Why So Blu?

Gregg’s Triumphant Top 10 Tantalizing 2012 Films

Earlier this month I released my worst films of 2012.  That was probably one of the easiest lists I ever put together.   The good ones from the year the Mayan calendar ended were a little more difficult to assemble.  It was another year of superheroes at the box office which brought in super dividends for their studios.  Disney lost big with John Carter, but cashed in on Wreck-It Ralph.  Channing Tatum had four…err, three films on the agenda for the year, both doing very well.  Then there’s the highly anticipated Tolkien work, The Hobbit, which took viewers on another journey through Middle Earth (with some really bad CGI).  But while there may be one ring to rule them all, it was the following ten works that were the crowning achievements of film for me in 2012.

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10. End of Watch – This was the first ‘found footage’ style film I can recall that didn’t involve the supernatural or monsters.  Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña combine for some outstanding chemistry in this cop film that strays between the amateur video shot and a traditional camera crew.  The combination of views adds to the film’s atmosphere that contains some intensely gripping moments.  Shock value is an understatement.

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9. The Dark Knight Rises – Christopher Nolan is an incredible storyteller.  His downfall with that is sometimes being incredibly long-winded, which for me, is a fate suffered from his third and final installment in the Batman series.  Still, TDKR featured a booming soundtrack and a storyline of one very mortal super hero and his struggle in finishing what was started.  Tom Hardy proved to be a brilliant Bane and Christian Bale continued to succeed as the only man to don the cape and cowl three times on the big screen.  I must give credit to Nolan for the way he ended the series.  Sure the story had its holes, but he provided closure to the second most famous superhero of all time.  It was ballsy, and for the most part, executed proficiently.

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8.  Cabin in the Woods – Kudos to the creative tag team of Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard for putting together this very original comedic horror film that broke all the rules and never really took itself seriously.  This movie pushed all the right buttons and basically bitch-slapped a good number of horror movies in the process.  The film’s ending was gutsy and the creature-galore scene was probably one of my favorite in cinematic history.  What a blast!

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7.  21 Jump Street – 21 Jump Street was a film I critiqued before seeing it.  Bad, bad Gregg.  I remember the Fox series of the same title was rather serious.  This was obviously not.  Then I stopped running my mouth and actually sat down to watch this.  It was a hilarious ride that didn’t leave a lot of gaps in between the humor, while at the same time had Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill making a great team on screen.  Let’s not forget Ice Cube’s supervising character who made a great addition to the laugh-inducing capabilities of this film.

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6.  Lockout – Before everyone goes ape sh## over why I have this ranked higher than TDKR, let me be the first to say, there is nothing grandiose that stands out about this film.  I’m very well aware of that.  The acting is alright and the basics of the story structure have all been done before.  So why number six on the year?  Because.  That’s why.  I had so much fun with this movie that I cannot seem to get enough of it.  It’s to the point, has some great lines, great action, an entertaining twist and a bad ass lead character.  Sure it’s nothing new, but it was done right, and for that, I keep watching it again and again.

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5.  Lawless – This wasn’t the most widely publicized film of the year, and as a result, likely bypassed the attnetion of quite a few.  That being said, small marketing doesn’t equate to a small film.  Based on a true story of moonshine distillers in the hills of Virginia during Prohibition, Tom Hardy and Shia LeBeouf play the Bondurant brothers who have a run-in with big city authority Charlie Rakes (Guy Pearce).  The story never dipped, maintaining a good stride as a way of life collides head on with an overly arrogant lawman.

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4.  Life of Pi – This film resonates with symbolism, which is something I can certainly appreciate.  While it started off a little slow, the movie took itself to new heights with a strong flare of existentialism.  A stranded boy becomes a man on the high seas after the vessel he and his family were on capsizes during an unrelenting storm.  It brought us Oscar-worthy cinematography and contained a powerful story that requires a great deal of attention from its viewers.  I loved the fact that the true scope of reality hid right under the surface.

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3.  Argo – Rumor has it that Ben Affleck was a real pistol to work with on this film.  Whether that’s true or not, I do not know, but let’s say for a moment that it is.  The guy sunk his own money into the film, directed it and starred in it.  He has every right to be an ass if it means getting things done, and believe me, he got things done with this movie based on the true events of the Iranian hostage crisis.  Argo contained a level of tension that was undeniable from the first few seconds of the opening scene to the end of the movie.  I do not recall the last time I saw a movie that defined ‘intense’ quite like this.

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2.  The Intouchables – So one day I was feeling a little artsy and decided to catch a foreign film.  Little did I realize that as I walked into the showing of The Intouchables, I was about to experience one very beautiful story highlighted with bouts of sarcasm, humor, character regret and courage.  Though this French movie was originally a 2011 release, it actually didn’t hit the States until 2012.  Based on a true story, The Intouchables focuses around the true story friendship of a wealthy quadriplegic and his financially opposite caretaker.  Amazon can’t get me a Blu-ray release date fast enough.

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1. The Avengers – It was in Aaron Neuwirth’s review of Marvel’s The Avengers where he plainly stated that this movie should never have happened.  That’s not a knock.  That is the scope of the business as it was the first film of its kind.   Payroll had to be gargantuan and egos could have collided.  It very easily could have been a case of too many cooks in the kitchen as far as lead actors go.  Nevertheless, the team of thespians collaborated for one incredible action flick that was every fanboy’s dream come true.  I think one of the main reasons this comic book film succeeded on such a tremendous level is that it was directed by a comic book fan in Joss Whedon.  He knew what people wanted to see on screen and he delivered in a big way.  The cast worked well together, the humor was appreciated and the battle was epic. Hulk smash.  Bring on the sequel.

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Honorable Mention

There are a few movies I just couldn’t leave out of the discussion for various reasons.

Step Up Revolution – The acting left a lot to be desired and the story was extremely close to its predecessor in the series, but the dancing was mind-blowing as the numbers keep getting bigger and better.  Choreographer Jamal Sims is an absolute genius and the cast that rocked it out on screen did so in exceptional fashion.  The expressionist dancing was great, but the heart and soul of this film is truly in its hip-hop origins.  Step Up 5 is allegedly in the works.  Let’s hope Adam Sevani is back with more than just a cameo.

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The Watch – The Watch, which, like 21 Jump Street, also featured Jonah Hill, and included the talents of Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller and introduced us to Richard Ayoade.  A neighborhood watch goes sci-fi as the team of four go alien hunting in their seemingly quaint Ohio town.  It was overflowing with great one-liners, sarcasm and dysfunctionality.  I’m still laughing over Hill’s line of “I’m going to shove this egg up your ass and watch it hatch.”

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Dredd 3D – The Cleveland Plain Dealer rated this as one of the worst films of the year, putting it on par with the Sylvester Stallone version from the 1990’s.  I disagree.  Step Up Revolution gets a mention here for its incredible dancing just like Dredd 3D makes this list for its wow-factor use of 3D technology.  I will go as far to say it was the best use of 3D I’ve ever seen outside of a theme park ride.  The balcony scene was insane, and if you haven’t seen it yet, I’ll leave it up to you to experience.  Words do it no justice.  Karl Urban played a very stoic Judge Dredd opposite Lena Headey’s blood-thirsty antagonist.  The film was entertaining at face value and did the comic justice.  It was the 3D that rocketed this picture to a status of noteworthy.  If there is one film that would convince me to buy a 3D television, this is it.

And that’s a wrap for this year, kids.  Unfortunately, I did not get to experience three potentially list-shattering films such as Jack Reacher, Les Miserables and Django Unchained.  That’s what happens when a deadline, a blizzard and new releases all meet in the same week.  Until next time!

Happy 2013!