Making a Top 10 list is never an easy thing, especially when the year is as cinematically prosperous as 2012 was. Bolstered by an unusually strong spring and knocked out of the park by a magnificent awards season, 2012 was like a candy store for the movie critic inside me, with many films being truly great and a handful of them being astonishingly masterful. In fact, this year was so grand that I was honestly shocked to see that I had given a perfect 10/10 (a score I try to save for the film’s that go above and beyond the extraordinary) to four films, more than any other year in recent memory. With an abundance of great films and only 10 spots to fill, I unfortunately had to leave off a number of special cinematic experiences, from the heartwarming nostalgia of The Perks of Being a Wallflower to the ambitious scope of Cloud Atlas, the deranged hijinks of Seven Psychopaths, the epic thrills of The Dark Knight Rises, the mind-bending originality of Looper, the sweet intelligence of Liberal Arts, and so on. Nonetheless, a Top 10 list calls for 10 films and 10 films only – the best of the best, the cream of the crop – so without further ado, here are my 10 favorite films of 2012:
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10. ParaNorman / Frankenweenie – Ok, call me bogus for cheating around the parameters of a Top 10 list and including a tie, but in a year that saw two stop motion marvels return originality and breathtaking imagination to the screen, it’d be impossible and completely unfair to include one and not the other. First there was ParaNorman, a wonderful gem tucked away in the doldrums of late August, a time when most studios release their lackluster duds and leave them to die. Not ParaNorman, though, for this spooky little tale of friendship and courage was the perfect follow up after Laika Animation Studios’ last masterpiece, Coraline. Then, in October, visionary Tim Burton sparked his dwindling career back to life with the energetic Frankenweenie, a creepy black and white throwback to the horror B-movies of the 70s and 80s. With a simple story about a boy and his undying love for his dog, Burton was able to bring his unique visual style back to the bring screen with the importance and wonder that first catapulted him to stardom after hits like Batman and Edward Scissorhands. Between these two stop motion films, 2012 proved that animation could prosper long and well outside of the Pixar realm.
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9. Life Of Pi – The story about a religiously devout teenager who gets stuck on a boat for 227 days with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker doesn’t sound like the most accessible material for the screen, but in the hands of visionary Academy Award winning director Ang Lee, Yann Martel’s 2001 best selling novel, Life Of Pi, became the most gorgeous, illustrious, and breathtaking movie expierence I’ve ever witnessed. Move over James Cameron and Avatar, for the use of CGI and 3D in this extraordinary tale of faith and courage is so immersive, so lifelike, and so detailed, the film often pulls you right into its world, forcing you to fight for your life right along side the weary protagonist and the bestial tiger. Though the spiritual story may get overly preachy at some points, Lee’s visual set pieces, from a spectacularly tense shipwreck to a dazzling migration of fly fish, are nothing short of eye-opening, there like Impressionist paintings brought to magnificent life. In a movie all about finding God, Lee’s visuals did just that – they restored your faith in 3D technology and confirmed that no one tells stories with more heart and more attention to detail quite like Ang Lee. It’s pure cinematic beauty.
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8. Arbitrage – Growing up, Richard Gere was the lackluster star of schlocky romances (Shall We Dance?, Nights in Rodanthe) and laughable horror movies (The Mothman Prophecies, anyone?), but in Nicholas Jarecki’s sleek, seductive, and criminally under-seen debut thriller, Gere roared back to life with a performance that finally proved why he was such a superstar decades ago with films like An Officer and a Gentleman and American Gigolo. As Robert Miller, Gere exuded a playboy charisma and humbleness that blinded his character’s sinisterly corrupt core – is Miller a hero? An anti-hero? A villain? Wisely, Gere played the character as all three, sometimes all at once in the same scene, turning the film into a maddening psychological thriller, one that has you simultaneously rooting for and despising the main character. Add in a jaw dropping twist that puts the film into dramatic overdrive (DO NOT WATCH THE TRAILER!), stylish direction from Nicholas Jarecki (the opening prologue is a knockout), another pulsating score from Cliff Martinez, and strong supporting work from Susan Sarandon, Brit Marling, and Nate Parker, and Arbitrage makes for one edge of your seat ride at the movies. In terms of financial Wall Street thrillers, it doesn’t get tenser than this.
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7. Django Unchained – Leave it to mastermind Quentin Tarantino to deliver the year’s most fun time at the movies, a film so over the top, so out of control, and so ridiculous, it hits you like a shock of cinematic adrenaline to the mind, body, and nuts. Yeah, it’s just that insane of a good time! Deftly mashing up the Spaghetti Western with Blaxploitation elements, Tarantino’s Django Unchained takes American slavery and tears it to shreds, exposing the real lunacy behind this disgraceful period of American history: the whites. With heightened sound mixing and the quick Tarantino zooms and camera movements we all love and respect, Django is a cinematic graphic novel brought to life in the vein of my favorite Tarantino film of all time, Kill Bill. With the dynamic chemistry between Jamie Foxx and the wackily sophisticated Christoph Waltz (this dude was born to read Tarantino dialogue!) leading the way, plus a booming soundtrack and great supporting work from Samuel L. Jackson and the gleefully evil Leonardo DiCaprio (his dimple monologue is masterful Tarantino!), Django was everything I could’ve hoped for; in terms of Tarantino, it’s damn perfect.
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6. Beasts of the Southern Wild – Though Nicholas Jarecki certainly made a mark with Arbitrage, when it comes to debut feature films of 2012, no director impressed more than Ben Zeitlin, whose Beasts of the Southern Wild hits you hard with a fantastical and dreamlike wave of cinematic poetry. Like the wandering mind of its young protagonist, Hushpuppy, Zeitlin’s camera became an ever moving eye of wonder and imagination, and the dreamy brilliance he brings to a crucial scene where Hushpuppy goes to find her mother is a knockout. With an ever spinning camera, hazy, flickering lights, and a lightly soothing jazz score, Zeitlin creates some kind of heavenly womb in this moment and it’s easily enough proof to make him one to watch in the future. There’s also the revelatory work done by Quvenzhané Wallis, who was only 6-years-old at the time of filming. As Hushpuppy, Wallis is a canvas of ever changing emotions, and the loneliness and desire for maternal care she buries behind those big brimming eyes of her is utterly tragic. If the Academy doesn’t recognize Wallis’ brilliant work here it would be a true crime. This is one debut feature with fresh talent and originality that should not be missed.
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5. Silver Linings Playbook – Not since Little Miss Sunshine has conventionality felt more real, passionate, and completely honest. On paper, Silver Linings Playbook is more or less your typical romantic comedy – crazy boy meets crazy girl and everything ends up peaches and roses in the end – but on screen, this film sizzles with black comedy and tragic truths about our every growing need to connect and our ever-prevalent hope for love. With manic direction from David O. Russell, who also wrote the film’s hilariously wacky and blunt screenplay, plus incredible performances from Bradley Cooper (yeah, this dude can act), Robert DeNiro (welcome back!), and Jennifer Lawrence, this film takes the conventions of the rom-com and spins them on their head, leaving you with relatable characters that even in predictable situations still move you, still make you life, and even still get the water works going. Lawrence, in particular, is dynamite, showcasing her maturity and sultriness to the perfect degree. If you’re not on your feet by the time the rousing dance climax reaches its laugh-out-loud peak, then you might just want to get your heart checked.
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4. Lincoln – Just when he seemed to be hitting a career road block after 2011 missteps like the over the top Adventures of Tin-Tin and the corndog War Horse, Steven Spielberg changed his own game, directing one of the most subdued and most intimate films of his career with Lincoln, a sprawling historical epic about the passing of the 13th amendment during the final month of Honest Abe’s presidency. Giving each scene and moment the importance and scrutiny it deserved, Spielberg turned Lincoln into more of a fascinating stage play than a Hollywood movie, but damn how fascinating it was! Many have complained about Tony Kushner’s long and boring script, but politics were words back then, and from the rousing House of Representative speeches to the fragile poetry of Lincoln’s many monologues, I was hooked from start to finish. Obviously helping the cause was yet another tour-de-force performance from Daniel Day-Lewis, my favorite actor of all time and one who I consider to be the absolute best of all time. As Lincoln, Day-Lewis presented us with a weary and damaged President who would do anything in his power to guarantee the democratic prosperity of his country. Opposite a truly great ensemble, including a strong willed Tommy Lee Jones and an emotionally powerful Sally Field, Day-Lewis brought Kushner’s script to inspired life. There’s no doubt this is one of the greatest historical dramas of all time.
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3. Moonrise Kingdom - Every once in awhile there comes a film that’s so visually alive, so vibrantly acted, and so vivaciously charming, you can’t help but smile thinking about it and wish you could see it again instantly; that, my friends, is Moonrise Kingdom. I’ve long been an admirer of Anderson’s work, mostly because his unique visual style is unlike anything else in Hollywood today, but Moonrise Kingdom finally made me a true Anderson lover, for by crafting a simple story about adolescent maturity and young love, Anderson forced both cinephiles and casual moviegoers alike to get lost in his bold and unusual cinematography, complete with systematic camera movements, the use of primary colors, and a reliance on classical music. Luckily, Anderson also assembled a wonderful ensemble – have Bruce Willis and Bill Murray ever been more tragically vulnerable? – led by two incredible kids who were never afraid to show the bumbling awkwardness of growing up and falling in love for the time, especially in that knockout of a beach scene where the two pour their hearts out in a wild and untamed dance. To say that I love this film is a massive understatement – I adore this film, I am enchanted by this film, I am flat out in love with this film. You know you’ve watched a masterpiece when you come out feeling just as much satisfied and fulfilled as you are intrigued to go back again, and that’s exactly what happened when the credits began to roll. You finally got me, Anderson.
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2. Zero Dark Thirty – Easily the most important movie of 2012, Academy Award winning director Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty topped her last award winning film, The Hurt Locker, in every sense of the word. Taking the decade long manhunt for Osama bin Laden and using it has vessel for displaying the dwindling American psyche post 9/11, Zero Dark Thirty becomes a maddening mind game, a display of American success as well as American failure, shame, and embarrassment. In this no holds bars look at the hunt for bin Laden, Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal never shy away from the ugly truths that have degraded the sense of democracy that we saw come to resounding life in Lincoln. At the head of this investigative beast is the extraordinary Jessica Chastain, who brings the emotional punch to this addictive thriller thanks to her performance as Maya, the lead CIA agent who headed the hunt for all those years. With escalating power and ferocity, Chastain looses herself in her character the way her character looses herself in her job. With a stunning 30-minute climax that proves no one can create suspense like Bigelow, plus a jaw dropping ambiguous ending that questions just how far we’ve come since 9/11, Zero Dark Thirty is a film that demands to be seen and then discussed, challenged, debated, and so on. Now that’s filmmaking of the highest order.
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1. The Master - While watching The Master, an extraordinary thing occurred: time, friends, plans, homework, and even reality itself became nonexistent; I forgot what I had been doing before the movie and I lost track of my plans for after, for from the very first frame my mind and body were at the mercy, control, and command of director Paul Thomas Anderson. If that’s not high praise, I’m not sure what is. There’s no other way to say – The Master is a major cinematic accomplishment and is easily the most challenging, the most intriguing, and far and away the best film of 2012. The story of a deranged WWII veteran who gets lured into a dubious colt, The Master is a hypnotic, nightmarish masterpiece, a film with bold and breathtaking cinematography that forces your eye to stay on the screen and performances that cripple your soul and question the relationships and cores of humanity. It also must be said that this powerhouse of a film is home to three of the best performances I have ever witnessed – the animalistic Joaquin Phoenix, the monstrous Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and the astonishing Amy Adams, who in only 3 major scenes becomes a sinister presence unlike anything I’ve ever seen. In a perfect world, these three wouldn’t only get nominated for Oscars but they would win them with no questions asked. The chemistry between Phoenix and Hoffman is frighteningly electric, one built upon fear, respect, and homosexual undertones, and as Phoenix further invests himself in the colt, the film becomes a fever dream of psychological examinations, regrets, and terrors. Not many other films have polarized critics as much as The Master has this year, but if you give it a chance there’s no way you won’t find at least one thing to chew on for days, months even. I haven’t forgotten a single scene since Anderson imprinted his gorgeous frames on my brain way back in September, and as we come to the end of 2012, The Master is still the most extraordinary of all. This engrossing tour-de-force is Anderson’s Raging Bull. Screw film of the year, The Master has its sights set even further; message to the all the films coming out over the next decade: this is the one to beat. Now that’s a masterpiece. That’s The Master.
See you in 2013!
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Article by Zack Sharf
Reblogged this on SHARF @ THE MOVIES.