Listmania: The Big One

By Thomas Willett 

While I am not a hype master on level with James Cameron’s 12 year build-up to Avatar, I am proud to say welcome to those that have followed my Listmania series all the way to the end. I have sprinkled very obvious clues as to what “The Big One” is, though I am sure there will be a few surprises that will make your devotion to this month long journey worthwhile. 

Before I dive into this extensive mix of essays and lists, I would like to pay my respects to my favorite show Bored to Death. On December 20 (the same day as the great the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo premiere), HBO announced that it was cancelling the show to bring on “fresher” programming. To avoid turning this into a repeat of the “I hate Starz” conversation from two years ago, I am very upset by this choice, though reasoning seems astute. The world of Jonathan Ames wasn’t long for this world. Lasting a mere three seasons at 24 episodes, it tackled being an author and a detective in a way that was entertaining and featured the cast at their best. However, according to reports on the Firewall and Iceberg podcast, no one watches HBO on Monday nights, thus their doubts that newbie Enlightened would last more than a season (think again). Sadly, I kind of saw it coming, even though the show rarely waned in quality. In years to come when everyone has done their own things, I will look back on these episodes as the reason I became a fan of Ted Danson (maybe C.S.I. is more to blame?). The casting was brilliant and the stories rightfully so. It will be missed, and while logically its axing makes sense, I kind of now get that sense it will join Party Down in the pantheon of great, yet brief, cable shows (though I don’t care for a movie this time). Respect to Super Ray and the crew. 

So, what is “The Big One” pertaining to? It’s an extensive list of three things. First will be an essay that details what movies meant to me. As a college student who hasn’t had to write the meaningless life significance essays, I felt nostalgic to cough one up. To me, I feel that I’m at a prime stage to make these without seeming pretentious. In a few years, maybe, when my views will be set on the world, then maybe everything mentioned here will sound pretentious. However, not having any hook ups to Sundance or advanced screenings, I have the privilege of explaining the significance of movies to someone who had to pay for every review without a refund and sometimes drive long distances to get there. Despite all of these consuming activities to see a simple two hour flick, I wouldn’t change much of it. 

For me, 2011 was the continuing game changer. Ever since I got involved with C-Scope, I have slowly begun to understand cinema and my views have become more focused on quality over substance. In truth, it’s largely because of my relationship with Andrew and Matt that I have been able to explore outside my comfort zone and find movies that I never thought I would enjoy. This was the year I discovered how fun Commando was. This was the year that I totally abused my Netflix queue and impatiently waited for John Wayne’s True Grit to finally get off the Long Wait list. This was the year that I grew every direction in cinema. 

I don’t feel like I have been too close-minded in the past few years. Because of Nerd’s Eye View, I have forced myself to watch movies like Hausu or Oldboy with rewarding results. Most opening segments of our podcast, I hear new suggestions of movies to check out, and I feel that it has enriched my catalog. I still am not an expert on foreign or art house, but because of this show, I have started down the road to liking them. I don’t feel that anyone really will get cinema if they watch new things in a year. It takes time to accumulate, and speed watching will only make you forget it faster. I feel that I still am five years away from being the cinema nerd that you see me as, even though I’ve broken new ground in getting there. 

How does this effect cinema from this year? It’s simple. Where do most of these movies come from? They have been inspired by works of the past. As Matt noted on episode 49, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez were probably inspired by Sam Peckinpah. I guarantee you there is not a director this year who was not inspired by someone from the past. I feel that if you can look at Peckinpah’s Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, then maybe you better understand Rodriguez’s Desperado. There’s a continual evolution, and if you can discover the roots, you’ll be able to appreciate everything more. I love this thinking because it’s never ending and even if I think I know the Peckinpah/Rodriguez dynamic, who influenced Peckinpah? We can go further back into directors, or even literature. I feel that cinema’s history is a learning opportunity that can be rooted back to ancient times. 

We finally touch on this year. What was it that stood out? For me, I continually like to look over my old thoughts to see how I progressed. In my round up for last year’s Divergence, I said that 2010 wasn’t as good as 2009. However, when I am compiling this year’s list, I think back to the movies that stood out from last year. What is odd is that the great 2010 movies come to mind as much as 2009’s. Ways I have progressed as a viewer is to stop comparing year for year and instead actual product to product. I still will say that x was the best year for y, but I won’t ignorantly say that one year’s batch of cinema is inferior to another. 

This is largely due to looking at my past critiques. In a prediction of movies I would enjoy this year, I noted high marks for Jack and Jill because I assumed that Al Pacino would be funny. It was also a time that I still liked Kevin Smith. A lot can change in a year, and while I am still hungry to indulge in bad cinema as well as the greats, I have matured into using my free time more to discover the great unknown titles. Don’t get me wrong, I still plan on watching Santa Claus Conquers the Martians before Christmas, but Griff the Invisible is far more of a tempting choice. 

My main concern involving cinema is that I am just a simple critic for a podcast without connections to free screenings. As a result, I think that while I will appreciate a lot of the cinema of this year, I think I will overlook some gems simply because they were in limited release. Despite Long Beach being relatively close to Los Angeles’ Arclight, I don’t have the gas money or time to see the Artist on opening day. I do make few exceptions to this rule, and as a result, the experience feels more rewarding. 

This year has featured some of the most rewarding experiences. I drove to Santa Monica just to see Super on opening day, only to hit traffic on the way back. Just the feeling of going someplace new alone (and getting off on Cloverfield Street) already heightens the experience. To me, you can get memorable experiences from a movie that is playing ten minutes away, but when I look back on this year, the best required drives with Andrew playing Gorillaz on the way to see True Legend or seeing Attack the Block at 9 AM and seeing a Pom Wonderful car on the way back. Doing it too much loses novelty, but by journeying to different theaters gives you time to ingest the experience, if also to make you feel exclusive for seeing it in limited release. I discovered the weird “select your own seating” rules of the Arclight before Midnight in Paris, and that was just culture shock. To me, a movie is a movie, but being some place outside of your daily habitat will make the movie better, regardless. The one exception was driving 30 minutes to see Tower Heist, though the crazy hobo in the lobby ALMOST made up for it. 

What did the actual movies mean to me? For the first time since I called Pineapple Express the second best movie of 2008 (behind the Dark Knight), I have a Top 10 that disagrees heavily with the general consensus. Even at the Spirit Awards, my favorite didn’t get any recognition. I expected that all along, though for me, it was the beginning of a year of testament to people making movies with heart and characters. I actually felt like I was watching some interesting people doing stuff. I cared that David Tennant was a hacky magician in Fright Night, regardless of quality. I felt there was stuff to watch this year that wasn’t really reliant on a good story per se. The best example is that 50/50 had a great performance (and proudly recognized so far) by Joseph Gordon-Levitt in what is essentially a pop culture laced, guy version of Terms of Endearment. Because it felt natural, the impact of the end made it so great. The story driven films, like Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, felt muddy and boring because Guy Ritchie brings nothing interesting to these characters. 

Despite my deviant list, I wouldn’t change most of these. I may have enjoyed the Descendants, but in no regards was it a better view of living life than the Way. I connected with these films and in some way, they will last with me for years on a personal level. I can pop these on and laugh or cry. I can turn my friends onto these and get more of a reaction than if I showed them the Descendants. While I am an avid supporter of the Academy Awards, I don’t always agree with their choices. The King’s Speech may have been their best movie, but it doesn’t have to be mine. I love opposing views because it helps you grow and look at things in a different light. While I cannot say that the Descendants will ever move above Up in the Air for me, I enjoy hearing reasons why it is George Clooney’s best. 

Overall, I think that this was a great year for cinema, and even though in the awards season, little has stood out, I have plenty of great theater moments. What other year could I be part of history in seeing Creature, the lowest grossing wide release of all time? It’s all because I opened my eyes to different things and took on challenges I wasn’t ready to face. The fact that Adam Sandler is not in my least favorite movies may come as a surprise, but let’s face it, there was worse, and sadly most involved Carla Gugino. 

I’ll continue to look forward to movies as I review them for the podcast as well as my writing job at Cinema Beach. However, my opinions are very stilted because I have not seen everything that I want to. I probably won’t until May or June. The reasoning is that limited releases, timing, and recommendations all accumulate and I may miss something that is great. For example, I missed Blue Valentine last year and didn’t see it until March, and it remains one of the greatest movies that I have seen. Will anything be up there with Blue Valentine? I’m sure of it, but finding out what will be a fun surprise. 

Part 2 of The Big One will tackle something that I haven’t really been indulging in this year. I will explore the worst of cinema 2011 from what I have seen so far. Do note that as a member of the Razzies, I kind of let down my title, though I have seen some bad movies that I never thought that I would see. Some so bad that I doubt even Bucky Larson could be worse. Again, this list will be altered over time, but for now, these are the worst movies of 2011 that I saw. However, due to the already excessive length of this blog, I will try and keep my comments to a minimum of no more than three sentences. 

1. The Human Centipede II: Full Sequence 

Easily one of the worst movies I have seen in years. While the original wasn’t terrible, it had some unique quips that made it memorable. Here they take the original and pay tribute to itself in a way that makes director Tom Sixx seem like a pretentious twat who is only in love with grossing out the audience. 

2. Big Mommas: Like Father Like Son 

While this isn’t the reason that I moved on from Divergence, it was a sign of the inevitable leaving. While nowhere near as terrible as the second one, it does feature Martin Lawrence trying to be sassy and old with a son character that is equally as unflattering. As far as comedies go, Bucky Larson has to be very bad to even come close to beating this one. 

3. Creature 

This movie was somehow released in more than 1,500 theaters without more than a few trailers online. The final product does result in an incompetent rehashing of most monster flicks that take incest to a depressing new low. The actual monster is also a depressing sight and with slow motion camera work, it just drags on the movie that was already too long to begin with. 

4. I Melt With You 

I’d like to imagine that Jeremy Piven found this to be an inspiring tribute to Entourage as it tried to glorify the self-indulgent idiot to new heights and then make them sympathetic. The story is a confusing mess that is only worsened by the pacing problems and the fact that no one really can hold your interest for more than a second as Carla Gugino interrogates them. By opening with the Sex Pistols’ “Pretty Vacant,” it creates the ultimate meta message that basically asking more from this movie will result in them saying “There’s no point in asking, you’ll get no reply.” 

5. The Change-Up 

This movie has the distinct honor of being the crassest review that I gave on the podcast that was boiled down to mere expletives. It’s hard not to see how as this movie doesn’t try hard to make me care and instead tarnish Jason Bateman’s image as an actor that I can trust to be in good movies. The same can be said for Ryan Reynolds, who has not had a good year after a mildly pleasing Buried in 2010. 

6. Elektra Luxx 

I have no idea why I saw this movie other than Joseph Gordon-Levitt made the trailer seem somewhat appealing. Sadly, this is a reminder of why the world thinks that porn stars are stupid. Sadly, it’s also the first movie I saw this year that distinctly made me sympathize with Carla Gugino for taking on such terrible movies. 

7. The Three Musketeers 

This was my first Paul W.S. Anderson film and possibly my last. Very incoherent and with shoddy penmanship that I felt that if Christoph Waltz had a better knowledge of American filmmakers, then I’d call him an idiot. However, since he’s German and is new to the scene, I am holding out hope that his turn in Carnage will restore some faith. 

8. Sucker Punch 

While Andrew defends this movie, I cannot understand why on simple principle that the plot is so messy and the messages are blurred together. Also, the music is really distracting and I feel that maybe it is the reason that it’s so terrible in my eyes to the point of making me doubt director Zack Snyder’s future. Also, this is the best of the movies starring Carla Gugino on this list. 

9. Green Lantern 

I had little idea of who this character was before going into the movie other than Ryan Reynolds is an interesting actor. By the time I went out, I cared even less, kind of disappointed that their one shot of capturing me was a failure. However, I disagree with their idea that in order to improve the impending sequel they will need to make the script darker and stranger. 

10. Just Go With It 

For all you know, this could be the place that Bucky Larson will fill in a few months. However, for now, it’s held by Adam Sandler’s first movie of this year on simple principle that it was too long, a little on the dumb side, and featured Jennifer Anniston in her least appealing role of the year. She was in Horrible Bosses, you know. 

It is time to move onto my favorite movies of the year. Check them out. 

1. Super 

For the most part, I don’t think anyone else will feature this movie on their favorites list, if just because it’s so dark, twisted, and full of perverse nature. However, no movie has stuck with me as well as this one in which I find myself drooling over every frame. It is officially my favorite superhero movie of all time, if you don’t count the Dark Knight against it. 

2. Midnight in Paris 

This is easily my favorite Woody Allen movie since Deconstructing Harry. The story is very interesting and I think that it contributes a lot to Allen’s ability to make them feel like his own while not incriminating them too much. It feels great to see him back in top form. 

3. Attack the Block 

This is the most entertaining film of the year with one of the best scores of the year. The dialog is immediately catchy and the action is equally gratifying. If you haven’t seen it, I am going to force you to next time I see you. 

4. 50/50 

I really hope Joseph Gordon-Levitt wins the Oscar for best performance. If anything, this is one of the first seminal classics of my generation facing real life conflicts the only way they know how. That is by quoting Predator while staring at nasty stitches. 

5. Drive 

The little art house film that could. With a really suave performance by Ryan Gosling and an equally excellent supporting cast, it’s hard to not see how cool this movie is without falling into the dumb world of Fast Five. The only conflict now is getting this movie nominated for an Oscar that it totally deserves. 

6. Young Adult 

Where 50/50 explored the positive spectrum of pop culture references, Young Adult explores the negative. With the continually maturing writing style of Diablo Cody, this was the surprising sweet and twisted view into being a writer with no semblance of reality. It also has a great performance by Patton Oswalt that while not as good as Big Fan, should get him more recognition in movies in the nearby future. 

7. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 

For the second year in a row, an adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s best-selling book has made my top ten. Despite knowing the story beat for beat, director David Fincher knows how to pace the story and bring the great Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross score to life. I also almost want to say that while Noomi Rapace defined the movie version of Lisbeth Salander, Rooney Mara did the best job of accuracy to the book. 

8. Hugo 

Martin Scorsese returns with a 3D flick that explores our love of early cinema and how it affects the future. In some ways, it correlates with themes in this entry. With great performances and a compelling story, it almost makes me want to read the book and watch Safety Last. 

9. Beginners 

This is a movie that explores how relationships of every orientation and age affect each other while being funny and sweet. With a great performance by Christopher Plummer sure to earn him some Oscar attention, there is very little to hate about this movie. It’s unique and fun and features one of the many performances by a scene stealing dog worth remembering. 

10. Hanna 

When I first heard about this movie, I assumed that Joe Wright couldn’t direct an action movie. The results are a very entertaining film with a great Chemical Brothers score topped with a career (for now) defining performance by Saoirse Ronan. I felt that the use of fairytale themes also helped to make this an impressive effort that explored the sensitive side of a child assassin in new and bold ways. 

That is my list for this year. Hope you enjoyed it and I hope to see you again when we reconvene on Nerd’s Eye View on January 9. This has been a fun year and I hope that it has been the same for you. If you would like, let’s get a dialog going and maybe we can discuss what really was the best and worst of the year. Is Bucky Larson really worse than Big Mommas? These are the questions that have not yet been answered. Feel free to write and I promise to get back to you as soon as possible. As for now, I am off to enjoy Christmas with a good old fashioned Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. 

You can read Thom’s blog every Wednesday and hear him on Nerd’s Eye View every Tuesday and Thursday at nevpodcast.com . Send your thoughts to nevpodcast@gmail.com. You can also read Thom’s movie reviews for Cinema Beach at cinemabeach.com .