I do not do top ten lists for movies because, if for no other reason, I never feel like I see enough movies in one year to make a quality judgement. Well, screw you bitches, I've seen like 100 movies in the last 2 days and this year, I am ready (that and with the end of the world happening next year, I wanted to at least get one of these things down). So, here we go.
I'm starting with Drive because I saw it more than any other movie this year. I still do not know if I can truly pinpoint why I had to view it over and over again. My first viewing in the theater, I really like the first 20 minutes, the music became too much as the movie went along, and I while I really liked the way Ryan Gosling played the character, I still felt it just wasn't a perfect fit. In the end, I took away that the opening was probably going to be hard to be topped this year, the violence fit perfectly where it wasn't expected, and Ron Pearlman has the biggest freaking head that has ever existed outside of a dinosaur. Being that it was slow first eight months of the year and I needed a movie to go see a week later, I went back to watch Drive again. This time, it all feel into place. The music made sense. I rode the wave. Ryan Gosling hit almost all of the notes of a seventies Nicholson Italian film. Ron Pearlman's head was still just as scary. The move did work (all except shoving my favorite person from Mad Men in the film for no reason at all other than to advertise her and show her boobs on the big screen) and I was hooked. I may have even watched it a few times from home acquiring a version that may or may not of been of an illegal nature. Who knows for sure.
Next, lets go with Girl with a Dragon Tattoo. Wow, this was a piece of work from the best director working. This one is fresh on my mind so that may skew my view of everything that happened but again, wow. I was titillated. I was terrified. I was enthralled. The pace was perfect for my ADD impatience (I say this because Tinker Tailor Solider Spy was a really quality movie that I am sure I will watch again and really like but seeing it after Dragon Tattoo just made it feel old and slow) and I felt like the action stayed active through the whole two and a half hours. The lead actress, Rooney Mara, is on my top five list now. As long as she is exactly like the girl from the movie. I need help hacking some things.
Contagion was another offering from one of the best directors working today, Steven Soderbergh. The main character of this flick was not a person but instead a disease that is poised to take us all out. This movie might make more of an impact than twenty documentaries about the subject as this one has a story that is fun to follow but not 1000 chickens in one coop depressing. That is, of course, just as long as you ignore then number of dead that the disease doles out by the end of the movie. I'll never shake hands with a cook ever again (though to be fair, if I shake enough Waffle House cook hands, I should be immune from almost anything).
I just saw Margin Call recently. I remember on release I saw Kevin Spacey and corruption and thought for sure he was the jackass scumbag at the top that he has played (usually pretty well) a dozen or so times. I ignored it but Redbox and positive review from some random place inspired me to pick it up and I was completely surprised. Spacey is on the side of the "good guys" for once. His company has made a fatal error in accounting that is set to take down half the system and Spacey is one of the few guys arguing for falling on the sword to protect the greater good. Best surprise from a movie that I thought would be a disappointment all year.
And before we get to the grand finale, let's lighting round some of the other top scorers of the year. Mission Impossible was a solid B+ and gave everything you would want from a MI movie with no one (no one meaning a bad female actress that looks really hot) took anything off the table to hurt the movie. Cowboys and Aliens was another big budget surprise. First eighty percent was a very solid effort. Never felt the need to walk out. Transformers 3 had the best trailer of the year as the moon landing became a search for robot life out there (along with the worst attempt at a title Dark Side of Moon. No the due to copyright infringement against those old LSD heads. Urgh lazy Hollywood). Meloncholia kept Lars's streak of making me sick watching his films in the theater going. Thor mixed comic book action with cheesy interaction which is the best way to make a comic book movie in my opinion. I have forgotten about ten times now that Super 8 was released this year. Really good but if I have to hear one more person say it is ET again well....fine I liked it but it is ET. Moving on. Fast Five was eh. Stop using The Rock to make me go watch a movie. I can't help myself. The Rum Diary should have come out two years ago though, I still do not know what they spend their budget on. Source Code should get a nod but I haven't seen the first 3 minutes of the movie yet due to my stoner time being off when I went to the theater. I still think it was pretty spectacular and could warrant some high marks but for some reason, it didn't last on me. Kind of like Moon.
Wow, did not think I was getting out of the last paragraph but finally I have. Nothing before this had an order for their appearance on this list. I only put an order on the best movie of the year and that goes to Blue Valentine. I saw this movie at one of the best theaters (new) in the world, the Archlight in LA so maybe that helped sear the movie into my mind. Certainly, personal things happening around the time could play a part as well but honestly, I just think both Michelle Williams and again Ryan Gosling stole the show. Their portrayal of love gained and lost was near picture perfect. I felt heart warmed and heart broken. Both parts equally. When Ryan Gosling plays his guitar and sings while Michelle Williams dances is the iconic movie moment of the year for me. It just hurts so much thinking about it now. This is not an uplifting movie which also means it is right up my alley. I loved this movie and probably will never watch it again. Just like Love Liza. At least until I want to feel like jumping off a building.
No comments:
Post a Comment