1. Moneyball
Jonah Hill helps Brad Pitt build a
baseball team. A thoroughly enjoyable entry from the Men Solving
Problems genre.
2. The Descendants
Great heart, great comedy. You leave
this movie feeling like a decent person–one of many decent people
in the world.
3. Chico & Rita
Jazz, romance, and a history of Cuba.
More ambitious than a lot of live-action films.
4. Rango
Oddball, imaginative western critter
comedy.
5. Kung Fu Panda 2
One Kung Fu Panda film should have been enough, but
some very fine writers came up with some more original ideas for a
surprisingly touching movie.
6. Puss in Boots
I doubted the cat from the Shrek
franchise could carry a film. I shouldn't have. Very entertaining.
From here on I am a sourpuss.
7. The Tree of Life
Terrence Malick shot for the moon here.
The middle section is lovely, but the outer sections don't transport.
8. The Artist
Kind of a humdrum story. I know that
broad smiles and outstretched arms were supposed to make me applaud,
but, sorry, my reflexes must have been off.
9. Hugo
Martin Scorsese is a blessing to the
film world, but this film started with Professor Scorsese
Demonstrates a Continuous Shot and ended with Professor Scorsese
Insists That Preserving Old Films Is Important. The shot was crudely
attention-grabbing, and film preservation is certainly a worthy
cause, but I wanted to be entertained.
10. War Horse
Maybe I'm too jaded to fall for that
ol' reliable manipulative movie magic.
11. Midnight in Paris
I think I understand why the characters
out of the past were drawn so flatly–they arose out of the main
character's limited imagination–but to understand is not to enjoy.
12. A Cat in Paris
The dog in the snow was funny.
Otherwise, pretty much everything was routine or downright dumb.
13. The Help
You can tell a character is noble by
how heroically she deals with insult. And because we think you're a
moron, we're going to lay on a lot of insult so you get the point.
14. Extremely Loud & Incredibly
Close
Because I am a bad person, I thought
the kid was thoroughly irritating. Because I live in the real world,
I thought the story was thoroughly preposterous.