So Far This Year VOLUME X

[JG]

favorite movies
deep blue sea
the master
lincoln
the comedy
dark horse
moonrise kingdom
bernie

other good movies
zero dark thirty
dark knight rises
holy motors

overrated
argo
flight
django

underrated
john carter
premium rush

will edit list after i see these movies
turin horse
amour
sun don't shine
the hobbit
among others...

[polkablues]

underrated
premium rush

I knew I wasn't alone!

[JG]

its kind of amazing

[jenkins]

I think two Premium Rush fans finding each other counts as a holiday miracle!

[Alexandro]

I will enlist the films that I saw in 2012 that really stood out for me. I'm not sure about the 2011-2012 dates but most of these are films I saw after the first half of the year was over. In alphabetical order:

BERNIE (Richard Linklater)
Awesome film that manages to be a dark comedy and a drama, and a semi documentary on texas. Jack Black's best performance ever and my favorite performance by anyone this year, by far. It's very underrated.

GEORGE HARRISON: LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD (Martin Scorsese)
Agree with anyone who claims this is pretty much a standard doc, and in principle, I agree with the notion that the Dylan doc is a masterpiece in this one isn't. Fine. But I saw this twice and it made me cry both times. There's something about the way it is structured that works, and I find it closer in spirit to Kundun and Last Temptation within Scorsese's filmography.

KILLER JOE (William Friedkin)
This one is something to behold. I love movies like this, too fucked up for the arthouse crowd to embrace or the "normal" moviegoing public to enjoy.

MARGARET (Kenneth Lonnergan)
Haven't seen the five hour cut yet, but it's a masterful film and one of a dying species. Couldn't recommend it enough. I also liked the "old school" cinematography, a.k.a. without excessive color timing.

MELANCHOLIA (Lars Von Trier)
No need to say anything.

MISTERIOS DE LISBOA (Raoul Ruiz)
Hopefully some more people around here will get to see this. It was the biggest surprise I had all year. I made a thread for it where I talk a little about what I like. (Don't remember if I actually started the thread but there's one, I'm sure).

NOSTALGIA DE LA LUZ / NOSTALGIA OF THE LIGHT (Patricio Guzman)
This is a beautiful, beautiful film. I don't know if anyone has seen it here, but it's an unforgettable little documentary that branches out to contemplate the whole universe. Highly recommended.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
I was shocked with this film, because the only other movie I had seen from this director (Clouds of May) was a pretty forgettable experience. This is a detailed police procedural that takes it's time to become philosophical. From the very first shot I knew it was going to be very special.

POST TENEBRAS LUX (Carlos Reygadas)
No wonder this was booed at Cannes. it actually has balls, unlike most of the arthouse cinema around. I guess time will tell, and hopefully when more people around here have seen it I can hear more opinions, but I found it to be exhilarating and liberating, scary, intense and moving. Reygadas has been an escalating experience for me. Each new film of his I have liked more than the last.

A SEPARATION (Asghar Farhadi)
Awesome film. I already wrote a few words on it in it's own thread.

TABÚ (Miguel Gomes)
Perhaps my other big surprise of the year (both from Portugal, actually. It's the film The Artist should have been, and it proves you can find new ways to tell a story and elevate any material to become a masterpiece, which this film is, I think.

TYRANNOSAUR (Paddy Considine)
Damn this film is bleak, but so assured and to the point and so fantastically acted by the two leads, I', very surprised no one here has talked too much about it. You guys gotta see this.

[matt35mm]

POST TENEBRAS LUX (Carlos Reygadas)
No wonder this was booed at Cannes. it actually has balls, unlike most of the arthouse cinema around. I guess time will tell, and hopefully when more people around here have seen it I can hear more opinions, but I found it to be exhilarating and liberating, scary, intense and moving. Reygadas has been an escalating experience for me. Each new film of his I have liked more than the last.

I did see this, and it was a powerful cinematic experience, but I can't think of what to say about it other than that. All I really remember about it now are the images. So, I'd like to talk about it, but what would I say? I would have to see it again and hear others talk about it, because I'm at a loss as to exactly what I think about it. I don't know how the distribution of this film is gonna work, though.

[BB]

POST TENEBRAS LUX (Carlos Reygadas)

I saw it too! I also don't know what to say!

While it's a little too abstract for me to flat-out love (I'd rank it slightly below Silent Light, well above Battle in Heaven and Japon), I agree that it's totally ballsy and scary and moving and all that. I felt the whole film worked wonderfully but not entirely as a whole, if that makes sense. The opening and the ending (not the ending ending, but the scene just before) especially contain some of the best images I saw this year. The orgy. The devil. The rugby. The dogs. These stand out in my memory. Not so much the family drama, although I enjoyed it at the time. The other stuff sort of overwhelmed it maybe. Really, I'm nit-picking here. It's a great film. Sucks that it's probably gonna be hard to see again.

[Alexandro]

NOSTALGIA DE LA LUZ / NOSTALGIA OF THE LIGHT (Patricio Guzman)
This is a beautiful, beautiful film. I don't know if anyone has seen it here, but it's an unforgettable little documentary that branches out to contemplate the whole universe. Highly recommended.

You can watch this online for free at the pbs website until january 16.
Trust me, it is worth it.

http://www.pbs.org/pov/nostalgiaforthelight/#.UN84wYnjlWJ

[jenkins]

POST TENEBRAS LUX (Carlos Reygadas)
No wonder this was booed at Cannes. it actually has balls, unlike most of the arthouse cinema around. I guess time will tell, and hopefully when more people around here have seen it I can hear more opinions, but I found it to be exhilarating and liberating, scary, intense and moving. Reygadas has been an escalating experience for me. Each new film of his I have liked more than the last.

I did see this, and it was a powerful cinematic experience, but I can't think of what to say about it other than that. All I really remember about it now are the images. So, I'd like to talk about it, but what would I say? I would have to see it again and hear others talk about it, because I'm at a loss as to exactly what I think about it. I don't know how the distribution of this film is gonna work, though.

Nathalia Acevedo introduced the movie when I saw it and she gave good advice, which was to not think about the movie, but experience the movie. This is basically what I heard Béla Tarr say when introducing The Turin Horse too. And it makes me think of what Carax has said about Holy Motors audiences, that certain people try to like the movie by 'outsmarting' the movie, but Motors isn't built that way.

Not to say these movies aren't for thinking 'cause of course they are. I think certain moviesmakers are wanting to build their movies differently, and maybe the normal ways we think and talk about movies need to be tweaked in order to talk about them.

What I mean is, those images that you remember -- hold them in your hand. It's important. Those are yours. That's important.

[Just Withnail]

This is basically what I heard Béla Tarr say when introducing The Turin Horse too. And it makes me think of what Carax has said about Holy Motors audiences, that certain people try to like the movie by 'outsmarting' the movie, but Motors isn't built that way.

"What does all that rain mean?" someone asked Tarr during a Satantango Q&A. "It means it's fucking raining," Tarr responded.

[Robyn]

This is basically what I heard Béla Tarr say when introducing The Turin Horse too. And it makes me think of what Carax has said about Holy Motors audiences, that certain people try to like the movie by 'outsmarting' the movie, but Motors isn't built that way.

"What does all that rain mean?" someone asked Tarr during a Satantango Q&A. "It means it's fucking raining," Tarr responded.

Haha, what a great answer.

I started 2013 with watching two great documentaries from 2012, Indie Game: The Movie and Searching for Sugarman. Recommended.

Other then that, I haven't watched that many great films from 2012. Killing Them Softly is definitely the best one I've seen yet.

[polkablues]

Polkablues' 5 Middlest Movies of 2012
Your ultimate guide to what was neither here nor there in the year of the failed apocalypse

(4-way tie for fifth place)
5. Haywire
A movie that aimed low and nailed its target square in the balls.  Especially middling when held up against Soderbergh's other output from last year.
5. Wreck-It Ralph
Perfectly delightful, but even a sugar-addled 7-year-old could tell it's not Pixar.
5. Total Recall
A much better movie than the original.  A much less batshit insane movie than the original.  A much more forgettable movie than the original.
5. House at the End of the Street
Even Jennifer Lawrence's white tank-tops can not elevate this script beyond passable.
1. For a Good Time, Call...
I honestly couldn't even tell you if I liked this movie or not.  Easily the middlest movie I've seen in years.

[modage]

5. Total Recall
A much better movie than the original.

Let's. Not. Go there.

[polkablues]

Already went.

[RegularKarate]

Haha... boy, that's the last straw. I will never be able to take a Polka review seriously again.