Fave Flicks of 2012

2012 was an odd year for film. There were, as always, some great original ideas and amazing performances, mostly from the margins of the indie and mainstream realms, but this was not the most consistently amazing year for film. But, it didn't have to be. There was a lot of middling crap, but there were a handful of films that really stood out--or at least stuck with me after the credits rolled--that were spectacular in their own ways. 

That said, I offer my sort of comprehensive list of ten favorites from this year that managed to make me smile, think, or laugh a little bit more than the rest of this years releases.

10. Cabin in the Woods

Joss Whedon had kind of a big year, and if you ask the Scoobies and Browncoats, such recognition is long overdue.  Whedon's first big splash this year came in the form of the long-shelved horror movie satire, Cabin in The Woods. Cabin is far more intelligent and legitimately scary than any horror movie parody can ever hope to be, and while it doesn't rewrite the rules of horror movies, it offers a clever twist on the tried and tired formulas that have fueled horror franchises for decades. Best of all, Cabin is responsible for bringing us the unforgettable army of monsters.

9. The Raid: Redemption/Safe House/Safe (tie)

Far from the best movies this, or any, year--though The Raid is easily one of the best pure action movie in years--this trifecta of action flicks reminded audiences that good old-fashioned balls-to-the-wall mid-range action movies still have a place in the cinema. The Raid brought us brutal martial arts action to rival the best of Tony Jaa's output over the past few years while Safe House delivered spy action that was far more visceral and less restrained than 90% of the best spy fi from Abrams, Cruise, or the Broccolis. Safe, on the other hand, was clearly the lesser of the three, but it was a chaotic, brutal, and fast paced actioner that was far less neutered than most of Statham's disposable action flicks. 

8. Wreck-It Ralph/Rise of the Guardians (tie)

Fall brought us the one-two punch of Wreck-It Ralph and Rise of Guardians, two animated films with more heart and genuine thrills than most of the live-action cartoons Hollywood releases in the summer. The nostalgia-drenched Wreck-It Ralph was Disney's best shot at creating their own brand of Pixar magic, complete with heartwarming relationship between lost souls and the main character's search for self. Conversely, Rise of the Guardians is Avengers-lite, an all-star team-up superhero movie with fantasy characters like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny that is as well-crafted as the big-time Avengers, minus some of the plot gaffes.

7. Paperman

Playing in front of Wreck-It Ralph, Paperman was a delightful animated short that recalls the best qualities of 2012's Best Picture winner The Artist. Paperman hearkens back to the silent film era, following a salaryman and his comical, yet infinitely charming, pursuit of a cute-as-a-button secretary. With its charming characters, beautiful score, and gorgeous animation--courtesy of Disney's new Meander animation technology--Paperman encapsulates the heart and wonder of old-school romances with an amazing contemporary sheen.

6. Paranorman

Preceding the fall's animated delights was Paranorman, a sharp and touching stop-motion animation feature from Laika, the good people beyond the similarly creepy and affecting Coraline. Paranorman is a smart tale about forgiveness wrapped up in a classic, hilarious zombie comedy that actually does a better job of turning the genre on its ear than many of the more daring deconstructions that have hit theaters in the past decade. Filled with characters that were as three dimensional as the animation and a meaningful moral to boot, Paranorman was one of the true surprises of the summer.

5. Chronicle

Early this year, we finally got the live-action Akira movie we've been waiting for, and hopefully, the one that will halt Hollywood's plans to attempt a big budget remake. Josh Trank's Chronicle is Akira in all but name, only with a far more focused and cohesive plot, one in which Tetsuo is the center of the story and the overblown melodrama of post-apocalyptic Tokyo's warring factions are replaced by a taut examination of the toll of abuse on the fragile mind, and the damage that mind can do when it grabs the power to burn down the world.

4. Skyfall

Sam Mendes' soft reboot of the 007 franchise was one of the year's biggest blockbusters, and rightly so. Drawing influences from Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, boasting some of the most amazing cinematography to grace the screen this year, not to mention one of the best Bond themes ever, Skyfall brought Bond back to his roots, telling a wonderfully simple tale of revenge and rebirth while demolishing and honoring the continuity of the past decade. Bond is ready for the future, and judging by the box office receipts, so are audiences.

3. Django Unchained

Quentin Tarantino's slave revenge fantasy may draw on the Boondocks' Legend of Catcher Freeman episode, but it does so with such craft that it canot be denied as a potential new classic. Jamie Foxx finally finds a role where his cockiness and vulnerability are not a handicap, but he is still outclassed by scene stealers Samuel L. Jackson, Christoph Waltz, and Leonardo DiCaprio in a flick that is consistently fun, funny, and furious, just like a slave revenge fantasy should be.

2. The Avengers

The Avengers was unquestionably the highlight of Joss Whedon's big year. With the Avengers, Whedon brought fun back to the superhero narrative after years of grim tales of brooding sourpusses dominated the silver screen. As much as it was every true Believers dream come true, Avengers also happened to be a generally light-heartened, fun experience that was more ride than movie. It also brought us one of the single most exciting third acts in superhero films ever committed to film. With Whedon now the "head" of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the future of Marvel's movie future looks bright in more ways than one.

1. Looper

Great sci-fi makes you think. Great movies make you feel. Looper does both. Rian Johnson's third film continues a short streak of perfection that began with high school noir Brick. Looper may be the tale of time-traveling hitmen, but it is truly a story about consequence, the power of compassion, and the ability of love to make us better people. Looper is that rare film that leaves audiences thinking about how they can better themselves while entertaining them with a clever plot and deep, affecting characters. Looper is a modern classic, no question about it, and one can only hope it is a sign of many more great things to come from Johnson.

Django Unchained: How Tarantino Brought Catcher Freeman to Life

"Knock'em dead, kid"

I've never been a fan of Jamie Foxx. I always felt he was way too cocky for his own good, despite being clearly, if middlingly, multi-talented. That said, Foxx has made some decent movies, cockiness notwithstanding. With Django Unchained, he's finally at the center of a movie that matches the flair for cockiness and dramatic vulnerability that has defined his roles since his turn as Ray Charles. It just so happens that he does so in a movie most of us thought we'd never see: a live action version of the Legend of Catcher Freeman.

Django Unchained is unquestionably Tarantino's stab at bringing a Boondocks episode to life, right down to Samuel L. Jackson playing Uncle Ruckus. And what a magnificent stab it is. Django, like Inglorious Basterds before it, is the best kind of revisionist fantasy: violent, hilarious, and surprisingly sobering--all of which are expected from Tarantino. That Django is a ridiculously audacious sort-of masterpiece is no surprise, what is a surprise is the sheer fact that Tarantino can make audiences laugh so consistently at the single ugliest era of American history while still making them cringe. legitimately Granted, some members of the audience are gonna cringe at the buckets of blood Tarantino throws at the screen, but even more will cringe at the real, and occasionally exaggerated-but not too exaggerated--treatment of African-American slaves during the height of the Antebellum Era, an amazing feat that makes Django one of the most affecting--far more than the trailers would lead the audience to believe--exploitation homages in years.

With Django, as with most of his work, Tarantino takes a simple plot and runs with it in the most audience-pleasing manner possible. It all begins with German bounty hunter, Dr. King Schultz (played with immeasurable charm and grace by the consistently exceptional Christoph Waltz)--indeed, the irony of that character is not lost--and his search for a particularly nasty band of outlaws, The Brittle Brothers. In search of a way to identify the Brittles, the enlightened Schultz, who is positively baffled by this slavery malarkey, "purchases" former runaway slave Django (Foxx) on the condition that he will "free" Django if he helps him find the Brittle brothers. Their pursuit of the Brittle siblings leads the two to form a fruitful, long-term mentor-mentee partnership and begin a journey to save Django's wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington), who resides in hellish Candieland plantation in the heart of Mississippi run by dandy Calvin Candie's (Leonardo Dicaprio finally looking like he's having fun on screen) and house negro supreme, Stephen (a particularly evil Samuel L. Jackson knocking the Uncle Ruckus impression out the park).

As to be expected of a Tarantino enterprise, Django is an alternatively talky and violent affair elevated by amazing performances. At two hours and twenty minutes, much of Django's runtime is devoted to the colorful diatribes between the equally vibrant characters, though the dialogue is far more pointed and careful, considering the time period and the lack of widespread pop culture touchstones that would usually pepper Tarantino's dialogue. Of course, the big to-do over the dialogue is Tarantino's furious use of "nigger", which is essentially much to do about nothing considering this is a tale about a slave turned bounty hunter in the Antebellum South. If Tarantino didn't allow his characters to use nigger he would be courting the greater danger of being inauthentic; thus rendering much of Django's effectiveness mute by neutering the antagonists and diminishing the quality of the conflict. Indeed, some in the audience will be offended by Tarantino's flagrant, racially-charged expletive fest, but this is par for the course with Tarantino as is the ultraviolence on display. 

Within the first ten minutes, a horse's and a man's heads are decimated in a manner that is so gloriously over-the-top that it long jumps over realism into the realm of Looney Toon violence. While most of the violence is cartoonish enough for reasonable audience members to dismiss, there are moments of brutality that no matter how exaggerated will make even the boldest viewers flinch, but it is all done in a way to emphasize the cruelty of the characters rather than glorifying gore for the sake of gore. For all intents and purposes, the violence in Django is more punctuation than pure spectacle--though it is undoubtedly spectacle--and it is only relentless in bursts, which should be heartening for those with weak stomachs. However, audience members who are thinking about seeing Django should inform themselves about Tarantino's work before making the choice to see this flick. 

Dialogue and violence aside, Django is enlivened by uniformly strong performances with the real standouts being Samuel L. Jackson, Christoph Waltz, and Leonardo DiCaprio. Jamie Foxx may take top billing but he's saddled with a typically stoic hero, albeit one with more pain behind his eyes than the average hero, who doesn't really become larger than life until the climax, and Kerry Washington is a tad underutilized in the damsel-in-distress role. Meanwhile, Jackson, Waltz, and DiCaprio get to have all the fun playing outsized characters. Jackson is particularly entertaining as the repugnant Stephen, an evil, quick-witted slave who runs Candieland with greater efficiency and cruelty than DiCaprio's "slave master". Stephen's dialogue is so vitriolic that he Jackson seems to spit every word, but it also teeters into inexplicably modern Sam Jackson, BAMF, territory that it becomes unsettlingly comical. Waltz, on the other hand, is consistently appealing as Schultz, the total flipside of his relentless but no less affable Col. Landa. Schultz is almost the living embodiment of white guilt, to a fault, and he displays overwhelming earnestness and grace that counters the duplicitous hospitality of the Southern gentility. Schultz effectively serves as a counterpoint to every slave master he and Django encounter, especially DiCaprio's Candie. Candie is the result of what would have become of Amsterdam Vallon if he embraced the ways of Bill the Butcher. He is a devilish fop with an affinity for Mandingo fights and humiliating his slaves. He is probably, and sadly, the most fun character DiCaprio has played on screen.  In fact, this may be the most DiCaprio has ever smiled in a film since Titanic. DiCaprio, Waltz, and Jackson may run away with the show, but even "bit players" like Don Johnson and Jonah Hill shine in small roles. 

From performances to plot, every ounce of Django is masterful. Tarantino shows great maturity and restraint here, opting to tone down, but not eliminate, some of his trademark flourishes like the 70s score and old school on-screen graphics while delivering some great shots of the frontier. Yet, for all the mastery on display, I can't help but think all of the ground covered in Django was addressed with the same audacity, humor and violence in the Boondocks' "Legend of Catcher Freeman" episode, not to mention the Dave Chapelle's time traveling pimps who pleasantly introduced slave owners to a pistol.  By the same token, Samuel L. Jackson's Stephen is Uncle Ruckus through and through, just a bit more foul-mouthed. That's not to say that Django isn't a welcome addition to the canon of slave vengeance narratives; it's just not as original as it seems. But, what is? Still, it is an unabashed pleasure to watch a film as well-crafted and entertaining as Django based around the simple premise of a former slave dispensing righteous vengeance on his "masters". As Django says, "what's not love?"