2012 in Review: The Top 10 Films of 2012

Where did Looper find itself on this year's top 10?

Time for another top 10 folks!

2012 was an absolutely fantastic year for films, and by far the best year for films in a long time. This year’s top 10 list was by far the hardest list I’ve put together over the years that I’ve done this and I agonized over the order and content of this list for quite a while. Ultimately I’ve created it though and, for the most part, I’m happy with it. As with all these lists I see everything commercially and thus don’t see certain “important” films that could have been off this list (actually this year’s list is more “complete” than any other I’ve done at the end of the year and the only film I’m really sore from not seeing is Zero Dark Thirty) and the list, as usual will be revisited come Oscar time. As of now though, here is the Top 10 of this amazing year of film:

Honorable Mentions:

Les Misérables, The Avengers

10. The Dark Knight Rises

Who would have thought at the beginning of the year that this film would barley scrape on to this list. Despite not being as great the second and third time around the film still has some fantastic moments and I still consider the last 45 minutes of this film to be one of the best ending sequences to come in the last few years. The Dark Knight Rises was big, bold, and ambitious and, while it wasn’t The Dark Knight, it definitely warrants a spot on this list. Even if it’s not as high up on the list as originally expected.

9. Moonrise Kingdom

Wes Anderson’s best film deserves to be on this list. One of the little films that could of this year Moonrise Kingdom is a painstakingly beautiful effort that displayed the importance of family, love, and childhood. Each frame was meticulously filmed to convey a beautiful, fairy tale like atmosphere that made the film such a special effort. It also doesn’t hurt that the two child actor leads, Jara Gilman, and Kara Hayward gave the film the heart that all other Wes Anderson films seemed to lack. A beautiful, magnificent effort indeed.

8. Argo

Ben Affleck’s third film, Argo was a surprisingly amazing thriller that proved, in a generation of explosion based thrillers that a great thriller is not equal to the sum of its action scenes. Argo was tense and suspenseful without the need to through constant action and explosions as it used the powers of writing and acting to fill these needs. Add in a stellar cast and some great humor (“Argo f*** yourself!”) and Argo is one of the biggest winners of this year.

7. Skyfall

After a four year hiatus Bond returned to the screen and in better form than ever. The best action film of the year, Skyfall proved that Bond can still be Bond while retaining the grit and darkness that was introduced with Daniel Craig in Casino Royale. It’s good to know that the trilogy of Bond “coming of age” films can end just as amazingly as it began.

6. The Master

The best character study and actor showoff of the year, Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master was a fantastic effort in the never ending barrage of “art” film. Conversations and dialogue were equal to dynamite action scenes in this film thanks to not only the writing but to two of the absolute best performances of the year from Joaquin Phoenix and Phillip Seymour Hoffman as a damaged soul and the person who tries to “save” him. Add in the truly insightful commentary on religion and cults and the Master is easily one of the greatest films of 2012.

5. Beasts of the Southern Wild

Who would have thought that the best female performance of the year would come from a six year old girl with no acting experience? Not only that but who would have thought that a little indie film could catch so much attention. Well along comes Beasts of the Southern Wild a deep, yet magically whimsical study of the troubled and toxic relationship between a father and his daughter. The film is perhaps one of the most unique films ever made and it really captured the nature of survival and the lengths one will go to hold on to home. Beasts may be the smallest film on this list but it arguably may be one of the most triumphant.

4. Cloud Atlas

From a small film to a really, really big one. Cloud Atlas was the biggest, boldest and most ambitious film of the year, by far. Six stories melded together with each of the lead actors sprawled across all six may sound like a disaster waiting to happen but with the Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer behind the project along with some fantastic actors Cloud Atlas managed to pull this together marvelously. Add in the strong, deep philosophical messages and no other film reached for the stars quite like Cloud Atlas. That in itself is an amazing achievement.

3. Lincoln

Steven Spielberg plus Daniel Day-Lewis with a little bit of grand American biopic equals a fantastic film. Add the greatest supporting cast Spieberg has ever worked with and some absolutely fantastic writing and you have Lincoln one of the greatest biopics in a long time. The only film to really humanize the great president while still managing to keep focus on the passing of the thirteenth amendment. The film is Spielberg back at the top of his game and it’s great to have him back in this way.

2. Django Unchained

In a year filled with unique films, perhaps no one can quite out unique Quentin Tarantino. This trend of uniqueness continued in Django Unchained in which Tarantino got to turn the western upside down. The most fun to be had in a cinema in 2012 Django Unchained proved that Tarantino is still one of the best Writer/Directors in the business and that his films almost 20 years later are still as unique as ever.

1. Looper 
The best original Sci fi film since Minority Report Rian Johnson’s Looper was the near perfect sci fi adventure. Looper combined an amazing premise, an uncomplex yet intelligent way of presenting time travel and mixed it with a beautiful human story about hope and sacrifice. Looper is original, thrilling, beautiful and any other positive descriptive adjective you can find (at this point so many nice things have been said I’m running out of them). In a year of great films Looper ultimately stands out as the greatest

2012 in Review: The Top 5 in TV

 Did Breaking Bad make the cut??

So it begins! The year of 2012 is about to end and what an interesting year it has been all across the board. We start our epic trip down memory lane by counting down the best TV of the year. Now the usual disclaimer applies as it does with the movie lists, I do not do this for a living and thus have not seen all the “best” TV shows of the year (as my TV habit consists mostly of Dramas for example you will not unfortunately see Louie or Parks and Recreations on this list because I haven’t watched either to a great enough extent). So without further a due here is the best in TV for the year of 2012.

5. Girls

The only comedy to make this list, Girls was unlike any comedy I’ve seen on television as the show didn’t have us immediately like the characters right off the bat. Creator, writer, and actor Lena Dunham made an honest show about young, in many ways foolish, women that are on self destructing paths that are often quite hilarious. Sometimes dramatic, sometimes hard to watch, and always very funny Girls is a fantastic debut season of what hopefully becomes a fantastic comedy.

4. Boardwalk Empire

Sure it sometimes looses its way a little in the middle, but when Boardwalk Empire, for the second year in a row, manages to pull things together in a Wire like fashion at the end it’s an amazing thing to watch. For the second year in a row Boardwalk’s ending almost completely made the show as the final few episodes again managed to amaze and provide a purpose for a season that helped us reconnect to some of our characters. Oh and Richard is amazing!!! For the second year in a row I can’t wait to see where we go after this ending.

3. Luck

While it won’t last past this season what we got of David Milch and Michael Mann’s horse racing drama was absolutely amazing. It started a little confusing but by the time Luck got to the magic HBO fourth episode it was turning into something truly special. The story of Hoffman’s gangster, Nolte’s damaged horse trainer, and the rag tag group of gamblers hitting the big time presented viewers with some of the most heartfelt and intelligent shows of the year. The real winner of Luck though is the direction, especially throughout the fantastic horse racing scenes which were visceral and intense in ways that I had never seen before. While Luck will only last one season (3 horses died on set and HBO was forced to cancel it after just renewing it for a second season) it’s a one hit wonder that won’t be forgotten any time soon.

2. Mad Men

After a long break due to heated negotiations, Mad Men returned to television with huge expectations in toe. Fortunately the show was as good as ever reminding its audience that it’s still as intelligent, well written, and well acted shows on television. Mad Men continues to be one of the very best on Television and the amazing season 5 was no exception.

1. Breaking Bad

All hail the king. Despite the first half of AMC’s Breaking Bad’s final season not being quite as perfect as Season 4 (the series ran into some pacing issues) it still managed to be TV’s best hour. The most suspenseful, gripping and well acted show on television still gave us great moments such as Walt’s 50^th birthday, the crazy train robbery, and the last shot of this year’s run which changes absolutely everything. Breaking Bad is coming to a close next year and if the show continues to be this amazing it’s going to be a fantastic ride.

Lincoln Review

Daniel Day-Lewis as President Lincoln in Lincoln

Lincoln

A+

 

A review by Frederick Cholowski

It takes a master to make a film about master. Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln is the first time in film history where arguably the most beloved president of all time gets his dues. Gone is the god like status, the inhuman caricatures, and the vampire hunting, and in is the portrait of a human being; a human being that has to deal with the weight and consequences of decisions that he, as well as the rest of his party have made. Lincoln is an amazing portrait of one of the most important periods in American History and of the man who defined that period. It also happens to be amongst the best of the best that this year has had to offer.

Lincoln is essentially the movie about President Lincoln (played in this film by Daniel Day-Lewis) attempting to pass the thirteenth amendment and thus ending slavery in America. When the film opens the American civil war is coming to a close with the North about to get the south to surrender and President Lincoln fears he only has a limited amount of time to pass the then controversial amendment in the “barbaric” House of Representatives. So Lincoln and his secretary of state William Seward (David Strathairn) must rush to pass the amendment before the war ends, which because of the war secretly coming to a close very soon, makes that very difficult. So off to recruitment we go as president Lincoln must try and recruit not only some support from his own party but from the dreaded Democrats as well.

While it has the look (and at times a feel) of a classic Spielberg history lesson Lincoln is different in many ways. The films main focus is on quieter scenes that humanize the great president. These scenes are often full of playwright style of dialogue and contain many dialogues and monologs. In fact the best comparison for the way most of the film is played out is in fact in the style of a stage production. That’s not to say that big, dramatic, Spielbergian filmmaking doesn’t get showcased, as the bigger moments, highlighted with an amazing John Williams score, still feel like the good old days of big American biopics. Overall the feel of the film is a perfect balance of both elements and features some truly amazing moments on both sides of the spectrum.

Most of these amazing moments come thanks to a brilliant lead performance by Daniel Day-Lewis. Lewis has always been one of the best actors in modern cinema and this is just another knock out performance to add to his resume. Lewis brings so much subtlety and human complexity to president Lincoln while still consistently retaining that large figure status of Lincoln. The best part of the film is how through the writing and Lewis’s performance president Lincoln is portrayed as a human being. He may be a larger than life figure on the outside, but on the inside he’s just a crafty politician that just happens to be a step ahead of the best of them. Ultimately this gives Lewis a ton to work with, and he gets out of it is masterful.

There is some fantastic supporting work done here as well. The best of the supporting players is Tommy Lee Jones as the anti slavery republican Thaddeus Stevens. Jones gets to have some fun and chew on some fantastic scenery and between him and The Master’s Philip Seymour Hoffman it’s going to be a tight race for best supporting actor. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is his usual amazing self as the president’s son who’s convinced he needs to enlist. Levitt brings his usual charisma and power and continues to prove that he’s one of today’s best young actors. There are other amazing performers who show up in supporting roles, John Hawkes, Sally Field, and David Strathairn amongst many others.

The look of the film still retains the classic feel of a big Spielberg film. Lincoln is gorgeously shot and masterfully directed and the attention to detail in every shot is astounding. Wide, all encompassing shots are mixed in with tighter, more conversational medium shots to create a feel that brings out all the different elements of what the film is trying to convey. Then there is the score from the great John Williams that proves that even after all these years that he’s still one of the greatest movie soundtrack composers in history.

Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln represents the first time that president Lincoln gets a proper treatment in the movies. The film is a vast, yet personal take on one of the most important times in American History. The film represents a return to tip top form for the great director as well as another brilliant film to add to the best of 2012.

Skyfall Review

A grizzled Bond waiting for the kill in Skyfall

Skyfall

A+

  

A review by Frederick Cholowski

Welcome back Mr. Bond.

After the dismal Quantum of Solace, MGM going bankrupt, and a script rewrite or two, the most recognizable spy in modern Western culture returns just in time for his fiftieth anniversary on the big screen. Skyfall represents as close to the perfect Bond film as possible, with throwbacks to the old while keeping the staples of the new. If it weren’t for my personal favorite Bond film Casino Royale, it wouldn’t be hard to proclaim this the best Bond film since the 1960’s. Even so Skyfall is easily amongst the absolute best of Bond, and the best pure action film of the year.

Skyfall opens with what may be the most intriguing set up for any Bond film ever, the near death of 007. Bond (played again by Daniel Craig) is shot by fellow agent Eve (Naomie Harris) while attempting to take down a terrorist who steals a hard drive containing the names of all the MI6 agents who are undercover around the world. Cue the bombastic opening credits (more on them later) and resurrection. Bond returns out of shape and mentally destroyed to an M (Judi Dench) who is under distress after a series of physical and virtual attacks by a crazed former agent of MI6 known as Silva (Javier Bardem). Bond, while dealing with his own issues, must track and take down Silva while at the same time protecting M and all of MI6 from collapsing.

Skyfall may be the most emotionally driven Bond film to date, potentially even more so than On Her Majesty’s Secret Service or Casino Royale. This time it’s a different type of relationship that is being tested, the relationship between boss and agent, or to a certain extent mother and son. It’s a dynamic that hasn’t been tested before in a Bond film as M and Bond usually remain far enough removed from each other that these situations never seem to arise. In this film one is absolutely quintessential to the other’s existence, M is required so that Bond has an outlet that allows him to not eat away at himself, and M needs Bond for a sense of protection and security.

Things get even more interesting when Javier Bardem’s Silva get’s thrown into play. Bardem’s Silva is a different kind of Bond villain, Silva doesn’t meddle with world domination or anything silly like that, just pure, clean, revenge for what M has supposedly made him into. Bardem plays Silva with pure perfection; Silva is Antoine Chugar (one of my favorite screen villain ever) meats Joker, both of which blend together to sheer perfection. Silva may be the best villain in Bond’s 50 year screen history, or at least the best since good old Goldfinger from the 1960’s.

Then there is Daniel Craig who continues to be the best Bond since Connery. Craig’s Bond still gets hurt and damaged, and is never invulnerable in any way. In Skyfall, as with Casino Royale, Craig’s Bond is the most human a Bond has ever been. Bond cannot survive on his own and has a set of personal problems that threaten, at times, to destroy him. He’s still the cool, suave agent as he always is but now he’s got a human side as well, something that was always missing in past Bonds.

On top of all this Judy Dench get’s something substantial to do which is always a good thing. Dench gets to show off her Oscar winning acting talent here as the role M plays in this film has been massively increased. The rest of the supporting cast is also fantastic with a few notable standouts. Q is back and this time is played by a younger face, Ben Whishaw. Q adds flavor to the film and paves way for a new Q without leaving behind the grumpiness of old (Q even has time to acknowledge that exploding pens are no longer part of protocol). The main Bond girl this time around, played by Naomie Harris, get’s to play the flirt game with Bond in some of the most entertaining sequences in the film. Finally there is Albert Finney who plays a role that, while he is fantastic in, is not hard to visualize Sean Connery playing.

After the dismal failure in the department of direction four years ago, the producers learned their lessons this time and hired an experienced director in the brilliant Sam Mendes. This is clearly a labor of love for the American Beauty director and the brilliant cinematographer Roger Deakins as every shot is absolutely gorgeous and every action sequence awe inspiring. This may be the best camera work in a Bond film period, and that’s not an exaggeration. Action sequences are very well staged and easy to follow, thanks to the use of longer shots and slower cuts. The sequences still maintain the visceral feel of new Bond while allowing for the flair for the dramatic of old Bond. The film also doesn’t feel that it needs to top itself at the end, climaxing with a sequence that relies more on tension and menace than a large, overblown set piece. It’s refreshing to see the ideas of the 1960’s return to Bond again isn’t it!

Then there is the score; Skyfall opens with the best Bond song in a very long time with Adele at the helm of “Skyfall” the song. The big, dramatic, and brassy tune brings back the best of the Shirley Bassey era with a little bit of Paul McCartney thrown in as well. It’s hard to imagine a better song for this film and is one of the ways that the old is new again. The rest of the score is also fantastic; Thomas Newton throws in lots of the “James Bond” theme into a mix of acoustic themes and electric meddling. It works extraordinarily well and the score is used expertly to convey the many different emotions contained within the film.

Skyfall represents a return to greatness in the Daniel Craig era of Bond. It’s a beautify crafted masterwork of the action movie genre that brings the best of the best of Bond, both old and new. It’s the best present that a Bond fan, or cinema lover in general, could possibly get for the fiftieth anniversary of the great British spy. Add another film to the ever growing A+ class of 2012.

Welcome back Mr. Bond.