Top 10 Movies of 2012
Perks of Being a Wallflower
This is the high school experience you wish you had: a little uncomfortable, a little stagey, a lot confusing, and filled to the brim with those moments that shine like diamonds because you are in them and you are with the people you love. I was leery that this book could ever be made into a movie, but with the author at the helm, I was willing to give it a go. It turned out to be my favorite 2 hours at the movies this year. Exquisite.
Cloud Atlas
This movie shouldn’t have worked. It’s ambitious, incredibly non-linear, and, some could argue, bloated (hell, there are six complete timelines at work here). But it works; it works so, so well. The editors for this must have had the toughest job since I-don’t-know-when, given the number of stories and images they needed to intertwine, ensuring that all the circuitous paths made sense. This whumped me in some dark emotional way that I can’t quite articulate, but it hung with me for days.
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Find the most impressive child actress out there. Throw her into a magic realism fairytale that looks like nothing else you’ve ever seen, let her work her fierce, preternatural magic. Layer in a gorgeous soundtrack and some of the most stunning images captured on film this year. Sit back and let it wash over you.
Safety Not Guaranteed
Somehow, what was advertised as a fluffy little romantic comedy tore me to emotional smithereens in a way that nothing has since Up. The beautiful tragedy of hope and one of the sweetest musical interludes ever.
"It's that time and that place and that song, and you remember what it was like when you were in that place. And then you listen to that song, and you know you're not in that place anymore, and it makes you feel hollow. You can't just go find that stuff again." This may be the new "But it helps me remember... I need to remember... Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world, I feel like I can't take it, and my heart is just going to cave in." I don't care: it's still beautiful.
The Soderbergh Two-fer: Magic Mike and Haywire
Soderbergh could get an incredible performance out of a piece of tofu if given the chance. I didn't think I would ever rave about the acting of Channing Tatum... but here I am, saying that he does a damn good job in Magic Mike. That, if nothing else, is why it's is on my list. Somehow, the movie walks the perfect line between beefcake exploitation (c’mon, you went to see the dance scenes, too. It's OK.) and an elegant little mediation on the American dream for “a normal life”.
Then there's Haywire. While the story and the action scenes are really nothing special (although Gina Carano is a physical phenomenon), this is the most feminist, most gender-neutral action movie I've ever seen. It blew me away. An action heroine who is almost entirely non-sexualized? Who doesn't rely on men to save her pretty little high-heeled ass? Who is filmed and treated -- gasp -- like a MALE action star? Amazing.
Argo
Ben Affleck, you amaze me. You came back from Gigli and Reindeer Games to become one of the most interesting new directors of the past few years. The texture of this movie was amazing, and the sheer sense of place-and-time doubly so, all without feeling cheesy. The biggest compliment I can give this movie-- and I do mean this sincerely -- is that it does not feel like an American movie made in 2012. It feels like a throwback to the gritty dramas of the 1970s (Dog Day Afternoon, oddly, is what kept coming to mind) or perhaps something coming out of the current Eastern European aesthetic.
Note: While many of the reviews complained that none of the journalists were given personalities, and that this was a flaw, I found this to be a huge mark in the movie's favor! I appreciated the choice to keep the action focused on the logistics of the situation, rather than on the messy interplay between six characters whose personal motivations are, at heart, not important to the story.
Moonrise Kingdom
Paul hates Wes Anderson. I love him. While I may never convince him to watch this, I feel like this may be the Anderson movie he might most enjoy. While, ostensibly, a simple plot about pre-teen first love, it’s also the saddest, most adult movie that Anderson has made to date. Frances McDormand will break your heart.
(personal side-note: it’s creepy how much the lead girl looks like one of my sisters. The fumbling make-out scene was incredibly awkward).
Looper
I love Rian Johnson's eye for style, and this is one of the sexist movies this year, in terms of sheer panache. It has its flaws, sure, but it's ballsy, smart, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt makes one hell of a Bruce Willis impersonator. The Best Audience Nudge Of The Year award goes to the scene in which Bruce Willis refuses to explain how time travel works because: "if we start talking about it then we're going to be here all day talking about it, making diagrams with straws." It's a cop-out, but a fun one.
Also: time-loop vivisection. That is all.
The Grey
This wasn't on my original list, but the more I thought about it, the more I think I liked it. If anything, this movie is on this list for one brutal, amazing scene: a scene where Liam Neeson calmly talks a man through dying. No histrionics, no melodrama, no soundtrack. Just quiet talking and a man's breath. Stunning.
Honorable Mention For "Best Movie I Saw in 2012"
Attack the Block
While this was released in 2011, I did not see it until 2012 and it was the most straight-up fun I've had at a movie in ages. This is what you can do with a barrel of enthusiasm, some hilarious teenagers, and a strong appreciation for monster movie tropes. Excellent.
Biggest Disappointments
Bully
I wanted so much for this to be good, as good as everyone promised. I wanted this to be the redemption, the “it gets better” promise of hope for my own years of being bullied (and, let’s be honest, being a bully). This was not that movie. It could have been -- the structure was there -- but it just wasn’t. Want a good "up with outsiders", "bullying is bad" movie? Watch ParaNorman.
Prometheus
Notable for two of my favorite scenes (Michael Fassbender imitating Lawrence of Arabia, and the star-map scene that reduced me to tears), but also for some of the stupidest character development and most pointless plot gyrations of the year. I wanted so much to like this: it had so much potential. What a mess; what a beautiful, idiotic mess.
Brave
This movie isn't bad; it really isn't. If it had been made by any other animation studio it would have been excellent... but coming from Pixar, I was just expecting more. Pixar has created some of the most emotionally resonant, most adult animated movies out there, but Brave is very much a kids' movie: slapstick, sappy and overly "cute". It's pretty, it has some very elegant scenes, but it's not Up, it's not Wall-E, and it's not even Finding Nemo (although that's probably the closest corollary). This just feels like a Dreamworks production, or maybe a middleweight Disney effort.
