2012 turned out to be a pretty darn good year at the movies. There were two films which I gave perfect scores to this year, one of which the majority of the country won’t be seeing until early next year. I’m breaking my own rule of including it on the list, but we’ll get to that in a moment. Between these two films, which naturally open and close the list (as it’s presented alphabetically), are eight other films rounding out the class of 2012.
Cutting down my list to ten means I need to speak for a moment on films that barely missed the cut. John Carter was the year’s most under-appreciated film, The Cabin in the Woods turned the horror genre on its ear, Ang Lee delivered an amazing journey with Life of Pi, Wreck-It Ralph was this year’s best animated feature, Safety Not Guaranteed was a terrific little sci-fi flick almost no one saw, and Moonrise Kingdom was director Wes Anderson‘s best film since The Royal Tenenbaums.
Enough with what didn’t make the list, let’s get down to discussing what did:
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2011 was a year centered firmly on both endings and beginnings, returns to greatness, nostalgic looks back, and terrifying looks forward. The year gave us stories centered on stars and filmakers of the past, the first silent film of the new millennium, and treatises on life, death, mental illness, and the end of the world.
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Tagged as:
Alexander Payne,
beginners,
end of the world,
george clooney,
jason reitman,
marilyn monroe,
melanie laurent,
muppets,
Take Shelter,
terrence malick,
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
2011 turned out to be a pretty good year for comics. This list takes a look at the best ongoing titles of the year (that means no mini-series or series released only as a graphic novel). To make the list each title had have at least four issues before the close of 2011. DC Comics leads my list with five titles (however, only one is still in print), Marvel comes in second with two of the best titles of the year, and then we throw in a rabbit ronin, a crime-fighting mallard, and a foursome of fearsome turtle power.
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Tagged as:
batgirl,
cap'n loves him some catman,
daredevil,
darkwing duck,
flash,
moon knight,
power girl,
red robin,
secret six,
turtle power,
usagi yojimbo
This wasn’t a year to wow you. 2010 may have been somewhat of an off year for movies, but there are several quality films that hit theaters this year which are worth noting. A couple things struck me as I was putting together this list. First, how actresses stepped up huge this year. Whether in lead or supporting roles, it was a year dominated by the performances of the fairer sex. And second, 2010 was a year of raw emotion, almost visceral, brought to screen. You might argue that one or two of my choices didn’t have elaborate plots, but each delivered on an emotional level.
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Tagged as:
black swan,
ghost writer,
i am love,
inception,
never let me go,
somewhere,
the king's speech,
the social network,
top 10,
toy story 3,
true grit
2009 was a bit of a down year at the movies, but there was plenty to see if you knew where to look. When thinking back over the course of a year you always search for patterns. This was a year for films about soldiers (four made my list), high quality animation (the top two found their way here, but there were other contenders), and the strongest year for science fiction in recent memory (including three who earned spots). Throw into that mix my favorite drama of the year, and a spot-on teenage coming of age comedy, and maybe 2009 wasn’t such a bad year after all.
I tried my best to see everything but a few slipped by me including Broken Embraces, Red Cliff, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, and A Single Man. And I’ll take a moment to give a shout out to a pair of films just missing the cut in Sin Nombre the Coen Bros. A Serious Man.
But enough about what didn’t earn a spot. Let’s get on to the list…
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Tagged as:
Thursday Top Ten
Another year, another list. After hours of cramming movies, I’ve come to what I think to be a list of ten great movies. I haven’t been able to see everything I oughta have before making this list, like Broken Embraces, Doctor Parnassus, A Single Man or the White Ribbon. And I’d like to cheat and mention three more films – (500) Days of Summer, The Box and Tokyo Sonata – as my almost-made-it-picks. They’re not far from the top ten, and on another day they just might make it. I also need to clarify that the picture to your right is most definitely intended to be sarcasm.
But with all that aside, let’s begin.
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Tagged as:
movie reviews,
Thursday Top Ten
Over the next few weeks we’ll take a look at the best and worst of 2009. To start things off we begin with the “best” bad movie of the year.
There are bad movies, there are awfully bad movies, and then there are movies so ridiculously bad they force you to bellow with laughter and titter with glee as they instantly earn guilty pleasure status.
Street Figther: The Legend of Chun-Li isn’t a good movie, let’s get that straight. It is however a enjoyable trainwreck and one of the most unintentionally funny films I’ve ever seen.
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Tagged as:
All About DVDs,
dvd and blu-ray,
guilty pleasures,
Street Fighter
The Time Lord has traveled space and time for decades, and for almost all of that time, The Doctor has taken a companion or three along for the ride. With American audiences finally getting the chance to see Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead this weekend, beginning the end of David Tennant’s run and introducing us to a new companion, it seemed like as good a time as any to take a look back. Here, in my humble opinion, are Doctor Who’s Top Ten Companions (with apologies Captain Jack and Tegan who just missed the cut).
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Tagged as:
doctor who,
donna noble,
K-9,
martha jones,
romana,
rose tyler,
sarah jane smith,
Thursday Top Ten,
top 10,
vislor turlough
Yeah, I know most people whittle their lists down to 10, but (as teh ‘monkey often observes) I’m not exactly what you’d call “normal.” And this way you get three more extra-good flicks at no extra charge.
2008 was the year of the cape. Super-heroes and comic book films hit theaters like Twilight tweens at a Robert Pattinson appearance, and most of them turned out to be pretty good (forgetting that second-half of Hancock and all of Punisher: War Zone). As a self-admitted and unabashed comic book nerd I couldn’t help but pepper my list with a few of these along with some heroes not in tights, a vampire, a pair of documentaries, and one kick ass panda.
Honorable mentions – Before we begin let me mention a couple films I missed including In Bruges, The Reader, and The Fall (the last of which made our pal Eric’s list), and offer some appreciation to the lovable also-rans who didn’t quite make the cut. These include Traitor, Tropic Thunder, The Visitor, Bolt, and Wall-E (the last film to miss the cut).
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