Top Ten Films of 2012

Now that I flushed cinematic shit out of my system, I want to praise some movies that tugged at my heartstrings and made me want to tell everyone I know to see them. Here are my top ten films of 2012:

10

Seven Psychopaths

Going into this movie, I wasn't surprised that there was going to a philosophical message in it. It was like that with Colin Farell's first collaboration with Martin McDonagh in In Bruges. What surprised me the most in the meta aspect of the film. The movie could have been like McDonagh's version of Adaptation. The movie was funny and thought provoking with stand alone performances by Sam Rockwell and Chris Walken.

9

Skyfall 

People have some hate for this movie. People say that it's overrated. This movie hearkens back to Casino Royale and makes us forget about Quantum of Solace. Sure the movie is fan service for the 50th anniversary of the Bond franchise, but I loved every minute of it. Great action, performances and the Home Alone aspect made it kitchy.

8

Killer Joe

I have never had so much fun with an NC-17 film ever. Usually, those films have brutal dramatic scenes. This had those, but the movie shows a change in Matthew McConaughey. He is not doing the usual bland romantic comedies. With this movie and his performance in Magic Mike, I'm actually excited to see what he has coming up next.

7

Django Unchained 

With all of the controversy and the "did I just see Jaime Foxx's nutsack" the movie got, I had fun with the over the top bloody goodness. Quentin Tarantino is the only director that could take inspirations for other movies and make something that is fresh and new. Sam Jackson was fucking hilarious as Uncle Ruckus --er, Tom --um Stephen, that's his name. Leonardo DiCpario was intense as Candie. Awesome movie.

6

Silver Linings Playbook 

It took me a while to get this movie. When the Oscar nominations, it was motivation enough to it. I don't know dick about football, but I get why this family are so consumed with the sport and how it relates to their lives. Here is a career defining performance from Bradley Cooper as the emotionally damage Pat. Jen Lawrence was fantastic as an equally damaged young widow. Robert De Niro came back in a big way as Pat Sr.  A non-traditional romance for the people who dislike sappy romantic comdies.

Bottom Ten Films of 2012

I know. I know that I am late to the party, but I follow the same rules as the Academy. Most movies nominated don't come out or go into wide release until January into February. I wanted to see all the films to make my final judgments. Trying to avoid to the awful didn't mean that I didn't see the eventual shitacular assaults to my eyeballs. Here are my bottom ten films of 2012:

 10

The Grey

When I heard the Film Junk tauting this movie as one of the best movies of the year back in June, I wanted to see what the fuss was about. About five minutes into the movie, I knew what was going to happen and the big revelation at the end. There were some fucking annoying characters that I wanted glad became wolf food. I enjoyed their misery the characters went through to make up for mine watching this dreck.

9

Les Misérables

Words cannot describe how much I fucking hated this movie. Not all of the movie, but most of it. Excluding, Anne Hathaway and Samantha Barks, the movie was garbage. I cannot believe that a story about a man doing hard labor for stealing a fucking loaf of bread would be turned into a 2 1/2 hours musical with bland musical numbers Russell Crowe's guttural voice and the mediocre plot. My gay card might be revoked. I don't care.

8

The Bourne Legacy

Call me Miss Cleo, because I was telling Dan from Dan the Man's Movie Reviews that I thought this movie was going to suck elephant balls. I was right. Holy shit! Who wants to see a movie that was a rehash of The Bourne Ultanium but with generic version of Jason Bourne with whatever the fuck his name is. It was dull. So dull that I wanted to rip my fingernails off one by one with rusty pliers.

7

Red Tails

After taking the whole 2011 year off from watching movie, I started off 2012 with watching this bad Hallmark movie that somehow made it to the big screen. Don't get me wrong. I am proud of what the Tuskegee Airmen did in WWII and black pilots in general. It seems that the movie was dripping in so much syrup that you would into diabetic shock. 

6

The Dark Knight Rises

Going into the movie, I did not have the highest of expectations. In this nearly three hour miasma, I was pissed off that people were giving this movie praise. Are you kidding me? Are you high? The plot did not make sense. Christopher Nolan ending the Batman franchise is a good thing so we don't have to sit through another godawful Bruce Wayne flick. Back to the drawing board, Nolan. 

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)

Directed by Stephen Chbosky

Screenplay by  Stephen Chbosky

Based on his book

Currently #214 of the Top 250 Films of All Time on IMDb (as of this posting)

Stars: Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller, Johnny Simmons, Nina Dobrev, Adam Hagenbuch, Mae Whitman, Erin Wilhelmi, Kate Walsh, Dylan McDermott, Paul Rudd, Melanie Lynskey and Joan Cusack

The first time hearing about The Perks of Being a Wallflower was an advertisement for the book on Mtv. It was during my senior year in high school and I wanted to read the book, but I never got the chance. The movie adaptation of the book was highly anticipated for me, but the movie was in limited release and never opened wide. Being bummed about that, waiting for the movie to come out on DVD was the only option. This movie could be the Generation XY version of The Breakfast Club.

Taking place in Pittsburgh circa 1991, Charlie (Lerman) is about to enter his freshman year of high school. It is a scary time for any teenager, but Charlie is a special case. He is the wallflower in the title, but he has skeletons in his closet about the tragic death of his aunt, Helen (Lynskey) years prior. He is haunted by that. Charlie realizes that the people that he knew from middle school would ignore him.

As his teacher, Mr. Anderson tells him, "if you a friend on the first day, you're okay." His luck is about to change when he meets a couple of seniors, Patrick and Sam (Miller, Watson) at a football game. Patrick is an openly gay student that is teased mercilessly for being himself. He didn't let that stop. Patrick step-sister, Sam is the object of Charlie's affections, but he is too shy to tell her his feelings. She is damaged herself with unsavory things happened to her. The trio become like the band of misfits. They are comfortable not conforming to social norms of high school life.

This movie made me revisit my high school expierences. Most were not pleasant, but it made me focus on the friends that I had when I was going through my inner demons. If it was not for those people that were misfits, outcasts like myself, I would not be here. They taught me that I am unqiue. Embrace and love myself. That I was special. Lifesavers all of them. Through all the times that I was constantly questioned about my sexuality, being called Brenda, being bullied, I went through some dark times especially my freshmen year like Charlie.

Every kid should see this movie that let them know that they are not freaks. The people messing with you are the freaks, because they cannot appreciated that you are being yourself and not being an high school archetype. This movie made me feel the same way like I did when I saw Dazed and Confused. It brings back those carefree days being young and having people that will stick by you through thick and thin.

You can probably tell by now that I love this movie. The actors were sensational in there roles. I might say that I confused about when the setting took place, because I thought it was modern day. When I realized it was taking place 1991/1992, the movie made more sense.

My Rating

 

The Sessions

The Sessions (2012)

Directed by Ben Lewin

Screenplay by Ben Lewin

Based on the article, "On Seeing a Sex Surrogate" by Mark O'Brien

Stars: John Hawkes, Helen Hunt, William H. Macy, Moon Bloodgood, Rhea Perlman, Adam Arkin, Annika Marks, W. Earl Brown and Robin Weiger

The first mention of this movie was tied to my seeing Killer Joe at the Landmark Theater when a trailer of it came out. Then, that was it. No mention about when it was coming out. Nothing was said until award season came around with John Hawkes and Helen Hunt getting some love. It was kismet that I am reviewing this movie on Single's Awareness Day. It is a touching story that I didn't want to end.

This is not the first time that Mark O'Brien's story was tossed about during award season. Back in 1996, Jessica Yu made the documentary, Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O'Brien that went on to win the Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subject the next year. It was surprised that another aspect of Mark's life went into the national consciousnesses. 

The Sessions is based on the article that Mark O'Brien wrote when he was questioning if he could feel any connection with another human being. Mark portrayed by John Hawkes is stricken with polio and is confined to an iron lung for most of his waking hours. He comtemplates what God has in store for him. Due to his Catholic umbrining he has a traditional way of looking at sex. He turns to the new priest of the church he goes to, Father Brendan (Macy) about God's take on him losing his virginity. After giving his blessing, Mark gets in touch with a sex surrogate named Cheryl played by Oscar nominee Helen Hunt that will help him lower his guard to devirginize him over a period of six sessions.

The Sessions flew under the radar for me so long that I didn't know that it was coming out on DVD until last Tuesday. Wow. Watching the trailer I thought the movie would be a comedy. The movie turns out to be a very heartfelt dramedy. It's a simple about a man that wanted to feel that connection with another human being. That's what all humans want connection.

Mark O'Brien is a human being that wanted to be treated like anybody else even though he had condition that left him in an iron lung. A fasicinating person to know, even in a ficitionalized matter. I believe that it was John Hawkes subtle performance that made me fall in love with Mark, and want to get to know him more.  Helen Hunt was nuanced in her portyral in this movie. I have never heard of a sex surrogate before watching this movie. All the questions I had about her line of work were answered for me. She is not a prositute. She helps physically disabled men fulfill a basic human need.

My Rating

 

The Invisible War

The Invisible War (2012)

Directed by Kirby Dick

Written by Kirby Dick, Amy Ziering and Douglas Blush

Stars: Kirby Dick, Amy Ziering, Kori Cioca, Trina McDonald, Lieutenant Ariana Klay, Lieutenant Elle Helmer, Michael Matthews, Jessica Hinves, Hannah Sewell and Sergeant Myla Haider

Usually it is very hard to see a documentary in a theater unless you are Morgan Spurlock or Michael Moore. By the time that the Academy Awards come around, the only time you can see the documentaries on either on DVD or on Hulu. Thankfully most of the nominees for Best Documentary including this one are available on DVD. People say that the movie is groundbreaking, but it has been an open secret for years.

After viewing Kirby Dick's last documentary, Outrage, he has a real sense of rising the alarm on subjects that are swept under the rug like closeted politicians embroiled in sex scandals. The subject of The Invisible War sheds light on the rampant cases of sexual assaults in the United States military. The documetaritarians follows the stories of service men and women that were victims of sexual assaults. At least, twenty-fives individuals talked about their horrific experiences of being raped, be investigated by supervisors for submitting a false report and having their cases thrown out on flimsy technicalities.

Over the years, reports of sexual assaults did get national attention when a soldier press charges on their assailants and nothing is done about it. While watching the movie, I remember an incident that happened when I was in separations. Their was a male sailor visiting separations for a little bit and I heard that the next day that him and another male sailor has some sort of sexual contact happened after taps. Nothing was said about the incident after that.

Nobody can imagine how these women and men can move live on with that the thought their assilant can violtae them and get a slap on the wrist. Stated eariler, the subject on sexual assaults on miliutary is nothing new. Kirby Dick got more in depth about how the lives the victims have changed when they were raped and the aftermath.

It seems that something is lost in translation between what happens in the civilian world towards rape and what happens in a military base when a rape occurs. It boggles the mind the chain of command can be flippant about not investigation claims of rape that would disrupt morale of their units, because they don't want to feel like they are a bad commander. Either way, not doing anything about it would perpetuate more this behavior if the assailant know that they could get away from it. Somebody needs to held accountable for the actions of the people that are under your command.

Kudos to the brave men and women who let their voices be heard and try to make a change to system that clearly favors the assailant rather than victim. The Department of Defense needs to opens their to see that their thousands upon thousand of our military personnel that are attacked every year. Something needs to be done to bring justice to the victims that will ever physical and mental scars of their ordeal for the rest of their lives.

My Rating

Lincoln

Lincoln (2012)

Directed by Steven Spielberg

Screenplay by Tony Kushner

Based on the book, "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln" by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, James Spader, Hal Holbrook, Tommy Lee Jones, John Hawkes, Jackie Earl Haley, Tim Blake Nelson, Lee Pace and Joseph Cross

There was trepidation in watching Steven Spielberg's latest movie. Another year, another biopic for gimmee gimmee lotsa Oscars. It is played out and stale. The movie was nomianted for 12 Oscars, which is eight too much in my opinion. You can possibly tell there was not love out for this movie.

It seems that Spielberg and company wanted to take an atypical biopic like Capote (hated it) or Milk (meh). Make it a one word title, specifically the last name and try to focus on one specific time in the insert historical person here's life and spit it out to the American public. Here, the film focuses on the last four months of Lincoln's (Day-Lewis) life as he tireously tries to get the thirteenth amendment passed and signed into law. That's it. That the whole movie in a nutshell.

The movie is like watching long drawn out version of The West Wing with a bunch of filler to over-stuff it. The boring back and forth about a piece of legislation. The movie did not focus on Lincoln that much. It was all about the damn amendment. It should have been called The Thirteenth Amendment. This is no way downgrading what the piece of legislation has done to my ancestors and many others, but nobody wants to hear a bunch of stuffy men talk about legislation for over two hours. It grows tiresome after ten minutes.

A movie having a 86 Metacrtic would have been at least enjoyable. There was some dozing moments on my end. Everybody is touting that DDL will be the first actor ever to win three Best Actor Oscars. What's so special about this performance? It was laid flat. No nuisance. No gravitas. It was a dead fish. His performance in There Will Be Blood was leaps and bounds better than his Lincoln lite he put on.

The only person worth mention is the brilliant performance of Tommy Lee Jones as Thaddeus Stevens, the Pennsylvanian Representative that fought for most of his life to get slavery abolished in the country. Whenever he was onscreen, nobody was in the room. He has an intensity that few could master. Bravo, TLJ.

Sally Field on the other hand was cartoonish in her portrayal of Mary Todd Lincoln. It felt like she was in a different movie. Like she was in a soap opera the way she was speaking. It was reminiscent of Soapdish (which she was in) and not in a good way.

My expectations were very low of this movie and it did not exceed them in the slight bit. There is something that bothered me, when the credit were rolling, did anybody catch the obvious lens flare? Really, Mr. Spielberg? you wanted to do this movie for the last decade when Liam Neeson was attached to play Lincoln. This is what you came up with. Back to drawing board, sir.

My Rating

Life of Pi

Life of Pi (2012)

Directed by Ang Lee

Screenplay by David Magee

Based on the novel by Yann Martel

Currently #182 of the Top 250 Films of All Time on IMDb as of this posting.

Stars: Suraj Sharma, Iffran Khan, Adil Hussain, Tabu, Rafe Spall and Gérard Depardieu

When I heard that Life of Pi was coming out, I was excited. I was goign to see it when it opened Thanksgiving weekend, but then I put it off until I heard some rumbling about the themes of the movie. It really made me stay away from the movie. Seeing as the movie was nominated for eleven Academy Awards, I had to see the movie. It is a beautiful but the message was lost in translation.

As the trailers of the movie suggests that Pi (Khan) lived through his ordeal to tell the tale. A writer (Spall) comes into his home to ask Pi about his harrowing journey being lost at sea and that he would convince him that God exists with his story. Pi recounts his days in India that his family ran a zoo for many years until they could not afford to keep it up. Pi's father (Hussain) decides to ship the family and the animals on a Japanese ship to Canada. On the way to Canada, the ship sinks only leaving Pi as the sole human survivor with a zebra, an orangutan, a hyena and a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker to survive in the middle of Pacific Ocean.

People keep saying that the movie was making you believe that God exists and all that. Do I believe in the Holy Trinity? Yes, I do. I am not into organized religion. Pi is looking for God in Hinduism, Christianity and Muslim religions. I am person that is very spiritual in my beliefs. I think that religion is constricting and hyporcitcal. I will not fault people that have a strong religious belief. Good on you.

In the beginning of the movie, it felt like the movie was cramming God down my throat. It was hammering in the message of God in every conversation that was taking place between Pi and the priest, Pi and his father and Pi to himself. We get it already.

The movie was wanted to tell this harrowing story of survival beyond insurmountable odds, but I felt the movie lost that emotional core. Everyone knew that Pi was going to survive. There was no tension or danger that Pi's life will be threatened. The movie failed in that aspect. The ending of the movie was a headscratcher. I cannot spoil it, but it left me confused.

I did not see this movie in 3D, but I have to say the visual effects and the cinematography were truly spectacular. It was visual feast for the eyes. Like some movies I saw in 2012, it was all style and no substance.

My Rating

Les Misérables

Les Misérables (2012)

Directed by Tom Hooper

Screenplay by William Nicholson 

Based on the stage musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg & Alain Boublil (book) and Herbert Kretzmer (lyrics)

Original French text by Alain Boublil & Jean-Marc Natel

Additional text by James Fenton

Based on the novel by Victor Hugo

Stars: Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Russell Crowe, Eddie Redmayne, Amanda Seyfried, Sascha Baron Cohen, Helena Bonham Carter, Aaron Tveit, Samantha Barks and Daniel Huttlestone

There was no inclination of me seeing Les Misérable, because there was no intrestest in seeing it. I might have to give up my gay card, but musicals are getting played out. This is a straight person's musical with lots of death and drawn out ballads. I like the flashy musicals. What can you do? Since the movie with nominated for eight Oscars, it was my duty to see it. The title is fitting. It was a miserable expierence.

Taking place in France, a prisoner Jean Valjean (Jackman) is released from serving hard work when he stole a piece of bread. Excuse me, that is the starting point of the movie. I think that so fucking stupid. Valjean is released by Javert (Crowe), a ruthless policeman that attended for Valjean's life to be a living hell. Under the conditions of his parole, he has to check in frequently. Valjean decides to go on the run and change his idenity. 

Years later, he is a mayor of small town. One of his factory workers, Fantine (Hathaway) is tossed out in the streets. She has to turn to prostitution to help pay for the care of her young daughter, Cosette. When Fantine dies, it has become Valjean's duty to help raise Cosette as he promised to Fantine. Valjean and Cosette has to live their lives on the run from Javert.

The opening frames of this movie, I knew that I was going to hate it. No. I don't hate it. The movie is like being in a canoe in the middle of a hurricane. There is this build up then the eye of the storm comes and some remnants remain. You just want to toss your cookies.

I'm not going to bag on the entire movie in this review. The notables highlights of the film were the breathtaking visuals, the costumes. It was aesthetically pleasing, but the movie is 97% singing. Everything seemed muddled together. I enjoyed the female characters in this movie more than the males. Anne Hathaway was transcendent in her part as Fantine, the prostitute dying of consumption. She broke my heart. A special commendation goes to Samantha Barks who played Éponine. She was fantastic in brief appearance in its 2 1/2 hour runtime.

Does Hugh Jackamn deserve his Oscar nomination? I'm debating on that. Hugh was fine. I have a huge problem with Jean Valjean's intentions. The decisions that he made where questionable. I cannot get into many details without spoiling it. Russell Crowe was cringe-worthy. He has his "band", but him singing was painfully bad. His monotone delivery was almost unbearable.

The main thrust of this movie was the commoners rising up to the establishment. The message of the revolutionaries was trivial. It was an afterthought. I didn't care for it. The movie tried to be the sweeping grand epic, but it felt disconnected to me as the audience member.

My Rating

Amour

Amour (2012)

Written and directed by Michael Haneke

Stars: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Riva, Isabelle Huppert,  Alexandre Tharaud, William Shimell, Rita Blanco and Ramón Agirre

While I was researching for my Best Foreign Language Film submission of The LAMB Devour the Oscars blog-a-thon, I stumbled on the official website and realized that Amour was opening at the indie theater downtown. I went to the first opening showing of the movie. The movie being nominated for Best Foreign Film and Best Picture, I thought I would fall in "amour" with the film. It was good, but not great.

A married octogenarian couple, Georges (Trintignant) and Anne (Riva) are enjoying their golden years together. After attending a concerto by one of their star students for when they were music teachers, Alexandre (Tharaud), Georges notices that Anne is unresponsive to him. He tries desperately to figure out what is wrong with her. Later, they come to realize that Anne has stroke which leaves her paralyzed on her right side. Now, that Georges has to take care of her, Anne does not want to be a burden to Georges. She wants to be her old self before her health began to decline.

This movie really hit home with me, because my grandmother who has recently passed on was dealing with some of the instances that happened in this movie. My grandmother was the typical grandmother that loved life, her family and will do anything to help you out. When she got into her twilight years, her health began to decline and she would have to depend on nurses to come in and caregiver to help her through simple chores the aveage person takes advangetage of. I know that my grandma and Anne did not want to be living in a helpless state. They are both strong-willed people that could be difficult at times.

Watching the movie, it made me ask the question, "If I was too far gone to take care of myself, would I be treated like an adult baby or be able to find everlasting peace?" It is hard to answer that question now. The movie is very quiet in its presentation. Haneke's last feature, The White Ribbon left me with a bad taste in my mouth. He tends to omit the good stuff and leaves the scraps on the screen. The same thing almost happens here.

The movie is saved by the wondrous performances of Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva. I truly believe that they were a real married couple that has to deal with a major life altering event. The movie is heartbreaking to watch a woman lose a bit of herself every time you saw her. I thought the movie was similar to Away from Her on the surface, but delved into depths never before shown on screen. I have to say one final thing, I was confused by the intentions of Georges at the end of the movie.

My Rating

Silver Linings Playbook

Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

Directed by David O. Russell

Screenplay by David O. Russell

Based on the book, "The Silver Linings Playbook" by Matthew Quick

Stars: Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver, Anupam Kher, John Ortiz, Julia Stiles, Paul Herman, Dash Mihok, Brea Bee and Chris Tucker

I have no idea why it took me so long to see Silver Linings Playbook. I guess, it was something about football that I don't know shit about. It's all a foreign language to me. Since the movie was nominated for eight Oscars, I thought I should check it out before it leaves the theaters. I am glad I did.

Bi-polar Pat Solitano (Cooper) has been released from the loony bin after eight months by her mother, Dolores (Weaver). He was put in there in the first place, because he had a psychopathic break when he caught his wife, Nikki (Bee) cheating with another man and almost killed him. Pat tries to integrate back into his family's eccentric dynamic. Pat Sr. (De Niro) is a obsessive compulsive man who is very superstitious about his betting on the Philadelphia Eagles in order to open a restaurant.

Pat is obsessed with Nikki and wants to change for Nikki to take him back. Pat meets a broken young widow named Tiffany (Lawrence) who is self-described as dirty sloppy slut. They have a weird set of run-ins until they both have major things that want done.

What made stay away from this movie with mental illness and football aspect of the film. I have suffered from mental problems all my life and I hate how it is portrayed on screen. It's either the butt of the joke or completely over the top. I'm glad it was not exploited in this movie. It made me relate my eccentricities to the characters on screen.

Even though, I loved the movie. It was something about the ending that made me scoff. I understood there can't be "Silver Linings Playbook" without the silver lining. I forgave it for that. I'm thankful that the Oscar nominations made me get off my butt and see this film.

My Rating

Zero Dark Thirty

Zero Dark Thirty (2012)

Directed by Kathryn Bigelow

Screenplay by Mark Boal

Stars: Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Fares Fares, Jennifer Ehle, Édgar Ramírez, Mark Strong and James Gandolfini

One of my most anticipated releases of 2012 was Kathryn Bigelow's latest feature, Zero Dark Thirty.Waiting on bated breath as the movie didn't come out in wide release until it was nominated for five Oscars on Thursday. Bigelow's last film was the Oscar winning The Hurt Locker, which was my number one movie of 2009. I fully expected that this movie was surpass it. Needlessly to say, I was slightly disappointed with it.

Maya (Chastain) is CIA operative who has been reassigned to Pakistan after the events of 9/11. She witnesses first hand what interrogators do to get the information they need to find the most wanted man ever. The small groups of operatives go off of leads and intelligence reports to find the exact whereabouts of bin-Laden. Is he in a cave as the American people all believed? Was he hiding in place sight and nobody knew anything about it? That was Maya's number mission to locate and bring bin-Laden to justice.

I remember the night when the president announced that Osama bin-Laden was killed. People were gathering in front of the White House cheering on his death. Watching a movie, I remembered a phone interview I had with former Fox commentator John Gibson on his radio show a few years back. He asked me if the US should go into Pakistan to get UBL. I said, yes. We debated on how can the US invade a friendly country to get the mastermind behind 9/11. He had to pay for killing 3,000 people that day. I was proven right. In your face, John Gibson. Suck on that.

As stated before, my expectations with this movie were very high. I thought it was going to blow all of the other movies out of the water. Was the movie intense? Yes. They were few and far between, expect the last act of the movie was edge on your seat. I had the same feeling when I saw The Master. The movie felt empty. I was bored was the movie, shifted around in my seat. I think that Chastian's performance deserved the nomination for Best Actress. There were specific moments in The Hurt Locker that I back on with awe. I guess, that would be said with the last moments of the movie, but it had to be added in when the US captured bin-Laden as they made the movie. Without that last part of the movie, it would been another disappointment as I had many this year.

My Rating

Django Unchained

Django Unchained (2012)

Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino

Stars: Jaime Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, Dennis Christopher, Walton Goggins, James Remar, Don Johnson, and Jonah Hill

Happy New Year, everyone. I know that I haven't been posting for awhile. I had to deal with a death in the family. I know that life goes on and you have to move on. I wanted to get that out of the way before I start my review, which will contain coarse language where I delve into the "controversy" of the subject matter and language. Be forewarned.

Tarantino is one of my top five favorite directors of all time. His way of filmmaking is alike anyone. Before you say anything, yes, he gets ideas from other movies and pop culture references, but he makes his films in such way that are fresh and new. His last effort, Inglourious Basterds was one of my top ten films of 2009. My anticipation of his latest feature was at a fevered pitch. This movie is Tarantino's take on the spaghetti western of Sergio Leone, but setting it in the pre-Civil War South circa 1860.

Django (Foxx) is walking across the plains of Texas with other slaves that were recently purchased at auction. The action stops where Dr. King Schultz (Waltz), a bounty hunter masquering as a traveling dentist, rides up to try to find a particular slave that knows a trio of wanted men. The only person that knows who they look like is Django. Schutlz buys his freedom in order for Django to travel with him to collect a bounty. There is also another reason why Django wants to stay with Schutlz. He wants to find his wife, Broomhilda (Washington) who was sold separately because they tried to run away.

Before the film came out, the film swirled with controversy because the frequent use of the word "nigger" throughout the movie. People have to take into account that the movie is set in the Deep South in the late 1850s, nothing was PC back then. The slave owners or white townsfolk can't say, 'look at that African American there." No. Slaves were considered property to their owners like livestock. Nobody cared about what the right word was. They referred to a black person, "boy", "negro" and most of the time, "nigger." Nobody says anything when rappers say "nigga" is their lyrics or when two black people say "nigga" in passing. You cannot have it both ways.

I have to say that I was disappointed in the way that Spike Lee criticized the movie for "disrespecting his ancestors" even though he had never seen a single frame of the film when he made that statement. Coming from a man that dealt like racism like Do the Right Thing or Bamboozled, it's the pot calling the kettle black. Slavery is a touchy subject that few will address. It is a part of the African American experience. I came from strong willed people who survived being ripped from their homeland, packed into slave ships like sardines, living under hazardous conditions, suffering beating, rapes and other awful things to survive. We need to have a dialogue about our dark past.

Now that is out of the way, I want to talk about the film on its own merits. I thought was going to pull an IB and not be what it was advertised in the TV spots. Nope. It was exactly what the ad were saying, which wax disappointing. That doesn't matter that the movie was awful. It was enjoyable to watch. Blood spurting out of wounds that hasn't been seen since Kill Bill: Vol. 1. The violence is over the top, because the movie's plot was never happen in real life. Bring on the blood splattered walls.

I have to give a special shout-out to Leo, because his portrayal of Calvin Candie was nuanced and subtle, but he turn on a dime on you. Sam Jackson was the comedy relief in such a heavy subject. His presence in the movie was what the movie the needed. I like everyone else. Nothing remarkable about them. Django was good when he was kicking ass or outsmarting whitey, but he seemed to fall shout of being a well rounded character.

My Rating

Safety Not Guaranteed

Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

Directed by Colin Trevorrow


Screenplay by Derek Connolly

Stars: Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass, Jake Johnson, Karan Soni, Jenica Bergere, Jeff Garlin, Kristen Bell and Mary Lynn Rajskub

There was a lot of buzz with Safety Not Guaranteed when it opened last summer. It was my intention to catch it when it was in theaters, but I was too late. Now that the movie is on DVD, I hesitant that I might not like it. I liked the movie for the most part, but it start off a little strange for my taste.

Darius (Plaza) is an intern for magazine in Seattle. Much like Aubrey Plaza's other characters, she is a snarky morose girl that hates everything and everyone. Darius wants to do something bigger than she is currently doing. She gets her chance when a reporter, Jeff (Johnson) has an idea for a piece. He pitches doing a pieces on a guy that puts out an ad for a partner to go back in time with him. Jeff takes Darius and another intern, Arnau (Soni) to the city where the ad was placed. Darius manipulates the guy, Kenneth (Duplass) into letting her be that partner for the time travel adventure.

As stated before, it irritates me when someone is doing the same persona is every single role that they were in. I have a problem with Aubrey Plaza playing the role like Michael Cera. It felt like I was going to hate the movie, but when the other characters were introduced, the irritation subsided. At first, I didn't like the Jeff character. I thought he was just another jerk that wants to screw around, but his arch surprised me.

The other thing that made me fall in love with the movie was the chemistry between Darius and Kenneth. You wouldn't think that the guy who might a madman or a mad genius would be someone that Darius can connect with.

The movie made me think if I could make a time machine, where would I go? It makes you think of the regrets people have in their lives. Do I have regrets? Absolutely. If I could go back in time, I would. Besides this movie is not explicitly about time travel like Looper, Primer or Timecrimes.

 My Rating

21 Jump Street

21 Jump Street (2012)

Directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller

Story by Michael Bacall & Jonah Hill

Screenplay by Michael Bacall

Stars: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Ice Cube, Brie Larson, Dave Franco, DeRay Davis and Rob Riggle

I was on the camp of every person that heard that they were making a comedic remake of the 80s series of the same name that it was going to be terrible. I chose to skip the movie when it was in theaters. Then, my movie nerds kept telling me that the film is actually pretty good. I would say that the movie is funny and ridiculous, but not the second coming.

The story centers around two losers, Jenko and Schmidt (Tatum, Hill) who were the outcasts when they went to high school together. Seven years later, they met again while in police academy training. They become fast friends for convenience. They thought everyday would be like COPS, but it's more like Pacific Blue. While on parole, they look at a gang smoking weed and they try to take them down, expect Jenko forgot tell the suspect his Miranda rights. Instead of getting the sack, they are resigned to previously defunct Jump Street mission to see who is dealing a street drug called HFS to high school students.

Before I saw one frame of the film, I thought it was going to be like Starsky & Hutch or The Dukes of Hazzard. I thought it was going to be a horrible comedic remake of a television show of a different genre. No idea why, but the concept kinda works here. You get guys that looks like a typical high school to infiltrate the school to find major shit going on.

It feels like the drug in question is not a big deal to me. It was like LSD and marijuana wrapped in plastic. It was not like it was bath salts or some other crazy shit that's out there. The chemistry between Hill and Tatum was very good. They worked well with each other.

Everybody knows the film has cameos by three of the main stars of the TV show: Holly Robinson-Pete, Johnny Depp and Peter DeLuise. I was surprised when a good portion of them showed up. I had to rewind it again.

My Rating

Wreck-It Ralph

Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

Directed by Rich Moore

Story by Rich Moore and Phil Johnston and Jim Reardon

Screenplay by Phil Johnston and Jennifer Lee

Stars: John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack MacBrayer, Jane Lynch, Alan Tudyk, Adam Carrolla, Mindy Kipling, Dennis Haysbert, Ed O'Neill

It has been awhile since I reviewed a movie. Today was interesting to say the least. The electricity went out in my neighborhood this morning. I did not want to sit in the house in the darkness so I decided to see something to pass the time. The only movie that I had an inkling to see was Wreck-It Ralph. That blackout must have been a sign, because I moved with this film.

Ralph (Reilly) has been doing the same job for almost thirty years for old school game Fit It Felix Jr (MacBrayer). Being the "bad guy" of the game, he is excluded from activities when the arcade closing up for the night. He is tired of being left out of everything including the celebration of thirty years. Ralph decides to game jumping in order to have some validation to get the notice that he wants. His brash actions may have set off chain of events that lead to disaster or maybe to a greater evil.

I don't see that many animated movies. Mainly to avoid the kids in the audience, but I had no choice. The auditorium was full with them. There was no choice in the matter. My thinking that it was going to be like Megamind. It kinda felt like it. To me, Ralph is not that much of a bad guy. He was misunderstood. People keep telling him that he was a bad guy that he would be brainwashed or something. The same thing is happening to a girl that Ralph meets a girl when he was game jumping named Vanellope (Silverman) was is told she is a glitch in the system of her game, Sugar Rush.

Usually there is a message with these movies. The message is that whatever makes your different makes you unique. You should never let anyone keep you down. By the end of the movie, I was almost on the verge of tears. The enjoyment was felt all around with this film. People should see this.

My Rating

Skyfall

Skyfall (2012)

Directed by Sam Mendes

Screenplay by Neal Purvis & Robert Wade and John Logan

Based on characters created by Ian Fleming

Stars: Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Javier Bardem, Ben Whishaw, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Bérénice Marlohe, Rory Kinnear, Ola Rapace and Albert Finney

After I was throughly disappointed with the "movie" that was Quantum of Solace, I have all but given up hope of the James Bond franchise. Hearing the troubles with MGM delaying the film, it seems like the final nail on the coffin. Now, we have Skyfall that falls on the 50th anniversary of the franchise. This film hearkens back to the past films with a touch of class.

During an assistant in Turkey, 007 (Craig) pursues an assassin, Patrice (Rapace) that has taken an highly sensitive hard drive that contains the identities of MI-6 agents embedded terrorist organizations around the world. In an unlikely moment, his shadow Eve (Harris) accidentally shoots Bond and let the bad  guy get away. Bond is presumed dead. An unknown force is coming after MI-6, but this person is particularly after M (Dench).

I'm familiar with the Bond films. This movie felt like a Bond film. The intrigue, the seductions, the thrills, the suspense, the gadgets; it had all of that. Hearing about the plot of the film beforehand, I knew where the story was going to go, but I did not expect it to go with it did. My analytical brain was trying to figure out where will happen next. Some things I predicted came true and some things didn't. I'm glad that the film went to its roots like in Casino Royale.

The major thing bothered me about the movie was the callbacks to the previous films. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. It felt like deja vu. It understood that it is the 50th anniversary of the Bond franchise, but my head was getting dizzy by those moments.

My Rating

Prometheus

Prometheus (2012)

Directed by Ridley Scott

Screenplay by Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof

Based on elements created by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett

Stars: Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, Guy Pearce, Logan Marshall-Green, Kate Dickie, Sean Harris and Rafe Spall

There was some hesitance in watching Prometheus, because of the polarizing response when it came out. Is it prequel to the Alien series? Is it a one off movie in the Alien universe? People loving the movie, but they have major gripes with it. I thought that I was going to hate the film. Not knowing the Alien canon might work in my favor this time.

2089. A pair of archaeologists, Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Marshall-Green) discovers ancient cave drawings that predate the traditional cave men. It points to a particular star system that is light years away from Earth.

An exploration commences three years later on the spaceship, Prometheus to that very star system. The Weyland Corporation funded the effort to find out of the origins of humanity. The archaeologists as well the cyborg, David (Fassbender), Fifield (Harris), Millburn (Spall) and Ford (Dickie) explore a cavernous ruin that might hold the key to origin of humanity. These explorers might be in over their heads.

Let me just say that I have only seen Alien³ and Alien: Resurrection in its entirety. The other movies have only bits and pieces were seen. Ridley Scott told us that this is not in the vein of the other movies. I cannot explicitly say whether it is or not. I enjoyed this movie very much. If I came into the movie knowing the Alien canon, I might pick the film apart. I might have to revisit the quadrilogy. My opinion might change.

The concept of film has been done in many movies before about exploring alien worlds without knowing the consequences of interrupting the environment. The scope of the film was fascinating the watch. Marc Streitenfeld's score carried weight.

The story went into some unexpected places that made me questions the intentions of everyone on board the ship. I throughly enjoyed Michael Fassbender's performance as David. He plays a being that shows no emotions, but he gives lots of human emotions subtly.

My Rating