Top 10 of 2012 (A.J.'s picks)

by A.J.

January and February are the time of year when I get to catch up on the prestige pictures released over the holidays and also watch any major award nominees that I've missed. A few dozen movies later, I've seen enough to make my picks for the best of movies of the past year.

10. This is 40

This is 40 follows Pete and Debbie as they approach their 40^th birthday and deal with their careers, relatives, children, health, and each other. This could have been a heavy drama, but Judd Apatow’s movie is about happy, positive people doing their best to stay happy and positive. This is not a movie where people yell and scream and you wonder while they’re even married. This is 40 is light on plot, but the characters and set pieces are enough to carry the movie. The best description of This is 40 is as a hilarious drama.  

9. Damsels in Distress

Whit Stillman's first movie in 14 years is not a disappointment. There aren't many movies like Damsels in Distress these days. This is a smart, witty, funny movie about a group of girls that are trying to raise the level of sophistication at their college. The jokes are clever, the female and male characters are well-written and likable, which is becoming a rare thing. This movie feels like a whimsical romantic comedy from the 1930's or 40's, when it was possible to make what we see so rarely today: an inoffensive comedy.

8. Bernie

Bernie tells the unbelievable true story of a mortician in a small East Texas town that became involved with a wealthy widow. Bernie was so well loved by the community that when he killed the widow no one blamed him. Director Richard Linklater has the real life townspeople tell the story in interviews and also act alongside Shirley MacLaine, Matthew McConaughey, and Jack Black as Bernie. Jack Black gives his best performance as the well-meaning mortician. He's able to portray a man so good natured and likable that a community accepted him and never rejected him. The townspeople are a big highlight of Bernie, telling the story through gossip and unexpected humor.

7. The Perks of Being a Wallflower

I never read The Perks of Being a Wallflower, despite everyone I knew telling me that I would love the novel. I feel like this film went overlooked last year, part of the reason being that the movie was made so long after the novel was first published, and it's set 20 years in the past. Would the youth culture of today still find it relevant? I don't know about high school and college kids, but I did. It's tough to make a movie about high schoolers that feels authentic. This movie's authenticity comes from the fine young actors who are able to ground the scenes of teen drama. There are scenes and storylines that feel cliched but that is only because there have been so many movies about teenagers, though not so many as good as this one.

6. Silver Linings Playbook

I wasn't too excited to see Silver Linings Playbook despite its credentials: stars Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, and director David O. Russell. However, Silver Linings Playbook has received a lot of well-deserved attention for the performances from the cast. Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence play people trying to overcome their respective psychological issues. The chemistry between them is good enough to let the age gap between the two actors slide. This is a comedy overall, but certain scenes fall into dramatic territory. The gear changes this movie makes are subtle. Like This is 40, Silver Linings Playbook is a movie about people trying to stay positive while facing serious issues. The "find your silver lining" mantra of Cooper's character is not an empty phrase. He genuinely believes that he can better himself and that other people can do the same. It's a tough, but achievable goal.

5. Django Unchained

Who didn't expect Quentin Tarantino's latest movie to be a hit with audiences and critics and even receive awards attention? But Tarantino deserves all of that praise because he consistently creates multi-faceted, interesting, and funny characters, creates an engaging story, finds just the right cast, and executes it all masterfully. All of this is true of Django Unchained. Christoph Waltz, Jaime Foxx, and Leonardo DiCaprio all give superb performances. Django Unchained is hyperbolically violent, unexpectedly funny, suspenseful, but, above all, it is incredibly entertaining. Tarantino is paying homage to blacksploitation movies and spaghetti westerns of the 1970's, but Django Unchained is on its own a sprawling and engaging western adventure.

4. Zero Dark Thirty

While watching Zero Dark Thirty I was reminded of Zodiac, David Fincher's 2007 film about the meticulous, decades-long, but futile search for a serial killer and the effect it had on those involved. Maya, a CIA agent played by Jessica Chastain, is our guide on the decade-long, seemingly futile, search for Osama Bin Laden. We follow Maya from interrogations at CIA blacksites, the streets of Pakistan, and the world of men in suits at CIA offices. This is more than just a procedural about the CIA and the war on terror. There are elements of a mystery present; puzzle pieces need to be found and assembled, and as the puzzle comes closer to being solved-- the closer Maya gets to the end of the trail-- the movie delves into thriller territory. Zero Dark Thirty is masterfully crafted by director Kathryn Bigelow, cinematographer Greig Fraser, and editors William Goldenberg and Dylan Tichenor. This is not a movie about revenge or retribution; it is about the cost of war, the damage it leaves in its wake, and what it does to everyone involved.

3. The Dark Knight Rises

Sequels tend to dwindle in quality, especially as the number of entries in a franchise increases; however, director Christopher Nolan, along with the rest of the crew and cast, deliver a worthy final chapter for the most recent incarnation of Batman. The stand out performance in this movie is Tom Hardy as Bane. Since we are unable to see most of his face because of the breathing mask Bane must wear, Hardy uses a peculiar and almost jolly accent for Bane's voice and also acts with his whole body, giving Bane a swagger and unusual charisma that makes him a truly interesting villain.

It’s curious to see how time has changed Batman’s villains. They used to be above average criminals, but The Joker in The Dark Knight and Bane in The Dark Knight Rises more closely resemble terrorists. The acts of terror carried out by Bane on Gotham City are intense to say the least. Batman did not defeat the villains of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight on his own, and The Dark Knight Rises is no exception. Every character plays an important part in the story and each is well-acted. I firmly believe that what makes these Christopher Nolan Batman movies work so well is not an outwardly dark nature, a complex tortured hero, or depictions of a cruel, unfair world, though that mistake is made more and more often by other movies being produced. What sets these Batman movies apart is that they successfully merge fantasy and realism to such a point that when a man dressed like bat appears in the night to protect you, you believe every moment.  

2. Argo

What a combination of genres: spy thriller, geopolitical drama, comedy, period piece, and its based on a true story. Argo is also a movie about making a movie, albeit a fake one. That’s a lot of material to handle, but it is executed wonderfully and makes you wish there were more movies like this. Argo is Ben Affleck’s third film as a director and he is getting better and better behind the camera. Affleck plays Tony Mendez, a CIA agent who comes up with a plan to rescue a group of Americans that have escaped the storming of the American embassy in Iran in 1979. His plan, to fly into Iran and, along with the Americans, pose as a Canadian sci-fi film crew and fly out, seems outlandish, and it is, but there are no better ideas. Affleck may play the central character, but part of what makes this movie work is the strong and rich ensemble of well-acted characters. Every actor shines in Argo. Like Zero Dark Thirty, this is a very well-crafted and entertaining thriller, filled with suspense that keeps you on the edge of your seat even if you know how it ends.

1. Moonrise Kingdom

I know, you saw this coming from a mile away. But what can I say, of all the movies I saw last year the best time I had was watching Moonrise Kingdom. I’ll admit that director Wes Anderson isn’t doing anything he hasn’t done before, technically or thematically, but he does it exceedingly well in what is probably his mostly widely seen movie yet. Moonrise Kingdom features the strongest ensemble cast Anderson has had since The Royal Tenenbaums. You’ll find all of the trademarks you expect to see in a film by Wes Anderson: pans from one room to another, inserts of book jackets, slow motion tracking shots, dry humor, and offbeat, melancholy characters. That wistful atmosphere that is also an Anderson trademark is lighter this time since this story of two youngsters in love who runaway to be together is an innocent and optimistic one. Moonrise Kingdom is a fable about misfits searching for their counterparts and a place in the world, and it is a joy watching them on their journey.