Al's Top Rated Films: 2012

Fantastic modern day take on a spaghetti western from Quentin Tarantino. The story is set just a couple years before the Civil War in 1858 Texas, and follows a black slave by the name of Django who's being led through the dark woods by the slave-trading Speck Brothers who just purchased him and three other slaves. They are approached by a sophisticated German bounty-hunter named Dr. King Schultz who poses as a dentist, and wants to purchase Django because he knows the Brittle brothers from the former plantation he was enslaved on, and can help him track them down, kill them, and collect the bounty on them. He ends up freeing Django in thrilling fashion, and they set off on their hunt to find the Brittle brothers. As time moves on, Schultz learns that Django is a natural born killer and decides to partner up with him as they spend the winter knocking off bad men and collecting bounties, while becoming great friends in the process. After the snow melts, Schultz agrees to accompany Django down to the brutal plantation in Mississippi known as "Candyland", where they plan to ingeniously rescue Django's slave wife, Broomhilda von Shaft. This is my favorite western, and one of the best revenge stories of all-time. Tarantino's take and tweak on historical events is always superb, and this film delivers in every way. The production design, cinematography, wardrobe, horse training, gun action, and special effects were all top-notch. Jamie Foxx and Christoph Waltz arguably deliver their all-time greatest lead performances, and my personal favorites from both. Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L. Jackson, and Kerry Washington also had fantastic starring roles. Walton Goggins, Don Johnson, Laura Cayouette, Dana Gourrier, Escalante Lundy, Dennis Christopher, James Remar, James Russo, David Steen, Franco Nero, Tom Wopat, Don Stroud, Bruce Dern, M.C. Gainey, Cooper Huckabee, Jonah Hill, Michael Parks, John Jarratt, Quentin Tarantino, and others also had great supporting roles.

Tremendous conclusion to Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. I'd have to say it's my favorite film in the bunch. Epic story that takes place 8 years after the death of Harvey Dent, finding the city at peace—until a new enemy from The League of Shadows named Bane starts terrorizing the city. Meanwhile, the mystifying Catwoman lures Bruce out of hiding after 8 years, forcing the Batman to reemerge to save Gotham from the mass destruction of an atom bomb controlled by Bane. Christian Bale delivers an incredible lead performance once again. Anne Hathaway was great as Catwoman, and Tom Hardy was fantastic as Bane. Gary Oldman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, and several others had great supporting roles.

Fantastic drama/thriller from Robert Zemeckis about an airline pilot named Whip Whitaker that employs gutsy and unorthodox maneuvers to miraculously save 96 lives in a horrific plane crash after the plane encounters a severe mechanical problem and starts to dive—all while under the influence of cocaine and alcohol. A thorough investigation is taken into the incident as Whip struggles with curbing his drug and alcohol addiction, as well as struggling with his conscious as incriminating evidence presents itself, and he's pressured to lie about his problems. Incredible story and beautifully done throughout. Denzel Washington delivers one of my all-time favorite performances. Kelly Reilly, Bruce Greenwood, Don Cheadle, John Goodman, Tamara Tunie, Brian Geraghty, James Badge Dale, Peter Gerety, and others had great supporting roles.

Outstanding coming-of-age drama from Stephen Chbosky about an introverted, impressionable, and troubled 15-year-old named Charlie who's dreading his freshman year of high-school to the point he's counting the 1,386 days it will take to reach graduation. His pain stems from the suicide of his best friend (to whom he still writes letter too) and other troublesome incidents his his childhood. No matter how much pain he's in, he refuses to show that side to his family or close friends in fear of alienating himself. With some luck and determination, two eccentric and popular seniors named Patrick and Sam with a close-knit group of friends helps Charlie break out of his shell and confront his demons. Superb story and excellent dialogue throughout. This film tackles some very serious topics like homosexuality, suicide, severe depression and anxiety, among other controversial topics. It's definitely not your average coming-of-age high school teen drama, and it makes it that much more special. Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, and Ezra Miller all delivered fantastic lead performances. Nina Dobrev, Kate Walsh, Mae Whitman, Paul Rudd, Adam Hagenbuch, Erin Wilhelmi, Dylan McDermott, and others had excellent supporting roles.

Excellent documentary-style action crime drama David Ayer. It's really quite unique among the genre. Great story that follows the lives of two brave and determined South Central Los Angeles street cops where violence is erupting between the Latino and Black gangs. When they make some big drug and human-trafficking busts, the Mexican cartel puts out a hit on both of them for interfering with their business, putting their lives in grave danger. Jake Gyllenhaal is one of my favorite actors, and he put on one of his very best performances. This is the first major lead role I've seen from Michael Peña, and I've become a huge fan. He was great, and they both had great chemistry together. Natalie Martinez, Anna Kendrick, David Harbour, Frank Grillo, America Ferrera, and others had very nice supporting roles.

Hilarious romantic comedy drama about a former teacher who is released from a mental health institution after 8 months of therapy following a violent episode with his girlfriend. Even though she has a restraining order against him, he is determined to win her back at any cost. When he meets a troubled and eccentric girl named Tiffany, it challenges him mentally as they form a friendship and bond leading up to a dance competition, which helps them both move forward with their lives. Bradley Cooper was superb, as was Jennifer Lawrence's Oscar winning performance. Their great interaction together really made the film great. Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver were also great as the parents. Chris Tucker, John Ortiz, Anupam Kher, Shea Whigham, Julia Stiles, Paul Herman, and others had great supporting roles.

Excellent historical biopic from Steven Spielberg set in 1865, about Civil War-era president Abraham Lincoln and his struggles to pass the 13th Amendment to abolish slavery. He's confronted with the decision to end the war early and save thousands of lives, or to work and wait to obtain enough votes from Congress to end slavery and the war at the same time. Daniel Day-Lewis arguably delivers his finest performance to date. His transformation was superb. Sally Field, David Strathairn, Tommy Lee Jones, David Costabile, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, James Spader, Hal Holbrook, John Hawkes, Jackie Earle Haley, Bruce McGill, Tim Blake Nelson, Joseph Cross, Jared Harris, and many others had excellent supporting roles.

Fantastic drama from Thomas Vinterberg that follows an innocent and caring kindergarten teacher named Lucas whose main goal in life is mending the relationship with his son Marcus after his marriage ended in divorce. He’s good friends with his best buddy Lucas’ 5-year-old daughter Klara, who’s also a student at the school he works at. One day Klara gets upset and tells a lie to the school principal after a trivial incident/argument occurs with Lucas, which ends up shaking the entire community to its core, and starts to systematically destroy Lucas’ innocent reputation and entire life. Powerful story with excellent writing, dialogue, and acting all around. This is one of the best non-English speaking films I’ve ever seen, and it was very accessible and easy to follow. Mads Mikkelsen delivered an outstanding lead performance. Thomas Bo Larsen also delivered an excellent starring role. Annika Wedderkopp, Lasse Fogelstrøm, Alexandra Rapaport, Susse Wold, Anne Louise Hassing, Lars Ranthe, and others also had excellent supporting roles.

Fantastic historical biopic from Jay Roach that closely examines the Republican Senator John McCain's 2008 Presidential election campaign. Since it was the year for Barack Obama, the Republican party had to make a bold game-changing move in order to compete with Obama's celebrity status and fame. Conservative Alaska governor Sarah Palin is chosen as the vice president nominee, and is instantly loved by the public. However, trouble comes into play as her validity and capability to be president are questioned when she is found to be clueless about foreign relations, war, and other social topics. Julianne Moore (Sarah Palin), Woody Harrelson (campaign strategist Steve Schmidt), and Ed Harris (John McCain) all deliver some of the best lead performances of their careers. Sarah Paulson, Peter MacNicol, Jamey Sheridan, Ron Livingston, and many others had excellent supporting roles.

Fascinating and superbly done documentary. If you're into skateboarding, I don't think there's another documentary that could represent the history of the sport better. Great story that follows skateboarder and film-maker and Stacy Peralta as he assembled an immensely talented team of 6 skate-boarders that helped popularize the sport in the 1980s. Tony Hawk, Mike McGill, Tommy Guerrero, Steve Caballero, Rodney Mullen, Stacy Peralta, and George Powell are all represented greatly with awesome early footage and interviews. Even if you aren't that into skate-boarding, it's a great watch all the way through.

Fantastic documentary from John Edginton, and a must-see for Pink Floyd fans from. It maps out the story for their 1975 classic album "Wish You Were Here", which was largely inspired by early former member Syd Barrett. Being the follow-up to "The Dark Side Of The Moon" (1973), they were at the top of their artistic and critical acclaim. Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Richard Wright, and others deliver great interviews and stories, as well as some behind-the-scenes that examine the master tapes and how the songs were constructed.

Excellent comedy crime drama/thriller from Martin McDonagh that follows a heavy-drinking Irish screenwriter named Marty who's working on a movie script called "Seven Psychopaths". His wild and unpredictable best friend Billy runs a dog kidnapping business with his old Polish friend, Hans. One day Billy and Hans steal a Shih Tzu that belongs to a ruthless gangster named Charlie. Once Charlie's men track down Billy and Hans, it puts all of their lives at risk as Charlie and his men work to track them down. Meanwhile, Marty works on his script which reveals details of fourth-coming events, which coincides with a big secret Billy is hiding that reveals a thrilling plot-twisting ending. This film was so cleverly done. Great cinematography, editing, production, and hilarious comedy. I don't think the cast could have been any better. Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken, and Woody Harrelson all delivered some of their very best lead performances. Tom Waits, Linda Bright Clay, Kevin Corrigan, Zeljko Ivanek, Abbie Cornish, Harry Dean Stanton, James Landry Hébert, Long Nguyen, Amanda Warren, Olga Kurylenko, Michael Pitt, Michael Stuhlbarg, Gabourey Sidibe, and others also had great supporting roles.

Bloody historical drama that maps out the spiteful feud between the Hatfield and McCoy McCoy families on the West Virginia/Kentucky border. Devil Anse Hatfield and Randall McCoy were close friends until near the end of the Civil War until Randall accuses Devil Anse of being a coward for fleeing from the Confederate army during the Civil War. That sets off a series of misunderstandings and bouts of hateful tension between them, resulting in over 60 killings/deaths between the two families. This is technically a 3-part miniseries, but actually plays like a 5-hour epic film. Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton deliver arguably their finest roles ever. They were both fantastic. Matt Barr, Tom Berenger, Powers Boothe, Andrew Howard, Jena Malone, Sarah Parish, Lindsay Pulsipher, Mare Winningham, and many others had excellent supporting roles.

Awesome sci-fi action adventure to kick off the epic 4-movie Hunger Games saga. Great story about a televised competition set 135 years in the depressing a tyrannical future, in which two teenagers from each of twelve Districts of Panem are chosen at random to fight to the death until there is only one survivor. It's setup as a punishment for revolt, and to keep the public scared and "entertained" while these young people train to fight a horrifying and deadly battle. The story revolves 17-year-old Katniss Everdeen from District 12 after she volunteers to take her sisters place when she was chosen to fight. Jennifer Lawrence delivers an excellent and iconic lead performance. Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland, Liam Hemsworth, Stanley Tucci, Lenny Kravitz, Amandla Stenberg, Dayo Okeniyi, Leven Rambin, Jack Quaid, Alexander Ludwig, Isabelle Fuhrman, Willow Shields, Wes Bentley, and others had excellent supporting roles.

Excellent historical disaster drama/thriller from J.A. Bayona that tells the true story of how a family of five gets swept up into the devastating December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami catastrophe, which stands as the worst natural disaster in the history of Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand. The story follows Doctor Maria Bennett, her husband Henry, and their three sons Lucas, Simon, and Thomas; who go on a Christmas vacation to Khao Lak, Thailand. Two days later while they are swimming in their resort hotel pool, the tsunami hits without warning and kills almost everyone in its path. The Bennett family are quickly split up into two groups, and each group assumes the others in the family have died as they fight for survival and try to hold on to their hope for the future. Fantastic story all around with excellent production design, cinematography, massive thrills, and poignant drama. The cast was fantastic throughout. Naomi Watts arguably delivers her best (Oscar-nominated) lead performance to date. This was also Tom Holland’s debut film, and he delivered am excellent starring role along with Ewan McGregor, Samuel Joslin (Simon), and Oaklee Pendergast (Thomas). Sönke Möhring and many others also had nice supporting roles.

Fantastic music drama from Yaron Zilberman that follows the members of a world-renowned string quartet, who've shared an amazing 25-year run together. Cellist Peter Mitchell is the oldest member of the group, and becomes diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. The pain, worry, and fear of the future's quartet is immediately questioned, and sets off a domino effect of insults that stem from past baggage, bruised egos involving who will lead the band, and infidelity. After so much damage has been done, they must decide if keeping the quartet together is worth it, especially to tribute their dear friend and bandmate, Peter. Excellent drama with great dialogue and acting from the entire cast. Christopher Walken, Catherine Keener, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Mark Ivanir all delivered fantastic lead performances and had great chemistry together. Imogen Poots also had a great starring role among a great supporting cast.

Excellent drama set in New York City and follows a 6-year-old girl named named Maisie who quietly suffers while her selfish parents constantly fight and argue, and are largely focused on their careers rather than being parents. When they finally get divorced, her father gets sole custody after a spiteful battle, which increases drama as they share custody of Maisie. Maisie has the best relationship with her young, beautiful, and caring nanny Margo, and her father ends up marrying her. This upsets her mother, who quickly goes out and gets married to a young bartender named Lincoln. As Maisie's parents become more self-centered and distant, Margo and Lincoln become loving and important parental-type figures in her life as she struggles for love and stability. Fantastic story with great dialogue and a complex set of characters. Onata Aprile, Julianne Moore, Alexander Skarsgård, and Joanna Vanderham all delivered excellent lead performances. Steve Coogan also had a great starring role among a solid supporting cast.

Excellent drama from Jeff Nichols set on the river banks of Arkansas (approximately 1980s), and follows best friends Ellis and Neckbone, who are both 14-years-old, very smart and handy, and love the freedom of the river. One day they boat to a seemingly nearby deserted island to find a boat that they heard was stuck up in a tree, when they run into a man that's living in the boat and on the island. His name is Mud, and he's a fugitive who's wanted for murder, and he claims to be waiting for his lifelong love Juniper to meet her so they can make their escape. Ellis and Neckbone feel sympathy for the man and believe he's a good person, and do everything they can to help him get in touch with Juniper, bring him food, and help him rebuild the boat in the tree so he can make a clean getaway. However, when the family of the man Mud murdered tracks him and Juniper down, the situation turns very dangerous for everyone involved. Matthew McConaughey delivered one of his best lead performances. Tye Sheridan and Jacob Lofland also played their roles perfectly, and great starring roles. Reese Witherspoon, Ray McKinnon, Sarah Paulson, Sam Shepard, Michael Shannon, Joe Don Baker, Paul Sparks, and Bonnie Sturdivant also had great supporting roles.

Hilarious action-packed crime comedy about a couple of young and immature cops who are sent undercover as high school students to investigate and take down a synthetic hallucinogenic drug ring that's killing the kids who are abusing it. Hilarious mishaps happen along the way as they recreate their former high school selves as opposites of who they used to be. The mentality of modern school students was also very cleverly done as well. Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum both deliver a couple of their best lead performances. Ice Cube, Brie Larson, Dave Franco, Rob Riggle, DeRay Davis, Dax Flame, Nick Offerman, Johnny Depp, and many others had excellent supporting roles.

Excellent biopic from Ben Affleck about "ex filtration" specialist Tony Mendez who goes undercover as a Hollywood film producer of a staged science fiction film in an attempt to rescue six Americans in Tehran during the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran in 1979. Ben Affleck delivers a great lead performance, and also does a great job directing. Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, John Goodman, Victor Garber, Tate Donovan, Clea DuVall, Scoot McNairy, Rory Cochrane, Christopher Denham, Kerry Bishé, Titus Welliver, and others had great roles among a solid supporting cast.

Excellent action-packed Marvel adventure that follows the director of the agency S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury, who's team is studying a mysterious gateway to a new world called Asgard know as the Tesseract. When Loki (adopted brother of Thor) steals the Tesseract and destroys S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, he plans to harness all of its power to rule Earth. Therefore, Nick Fury is forced to build a team by bringing the Avengers together to save the world. All in all, probably the best Avengers film with the best best and most detailed story arcs. Visually stunning and an easy and entertaining story to follow throughout. Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Chris Evans (Captain America), Mark Ruffalo (The Hulk), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Clark Gregg, Cobie Smulders, Stellan Skarsgård, Gwyneth Paltrow, and many others had excellent performances.

Great sports drama that follows the troubled relationship between an aging veteran baseball coach for the Atlanta Braves and his partially estranged daughter. When he comes down with vision problems and must drive to North Carolina for an important scouting trip, she takes time out of her hectic lawyer lifestyle to accompany him and hopefully sort out their flawed relationship in the process. Meanwhile, a deceitful colleague named Phillip works to get him fired, as he tries to weasel his way into the General Manager position. Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams, and Justin Timberlake all delivered great lead performances and worked great together. John Goodman, Matthew Lillard, Chelcie Ross, Raymond Anthony Thomas, Ed Lauter, Bob Gunton, Jay Galloway, Joe Massingill, and others had very nice supporting roles.

Hilarious comedy from Seth MacFarlane (creator of Family Guy) about a young boy who wishes for his teddy bear (Ted) would come to life, and it comes true 30 years later as an adult. He and faces all sorts of funny challenges with his 'best friend' as he must choose between his girlfriend and Ted. It's a silly premise, but hilariously done throughout. Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, and Seth MacFarlane (as Ted) all deliver excellent lead performances. Giovanni Ribisi, Joel McHale, Patrick Warburton, Matt Walsh, Jessica Barth, Aedin Mincks, Bill Smitrovich, and others had great supporting roles.

Great drama about two mothers (one being a teacher) who work to transform their failing inner-city Pittsburgh elementary school after the system has failed their children. The process is difficult, and they are met with challenges from the teachers, the parents, the school board, and the deceptive workings of the teachers union. Very inspirational story with nice characters throughout. Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis both deliver great lead performances. Oscar Isaac, Holly Hunter, Emily Alyn Lind, Rosie Perez, Dante Brown, Lance Reddick, Bill Nunn, Ving Rhames, and others had very nice supporting roles.

Very underrated comedy from Bobby Farrelly and Peter Farrelly (The Farrelly Brothers). I've always been a huge Three Stooges fan, so this was a no-brainer for me when it finally dropped. While many Three Stooges fans didn't care for this movie, I thought all the actors nailed their parts, and the story was solid throughout. Sean Hayes (Larry), Will Sasso (Curly), and Chris Diamantopoulos (Moe) all had great leading performances and portrayed the the original trio nicely. Jane Lynch, Sofía Vergara, Jennifer Hudson, Craig Bierko, Stephen Collins, Larry David, Kirby Heyborne, Carly Craig, Kate Upton, and many others had great very nice supporting roles.