2019 Top 10

I would’ve posted this sooner, but I have no excuse except laziness. As you’ll see, several of these movies were ones I saw within the last two months, so I didn’t settle on this list until the 11th hour. And, of course, some of these are from Netflix. I’ve already talked about how streaming movies are making a difference in my viewing habits. It’ll likely continue to do so. We’ll see. Anyway, here’s the quick version:

2018 Top 10

I saw fewer new movies last year for several reasons: preoccupied with the novel; being with Virginia, doing different things; the rising price of tickets.

Also, more quality films are available exclusively through streaming sites like Netflix. This is a big change that's been difficult for me to accept. When it comes to movies, I'm traditional. I believe the pros of seeing a movie in a theater outweigh the cons — yet that paradigm is shifting.

It hasn't changed completely, though. There are still good movies to be found in theaters if you know where to look. Here are ten of them.

2017 Top 10

Normally I don't do this sort of thing, but this year I want to give an honorable mention to Feud: Bette and Joan, Ryan Murphy's exquisite TV mini-series about the two great divas of Golden Age Hollywood in their twilight years. This may have been TV, but it was every bit as good as a theatrical release; it's unfortunate that Olivia de Havilland is so upset with it that she's taking Murphy and FX to court over it. I hope they come to some kind of settlement before she leaves this world. (Yes, I know, a lot of dramatic television is as good as the movies now. What can I say? I'm extremely picky.)

So here we go once again. In case you've forgotten, I don't get to see everything. If your favorite movie isn't here, sorry, but that's just how it goes.

2016 Top 10

Last month, out of curiosity, I counted up the new releases I had seen and written about here, from the past six calendar years, 2011-16. From oldest to newest, the numbers per year are: 48, 34, 33, 30, 20, and 29, for a total of 194 and an average of 32.3. (This total excludes films seen at film festivals.)

48 seems like such an outrageous number now. I know there are a number of reasons why I haven't come close to that total since - finances, greater interest in older movies, less willing to pay for crap. I don't have any great observation to make out of this; I just wanted to do this for the sake of doing it. Anyway, here's my top ten:

2015 Top 10

Before I begin, let me address the elephant in the room.

The Revenant is not on this list. I didn't see it and I don't plan to anytime soon. Perhaps you think this makes my list illegitimate somehow, given all the acclaim this movie has received, and in a way, I can't say I blame you if you did think so. 

There's something you gotta remember about me and this blog, though: I am not a professional reviewer. I don't aspire to be one. I make conscious choices as to which new releases to see, and I pay to see them out of my own pocket. Given the often competitive nature of film blogging, there's pressure to see and write about certain movies because of all the hype around them. Everyone's gotta weigh in with an opinion about this or that. As a result, it's easy to forget that if I want to, I can also choose to not see a movie, and I think if I hadn't spent last year devoted to classic film and sitting out the Oscar race, I wouldn't have realized this simple fact. 

I'm not blind. I see that The Revenant is not I Spit on Your Grave, and when it comes time to make my Oscar predictions, I intend to pick it for Best Picture. Someday, years from now, when all the buzz around it has subsided, I'll sit down with it and see what the big deal is about. If WSW is still around by then, I'll even blog about it. 

But not now.

UPDATE 2.14.16: Looks like I've been duped! I was one of many who had been led to believe that The Revenant had a scene in which DiCaprio gets raped by a bear. Michelle informs me that this is not so, that it was in fact, an exaggeration of the facts by an overzealous website. Now see, if I had been following the Oscar race this year, I would've known about this, but who could've predicted this would happen? Apparently the bear scene is still fairly intense; it's just not, y'know, sexual. This changes things. Does it change things enough that I"ll go see the film after all? Stay tuned...

2014 Top 10

No fancy introduction this year; let's just get right down to it...

2013 Top 10

I was gonna begin by saying that I think we can all agree that 2013 was an incredible year for movies, but I've recently seen a few people who think otherwise. However, I have reason to believe that these are people who simply don't go to new movies much, if at all, anymore. If that's true, that would be a shame, because there was a lotta good stuff to see this year. As usual, I didn't get to see everything, so this list, like all my Top 10 lists, is far from definitive. Make of that what you will.

2012 Top 10

Before we begin, some old business: I made last year's top ten before I saw two outstanding movies: We Need to Talk About Kevin and A Separation. Had I made my list after seeing them, they would've made my list for sure - in fact, A Separation would've been my number one instead of Take Shelter. So from now on, I'm not gonna even begin preparing my top ten before February.

2012 was an awesome year for movies. I wish I had seen more films than I did, but seeing everything is not possible for me, and to be honest, I don't really feel the need to. I recently saw an article about a dude who saw a movie a day for the past four years, and frankly, for that amount of dedication to cinema, you'd have to pay me. 

Besides, some movies should take some time to linger in the brain, so that they can be reflected upon. I often do that, if for no other reason than to attempt to figure out what I want to say about a given movie and how. Framing the context for my post is obviously very important to me, since I don't always write traditional reviews.

I also wanna re-acknowledge a film that I saw for the first time in 2012: Adam Rose's Queen, an absolutely beautiful and powerful short film I saw twice at the Queens World Film Festival that would've made this list except it was actually made in 2011. It has stayed with me all year long and I cannot possibly recommend it enough. There's not a whole lot I can report on it in terms of news. It continued to play film festivals in 2012, which is good, and you can see the whole thing here. I guess I was hoping some big studio would notice it and get Rose to do a feature film version, but it hasn't happened yet. Still, it's a great movie and I didn't want it to be forgotten in this best-of list of mine.

And here it is:

10. Flight. In a year in which truly adult movies have made a bit of a comeback at the box office, here's a great example of one. Thank god Robert Zemeckis has returned to live-action movies, because it meant he made this gem of a film. With a powerful original screenplay (Oscar-nominated, thank you very much), Denzel Washington dives deep into a story not just about the struggle with addiction, but the nature of heroism as well. Hollywood, please give us more stories like this, that examine the human condition. Nurture talent like screenwriter John Gatins. And keep Denzel working, okay?

9. Searching For Sugar Man. I've given a lot of thought about the "Sugar Man doesn't present the whole story" issue. A lot of it stems from the bigger question of "What do we expect out of documentaries?" Let's be honest, though, this is far from the first doc to present a biased point of view. Even if the narrative is skewed to favor the filmmakers' agenda, the bottom line is that I now know who Rodriguez is because of this movie, and I'm glad about that. Plus, the film itself is well made: the startling landscape shots of South Africa, the stark street scenes of Detroit, the animated segments, the way Rodriguez is introduced; I found it all quite entertaining. I think docs should provide a starting point, a basis for which people can choose to follow up on the information presented to whatever degree they choose, and Sugar Man achieves that much, if nothing else.

8. Moonrise Kingdom. Wes Anderson sometimes gets mocked for his visual filmmaking style, but the truth is, he's not that much more idiosyncratic than say, David Lynch, or Stanley Kubrick, or Orson Welles. And here his craft serves the story well in what amounts to a simple, timeless love story in which he gets two great performances from his teenage protagonists, surrounded and supported by some of Hollywood's biggest name actors.

7. Lincoln. I didn't say much about the film itself the first time around, so I'll rectify that here. The craft behind this movie amazes me more than anything else, though the story is certainly compelling in and of itself. The lengths Steven Spielberg went to in order to recreate this period in American history are staggering, and yes, I'll say it again: this was a twelve-year labor of love for him. What impressed me most about Lincoln is how he was able to get out of his own way and let Tony Kushner's great script, and that all-star cast, centered around Daniel Day-Lewis, tell the story. The usual trademark Spielbergisms, like the "Spielberg face," feel more under control here and as a result this has a more complete feel than many of his recent films. Who woulda thought that it would make $170 million dollars? That might be its greatest accomplishment.

6. Argo. Will it win Best Picture? The odds are looking better and better each day. Six weeks ago I was convinced that nothing could stop Lincoln, but oh, how fortunes change. And this is a film that deserves every accolade it has gotten, regardless of whether it's the result of an anti-Lincoln backlash or not. Is it the best picture? Well, obviously, I think there were five movies better than it, but you know the Oscars; it's not about Best Picture, it's about Best Campaign. Doesn't take anything away from this film though, and I couldn't be happier for Ben Affleck because of it.

5. Beasts of the Southern Wild. In my Oscar nominations post, I may have made it seem as if Benh Zeitlin wasn't deserving of a Best Director nod because Kathryn Bigelow got snubbed. Not true. While I still believe Bigelow was robbed, the fact that the Academy gave this first-time independent director major props is quite significant, because he made a beautiful film, on a relatively low budget, with a bunch of unknown and untried actors, including a little kid barely out of kindergarten, on whom the entire film rests. It's always a good thing to see a low-budget indy film go all the way, and even if Beasts goes home empty-handed Oscar night, that won't change  its great feat.

4. Cloud Atlas. The critics missed the boat on this one. I'm reminded of when I first saw The Fountain, another deep-meaning sci-fi movie that was underappreciated during its release. I believed then that it would be rediscovered one day (hasn't happened yet), and I feel the same way about this. This gives you so much to chew on, coupled with some of the most jaw-dropping visual effects, costumes, set designs and makeup anywhere. It's not for everyone, but if you give it a chance, and submit yourself to it, I think you'll find watching it a rewarding experience.

3. Django Unchained. I have got to stop underestimating Quentin Tarantino. With both this and Inglourious Basterds, I admit, I wasn't entirely certain if these film-geeky, revisionist-history, genre mash-ups would catch on with a wide audience the way his earlier films did, but they totally did, especially Django, which was way more entertaining than I suspected. Tarantino is a true American original in the film world. No one makes films anywhere near like him; few people understand movies the way he does, and I would argue that his passion for the medium is second to none. It's evident in every frame of his films.

2. Life of Pi. This has everything Cloud Atlas has, plus it's in 3D - the best 3D I've seen since Avatar. It's not like I've seen many of the post-Avatar 3D films, granted, but seeing established filmmakers like Ang Lee (and Martin Scorsese) explore this new aspect of filmmaking in such an imaginative and immersive manner gives me hope that this new technology will actually be worth something someday.

1. Zero Dark Thirty. This should come as no surprise if you've been following my Facebook page. I've posted a lot of ZDT and Kathryn Bigelow-related material there, and with good reason. This movie held my attention from start to finish. Regardless of whether you think it endorses torture or not (it doesn't), whether you think writer Mark Boal is the power behind the throne or not, whether you're a Republican or not, one cannot deny that it is an extraordinary piece of filmmaking from a director who has elevated her game significantly in recent years to become a legitimate A-lister with a vision and the skill to see it realized. I can't wait to see what she does next.

Agree? Disagree? Let's talk about it.

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Previously:
2011 Top 10

My obligatory top 10 for 2011

I wasn't gonna do this at first. Then I thought I'd do it, but post it on the WSW Facebook page instead. I used to do year-end top tens on my old comics blog and it kinda got old after awhile for me, and I didn't think there'd even be much of an interest in it here anyway. But I think people always have an interest in year-end top tens. And besides, I did see some really good films in 2011, and I'd probably regret it later if I didn't do at least one year-end top ten on this blog, so here we go...

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10. Higher Ground. A movie that I connected deeply with. It's not easy to question the ideals one has grown up with, especially if it has to do with religion. I just felt like this spoke right to me. Plus, it has made me a fan for life of the remarkable Vera Farmiga, who starred in and directed it while pregnant and gave one of the best, most overlooked performances by an actress this year. I really hope this is only the beginning of her filmmaking career.

9. Restless City. Easily one of the highlights of the Urbanworld Film Festival for me, Andrew Dosunmu's tale of African immigrants in the big city is visually breathtaking to look at, with a compelling character-driven story to complement it. I don't think this one has hit the radar of too many other film sites and critics, which is unfortunate. Perhaps it can find a distributor in 2012. I hope so, because I could easily see this as an art house hit, much the same way Steve McQueen's Hunger was a few years ago. Like McQueen, Dosunmu has an eye for artistic composition and color that shows through in his work.

8. Attack the Block. Another fine example of the power word of mouth can have on a film. The more I kept seeing people blog about this one, the more I thought I'd better give it a shot - and I'm glad I did. Why do studios feel the need to throw hundreds of millions of dollars on "tentpole" action movies every year when a smaller-budget film like this can do the job as well, if not better?

7. Hugo. Of course, big-budget movies can be great too, if done right! What can you say about Martin Scorsese that hasn't already been said? After over forty years in show business, he not only shows no signs of slowing down, he continues to push past his boundaries and discover new ways to express his love of film, and this one expresses it in a lively and unique way. A Scorsese movie shouldn't really qualify as such, but I found this to be one of the most pleasant surprises of 2011.

6. Martha Marcy May Marlene. It wasn't just Elizabeth Olsen's mesmerizing performance in this film that sold me, but John Hawkes' too. Together, they made for one killer combo in this strikingly original film in which what you don't see is every bit as important as what you do see. This was a film I had to be coaxed into, not being entirely certain what to expect - is it a horror film? A suspense film? There's an Olsen sister that can actually act? Sometimes, though, you just have to jump into the deep end and take a chance on a film. This was another one of those times, and it paid off.

5. Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Way better than it had a right to be, this was the best film of the summer by a longshot. By now, you're probably sick of hearing me rave about Andy Serkis' remarkable performance-capture role as ape of destiny Caesar, so let me just say this: while I don't honestly think he will get a Supporting Actor Oscar nomination, in the end it doesn't matter, because the impact he has made, with his roles in the Lord of the Rings films, King Kong, Tintin, and this, has already been made and felt, and will continue to be felt. Should all movies use p-cap? No, but when applied the right way, it can make all the difference between a mediocre film and a good one.

4. Kinyarwanda. One of the great movie industry stories of 2011, without question, is the success of AFFRM and their ability to bring quality black films into major movie theaters in major markets nationwide. I Will Follow was first, but this one, I believe, was the best. A moving, suspenseful, funny and life-affirming story, its lesson - that forgiveness is a greater power than vengeance - is one that we all badly need to learn. Thank you, Alrick Brown, for directing it, and thank you, Ava DuVernay, for distributing both this and I Will Follow. Keep up the good work. 

3. Pariah. I needed no coaxing to see this one; I was sold on it ever since I first read about it way back during last year's coverage of Sundance. Not that I can attest to what life is like for a black teenage lesbian, but it felt real, it felt honest, and it felt down-to-earth. Writer-director Dee Rees is a name I hope to hear a lot more of in the future, especially if she can make movies like this. In my dreams, this screenplay gets an Oscar nomination. Will never happen, I realize, but I keep seeing FYC ads for it so who knows?

2. The Descendants. I never said this in my original post, but a major reason why I loved this so much was because it made me think of my father. He wasn't in a coma, like George Clooney's character's wife, but there are things I would've liked to have said to him before he died and never got the chance to. Nothing earth-shaking, but small, personal things that perhaps would've made me understand him a little better. So in that sense I felt like I could relate to what this story was all about - and of course, Clooney was so wonderful in it. While his was not the best performance by an actor in 2011, in my opinion, I'm gonna pull for him anyway because my top choice in that category probably won't make the cut...

1. Take Shelter. ...and this is it. I have Kris Tapley of In Contention to thank for turning me on to this film. I was very reluctant about seeing it, but he kept going on about it and how great it was and how great Michael Shannon is in it, so I was like, okay, I'll see it. Descendants is the only 2011 film I gave five lambs to at the LAMB forums, but it's this that has stuck with me the most - especially that ending. Shannon and Jessica Chastain were both riveting in it, and it's certainly nothing if not reflective of the state of the world today. It can also be interpreted in more than one way, however, which is so amazing about it. A first-rate job from writer-director Jeff Nichols.

Agree? Disagree? Let's talk about it.

[FYI: Look for my Oscar nomination predictions this Friday on the WSW Facebook page!]

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Related:
Top 5 movie-related moments of 2011