FIRST OFF, I just want to say
BGRIMM@NEWSREVIEW.COM
this about a big 2012 cinematic event: Hell yeah, I’m happy Disney bought Star Wars. I want more Star Wars movies, I love Disney, and I think it’s a good marriage. Give me more Star Wars now, and I don’t care if Goofy, Ariel or Pluto make cameos!
/ ILLUSTRATION BY MICHAEL GRIMM
Good—I hadn’t gotten a chance to express that to the masses yet. Now, on to the business at hand, the movies of 2012. I liked, even loved, far more movies in 2012 than the offerings of 2011. So, in that way, this was a great movie year. Of course, I’m a critic, and I still have plenty to bitch about. There were some crushing disappointments involving wizards and orcs. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey actually qualified as something I would have to call a bad film. That’s a movie I was dying to see, and one that I left with slumped shoulders and head hanging low. Guillermo del Toro handing over director chores to Mr. Middle Earth, Peter Jackson, turned out to be a bad thing, at least as far as the first installment is concerned. The major “unexpected” aspect of Unexpected Journey is that it kind of blew. The Amazing Spider-Man was a useless reboot featuring a goofy CGI bad guy lizard and C. Thomas Howell’s moronic cranes. And while I liked The Dark Knight Rises and Django Unchained, Bane sounded like a drunken Gandalf speaking through a cardboard paper towel tube, and Tarantino’s copying of himself got on my nerves a bit. Then there’s Lincoln. I love Spielberg, and I think Daniel Day Lewis delivered one of the year’s best performances. But Lincoln was borrr-ing. I was able to hang with the movie for a little bit. It started losing me when Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s son character threw his first hissy fit because busy daddy Abraham wouldn’t talk to him. While these were disappointing, there were many worse. Much worse. We shall explore these films later in the article. Let’s get back to what made this year exemplary overall. Here are the best movies of 2012.
THE BEST 1. LES MISERABLES I must give top honors to this colossal achievement. The year’s best movie is one of the greatest screen musicals I have ever seen. It captures the grandeur of the Broadway show, and it does something extraordinary in having its performers sing their songs live on set. No lip-syncing up in this bitch. Hugh Jackman should get serious consideration for Best Actor this year. Everything about his lead performance is astounding. If Anne Hathaway—also terrific as Catwoman in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises—gets snubbed, Jackman should seek vengeance for her with his Wolverine claws. And be kind to Russell Crowe and his somewhat inferior voice. He gives it his all and creates a sad, lonely Javert that had me feeling sympathy for that character for the first time after seeing many Les Mis incarnations. I have seen the movie multiple times already. It gets better with repeated viewings. Anybody who tries to film a musical after this one has their work cut out for them. The bar has been set, and it’s way, way up there.
“AVENGERS” OPINION
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NEWS
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GREEN
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FEATURE STORY
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ARTS&CULTURE
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IN ROTATION
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ART OF THE STATE
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FOODFINDS
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FILM
| MUSICBEAT
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NIGHTCLUBS/CASINOS
| THIS WEEK
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MISCELLANY
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continued on page 14 JANUARY 10, 2013
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RN&R
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