Best Films 2012

Ok... here we go, my top 10 films of 2012. I am sure to offend and surprise, so let’s just jump right in, shall we?

10. Django Unchained

Sure, I was holding my fiancee very tightly through most of the last act, but there is no way to deny that Django is 2/3rds of an excellent movie. It is impossible to ignore the moral queasiness of the film’s end game, but it takes cajones to let Dr. Schultz die an honorable man, sticking to his guns (literally). In the end, this movie was too polarizing to leave off the list. Just because I disagree with someone’s creation does not mean it wasn’t well done. Think of Tarantino as a modern Nietzsche.

9. The Dark Knight Rises

Dark Knight 3 got a lot of gaff from a lot of people for being too big, too hopeful, too full of plot holes. Personally? I think they are full of hogwash. The Nolan Brothers successfully pulled off a Batman trilogy, and they pulled it off WELL. Not only that, but Chris Nolan has also successfully proved that he is NOT a nihilist... either that, or he proved that America still doesn’t shell out the big bucks for nihilistic films. Either way, I think that’s a win.

8. Les Miserables

I was a bit emotionally drained when I first saw it, so it is safe to say that I didn’t appreciate it as much as I would have had I been well rested. In retrospect, however? Definitely one of the best of the year. Yes, the critics are right, the music is dodgy in places, and it does rely on sentimentalism quite a lot (although it is helpful to keep in mind that Victor Hugo’s original novel was criticized for the exact same thing 150 years ago). But that is not the reason it is here, rather, it is because it is the only movie I can think of this year that leaned so heavily on the idea of God’s grace conquering all. No, not Rob Bell’s kind of grace, because Les Mis doesn’t shy away from making it clear that some reject this grace and end up in hell. No, this is grace and love and redemption through fire and brimstone.... no wonder so many critics are all twisted up in knots about it.

7. The Cabin in the Woods

Now for one that will probably turn a few heads. Yes, I just included a horror film on my top 10 list... also, yes, I did just imply that Cabin in the Woods was better than Avengers, and no, The Avengers isn’t going to show up in the next six on my list. Now, before you rage quit this essay, let me explain. Growing up watching a new Saw movie come out every Halloween, I too wondered when it would ever stop. Why the fascination with blood? Why the lust for more? Why all the pointless violence? Whedon successfully answers that question.... in a rather Greek way to be sure, but he at least attempts. And to be fair, he also keeps Cabin in the Woods in his Buffyverse. I won’t say anymore, except that this film also falls into the realm of “disagree with you so much, but well done.”

6. Premium Rush

Wow, has this been an amazing year for Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and where would an up and coming star be without his own action movie? Premium Rush isn’t nearly as serious as most of the other movies on this list, but holy crap did it get my blood pumping! There is not some great message here besides "dude on a mission" fodder, but boy does it deliver. My fiancee almost had a panic attack in the theater, it was so intense. The bad guy is deliciously villainous, the action scenes are well filmed... it’s just well done. If you are going to make an action flick, call David Koepp.

5. The Hobbit

Stop complaining... stop it now. The supposed “Tolkien-phils” who have gone completely rage-tastic over this film have completely missed the point of the exercise.... this is not SUPPOSED to be LotR. It is based on a kids book, a children’s book. Also, please keep in mind that The Hobbit came before LotR. After The Hobbit’s success, Tolkien’s publishers asked him for a follow up, but when he delivered LotR,  their reaction was basically “What the crap is this mess?” Now we are dealing with the reverse expectation, and for a man who promised to develop one of the most beloved kids books of the past century, tie it into its much larger film predecessor, and expand upon the author's additional works.... Peter Jackson did a bang up job. Stop complaining and just admit that it was good.

4. Wreck-it Ralph

It happened, regular Disney finally had a year where they outdid Pixar Disney. I don’t know how it happened, but it did, and Wreck-it Ralph is spectacular. By the very nature of the film itself, it is bound to draw comparisons to Tron and Toy Story, but it is so much more than that. In fact, after watching the movie, it seems more like the eye candy was just there to draw in an audience, and then after you’re in the theater, it hooks you with the story. It didn’t help that I related instantly to the interplay between Vanellope and Ralph, the relationship being eerily similar to my relationship with most women. If this movie doesn’t win best animated film of the year, I’m the queen of England.

3. Goon.

So.... much... fun. Warning, do not watch if you are offended by raunchy language, Canadians or hockey. I discovered Goon pretty early on in the year, and instantly fell in love with it. I have a digital copy on my iPod, and whenever I’m having a bad day, I can usually turn it on to almost any scene and have a good laugh. But more than that laugh factor, the reason I love this movie so much is how the main character maintains his honor, humility and kindness despite being surrounded by jerks and ********. At any point in the movie, you are worried that he will snap and being just as mean and nasty as those around him... but he doesn’t. The only thing that makes him snap is when someone attacks a person he loves. Yeah... I can’t relate to this movie at all. 

</sarcasm>

2. End of Watch

I watched this movie for the first time just a few weeks after finding out that my little sister was dating a cop. I talked with him afterwards about it, and he said that it was pretty true to fact, except as a beat cop in eastern Virginia, he didn’t see nearly the amount of depravity that is on display in Los Angeles. We have both agreed that my sister probably shouldn’t watch this movie for a while, at least until they are engaged. The movie itself is similar to Mel Gibson’s We Were Soldiers, in that is bounces back and forth from the cops’ home life to their life on the job, and boy is it brutal. Beautiful, but brutal. One of the few movies of the year that made me laugh, cry and cringe in terror. Powerful stuff.

1. Ruby Sparks

Here it is, the best film of the year. No other movie comes even close. Silver Linings Playbook tried to vie for the quirky rom-com of the year, but it falls woefully short of attaining these heights. Ruby Sparks is a rom-com written by a woman for men, and boy does it deliver. This was another one of those films that became intensely personal for me: the premise being similar to Stranger Than Fiction, except in reverse: man begins to write book, female character becomes real, man falls in love with woman, man tries to control women he has “created.” Actually, it shares far more in common with the myth of Pygmalion than it does with Stranger Than Fiction. This movie tore my heart out and stuck it on a pike.... and I cannot thank it enough. A beautiful morality play, the best parable of the year, and by far the best film. Period.