By Chris Luckett
Another year, another batch of amazing
movies to bring attention to. There were fewer masterpieces last year than in 2011,
but there were significantly more near-masterpieces. Some honourable mentions
that just didn’t make it into the top 25:
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (a reboot origin
story that achieved everything the 2002 web-slinging thriller failed to)
THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL (an
entertaining fish-out-of-water comedy with a cast of British thespians to die
for)
LINCOLN (a powerful bio-pic of America’s
16th president with one of the best performances of the year, courtesy of
Daniel Day-Lewis)
THE LONELIEST PLANET (a quiet, haunting,
and gorgeous study of a couple whose stability is shattered by a split-second
poor decision)
MOONRISE KINGDOM (a visual and deadpan
near-classic from the gloriously quirky Wes Anderson)
THE SECRET WORLD OF ARRIETTY (a retelling
of Mary Norton’s “The Borrowers,” in vividly hand-drawn anime)
THE WORLD BEFORE HER (a documentary
examining life for two young women in India: one competing for the title of
Miss India, the other training Hindu Nationalist child soldiers)
In the interest of full disclosure, I have
not yet been able to see 5 Broken Cameras,
Barbara, The Deep Blue Sea, Elena,
The Gatekeepers, How to Survive a Plague, Once
Upon a Time in Anatolia, Oslo, August
31st, The Queen of Versailles, Rust and Bone, Side by Side, or The Waiting
Room. It is entirely possible one or some of them would be on here had I been
able to see them.
25. LOOPER
After the incredibly clever Brick and The Brothers Bloom, writer-director Rian Johnson delivered an incredibly clever time-travel thriller about an assassin hunting down his future self. With an intelligent take on time travel and a gloriously unpredictable plot, Looper is one of the smartest sci-fi movies since Minority Report.
24. PROMETHEUS
The question of whether or not it was an Alien prequel quickly took a backseat to the visual splendour of Ridley Scott's return to science-fiction. Prometheus is a flawed movie, and there are admittedly more questions asked than answered, but minor quibbles about the plot or characters' behaviours can't take away from one of the most remarkable cinematic achievements of the year.
23. THE INTOUCHABLES
A feel-good movie from France that truly does make you feel good, The Intouchables takes a worn-out premise that aims at virtually every demographic (a old, rich paraplegic hires a young, uncouth man to be his caretaker). Even so, when a feel-good movie does its job right, you don’t mind your emotions being played like instruments and The Intouchables does it masterfully.
22. THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
One of the most anticipated movies of the year, The Dark Knight Rises was bound to disappoint people’s expectations, especially after the massive critical and commercial success of The Dark Knight. Bloating excesses aside, though, Christopher Nolan’s final Batman movie ended about as well as it could have and on its own terms, if unfortunately echoing Inception’s open-to-interpretation ending a bit too much.
21. THE PIRATES!: BAND OF MISFITS
The makers of Chicken Run and the Wallace & Gromit movies returned with a razor-sharp comedy, with gags and background jokes flying by at as brisk a pace as those of Airplane! or The Naked Gun. In a year that marked a strong return for stop-motion animation, The Pirates!: Band of Misfits overcomes an unfortunate title and ends up not just the best animated film of 2012 but one of the funniest movies of the year.
20. EASY MONEY
Two years after the flawless Swedish adaptation of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” comes another Scandinavian thriller that pins you to your seat. Easy Money is the story of J.W., a business student whose high-class tastes and self-image of success lead him to become embroiled in Sweden’s criminal underworld. Before he knows it, he’s in too deep and sets about a plan of double-crosses and backstabbings that threaten to unravel faster than he can weave them.
19. HYSTERIA
Set is Victorian times, when
nearly half the women in England were diagnosed with “hysteria” whenever they
simply were sexually unsatisfied, Hysteria
is a thoroughly enjoyable romantic comedy that also tells the comical origin of
the vibrator. With a marvellous cast including Hugh Dancy, Jonathan Pryce, and
Rupert Everett in a howlingly funny performance, the hysterical laughter the
movie elicits does tribute to its name.
18. LIFE OF PI
The story many considered
unfilmable finally made its way to the big screen in 2012 and ended up being
one of the most sumptuous visual feasts of the year. A teenager named Pi ends
up stranded in a lifeboat for seven months in the Pacific Ocean, his only
fellow passenger being a Bengal tiger that he forms a trepidatious
understanding with. An inspiring tale of survival, acceptance, hope, and
perseverance, Life of Pi delivers a
wondrous experience for the eyes, the soul, and the heart.
17. THE MASTER
Paul Thomas Anderson’s
follow-up to the polarizing There Will Be
Blood proved even more inscrutable by many, but rewards audiences upon
continued reflection and repeated viewings. Whether you love The Master or hate it, it is a movie
that’s hard to shake, with memorable shots of visual wonder and confounding
scenes of narrative confusion that will leave you discussing and arguing over
the movie with others long after the credits have rolled.
16. THE AVENGERS
After four years and
five movies, Marvel Studios finally delivered its promised umbrella picture,
uniting the leads of The Incredible Hulk,
Captain America: The First Avenger, Thor, and the Iron Man movies. With Joss Whedon at the helm, it manages a rare
feat in storytelling, masterfully juggling the characters and creating a
balanced ensemble out of larger-than-life characters. One of the largest action
spectacles to be captured on film, The
Avengers masterfully walks the line between appeasing fanboys and remaining
accessible to those who don’t know their Iron Man from their Spider-Man.
15. 2 DAYS IN NEW YORK
While technically
a sequel to 2007’s 2 Days in Paris, this
comedy of manners stands tall on its own, as one of the greatest Woody Allen
movies not written or directed by Woody Allen. Julie Delpy’s character lives
with her boyfriend (an outstanding Chris Rock) in New York City. When her boorish
father, promiscuous sister, and sleazy ex-boyfriend fly in from Paris for her
art gallery opening, the culture clashes and misunderstandings pile up in a
farcical fashion rarely done this well. It may not be the most original idea
for a comedy, but the genius is all in its execution.
14. COMPLIANCE
A haunting what-would-you-do story about a stressed out fast
food manager on the night of a critical inspection who receives a phone call
from a man claiming to be a police officer, saying one of her employees stole from
a customer. The employee claims innocence. But if you were on the phone with a
man identifying himself as a police officer who required you to handle a
situation before they arrived and he had believable answers to every question
you asked, would you question them? How far would you go in obeying their
authority? Compliance asks these
uncomfortable questions and challenges you to argue that you’d act any
differently than the stressed manager in question, as the plot gets darker and
darker.
13. AMOUR
Following in the footsteps of
the excruciating old-age love story Away
From Her, Amour witnesses a
couple in their ‘80s that have lived and loved a lifetime together. When the
wife suffers a stroke due to a surgical complication, the husband tends to her during
what he hopes will be her recovery, but soon becomes apparent will be a slow
descent to her passing. Admittedly, Amour
is brutal in how sad it becomes in its march to an inevitable end, but despite
that, it emerges an incredibly beautiful and touching love story.
12. FLIGHT
Director Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Forrest
Gump) tackles the question of how flawed a hero has to be before their
heroics don’t matter. Denzel Washington fearlessly plays a man who crash-lands
a jet airliner by flying it upside-down, saving 96 of the 102 people on board.
His accolades and praises get called into stark question, though, when it’s
determined he was drunk and high on cocaine while flying the plane. A daring
film that doesn’t offer an easy answer, Flight
continues Zemeckis’s rule as one of the most reliable filmmakers working today.
11. SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN
Do not let anyone ruin this documentary for you.
The trailers for it horribly give away all the twists and turns of the mind-boggling
true story of Rodriguez, a folk rock singer from the early ‘70s whose on-stage
suicide after only two albums became the stuff of urban legend. At least, in
South Africa it did, where his albums sold so well he is considered the equal
to Elvis or the Beatles. In his home country of the U.S., he ended his final
show destitute and unaware of his massive success on the other side of the
globe. When two South Africans decide to research the man behind the
mono-moniker, it leads them on a twisty mystery into the mind and heart of one
of the greatest unsung icons of music. (To
refrain from spoiling the film, in lieu of a trailer, a taste of Rodriguez’s
sound is embedded below.)
10. SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
Much has been
said about the acting in this film and it’s all warranted. Bradley Cooper
manages a likability that has eluded him in every movie until now; Jennifer
Lawrence surpasses her performance in Winter’s
Bone; Robert De Niro and Jackie Weaver are reliable as ever; and even Chris
Tucker reins himself in and demonstrates an unexpected vulnerability. This
story of two emotionally and psychologically damaged people learning to cope
with their lives and open themselves up to happiness does end predictably, but
by the time the movie arrives at its predestined conclusion, it’s earned its
crowd-pleasing ending.
9. YOUR SISTER’S SISTER
The premise sounds
pretty standard: Iris (Emily Blunt) tells her best friend Jack (Mark Duplass)
to visit her cottage for some rest. When Jack gets there, he discovers Iris’s
sister, Hannah (Rosemarie DeWitt), is also unexpectedly there for a respite.
Jack and Hannah end up drinking their sorrows away and sleeping together. The
next morning, Iris shows up. In the midst of Jack and Hannah debating whether
to admit what happened, Iris confesses to her sister that she secretly loves
Jack. The whole setup has been done time and again in countless sitcoms, but what
makes Your Sister’s Sister so
brilliant is the execution. From the improvised dialogue to the intimate
performances, it feels like a halfway experience between a play and a movie and
gets you truly invested in the predicament of Iris, Jack, and Hannah.
8. ZERO DARK THIRTY
“The Osama bin Ladin
movie,” as many have taken to referring to it, is an incredibly powerful modern
epic. Zero Dark Thirty’s story lasts
a decade and the character of Maya (as complexly played by Jessica Chastain)
changes over the course of the film in ways that are hard to imagine from the
outset. While the movie does slow in a few areas, it ends up evoking the same
feeling of the War on Terror, with spans when no change or progress seemed to
be happening. Oftentimes, the quietest moments simply lure you into getting
startled by a sudden I.E.D. explosion or a suicide bomber’s attack. By the time
the climax that everyone’s been waiting for arrives, it feels like it would have
to disappoint, but it ends more tensely than most movies from last year. And if
there is one closing shot from a 2012 movie than will burn into your memory, it’s
Zero Dark Thirty’s.
7. DJANGO UNCHAINED
It’s really quite
amazing how quickly the world has learned to take Quentin Tarantino for
granted. A genius writer of plot and dialogue, a revolutionary in terms of
modern directors, and one of the foremost experts on cinema currently working
in the industry today, Tarantino managed the near-impossible feat of six of his
first seven movies being masterpieces. Django
Unchained is, sadly, not quite up to the 5-star snuff of those ones, but to
quote Kill Bill: Vol. 1, “If you’re
going to compare a Hanzo sword, you compare it to every other sword ever made
that wasn’t made by Hattori Hanzo.” Django
Unchained is a thrilling piece of cinema that is perfect from the very
first frame to the climactic shootout. All that holds it back from perfection
is an incredibly unfortunate extra 25 minutes added after the climax that drags
for so long, it damages all of the film that came before. With brilliant
performances by Christoph Waltz and Leonardo DiCaprio and Tarantino’s
delicious-as-ever dialogue, though, Django
Unchained remains near-perfect.
6. SKYFALL
After the excellent, if overly
serious, Casino Royale (and the much
less excellent, much more serious Quantum
of Solace), the James Bond series finally found the perfect tone for Daniel
Craig’s modern take on 007. After previously stripping the series of all the
humour, the cheek, and the fun that been trademarks of the character since
1962’s Dr. No, Skyfall finds a happy medium between Jason Bourne and the Bond of
old. The reintroduction of elements like Q helps reassure long-time fans that
the franchise hasn’t completely forgotten its roots. The action sequences are
spectacular, Craig seems to finally be having fun in the role, and Javier
Bardem gives one of the greatest villainous performances of any film in the
last few years. It’s really hard to ask for much more in a Bond movie; Skyfall is one of the very best.
5. CHRONICLE
The handheld camera subgenre
has many detractors. Even those who believe there have been excellent uses of
the format in The Blair Witch Project,
Cloverfield, or Paranormal Activity generally know to approach such movies with
apprehension. Thankfully, Chronicle
proves to be one of the rare few that employs it well. A tale of three teenage
boys who somehow gain the power of telekinesis, what starts as a merely
interesting high school movie with boys throwing a football around using their
minds becomes a darker, epic tale of good and evil. One of the three boys, a
victim of bullying, begins using his power to move things to take out his
aggression and anger. By the eye-boggling climax, it’s a marvel to remember Chronicle’s gradual escalation and how
it undermines expectations every step of the way.
4. ARGO
It’s unfortunate Ben Affleck’s
Oscar snub has become the talking point of the movie, because it’s
overshadowing one of the best American thrillers in years. Argo is the true story of a CIA operative who was in charge of
rescuing six American diplomats trapped in Iran in the ‘70s. He joins the diplomats
in the house of the Canadian Ambassador, who’s secretly hiding them, and plans
to sneak them out by posing as a Canadian film crew scouting locations for a
science-fiction movie (the titular “Argo”). Everything is right about this
movie, from the clothes to the props to the soundtrack. It doesn’t feel like
it’s set in in ’70s, it films like it was filmed in the ‘70s. Affleck deserves
most of the credit, not just for his strong lead performance, but for his
immensely talented direction and skill at ratcheting tension. The extended
climax of Argo is the tautest scene
in a film since the Dubai sequence in Mission
Impossible: Ghost Protocol, if not its equal.
3. BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
So few
movies set in modern times feel like they create a whole different world, completely
foreign to audiences. Beasts of the
Southern Wild manages the difficult feat with aplomb, taking people into “the
Bathtub,” a Louisiana marsh housing a ramshackle community in the wake of
Hurricane Katrina. The movie’s ace card is telling the story from the
point-of-view of a five-year-old named Hushpuppy, played with spirited
innocence by newcomer Quvenzhané Wallis in a revelatory performance.
The catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina, filtered through the attempted
comprehension of a child, allows for wondrous visuals, gripping terror, and
touching naiveté the likes of which few films manage.
2. HEADHUNTERS
The cat-and-mouse thriller is a
subgenre that has been around since the inception of film. There’s very little
new ground to be broken in the concept, and Headhunters
can’t really be called innovative in that respect. Its genius isn’t in doing
something new, but doing something amazingly well. This is the most
well-plotted and tense back-and-forth thriller since The Departed or The Prestige.
When a corporate headhunter (who also moonlights as an art thief, to maintain
his high-class lifestyle) steals a painting from a former mercenary, it becomes
a battle of life and death, with no extreme too far. Every time you think the
movie can’t possibly surprise you anymore, it pulls another trick from its
sleeve. A gripping thrill ride that doesn’t let you breathe for an hour and a
half, Headhunters will be the
thriller to top for the next while.
1. CLOUD ATLAS
Every year or two, a movie
comes along that completely polarizes audiences. Films like The Fountain, Black Swan, and The Tree of
Life each found themselves with audiences split into lovers and haters. Cloud Atlas, too, (through no substantial
similarities to those films) found itself caught between those who thought it
was bloated and terrible and those who thought it was genius storytelling and a
visual masterpiece. Count this critic among the latter. Deftly weaving six
different storylines, taking place in seven different time periods and over the
course of 542 years, Cloud Atlas
manages a seemingly impossible task. Using a repertory of actors playing
characters in different timelines through reincarnations of their souls, the
movie not only tells six stories that in and of themselves could nearly be
complete movies, but creates a whole much larger than the sum of its parts. The
technical aspects (like the make-up and visual effects) are flawless and the
titular score is one of the most haunting and evocative pieces of music in
recent years of cinema. There are moments of pure beauty, unbridled absurdity,
heartbreaking sorrow, gripping tension, and awestruck wonder. Cloud Atlas is a movie that is impossible
to forget, easy to underestimate, and the best film of 2012.
No comments:
Post a Comment