10) Silver Linings Playbook
A heartwarming movie with a wonderful script that’s energetic and sentimental. Great acting around the board and a great message make this an outstanding movie.
9) Upstream Color
A movie that has wonderful themes and symbolism about the dullness of love and the importance of keeping out animal nature intact. It features beautiful cinematography and a score where every sound has a meaning.
8) Argo
A great true story of a hostage crisis in Iran where the best way to get them out is act like they are put of a science fiction movie crew. The story is so engaging that it earned the Oscar for Best Picture and that is something it truly earned.
7) Inception
A truly original action flick from the brilliant mind of Christopher Nolan that features a triumphant score and exhilarating action.
6) Toy Story 3
Perfectly capturing the joy of the series that made it such a hit in the first place and making grown men cry is a hard task, that this movie pulled off exceptionally well.
5) Django Unchained
A freed slave becomes a bounty hunter along with a charismatic dentist. Django is exceptionally written and insanely entertaining.
4) Dark Knight Rises
One of the best trilogies ends with a bang with a fantastic villain that makes you root for the hero so much more because he isn’t a sympathetic wimp. Batman’s last flick in the trilogy is exciting and glorious also including a score that was worthy of an oscar.
3) Avengers
Avengers was truly an event of a film that had five films building up to it so expectations were through the roof. Fortunately they were exceeded as Avengers included some of the best action scenes of all time as well as a funny and highly enjoyable script from Joss Whedon.
2) Shame
Shame is an amazing film about a sex addict that portrays it like the disease it truly is. The cinematography is breathtaking evoking though with each shot that is carefully constructed to really have meaning. Michael Fassbender deserved an Oscar and everyone must see the movie.
Z1) Drive
Drive is many things. It has many themes and ideas and wraps them in a beautiful package for us to dissect. It’s about choosing whether or not to let our dark sides show. We all have one but some people have it darker than others. People put on faces and pretend to be different around others. It could be to look cool or to seem smart but in Drive it’s much more than that. Do we do things because society tells us to do it, or do we be ourselves and let our true thoughts show?
Ryan Gosling plays Driver a man whose true name we never hear because names aren’t what makes the man. What makes the man isn’t the face he wears but the one he keeps hidden. When we meet Driver we see what we would think his dark side is. He is a soft spoken and smart man helping criminals get away from their crimes for some extra money. He gets them out of danger and outsmarts the police showing how he can deal with this kind of situation like no one else. He keeps his calm. He is able to outsmart the police because he isn’t brash but bold in a manor that allows him to get past the cops without a drop of sweat. He is brilliant and dark but balances it with love and compassion. He meets a girl named Irene who changes his world. Irene has a son and Driver feels connected to them and hopes that he can be there to love and protect them. Irene and the Driver can see it in each other without saying it. They both are shown to be lonely people which is brilliantly described in the cinematography. As they get to know each other more they appear closer together on the screen, until Driver shows his darkest side. The darkness brought out in Driver comes not when Irene’s husband returns from prison but when he is threatened along with his girlfriend. Like an animal, he attacks when threatened and he sees Irene and her son as part of him. The scorpion on his back isn’t just there to look cool. Its there because all humans are animals and carry an animalistic side inside of them and we all eventually let it out. When Driver shows himself for what he is we see his true face. He isn’t just a man but a beast. He carries rage and hate from his past. He isn’t just lonely in a physical sense but mentally. He appears normal and quiet on the outside, but when what’s inside can't be held back any longer we see the true Driver. He doesn’t tremble in fear from violence and commits such acts since he is obviously used to it. When Driver and his loved ones are threatened is the only time we see him for what he really is. The fantastic score by Cliff Martinez does more than elevate the tension. It builds upon the story and develops themes with its electronic sounds that give more insight into the Driver. It gushes along with the gore and pumps with great ferocity like the beast within Driver himself. It becomes a character of its own and adds the atmosphere for sunny yet bleak California. Drive remains gripping throughout with a brilliantly told story and characters that say more with their face than with the words they say. Drive works on so many levels for so many different reasons and that’s why it’s a perfect film that shows us what happens when we let out our dark sides.