10. The Master :: Not a good film, frankly, but rather some sterling performances that are edited together into something that approximates a story. I might've scored this higher if the hype surrounding this movie hadn't been so hysterical. Nowhere near as bad as "The Tree of Life," but nowhere near as good as many would have you believe.
9. Argo :: Not much plot here either, and Affleck's character is so untainted he's nearly non-existent, but otherwise this is a terrific cinematic experience and one of my favorites of the year.
8. Cabin In The Woods :: Genre horror movies CAN still be smart and fun! I went into this screening with zero expectations and kept getting rewarded at every story turn. I enjoyed this so much I raved about it for months. Highly recommended. I do suspect, though, that Joss Whedon operates on a gut level that capitalizes on emotional momentum rather than cumulative narrative suspense. As a strategy that really fell apart in The Avengers, but really worked for me here.
7. Still Alive: Paul Williams :: I find Paul Williams to be a fascinating human being, and I love his music from the 70s (his score to "Bugsy Malone" is an all-time favorite of mine). But this is more a story of filmmaking, and of an artist seeking redemption. It works on both levels. Highly recommended.
6. The Raid: Redemption :: Outstanding action flick, directed with flare and a super-tight budget. It's extremely similar to "Dredd" which also came out this year, and I can't tell if either film is emulating the other. While "Dredd" was executed with more polish, "Raid" has a lot more going on under the hood, and is a more satisfying story AND a better choreographed action movie.
5. The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye :: a documentary love story executed in an experimental style that I found very appealing. Hard to encapsulate, so I recommend you see this on faith instead of me trying to tell you why you should see this.
4. The Grey :: The most underrated movie of the year. Yes, the depiction of the wolves here is beyond awful, but then again the shark in Jaws is hilariously dumb too, and that movie's a classic. It's the Jack London masculinity in this yarn that sets it apart, with spectacular performances from everybody involved. I was riveted to the very last frame. A tremendous film worth revisiting.
3. The Snowtown Murders (or just "Snowtown," as Netflix has it) :: An Australian film very much in the vein of working class crime cinema that I seem to see a lot of coming from the Antipodes in recent years. But as a first feature this film is all the more remarkable for the cool, distanced perspective of the alienated teen protagonist, and for the experimental flourishes in this otherwise kitchen-sink style portrait of a serial killer. Emotionally ugly and cinematically uncompromising, one of my favorite films of the year.
2. Holy Motors :: I heard about this on the web after it got some buzz at Cannes, so saw this without expectation at Film Forum in NYC. Utterly hypnotizing performance by Denis Lavant, who travels from one bewildering vignette to another "Cosmopolis" style in a chauffeured limousine. If you're not in love with this movie by the time you get to the accordion music scene then this movie was never for you. An outstandingly poignant performance from Kylie Minogue too. I never thought I'd ever type that sentence, but there you are.
1. Beasts of the Southern Wild :: Call me a sentimental old fool, but this is my favorite movie of the year by a long stretch. I commented at the time that I wished this is the kind of movie Terry Gilliam had moved towards in his late career. Nothing about this movie felt insincere, and the six year old girl at the center of this story is as wild and passionate as any actor I've ever admired. I'd trade this film for a dozen "Dark Knight Rises," "John Carter" or "Skyfall" blockbusters. Can American cinema get back to this, please? Honorable mention :: "Killer Joe" (this nutty William Friedkin crime movie would totally have made the list if I'd seen it sooner), and "Cosmopolis," which just didn't make the cut.
Other movies that had aspects I appreciated but otherwise was disappointed by :: "Looper" (solid - not as inspired as I'd hoped, but if you can ignore the implausible plot this is great scifi fun featuring JGL with a variety of firearms), "Lincoln" (finally a Spielberg movie I can enjoy with only minor reservations), "Cloud Atlas" (it's not the book, which is its strength and its weakness), "Skyfall" (it's the best James Bond movie ever, in that it has almost nothing to do with Bond movies as we know them), "Dredd" (a Judge Dredd movie that I never expected to see never mind enjoy), "John Carter" (Andrew Stanton should've paid more attention to that script, but at least it's visually breathtaking sci-fi), "Silver Linings Playbook" (the best implausible movie-about-faith-that-ends-with-a-dance-competition movie that I saw all year - dazzling direction and entertaining performances from all save this from utter ridiculousness)
I haven't seen "Django Unchained," "Moonrise Kingdom", or "Flight" yet, but I'm reliably informed they're awesome. Haven't seen "Life of Pi" either.
"The Dark Knight Rises" and "Prometheus" absolutely sucked. And I also found "Zero Dark Thirty" to be grossly overrated.
And that's that for another year. I must admit there is a lot I'm looking forward to in 2013. Meet you back here in 12 months..!
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