For as terrific an actor as Denzel Washington is (and he is one of the absolute best), he makes many movies. And very often, he plays a cop or detective. As a result, some of these movies and his performances get lost in the shuffle. When I think of his performances in Unstoppable, The Taking of Pelham 123, Deja Vu, Man on Fire, and Out of Time, I think of one big blend. Outside of Man on Fire, the performances don’t stand out. And while his performance in Man on Fire is brilliant, it would have been better remembered had it not been lumped with these other, lesser, movies. With that said, his performance in Flight is one of his best performances and will be remembered for a long time.
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Category Archives: Top 10 Movie of 2012
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Christopher Nolan’s (Inception, The Prestige) last chapter in his Batman franchise is the exciting but imperfect The Dark Knight Rises. This is an excellent movie and successfully concludes the best trilogy I’ve ever seen. However, if you go in with the idea that it will be better than The Dark Knight, you will be disappointed. With Hedge Ledger’s to die for performance as the Joker, The Dark Knight is as close to a perfect movie as you will get. It holds a place on my Top 10 Movies of All-Time list. The Dark Knight Rises is very ambitious, a little too ambitious. At 2 hours and 45 minutes, you’d think they have plenty of time to tell its story and conclude the franchise, but there is so much to the story, and rushing its development and racing to its conclusion would not have resulted in a successful movie. This is one of those movies where a review such as mine won’t persuade you to see it or not see it. You most likely have it in your head that you will either see this movie or not. So why do I write it? Because I committed myself to reviewing every film that will be on my Top 10 list at the end of the year. I am very, very confident there will not be ten other movies released in 2012 that will be better than The Dark Knight Rises.
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The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
Many critics and audiences agree that the Andrew Garfield-led (The Social Network, Never Let Me Go) reboot of Spider-Man occurred too soon after the completion of the Toby Maguire trilogy. Because it was a given that the reboot would generate hundreds of millions of dollars on name alone, many wondered how strong of an effort there would be to tell a great story. On the other hand, an uninteresting story and poor reviews from the critics that still resulted in $200 million would have devastated superhero movies. Heck, Ryan Reynolds’ disaster The Green Lantern earned a measly 27% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and still made $116 million at the box office. Fortunately, while there were many parallels to the Tobey franchise, this movie was much darker. This was my number one criterion going in. I just wanted it to be more adult-oriented. Some thought it was too dark, saying things like Spider-Man isn’t Batman, but as a guy in his mid-30s, I’d rather see any PG-13/R type superhero movie over a PG/PG-13 type one.Take This Waltz (2012)
I’m officially calling Michelle Williams the best actress of my generation. Some people will agree with this statement, but many more will probably disagree. I think most people would say she is a very good actress but will be more hesitant to say excellent. To call her the best is a bold statement. But that’s what she is. To those who would quickly dismiss this statement, I encourage them to explore her complete filmography. She has some gems out there that are relatively unknown. Williams is very deserving of the three Academy Award nominations she has received (Best Actress in a Leading Role – Blue Valentine 2010, My Week with Marilyn 2011, Best Actress in a Supporting Role – Brokeback Mountain 2004). It is merely a matter of time before she wins her first of many Oscars.
The Grey (2012)
Hit or miss actor Liam Neeson (Taken, Unknown) strikes gold with Joe Carnahan’s (Narc, Smokin’ Aces) The Grey. This riveting survival adventure movie follows a group of oil riggers after their plane crashes in the remote northern Alaska wilderness. Ottway (Neeson) is a marksman for the company. His job is to shoot any wolf that comes near the workstation. He’s a depressed man, and his narration at the start of the film makes it seem like everybody who works at this isolated post is there because there is nothing better for them anywhere else. The bars are lively when the men aren’t at work. The small men work side by side with each other daily at this monotonous job but do not know each other at all. At least, that’s how Ottway sees it or perceives it to be.
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