of. This isn’t my favorite genre, but I have to admit it is well made. Just watching the movie makes you feel hot.
The Killer Why I saw it: One of John Woo’s best known films, I haven’t seen too many of his movies.
Was it a classic? Heck no. Crazy violent but just stupid too. Bad acting, stupid storyline, I don’t know why anyone would consider this a classic.
Das Boot Why I saw it: Classic tale of a German U-Boat in WWII.
Was it a classic? Not really. There are some great scenes. It is a well-made movie. By setting almost the entire movie in the cramped quarters inside the submarine, there is a real tension (as well as claustrophobia) that builds throughout. But like a lot of older movies, it is just soooo slow. I think I watched an extended cut version of the movie, and it may have been close to four hours long. Way too much time watching people sit on a submarine waiting for something to happen.
The Thing Why I saw it: John Carpenter’s sci-fi/horror movie is supposedly one of the best and scariest sci-fi movies ever made.
Was it a classic? Nope. Not even a good movie. A good example of something that may have seemed scary to people when they saw it in the theater in 1982, but when you watch it now, it just doesn’t hold up. The special effects are ridiculous – when the monster that is supposed to be terrifying makes you laugh, that’s not a good sign.
Groundhog Day Why I saw it: One of my all-time faves, I hadn’t seen it in a long time.
Was it a classic? Of course. Bill Murray is the greatest comedic actor ever, and this is him at his best. I could watch this movie over and over and over and over….
Drive Why I saw it: This wasn’t my top movie from last year, but it was close. I thought it was the coolest movie of 2012, so it was the only movie all year that I watched in the theater and on DVD.
Was it a classic? A classic? No. But still a terrific movie. A unique movie, with some great car chase scenes.
Valhalla Rising Why I watched it: This is an earlier film made by Nicholas Winding Refn, who directed Drive. I wanted to check out some of his work.
Was it a classic? This might be my least favorite movie of the year. I couldn’t watch the whole thing. It is grotesquely violent and just a bizarre movie. I thought that Drive might have announced Refn as a talented new director, but seeing this makes me doubt it. He has a new movie with Ryan Gosling coming out soon, and I’m skeptical about it. The only consistent theme I see in his previous work is violence and more violence.
Elf Why I watched it: It was Christmas season, and this has become a Christmas classic.
Was it a classic? It’s not going to take the place of A Christmas Story or It’s a Wonderful Life, but it’s pretty funny and one of those holiday movies you can re-watch every couple of years.
All the Pretty Horses Why I watched it: It didn’t look like much when it was in the theaters, but it is based on a Cormac McCarthy book. I like his books so I figured I’d check it out.
Was it a classic? Nah. Not a bad movie though. Not quite as dark as the other Cormac McCarthy stories I’ve read or seen – in most of his books all the characters die horrible deaths. This is more of a slow, romantic story about cowboys, horses, and love.
Taxi Driver Why I watched it: Thought of by many as a classic, and I’d never seen it.
Was it a classic? Not necessarily one of my favorites, but it is a terrific movie. This was back when DeNiro could actually act, and seemed to care about more than cashing a paycheck. He plays Travis Bickle, a cab driver who descends further into alienation and madness as the movie goes on.
Portlandia: Season One Why I watched it: Despite all the hype, I’d never seen an episode because we didn’t have IFC.
Was it a classic? No, but it has become one of my favorite shows. It captures the silliness of things like an adult hide-and-seek league, and hyper-local food. Portland: Where young people go to retire.
The Spy Who Loved Me Why I watched it: James Bond marathon on TV during spring break!
Was it a classic? Far from it, but it was maybe the best of the Bond movies with Roger Moore as 007. Plus it had Jaws, one of the more memorable Bond bad-guys.
Dr. Strangelove Why I watched it: It’s one of my all-time favorites.
Was it a classic? Quite simply one of the best movies ever made. A true classic that is perfect in nearly every way. The cast is led by Peter Sellers at his absolute best as Captain Mandrake, the president, and Dr. Strangelove. If you haven’t seen this movie, it should be the next movie you watch. It’s the only way to keep the communists from stealing our precious bodily fluids.
The Pink Panther and A Shot in the Dark Why I watched them: Seeing Dr. Strangelove reminded me how great Peter Sellers was, so I needed to watch a few more of his films.
Were they classics? Yes. The Pink Panther movies are pretty shallow, so the only reason to watch them is Sellers. He was a genius, a master of physical humor and comedic timing. I watched these movies with my dad when I was a kid, so it was fun to watch a couple of them with my son. A bit slow when Sellers isn’t on the screen, but hilarious when he is.
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