TOP TEN MOVIES OF 2012

Unlike many of my colleagues, I found 2012 a thin year for quality American movies (this was decidedly not the case with foreign films, which I will list separately). But the December glut of releases more than made up for a lackluster year overall, accounting for six of my top ten. Here are my favorite movies of the year, in order, and the six directors I would have nominated for an Oscar (with apologies to Paul Thomas Anderson's "The Master," which I inexcusably missed):

1. ZERO DARK THIRTY* - Kathryn Bigelow

2. LINCOLN - Steven Spielberg

3. ARGO - Ben Affleck

4. DJANGO UNCHAINED - Quentin Tarantino

5. MOONRISE KINGDOM - Wes Anderson

6. SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK - David O. Russell

7. LES MISERABLES

8. BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD

9. BERNIE - yes, a comedy!

10. THE IMPOSSIBLE 

Honorable Mention:

The Deep Blue Sea - Rachel Weisz deserves that fifth Oscar slot for Best Actress

The Dark Knight Rises

Skyfall

Searching for Sugarman - documentaries do not usually make the cut, but this one is an exception

Saw & enjoyed:

Flight

Hitchcock (overlooking the many liberties it took with the truth)

Lawless*

Looper

* continuing a tradition from last year, these movies starred the lovely Jessica Chastain

2012 List #1: "Don't bother"

I have decided to break-up my 2012 year-end list into 3 separate posts. Here is my first list:

An alphabetical list of films I wish I hadn't seen in 2012.

ANNA KARENINA -- I felt like I was watching one very long perfume commercial.
DAMSELS IN DISTRESS -- the worst movie I endured in 2012.
THE HUNGER GAMES -- not a  fan.
HYDE PARK ON HUDSON -- a surprisingly limp effort, given the talented cast (I blame the director and screenwriter)
HYSTERIA--don't you hate it when a film imposes modern sensibilities on characters from the past? (Felicity Jones was great, though)
KILLING THEM SOFTLY . . . killing us softly with a surfeit of arch dialogue.
SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN -- what a waste of resources (everybody knows you can't introduce salmon into the Yemen!)
TWO DAYS IN NEW YORK -- Julie Delpy doesn't realize when she's being tiresome.

Oscar nominations recap

For an organization known for its predictability, the nominations for the 85th Academy Awards provided a few surprises today.

Surprise #1: 
The biggest surprise is cause for the biggest righteous outrage: BEST DIRECTOR. The directors of two of the most-heralded movies of the year -- Ben Affleck ("Argo") and Kathryn Bigelow ("Zero Dark Thirty") -- were snubbed! No one saw that coming. This sets up the real possibility that the winner of the Director's Guild Award will NOT also win the Oscar (that rarely happens). Rather than blame the two surprise nominees in this category (Michael Haneke, "Amour" and Behn Zeitlin, "Beasts of the Southern Wild") I choose to single out the director who has gotten a free ride this award season: Ang Lee ("Life of Pi"). Only nominated for 'technical' awards, "Pi" has no chance in the Best Picture race. I think the Academy is trying to make amends for snubbing him for his last great film, "Brokeback Mountain," rather than for his work this year.

Surprise #2: 
"Beasts of the Southern Wild." This indie hit was so under-the-radar it got shut-out of BOTH the Golden Globes and the SAGs. But Oscar showed its love with 4 nominations! As much as I enjoyed the film and the lead performance by pint-sized newcomer Quvenzhane Wallis, I can't help but think somewhere Marion Cotillard ("Rust & Bone") and Rachel Weisz ("The Deep Blue Sea") are thinking "What's a girl gotta do to get a nomination?!?" At least Rachel has hubby Daniel Craig to console her.

Surprise #3: 
You can always count of the committee for Best Feature Documentary to overlook a worthy nominee in favor of 'making a statement.' But this year all the nominees appear worthy: the snubs came to the year's over-hyped and undeserving ("Bully"; Detropia"; "Ethel"; and "The Imposter.")

Surprise #4: 
A BEST MAKE-UP nomination for "Les Miserables"? Are they kidding? The make-up in that movie looked like it was applied with a trowel!

NO SURPRISE: 
Once again, this honor falls to John Williams, who received his 48th Oscar nomination -- an obscene amount for any one person -- this time for his ORIGINAL (I use that term loosely) SCORE for "Lincoln." Halfway through that movie I entertained the idea of giving the old man a pass this time. Then the trademark Williams bombast kicked-in, drowning the later scenes with a manipulative crescendo of self-important, "monumental-sounding" music (when none was needed). Did you notice that Daniel Day-Lewis's most effective scenes as Lincoln had no musical accompaniment? His words alone provided the music and the weight.

I would have given his slot to either Alexander Desplat's work in "Moonrise Kingdom" or to Danny Elfman's playful, spot-on score for "Hitchcock."

And don't even get me started on the snubs in the BEST FOREIGN FILM category!!

Rust and Bone

"Rust and Bone" is the latest film from French director Jacques Audiard ("Un Prophet" (2009)), and he once again delivers an audacious, gritty, and at-times beautiful film. The story revolves around Ali (a very good Matthias Shoenaerts), an out-of-work and out-of-money Belgian boxer forced to move in with his his older sister when he takes custody of his son from his drug-dealing mother. He takes a job as a bouncer and meets an unhappy Stephanie (Marion Cotillard) one night at the club. She works as an Orca-whale trainer for a SeaWorld-type outfit, until an accident renders her a double-amputee (no spoiler alert, as this happens early on and has received a great deal of media attention). The scene is not graphic, but since you know it is coming, it is quite suspenseful.

Aside from the technical wizardry of showing the lovely Mlle. Cotillard as a double amputee (she swims! She has sex! She gets tattoos!), the film is matter of fact about her physical struggles; it is more concerned with her psychological journey to reshape her life and identity. Not wearing a bit of make-up and sullen throughout the film, she remains stunning; you cannot take your eyes off of her. Regrettably, the film focuses more on Ali and their relationship, who is really a brute and somewhat of a louse. But he undergoes a slow redemption as well.

Two characteristics recur from Audiard's previous, Oscar-nominated film: 1) the subject matter--the lower end of French society ("Un Prophet" took place in a French prison); and 2) a soundtrack dominated by American songs (he memorably used a Jimmie Dale Gilmore tune in his last movie; here, he uses a Bruce Springsteen song from "Nebraska" at a pivotal moment).

One drawback in comparison to his previous film: Audiard introduces a needless subplot involving corporate snooping on employees that entangles both Ali and his sister. It is a leaden attempt to make a political point, and it belongs in another movie. In spite of its rather bleak, unvarnished portrait of life on the margins of society, "Rust and Bone" is a well-made and compelling film that I recommend seeing (but I cannot explain the title).

Broadway!

"Look, it’s me on Broadway! Tonight is my 4th preview in front of an audience. Working with this group has been so inspiring. I love meeting people from the audience at the stage door after the show, everyone has been very kind and supportive." (October 2012).

"Look, it’s ME on Broadway! Picking up my tickets to "The Heiress" starring the lovely Jessica Chastain on November 20, 2012."

"And here I am finally meeting my favorite actress of all time, after her riveting performance as Catherine Sloper in "The Heiress." She was as beautiful, gracious and friendly as I expected she would be. Thanks, Jess!"

Why is this woman smiling??

"Jessica Chastain is close to perfect in her Broadway debut." 

 - Jeremy Gerard, Bloomberg

A "crisp, first-rate production...Grade: A."

- Thom Geier, Entertainment Weekly 

LAWLESS

Lawless

Directed by John Hillcoat

Starring Tom Hardy, Shia LeBeouf, Guy Pearce, Gary Oldman, and the lovely Jessica Chastain

I have to get this poster!!

"Boardwalk Empire" for Hillbillies -- that is not the movie's tagline, but it could well have been used the pitch meeting for this gritty, violent, but beautifully-shot movie. Set in the hills of Franklin County, Virginia during the Depression (but filmed in Georgia), the film is loaded with moonshiners, evil lawmen, even more evil Chicago gangsters, and, of course two love interests for the two main characters (LaBeouf and Hardy): one a pure and innocent preacher's daughter (Mia Wasikawska, who makes the most of this under-written role) and the other a former stripper from Chicago named Maggie (played sympathetically by Ms. Chastain). How she ended up in this backwater is a bit improbable, but I for one am glad she did.

At the time, Franklin County was called "The Wettest County in the World" for all the illegal stills in operation. And the three Bondurant brothers (real characters) were notorious for flouting the corrupt authorities who tried to control their operations. I'm not sure what official role Guy Pearce's slick, big-city (Chicago again) "Special Deputy" played in all this, but he is the main villain on the law's side, and he (and his hair) make a compelling presence. Kudos to the hairstylist for giving all the male actors striking and severe haircuts. 

Tom Hardy dominates the movie as the leader of the family, and he gives a daring, barely audible performance (he conveys a lot by a look and a well-placed grunt). Poor Maggie has to enter his bedroom stark naked to get a reaction out of him (and I for one am glad she did). Hardy pulled off an even bigger acting challenge as the villain Bane in "The Dark Knight Rises" (acting with that contraption over his mouth), making a name for himself with these unconventional performances -- let's hope he doesn't descend into caricature like Nicolas Cage did!

The soundtrack and musical selections (by Nick Cave, who also wrote the screenplay!) mesh with the time-period, reminiscent of the great work done by T. Bone Burnett for "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" I admire (but do not love) Boardwalk Empire for its attention to details like this, so I enjoyed this equally blood-splattered tale of America in the Twenties. 

Best documentary of the year!

SEARCHING FOR SUGARMAN

Directed by Malik Bendjelloul

Is it a coincidence that two of the best music documentaries of all time ...
  1) were both released in 2012; and
  2) both take place in South Africa?

I have already enthused about Paul Simon's historic trip to South Africa as recounted in "Under African Skies." That doc seems to have gone 'straight to HBO' -- a fate that appears to be on the rise for many  docs, raising the question of whether they are, or should be, eligible for Oscar consideration (a hot topic among documentarians).

The second (even better) documentary I saw this year begins on a beautiful coastal highway in Cape Town, as one of a devoted handful of American music devotees recounts an unbelievable story of Resurrection -- of a Seventies-era songwriter who was ignored by the rest of the world, most-egregiously by his native country: the United States.

The scene then shifts to the mean streets of Detroit, Michigan, where this unknown talent, RODRIGUEZ, has called home for the last 40 years.  Rodriguez released two albums in the early 1970s that were met with universal indifference -- everywhere but in apartheid-era South Africa, where he achieved a kind of cult status (his song "I Wonder" became an anthem for white anti-apartheid youth in the  Seventies).  Another testament to his popularity: several stories recounting his on-stage suicide became legend. 

The film does a thorough job or following the how and why of this unlikely success, including how it happened in such isolation that no one outside of South Africa knew about it. (The royalty checks were sent to a now-defunct record company--the filmmaker didn't pursue this part of the story beyond interviewing a rather contentious Clarence Avant,  the company's founder).

As the story progresses, back and forth from Detroit to Cape Town (enhanced by beautiful cinematography-- a documentary rarity), you slowly realize how the legend of Rodriguez can never happen again in our Internet-saturated world. In the pre-Google 1990s when these events took place, however, it took a journalist's detective work (not to mention a crude website with Rodriguez's likeness drawn on a milk carton!) to uncover the truth: he was not dead, but alive and living as a blue collar family man in the same Detroit neighborhood where many of his songs are set.

This would remain only an interesting story if the music this man produced on those two albums weren't so brilliant (from the first moment you hear a song on the soundtrack, you know he is a special talent). Comparisons to Dylan are tossed around by a couple of record executives -- and they are not that far off. ("Sugar Man" refers to his drug dealer). The potential this guy had, based on his two albums, seems limitless.

It is satisfying to watch the re-discovery and inevitable South African tour -- but very little is learned from the interview with the man himself. Sixto Rodriguez must not open-up in interviews (a South African journalist says as much towards the end).  But that does not take away from the incredible story of this man's life. I'm looking into U.S. tour dates right now (October 23rd -- House of Blues, Houston).

Things to look forward to

Vanity Fair Cover - September 2012

My new favorite picture . . . OF ALL TIME
(sorry, Henri Cartier Bresson)

"Lawless" opens everywhere August 29th!

The Heiress opens on Broadway 

Thursday, November 1st, 2012!

Zero Dark Thirty Trailer 

Opens December 19, 2012

Finally, how can you not love a gal who owns a cute, three-legged pooch!

JC with Chaplin

Now filming on the streets of New York . . .

"The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby"

(for those of you in the NYC area)

A haircut hasn't received this much attention since "Felicity" was on TV ! (Who remembers that show? Keri Russell? Season two haircut? Anyone?)