End of 2012: 10 Favourite Male Performances of 2012

A few days ago, I started wrapping 2012 up with sharing my favourite movies of the year 2012. Today, I continue this with another list of some of my faourite performances of the last year in two parts. First installment today includes my 10 favourite performances by Actors - in a lead role or in a supporting role. When I started writing this post, I thought about ordering them. But soon I realized that I will have to spend more time in deciding that order than actually writing this. Too damn difficult. So, I decided to take the highway and do it in alphabetical order. That way, we can spend more time discussing greatness of their acting than arguing over them by comparing them with each other.

Special Mention: Javier Bardem in Skyfall, Tommy Lee Jones in Lincoln, Omar Sy in The Intouchables, Gael Garcia Barnal in No, Samuel L. Jackson in Django Unchained.

Off to the main list, we go:

Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln: I hate to start off with the negativity but I wasn't a big fan of Lincoln but even then I could not help falling for the towering performance DDL gave as the 16th President of America. The way he donned Lincoln's persona - his voice, his overall body language was really impressive. Now I am not some kind of Oscar pundit nor have been following the Oscar race for many years but I think even they will be really hard pressed to find someone who dominated any category like DDL did this year. I mean people were claiming he will go on to win this Oscar right from the start of the year and he not only won his third Oscar, I think he won every damn award he can. Without taking anything away from his performance which I said is a damn fine one, this feat DDL pulled off impressed me more.

Richard Gere in Arbitrage: Once upon a time long long ago, when I saw this movie in around October 2012, Richard Gere was still in contention for his work for Best Actor. Whole award season went by and I kept waiting for his name to pop-up somewhere, in some critics awards maybe or at least somewhere as an honourable mention. Alas! This was never to be. No disrespect to all the winners and nominees, most of which incidentally are in this list as well, but I genuinely thought he was really good as this successful businessman with a dark side to hide . He only gets better as the movie goes on and he finds himself trapped deeper and deeper into this mesh of fraud and deceit he has built around himself. That may not be good enough for anyone else's list, it sure is for me.

John Hawkes in The Sessions: John Hawkes is Mark O'Brien in The Sessions, a man with an Iron lung. So basically, he has to build the whole central character of the movie without using anything below his neck. If you have heard anything about body language being very important aspect of character - well, none of that here. But he does succeed in giving us this guy, this extraordinary guy with his extraordinary life despite his extraordinary limitations based on just his face and his voice. And he does a fabulous job of it. The Sessions is basically a story about multiple women in his life and him losing his virginity. But with the help of some beautifully constrained writing and some fabulous acting, it never becomes crass. On the other hand, it is actually very sweet and touching and Hawkes gets lion's share of credit there.

Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Master: I am pretty sure all of us must have wondered this at some point or the other - Has Philip Seymour Hoffman NOT being great in any role? If he has, I certainly have not seen it. Hoffman shines in yet another mesmerizing performance as Lancaster Dodd, the master in The Master. As a leader of cult, he initially shows charisma, power, control but as we get to know him more, at the very first sign of trouble he also shows lack of depth, lack of conviction and flips out as someone with the make-belief philosophy that you are supposed to accept blindly, not question would. He also proves it later by showing more vulnerability as a husband but in the end, still pulls that skin back onto himself and stays in that role. Anyone who can go through so many transitions in single role deserves to be in this list.

Denis Lavant in Holy Motors: Though I said at the top this these performances are in no order of preference, this particular performance is an exception to that rule. Denis Lavant's work in Holy Motors is certainly my favourite performance of last year. Now I know that this movie has had its detractors but I hardly know anyone who wasn't impressed with Lavant's work and that in itself says a lot about this role. Just a sheer range of characters he goes through - from a filthy beggar to monster to old uncle on his death bed to motion capture dancer to accordion player to many others - in a single movie is mesmerizing. However what made him stick with me are those brief moments he would spend outside any role. To my eyes, those moments made him a man, a normal living, breathing person like you and me rather than just a freak dressing up time and again. If he can handle those transitions well, I think he can handle pretty much anything and he does.

Anders Danielsen Lie in Oslo, 31 August: When we first meet Anders in Oslo, he has just about completed his program to get over his drug addiction. He has a day pass to appear for an interview and meet some of his old friends and family as well. Everyone he meets throughout the day is confidant that he is doing great and once he gets out, a complete new life awaits him in which he will be successful. The only problem here is he himself Never feels so. Lie really breaths a life in the lifelessness of Anders life. Lie is an actor that I have neither seen nor heard of before, even though I've heard many good things about Reprise(2006) from the same actor-director and which sits prettily in my Netflix queue. But what brings Oslo to life is Lie's perfect rendition of Anders' psyche to his very end. 

Matthew McConaughey in Killer Joe: Even though he was a much more familiar name around, Matthew McConaughey to 2012 is what Jessica Chastain was to 2011. He had that Midas touch to turn pretty much everything touched into Gold last year. I am sure people will make a very strong case for him in Bernie as well as in Magic Mike, I have a very distinct reason why I chose Killer Joe over the other two roles and the reason is I haven't seen either of them yet. Sorry. Now I have my issues with Killer Joe as well, especially with the little too rushed ending. But as far as McConaughey is concerned, I have nothing to complain. The Midas touch I was talking about. He is calm, composed and really creepy at the same time; like that infamous chicken leg scene. It's a difficult combination to pull off and doing it convincingly is whole another ball game.

Joaquin Phoenix in The Master: I have spoken a lot about how enigmatic The Master is as a movie. As far as this enigmatic feeling of the movie is concerned, Phoenix gets the majority credit even though I do believe Philip Seymour Hoffman has turned in better performance of the two leading men of this movie. There is no denying though that he also gives an all-in performance, probably the best of his career. Right from the first scene of the movie when we see Phoenix on a boat, fighting the war, he just catches the nerve of this character right off and never lets it go until the very end, through all the highs and the lows of the story, crests and troughs of his character and for the better or for the worse of us, the audience. You may not understand this Freddie Quell but you cannot deny the authenticity of Phoenix's performance. Even Academy didn't, even after he bad-mouthed them. 

Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained: This role of Dr. King Schultz was specifically written with Christoph Waltz in mind. Dr. Schultz is snappy, he is cunning as a fox. He knows exactly what he wants, how to get his job done, by hook or by crook and is really good at what he does but above all he is a good, fair man and a loyal friend. Probably the fact that this role was written for him helps its cause but it is almost impossible to imagine anyone else in this role. As much as Tarantino, Christoph Waltz deserves credit for that too. After all, execution of it is as much important as its design and Waltz looks perfectly at ease in Tarantino's world and does wonders with his dialogues. Of the cast that boasts equally great performances from likes of Leonardo DiCaprio and Samuel Jackson, Waltz shines the brightest. Now that, no one wrote for him, did they?

Denzel Washington in Flight: Another one from the movie that unfortunately I did not really care for but was completely captivated by a performance(I should probably use performances, plural since Denzel Washington in the central role isn't the only role that grabbed my attention), another one of those addicts, fiends that I seemed to be taken by in 2012. I would have loved for Gatins and Zemekis to concentrate a little more towards the legal battle he was facing for his actions but that's not for me to decide and besides that is not what I am here for. I am here to tell you how much I loved Washington's performance and why? I think the best compliment I can give him is at no point in the whole movie did I think that he was acting. He was living it. It was Whip Whitaker on the screen, never Denzel Washington.

So what did you think of them? Are they really as worthy as I think? Did I miss someone?  Please let me know in the comments.

End of 2012: 15 Favourite Films

Over the past 4 months, I have been trying to finish the wishlist of 2012 movies as much as possible. To this day, I have seen 75 movies released in the last year. However, with Oscars over, it is time to wrap-up the 2012 once and for all. To start off, I give you the list of 15 Favourite movies of the year. It will be followed by favourite Performances lists, Male and Female, which will leave me free to pursue all the rest of the movies that I have kept aside in last few months. 

2012 was a strong year for movies. I am not saying this only because I saw more movies this year(71) than last year(47). But also because how I rated them. Throughout the year, I kept the list of movies I saw in this calender year on Letterboxd and according to that list, I have 28 movie rated 4 and higher and 52  rated 3 and half or higher. That is really good year !! You can see the whole list here but for now, let us get to this list.

15) The Dark Knight Rises: Part of me still thinks that I decided to do 'Top 15' list so that I could include Rises. I could've done standard Top 10 or Top 20 but I decided to go with 15. I don't know why, all I do know is I can't help being a Christopher Nolan fan-boy. Is it a perfect movie? I am afraid, no. It is not even my favourite of the trilogy but I think this was a very fitting finale of one of the best trilogies. You can talk about all the plot holes in the movie and say it is illogical that Bruce Wayne just kinda walks from his prison suddenly to Gotham city but it DID NOT bother me, at all. So, there you go!!

14) Oslo, August 31: About six months ago, this little Norwegian movie was nowhere on my radar. First I heard about this, I even dismissed this for being just another addiction movie. We have seen enough of them in last few years. Fast forward to now and almost everyone I know who has seen this movie is ready to vouch for it and I am not the one to object. Despite being 'just another addiction movie', it is not exactly that because of the two things - brutal honesty of its script and the excellent execution of it by Anders Danielsen Lie, who will make another appearance in next list, in the leading role.

13) Compliance: Almost everyone who has seen this movie has come out saying its good that what we see in this movie has actually happened because otherwise it is impossible to believe that people can be that stupid. I understand the irony of statement but I have to agree. Almost throughout the movie, I did not believe it for a second that this can actually happen. Imagine my surprise when I realized that not only every word of it is true but it has also happened, over and over.

12) Holy Motors: One of the most controversial, or should I say divisive movies of the year and incidentally not the only one in this list. Reactions for this movie have been all over the place. Denis Lavant and his multiple, outrageous personifications have been the make or break condition for this movie. To me, there was more than enough heart in it to just discard it as a gimmick. I was fascinated by his roles which more than once fooled me, thinking the role he is playing is his real life. Probably my favourite performance of the year.

11) The Perks of being a Wallflower: Perks is one of the movies that I wasn't much excited about until I heard everyone rave about it. They did build up my expectations but now I was running a risk of something being over-hyped. Thirty minutes into the movie, I was sure of it as it really didn't do much for me. I don't remember if there was one point where that changed or it just grew on me minute by minute, but something did happen and it just worked. I was completely taken by the end of it, I was involved in it, I started to care about the characters. I wish I had some better explanation but it just worked.

10) Django Unchained: For the first time, I felt like I know when people talk about Tarantino and his indulgence. But, guess what? I did not give a damn. Its Tarantino. If he does anything, I mean anything, off course, we will all be there, right? So if he won't, who will? And besides, I really enjoyed it a lot. I enjoyed the story which Tarantino seamlessly takes through multiple genres, loved the characters, loved the actors playing them even more. Foxx, DiCaprio and many others in whatever small role they had did a great job. Samuel Jackson kicked some serious ass but Waltz was a real highlight for me and naturally, I was happy to see him get rewarded at Oscars. 

9) Once Upon a Time in Anatolia: One of the most beautiful looking movies I have seen. Before this movie, I never thought that even a barren piece of desert can look so beautiful. Add the subtle humour and social commentary of this movie to it and we have something really different, something that we rarely see. Little over 100 minutes of this movie feature a hunt for a body. As far as that hunt is concerned, this movie progresses at a snail's pace where rarely anything happens but despite that, there were so many interesting things going on with these people involved in it that this became the most fascinating hunt I have seen in long time. It would have been much higher in here if it sustained after they find the body.

8) The Sessions: I never thought I would like this movie as much as I did and for that I have to give credit to John Hawkes' brilliant performance, Helen Hunt's frankness and honesty in her role and most importantly, to Ben Lewis' writing and direction to give the maturity and lightheartedness to the whole movie that is basically about losing virginity and involves so much of nudity. Helen Hunt played major part in doing that but it was John Hawkes' movie from the start and he does wonders under the limitations of his role - Mark O'Brien, a man in an iron lung. I won't complain much but I would have loved to see him getting that nomination he deserved.

7) English Vinglish: 2012 was a great year for Indian cinema as well. At least, at the end of the year I have 5 movies that I can say I genuinely liked, something I had to stretch for in 2011 and 2010. So, the Indian in me is immensely happy that I found a Hindi movie worthy of making into a Top 10. A movie that made it to TIFF is also the one that marks return of Sridevi, one of the most sought after actresses of 80s and early 90s. Director Gauri Shinde's first directorial attempt is pure bliss, a perfect movie even in its imperfect moments such as Shashi's speech at the end. For an Indian living abroad, even though none as humiliating, I have gone through few similar incidents myself and Shinde captures them rather beautifully.

6) Cloud Atlas: If you go back to the excerpt I wrote when I saw it back in November in that month's wrap-up post, I said that one thing I appreciate most about Cloud Atlas is for a movie with such a scope, it had lot of heart. From the moment we all saw its first trailer, I am sure we all knew that this movie had a gigantic scope - Six stories, hordes of characters, story lines spanning multiple centuries, even millenniums and three directors. That was never a surprise, I knew that I will have to watch it multiple times to really get it. All I wanted was for it to engage me enough to warrant those re-watches. What made Cloud Atlas appear in this list is not only that it succeeded in engaging me, it surprised me with its heart.

5) The Master: Just after getting out of the theater after watching The Master, I was trying to gauge what my final reaction to it is. I still haven't finished. There is lot to like - amazing cinematography, beautiful score, some great scenes - their first processing, The Amy Adams scene or Hoffman's explosion both times he is questioned and three performances, powerful and subtle or may be not at all subtle, either way. But I could not stop thinking about it. Every time I thought I am reaching a verdict, I would think of something else and process would start again.but I never stopped thinking and no movie has done that to me in a long time. Result: No. 5 on my end-of-year list.

4) Intouchables: A Quadriplegic man hires a young man from projects to be his caretaker. What would you think this movie can be about? War between two different worlds, two classes, races the men come from? Not really. How we can get help from most unlikely sources and change our lives forever? Most Certainly. But from all this, would you expect such a movie to be humorous? Most memorable thing about Intouchables was the amount of comedy in it without loosing the seriousness of the topic. There were multiple moments in the film where I found it hard to contain my laughter. How this film wasn't nominated this year for Foreign Oscar is absolutely beyond me.

3) Argo: This year's big winner with Best Film and Best original screenplay. It made a lot of headlines over the whole award season with winning almost everywhere and as it started winning, people flipped all over it. Apparently then, it wasn't good enough for many people as soon as it made Awards splash. For me, it always was, since the day I saw it. I am currently reading Sidney Lumet's amazing book - Making Movies, in which he says that a good movie is usually bigger than the sum of all its parts. Argo was one such movie for me. There is no one department that stands out but as a whole, I loved that product. Apparently, the fact that I had no idea about the actual event it is based on helped immensely but then again, it is not as much about the end result as about the arches of all the characters. 

2) The Imposter: Another movie I am glad is a true story since I would've never believed it to be true. It is too nifty for its own good. So slick that from the first minute of it I never believed it is true, even though I knew it is. The way Bourdin looks, his accent and even the way he behaves wasn't helping his cause. When Nick's sister comes in and takes him for her brother, I could not think of why would she? except, maybe as he himself says later, because they Want to believe it. But what elevated The Imposter to this rank in the list is the last half hour of it, after Bourdin's true identity is revealed and story of what really happened to Nicholas starts to unfold. Also, bone-chilling calmness with which Bourdin tells the whole story. There is not a hint of remorse on his face anywhere. He is rather enjoying this sick, psychopathic play and for the life of me, I can't fathom the fact that such a person even has a life.

1) Amour: Second year in a row where Foreign film tops my end of the year list, and another movie that as much as I love, I am in no hurry to go back to. Last year it was Incendies(2011); this year it is Amour, Michael Haneke's Palm d'Or winner. Haneke's depiction of an old couple in the last few days in wife's life has been called slow death, it has also been denied being called even a movie. I completely understand every criticism against it, I also see where that comes from. I imagine myself in that same position, especially given the reaction to Haneke's other movies, had I not been through what I have in my own world. I just think I understood what he was going for and it touched me somewhere deep down. It is extremely well acted, Emmanuelle Riva was my pick of this year's Best Actress nominees and technically perfect. Haneke's movies almost always have been provocative, at least in a way they evoke emotional response from the viewer. However, one thing I liked about Amour is he kinda takes a step back in here from delivering the final fatal blow that Haneke mercilessly does in his other films. I guess, that might have been the ONE thing that did the trick for me.

Next up will be my favourite Male performances of the year. Please let me know what do you think of this list in the comments.

Wrapping It Up: February

Another month, another wrap-up post full of this month's viewings.

February was Oscars month, February was month that I finally started watching movies other than those released in 2012. But more than anything else, I will remember February as the month that I saw three movies that I am happy to finally have them checked off my list - Antichrist, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days and Irreversible. None of them were easy experiences, none of them were something that I would go out seeking and it definitely wasn't planned to watch them in the same month. Actually, you can see form my reaction that I could not have asked for more varied response. I was thinking going all out and finish few more that I usually put in the same category but three were enough. Here is everything I saw in February.

February

Irreversible(2002): The reason this title is here above all the star meters is because I flat out deny to rate this movie. This isn't my first Gasper Noe movie, nor did I walk into it knowing nothing. I knew very well what was I signed up for. I knew this wasn't going to be an easy experience to stomach this movie and I probably would have been better off, if it was just what we see on screen, however horrific it was. But his shaking, revolving, rotating camera made the matters infinitesimally worse. First thirty minutes of this movie or until Monica Bellucci enters easily qualifies as the worst movie-watching experience I have had. Ever. And that doesn't even include the most horrible scene of the movie. See what I mean ?

A Wednesday(2008)(Hindi)(Re-Watch): My favourite Hindi movie of all time. One that strives to do something that Hindi movies rarely aim for, in its subject matter and as well as in its treatment. And even then, for the reason explained here, I usually hesitate to recommend this movie to anyone not from India. But as the director released his second movie Special 26 this month, I tried to do exactly that. Let me know if I am right.

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days(2007): Another movie that I walked into knowing perfectly well what I've signed up for. From the very first second, I dreaded that moment will come and at the same time kept weirdly anticipating it and hoping it wouldn't or at least it wouldn't be what I was thinking it would be. If you have seen the movie, you would know what I am talking about and when that actually happened, I just could not keep my eyes open. I have never done this in my life but it was impossible to watch. Plus there was a dialogue earlier in the movie that was extremely unsettling. Those images probably will stay at the back of my mind and haunt me for many more months to come. But Anamaria Marinca, God !! That was some performance.

Searching For Sugar Man(2012): When it comes to English music, I am not very well versed with it and hence I usually keep my distance. Knowing that this was about some singer, I was a little apprehensive of this documentary as well. Few minutes into this, I was feeling like I am right but then it turned into this transforming, almost unbelievable story of this person - Rodriguez. His simplicity, his down-to-earth nature is what impressed me the most. It was so good to see the happy ending of it, even though he isn't exactly a celebrity.

Beyond The Hills(2012): Another one of the 9 shortlisted movies for this year's Foreign Language category. It was a gripping drama with very effective exorcism sequence. Both the leads were excellent in their roles. I loved what Voichita did with her voice; so soft, so low. It was also shot kinda minimalistic way, which was also interesting. If it wasn't for the ending, or the lack of it, I probably would have had nothing bad to say about it. There were at least 3 points where it could've easily ended effectively but it carries on for like 1 minute and ends on half note. I am not sure what was the point.

Fish Tank(2009): I am really struggling to write something coherent here. Performance wise, Fassbender and Katie Jarvis, who as it turns out has only done this movie which should explain the her powerful but raw performance, were really brilliant. I struggled a lot with the morality of Fassbender's character and to come to base with their relationship. But I guess, that is the whole point of the movie.

Special 26(2013)(Hindi): First movie of the year 2013 and it turns out to be a Hindi movie. It wasn't really planned but all I wanted was good start and I am happy since Special 26 delivered. It had some loose ends that could have tied little better like it didn't really need most of the songs and even heroine for that matter, but that is something that you don't see many Bollywood movies without. Apart from that, it was a good story which had some great performances from Anupam Kher, Manoj Bajpayee and Akshay Kumar and a lot of good humour too.

Ordinary People(1980): One of the three Best Picture Winners from 80s that I haven't seen. Before getting into this, all I knew about this was it gets a lot of crap for winning over Raging Bull(1980). Now that I have seen this, it is going to be lot harder to hate it because I kinda liked it. It probably isn't better of the two but it is still a good movie in its own accord. Though I am little baffled about Timothy Hutton being considered 'Supporting' and liked Judd Hirsch more in that role, he was really good and so was Mary Tyler Moore.

No(2012): Third of 5 nominees in this year's Foreign Film category. The entry from Chile covers the No campaign against General Pinochet in 1988's public Referendum in Chile. I was mainly interested in it because of the political nature of the movie but I was much more taken by the way it is shot especially when I learned that it was a conscious choice and the reason director chose to shoot that way was so that he can use some of the original footage that was actually used in campaign. Full review here.

The French Connection(1971): February being a month of Oscars, I tried to synch my Blind Spot with it as well and made this best picture winner my Blind Spot for this month. This probably was the last of the Best Picture winners that I really wanted to see. At some point I will probably watch all the rest of the winners as well but I don't think there is anything left that I really 'Want' to see. I guess I haven't said anything about the movie yet but you can find everything I want to say about it here.

A Woman Under Influence(1974): This movie will need a lot more deliberation than I am willing to do right now and I will probably have some completely different opinion of it after. But I don't think my opinion will change on one thing - Gena Rowland. She was AWESOME!! She killed that role. Especially in first half, I was literally jumping in my chair. I struggled to understand Nick though. I had no idea what was he doing and why, up to the extent that you wouldn't know who is the crazy one? I borderline hated him. 

Sleuth(1972): A kind of movie that made me change my stance on it, multiple times while watching. Both Michael Caine and Laurence Olivier did great job in their respective roles, playing their sadistic games, constantly trying to get better of each other. However, this movie works even better inside your head than on screen. It successfully keeps you guessing constantly as to how much of what you are watching is real and how much is part of their game. Real success of it is that the story takes many turns which kept me interested, but stops just before you think it is overdoing it.
 

How to Survive a Plague(2012): I have to admire the courage and the tenacity of all these Act Up and Tag guys to fight for the cause till the bitter end but unfortunately, I had lot of problems with them to respect them irrevocably. First of all, I thought the way they pressurized the system initially wasn't right but I probably would've thought otherwise if they got any results. What troubled me most however was they flipped there stance by complete 180 degrees midway through the battle and pretty much lost my respect. Plus they fought with each other, fragmented. I really don't know what makes them so special than any other group of people doing something together. I didn't think they helped speed up the process that much.

Suspicion(1941): Hitchcock reuniting with Joan Fontaine after his big Victory at Oscars with Rebecca(1940) and interestingly this turned out to be Joan Fontaine's big victory as she won the Best Actress Oscar with this. It wasn't one of the best Hitchcock movies I have seen but I didn't have much problem with it as well. Well, besides it's underwhelming ending. Hitchcock builds up the whole story really well until the very last minute but in the end when we learn the secret, it didn't feel worthy of all that built-up. It was rather disappointing.

The Manchurian Candidate(1962): I have to admit that this plot of the movie is unique, something which very much reminds me of '60s and '70s Hindi action movies, even though watching it now it feels very lame, just like them. Though Janet Leigh was completely wasted, it also has some good performances by Frank Sinatra as well as Angela Lansbury. However there is something in that story or in that execution of it that I can not shake off the feeling that something is off here, even though last 10 minutes of the movie try to provide most of the answers.

The Impossible(2012): Story of one Spanish family suffering the havoc of Tsunami. It is an emotional story told beautifully, with both Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor doing fine job. However, somehow it didn't seem right. I mean, when we are talking about something as devastating as Tsunami, I am sure everyone there had a similar story. I don't mean to be a prick by saying that just because they are well-to-to family, their pain isn't a pain but at least they had ways and means to get through this tragedy. Many others weren't that lucky. 

Paan Singh Tomar(2010): Best thing about this movie is Irrfan Khan's titular performance. It is very refreshing to see someone play this off-beat character with such clarity and ease. From his body language to his actual language, Irrfan Khan picks this character up beautifully. However, unfortunately, there wasn't much to it except lead character. What starts off looking something different, this story eventually winds up taking the same beaten down path with almost every known turn in the book.

Half Nelson(2006): Nice little movie with a little different look at things and feel to it. It also boasted some great performances. Ryan Gosling was awesome and I am sure deserved his nomination for this role of a teacher who is basically a good guy but due to his addiction, comes off as an antagonistic person. Anthony MacKie and Shareeka Epps were good too. I did not understand that ending though. Maybe I missed something but it felt like there were too many loose ends in it to end there. 

Out of Africa(1985): I liked this movie way more than I thought I would. There is almost nothing not to like in this movie. Meryl Streep is phenomenal actress and she once again proves she really can pick up any accent very well. Robert Redford was good as well and to add to it, amazing cinematography with a African safari feel to it. My only problem with it was for 2 hours and 40 minutes, there wasn't that much material in it. I wasn't bored at all but I wasn't much invested in it either. I highly doubt if I will remember much of this movie after a while.

Les Miserables(2012): If I am being honest, I liked it way more than I thought I would. First hour of the movie was very slow but story picked up for me with introduction of Student revolution and surprisingly made me care lot about these characters. I had problem with important characters dropping suddenly, every now and then. But my biggest problem was with singing every damn dialogue; that felt stupid and got boring really fast. I can understand having songs in it and I was impressed with some of them. But why sing Everything? And it didn't even rhyme.

Monsters(2010): For some reason, this movie once was a part of '1001 Movies' list. Granted that they apparently took it right off next year but still, I don't really see the reason. But when I think about it, I have seen much worse as well. I wasn't sure exactly what this movie was trying to achieve. It felt like it kept on trying to make a big statement and check out at the last minute e.g. I can understand him showing the two sides of town around the borders but it felt like they took one step and went from some kind of carnival to a graveyard. I am not sure that was the aim.

Antichrist(2009): This movie could easily have been up at the top with Irreversible and just like Irreversible, its not because of the unspeakable that happens in this movie. My main problem with this movie was none of it made a lick of sense to me. If ever there was any reason as to why everything is happening, I did not get it and hence what happens to her, what she does to him and to herself and whatever else that happens around them felt baseless, strange and weird and after some time, just ridiculous. So Antichrist gets a rating and an outrageous one at that, just like movie. 

Total Count:22. 21 First Time Watches and 1 Re-watch .

2013 YTD Count

Total Count: 43. 41 First Time Watches and 2 Re-watches.

Almost since October 2012, I have been in this 2012 mode where I tried to catch-up as many movies released this year as I can. That is close to 4 months full of movies; I kinda slowed down this month as you can see from this post. With the Oscars done last Sunday, it is finally time to wrap 2012 up officially. I intend to do exactly that in March. Next post on this blog, whenever it goes up, will be my Top 15 movies of 2012 and they will be followed by Best Performances lists, Male and Female, and that is it for 2012. I am looking forward to having more choices, sitting down with 15 movies that I want to see right at that instant and getting confused over which one to see first. That's the story of my life !! I won't set any hard and fast target as such, but I am hoping to concentrate more on 1001 movies list and AFI lists. Lets see how it goes!

So, how was your month ? Did you see anything interesting ? What do you think of the movies I saw ? Any favorites ?