2012 is more than half over. Let’s take a look at some movies that have come out this year.
The Top 5 So Far (In No Particular Order)
Cabin in the Woods – Joss Whedon’s incredibly fun horror/action/comedy is a movie that you should really watch in a room with other people. I guarantee we’ll be talking about this and not The Avengers in the next decade.
Moonrise Kingdom – Wes Anderson tries to out-Wes Anderson himself by having his film actually take place in the mid-1960’s as opposed to have a cast of characters who live in the present but seemed trapped in the mid-1960’s. The result is a really tiny and wonderful film. Also Bob Balaban is an American treasure and his character in this should be turned into a McDonald’s toy that kids can find in their Happy Meals and trade with their friends.
The Raid: Redemption – I’ve never been to Indonesia, but according to this movie, every person there has a triple black belt in karate fighting. They also all keep machetes under their tables. There is about 8 solid seconds of dialogue in this movie and the rest is crazy fighting. You’ll find yourself jumping around your apartment doing karate moves in your boxer shorts and utterly frightening your cats.
Beasts of the Southern Wild – If this movie doesn’t make you cry or paint a picture of a sunset or stare into a colony of fire ants and wonder what the meaning of life is then you should probably check your pulse because you’re a dead guy with no pulse.
Celeste and Jesse Forever – Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg play a couple who are getting a divorce even though they are still friends or occasionally sleeping together. It’s funnier than it sounds.
And Now Other Bests
Best Movie Where The Expression “Space Jail” Is Used More Than Once: Lockout
Movies That I Will Never See But That My Parents Described As “Aggressively Pleasant”: Salmon Fishing In The Yemen, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Movie That Would Have Had More Of An Adult Male Audience If The Title Had Elaborated On Which Part Specifically: Katy Perry: Part Of Me
Best Hair In An Otherwise Disappointing Movie: Merida in Brave
Worst Facial Hair In An Otherwise Horrible Looking Movie: John Cusack as Edgar Allan Poe in The Raven
Best Movie Where Liam Neeson Was All “We Totes Need To Kill All These Wolves With Tiny Broken Liquor Bottles!”: The Grey
Most Contradicting Movie Title and Tag Line: Safe House – No One Is Safe (I liken it to The Waffle House changing their slogan to “There Are No Waffles In This House”).
Best Movie I Saw On Drugs: John Carter
Movie That No Amount of Drugs Could Have Saved: Dark Shadows
Basically My Life On Film: Step Up Revolution
What have you guys liked so far this year?
Ah, how I love the movie review posts. Andrew, I’m with you on Cabin in the Woods and Moonrise Kingdom. I don’t normally watch “scary” movies, but Cabin was so ludicrous and self-mocking that I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Everyone should stop what they’re doing now and run out the door to see “Queen of Versailles,” about the family building the largest single-family dwelling in the country. It is phenomenal, and weirdly touching. Also high on my list of must-see 2012 movies: Bernie. I guess i just like true stories based on very weird people.
Also, thank you for this: “Movies That I Will Never See But That My Parents Described As “Aggressively Pleasant””. I didn’t see Salmon Fishing int he Yemen, because it looked too treacly for words and I only like Ewan MacGregor when he’s making fun of himself. I did see Marigold Hotel, and it was, as the English migh say, shite.
My vote for worst movie of 2012: The Dark Knight Rises. Seriously, that was 3 1/2 hours of hot mess.
A friend of mine just saw Queen of Versailles and loved it too. And I’ve heard good things about Bernie also. Thanks for the suggestions!
And while I was a little disappointed in Dark Knight Rises, but worst movie of the year? Come on!
I have seen hardly any new movies this year, it seems, but I loved Moonrise Kingdom and Beasts of the Southern Wild. Each in its own way could have gone horribly wrong but instead got everything right.
Are there going to be any good blockbusters this summer? I have skipped the ones so far because they seem unexciting.
+1 on Beasts and especially Moonrise. Have barely seen anything else. Jumping out of my skin waiting for the new movie from the guy who made Brick, out in a month. (Bonus: Joseph Gordon Levitt.) Also last night some friends told us the new Bourne movie (“Bourne to be Wilde” in which Jason Bourne becomes a Victorian wit and dandy) is fun.
Yeah in terms of blockbuster-y kinds of movies, I think Looper looks like it’s going to be pretty cool. This weekend I’m going to be checking out Cosmopolis and Paranormand.
Never been into Bourne movies, but I might give this a shot. Was hoping it would be called Bourne Again and would be about Bourne hiding out from the CIA by joining a group of born again Christians and then sleeping with Kelly McGillis. BUT I DON’T RUN HOLLYWOOD.
…YET.
Catching up and really enjoyed this post. Totally random comment, I saw “Celine and Julie Go Boating” last night. Wow. If ever in your neighborhood, go. And where is that darn Wilde movie playing? I can only find the one where they whack people every two minutes. Genetically mutated for wit and dandy, so much better.