Best of 2012--Movie Edition!

[Commando]

So Bernie is worth seeing? I've almost netflixed it a couple times

Oh yeah. JB deserves an Oscar nod for his role in this. No joke.

[Green Lantern]

Wow, just finished Searching For Sugar Man and I think that may have just cracked my top ten for 2012. What a fantastic movie (and I'm aware I'm not the first on this board to think so.)

[jay santos]

In my top 5:

Les Mis
Safety Not Guaranteed
Cloud Atlas
Moonrise Kingdom

not seen yet but expecting might shuffle things:

Django Unchained
Silver Linings Playbook

Since this post, I've seen Django, SLP, and Zero Dark Thirty.

Django is my #1 of the year. SLP also would crack my top five, probably dropping Cloud Atlas out.

[MarkGrace]

I'm consulting my phone to see what I have listed. This is what I'm going with for 10 (not in any particular order):

Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild (Wuap, if you haven't seen this yet, you should)
Looper
Silver Linings Playbook
Your Sister's Sister
Shut Up and Play the Hits
Moonrise Kingdom
Cabin In the Woods
21 Jump Street (my favorite comedy of the year)
The Master (my #1 overall)

Honorable mentions: The Queen of Versailles, Safety Not Guaranteed, Magic Mike, The Dark Knight Rises, Les Mis.

I saw some people listing Like Crazy and The Descendants as 2012. Did those come out this year? I swear I had those in my '11 list.

Anyway, I figured someone would do an end-of-the-year list, but I was actually thinking it better to wait until Oscar time since that encapsulates the year better and by that time I will have seen Zero Dark Thirty, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, Amour, Django, etc. At the end of the year I usually don't feel like the year is complete. Oh well.

In the spirit of Jay's post, I have since seen Once Upon a Time, Django and ZDT -- the latter two would have made my ten somewhere. Still haven't seen Amour, but I've been going through some of the Haneke films on Netflix, and that experience coupled with PAC's review has me thinking it wouldn't be a top ten for me. But who knows.

The only other '12 film I really want to see is Holy Motors. I put it in my queue a while ago but it wasn't released at that point and I'm not sure if it has yet.

[Green Lantern]

In the spirit of Jay's post, I have since seen Once Upon a Time, Django and ZDT -- the latter two would have made my ten somewhere. Still haven't seen Amour, but I've been going through some of the Haneke films on Netflix, and that experience coupled with PAC's review has me thinking it wouldn't be a top ten for me. But who knows.

The only other '12 film I really want to see is Holy Motors. I put it in my queue a while ago but it wasn't released at that point and I'm not sure if it has yet.

Looks like I'm going to miss Amour in the theater. It plays for the last time in Salt Lake theaters tomorrow. Holy Motors, however, is currently streaming on Netflix and I'd love to hear your thoughts on that one.

[MarkGrace]

Looks like I'm going to miss Amour in the theater. It plays for the last time in Salt Lake theaters tomorrow. Holy Motors, however, is currently streaming on Netflix and I'd love to hear your thoughts on that one.

Is it? I swear I checked for streaming first and then just threw it in my queue. But like I said, that was before it had actually released, so I guess it makes sense that it wouldn't have been there yet. Gonna try and watch tonight. I also started Dogtooth but it was really late at night and I haven't finished yet.

GL, I hope you noticed that we have two great new film recruits in Harry Tic and UVACoug!

[MarkGrace]

Holy Motors, however, is currently streaming on Netflix and I'd love to hear your thoughts on that one.

I'd love to share some thoughts on this, but I don't have the foggiest effing clue what it was about. It's obviously a comment on cinema and the career of an actor in general, though I'm not sure what that comment is. The movie starts in a theater, and it seems everyone watching is either asleep or extremely bored. Perhaps criticizing the state of modern film? I'm not sure. Then the protagonist walks through the theater, exits, and begins his series of "appointments," all of which seem to be either sort of stereotypical movie roles, or maybe the career arc of an actor. The family man, the motion capture, the dramatic roles, the action roles, the beauty and the beast (was totally not expecting to see Eva Mendes), the working with animals role, etc., etc. And I'm sure it's not coincidental his name is Oscar.

Was anything in there his real life? I thought maybe the early scene where he leaves the family to start his day, but in hindsight that also seems like an appointment. What about the interaction with Kylie Minogue (that was Kylie Minogue?!)?

Bonus points on the interlude. Never seen anything like that in a movie. ha.

Anyway, more ramble than thoughts, as I spent most of the movie just trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

[Green Lantern]

I'd love to share some thoughts on this, but I don't have the foggiest effing clue what it was about. It's obviously a comment on cinema and the career of an actor in general, though I'm not sure what that comment is. The movie starts in a theater, and it seems everyone watching is either asleep or extremely bored. Perhaps criticizing the state of modern film? I'm not sure. Then the protagonist walks through the theater, exits, and begins his series of "appointments," all of which seem to be either sort of stereotypical movie roles, or maybe the career arc of an actor. The family man, the motion capture, the dramatic roles, the action roles, the beauty and the beast (was totally not expecting to see Eva Mendes), the working with animals role, etc., etc. And I'm sure it's not coincidental his name is Oscar.

Was anything in there his real life? I thought maybe the early scene where he leaves the family to start his day, but in hindsight that also seems like an appointment. What about the interaction with Kylie Minogue (that was Kylie Minogue?!)?

Bonus points on the interlude. Never seen anything like that in a movie. ha.

Anyway, more ramble than thoughts, as I spent most of the movie just trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

I think it's definitely fair to see it as a critique of cinema but the impression that stayed with me was that it was just about the general roles we play in life and how we can be different people at different times and places in our lives. We may be one person at home in front of our families, one person in front of our coworkers and someone else in the private places inside our minds.

I'm with you that I kept trying to "figure out" the movie while it was going, like it was a puzzle-box movie of the type Christopher Nolan or even David Lynch has made. When it occurred to me that I didn't need to "solve" it (possibly around the time he comes home to his "family" near the end) I started realizing how much the movie was affecting me even though I couldn't really articulate everything that was going on. And yes, always a pleasant surprise to see Kylie Minogue and Eva Mendes.

One question for you regarding something I read about the streaming version of the film:

Spoiler for censorship:

I read somewhere that the streaming version of the film was censored at places, particularly when he's down in the tunnels with Eva Mendes and is prancing around naked. Can you confirm that there was any pixelation going on? (Because there certainly wasn't in the theater.)

[MarkGrace]

I think it's definitely fair to see it as a critique of cinema but the impression that stayed with me was that it was just about the general roles we play in life and how we can be different people at different times and places in our lives. We may be one person at home in front of our families, one person in front of our coworkers and someone else in the private places inside our minds.

I'm with you that I kept trying to "figure out" the movie while it was going, like it was a puzzle-box movie of the type Christopher Nolan or even David Lynch has made. When it occurred to me that I didn't need to "solve" it (possibly around the time he comes home to his "family" near the end) I started realizing how much the movie was affecting me even though I couldn't really articulate everything that was going on. And yes, always a pleasant surprise to see Kylie Minogue and Eva Mendes.

One question for you regarding something I read about the streaming version of the film:[SPOILER=censorship]I read somewhere that the streaming version of the film was censored at places, particularly when he's down in the tunnels with Eva Mendes and is prancing around naked. Can you confirm that there was any pixelation going on? (Because there certainly wasn't in the theater.)

Spoiler for censorship:

Definitely pixelation. I actually wondered about that. Seemed kind of weird.

[MarkGrace]

I'm with you that I kept trying to "figure out" the movie while it was going, like it was a puzzle-box movie of the type Christopher Nolan or even David Lynch has made. When it occurred to me that I didn't need to "solve" it (possibly around the time he comes home to his "family" near the end) I started realizing how much the movie was affecting me even though I couldn't really articulate everything that was going on. And yes, always a pleasant surprise to see Kylie Minogue and Eva Mendes.

Yeah, I spent the whole time wondering what was going on. I kept thinking there had to be an explanation at some point, but as it drew nearer the end of its running time, I started to realize that explanation was never coming. It would be interesting to see if the viewing experience is different without that question lingering the whole time.

[Green Lantern]

Yeah, I spent the whole time wondering what was going on. I kept thinking there had to be an explanation at some point, but as it drew nearer the end of its running time, I started to realize that explanation was never coming. It would be interesting to see if the viewing experience is different without that question lingering the whole time.

Agreed.

[MarkGrace]

1. The Master (Paul Thomas Anderson, USA) (review)
2. Tabu (Miguel Gomes, Portugal/Germany/France) (review)
3. Amour (Michael Haneke, France/Germany/Austria) (review)
4. Holy Motors (Leos Carax, France/Germany) (review)
5. Beasts of the Southern Wild (Benh Zeitlin, USA) (review)
= Berberian Sound Studio (Peter Strickland, UK/Germany) (review)
7. Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson, USA) (review)
8. Beyond the Hills (Christian Mungiu, Romania/France/Belgium) (review)
= Cosmopolis (David Cronenberg, Canada/France/Portugal/Italy) (review)
= Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey/Bosnia & Herzegovina) (review)
= This is Not A Film (Jafar Pahani & Mojtaba Mirtahmaseb, Iran) (review)

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/paul-thomas-andersons-the-master-tops-sight-sounds-best-of-2012-20121201

I knew The Master topped Sight and Sounds poll, but I don't think I saw the full list until now. Ran into reading some stuff on Cosmopolis, which I just got done watching. Add it to the list of '12 movies that takes place in the back of a limo and I have no idea what is about.