The Avengers Review

THE AVENGERS (2012)

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

If you have Iron Man, Captain America, The Hulk and Thor in one film, they better be saving the world. Anything less would be a film made by the wrong people. This brings me to Joss Whedon who is having a great time with the release of Cabin in the Woods (still unseen) and now, The Avengers. (He also has Much Ado About Nothing lined up later in the year). And a great time, he deserves. By making The Avengers, he has given us one of the very best superhero movies of all time. Comparable to the brilliance of Superman (1978) and either one of Nolan's Batman films.

The Artist review

THE ARTIST (2011)

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

When I was in film school even the most devout film fans would fall asleep while watching a black and white film. A silent film? I remember 2 people sitting by the end of a screening of Birth of a Nation (1915). People have not been kind to silent cinema. Forget silent cinema. People have not been kind to pre-70s cinema. Here comes, The Artist. A film that if nothing, at least makes people come out surprised that they sat through a silent film. Lo and behold, not just sat through, even entertained! The fact that The Artist is not just a nostalgic postmodern masterstroke but also a crowd-pleaser, is a feat in itself. Also, there is a dog.

Oscars 2012 - Predictions

This year I'm going to predict the Oscars leaving my heart on the side. My favorite films of the year were Hugo and The Tree of Life. I would actually tie them for Best Picture and hand Malick an Oscar, just because he has never won before. Yes. Michel Hazanavicius will be a Best Director Oscar winner while Terrence Malick would still be Oscar-less. I love The Artist and I have made peace with it winning Best Picture (just like I did with Slumdog Millionaire and Crash), the one Oscar I'm still looking for a pleasant surprise in is Best Director. Scorsese or Malick, please?

Anyway, so here are my predictions:

BEST PICTURE -

The Artist

Alternate: Hugo

Top 20 Films of 2011

2011 was a fantastic year for cinema. On par with 1999, 2001 and 2007. There were numerous films which I will be revisiting many times. This wasn't just a good year, it was a great year. I couldn't pick just 10 this year. There were 20 films that I absolutely loved. Again, I will not be listing the "best" films of the year. I would be listing my "favorites". There is a difference and I like to keep that in mind every year I make these lists. I'm not telling you what you should like, I'm telling you what I liked.


TOP 20 FILMS OF 2011:

1. The Tree of Life & Hugo (tie)
2. The Adventures of Tintin
3. Midnight in Paris
4. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
5. Drive
6. The Descendants
7. The Artist
8. We Need To Talk About Kevin
9. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
10. The Kid with a Bike & Le Havre (tie)

11. Take Shelter
12. A Dangerous Method
13. Shame
14. Super 8
15. War Horse
16. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
17. Source Code
18. A Separation
19. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
20. Young Adult



RUNNERS-UP

50/50
A Better Life
Anonymous
Another Earth
Attack the Block
Beginners
Bridesmaids
A Cat in Paris
Contagion
The Deep Blue Sea
The Guard
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
The Help
Higher Ground
Horrible Bosses
J. Edgar
Jane Eyre
Kung Fu Panda 2
Like Crazy
Margin Call
Moneyball
The Muppets
Rango
Red State
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
Submarine
Terri
Tyrannosaur
We Bought A Zoo
Wuthering Heights
X-Men: First Class

DOCUMENTARIES:
1. George Harrison: Living in the Material World
2. Into The Abyss
3. Senna
4. Cave of Forgotten Dreams
5. Project Nim

The Top Tens

2014

1. Boyhood
2. Interstellar
3. Whiplash
4. The Grand Budapest Hotel
5. Guardians of the Galaxy
6. Ida
7. Gone Girl
8. The Imitation Game
9. Selma
10. Edge of Tomorrow

Runners-up: Wild Tales, The Book of Life, God Help The Girl, The Drop, The Tale of Princess Kaguya, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Godzilla, The Guest and Into the Woods.


2013

1. Gravity
2. Her
3. 12 Years A Slave
4. The Hunt
5. The Wolf of Wall Street
6. Blue Jasmine
7. Before Midnight
8. Frozen
9. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
10. The Great Gatsby

Runners-up: Pacific Rim, Prisoners, To the Wonder, The Place Beyond the Pines, Rush, Inside Llewyn Davis, Frances Ha, The Wind Rises, Monsters University, The Heat and The Conjuring.

2012

1. Life of Pi
2. Moonrise Kingdom
3. Cloud Atlas
4. Lincoln
5. The Avengers/ The Dark Knight Rises
6. Skyfall
7. Silver Linings Playbook
8. Django Unchained
9. Les Misérables
9. Frankenweenie
10. The Perks of Being A Wallflower

Runners-up: Chronicle, Everything or Nothing: The Untold Story of 007, Looper, Rise of the Guardians and Prometheus.


2011

1. The Tree of Life & Hugo (tie)
2. The Adventures of Tintin
3. Midnight in Paris
4. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
5. George Harrison: Living in the Material World
6. Drive
7. The Descendants
8. The Artist
9. We Need to Talk About Kevin
10. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Runners-up: A Dangerous Method, Into the Abyss, The Kid with a Bike, Le Havre, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, A Separation, Shame, Source Code, Super 8, Take Shelter and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy



2010

1. Inception
2. The Social Network
3. Toy Story 3
4. Black Swan
5. Biutiful
6. True Grit
7. Shutter Island
8. Hereafter
9. Blue Valentine & Certified Copy (tie)
10. Somewhere

Runners-up: 127 Hours, Alice in Wonderland, Another Year, Easy A, Enter the Void, Exit Through the Gift Shop, Flipped, The Ghost Writer, How To Train Your Dragon, The Illusionist, Inside Job, Kick-Ass, Le Quattro Volte, Monsters, Never Let Me Go, Poetry, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, The Town and Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.


2009

1. Avatar
2. Inglourious Basterds
3. (500) Days of Summer
4. The Men Who Stare At Goats
5. Ponyo & Fantastic Mr. Fox (tie)
6. District 9
7. The White Ribbon
8. Broken Embraces
9. The Secret in their Eyes
10. A Serious Man

Runners-up: 3 Idiots, Antichrist, A Christmas Carol, Bright Star, Brüno, The Cove, Dev D, Drag Me To Hell, Fish Tank, The Hurt Locker, The Informant!, Kaminey, Knowing, Moon, Mother, Paranormal Activity, A Prophet, Star Trek, Two Lovers, Up, Up in the Air and Watchmen.


2008

1. The Dark Knight
2. Wall-E
3. The Fall
4. Let The Right One In
5. Synecdoche, New York
6. Cloverfield
7. The Happening
8. My Blueberry Nights
9. Slumdog Millionaire
10. The Reader

Runners-up: Changeling, Departures, Frost/ Nixon, Frozen River, Gran Torino, Happy Go Lucky, Iron Man, Kung Fu Panda, Milk, Rachel Getting Married, Revolutionary Road and Vicky Cristina Barcelona.


2007

1. No Country For Old Men
2. Across the Universe
3. Zodiac
4. Atonement
5. Ratatouille
6. Sunshine & Youth Without Youth (tie)
7. There Will Be Blood
8. I'm Not There.
9. Eastern Promises
10. [REC]

Runners-up: 4 Weeks 3 Months and 2 Days, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Away From Her, The Bourne Ultimatum, Encounters at the End of the World, Grindhouse: Planet Terror/ Death Proof, Into the Wild, Juno, The Kite Runner,, Lars and the Real Girl, Lust Caution, The Namesake, No Smoking, Once, Paranoid Park, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Transformers.


2006

1. The Fountain
2. Pan's Labyrinth
3. Children of Men
4. Babel
5. Superman Returns
6. Casino Royale
7. Apocalypto
8. The Host
9. The Prestige
10. The Lives of Others, The Departed & Lady in the Water (tie)

Runners-up: Bubble, Cars, The Descent, Flags of Our Fathers, Letters From Iwo Jima, Marie-Antoinette, Omkara, Perfume, A Prairie Home Companion, Priceless, Scoop and Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby.


2005

1. King Kong
2. Batman Begins
3. Brokeback Mountain
4. Grizzly Man & The New World (tie)
5. No Direction Home: Bob Dylan
6. Cache
7. L'Enfant
8. War of the Worlds
9. A History of Violence
10. Crash


Runners-up: The Beat That My Heart Skipped, Broken Flowers, The 40-Year-Old-Virgin, The Corpse Bride, The Constant Gardner, Howl's Moving Castle, Junebug, Kingdom of Heaven, Last Days, Match Point, Munich, Pride and Prejudice, Sin City, Star Wars: The Revenge of the Sith and Three Times.


2004

1. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 
2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
3. Kill Bill Vol. 2
4. The Aviator
5. 2046
6. Million Dollar Baby
7. The Polar Express
8. The Passion of the Christ
9. The Village
10. Closer

Runners-up: Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Bad Education, Before Sunset, Collateral, House of Flying Daggers, Love Me If You Dare, Mean Girls, Millions, The Sea Inside, Shaun of the Dead, Shrek 2, Sideways, Spider-Man 2, Tropical Malady, Vera Drake and A Very Long Engagement.

2003

1. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2. Kill Bill Vol. 1
3. The Dreamers
4. Big Fish
5. Lost in Translation
6. Elephant
7. Mystic River
8. Oldboy & Dogville (tie)
9. Spring Summer Fall Winter and.. Spring
10. Love, Actually

Runners-up: 21 Grams, Anything Else, Bad Santa, The Five Obstructions, Intolerable Cruelty, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Memories of Murder, Munnabhai MBBS, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and The School of Rock.

2002

1. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
3. Minority Report
4. Signs
5. The Pianist
6. Adaptation.
7. The Son
8. City of God
9. Talk to Her
10. Devdas

Runners-up: About Schmidt, Chicago, Far From Heaven, Femme Fatale, Frailty, Gangs of New York, Hero, The Hours, Insomnia, The Man without a Past, May, Punch-Drunk Love and The Ring.

2001

1. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
2. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
3. Moulin Rouge!
4. A.I. Artificial Intelligence
5. Spirited Away
6. A Beautiful Mind
7. Mulholland Dr
8. Amelie
9. Lagaan: Once Upon A Time In India
10. The Royal Tenenbaums

Runners-up: Asoka, Black Hawk Down, The Devil's Backbone, Dil Chahta Hai, Ghost World, Gosford Park, In The Bedroom, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, The Majestic, The Man Who Wasn't There, Monsoon Wedding, Monsters Inc., The Others, Planet of the Apes, Shrek, Waking Life, Y Tu Mama Tambien and Zoolander.

Agneepath Review

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Woah. At least one film knows what Bollywood masala is. Not Telugu masala. Bollywood masala. Ghajini, Wanted, Ra.One, Ready and Singham were either direct remakes or imitators of films like Endhiran, Pokiri and Ghajini. While I thoroughly enjoyed all of these, barring the downright awful Bodyguard, I didn't absolutely love them. Dabangg seemed to be the only "original" one.

One thing is becoming certain, violence is coming back to the Hindi cinema screen. While the end of the 90s and most of the 2000s were dominated by the Khans who did their chocolate boy films and ruled Bollywood with romantic sagas or family weepies. With Agneepath, violence has returned and is here to stay.

The Descendants Review

Rating: 9.5 out of 10


The pace of the film is akin to its setting. The film flows like the waves. Taking its time to reach the shore. . . And then repeat. This rippling motion is just one of the small things that show how wonderfully this film was made.