Best Movies of 2019

Unlike last year, I managed to see a few movies in theaters this year that weren't about Star Wars or superheroes. This is partly because I was willing to go to movies by myself for a change. You should try going to movies by yourself! The movies aren't any different and nobody else cares that you're alone.

Best of 2019

10. 1917


The thing about movies with obviously impressive technical filmmaking behind them is the filmmaking itself can become a distraction. You're thinking about how a shot was achieved as much as what the content of the shot actually does for the story. So when I learned 1917 was shot and edited to appear as a single unbroken take for the entire film, I was a little worried it would be a huge gimmick. While I did find myself sometimes looking for the transitions where cuts to new shots were hidden, overall I was still invested in the story of two British soldiers racing across no man's land in World War I to save a division of their countrymen from annihilation. The decision to make it one take has a purpose, allowing you to take in how incredibly exhausting their journey is, both physically and emotionally. It's a movie that doesn't glamorize war, but does try to honor the men who fight and die in it.

9. Marriage Story

Noah Baumbach generally does comedies about contemporary adult life, but he's been known to veer into drama at times, and Marriage Story is probably his most dramatic work. A lot of divorce stories show a marriage falling apart, but Marriage Story skips to the part where it's clearly over, and covers the messiness of the legal side of the separation. Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson play the central couple, both with their charms and still having feelings for each other, but unable to go on sharing a life. It's clear that their characters are at least loosely based on Baumbach and his ex-wife, and it's interesting to look at how they're balanced in the story. Johansson's character is the one who initiated the divorce, feeling like she had no control of her life, and doesn't have as many clear flaws as Driver's does. But the story still seems to tend towards Driver's perspective, especially once he feels blindsided by his wife moving to Los Angeles and bringing their son with her. It's heartbreaking watching the relationship get more contentious as the realities of two adults separating their lives, especially with a child involved, complicate what seemed like it could have been less painful. There are a few comedic moments that keep the movie from being a slog, and the performances of the whole cast deserve the accolades they're getting.

8. Avengers: Endgame


The Marvel Cinematic Universe is still going, but I wouldn't blame anyone who felt like hopping off the ride after Endgame. It's the culmination of 12 years and 22 movies worth of successful mass market storytelling. The fact that it not only isn't an incoherent mess but pays off in all the ways people hoped it would is a miracle. I'm not sure we'll ever see anything like the first "saga" of the MCU again. The opening section of the film is successful at selling the drama and horror of a world that has lost so much. The second act is both a fun tribute to the history of the series and a screwball time travel adventure, with some pathos thrown in. And the final battle is just a smorgasbord of dramatic conclusions to character arcs and entertaining fan service moments. It's not high cinema, but there's a reason it's the highest grossing movie ever made.

7. Us


Us is a lot messier than Jordan Peele's first movie as a director. It has a really big concept behind it, one that seems to make less sense the more you think about it. But I think I may have liked it more than Get Out anyway. It has a lot on its mind, big ideas about America and freedom and class, and it's also more successful as a horror film. Get Out had creepy moments, but Us comes closer to being truly terrifying at moments, and the imagery of it will stick in your mind long afterward. Really, the whole movie stuck with me, which is probably more important than making total logical sense. There's a lot going on in Us, and it certainly would reward watching it more than once. Not too many horror movies can say that.

6. Midsommar


The negative reactions I have seen to Midsommar are interesting. I've seen complaints that the characters are unlikable, it's not very scary, and it's not very unpredictable. None of those things are false, but none of them seemed like flaws to me, because it doesn't seem like it was trying to be scary or unpredictable or have likable characters. There's a sense of inevitability to the movie, as people start disappearing and the others just continue on as if in a daze. It's a movie about trauma and mental health and drugs and shitty friends, and the way the central character gets pulled into the world she's entered is more disturbing than any simple attempts to shock or frighten the viewer. Not that it totally avoids being a horror movie, there are a few moments of gore that should unsettle pretty much anybody. It's a horror movie that takes place almost entirely in daylight, and that idea of everything being right in front of you and it still working is not just an aesthetic choice but the whole point of the movie.

5. Knives Out


Rian Johnson hops off the franchise train for a bit and returns to what he's known for - taking a genre that hasn't gotten much attention and doing it as well as any of the classics you can name. This time it's murder mysteries, with the patriarch of a wealth family seemingly killing himself and an oddball detective taking it upon himself to sniff out what he suspects was really foul play. Every member of the family has a reason they may have wanted the old man dead, but which one of them actually did it? The film quickly diverts from this story in unexpected ways, but it never stops being a thrilling and funny romp. It also does a great job of skewering upper class white people, who can be perfectly friendly and open minded until things stop going their way. Johnson has discussed doing sequels with Daniel Craig's absurdly accented detective character, and I'd love to see them.

4. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood


It's indulgent as hell, but what do you expect from late-career Quentin Tarantino? Hollywood is his love letter to his youth and the movies and celebrities he adored growing up. It's also an opportunity to play around a bit with genre from scene to scene. When an actor played by Leonardo DiCaprio and his bodyguard/stunt double played by Brad Pitt are hanging out, it's a nice, loose buddy comedy. When DiCaprio is doing an acting job just to get a paycheck, he returns to the Western setting he's explored in his last couple movies. When Pitt visits the famous Spahn Ranch after learning about the weird group that's staying there, it feels like a tense horror or thriller flick. And of course it ends in a Tarantinian explosion of brutal yet somehow satisfying violence. You probably know if you like his style or not and this isn't likely to change your mind. It's maybe a bit aimless in comparison, but I still had a really good time.

3. The Irishman

Excepting a TV pilot, this is Martin Scorsese's first work in the gangster genre in over a decade. He's decidedly an old man at this point, and we find him reflecting on what a life of violence is really worth. A lot of talk has been about the movie's immense length and the de-aging computer effects, and those can be talked about, but they're not really what interests me. I don't think I've ever seen a violent mob movie that so thoroughly repudiates mob violence. The first couple hours are a solid exploration of the genre, but then after the masterfully tense and regretful climax, we have the long denouement, as the characters tally up their successes and losses and realize how little it was all worth in the end. It has one of the best final shots and final lines I've seen in a movie. It's another masterpiece in a career of them.

2. The Lighthouse


The Lighthouse isn't the easiest movie to categorize. Largely I'd say it's a psychological horror movie, but if so, it's an odd one. It focuses on the complicated relationship of the master of a lighthouse on a remote island and his new assistant. The master can be friendly when he wants, and seems casual about the official rules when it suits him, but he is also a pain to be around and vindictive when he perceives shortcomings in his employee. The assistant struggles to adapt to the situation in a graceful way, which is understandable, but it seems as though he was driven to the post through something in his past he'd rather not speak of, and it's hard to pin down just how sympathetic he should really be. He is haunted by strange visions, nightmares, and a desire to make a connection, and you start to feel the loss connection of reality that he is clearly experiencing himself. It's a weird, funny, frightening movie that pushes a lot of buttons that I like to see get pushed. And the two performances by Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson are great. I'll gladly watch anything Robert Eggers decides to make.

1. Parasite


A lot has been said about the message of Parasite, and rightly so. It's critical of the class divide in South Korea, but it's a divide that has proven resonant for people all over the planet. There's a justifiable rage against the ultra wealthy living well at the expense of the less fortunate everywhere, and the fact that so many of those ultra wealthy are claiming Parasite as a movie they loved just proves its point that they have no idea what world they are living in. But all of that kind of elides that the movie itself is just brilliantly crafted from start to finish. Bong Joon-ho is one of my favorites of current Korean directors, and Parasite could be his best work. Every single shot seems fully thought out and expertly designed to further the story he's telling. In addition, the whole cast is great, from Song Kang-ho, who he's been working with for over a decade, to newcomers like Park So-dam. It gets darker than you might expect at first, but Parasite is still the best time I had with a new movie in 2019.

Delayed Entry

This is the best movie that wasn't released in 2019 but I didn't see until then.

Mandy

Sometimes you just vibe with a movie, you know? I expected to like Mandy, but I didn't quite expect to fall in love with it so thoroughly. It felt like I was in an actual trance at times, which makes sense with how ethereal it feels and how the central characters are usually on some sort of drugs. Mandy is beautiful and ugly, funny and haunting, with a great soundtrack and a perfect performance from Nicolas Cage. It is sometimes both incredibly real and wonderfully unreal. I don't know, man. It's great.

Best Movies of 2018

There are almost too many interesting movies I still haven't seen from 2018 to count. And yet, I think this is one of the most solid lists of movies I've ever had in a post. A great year for movies.

Best of 2018

10. First Reformed


My familiarity with Paul Schrader prior to this is kind of weird. He wrote several great Martin Scorsese-directed movies from the 70's to 90's, and more recently he's made a couple of smaller movies I didn't really like at all. But First Reformed feels like the work of someone who's been at the top of their game their whole career. Ethan Hawke is quasi-secretly one of the best actors of his generation, and he is great once again as a reverend of a small but extremely old church who deals with a drinking problem, declining health, and a spiritual crisis in the face of climate change as he's expected to handle his duties at an important moment. For the most part it's very straightforward, which makes the few moments that depart in an unreal way hit a lot harder. One of the most interesting movies about religion that I have seen.

9. Roma


Alfonso Cuaron is one of my favorite directors, and in Roma he revisits his own childhood as he tells the story of a maid and nanny to a fairly well off family living in Mexico City in the 70's. I believe this is Cuaron's first movie that he actually shot himself (it's also the first he wrote by himself), and he's clearly learned a lot from cinematographers he's worked with in the past, because Roma looks absolutely stunning. The black and white photography is beautiful and he continues to be the modern master of the long take. In the past it sometimes seems like showing off, but in Roma it's more understated and always for a clear purpose. I wish I had connected with the characters a bit more, but Roma is still an impressive movie.

8. Black Panther


I hope that the huge success of Black Panther means we can see more movies with huge budgets that can have unique perspectives and settings that aren't just the same old thing as always. Black Panther is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it's also an afrofuturist science fiction movie, and that departure and focus was maybe my favorite part of it. The cast was also very good, especially Michael B. Jordan as perhaps the MCU's best, and certainly its most sympathetic villain. The action was a bit underwhelming at times, but I'd still love to see Ryan Coogler make a sequel with these characters and this world.

7. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

The reliable Coen brothers gave Netflix what is essentially a collection of six short Western films, and all of them have something to recommend. They range in tone from delightful to depressing, but each explores the theme of death and its sometimes arbitrary nature. I could say something about each of them, but I think it suffices to say that Buster Scruggs gives you a little bit of all the different things the brothers like to do, and the parts you like or don't like probably won't surprise you if you have any history with them.

6. Hereditary


First-time director Ari Aster is surprisingly assured in this film that is part family drama, part satanic horror. By the end the former fully gives way to the latter, but both elements work, and work together very well. Tony Collette plays a woman grieving the loss of her mother along with her family, and the things that happen from there are unexpected and develop into an intriguing mystery before they start spiraling completely out of control. Her performance could be over the top, but I think it works for where things eventually go. And I love where they go, because it's pretty damn wild.

5. Eighth Grade


First-time director Bo Burnham is surprisingly assured in this coming of age film. Most movies of this type focus on high schoolers, but Eighth Grade (obviously) goes a bit younger, telling the story of Kayla, a girl who struggles to make friends in a world of ubiquitous internet use and self promotion, but constantly strives to improve her situation. I could easily see this moving being sadder and harder to watch, but I found myself rooting for Kayla rather than feeling sorry for her, feeling bad about her setbacks but elated for her moments of progress and clarity. Elsie Fisher gives a remarkable performance, and Burnham's depiction of young adulthood is spot on.

4. Sorry to Bother You

First-time director Boots Riley is surprisingly assured in this bizarre satire of modern labor politics. There are basically two parts to this movie. There's the part where the main character, Cash Green, starts working for a telemarketing company at the same that some of its employees decide to start organizing and eventually strike, clashing with the police at the picket line. There's also the part where Cash learns to use a "white voice" to get ahead in the company and eventually becomes involved with the corporation that essentially found a loophole in modern anti-slavery laws and is dominating the global market. One of these aspects is very serious, the other is very silly, but they work together to the film's overall message, that companies and government will do anything they can in the name of profit and workers have to stick together and protect each other. It's a very funny and surreal movie with a real point.

3. Annihilation


People need to keep giving Alex Garland money to make science fiction and horror movies. Annihilation, based on a popular novel I have not read, does a great job mixing both. Natalie Portman plays a scientist who joins an expedition into a strange alien phenomenon that is constantly growing, and into which several previous expeditions have gone and not returned. Inside they find strange plant and animal mutations, some of which are beautiful, and some of which are terrifying. They begin to lose their grip on reality, and it's hard to say what exactly is real and what is not. There's enough ambiguity to keep an otherwise straightforward story mysterious, and the climax is exactly what it needs to be. Even if you don't get it, the movie is a lot of fun to look at.

2. Avengers: Infinity War


Yes, I am a Marvel fan. This is a damn good Marvel movie. Despite having dozens of characters the central story has room to breathe and develop, and pretty much everyone gets a moment to shine. The visuals are great and the action scenes are inventive and exciting. Thanos is a genuinely menacing villain, and while reports of his plan's viability have been exaggerated, I felt like I still understood his motivation in a way that his goals were clear and helped drive the story. And I appreciate any movie with this much money behind it going with that ending. We all know that what happens in comic books might not matter in the long term, but what does matter is what it means to the characters in the moment. And based on the showing I went to, this movie worked on people.

1. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse


On the one hand, Into the Spider-Verse is a stunningly gorgeous animated film that combines the strengths of computer generated and traditional cel animation along with the history of comic book art to create something unlike anything I've seen before. On the other hand, it tells a beautiful, heart felt story about how anyone given the opportunity can be a hero. And on the third hand, it's a comic book movie filled with so much love for these characters and their histories that as a Spider-Man fan it was just absolute delight to watch from start to finish. So you can see how difficult it is for me to find a single way to recommend this movie. I loved it. Oh, also it's laugh out loud hilarious the entire time. And the villains were all interesting and great! And the cast!

Delayed Entry

This is the best movie that wasn't released in 2018 but I didn't see until then.

Spotlight

Is it cool to like any movie that wins Best Picture? There are definitely things you can criticize about the Oscars, but their last few big winners haven't been bad choices. Spotlight tells the story of the newspaper that helped break the story of the Catholic Church molestation scandal, and while you can see how a movie about Serious Journalists Reporting Important Stories is easy award bait, it's really just an extremely well made film, with an exceptional screenplay and a cast that delivers from top to bottom. It balances the tension of a political thriller with the heartbreaking trauma of the subject matter. It's kind of amazing that Tom McCarthy made this and The Cobbler back to back.

Best Movies of 2015

Stop me if this sounds familiar: there were a lot of movies released last year that I wanted to see and didn't get a chance to yet, but I still think these ones I did see were pretty good!

Best of 2015

9. Ant-Man


You can make a case that the smaller of Marvel Studios' two movies this year was the better one, focusing on a single story and letting the characters breathe and get to know each other naturally. Ant-Man is one of the funniest super hero movies ever made, with a lot of the talent involved having a strong comedy background. It also has some very clever action scenes built around the title character's ability to shrink and return to his original size at will. I'm very confident in the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, knowing that they can take pretty much any property and turn it into a solid movie that makes good money pretty much at will.

8. Star Wars: The Force Awakens


For me, The Force Awakens stuck a little too closely to the original films with its visuals and plot, and it kind of rushed from place to place without letting anything new develop. Still, it looks really nice, the cast is amazing, I like all the new characters, and they put together a strong foundation for the series going forward. I just wish it felt less like a stepping stone for Disney and more like a great movie on its own terms. I love Star Wars, and I can't blame the creators for wanting to win back my trust after the prequels.

7. Love & Mercy


Love & Mercy tells two different stories about Brian Wilson at very different times in his life, starring two different actors. It's an interesting experiment that works well. I preferred the scenes in the 60s that told the tale of Wilson's efforts to create what many consider the best album ever made, but the parts in the 80s, that show a more difficult time in his life when he was struggling against a controlling therapist, are also interesting. The movie uses sound very creatively to depict the odd way Wilson's mind works, and it's a well constructed film about a great artist without being a hagiography.

6. Avengers: Age of Ultron


I think a lot of people were disappointed in Age of Ultron because they didn't feel giddy leaving the theater like they did after the first Avengers movie. Age of Ultron is more complicated, trying to explore the downsides to a bunch of super heroes running around doing what they want and the problems that occur when only they can deal with the messes they create themselves. It's almost too big a story to handle in a single movie, and you can see the cracks where they shoved things in too tightly to fit. But I really liked the themes of responsibility and self-doubt it went into, and I also liked watching a bunch of strong guys and girls beating up robots.

5. Kingsman: The Secret Service


Kingsman is like if you took a typical James Bond movie and stripped away all the bullshit and euphemisms it uses to hide how ugly those stories can really be. White colonialism disguised as progress for impoverished nations? Let's have a plot about rich people literally trying to kill every poor person on Earth. Sex as a final reward for saving the day in the end? Let's depict that way past the point where it's still comfortable. Matthew Vaughn's films are often smarter than they get credit for, and that trend continues here. It also has some exceptionally well filmed action scenes and a great cast all putting in good work.

4. Ex Machina


Ex Machina holds its cards close to its chest for a long time, which makes it all the more memorable and satisfying when it finally pulls the trigger on where its plot is going. A sense of menace pervades the whole film, but it's coming from one direction until near the end, and when the switch finally happens, it creates an odd mix of emotions that you're not sure how to deal with. It's a great story about artificial intelligence, a concept which has generally gotten a bit stale, and just a darn good science fiction film in general. The small cast is quite good, with two The Force Awakens actors appearing in very different roles.

3. Tangerine

"Shot on an iPhone" is a phrase that might not inspire a ton of confidence, but honestly, if I didn't know that going in, I would have had no idea. It's just a nice looking movie that captures a side of Los Angeles you don't usually see. Tangerine is about two transgender prostitutes (played by actual transgender actresses!) spending a Christmas Eve together as one looks for her cheating boyfriend and the other tries to keep her from getting out of control. The movie is funny, sweet, and touching, not trying to be about Big Issues but just showing that humanity is everywhere, even with the kinds of people you might not spend much time with.

2. The Hateful Eight


In an interview earlier this year, Quentin Tarantino said he wants to make one more western so that he can be considered a "western director". I'm not sure why that interested me so much. I guess it's just unusual that he would want to be known for working in a genre that has all but disappeared since he's been alive. In any case, he knows that world of cinema inside and out, and as much as I'd like to see another contemporary movie from him, I won't mind if he keeps it up with the period pieces for as long as he wants. The Hateful Eight is not the crowd pleaser his last couple movies have been. Despite the much-talked about 70 mm presentation, it takes place mostly in a single room. And he didn't pick "hateful" to describe its central characters just because it rhymes with "eight". This is a mean-ass movie about mean-ass people doing mean-ass things. And it doesn't end well for them. Before the end though, it has everything Tarantino is known for. Great acting, delicious dialogue, sudden and extreme violence, and jumping around in time. It's probably too ponderous for some, but I loved this movie.

1. Mad Max: Fury Road


Mad Max: Fury Road is a miracle. Of the many sequels in 2015 that came many years after the last entry in the series, Fury Road is the only one directed by a guy who worked on the originals. George Miller is 70 years old, and hasn't made an action movie since the last Mad Max, 30 years earlier. I also never particularly connected with the original movies, thinking they were fine but not much more. So it's kind of amazing that this 70 year old man, who hadn't done this kind of thing for much longer than he had been doing it in the first place, came back and kicked everyone else's asses. Fury Road is pure action filmmaking, telling a story and thrilling the audience with little more than tightly crafted, well-edited visuals, the occasional word of memorable dialogue, and a pure expression of excitement and wonder. It's been described as one long action scene, but there are enough breaks that allow the characters moments of reflection and variations in the different segments of the chase that it never gets monotonous or uninteresting. The action expertly combines practical stunts and vehicles with computer generated effects to create some absolutely stunning images, scenes that I will remember for years after I've forgotten all the bland, unmotivated explosions that pepper so many other films.

Delayed Entry

This is the best movie that wasn't released in 2015 but I didn't see until then.

Her

Her is not only the best old movie I saw last year, but one of the best movies I've ever seen. It's one of the best science fiction movies, and one of the best love stories. It also combines those two elements brilliantly, with both feeding into each other and being necessary for the other to work. Joaquin Phoenix has become one of my favorite actors lately, and he makes his character, a man who falls in love with his computer, believable and likable. Scarlett Johansson also does amazing work with just her voice, bringing life to the AI and making you believe a guy could come to love her. The movie explores love and loneliness honestly, and just grabbed me harder than most movies ever manage.

Best Movies of 2012

I didn't manage to see a few movies I know I really should have, most notably Django Unchained and Zero Dark Thirty. Still, I managed to do a better job of getting out of the house and seeing good stuff than I usually do. Here was the best.

Best of 2012

8. The Dark Knight Rises


It was always unlikely that people were going to love this as much as they did The Dark Knight, and when the movie finally came out it seemed practically predestined to have a mixed reaction. I liked it a lot though; Tom Hardy's Bane is a wonderfully scary villain, Anne Hathaway is a pitch-perfect Catwoman, and it's just fun watching the elaborate schemes and action scenes Christopher Nolan puts together, even if it's easy to poke holes in their logic later. I kind of wish it was a bit more grounded, but it still manages to be the third part of the first ever superhero film trilogy that's good the whole way through.

7. The Cabin in the Woods


Usually when a movie sits on the shelf for a couple years like this, you expect bad things. But based on the people behind it and the seemingly reasonable explanation for its delay, I was pretty sure I'd like The Cabin in the Woods, and I turned out to be right. It's a horror movie that basically applies the reasons people like horror movies to the story itself, and what results is a movie that is at times genuinely frightening, but more often hilarious in the way it plays with and subverts expectations. I imagine you might get more out of it if you spend a lot of time with the genre, but even if you don't there's a lot of great moments and surprises.

6. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey


I was okay with Peter Jackson and company splitting The Hobbit into two parts for their film adaptation, since I knew they were adding material from the countless additional notes and writings of Tolkien, and it's not uncommon for studios to do that these days. Three parts seemed like a stretch, though. Still, I couldn't help but find myself again wrapped up in the world of Middle Earth, and enjoyed all of the time the movie took developing its new characters and really telling the story of the book without many gaps. Who knows if I'll get tired of it before the end, but I thought the first Hobbit movie was very well cast, as faithful to the book as you could hope, and just a pleasant thing to watch.

5. The Raid: Redemption


You hear a lot of people tell you how much an action movie kicks ass. It's hard to tell just from a description how much it actually kicks ass. You kind of have to take it on faith that it kicks ass. Believe me when I tell you that The Raid stands above most other movies when it comes to whether it kicks ass. No one's in it that you've heard of, and they use an Indonesian fighting style with less of a history than kung fu, but the movie still kicks ass. There's not much else to say about The Raid, which takes place entirely within a single apartment complex and doesn't have much of a story, but it doesn't need anything else because it really, really kicks ass.

4. The Master


Paul Thomas Anderson sure has changed a lot over the course of his career. You can definitely trace a line from movie to movie, but while movies like Boogie Nights were certainly different, it was still essentially understandable and often very entertaining. The Master is one of the most challenging movies that I've ever seen. I know basically what it was going for, and I know the three central performances were great, and I can remember specific scenes that were as entrancing and gripping as any that have been filmed. But I still find it difficult to love, and I don't get the feeling the movie really wants to be loved. It wants to be considered, and it deserves to be examined for a long time. It's an important movie, but you should only see it if you know what you're in for.

3. Lincoln


I'm not sure what else there is to say about Daniel Day-Lewis. He's probably going to win his third Oscar as a lead actor soon. He doesn't just say his lines well in this movie, he essentially reinvented the way I'm going to picture Lincoln looking, sounding, and acting for the rest of my life. He leads a truly outstanding cast in a movie that avoids overly lionizing the man, the war, or the time period, as it instead focuses on all of the political dealings and double-dealings that led to the passage of the 13th Amendment. Steven Spielberg doesn't try to do too much, he just lets the actors handle the great script and just seems to know where the camera should be. It's one of the best films in his long and profoundly good career.

2. Looper


Looper is one of those movies that comes along once in a while that you wouldn't expect to get made in the current Hollywood system. It's an R-rated science fiction movie with a budget large enough that it doesn't look cheap. It's also a really, really good one. Joseph Gordon Levitt (this is his third movie on the list, by the way) is more convincing as a young Bruce Willis than you'd guess based on the slightly distracting makeup, and he does a great job of making you care about this honestly pretty unbelievable world, where the mob gets rid of annoyances by sending them back in time to be executed. The story takes turns you don't expect, and in the end it's really not the action movie it looks like it's trying to be. It might be better than that though, with characters you get attached to and a story that can make you think about a lot of different things. Just make sure to take Bruce's advice when it comes to time travel logic.

1. The Avengers


It's not the edgiest or most sophisticated choice, but darn it if this isn't the best time I had in a theater in 2012. Pulling together the heroes from four different movies and making them argue, bounce off each other, and finally come together to achieve a common goal seems like an almost impossible task, but they nailed it as well as I could hope. And it's even more satisfying because it was done by Joss Whedon, someone who went from a beloved but relatively unknown creator of cult television shows to the director of one of the biggest movies ever. The cast is great, the dialogue is smart and funny, and the story is solid enough to hold up a bunch of sci-fi silliness and exciting action scenes. I'm really looking forward to what else they can do with this suddenly gigantic franchise.

Delayed Entry

This is the best movie that wasn't released in 2012 but I didn't see until then.

Brick

Rian Johnson directed Looper, one of my favorite movies in 2012, but I actually liked his first movie more, the low budget thriller called Brick. Joseph Gordon Levitt stars as a hard boiled 40s detective stuck in a modern teenager's body, holding together a film that inserts Film Noir elements into a high school setting much more effectively than you'd think possible. It's really one of the best neo-Noir films ever made, and I'd even hold it up to the real classics of the genre. The story hits every note perfectly, and it's incredible how Johnson manages to match the cadence and rhythm of Noir dialogue to phrases and topics high schoolers would discuss. Inventive filmmaking from start to finish.

Ultimate Avengers

It's just an animated straight-to-video release, but it's a more competent film than most of the Marvel stuff I've been watching lately. I already saw this movie's sequel a few years ago, and all I knew about this one was the scene where Captain America tells a Nazi that Hitler's dead before bashing him with his shield. But that was misleading, because it's actually a super-advanced alien disguised as a Nazi. I uh... didn't really understand that part of the movie. Were all the Nazis supposed to be aliens? Or were they just disguising themselves like that? Anyway, they hate Earth and want to kill us I guess. Luckily they don't bother us again until the modern day, when the Captain is awoken from a frozen sleep and leads a team of super heroes called the Avengers, most of whom don't actually seem all that interested in it.

But, you know, they do some fighting and wisecracking like good super heroes do. They infiltrate a base the aliens took over, scuffle a bit, fight off a big invasion, and then have to take on the Hulk, who kind of acts like a moron and wastes time trying to make his ability manageable instead of doing the job he was actually assigned. There's not a whole lot of depth to the plot but what is there is generally workable and watchable. The animation comes off a bit clumsy in low-key moments, but it's actually pretty good when shit is hitting the fan. And as far as setting up the universe for the string of Marvel animated features that would follow, it does a pretty decent job. Also, Nolan North is in it so you know it has to be at least decent.