My Top 10 Movies of 2012

Look at that, I got 'em in before June this year! As with last year, I watched close to 30 films again, and while it actually wasn't too hard to decide on the final 10 this time, there were still some great ones that got left out. Honourable mentions at the end.





10. The Avengers
I wasn't too interested in the SHIELD stuff at the beginning, but once the Avengers assembled, this movie became a wild, action-packed bucket of fun. Great use of a superhero ensemble.





9. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
Every once in a while, I fall for a more formulaic romance (when I'm not generally avoiding them). This was one of those instances, largely due to the wonderful chemistry between Carell and Knightley, in spite of their pairing being fairly random.




8. Jeff, Who Lives at Home
This was an "everything happens for a reason, and everything comes together at the end" kind of movie, which I wasn't expecting before it started, but I really enjoyed watching it play out. It's probably also appealing to the slacker generation in that the lazy slob gets to save the day.





7. Brave
One of the biggest surprises of the year for me, because I didn't think I'd like it as much as I did, but Brave's heroine is awesome and I love that this is a feminist film to counter all of that exposure to Disney princesses.






6. The Master
It may not be 100% understandable after the first viewing, but boy is it fascinating. The methods of the Scientology-like cult are, I'm pretty sure, frighteningly accurate, but it's the top notch performances from the cast that put it over the top.





5. Moonrise Kingdom
Like everything Wes Anderson does, this is a highly stylized and colourful presentation of a prestigious cast wandering between deadpan humour and cartoonish surrealism. Or as my dad called it: "super atmosphere." Watching it is definitely an engrossing experience.




4. Django Unchained
I'm so glad Christoph Waltz got another Oscar for this one, because he was just as awesome here as he was in Inglourious Basterds. As only Tarantino can do, he made a long movie seem not that long just by having a bunch of memorable characters kill each other amidst a revenge plot.

3. Seven Psychopaths
Smart, funny, and insanely enjoyable to watch. The ensemble cast is a group of people who are basically proven action stars but also have good comedic timing. On top of that, there's a whole meta-fictional aspect to the story that puts this one in the same category as Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.




2. Ruby Sparks
Combining two things I love - non-traditional romance stories and  "WTF is going on?!" scenarios, Ruby Sparks blew me away and went to places I wasn't even expecting. Equal parts cute and dark, but wholly satisfying for me.





1. God Bless America
Another one that was just a blast to watch, but the reason I'm putting it at number one is because I feel it is the most culturally relevant film of the year. The violence is merely an attention-getting statement and not a suggestion for the audience, but I like the observation that society has, to simplify, grown shallow and rude, and I support spreading awareness of that through this movie.



Honourable mentions: Looper, Wreck-It Ralph, Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Prometheus, The Dark Knight Rises, The Amazing Spider-Man, Ted

God Bless America

Impressions before seeing it
I didn't entirely know what this was about, but I saw Bobcat Goldthwait promoting it on Attack of the Show a while back, along with a clip of the main characters shooting folks in a movie theater, and the idea of Bobcat making a violent movie intrigued me.

How was it?
I think this movie is potentially easy to misinterpret, and probably even easier to dislike. It is made for a specific type of person, and that is its only flaw, but more on that in a moment.

Frank (played by Joel Miller, one of those "Oh, that guy" actors finally in a starring role) flips through TV stations with a frown as he not only observes all the crap that passes for entertainment these days, but also acknowledges sadly to himself what this means for the state of American society. There are few decent people left, because modern Western lifestyle begets shallow, dumb, spoiled, mean, exploitative idiots and then rewards that behaviour. Pessimistic, yes, but also realistic. Depressed and suicidal, Frank almost offs himself but first decides to kill an annoying reality TV star. The act impresses Roxy (Tara Lynn Barr), a classmate of the victim, eventually leading to the two of them going on a douche-killing spree.

This movie is almost like Super meets Taxi Driver. Someone else on the internet described it as "Falling Down meets Leon", which I suppose also works. Both actors are excellent here, and I found it to be a lot of fun watching them bond over their pet peeves and treat murder like a casual hobby. But don't misunderstand that aspect: this movie isn't saying that someone should go out and kill all of the insufferable morons out there. That, which was Frank's mistake, would be blaming the individuals instead of the group. If you're truly a dick, it's probably not your fault; you just grew up in a misguided environment. Does that mean you deserve to die? Maybe, maybe not; it shouldn't be up to someone else to decide that. But it's not going to make a difference, because there will always be annoying morons as long as society keeps churning them out. That's what this movie is really saying: Western culture produces a lot of idiots, but too few people are aware that that is a problem because those same idiots have become the majority. Ironically, this is where this film's own existence becomes problematic; none of those dunces would likely watch a movie like this, therefore never getting the message, which means this movie ends up preaching to the choir. I would say it's up to us to show it to people we hate, but that would be equivalent to Frank and Roxy killing them; an individual here or there won't make a difference in the workings of an entire nation. We have to change as a whole if we're going to change at all.

Recommendation
There is danger of finding God Bless America too preachy or disconnected, but I think it definitely speaks to that type of person who is frustrated by our shallow, exploitative culture. If that sounds like you, have fun living vicariously through this dark comedy action thrill ride! I know I did.