Top 10 Films Of 2012 (Ian Schultz)

Well 2013 is finally here and we’re finishing off the last of the 2012 top 10 lists this week with a preview maybe some awards coming soon too. Today its the turn of Ian Schultz who reviews more at cinehouse but does his fair share of reviews for The People’s Movies too, below is Ian’s Top 10 Films of 2012 but also his worst picks too.!

1. The Master (directed by Paul Thomas Anderson)

Paul Thomas Anderson returns with a bang after 5 years since his groundbreaking There Will Be Blood. The Master is the not so loosely based on the early years of Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard. It has 2 truly spellbinding performances from Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Hoffman Seymour, it’s been said many times at this point that Phoenix literally has this contorted performance, which is so captivating. The cinematography is amazing which is excepted with PTA. The film isn’t as important as There Will Be Blood or innovative but I like The Master slightly more. It is hands down the best film of the year, if you disagree you know nothing about film. Read Our Review

2. Cosmopolis (directed by David Cronenberg)

Cosmopolis is a real return to the old Cronenberg of the 90s like Crash and eXistenz. It’s based on the novel by Don DeLillo, the film is a deliberately alienating film from the other worldly performances, the dialogue taken straight out of DeLillo’s novel and the subject matter. The film’s main character Eric Packer can be interpreted as a alien and a vampire (which is why Robert Pattinson was probably cast). It’s also fits perfectly in context with the financial crisis even though the book was written 10 years ago. Read Our Review

3. Killing Them Softly (directed by Andrew Dominik)

A film that was sadly forgotten this year. Like Cosmopolis, it’s about the current political climate. Killing Them Softly in a nutshell about how the gangster is the embodiment of capitalism. It features a truly astonishing performance by Scoot McNairy (who was also in this year’s Argo) and a great turn by Brad Pitt as hitman. It came out over here to relatively good reviews. It was bashed during it’s release across the pond in November which just goes to show the yanks sometimes don’t know a great film when it bites them in the ass.

4. Frankenweenie (directed by Tim Burton)

The most pleasant surprise of the year was Tim Burton’s return to form. I enjoyed Dark Shadows a lot more than most people and Burton’s work post-Big Fish. Frankenweenie has him return to a short film he did in the mid 80s that is one of my favourite films of alltime. He pulled off the remake off wonderfully with expanding it just the right amount and keeping it original essence.Read Our Review

5. Looper (directed by Rian Johnson)

Rian Johnson is back after the slight misfire of his previous film The Brothers Bloom. He made one of my alltime favoutie films Brick and he is back with this mindbending riot of a sci-fi film. It was insanely successful financially and critically (it made more in it’s opening weekend than his 2 films combined) and it boosts great turns from Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis playing a present and future version of the same character. Read Our Review

6. Moonrise Kingdom (directed by Wes Anderson)

Wes Anderson returns with a wonderful return to form after the truly awful Fantastic Mr. Fox. For more on the film read my review

7. Bernie (directed by Richard Linklater)

Sadly still not released in the UK in cinemas! I luckily got a us blu-ray a few months ago. A nice twisted but strangely sweet black comedy about a murderer in East Texas by Richard Linklater. It has a amazing turn by Jack Black as the title character and a wonderful ing performance by Matthew McConaughey (which was his year, he did better performances this year but Bernie is my favourite film he was in). Check it out whenever it comes out over here or import the dvd or blu-ray (it is locked Region A though).

8. Prometheus (directed by Ridley Scott)

I’ve never had the reverence for Alien most people have, it’s obviously a great film but I prefer Alien³ (only in it’s workprint cut) and I hate Aliens. Prometheus is many people’s most disappointing film of the year. I really loved it, I’ve seen twice now (once in pointless 3D and once in 2D on blu-ray) and it holds up. Ya there are continuity problems (but not half as bad as Dark Knight Rises), it’s about ancient astronauts (it’s sci-fi, not a non-fiction) but it’s a amazing spectacle with a wonderful performance by Michael Fassbender. It’s more Blade Runner than Alien and I like that, I do however think like Blade Runner’s original release it’s a uncompleted film. Read My Review

9. The Rise and Fall of The Clash (directed by Danny Garcia)

This year had many great documentaries but my favourite is this extremely bleak and downbeat doc about the falling apart of one of the great bands… The Clash. It was made on shoestring budget but it’s a very sad doc about how egos destroy such a great band. Seek it out whenever it comes out on dvd.

10. Argo (directed by Ben Affleck)

10 was a hard one for me to choose but I’ll go with Ben Affleck’s Argo. This is how who do big entertaining political minded drama with comedy touches, it’s very Hollywood at times but the a lot of the more Hollywood moments did actually happen. It also boosts a wonderful cast headed by Affleck himself. It also starts with the 70s Warner Bros. logo and even digital scratches on the film; which reminds you of films like All The President’s Men. Read our Review

Honorable mentions.… Life of Pi, Lawrence of Belgravia, The Hobbit, The Dark Knight Rises, Room 237, Killer Joe, Magic Mike, Lawless, Shut Up and Play the Hits, On The Road

Films disqualified because they came out in the USA last year or earlier… Le Havre

5 worst films of the year… Beasts of the Southern Wild, Total Recall, Excision, Clone, Iron Sky