71 Responses to “Happy 2012”

1. 

   Jimbolo

   January 1st, 2012 at 1:49 am

   Happy new year, Vern and pals. My resolution is to come back here more often and actually hit the Submit Comment button instead of holding my finger down on Delete. Good luck, all.

2. 

   CJ Holden

   January 1st, 2012 at 2:01 am

   Yeah, happy new year everybody!

3. 

   Griff

   January 1st, 2012 at 2:13 am

   happy new year, I’m really, really fucking drunk right now off champagne, no I have not been partying, I’ve been drinking a whole bottle of it by myself, sad huh?

   I just wanna let you guys know, I consider you all friends

   also, somestimes I really miss the past

4. 

   ThomasCrown442

   January 1st, 2012 at 3:07 am

   It’s all good griff. I’m gettin drunk with r.kelly. I consider you all my homies.

5. 

   ThomasCrown442

   January 1st, 2012 at 3:10 am

   Its all about the thoing a thoing.

6. 

   Fred Topel

   January 1st, 2012 at 3:11 am

   Hell yeah, happy new year Vern, Mouth, Paul, Mr. Majestyk, Mr. Subtlety, all forms of Paul, CJ, Tawdry, Dan P, Griff and everyone here who supports my love of THE LOST WORLD, SHOOT EM UP and HUDSON HAEK, although the last one goes without saying

7. 

   ThomasCrown442

   January 1st, 2012 at 3:13 am

   Shoot em up.. I would love to party with clive owen

8. 

   Jam

   January 1st, 2012 at 5:02 am

   “Happy New Year!” he said quietly, his head throbbing like a young robin’s egg, ready to hatch. “And may all your hangovers be mild-to-average!”

9. 

   C.W

   January 1st, 2012 at 5:27 am

   General lurker with one on-sight comment prior (in the King’s Speech review) who feels the need to say: Vern, you are a genuine piece of enjoyable insight who brings consistent joy to my life and I’m sure to many others beyond the general comment rabble (whom I also have a good deal of affection for, despite not one single discussion in which I’ve found absolute agreement with my views… hence the beauty of your site. It reinforces that people like different things for different reasons, and that we can theoretically talk about these differences in perception relatively peaceably) .

   I speak genuinely when I say you’ve taught me the art of at the very least giving things and people a fair chance; and should that prove not enough, making do with good-natured facetiousness.

10. 

    pegsman

    January 1st, 2012 at 6:21 am

    Happy new year everyone! Let us hope 2012 is the year we get those movies we all hope for; a classic western from QT, a good sequel to The Expendables, a James Bond movie worthy of the anniversary and news of a last (?) cool movie role for Clint.

11. 

    sebastien

    January 1st, 2012 at 6:27 am

    Happy New Year to everyone may the “Sight” keep on being troll-free.

    Vern you bring a lot of laugh and joy and good movie recommendation to my life. Thanks for making me watch Black Dynamite and all those great DTV and kung fuy movies I’ve discovered here.

    Please review Swordfish.

12. 

    jsixfingers

    January 1st, 2012 at 6:32 am

    Happy New Year Vern! Thanks for all the good reads. To another year of the badass, the outlaw, and fine cinematic discussions. Cheers.

13. 

    Broddie

    January 1st, 2012 at 6:53 am

    Happy new year to all and to all a good night…..or day depending on where you may be right now.

    Let’s hope that 2012 FINALLY brings us UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: A NEW DIMENSION. Oh and HAYWIRE is almost finally here :)

14. 

    Rehydrated Dehydrated Pirate Paul

    January 1st, 2012 at 7:42 am

    Happy new year everyone!

    Jimbolo, my new year’s resolution is the exact opposite of yours!

15. 

    ShootMcKay

    January 1st, 2012 at 8:23 am

    Happy new year to everyone here that appreciates the finer things in life;gunfights,explosions,martial arts mayhem, showdowns (not just in Little Tokyo),slow-motion shootouts,cheesy one-liners,smart one-liners,embarrassing one-liners,The Pork chop Express and many more wonders that the world of badass cinema has brought us.

    Also I don´t condone reallife gunfights,explosions or any other violent activity that could seriously hurt other human beings. That´s not badass. That´s just bad…..

16. 

    nabroleon dynamite

    January 1st, 2012 at 9:05 am

    Since I don’t believe in “Best Movies” allow me to present… “Nabroleon Dynamite’s Movies That Moved Me In 2011″*

    1. The Last Circus

    2. I Saw The Devil

    3. Red, White & Blue

    4. 13 Assassins

    5. Attack The Block

    Honorable Mentions: Kidnapped (the last 10 mins), Little Deaths (the last story) & Enter The Void (certain spots)

    *Disclaimer: Some of these movies may not have came out in 2011, but that’s when the fuck I saw them.

17. 

    Stu

    January 1st, 2012 at 11:23 am

    Happy New Year everyone and in addition to the badass cinematic hopes for this year, may I also add the nerdological hopes that THE DARK KNIGHT RISES and AVENGERS be worthy culimnations of all that the respective series have built up to so far.

18. 

    El Vincento

    January 1st, 2012 at 1:15 pm

    Feliz Año Nuevo, Vern.

19. 

    dieselboy

    January 1st, 2012 at 2:02 pm

    Happy New Years to you Vern and all the regulars that hang out here that are so adept at putting my thoughts into words more eloquently than I ever could.

20. 

    Fred Topel

    January 1st, 2012 at 3:23 pm

    Hey Vern, what did you do for new years eve? I kinda wonder how Vern paries.

    Nabroleon, that last segment of LITTLE DEATHS, I don’t think any woman can ever view that. I saw A SERBIAN FILM this year! And Nabroleon, congratulations, my iPad cannot suggest a single correction on your name!

21. 

    Rehydrated Dehydrated Pirate Paul

    January 1st, 2012 at 4:06 pm

    Stu – unsurprisingly, I concur. Hence the new snazzy nametag (for some reason my browser doesn’t seem to want to remember “Zombie Paul” and “Undead Paul”). It was difficult to find a Batman reference that wasn’t immediately obvious to one and all… but I think I managed it. Shark-repellant bat-spray, anyone?

22. 

    Rehydrated Dehydrated Pirate Paul

    January 1st, 2012 at 4:07 pm

    On the same subject, I just saw the trailer for “Dark Knight Rises” right before “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (very very good film btw). I’m VERY positive about this one. Hopefully my Nolan-confidence isn’t misplaced… but I don’t think he’s yet managed to make a film I didn’t think was at least very good indeed.

23. 

    Griff

    January 1st, 2012 at 5:20 pm

    ya know it’s crazy, it’s coming up on my third anniversary of being a regular visitor to Vern’s main site, I first started coming here in early 2009 after already being a fan of his AICN reviews for a few years

    let me see, I think I can actually look up when I started visiting here by what the most recent review was…

    yup, it was May 2009

24. 

    Rehydrated Dehydrated Pirate Paul

    January 1st, 2012 at 5:22 pm

    Griff – happy two years seven months’ anniversary!

25. 

    felix

    January 1st, 2012 at 5:37 pm

    Happy New Year, Vern!

    Love your reviews!

26. 

    BR Baraka

    January 1st, 2012 at 6:58 pm

    Happy New year to all

27. 

    RRA

    January 1st, 2012 at 7:35 pm

    Paul – what are your thoughts on the fanboys bitching about Bane’s voice?

    (I don’t have thoughts since I don’t waste my time on trivial Internet complaints. At least not here on this websight.)

28. 

    nabroleon dynamite

    January 1st, 2012 at 7:39 pm

    @Fred. That last story in Little Deaths was mega-harsh!! I like the fact that I’m not sure if the (blanks), (blanked) her, or (blanked) her, or both.

    According to Al Gore, I invented the ipad.

29. 

    Fred Topel

    January 1st, 2012 at 7:43 pm

    Nabroleon, here’s how optimistic I am. I thought maybe the sub was just trying to help the Dom overcome her pathological fear, like flying or open spaces. No he was just fucking her up. I definitely have a theory, depending which blank means which. (hint: it’s the sicker one.)

30. 

    nabroleon dynamite

    January 1st, 2012 at 8:01 pm

    @Griff. I came here in ’09 as well as being a “aintVERNcool” fan.

    In real life my last name is Griffin.

    Are you my “Basket Case, Dead Ringer?”

31. 

    nabroleon dynamite

    January 1st, 2012 at 8:10 pm

    @Fred. The sounds at the end to me sounded like the (blanks) were (blanking) her, but on my second viewing, maybe they were doing both (blanking) and (blanking). After all, they were (blanks).

32. 

    Griff

    January 1st, 2012 at 9:02 pm

    nabroleon dynamite – it’s interesting because Griffin seems to be more common as a last name than a first name, I wonder why…

    most people think of Family Guy first when they hear my name sadly

33. 

    nabroleon dynamite

    January 1st, 2012 at 9:18 pm

    @Griff. I’d never heard of Griffin as a 1st name until I saw American Werewolf In London.

    I’ve been a Griffin Dunn fan ever since.

34. 

    nabroleon dynamite

    January 1st, 2012 at 9:27 pm

    @Griff. Just checked wikipedia. Griffin Dunne’s real name is Thomas Griffin Dunne.

    Griffin as a middle name is a bridge too far!!

35. 

    Mouth

    January 1st, 2012 at 9:35 pm

    Greetings, all. 2011 was good & bad. 2010 had more great movies, based on what I’ve seen so far. 2011 cinema wasn’t as fun or as good overall. Paul, as he is about so many issues, is wrong about that, surprise surprise.

    Many things baffle and/or enrage me. I like some people, and I enjoy most of my time in various cities & beaches around the world, but I grow more disgusted with humanity in aggregate with each passing minute and each new encounter with some ignorant ingrate. My misanthropy doesn’t dominate my disposition, though. I maintain a medium rage, the inverse of medium cool, so hopefully that’s healthy enough.

    My outlet, and the salvation of my temperament & some of my enemies, is my continued pursuit of transcendence, the numinous, that which stimulates & humors, that which nourishes the better angels of my nature, and I find it often and in cheap abundance here. For all this and more, I thank Vern and my fellow talkbackers. If this community didn’t exist, I’d have to invent it, and then I’d really have mental issues.

    Also, HAYWIRE, Tony Jaa and Jija Yanin in 3D, new Tarantino, and Keanu Reeves teaming up with Yuen Woo-Ping for something called MAN OF TAI CHI — 2012 is gonna be alright.

    Before history forgets, a moment of silence for my favorite hip hop vocalist, Nate Dogg, and one potentially-would-have-become-a-favorite voice, Amy Winehouse, who also won’t be around to face Bolon Yokte’s Mayan wrath in the 2012pocalypse. That sucks.
    I’ll also be pouring out a bit of Listerine for Christopher Hitchens, whose recent passing has inspired a gajillion unworthy obituaries & inappropriate anecdotes by lesser minds who, frankly, are not equipped to dare to assess his intellect or his contributions to journalism & the world of ideas. Catching up on various remembrances of my favorite contemporary American writer has been like reading a collection of Albert Pyun, Joe Johnston, & Uwe Boll’s musings on Stanley Kubrick.

    Eh, I don’t feel qualified to do a definitive “Best of 2011” list, but I have some thoughts & favorite badass cinema moments of 2011. I shall meditate on this and return.

36. 

    Griff

    January 1st, 2012 at 10:04 pm

    nabroleon dynamite – oh man, not even Griffin Dunne’s first name is Griffin? my name must be even rarer as a first name than I thought, wow

    well having a last name for a first name still beats having three first names like Phillip Michael Thomas

37. 

    RRA

    January 1st, 2012 at 10:07 pm

    Mouth – The only Hitchens obit I caught that did him justice was the one Andrew Sullivan put up, if only because he obviously was hurt about the passing of a friend, and the ramifications of such a massive intellectual void left as a result.

    I despised the mindless ideologues’ obits on him, whether the liberals who never forgave him for supporting Iraq or the right-wingers for…well, everything else Hitch did or said.

    (Incidentally, I caught one of Hitch’s last pieces, the one where he called North Korea “a nation of racist dwarves.” Hilarious, yet true.)

38. 

    hamslime

    January 1st, 2012 at 10:55 pm

    Happy 2012 everyone. First movie of the year…Bucky Larson: Porn Star Parody Movie, and I didn’t hate it! This year has win written all over it.

39. 

    Casey

    January 1st, 2012 at 11:13 pm

    I bumped into Hitchens a few years ago at a joint in Dupont Circle. I only briefly interacted with him but some friends talked with him for a while. Well, that’s not entirely true: they didn’t do much talking as he just went on and on as he became aggressively drunk. He was a total fucking bore, too.

    Hitchens could turn a good phrase on paper, though. He had stupid opinions as often as he had something smart to say and it’s easy for just about anyone on the political spectrum to either love or hate him. I really don’t care about Hitchens, despite reading many of his books and tons of articles, but I am a little sad that he is going to be remembered for being part of this noxious neo-atheist movement. His books on Mother Teresa and Kissinger are interesting and provocative. His “God Is Not Great” book was just a total bore and masturbatory material for those that already agree with him.

    The one great virtue of Hitchens, though, is that he had no qualms about savaging (usually correctly) the recently dead so the best way to remark about him is to do the same.

    Don’t get me wrong, I’d rather Hitchens was still alive. As ambivalent I am about him he is much better than the fucking awful Andrew Sullivan or lots of others like him.

    I hope everyone has a great year, though! I hope 2012 will be better for the world and for cinema and for everyone here. Hell, I hope 2012 will kick ass as 2011 set a pretty low bar.

    Some coworkers are doing best of movie lists and I’m having a hard time doing mine. I think Melancholia is #1 for me but Tree of Life, Drive, Fast Five, and a few others will easily make the top ten. From just the films I saw it was a pretty bad year, so bad that while I’m a lifelong wrestling fan I have been so much more excited for the WWE than 99% of the films coming out. If possible I go to the theatre every week but instead I’ve gone maybe once a month and in exchange have not missed Raw or Smackdown or even Superstars or NXT. So, yeah, I hope next year has better movies!

    Much love to you all. You all are rad and this remains the only place I really look at when it comes to conversing with internet peoples. I find the internet has too many intellectually dishonest and mean spirited people that I just don’t have the time, but here I find myself as excited to read what Mouth, RRA, Stu, Griff, Paul, Nabroleon, GrimGrinningChris, Fred, Baraka, Thomas Crown, and others as I am to read what Vern posts and I hope you all understand that for the sentiment I intend it to be.

40. 

    RRA

    January 1st, 2012 at 11:28 pm

    I can’t do a best of ’11 list because I quite honestlydidn’t see enough movies to justify a fair and honest Top 10 list.

41. 

    Mouth

    January 1st, 2012 at 11:46 pm

    Hitchens left a fine body of work (essays, books, debate performances, a list of friends that is as impressive as his list of enemies, plus he’s a YouTube & C-SPAN video star), thus his legacy is his immortality, and he can continue to fend for himself and probably continue to win any arguments people wish to raise with him.

    At the very least, I’ll remember him fondly for always saying properly nice things about the heroes of the 82nd Airborne Division and for peppering his writing with remarks like this:
    **”My father, a Royal Navy commander, was on board H.M.S. Jamaica when it helped to deal the coup de grâce to the Nazi warship Scharnhorst on December 26, 1943 — a more solid day’s work than any I have ever done.”**

    Mouth’s Best of 2011, Somewhat Random Edition:

    -ActionFest was a pleasant affair. Asheville is lovely & cultured & fun, the food good, the beer local, the air thin, and the hosts & special guests (Buddy Joe Hooker, Michael Jai White, Larnell Stovall, etc.) awesome. I got to see a guy set on fire. Like, 15 feet away from me, with several dozen children watching. Man on fire. I might have to return in 2012. Hopefully Fred won’t scare off all the chicks this time.

    IRONCLAD: Horse heroism + Giamatti mega-acting in a great 8-9 minute sequence starting at the 84 minute mark

    BKO: BANGKOK KNOCKOUT: orgasmic violence for most of the runtime, but I’ll be rewatching this movie on “mute” with separate musical or comedic accompaniment from now on, thank you. Somebody get Panna Rittikrai a real script, please, so I don’t have to fast forward every other scene.

    -DETECTIVE DEE & THE MYSTERY OF THE PHANTOM FLAME: one of that rare class of sorta soap operatic mystery movies
    [along with CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER, NO WAY OUT, Ne le dis à personne (TELL NO ONE), MARATHON MAN, BRICK, MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (directed by the late great Sidney Lumet), El secreto de sus ojos (THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES), INCEPTION, and PRESUMED INNOCENT (also a great book, by the way)]
    that I enjoyed and & during which I was totally absorbed almost every minute and will probably never want to see again. And that’s meant as a compliment, since rewatchability is, in many cases, way overrated as a criterion for cinematic greatness. (Renny Harlin’s MINDHUNTERS & most of Christopher Nolan’s works are the great exceptions to the rewatchability rule for thriller/mystery movies.)
    I’ll definitely watch a DETECTIVE DEE sequel, hopefully in the theatre. The fighting is decent and the spectacle is excellent. Bring back the talking reindeer, Tsui Hark!

    -YOUNG ADULT: Though not a fan of the Jason Reitman sensibility, I agree with Tawdry that this is a pretty damn good movie. I viewed it primarily as a horror film, with Charlize Theron playing Jason Voorhees and alcohol in the role of the machete.

    Diablo Cody’s script is transparently singularly hers – her feelings, her compilation of daily overheard moments in loosely scripted form, probably her annoying costume design, her horrible taste in music, her pathetic vulnerabilities, her trashiness – and that’s a good thing. I hate when small-minded people try to transmogrify trifles, trinkets, & relationship issues into universe-shattering dramas, but I guess I have to accept that a lot of people believe the most important issues are sex & family & showing off to old classmates that you’re better than them. Not everyone’s an ambitious idealist like me, who hates people but is always trying to save the world. I relate to the rightfully disgruntled Mike Pomeroy, the great character played by Harrison Ford in the mediocre 2010 movie MORNING GLORY. I have to accept that the fluffy stuff has its place in our world.

    So anyway, I had to get way outside my box for YOUNG ADULT, but I’m glad I made the effort because the breakdown scene when a small town is described as smelling “like fish shit” and the scene in which a city person realizes that she is indeed a better person than 99% of the losers she left behind in rural fish shit land are good scenes. And there’s some other good stuff going on with themes about masks & selfishness & self-delusion & manicures, you know, womanly type themes & shit, some of which was handled more detachedly manly-like & more weirdly in DRIVE.

    -Woody Allen & Corey Stoll’s Ernest Hemingway:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=fh-MCQsZ5eE#t=60s
    the funniest male movie character since Ron “Big Ern” McCracken

    -DRIVE & MIDNIGHT IN PARIS were the only movies I saw 3+ times in the theatre in 2011.

    -THE TREE OF LIFE will stay with me for years as an impressive technical artistic endeavor, an evocation of a particular universality of the workings of a human mind. Time will tell if its stories & meanings stay with me for decades, as I suspect they might.

    -THE LION KING 3D was by far the best movie I saw in the theatre in 2011.

    -I shall see BEAUTY & THE BEAST 3D at least 4 times in the theatre if I’m still in the US when that’s released.

    -close personal friend MJW directing himself in NEVER BACK DOWN 2: THE BEATDOWN, in which even handcuffs fail to even the fight against a squad+ of po-po
    Note how he absorbs a nightstick blow with his neck:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wuf4lCG84JA

42. 

    Mouth

    January 2nd, 2012 at 12:02 am

    weird typo correction:
    *Ernie “Big Ern” McCracken, from KINGPIN of course

43. 

    RRA

    January 2nd, 2012 at 1:01 am

    I’ll say that while people may grumble about the relevancy and point in this age of home video & DVD, I do appreciate Disney re-releasing wide those animated “classics” on the big screen, because (1) DVD can’t replicate the theatrical experience, and (2) alot of us grew up with those titles coming around to theatres every few years (my story with SNOW WHITE) before Disney quit the practice or tried to limit it to IMAX (which was a pointless self-inflicting wound.)

    That said, do they have to be re-released in 3-D? They don’t become better with those plastic shades, and I have to pay more…nevermind pay more for something that I can rent cheaper on average on Netflix. But I get why they do it, so they can justify to exhibitors (and themselves) why they’re doing this in the first place.

    Anyway, you know what excites me? Apparently on their re-release docket is FINDING NEMO. Not that I’m raging to see that one in theatres again, but it means something more important: They’re giving this treatment to the Pixar catalogue. (They already did with the first two TOY STORY pictures) Which of course means the fucking INCREDIBLES. Yes.

    Also Lucas is starting with his re-release of the STAR WARS series in theatres and 3-D around the same month as BEAUTY & THE BEAST. Unfortunately, I could truely see that PHANTOM MENACE re-release flopping.

    I hope it doesn’t, because as much as I diss the gimmick, A NEW HOPE in 3-D….sorry, I can’t resist that experience. (Whoa, see how realistic Han’s CGI-manipulated rubbish blaster dodge is!)

44. 

    Atef

    January 2nd, 2012 at 1:12 am

    Happy New year From Tunisia to you Vern and evrybody here at Outlaw Vern! Wish you all the best :)

45. 

    Griff

    January 2nd, 2012 at 1:32 am

    best movie I saw in theaters? that’s hard to say, probably War Horse

    best movie I saw overall? definitively the double feature of Jurassic Park and The Lost World on blu ray, good lord was that a blast, watching Jurassic Park for first time in 6 years was mind-blowing, it made me feel like a kid again

    worst movie I saw? the third Harold and Kumar, that was a slap in the face to people who liked the first two, I know this seems like a silly thing to complain about, but the shower scene was literally only a few seconds long, that felt like a big fuck you to me

    but the rest of the movie was disappointing too, pot jokes are just flat out getting old, I know you’re probably thinking “well what did you expect from a H&K movie?”, but still, I’m so over “lol smoking weed is so funny and cool” movies and the third Harold and Kumar is probably the most obnoxious example of that sub-genre

    I have not seen the first in a long time and I have not seen the second since it was in theaters, so maybe I’m overrating them, but I’m willing to bet they’re better than the third

    honorable mention: Super 8, I was so excited for that movie and I did like it, but the alien was pretty disappointing, it felt like they really could have done more with that instead of just making him Cloverfield’s little brother, but the rest of the movie is so great it makes up for it

    I was hoping for E.T., instead I got Flight of The Navigator, but that’s ok, because Flight of The Navigator is good too (just not as good as E.T.)

46. 

    Fred Topel

    January 2nd, 2012 at 1:33 am

    BTW guys, I can see 3D now. I thought I couldn’t but it turns out I could all along. The CEO of a 3D company proved it to me with a laser pointer. I see the depth and things poking out of the screen a little bit. I thought it was supposed to come all the way up to your nose. It isn’t. And I thought since it didn’t totally revolutionize the way I see movies, there must be something wrong with my eyes. There’s not. I’m seeing it fine. It’s subtle at best, and obnoxious when done badly. So I don’t have an eye problem.

    My top 15 or so of 2011:

    Another Earth

    Rampart

    Sucker Punch (yeah!)

    That’s What I Am (WWE!)

    No Strings Attached (a smart rom-com? Whaaaa?)

    Winnie the Pooh

    Red State

    Hobo With A Shotgun

    American Animal (my unreleased festival pick)

    X-Men: First Class

    Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol tied

    Drive

    Like Crazy

    The Muppets

    Rubber

    and the best movies of 2012 are Haywire and Detention!

47. 

    Griff

    January 2nd, 2012 at 1:52 am

    what I’m most looking forward to in 2012

    movies: The Dark Knight Rises, Lincoln and Django Unchained easily, I mean holy shit you guys, the fact that there’s a new Nolan, Tarantino and Spielberg movie all in the same year is fucking incredible

    honorable mention: The Hobbit, sure, I’m looking forward to it, just not as much as those other 3

    video games: off the top of my head all I can think of is Bioshock Infinite, an MMORPG called The Secret World and Grand Theft Auto 5, I’m sure there are others, but I don’t feel like looking them all up right now

    The Secret World I’m especially excited for, I’ve never played an MMO before (not even World of Warcraft) it’s literally the only video game genre I’ve never tried, I just hope I don’t have to pay a monthly fee for The Secret World

    books: I’m looking forward to the new Dark Tower novel, that’s all I know bookwise about this year

    what I’m not looking forward to: the election, it’s gonna be a real horrorshow, I’m already sick and fucking tired of these Republican assclowns, just the shut the fuck up already, my vote has already been decided, I’m going to try my hardest to tune it out, but in this age we live in it’s almost impossible to tune out anything you don’t like anymore

48. 

    Griff

    January 2nd, 2012 at 2:15 am

    Fred – I’m happy to see you list Sucker Punch as one of the best of the year, I agree

    that movie is a definite future cult classic, it’s such an unloved little orphan, Entertainment Weekly called it one of the worst of the year, Red Letter Media hated it too

    it seems to me like any anime based or anime inspired movie flops, I’m not surprised since anime is such a love it or hate it thing

    ya know, if I may go off topic for a bit, I find the story of anime’s popularity in America absolutely fascinating

    it all started really in the 90’s when the first American anime companies like ADV started releasing it here in the states, over the years it went from being a totally underground thing to slowly gaining more and more popularity, what really helped was the fact that channels like Cartoon Network started showing anime like Dragon Ball Z on their “Toonami” block and around the same time there was Pokemon

    it all peaked around the mid 2000s, for a while things were great, there was in fact a brief period of time where (from my perspective anyway) it was officially cool to like anime and it was in the middle of a boom, you had Adult Swim and (less well known) Tech TV playing a lot of it, you had three major companies (ADV, Geneon and Funimation) plus a few smaller ones releasing tons of titles on dvd and it was slowly gaining mainstream acceptance (I remember when you could find a pretty good amount of anime T shirts at Hot Topic for example)

    ….aaaaaand then the bubble burst, what happened was the internet killed it Godfather 2 style, it may seem silly when record labels or movie studios complain about internet piracy, but those companies are big, the anime companies were really small and they were hobbled by the fact that any new show that came out was already “fansubbed” on the internet before they could release it on dvd, so by the time a series came out on dvd it was “been there, done that” for most anime fans, it also doesn’t help that anime dvds used to be EXTREMELY expensive (and aren’t exactly cheap these days either)

    so that was that, two of the “big three” companies closed (ADV and Geneon) and I don’t even know what’s happened to the smaller ones, Toonami and Tech TV are no more and Adult Swim only plays a handful of series these days (and they make it clear in their bumpers that they kind of hate anime anyway)

    Funimation is practically the only game in town now, they’ve managed to survive, but to me it seems like anime is an internet thing now, it’s gone back underground

49. 

    Griff

    January 2nd, 2012 at 2:16 am

    and I’m sorry if that history lesson is really out of place

    I’m just really, really bored right now

50. 

    pegsman

    January 2nd, 2012 at 2:37 am

    Best movie of 2012?
    Drive!

51. 

    pegsman

    January 2nd, 2012 at 2:38 am

    Ooops, 2011!

52. 

    Fred Topel

    January 2nd, 2012 at 2:47 am

    Thanks, Griff, and I actually don’t care for anime in its natural form. I just appreciate what SUCKER PUNCH was doing. And we’re it not so hated, I might not have remembered it year end, but now I feel it needs my support.

    Now shall i start in on why I like FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR more than E.T. Or just leave it alone?

53. 

    DocZ

    January 2nd, 2012 at 3:24 am

    FAST FIVE was the action highlight of 2011, says me. Haven’t enjoyed a movie that much for a long time.

54. 

    Broddie

    January 2nd, 2012 at 4:40 am

    Man Mouth is right on about that DETECTIVE DEE movie. I just watched that last night and consider my mind blown away like Tommy Lee Jones. 2011 really wasn’t great shakes for the movies. I can’t think of 10 movies I saw in 2011 that to me were some of the greatest of all time.

    I could only name DRIVE, MIDNIGHT IN PARIS and THE TREE OF LIFE when it comes to that. Then there was some solid stuff like 13 ASSASSINS, SOURCE CODE, FAST FIVE, ASSASSINATION GAMES & THE SKIN I LIVE IN that stood out.

    The Marvel studios movies were good for what they were at that moment but I will probably never see either of them ever again. I loathe the X-MEN movies so I will never see the new one. Didn’t see any of the animated DC stuff outside of ALL-STAR SUPERMAN which was alright. I pretty much avoided all oscar bait except for MELANCHOLIA (which was disappointing) and THE HELP which I found overtly preachy to the point of nausea. Both films did contain some great performances just that as a whole they really didn’t work for me at all.

    I will say that Jessica Chastain is going to be a problem. I didn’t get to see TAKE SHELTER or that dumb looking movie she did with Sam Worthlesston. Between her work in TREE OF LIFE and THE HELP though I officially have a new favorite actress. She is just so damn ill; great screen presence too not just fantastically great in a technical sense. The type of actress I would’ve loved to see as Catwoman as opposed to Bland Hathaway.

55. 

    Griff

    January 2nd, 2012 at 4:57 am

    gee Fred, I love Flight of The Navigator, but I wouldn’t say it’s better than E.T.

    I mean, it’s a ton of fun seeing 80’s era Disney’s take on E.T., but still…

    this is reminding me of how you say The Lost World is better than Jurassic Park

56. 

    Broddie

    January 2nd, 2012 at 5:14 am

    E.T. was fantastic but it’s weird that as an 80’s kid I’ve never seen FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR. I kinda used to purposely avoid those live action Disney joints and just stick to the animation. Maybe I should watch that now some day cause I usually respect where Fred comes from when it comes to genre fare.

    The one I used to watch more than E.T. though even if Spielberg’s movie was the superior film was THE LAST STARFIGHTER. I guess it was it’s quasi-STAR WARS vibe. Or the fact that I could connect to a poor white kid who loved playing arcades as a poor latino kid who loved playing arcades but that movie really resonated with me.

57. 

    nabroleon dynamite

    January 2nd, 2012 at 9:08 am

    Christopher Hitchens had a racist foreign policy worldview. I’ll spare you the quotes, but his strident atheism was admired.

    Hobo with a shotgun should have made my honorable mentions list.

    @Griff. Thomas Dunne has lost my respect.

58. 

    RRA

    January 2nd, 2012 at 11:37 am

    nb – no offense, but would that even be argued, much less brought up, in retrospect if he had never taken that stance on Iraq?

59. 

    Fred Topel

    January 2nd, 2012 at 11:40 am

    Well, my situation is that one of my earliest memories is seeing E.T. in a movie theater and being bored silly. Granted, I was 4 or 5 in 1982 (depending, did it come out before November?) So it never had that childhood magic for me. I respect it as a classic and don’t really have a problem with it’s high regard.

    And, being Fred Topel, I always give favor to the underdog. Though NAVIGATOR was quite popular in its own right I recall, but I loved the action of a kid flying a spaceship and time travel and Pee Wee Herman’s voice and animatronic aliens. LAST STARFIGHTER was a fav too but does not hold up as wellon adult viewings for me.

    Thanks Griff and Broddie. Yes, I was absolutely mimicking my own LOST WORLD love, and I always will.

60. 

    Fred Topel

    January 2nd, 2012 at 11:46 am

    FAST FIVE would go on my list of most overrated movies of 2011. Along with BRIDESMAIDS, ATTACK THE BLOCK and THE DESCENDANTS. Covered this in the FF thread, but to me FF is the most watered down of the entire franchise. All the outrageous ridiculous atmosphere is taken out to explain exposition and give side characters something to do. Tyrese was hilarious in 2 FAST and his scene of sweet talking the security guard is lousy, and irrelevant since he just drops a package off anyway. The essence of the series if they race, and there’s a bad guy so they have to outrace him. I felt so much history in the glances between Walker and Diesel in FAST & FURIOUS, I got none of that in FF. Some decent action (nothing like the tanker opening or GPS chase or Mexican tunnels in F&F though) but I think dropping the FURIOUS really hurt the film.

    ATTACK THE BLOCK is a solid reference to a kind of movie that I wasn’t in love with to begin with, so there’s that. It’s fine but I don’t think it’s a groundbreaking new voice in cinema or anything like that. The antiheroes aren’t THAT anti, I mean they’re not really a dirty dozen. The FAST gang are more dangerous than those kids. But whatever, just not my thing.

    BRIDESMAIDS wasn’t that funny to me. It was so much like every stupid wedding comedy I didn’t even understand why Wiig bothered to write it herself. She could have gotten any old hack to write the same thing. I LOVE Wiig and she really toned herself down. I think only the DUI stop displays her physical prowess. I did like the shit scene though. That was funny.

    DESCENDANTS was very typical Oscar fair to me. Everyone’s good in it but it’s no SIDEWAYS or even an ABOUT SCHMIDT.

    To be cute, I’d even put DRIVE on my overrated list. You know I put it on my best list but in the strict definition of overrated, people started saying it’s original. It’s not original. It’s excellent genre and probably the best genre filmmaking ever. But original it is not so that is technically overrating it. I know it seems original in these days of overexplaining, but the public should be educated. ALL movies could be this good, they just choose not to be.

61. 

    The Cosh

    January 2nd, 2012 at 11:49 am

    Happy New Year to you Vern and all your readers. I’m rarely quick enough or insightful enough to get involved in the comment chat, but I do like to read them and hear folks’ different views.

    Best film I saw in the cinema in 2011: Robocop.

    Best 2011 film I saw: Blue Valentine.

    Most fun 2011 film: Fast Five.

62. 

    neal2zod

    January 2nd, 2012 at 12:48 pm

    Happy New Year everyone! Also, Fred – your recommendation means I just may have to finally watch “That’s What I Am” on Netflix Instant. That and almost all the WWE movies are on my queue, but i haven’t bothered to watch any of them yet. (The last one I saw was Behind Enemy Lines 3(?) with Mr. Kennedy, if that’s any indication of how far behind I am)

63. 

    RRA

    January 2nd, 2012 at 5:21 pm

    Fred – is it possible that some movies, including “good” ones, should just only be seen once?

64. 

    Fred Topel

    January 2nd, 2012 at 6:13 pm

    RRA no and I see where you’re coming from but I actually feel the opposite. The value of a movie “holding up” or not defines where WE are at given times in our lives. It doesn’t have to be a tragedy if a childhood favorite loses it’s luster. It’s kind of a beautiful thing if it can demonstrate all the new life experiences and perspectives we acquire. Same if TREE OF LIFE looks stupid in a few years.

    I know some critics do columns on retro movies and revel in how they can trash something they used to like. I think that’s missing the point. Nothing erases the initial experience. But nothing lasts forever and you can’t go home again either. It’s all part of the human experience and who knows, maybe in another 10 years you’re in the perfect place to appreciate a film again.

    Thank you for the question. I love the idea that our relationships with movies are an evolving process.

65. 

    Rehydrated Dehydrated Pirate Paul

    January 3rd, 2012 at 12:39 pm

    Ok, going to split this one up as much as possible.

    RRA – without having heard Bane speak more than the single sentence he gets to say in the trailer, I don’t have an opinion on his voice. Batman’s voice didn’t irritate me in “The Dark Knight”, didn’t even notice it until people started banging on about it; so I don’t expect it’ll bother me.

    *

    Mouth – I usually enjoy our arguments, but that came across as really condescending. I thought I made an excellent case – you may agree or disagree, but don’t insinuate that my opinion isn’t worth anything because, well, I’m Paul, please! I happen to have picked a helluva lot of really good movies to see this year, and have somehow managed to avoid a single stinker like last year’s “Buried”. There hasn’t been a single movie that I’ve really, really hated, or even seriously disliked, although a few like “Source Code” caused me a lot of frustration. I mean, if I had to choose a “worst” of the year that I’d actually seen, it would have to be something like “Sleeping Beauty”, “Sucker Punch” (not getting the love, sorry guys, although the soundtrack is fantastic), “Panic Button”, or “Source Code”. And these are by no means terrible films, although each has some pretty big problems.

    I’ve not seen “Midnight in Paris” or “Tree of Life” and those are the two movies a lot of people have named as their best of the year (although in “Tree of Life”‘s case, it wasn’t for want of trying. Grrrrr…) There was a good “Fast / Furious” movie (I never thought I’d say that). There was a freakishly excellent “Harry Potter” movie, although that might technically be 2010’s. Whatever, it was in the cinema in Britain in 2011, so I’m including it. Even the “Thing” prequel and third “Scream” sequel weren’t terrible. The only movie I couldn’t get through was “Bridesmaids” and that’s because that type of humour just isn’t for me – not because I think it’s a bad film.

    I named my “top three” of the year as “Kill List”, “Ides of March”, and “Third Star”. Have you any opinion on these films? Have you even seen them?

66. 

    Stu

    January 3rd, 2012 at 1:10 pm

    “Batman’s voice didn’t irritate me in “The Dark Knight”, didn’t even notice it until people started banging on about it; so I don’t expect it’ll bother me.”
    THANK YOU. I thought I was the only one who didn’t think Bale’s Batman voice was that bad. Also personally I’ve understood most of Bane’s lines in the trailer and prologue so far. And I’m someone who has trouble making out song lyrics on the radio.

    Also video games wise, one that Griff didn’t mention but which fulfills the badass requisite I’m anticipating is MAX PAYNE 3:
    http://youtu.be/J2UYToJyZaU
    http://youtu.be/L75M2I7Ucu0
    Big fan of the previous titles and looking forward to seeing how they’ve used the advances in tech and the risky new setting.

    I might get HITMAN: ABSOLUTION too.

67. 

    Mouth

    January 3rd, 2012 at 1:24 pm

    No, Paul, I’ve not yet seen those. I was all lined up to see IDES OF MARCH & MONEYBALL double-feature a few weeks ago and a girl derailed my plans that afternoon. I regret nothing.

    And when will you learn to detect sarcasm in 99% of my condescension toward you? It’s there. Can you not hear it in my tone of voice? Idiot.

68. 

    Fred Topel

    January 3rd, 2012 at 2:56 pm

    Anyone want to comment on my reply to RRA above? I think it’s a beautiful topic I’d really like to discuss more. What does it mean to you when your relationship with a movie changes? Do you have trouble remembering your initial experience once it changes? Should you preserve that initial reaction or keep evolving? I see movies as signposts so I’m as interested in the ones that change as I am the evergreen DIE HARDs that will never lose their luster.

69. 

    Patrick

    January 4th, 2012 at 10:40 am

    I really want Seagalogy on Kindle.

70. 

    Casey

    January 4th, 2012 at 11:04 am

    Bale’s Batman voice bothered me because it was another symptom of much of what I disliked about that movie. It’s so serious and dour that hearing a rich white dude in bondage gear growl at me about HEROES and KNIGHTS and shit was just too much. If the movie wasn’t so serious I could have bought the Batman growl, but it was just another area where the serious issues espoused by seriously bad dialogue called even more attention to its ridiculousness.

    Fred, my relationship with certain movies has changed a lot. I know better than to revisit some movies from my childhood, although many such as Total Recall and The Road Warrior hold up, but even in the last decade I have changed quite a bit. I fucking loved Amelie when I first saw it ten years ago but now it kind of bores me. It’s really strange as I’m a much happier and upbeat than I was as a cynical know-it-all 18 year old, but Amelie just doesn’t work for me as much. I still appreciate my initial reaction to that film and still recommend it but I have changed and am no longer compatible with it. It’s like women I dated when I was younger, you know?

71. 

    Fred Topel

    January 4th, 2012 at 1:51 pm

    Casey, it’s interesting that you have taken some movies out of your rotation simply because you no longer like them. That’s a little different than being afraid to revisit something for fear that your opinion might change, wanting to preserve the initial love. That’s what I implied from RRA’s question, though maybe I read too much into it too.

    In your case it seems like you have revisited movies in your life and noted when something changed. I bet in another few decades you might have yet another different take on AMELIE. I also think it’s interesting that AMELIE can appeal to the cynical love crushed kid. Maybe once you’ve had some adult love in your life, you don’t need a movie romance anymore.

    An example for me is THE BIG HIT. When that movie came out in 1998, it was not only (and still is) the only Hollywood movie that “got” Hong Kong style (being totally silly and batshit), but I could totally relate to wanting every girl to like you. The badass hitman who couldn’t stop trying to please manipulative women was me. It spoke to me, I watched it several times, it was my favorite movie for about a year.

    I watched it again a few years ago. I still like it, it’s fun, but I’m so not that kid anymore. I know how to speak up for myself and give up on women who aren’t treating me right. Still a fantastic character trait and subplot for a Hong Kong style action comedy. Still love the action, the car flipping in the woods and the martial arts fight in the video store. But it’s no (500) DAYS OF SUMMER or THE NOTEBOOK now.

    I mentioned in another thread THE CHASE which was a favorite and then after a decade or so of studying films, I realized it’s not good at all. Still might revisit that for nostalgia sometime though. So I can’t think of one right now that I’d totally remove from rotation (rotation for me now being maybe once every 10 years in some cases. It’s hard to watch movies several times a year like when I was a kid. I actually wish I’d used some of that time to watch the classics.) But my point is I don’t think it devalues the movie. I think it’s incredibly valuable as a personal signpost.