Continuing from yesterday's post, I'm detailing my year in watching movies. Yesterday, I listed my favorite scenes from movies I watched this year. In this post, I'm going to list some other random superlatives, as well as the 5 worst movies I watched this year. As with yesterday's post, these all come from the list of movies that I watched for the first time this year, which can be found here.
Most Disappointing Movie
Punch Drunk Love - Just to be clear, Punch Drunk Love is not a bad movie. There are a handful of really great scenes and stunning visuals, but it doesn't connect as a whole. I'd heard great things about it, and I really liked Hard Eight, the other movie I watched this year from Paul Thomas Anderson. I'd heard it compared to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, since they're both quirky romances from auteur directors starring zany comedic actors in dramatic roles. Eternal Sunshine is my favorite movie of all time, and this just didn't come anywhere close to it. It's so heightened and surreal that I just couldn't get invested in the characters, there's nothing real to ground the film. It's not bad, but I was expecting greatness instead of interesting, loosely connected scenes.
Most Pleasant Surprise
Black Snake Moan - Who knew that a movie about a sex addict, a soldier stricken by panic attacks and a recently divorced man could end up being so joyful? It's not fun, fun, fun all the time certainly, but Craig Brewer keeps the movie from getting bogged down in some pretty dark material. So, rather than being a dreary slog, we get a vibrant movie steeped in Southern culture that finds answers to sin and struggles in faith and commitment. Christina Ricci gives a fearless performance of incredible physicality that was one of the best I saw all year.
Best Performance
Michael Fassbender: X-Men:First Class, Hunger, Inglorious Basterds - I cheated a little bit on this one, picking Fassbender for his whole body of work I saw this year. I went from having never seen a Fassbender movie to considering him one of my favorite actors working today. You could hardly find 3 more different roles than the ones above, but he crushes all of them. In particular, his performance as Magneto in X-Men totally carries the film. It's a hard thing to follow Ian McKellen, but Fassbender totally nails the passion and intensity at the heart of the character. Fassbender's career is exploding right now, so get on the bandwagon now.
Honorable Mentions: Ryan Gosling (Drive), Christophe Waltz (Inglorious Basterds), Saorise Ronan (Hanna), Sissy Spacek (Carrie), Christina Ricci (Black Snake Moan)
Movies I'm Looking Forward to in 2012
Looper - Two of my personal favorite movies are Brick and The Brothers Bloom, both by director Rian Johnson. Looper is Johnson's next effort, about a time traveling hitman. It features a fantastic cast (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt and Jeff Daniels), and Shane Carruth (Primer) consulted on the film. I couldn't be any more excited about this.
The Avengers - It's a freaking live-action, big budget AVENGERS MOVIE!!! That alone would be enough to warm a young nerd's heart, but add the fact that it's directed by Joss Whedon? Sign me up for that right now.
The Dark Knight Rises - I don't really need to explain this one, do I?
The Hobbit - Ditto.
Prometheus - Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner) returns to sci-fi with this prequel(?) to Alien. I wasn't completely sold until the amazing trailer came out last month. The cast includes Noomi Rapace, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba and Guy Pierce. Oh yeah, it's also got that Fassbender fellow, who I kind of like.
5 Worst Movies I Saw This Year
5. Wonder Boys - I saw this on Netflix Instant and was so excited about it. Robert Downey Jr., Michael Douglas, Frances McDormand, Tobey McGuire, how could it not be good? Lots of actors I like, all in service of a really crappy movie. Unfunny, overwrought, and full of completely unlikeable characters. Ugh. There are apparently a lot of people that really like this, but I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why.
4. Push - The worst thing about Push is that it could be good. The world it creates is interesting, and I thought Chris Evans and Dakota Fanning did a good job in their parts. The story is just so dull though. If only this idea had been given to a stronger writer, or a director who could have injected some energy into the proceedings. Instead, it's just dull and stupid. A waste of good worldbuilding.
3. Freejack - This movie features Mick Jagger in a prominent role. He is exactly as good an actor as you would expect. Campy, nonsensical and all-around terrible. Its saving grace is that it's so bad it occasionally circles around and becomes watchable again. It's not bad enough to be a "so bad it's good" fixture though, mostly it's just awful.
2. Chaos Theory - Look, Ryan Reynolds is not a great actor. He's not a movie star who can single-handedly carry summer blockbusters. He is, however, an incredibly charismatic individual who can be charming and affable in even the worst movies. The worst movies, at least, other than this one. In addition to being dull, bland and dumb, the movie manages to make Reynolds boring and unlikeable. Ugh.
1. Killers - You know, Mr and Mrs Smith isn't a great movie. It's a decent film, but the reason it's so fun and watchable is because Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have CRAZY good chemistry. I mean, you watch that movie, and they just burn up the screen together. It takes an ok movie and makes it super-entertaining. Well, Killers is like that, only the complete opposite.
If you missed it, check out Part 1 of My Year in Film, and check back in later for Part 3
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