Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Erich's Five Favorite Movies of 2012

If 2012 was such a great year for movies, why is my list half as long as everyone else's? Am I more selective? No. Lazier? Probably -- but that's not why.

The embarrassing truth is that I just don't get out to the theater that much, which means I have to wait for movies to hit Blu-ray, which means there are a ton of 2012 movies I haven't seen. My list isn't the best movies of the year. They're just the best movies I saw -- and YES I saw more than five movies is year...smart ass. Just for that, I'm gonna list them in reverse chronological order.
5. The Grey - If you haven't seen this movie yet, it's probably because you don't want to watch Liam Neeson punch wolves. Good news! This movie features little to no wolf punching. Look beyond the mis-marketing and you'll find a character-based thriller about oil rig workers who live through an Alaskan plane crash only to be stalked by a pack of killer wolves. The action sequences are tense, but the best moments happen between these men forced to rely on each other to survive. (Read my review at DVD Verdict)

4. The Avengers - Four years and five hit-or-miss Marvel comic book movies in, it seemed the best fans could expect from The Avengers is a flick that didn't totally suck. Joss Whedon did much more than that, juggling characters, plot threads and action sequences with humor and insight. It's not the flawless masterpiece some fans would suggest, but it's the best possible example of an overstuffed blockbuster. My only fear is that it will inspire a cycle of bloated comic team movies made by people who learned all the wrong lessons.

3. Beasts of Southern Wild - For some reason, I went into this film expecting Pan's Labyrinth in Louisiana. Although the story has a heavy fantasy element, the strength of director Benh Zeitlin's feature film debut is the characters, especially six-year old Hushpuppy (an amazing performance by first grade first-timer Quvenzhane Wallis) and her father, Wink. Their father-daughter relationship is complicated in ways that movie relationships are rarely allowed to be.

2. Moonrise Kingdom - As the site's resident Wes Anderson nut, this one might seem like a gimme. But it took a few viewings to see what audiences went crazy for this past Summer. Namely, the performances of pre-teen leads Kara Hayward and Jared Gilman, who bring the shy sweetness of young love to the director's signature stylish filmmaking. This isn't my favorite Anderson movie, but it is one of the year's best. (Read my review at DVD Verdict)
1. The Cabin in the Woods - My favorite movie of 2012. This Josh Whedon/Drew Goddard deconstruction of the slasher genre could have been just an academic exercise for horror fans, but it's not. It's the most fun I had watching any movie this year. So much fun, in fact, that nine months after it came out, I'm still cautious about spoiling the twists and turns for anyone who hasn't seen it yet. It's not a spoiler to say the movie is brimming with ideas, details and cameos that will send you scrambling for the pause button on the remote. The Avengers showed you what Joss Whedon can do when someone hands him a backpack full of movie stuff. The Cabin in the Woods shows what Whedon and Goddard can do when they get to fill that backpack out of their own imaginations.

16 comments:

  1. Should I blind-buy Cabin in the Woods? I'm one of the cretins who hasn't seen it yet. Sorry, America.

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    1. I would man - great movie (pretty much unanimously among the other podcasters and us F-heads) and I hear the commentary track is worth a listen.

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    2. Mark, I'd strongly urge a rental of "Cabin in the Woods." I'm the guy this movie was supposedly made for (horror movie fan, went to see it with my mind open, etc.) and I couldn't have hated it more the handful of times I've seen it. I'm in the minority though (especially around these parts) so if you like the taste in movies of the rest of the 'F' crew then, well, go with God.

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    3. YES. You are the reason I can't talk freely talk about it yet.

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    4. I'M SORRY!

      Come to papa, Amazon Instant Video.

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  2. Great list, Erich, and the first one of the gang's that I've actually seen all of (I suffer from the same problem as you of never going to the theatre) - perhaps in a different order, this looks like half of my Top 10 for sure.

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    1. Glad I'm not alone. This is the time of year I feel most guilty, but I can stand behind everything on my (short) list. There a bunch of movies I still want to see that might make it to an amended Top 10 at some point in the future. Man, I need to see Django.

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    2. I relate to your list a lot, especially the part about how you don't get to the cinema that much. It's hard for me too. I mean, I got about about 15 times this year, but considering the volume of movies that are released these days, it's really hard to keep up. not even considering it costs about 40 bucks to go to a movie and buy a Coke Zero (official sponsor of F This Movie!) and some popcorn. I mean, you can buy a new blu-ray for 20 dollars and I don't have that annoying kid behind me tapping the back of my chair with his feet or the guy in front of me who smuggled big, glass bottles of beer into the movie. No, at home I can smuggle my own big glass bottles of beer and tap on my own chair!

      And I desperately want to see Django Unchained, but I don't know when it's going to happen. By the time I get a chance to see it, it will be in that small theater in the back of the cinema with the 12 foot screen and broken seats. I may end up just having to wait for blu-ray. I feel like if I saw it, it would immediately shoot up to my number one because I have a big weakness for spaghetti westerns, and this could be the king of spaghetti westerns.

      It's also great to see Avengers on your list. We all seemed to love it so much, and to land a movie like that with that many characters who all seem to get just the right amount of time and interplay, it was a real achievement in making a superhero movie that people want to see in the midst of a glut of tepid superhero movies.

      Cabin In the Woods was just remarkable, definitely high up in my own list. Wasn't it crazy how he brought Buffy and the Scooby Gang back one last time at the end? Oh, Mark, I'm so sorry...



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    3. Above, where I say "I got about about 15 times," please replace the first "about" with "out." Either that, or read that sentence with an English accent. I do get about. From here, to there, then back to here.

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    4. When it comes to new movies, I'm at the mercy of what's playing at my small, local theater. It's cheap, it's close, and they don't show any ads or trailers. It's spoiled me. Every once in a while I travel the half hour-plus to go to the closest mall theater, spending ten-plus dollars on a movie with twenty-plus ads, surrounded by age twelve-plus kids, but it's almost never worth it.

      What I'm really saying is "Hey kids. Get the heck off my lawn!"

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  3. I agree with both your praises and fears of The Avengers. While it's maybe not going to prove to be wrothy of being one of the highest grossing movies of all time several years from now, I do still think it's a lof fun, and a heck of a great comic book movie and summer blockbuster. However, I, like you, don't want to see a bunch of approximations and immitations of what Marvel pulled off, only done to a lesser degree of quality (I'm looking at you, Justice League!)

    As if you needed another one, I also give a hearty recommendation for Django Unchained.

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    1. Im kinda hoping that Justice League will try to be sufficiently different so that the automatic comparisons wont be so strong. Already they are doing something different by leading with the JLA (with the exception of Man of Steel). Hopefully this will mean that JLA needs to be more focused on character building, with at least a couple of characters.
      But, yeah I agree, I dont think Marvel done cheap will work at all.

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    2. I hope you are right, Brad. I'm hoping for different in a good way as well. However, I have a feeling the comparison will be inevitable. I feel like The Avengers 2 and Justice League are slated to both come out the same year, 2015. I could be wrong, though.

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    3. I'm not sure it's in the same star-studded league as Avengers or Justice League, but I'd be worried about Guardians of the Galaxy if not for James Gunn.

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    4. I know nothing about Guardians of the Galaxy except James Gunn.....but that is enough for me to be super excited for it. James Gunn on a massive budget could be interesting.

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  4. Don't feel bad about waiting to see movies...I still have three out of the five you've detailed on my own "To See" list. I like what you had to say about the two I did see, "Avengers" and "Moonrise Kingdom" especially the fear that someone who doesn't understand movies will take all the wrong lessons from "Avengers." It's not an unfounded fear.

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