Adam's Movie List

The 2013 List

Upstream Color

Her

Before Midnight

Frances Ha

Inside Llewyn Davis

Short Term 12

The Act of Killing

Stories We Tell

Laurence Anyways

A Touch of Sin

The Past

The Spectacular Now

The Wolf of Wall Street

The Selfish Giant

The Hunt

Drinking Buddies

The Great Beauty

Wadjda

Captain Phillips

Let the Fire Burn

Blackfish

The World’s End

Nebraska

In the House

20 Feet from Stardom

All is Lost

Gimme the Loot
These Birds Walk
Cutie and the Boxer
Graceland
Eden
Pieta
Behind the Candelabra
The Invisible Woman
Gravity
No
This is Martin Bonner
White Reindeer
Afternoon Delight
Mud
Much Ado About Nothing
You’re Next
100 Bloody Acres
The Wind Rises
Blue Jasmine
Sightseers
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
I Killed My Mother
Byzantium
Ain’t Them Bodies Saints
Trance
Iron Man 3
Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus
Side Effects
Blue Caprice
Spring Breakers
We Are What We Are
Zero Charisma
Enough Said
Blue is the Warmest Color
Narco Cultura
Museum Hours
Philomena
Dallas Buyers Club
The Square
Casting By
Room 237
Magic Magic
The Angel's Share
In a World...
12 Years a Slave
Informant
Man of Tai Chi
The Wolverine
The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology
The Kings of Summer
The Battery
Leviathan
The Heat
We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks
Oxyana
A Band Called Death
Prince Avalanche
Resolution
Jug Face
Maniac
The Punk Singer
How I Live Now
Escape from Tomorrow
Drug War
Fast & Furious 6
Thor: The Dark World
Birth of the Living Dead
Monsters University
World War Z
Frozen
The History of Future Folk
About Time
Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me
Rewind This
Pacific Rim
It’s A Disaster
Reality
Computer Chess
Berberian Sound Studio
The Grandmaster
The Broken Circle Breakdown
All the Boys Love Mandy Lane
Star Trek Into Darkness
The Place Beyond the Pines
New World
Prisoners
Fruitvale Station
Rush
I Declare War
Mama
Antiviral
Grabbers
Europa Report
Passion
John Dies at the End
The Way Way Back
Wrong
Only God Forgives
The Bling Ring
This Is the End
V/H/S/2
Warm Bodies
Cockneys vs Zombies
Oblivion
Ninja 2: Shadow of a Tear
American Hustle
The To Do List
Now You See Me
Pain & Gain
The Last Stand
The Great Gastby
The ABCs of Death
The Lone Ranger
The Counselor

The Best 2014 Releases I've Already Seen:

1. The Lego Movie
2. Snowpiercer
3. Only Lovers Left Alive
4. Why Don't You Play in Hell?
5. A Field in England
6. Big Bad Wolves

Most Overrated:
American Hustle
Computer Chess
Frozen
Fruitvale Station

Best Action Sequence:

Drug War - The final shootout.
Fast & Furious 6 - Tank chase/Runway chase.
The Last Stand - Corn field chase
The Lone Ranger - Train.
Pacific Rim - Hong Kong fight.
The Place Beyond the Pines - Motorcycle chase.
Wolverine - The bullet train fight.

Best Fight:

The Grandmaster - The fight beside the train.
Man of Tai Chi - Final showdown.
The World's End - Bathroom fight, final fight.

Best Opening Shot:
Gravity

The Selfish Giant

Best Long Shot:
The Bling Ring - Audrina break in.

The Spectacular Now - First kiss, first sex.

Best Closing Shot:
In the House
The Past

Best Closing Credits Music:
"Song for Zula" by Phospherescent, The Spectacular Now
"The Beatitudes" performed by Kronos Quartet, The Great Beauty

It was a good year for:

-- Black and white (Escape From Tomorrow, Frances Ha, Much Ado About Nothing, Nebraska).
-- Romance (Before Midnight, Cutie and the Boxer, Drinking Buddies, Her, Laurence Anyways, The Invisible Woman, Much Ado about Nothing, The Spectacular Now, Upstream Color)

Best Moments:

Frances Ha - Trip to Paris.
Her - Phone sex/falling in love montage.
Laurence Anyways - Water drop.
Magic Magic - Knife dance/cliff jump.
Passion - Split screen.
Prisoners - Hospital drive.
Spring Breakers - Restaurant robbery.
Upstream Color - Listening in.
V/H/S/2 - "Safe Haven" segment.
The Wolf of Wall Street - Lemmons.

The Quantity AND Quality Award:
Rooney Mara (Ain't Them Bodies Saints, Her, Side Effects).
Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club, Mud, The Wolf of Wall Street)

Best Musical Moments:
Frances Ha - "Modern Love," David Bowie.
The History of Future Folk - Banjo medley.
Inside Llewyn Davis - "Please Mr. Kennedy."
The Kings of Summer - Pipe dance.
Laurence Anyways - "If I Had A Heart," Fever Ray.
Short Term 12 - Rap
Spring Breakers - "Everytime," Britney Spears

Best Death Scene:
Bolito in action, The Counselor
Blender to the brain, You're Next

Best Re-Release:
The Visitor (1979), Drafthouse Films

Most Quotable Dialogue:
"This is the fuckin' American dream. This is my fuckin' dream, y'all! All this sheeyit! Look at my sheeyit! I got… I got SHORTS! Every fuckin' color. I got designer T-shirts! I got gold bullets. Motherfuckin' VAM-pires. I got Scarface. On repeat. SCARFACE ON REPEAT. Constant, y'all! I got Escape! Calvin Klein Escape! Mix it up with Calvin Klein Be. Smell nice? I SMELL NICE! That ain't a fuckin' bed; that's a fuckin' art piece. My fuckin' spaceship! U.S.S. Enterprise on this shit. I go to different planets on this motherfucker! Me and my fuckin' Franklins here, we take off. TAKE OFF! Look at my shit. Look at my shit! I got my blue Kool-Aid. I got my fuckin' NUN-CHUCKS. I got shurikens; I got different flavors. I got them sais. Look at that shit, I got sais. I got blades! Look at my sheeyit! This ain't nuttin', I got ROOMS of this shit! I got my dark tannin' oil… lay out by the pool, put on my dark tanning oil… I got machine guns… look at this, look at this motherfucker here! Look at this motherfucker! Huh? A fucking army up in this shit!" - Alien (James Franco), Spring Breakers.

"I am the captain now." - Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips

Fifteen Best Older Films Seen For First Time This Year:
American Movie (1999)
Beware of Mr. Baker (2012)
Breaking Away (1979)
Carnival of Souls (1962)
The Color Wheel (2012)
A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
Hands on a Hardbody (1997)
I Wish (2012)
Inside (2007)
Martin (1976)
Millenium Mambo (2001)
[REC] (2007)
To Be or Not to Be (1942)
Undefeated (2011)
Wake in Fright (1971)

My Stats:

Total 2013 Movies Seen: 141

Total 2013 Movies Seen in Theaters (Including Those Seen in 2014): 42.

Most Attended Movie Theaters for 2013 Movies (# of Times Attended): Arclight Hollywood (13) The Cinefamily (7), Sundance Sunset Cinema (5).

Total Movies Seen In Calendar Year 2013: 200

Most Attended Movie Theater in Calendar Year 2013: The Cinefamily (33).

Best Score:

Shane Carruth - Upstream Color

Rob - Maniac

Jeff Grace - We Are What We Are

Clint Mansell - Stoker

Mark Orton - Nebraska

Alex Ebert - All Is Lost

Breakouts:
Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips

Adam's Alternate Oscar Nominations:

Best Actor:
Robert Redford - All Is Lost
Joaquin Phoenix - Her
Oscar Isaac - Inside Llewyn Davis
Miles Teller - The Spectacular Now
Tom Hanks - Captain Phillips

Best Actress:
Amy Semeitz - Upstream Color
Greta Gerwig - Frances Ha
Brie Larson - Short Term 12
Shailene Woodley - The Spectacular Now
Laurence Anyways

Runners Up:
Adele , Blue is the Warmest Color
Berenice Bejo, The Past
Gaby Hoffman, Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus
Amy Acker, Much Ado About Nothing
Olivia Wilde, Drinking Buddies
Felicity Jones, The Invisible Woman
White Reindeer

Best Supporting Actor:
Keith Stanfield - Short Term 12
Nathan Fillion - Much Ado About Nothing
Daniel Bruhl - Rush
Ben Foster - Ain't Them Bodies Saints
James Franco - Spring Breakers

Best Supporting Actress:
Kristin Scott Thomas - Only God Forgives
Kaitlin Dever - Short Term 12
Emma Watson - The Bling Ring
Mickey Sumner - Frances Ha
Scarlett Johannson - Her

Best Original Screenplay:
Joel & Ethan Coen, Inside Llewyn Davis
Shane Carruth, Upstream Color
Noah Baumbach & Greta Gerwig, Frances Ha
Simon Pegg & Edgar Wright, The World's End
The Spectacular Now
The Past

Best Adapted Screenplay:
In The House
The Invisible Woman
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
We Are What We Are
Dustin Cretton, Short Term 12

Best Cinematography:
Hotye, Her
Stoker
Laurence Anyways
Ain't Them Bodies Saints

Best Production Design:

Best Foreign Film:
Laurence Anyways
In The House
Pieta
The Past

Best Editing:
Upstream Color
Laurence Anyways

Best Costume Design:

Best Documentary:
Blackfish
Stories We Tell
Let the Fire Burn
These Birds Walk
Narco Cultura

Best Director:
Spike Jonze, Her

Best Original Score:

Best Original Song:
"Please Mr. Kennedy," Inside Llewyn Davis
"Becomes The Color," Stoker
"Juno", Maniac
"Amen," All Is Lost
"So You Know What It Feels Like," Short Term 12

Double Bills

The Sebastian Silva/Michael Cera Crazy Road Trip Bill
Crystal Fairy
Magic Magic

The "If We Shoot This on Period Cameras, Will You Think We Made It In the '80s?" Bill
Computer Chess
No

The "This Isn't The Main Character's Last Name, But If You Watch The Movie, It'll Make Sense By The Time You Get To The Last Scene" Bill
Frances Ha
Laurence Anyways

The "Okay, So The Future's Vaguely Dystopian But Who Cares When All The Furniture Is So Pretty" Bill
Her
Oblivion

The "Sleazy Thriller Gussied Up By A Slumming Auteur" Bill
Side Effects
Trance

The "Kidnapping Thrillers With A Socially Conscious Message" Bill
Eden
Graceland

The "The Apocalypse is Hilarious" Triple Bill
It's a Disaster
This Is The End
The World's End

The "Who Needs A Budget For Your Horror Film When You've Got Two Dudes And Some Inventive Plotting" Bill
The Battery
Resolution

The "The American Dream is Kinda Messed Up" Mini Festival
The Great Gatsby
The Wolf Of Wall Street
Pain & Gain
American Hustle
Spring Breakers
The Bling Ring

The "Zombies Are Still A Thing, Huh?" Quadruple Bill
The Battery
Warm Bodies
World War Z
Cockneys Vs. Zombies.

The "Space is Scary" Bill
Europa Report
Gravity

The "Everything Is Blue" Bill
Blue Caprice
Blue Jasmine
Blue Is The Warmest Color

The "Just Survive!" Triple Bill
All Is Lost
Captain Phillips
Gravity

50 Movies I Wanted To See But Missed:
A Hijacking
After Tiller
All the Light in the Sky
Anchorman 2
The Armstrong Lie
The Attack
At Berkeley
August: Osage County
Bad Milo
Bastards
Beastiare
Beyond the Hills
Blancanieves
Big Ass Spider
Big Words
The Conjuring
Curse of Chucky
Deceptive Practices
Dirty Wars
Don Jon
Fill the Void
First Cousin Once Removed
From Up on Poppy Hill
Gideon's Army
Here Comes The Devil
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Inequality for All
Is the Man Who is tall Happy?
Kid-Thing
Kon-Tiki
Like Someone in Love
The Lords of Salem
Mother of George
Out of the Clear Blue Sky
Paradise: Faith
Paradise: Hope
Paradise: Love
Philomena
Shadow Dancer
Simon Killer
Something in the Air
Sound City
Sun Don't Shine
The Unspeakable Act
Tim's Vermeer
To the Wonder
Una Noche
War Witch
What Maisie Knew
You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet

Movies I'm Glad I Missed
Getaway
Paranoia
Movie 43
Scary Movie 5
Battle of the Year
The Big Wedding
Grown Ups 2
The Host
After Earth
47 Ronin
Safe Haven
A Good Day to Die Hard
The Smurfs 2
Identity Thief
The Hangover III
Texas Chainsaw 3D
Grudge Match
Jobs
Planes
Walking With Dinosaurs
Kick-Ass 2
The Family
Machete Kills
Salinger
The Internship
Last Vegas
Black Rock
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Jack the Giant Slayer
Lovelace
Beautiful Creatures

Movies I'm Looking Forward to in 2014:
Boyhood
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
The Double
Foxcatcher
Gloria
Gone Girl
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Guardians of the Galaxy
Inherent Vice
Like Father, Like Son
The Missing Picture
Omar
The Rocket
Stranger by the Lake
Under The Skin
Veronica Mars
Visitors

Movie List 2012

The "Good Guy Going Floor by Floor Through Bad Guy Run Apartment Complex" Bill
Dredd

The Raid: Redemption

The "Third Act You Won't See Coming" Bill:

The Cabin in the Woods
Kill List

Best Fight:

The two brothers taking on Mad Dog, The Raid: Redemption.

The four on one hallway fight, The Raid.

Fassbender v. Carano, Haywire
Sporting goods showdown, Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning

Breakouts:
, Detention

Tara Lynn Barr, God Bless America

Loved Ones girl, The Loved Ones.

Little girl, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Zoe Kazan, Ruby Sparks

Best Musical Moments:

"Let My Baby Ride" – Holy Motors

"Who Were We" – Holy Motors
"The Sambola," - Damsels in Distress

"Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" – Girl Walk // All Day

Staten Island Ferry - Girl Walk // All Day
"Firework" - Rust & Bone
"Take This Waltz," - Take This Waltz
"Video Killed the Radio Star," - Take This Waltz

Best Final Scene:

Talking limosines – Holy Motors

Imagine/sparkles – Girl Walk // All Day

Best Opening Scene:

Entering the eworld – Holy Motors

McConaghey – Magic Mike

Musical moments: finale detention, detention

Moment: travel backwards in time

Opening: Detention

Most Quotable Line:
“I love you, but you don’t know what you’re talking about.” – Moonrise Kingdom

“That’s my secret, cap. I’m always angry.” – Marvel's The Avengers

“You make me want to not sleep with a bunch of guys.’ – Goon

“You should always be happy.” – Girl Walk // All Day

Best Pre-Credits Sequence:

Imagined Baby Murder, God Bless America

Art heist, The Thieves

Richard Parker’s appearance

Shipwreck.

Action:

Shoot out on side of building – The Thieves

Best Score:
Beasts of the Southern WIld

Opening and closing: Beasts

Best Villain:

Lola -- The Loved Ones

Loki (Tom Hiddleston) – Marvel's The Avengers

Mad Dog – The Raid: Redemption

Michael Shannon – Premium Rush

Extended tracking shot:

-- CGI assisted trip through the carnage, Marvel's The Avengers.

Most Disturbing Scene:

Hammer murder, Kill List

Attempted lobotomy, The Loved Ones

Flashback to childhood, Bullhead

Biggest surprise: Anne Hathway, The Dark Knight Rises

Moments:

-- Hulk smash Loki, Marvel's The Avengers

-- Letter writing montage, Moonrise Kingdom.

-- Releasing an army of nightmares, The Cabin In The Woods.
-- Teacher fantasy, The Color Wheel.

Looper A-

Zero Dark Thirty A-

The Color Wheel B+

The Queen of Versailles A-

Girl Walk // All Day B

Sleep Tight B+

Django Unchained B+

Rust and Bone B+

Bernie B+

I Wish B+

The Grey B+

Argo B+ Y

Bullhead B+

The Raid: Redemption B+

Searching For Sugar Man B+

Sound of Noise B+

The Imposter B+

End of Watch B+

Smashed B+

Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters B+

The Pruitt-Igoe Myth B+

Goon B+

The House I Live In B+

Jiro Dreams of Sushi B+

Klown: The Movie B+ NO

Magic Mike B+

The Perks of Being a Wallflower B+

Wuthering Heights B+

Moonrise Kingdom B+

The Cabin in the Woods B+

Safety Not Guaranteed B+

Holy Motors B+

Indie Game the Movie B+

Save The Date B

Take This Waltz B+

Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry B+

21 Jump Street B+

Wreck-It Ralph B+

Frankenweenie B+

Headhunters B

The Thieves B

Bachelorette B

Premium Rush B NO

The Pirates! Band of Misfits B

Detention B

Damsels in Distress B NO

Lincoln B NO

Sleepwalk With Me B

Life of Pi B

The Comedy B

ParaNorman B

Side by Side B

The American Scream B

Marvel’s The Avengers B NO

The Loved Ones B NO

Silver Linings Playbook B NO

Extraterrestrial B

Ruby Sparks B

The Inbetweeners Movie B

Shut Up And Play The Hits B

Beasts of the Southern Wild B YES

Samsara B

Killer Joe B

Dredd B

Skyfall B- NO

Sleepless Night B

Chronicle B

Kill List B YES

Compliance B-

Neighboring Sounds B-

Arbirtrage B-

Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted B-

Juan of the Dead B- YES

Last Days Here B NO

Rise of the Guardians B-

The Hunger Games B-

Something from Nothing Art of Rap B-

The Dark Knight Rises C+ NO

Seven Psychopaths C+

Comic-Con Ep IV A Fan’s Hope B-

Jeff Who Lives at Home C+

Haywire B- NO

The Woman In Black B-

The Loneliest Planet B-

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey B-

Jack Reacher C+

The Hole 3D C+

V/H/S C+

Brave C+ NO

God Bless America C+

Not Fade Away C

Flight C

Anna Karenina C

Marley C NO

Lockout C

Prometheus C-

Pitch Perfect C-

Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning C-

Beyond the Black Rainbow C- YES

Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie C-

The Master --

2011.

THE TOP TEN:

Attack the Block (Cornish) A

I first saw Joe Cornish’s superlative debut at a hype-generating advance screening all the way back in March. I loved it, immediately placing it at the top of my still nascent Movie List. Yet while I adored the film, I never expected it to maintain its claim on my number one spot by year’s end. Partially that’s due to a more underwhelming year-end slate of prestige pictures than usual. But it’s also because Attack the Block is, like the best genre entertainment, a complex masterpiece ably hidden inside a thrilling and funny council-block monster mash.

Martha Marcy May Marlene (Durkin) A

The buzz on Martha Marcy May Marlene seemed centered around its fetching young star, heretorfor unkown Olsen sister Elizabeth, who camed out of nowhere to be the darling of last year’s Sundance film festival. It’s easy to see why – Olsen has an incredibly complex character to play, and she nails every single moment. But in all the hubbub over the coronation of a new star, the film itself seems to have gotten somewhat lost in the shuffle.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Alfredsson) A

With this, his suberb follow up to the equally excellent Let The Right One In, Swedish director Thomas Alfreddson

Weekend (Haigh) A

I find the best political art to be that which is personal and intimate rather than strident and slognaeerring, which is why in an odd way Weekend is the cosmic brother of my number one pick, Attack the Block. Billed as a “gay Before Sunrise,” . It’s not an “issue movie,” it’s a romance, and yet by so beguilenly pulling us into these two men’s lives, and by so brazenly refusing to sanitize who they are, it’s

Jane Eyre (Fukunaga) A

Cary Fukunaga’s debut, the gritty thriller Sin Nombre, announced him as a director to watch.

Drive (Refn) A

With Drive, audacious Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn turns a familiar crime story into a outré fetishists’ paradise, a minimalist yet stylish take on the solitary man thriller that recalls such previous studies in existential cool as Le Samourai, The Driver, and pretty much the entire ‘80s output of Michael Mann. Drive’s sometimes uneasy tone walks a fine line between homage, parody, and playing it straight, and yet Refn’s blood-drenched, neon-tinged vision feels all of a piece. Holding it together are both the year’s finest soundtrack and a genius bit of against-type casting: nebbishy comic Albert Brooks as the film’s psychopathic villain.

A Separation (Farhadi) A

As a dyed-in-the-wool fan of grand cinematic style, recent acclaimed Iranian films didn’t impress me as much as they did most critics, as I wasn’t able to get past their emphasis on dialogue over imagery. A Separation, outside of its excellent fourth-wall breaking opening scene, doesn’t buck this trend, but it doesn’t need to. Not when its seemingly simple story of a legal dispute between two families is spun out in every direction possible, creating a dizzying array of complex motivations and layered characters while gradually piling one revelation on top of the next. It’s so subtle that you don’t even realize how brilliant and engrossing the film is until it ends -- at the exact right moment, of course.

I Saw the Devil (Kim) A-

Of the new wave of South Korean genre filmmakers, I Saw the Devil director Kim Jee Woon’s varied filmography is possibly the least thematically rich. But what his films lack in heft, they make up for in breathtaking visual style. That style reaches an apex in Devil, an at-first familiar revenge tale amped up by its insane hook, a twist that pushes the “cop and killer are two sides of the same coin” crime film cliché to its logical, and innovative, extreme. The result is a two-and-a-half hour thriller without an ounce of fat on it, with one audacious and gorgeously constructed sequence flowing into the next, turning the movie into DePalma-esque pure cinema that finds meaning in its characters ultraviolent actions, even when their minimal-but-leaden dialogue lets them down.

Rango (Verbinski) A-

In a year where Pixar and DreamWorks concerned themselves with mediocre sequels and spinoffs, let us be thankful for he unique eccentricities of Rango. Gore Verbinksi, an underrated feature director and near-peerless visual stylist, here escapes from the increasingly deadening confines of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise to make his first animated film, and you can practically feel his glee at getting to cut loose in a new medium. Rango is a surreal, fantastic-looking (Roger Deakins consulted) meta-western that elegantly mixes existential angst, Chinatown and the films of Sergio Leone into a delightful oddball stew.

Young Adult (Reitman) A-

The vicious and underserved backlash that greeted Diablo Cody’s script for Juno, coupled with the more deserved indifference toward her underdeveloped follow up, Jennifer’s Body, sent her from screenwriter of the month to film snob pariah at a record-setting pace. Perhaps this was a good thing. With Young Adult, Cody answers her critics, eliminating that cutesy “honest to blog” dialogue entirely in order to tell the tale of Mavis, a washed up Young Adult ghostwriter, and her trip home on a disastrous quest to reclaim the glory days of her youth. This basic plot template could be the premise of a hundred “sad sack returns home” indie rom coms, but Cody twists all the clichés on their head, revealing the ugly, human truths lying just below. Her cutting script is ably served Jason Reitman’s udnerstatted direction, not to mention the astonishing performances of a never-better Charlize Theron as Mavis and a revelatory Patton Oswalt as her crippled, geeky confidant.

FIFTEEN RUNNERS UP:

Submarine A-

Richard Aoyade’s well-observed debut is the stylish, funny-sad descendant of Ashby’s Harold & Maude, only with Arctic Monkeys’ frontman Alex Turner subbing in for Cat Stevens.

Hanna A-

Joe Wright’s mannered prestige pictures (Atonement, Pride and Prejudice) leave me cold, yet that same precious style, when applied to juicy B-movie material like the pint-size assassin tale Hanna, generates consistently surprising sparks.

13 Assassins A-

An unexpected turn in a career full of them, gore auteur Takashi Miike’s latest is a gloriously old-fashioned samurai epic of the sort that hasn’t been attempted in forever, with an hour-long village-leveling finale that’s a gift for action junkies everywhere.

Contagion A-

A horrifying tale of disease-borne apocalypse that’s all the more effective for its terse, melodrama-free storytelling, Contagion never lingers on one vignette too long, wisely treating the deadly disease itself as its true protagonist.

Life in a Day A-

This crowd-sourced visual poem doesn’t always transcend its gimmick (YouTube users sent in footage from around the world on a single day) to become the internet-era Koyaanisqatsi it so desperately wants to be, but it’s consistently engrossing and occasionally even transcendent.

The Trip A-

An entertaining if episodic tale from the chameleonic Michael Winterbottom, this road comedy seems intentionally unassuming at first, and yet, somewhere amidst all the Michael Caine impressions, it becomes a touching treatise on mid-life crises, happiness, and the male ego.

Win Win B+

Speaking of unassuming films, Tom McCarthy’s latest follows a pretty standard feel good indie template, and yet its lived-in performances, well-developed characters, and crackling comic dialogue elevates it from also-ran status to something that’s genuinely, well, winning.

Stake Land B+

Absurdly underrated and underseen, this melancholy, character-driven horror film comes across like The Road, if The Road had vampires and was directed by Terrance Malick. And yes, it’s every bit as awesome as it sounds.

The Arbor B+

Original to the point of being near unclassifiable, this part documentary, part biopic, part stage play tells the brutal life story of working-class playwright Andrea Dunbar and her two daughters, with actors lip syncing to real interviews, all while Dunbar’s shattering true story intertwines with an enactment of her brutally honest title play.

Project Nim B+

James Marsh follows up his wonderful Man on Wire with another, equally compelling documentary, this one disturbing where his first film was joyous. A sort of real-life Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Project Nim is a staggering tale of human hubris and stupidity, and the animal who suffered because of it.

Moneyball B+

Surely the year’s most difficult cinematic undertaking was figuring out how to translate Michael Lewis’s seemingly un-adaptable book Moneyball to the big screen. How delightful, then, that not only does the film work, it positively soars, held aloft by a sharp, witty, script and a barrage of top-notch performances.

The Skin I Live In B+

I tend to admire Almodovar’s films more than I adore them, but in The Skin I live In, he’s found perhaps the perfect Hitchcock-by-way-of-De Sade tale to adapt, and the result is deeply disturbing and off the wall funny in equal measure.

We Need to Talk About Kevin B+

The long awaited return of Lynne Ramsey is as stylized and opaque as her previous work, taking what sounds like a straight “bad seed” tale and pushing it in interesting new directions. I would have liked it even more if Ramsey’s previous film, Morvern Callar, hadn’t explored similar territory with even greater skill.

The Tree of Life B+

Terrence Malick’s deeply personal and hugely ambitious film is flawed, to be sure (I found those final scenes on the beach are eyeroll inducing), but when it hits, which it does both on a macro scale with the profoundly moving evolution of the universe seqence, and on a micro one in the series of lyrical, finely observed coming of age vignettes that make up its longest section, it’s like nothing else out there.

Margaret B+

Like The Tree of Life, the long-delayed, heavily truncated Margaret, is a flawed film, rife with go-nowhere subplots and scenes that seem to start or end in the wrong place. But the best moments here are complex and rich and powerful in a way contemporary American cinema rarely is.

EVERYTHING ELSE:

Take Shelter B+

Midnight in Paris B+

Rise of the Planet of the Apes B+

War Horse B+

Like Crazy B+

The Myth of the American Sleepover B+

Source Code B+

Super B+

Terri B+

Our Idiot Brother B+

Bill Cunningham New York B+

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol B+

The Guard B+

Meek’s Cutoff B

Melancholia B

The Descendants B

Senna B

Certified Copy B

The Ides of March B

Point Blank B

The Yellow Sea B

If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front B

Arthur Christmas B

Pearl Jam Twenty B

The Interrupters B

The Adventures of Tintin B

Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop B

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows B

Captain America: The First Avenger B

The Innkeepers B

Cold Weather B

The Artist B-

Tyrannosaur B-

Margin Call B-

Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame B

Warrior B-

X-Men: First Class B-

Super 8 B-

The Muppets B-

Cave of Forgotten Dreams B-

Real Steel B-

Crazy, Stupid, Love B-

Fast Five B-

Rubber B-

The Last Circus B-

The Help B-

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil B-

Cold Fish B-

Essential Killing B-

Hugo B-

Hobo with a Shotgun B-

Limitless B-

Kung Fu Panda 2 B-

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 B-

Cedar Rapids B-

Shame B-

The Woman B-

Insidious B-

Puss in Boots B-

Elite Squad: The Enemy Within C+

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo C+

A Dangerous Method C+

Page One: Inside the New York Times C+

The Future C+

Bridesmaids C+

The Sleeping Beauty C+

American: The Bill Hicks Story C+

Troll Hunter C+

Fright Night C+

Ceremony C+

Thor C+

Paul C+

Cars 2 C

Sleeping Beauty C

Rio C

Scream 4 C

Vanishing on 7^th Street C

No Strings Attached D+

Red State D+

The Ward D

Bellflower D

The Green Hornet D

Transformers: Dark of the Moon D

PART 3: THE MOVIE AWARDS AND OTHER FUN STUFF, WITH SELECT COMMENTARY

Overrated:

Bellflower

Bridesmaids – Like nearly all Judd Apatow productions it’s way too long, baggy and rhythm less, sequences that should be building to comic crescendos instead ebbing and flowing haphazardly, potential funny throwaway gags are here extended to belabored setpieces until all the humor is crushed out of them. The plot is a shambles, lurching only where it needs to go for the next improvised setpiece, leading to diminishing returns. Visually it’s beyond drab – there are sitcoms that look better than this. The talented cast deserved more.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - I like the Girl With The Dragon Tatoto books, but they have, to my mind, undeniable problems with plot, meaning, and character, that threaten to overturn their good qualities at any moment. The flatfooted and deriviatvie Swedish adaptations

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

Hugo

Underrated:

Our Idiot Brother

War Horse – Okay,

Best Pre-Credits Sequence:

Melancholia

Scream 4

Best Opening Credits Sequences:

-- The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVLJkIZvFlo

-- Young Adult

-- The Adventures of Tintin

Best Closing Credits Sequence:

-- Super 8 “The Case”

Best Last Line:

“You missed the heart.” – Hanna.

“I used to think I knew. Now I’m not so sure.” – We Need To Talk About Kevin

Most Quotable Dialogue:

“Guys like me were born loving girls like you.” -- Young Adult

“No reason.” -- Rubber

Best Musical Moments:

-- Final dance number, The Artist

-- That murder set to the awesome song, Drive

-- About Today, Warrior.

-- "Life’s a Happy Song," The Muppets

-- “La Mer,” Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

Film Geek Award For The Longest Extended Tracking Shot:

Stake Land

Subway fight, Hanna

Bagghar chase, The Adventures of Tintin

Best Opening Shot:

A Separation

Best Final Shot:

Attack the Block

The Ides of March

Martha Marcy May Marlene

Rubber

Best Soundtrack:

Drive

Submarine

Breakouts:

-- John Boyega - Attack the Block

-- Elizabeth Olsen - Martha Marcy May Marlene

-- Shailenne Woodley - The Descendants

-- Tom Hiddleston - Midnight in Paris, Thor, War Horse

-- Chris Hemsworth - Thor

-- Felicity Jones - Like Crazy

-- Elle Fanning - Super 8, We Bought a Zoo

-- Rooney Mara - The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

-- Sara Paxton & Pat Healy, The Innkeepers

-- Jessica Chastain - Coriolanus, The Debt, The Help, Take Shelter, The Tree of Life.

-- Kid from Win Win

-- Melissa McCarthy - Bridesmaids

It was a good year for:

-- British film

-- Comic actors in serious roles:

Patton Oswalt, Olivia Colman, Albert Brooks, Jonah Hill

Best Action Sequence:

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol – Building stuff

Second Hour of 13 Assassins

Collapsing building, hangglising – Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Chase through rio dragging a safe, Fast Five

Hanna escapes

Finale of Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Best Fight:

Greenhouse – I Saw the Devil

Best Ending:

Cold Fish

Worst Ending:

Red State

Actors who I forgot were capable of great performances:

Anna Paquin

Kirsten Dunst

Best Moments:

-- Cab murder, I Saw The Devil

-- “Kill the Green Hornet” Split screen sequence, The Green Hornet

-- Rudolph and Wiig in the coffee shop Bridesmaids

-- From above, Like Crazy

-- Christmas gift delivery as military operation, Arthur Christmas

-- Ceasar says “No!” Rise of the Planet of the Apes

-- Dueling Michael Caines, “we rise at daybreak!” The Trip

-- Tuxedo bit, The Artist

-- Gosling and Stone’s night together, Crazy, Stupid, Love

-- Conan anti semite bit, Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop

-- Guy standing in room, Insidious

-- Red guy appearing Insidious

-- Saying goodbye, Weekend

-- Sister scene, Young Adult

-- Fassbinder, Naxi hunter, X-Men: First Class

-- A brief history of time, The Tree of Life

The Quantity, Not Quality Award:

The Quantity AND Quality Award:

Michael Fassbender – Shame, X-Men: First Class, Jane Eyre, A Dangerous Method

Ryan Gosling- Drive, The Ides of March, Crazy, Stupid, Love.

Best Villains:

Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Thor

Jerry Dandridge (Colin Farrell), Fright Night

Bernie Rose (Albert Brooks), Drive

Kyung-chul (Min-sik Choi), I Saw The Devil

Marissa (Cate Blanchett), Hanna

Lord Naritsugu (Goro Inagaki), 13 Assassins

The Film Geek Award For Best Extended Tracking Shot:

Best Score:

Jeff Grace, Stake Land

Alexandre Desplat, The Ides of March

The Chemical Brothers, Hanna

Rubber

Basement Jaxx, Attack the Block

Cliff Martinez, Contagion

Cliff Martinez, Drive

Thirteen Fun Double Bills:

The “Academy Ratio is Back!” Bill

The Artist

Meek’s Cutoff

The “Antihero In A Cool Jacket” Bill

Drive

I Saw The Devil

The “Are They Nuts? Probably” Bill

Martha Marcy May Marlene

Take Shelter

The “‘Before Sunrise’ Knock-Off” Bill

Like Crazy

Weekend

The “Don’t Mess With Apes” Bill

Project Nim

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

The “Extremely Similar Title” Bill

Sleeping Beauty

The Sleeping Beauty

The “Extremely Similar Title, Part 2” Bill

Dream Home

Dream House

The “Like A Boxing Film, Only With Robots/Martial Arts” Bill

Real Steel

Warrior

The “Like A Wes Anderson Film, Only Not” Bill

Ceremony

Submarine

The “Magic of the Movies” Bill

The Artist

Hugo

The “Magic of ‘80s Genre Films” Bill

Attack The Block

Super 8

The “Moral Quandary That Spreads From An Incident Of Violence” Bill

Margaret

A Separation

The “Working Class British Life is Brutal” Bill

The Arbor

Tyrannosaur

Best Trailer:

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVLvMg62RPA

Super 8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCRQQCKS7go

Worst Trailer:

Bucky Larson: Born to be a Star

Best Poster:

Shame

Young Adult

The Tree of Life

Melancholia

I Saw The Devil

Jane Eyre

The Innkeepers

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

Worst Poster:

Moneyball

Straw Dogs

Best of Revival, Repertory, and Non-Theatrical Releases:

The Clock (2011, Marclay) at LACMA.

Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003, Andersen) at American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre.

Love Exposure (2008, Sono) at Cinefamily at The Silent Movie Theater.

Eighty-Five Movies I Wanted To See But Missed*:

* Movies I’m especially disappointed to have missed are in bold.

A Better Life

30 Minutes or Less

50/50

The Adjustment Bureau

Another Earth

Armadillo

Bad Teacher

Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest

The Beaver

Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey

Black Death

The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975

Bobby Fischer Against the World

Bombay Beach

Bride Flight

Buck

Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff

Carnage

Chillerama

Circo

City of Life and Death

Coriolanus

The Debt

The Devil’s Double

The Double Hour

Dream Home

Even the Rain

Everything Must Go

Film Socialisme

Final Destination 5

Fire in Babylon

Friends with Benefits

General Orders No. 9

Good Neighbors

Heartbeats

Hesher

Higher Ground

Horrible Bosses

The Housemaid

The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence)

The Human Resources Manager

The Imperialists Are Still Alive!

In a Better World

Into the Abyss

Incendies

Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster

Kill the Irishman

Knuckle

L’Amour Fou

The Last Mountain

Le Havre

Little Big Soldier

The Lincoln Lawyer

Love Crime

Monogamy

My Perestroika

Mysteries of Lisbon

My Week with Marilyn

Nostalgia for the Light

Of Gods and Men

Outrage

Paranormal Activity 3

Pariah

Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune

Pina

Putty Hill

Poetry

The Princess of Montpensier

Rapt

Rampart

The Robber

A Serbian Film

Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure

A Somewhat Gentle Man

Small Town Murder Songs

Tabloid

Thunder Soul

The Time that Remains

Tuesday, After Christmas

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

We Bought a Zoo

Wretches and Jabberers

Viva Riva

To Be Heard

We Were Here

Sixty Movies I’m Glad I Missed:

Abduction

Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked

An Invisible Sign

Anonymous

Apollo 18

Arthur

Atlas Shrugged: Part 1

Battle: Los Angeles

Beastly

Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son

Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star

The Change-Up

Conan the Barbarian

The Darkest Hour

Dilemma

The Dream House

Dylan Dog: Dead of Night

Footloose

Glee: The 3D Concert Movie

Gnomeo & Juliet

Green Lantern
Love, Wedding, Marriage

Hangover Part II

Happy Feet Two

Hop

I Am Number Four

I Melt with You

In Time

J. Edgar

Jack and Jill

Just Go with It

Justin Bieber: Never Say Never

Killer Elite

Larry Crowne

London Boulevard

Madea’s Big Happy Family

Mars Needs Moms

Miral

New Year’s Eve

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Priest

Prom

Red Riding Hood

The Roommate

Sanctum

Season of the Witch

Shark Night 3D

The Sitter

Smurfs

Something Borrowed

The Son of No One

Spy Kids: All the Time in the World in 4D

Straw Dogs

Sucker Punch

The Thing

The Three Musketeers

Trespass

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1

Your Highness

Zookeeper

The Twenty Best Older Films I Saw For The First Time This Year:

Arthur (1981)

The Chaser (2008)

Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008)

eXistenZ (1999)

Fish Tank (2010)

Fists in the Pocket (1965)

George Washington (2000)

The Grifters (1990)

Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)

Harold and Maude (1971)

Heavenly Creatures (1994)

Modern Times (1936)

Mona Lisa (1986)

Mystery Train (1989)

Pee Wee’s Big Adventure (1985)

Sanjuro (1962)

Street Fight (2005)

Trust (1990)

Yojimbo (1961)

Yi Yi (2000)

Friday, January 10, 2014