It’s that time of year again, folks! The Academy Award™ nominations are just around the . . . wait, not quite.
But, still, I’ve seen a fair amount of movies so far, and graded each of them, below. As an educator, I stick to the A-F scale, which – in spite of modern grade inflation – is something that we can all relate to. Many of the films are not new films from 2012, but films that I had just never gotten around to seeing before. And there are a few films on the list from the 2012 Maryland Film Festival, including some of the better short films I saw (I left out the shorts that made no impression at all). Here goes:
January 1 – September 8, 2012:
- Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (Timur Bekmambetov): F
- Amazing Spider-Man, The (Marc Webb): A-
- Avengers, The (Josh Whedon): B/B-
- Banlieue 13 (Pierre Morel): B+ [great “Parkour”]
- Battle Royale (Kinji Fukasaku): F
- Beasts of the Southern Wild (Benh Zeitlin): B+
- Bourne Legacy, The (Tony Gilroy): B/B-
- Brave (PIXAR): B
- Bridesmaids (Paul Feig): F – I tried to finish this, but only made it through 45 minutes. Hated it.
- Contagion (Steven Soderbergh): B/B-
- Cowboys & Aliens (Jon Favreau): C+
- Crazy, Stupid, Love (Glenn Ficarra, John Requa): B-
- Dangerous Method, A (David Cronenberg): D
- Dark Knight Rises, The (Christopher Nolan): B
- Dark Horse (Todd Solondz): B/B+ [MD FILM FEST]
- dernier combat, Le (Luc Besson): B+
- Drive (Nicolas Winding Refn): B/B-
- 88:88 (Joey Ciccoline): B+/A- (Short) [MD FILM FEST]
- Fallen (Gregory Hoblit): D+
- 50/50 (Jonathan Levine): B/B-
- Footnote (Joseph Cedar): A
- Freaky Friday (Gary Nelson – 1976 original): B
- Freaky Friday (Mark Waters – 2003 remake): B/B+
- French Lieutenant’s Woman, The (Karel Reisz): B
- From Morning Till Midnight (Karlheinz Martin): C-/C [MD FILM FEST]
- gamin au vélo, Le (Jean-Pierre et Luc Dardenne): B
- Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The (David Fincher): B
- Grey Gardens (Michael Sucsy – 2009 HBO version): B+/A-
- Guard, The (John Michael McDonagh): B/B+
- High Maintenance (Shawn Wines): B+/A- (Short) [MD FILM FEST]
- Higher Ground (Vera Farmiga): B
- Horrible Bosses (Seth Gordon): C+/B-
- Hunger Games, The (Gary Ross): D
- Ides of March, The (George Clooney): B
- J. Edgar (Clint Eastwood): B
- Jackie Brown (Quentin Tarantino): B
- John Carter (Andrew Stanton); B+
- Killing, The: Season 1 (AMC – Veena Sud): from A to C (the structure breaks down over the course of the season, though the atmosphere rocks, throughout)
- Lawless (John Hillcoat): C/C+
- Lincoln Lawyer, The (Brad Furman): B+
- Lockout (James Mather & Stephen St. Leger): C
- Lorenzo’s Oil (George Miller): B-
- Love Free or Die (Macky Alston): B+ [MD FILM FEST]
- Lucky Luke (James Huth): D
- LUV (Sheldon Candis): B-/C+ [MD FILM FEST – good for a first feature, though, with strong performances – problems are all in the script]
- Magic Mike (Steven Soderbergh): A-
- Margin Call (J.C. Chandor): B+
- Me and Orson Welles (Richard Linklater): A-
- Men in Black III (Barry Sonnenfeld): B/B+
- Midnight in Paris (Woody Allen): B
- Mirror, Mirror (Tarsem Singh): C
- Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (Brad Bird): B+
- Moneyball (Bennett Miller): A-
- Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson): C+
- Muppets, The (James Bobin): A-
- My Week with Marilyn (Simon Curtis): B-/C+ [Michelle Williams is surprisingly very good as Marilyn, however – Kenneth Branagh is terrible as Olivier]
- No Subtitles Necessary (James Chressantis): B- [good material; terrible direction]
- Now, Voyager (Irving Rapper): B/B+
- OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (Michel Hazanavicius): B
- OSS 117: Lost in Rio (Michel Hazanavicius): B
- Outbreak (Wolfgang Petersen): B
- petits mouchoirs, Les (Guillaume Canet): C/C+ [comedy is delightful, the dramatic portions are nauseating]
- Pom Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (Morgan Spurlock): A-
- Prometheus (Ridley Scott): B-
- Puss in Boots (Chris Miller): B-
- Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Rupert Wyatt): B+
- Rock of Ages (Adam Shankman): C+
- Rolling on the Floor Laughing (Russell Harbaugh): B+/A- (Short) [MD FILM FEST]
- Savages (Oliver Stone): B
- Skin I Live in, The (Pedro Almodóvar): B
- Snow White and the Huntsman (Rupert Sanders): B-
- Star Trek: Nemesis (Stuart Baird): B-
- Taken (Pierre Morel): C/C-
- Ted (Seth MacFarlane): F
- Thing, The (Matthijs van Heijningen, Jr. – this is the 2011 “prequel”): C/C-
- This Is Not a Film (Mojtaba Mirtahmasb/Jafar Panahi): B [MD FILM FEST]
- Thumbsucker (Mike Mills): B/B+
- Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (Tomas Alfredson): B/B-
- To Rome with Love (Woody Allen): B/B-
- Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds (Tyler Perry): C
- Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Witness Protection (Tyler Perry): D
- Under African Skies (Joe Berlinger): B+ [MD FILM FEST]
- War Horse (Steven Spielberg): B/B+
- Water for Elephants (Francis Lawrence): B-
- Whistleblower, The (Larysa Kondracki): B/B-
- X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Gavin Hood): D+/C-
- Young Adult (Jason Reitman): B/B+
What have YOU watched this year so far, and which of my ratings do you dis/agree with?
