SAVAGE SCORECARD 2012-PART 2: NUMBER 11

And now, onto Part 2 of the Savage Scorecard series commemorating the movie year of 2012.

I have to admit that I surprised myself this year by how many films I awarded with a four star rating. Yes, this year was just that strong cinematically as there were films I was just certain would end up on my final Top Ten list but then, a new terrific movie would be released and I would have to shift the list all over again. As there can obviously only be ten film on the Top ten list, this section celebrates those films that would sit just slightly underneath those ten films. That is why I have named this installment "NUMBER 11."

"BERNIE" Directed by Richard Linklater
Jack Black delivered what I felt was the finest, most fully realized and nuanced performance of his entire career thus far as Bernie Tiede, a genteel, soft spoken, gracious, musically gifted, effeminate mortician who completely ingratiates himself with the entire town of Carthage, Texas, including the deeply despised wealthy widow Marjorie Nugent (Shirley MacLaine). The journey of their relationship unfolds in darkly surprising ways and the resulting experience is one of crime and punishment with the town and inhabitants of Carthage serving almost as a Greek chorus. Richard Linklater beautifully placed the unique regional flavor of this town front and center in "Bernie," making this the very best film of its kind that I have seen since The Coen Brothers' "Fargo" (1996).
Originally reviewed May 2012

"BULLY" Directed by Lee Hirsch
I firmly believe that if any of you reading this posting care about children and their development into successful human beings, therefore having the potential to make the world a better place overall, then this excellent, wrenching and even inspiring documentary is essential viewing. At the very least, this film should be required viewing in every school in the country, perhaps beginning in late elementary school (possibly 5th grade). In "Bully," Hirsch follows a small collective of children who are the victims of hazing to the point where two of them committed suicide. We see how bullying in perpetuated by an indifferent and sometimes fully responsible school administration and even worse, the communities in which these children live. The film is blistering in its outrage and deeply sobering in its presentation that all it takes is one person to destroy or save another's life.
Originally reviewed April 2012

"THE HUNGER GAMES" Directed by Gary Ross
The first major blockbuster film of 2012 was a signal that perhaps this would be the year when big budget movies would return to the past glories of being simultaneously artful and entertaining. Director Gary Ross' grim and outstanding adaptation of Suzanne Collins' best selling novel, in which during a dystopian future, impoverished teenagers are forced by the government to fight to the death on live television, was a film that actually improved upon the source material. Ross found the proper balance of creating a propulsively exciting film while also housing a political allegory, a brutally satirical commentary on the increasingly lowest common denominator status of reality television, and an action film that never descends into a mindless bloodbath by always keeping the senseless death of children firmly in place. At the center of the proceedings is the sensational leading performance by Jennifer Lawrence, whose intense portrayal of heroine Katniss Everdeen is a wonderment of physicality, psychological torment and unshakable humanity. Here's hoping that 2013's second installment can match the creative high bar set by this excellent film.
Originally reviewed March 2012

"LES MISERABLES" Directed by Tom Hooper
This adaptation of the classic Victor Hugo novel and equally classic stage musical was a gargantuan film production beautifully conceived and executed and deeply felt. Director Tom Hooper exceeded any conceivable expectations I could have had for a film such as this, especially considering that there was absolutely nothing within his previous film, the Oscar winning "The King's Speech" (2010), that remotely suggested that he could handle material this politically, morally and emotionally complex on such a massive scale while simultaneously not forsaking the intimate connection an audience needs to have for this film to fully resonate. The nearly three hour and almost dialogue free film flows wondrously and wrenchingly and every actor gives it everything they've got and then some. The only thing that kept this film from finding a spot on my final Top Ten list was simply because there were ten films I loved even more. That said, "Les Miserables" was an outstanding experience.
Originally reviewed January 2013

"PROMETHEUS" Directed by Ridley Scott
Yes, this film has its share of flaws as well as some plot hiccups but all of that being said, Ridley Scott's return to the cinematic universe that hatched "Alien" (1979) was a smashing piece of dark science fiction that rattled the cages and shook the theater walls powerfully. What I loved about this film so much was how "Prometheus" was almost a throwback to the days when science fiction films were about ideas and Scott has definitely swung for the fences as he has taken on nothing less than the meaning and origins of the human race's creation. With that, Scott has also made a very grim to the point of being nihilistic experience as his universe is cold, unforgiving, meaningless, violent and willing to snuff you out within a moment's notice and without any stitch of regret or care. And for a film as bleak as this one, Ridley Scott is clearly having fun behind the camera again, seemingly for the very first time in over 20 years for my tastes. He delivers the goods with his action set pieces, the showstopper being an excruciatingly wild sequence featuring an angry tentacled creature, our heroine played ferociously by Noomi Rapace and a risky self administered medical procedure while being trapped inside a tiny rotating pod. Plans are underway for a follow up and I am already anxious to see where Ridley Scott heads next.
Originally reviewed June 2012  

"SKYFALL" Directed by Sam Mendes
Now I have to say that this one truly hurt to leave off of the Top Ten list as it was indeed the finest James Bond adventure I have seen in my lifetime. Daniel Craig proves once and for all what a towering James Bond he is and even more than the excellent "Casino Royale" (2006), I loved how "Skyfall" humanized James Bond more than ever before thus creating a cinematic experience that pulsated with humane urgency and was more intensely felt than what is typically the norm within this series. Additionally, "Skyfall" essentially turned everything we know about James Bond upon its head as it cleverly eschewed with all of those nifty gadgets to which we have grown to be overly accustomed to, especially during the gripping climax which almost functions as a 21st century western! Javier Bardem emerges as the best Bond villain in ages while Dame Judi Dench miraculously uncovers new layers as M. From the gorgeous cinematography, white knuckle action sequences and from even having the best opening credit sequence of any film I saw in 2012, "Skyfall" takes James Bond to a level of greatness I have never seen before. Now that the bar has been reset so highly for 007, wherever he goes next it cannot be anything less than this terrific.
Originally reviewed November 2012

"THIS IS 40" Directed by Judd Apatow
A friend of mine recently told me how much she did not like this film because she found it to be "too stressful." That is precisely why I loved it! What Judd Apatow has accomplished, in what just may be his best, most fully realized, and most personal film to date was to find the comedy in the everyday desperation and disappointment that houses life in middle age. Using the characters of Pete and Debbie (wonderfully played by Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann) from "Knocked Up" (2007), Apatow explores the difficulties of marriage, parenting, being adult children of completely indifferent parents, economic stresses, and issues of mortality while also the drama that occurs when the person you wanted to be when you grew up never quite materializes. Apatow's film really sneaks up on you as he almost lulls you into a comfortable state of enjoyment for lengthy spells and before you know it, you have been sucker punched by a painful truth that is so recognizable within your own life and relationships that it nearly upends you. Yes, this is a funny film. but so more than that, it is a perceptive, minutely observed, brutally honest, raw, real and sprawling episodic journey through middle age with warm affection and blindsiding pathos.
Originally reviewed December 2012

Before I reveal the my final Top Ten list of 2012, I must take one last shot at the films at the opposite end of the cinematic spectrum. Part 3 is coming soon...