With 2012 almost over, and the world not ending as predicted (only a few more days to use that joke), it is time to look back and acknowledge excellence in movies this year. We have actually had a number of very good movies in theaters. When I started doing my movie reviews on this blog, I feared that most of the articles would be me pointing out the flaws I saw. Instead I was delighted to find that most of the movies I went to see kept me entertained and emotionally connected (except for the amazingly dreadful Cloud Atlas).
Regardless,
I have gone through as many movies as possible this year. There were
several that I missed and so was unable to place. So of the movies I've seen this year, here are the winners:
BEST
PICTURE
Les
Miserables
This
was a tough call between this movie and The Dark Knight Rises. Both
movies are incredibly different so comparisons were difficult to
make. But in the end, I had to go with what had a deeper impact on
me. Les Miserables works so well because Tom Hooper stripped
everything non-essential away from the film until the bare bones of
raw emotional truth were laid plain. I know this musical inside and
out, and yet it felt fresh and new. I couldn't help let a few tears
fall during “Little Fall of Rain,” or let out a full throated
laugh during “Master of the House.” This is a showcase of the
art of acting at its best. A great movie should pull you in and make
you feel as though you have completed a long journey with the
characters. The end credits should feel like coming up for air. And
Les Miserables completely enfolds you in its world and it opens you
up to the transcendent nature of art. It points to the higher and
more perfect beauties of the world beyond in a way that does not seem
cheap or flat, but is earned through the characters taking up their
crosses out of love. I have not seen a musical, or any other movie,
like it.
RUNNERS
UP
The
Avengers – the most fun I had at the movies this year. Pure
entertainment.
The
Dark Knight Rises – A fantastic finish to the Nolan trilogy that
brings everything full circle.
Ted
– The funniest film of the year, and it is still funny every time I
watch it.
Argo
– A taut, tense thriller that will leave you on the edge of your
seat until the end.
BEST
DIRECTOR
Christopher
Nolan – The Dark Knight Rises
While
Les Miserables may have taken the spot for best film of the year, the
biggest contribution Tom Hooper's directing made was in letting go
and trusting the actors to make his movie work. Nolan also assembles
a top-notch cast, but fills the film with intense visual
spectacle while at the same time wrestling with problems of wealth
and poverty, self-preservation and self-sacrifice. He creates a
world in Gotham that is a reflection of all of us, both good and bad
inside. Through his direction, you feel the age and strain on Bruce
Wayne and the energetic evil of Bane. He creates a tense, desperate
conflict that continues to raise the stakes until the last few
minutes. In the end, he showed us visually the main theme of the
movies: Batman is a symbol of selflessness that can rally people
together to serve the common good.
RUNNERS
UP
Joss
Whedon – The Avengers
Ben
Affleck – Argo
Tom
Hooper – Les Miserables
Steven
Spielberg - Lincoln
BEST
ACTOR
Hugh
Jackman – Les Miserables
Hugh
Jackman became a star with his turn as the most popular of the X-Men,
Wolverine. Because it was a sci-fi/action movie, I don't think
people took proper note of how precise and primal that performance
was. I saw him in that movie and I knew he was a terrific actor.
Now with his role as Jean Valjean in Les Miserables, the rest of the
world will see what I saw. Jackman believably transforms through
scene after affective scene from being a furious ruffian to terrified
fugitive to selfless father. He carried Valjean with a dignity that
comes from having lived with the worst that humanity has to offer and
coming out on the other side. He cannot be taken in by the
Thenardiers because he has lived in their world before. He has
nothing but endless compassion for Fantine because it was compassion
that changed his life. Jackman uses his strong voice to show us the
slow disintegration of a man's strength. By the end of the film he
is “poured out like water” and Jackman makes you feel every drop
of his life drip away.
RUNENRS
UP
Daniel
Day-Lewis - Lincoln
Kim
Kold – Teddy Bear
Mark
Duplass – Safety Not Guaranteed
Andy
Garcia – For Greater Glory
BEST
ACTRESS
Jennifer
Lawrence – The Hunger Games
Although
she has received more accolades for her role as Tiffany in Silver
Linings Playbook, Jennifer Lawrence needs to be acknowledged for her
wonderfully stoic performance in The Hunger Games. Katniss is not a
character who wears her heart on her sleeve. She buries her emotions
deep down to shelter herself from the horror of her life. Lawrence
gives us Katniss' steely exterior, while letting us small cracks in
her armor along the way. But when awful heartbreak hits her in the
games, the dams break and we see a torrent of agony sweep over her.
All the while she carries Katniss with incredible dignity, more
dignity that most actresses her age could.
RUNNERS
UP
Anne
Hathaway – The Dark Knight Rises
Emma
Stone – The Amazing Spider-Man
Amy
Adams – Trouble With the Curve
Keira
Knightly – Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
BEST
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Tom
Hardy – The Dark Knight Rises
There
is a singular moment in The Dark Knight Rises when I realized how
powerful Tom Hardy's performance was as the brutal terrorist Bane.
Bane is being confronted by his employer over a change in plans. And
without a word, Bane gently lays the back of his hand on the other
man's shoulder. Immediately you see all of the power in the room
shift. The lightest touch changes the entire dynamic. Hardy had to
create a character without using most of his face and also through a
partially distorted voice. So much of Bane had to be shown using
only body language. And Hardy not only transformed his physique into
a literal hulk, but he used every gesture, every posture to convey
Bane's menace, to fantastic effect.
RUNNERS
UP
Rhys
Ivans – The Amazing Spider-Man
Michael
Fassbender - Prometheus
John
Snieder – October Baby
Russel
Crowe -Les Miserables
BEST
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Anne
Hathaway – Les Miserables
I
usually don't buy into “buzz” when it comes to movies. I find
myself departing from many critics regarding what they see as good
art. So when I went to see Les Miserables, I knew that there was a
lot of “buzz” regarding Hathaway's Fantine, but I ignored it as
best I could. And I have to say that the “buzz” is well
deserved. Her performance her was the exact opposite of her worldly
and confident Selina Kyle in The Dark Knight Rises. Her Fantine is
the picture of vulnerability. You feel as though the slightest
breeze could knock her over. And all the while she takes you step by
step through the agony of her life, so that even the smallest ray of
hope fills her with so much joy that your heart cannot help but
swell.
RUNENRS
UP
Jennifer
Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook
Emily
Blunt – Looper
Samantha
Barks – Les Miserables
Elsbeth
Steentoft – Teddy Bear
BEST
SCREENPLAY
Seth
MacFarlane, Alec Sulkin, Wellesley Wild– Ted
Comedy
is very hard to write. In some ways in much more difficult than
tragedy. What makes Ted work so well is not just that it is funny
(the funniest movie of the year), but that it isn't just a series of
gags like you would expect from the producers of Family Guy. Ted has a solid story around it and it is actually about
something. It's about growing up. There's a lot to be said about
the arrested development of adults in this country, and Ted shows us
how life falls apart when we don't grow up. Ted is the symbol of
childhood irresponsibility, but he is so appealing despite his
detestable behavior. That's because there is a part of us that
doesn't want to lose that part of our lives that we know must be
sacrificed on the altar of adulthood. And all the while it is
conveying these themes, the jokes make you laugh more than most
movies.
RUNENRS
UP
Tony
Kushner - Lincoln
Joss
Whedon - The Avengers
Rian
Johnson - Looper
Derek
Connoly - Safety Not Guaranteed
BEST
MAKEUP
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
WETA
once again demonstrates why they are the master of make-up effects,
filling their world with enhancements that are both fantastic and
subtle.
RUNNERS-UP
The
Avengers
Looper
Prometheus
BEST
SPECIAL EFFECTS
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Again,
WETA has taken movie special effects to the next level. Especially
in 48fps, the digital effects never looked so real.
RUNNERS-UP
The
Avengers
Looper
Prometheus
BEST
SCORE
Sune
Martin - Teddy Bear
The
score is so simple that it is easy to overlook. But in its
simplicity is the heartbreak that is indicative of this fragile
little movie.
RUNNERS-UP
Mark
Silvestri - The Avengers
Geoff
Zanelli - The Odd Life of Timothy Green
Howard
Shore - The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey
James
Horner - The Amazing Spider-Man
BEST
SONG
“This
Gift” - The Odd Life of Timothy Green
Glenn
Hansard is an incredibly talented musician who puts all of his
emotions into his songs, and you can feel it in the song about not
letting go of your dreams.
RUNNERS-UP
"A
Thousand Years" - Twilight: Breaking Dawn pt 2
"Big
Machine" - Safety Not Guaranteed
BEST
COSTUMES
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Not
only are the costumes beautiful, but they feel as if they belong in
that world. In other words, it never feels like the characters are
wearing “costumes” but are wearing the clothes of a bygone
culture
RUNNERS-UP
Prometheus
The
Avengers
The
Dark Knight Rises
Below
are the list of all the films of 2012 that I have seen, ranked in
order of excellence:
- Les Miserables
- The Dark Knight Rises
- Marvel's The Avengers
- Teddy Bear
- Argo
- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
- Lincoln
- Ted
- The Hunger Games
- Wreck-It Ralph
- The Amazing Spider-Man
- Skyfall
- Safety Not Guaranteed
- Pitch Perfect
- Looper
- Brave
- The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2
- John Carter
- Snow White and the Huntsman
- October Baby (2012)
- The Odd Life of Timothy Green
- For Greater Glory
- The Cabin in the Woods
- Here Comes the Boom
- This is 40
- The Expendables 2
- Trouble with the Curve
- Prometheus
- Premium Rush
- Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
- Silver Linings Playbook
- Taken 2
- Big Miracle
- What to Expect When You're Expecting
- The Watch
- The Vow
- Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
- Cloud Atlas
iMy
appreciation and judgment of a film should not be taken as a
recommendation. Choosing to watch any of these films is the
reader's responsibility
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