Somewhere about mid-October, this seemed like it was going to be a below-par year for films. Again, most of the best films had releases timed to be remembered at awards time. Some ratings have been altered from those in my original reviews to reflect my current feelings about the films.
1. LES MISÉRABLES
Tom Hooper takes the now classic stage musical and makes of it a
film even more spectacular, sweeping, and poignant. It covers
nearly the entire emotional spectrum possible. LES MISÉRABLES is a
moving film experience to be treasured. With a story about among
other things class conflict this production of the play by Boublil
and Schonberg is if anything timelier today than when the play was
first produced. That makes this an important film as well as a
very well made one. Any small failings of LES MISÉRABLES are
overwhelmed by the accomplishment of what was done here that is
directly on the mark. Rating: +4 (-4 to +4) or 10/10
2. LINCOLN
With very interesting release timing and with considerable
historical accuracy, Stephen Spielberg tells the history of the two
great conflicting goals Abraham Lincoln had toward the end of the
Civil War. He wanted both to free the slaves and to end the
fighting. Spielberg does not simplify the issues. Much of the
film is talk. He respects his audience's intelligence enough to
tell the complex story and maintain a great deal of historical
accuracy. The film even looks very authentic to the period. The
viewer may have to work hard to catch all that is happening, but
the task is worth the effort. This is a film for an intelligent
audience. Rating: high +3 (-4 to +4) or 9/10
3. ARGO
Set during the 1979 Iran Hostage Crisis, ARGO tells a strange but
true footnote to that history. Six United States citizens whom the
Iranian revolutionary government wants arrested have escaped from
the United States embassy to the protection of the house of the
Canadian ambassador. Now the CIA is charged with extracting them
from Iran against very high odds. One operative devises a cockeyed
plan to remove them by passing them off as filmmakers scouting
locations for a science fiction movie. Ben Affleck directs and
stars. Rating: +3 (-4 to +4) or 9/10
4. THE IMPOSSIBLE
THE IMPOSSIBLE is a true account of a family celebrating the
holiday in coastal Thailand that is literally torn apart by the
2004 Christmas tsunami. It is a realistic, on-the-ground look at
the experience of being caught in a Tsunami and the effort
afterward of just finding loved ones. As the wave crashes the film
has a guaranteed six minutes of white-knuckle fear. Juan Antonio
Bayona who directed THE ORPHANAGE an exploration of supernatural
horror now gives us a horror that is only too natural. Rating: +3
(-4 to +4) or 9/10
5. THE MASTER
In the years after WWII Freddie Quell, an unbalanced and misfit
Navy veteran, finds and comes under the sway of an American cult
led by charismatic demagogue Lancaster Dodd. Quell becomes a
fanatic believer in the cult, but can never get the full approval
from Dodd that he desperately seeks. Selective in its appeal, the
film has a lot to say about the nature of religious belief, the
personalities of radical followers and generally the functioning of cults. Paul Thomas Anderson writes and directs a film that is cryptic and compelling. Rating: +3 (-4 to +4) or 9/10
6. A ROYAL AFFAIR
This is a true story that, I am told, every schoolchild has been
taught in Denmark. A half-witted king with a barely consummated
marriage gives over much of his power to his charismatic doctor.
The doctor has liberal ideas on how the country should be run and
affects sweeping and much-needed political reforms. He also has an
affair with the queen. But his reforms worry the politically
powerful and his efforts become a test of wills. Mads Mikkelsen,
who played the villain of CASINO ROYALE, is the doctor who
oversteps his role in the best of causes. Rating: low +3 (-4 to
+4) or 8/10
7. THE DEEP BLUE SEA
Terrence Rattigan's play comes to the screen adapted and directed
by Terence Davies. Rachel Weisz plays a woman in a tepid marriage
who has an affair with a WWII pilot in the RAF and it transforms
her life, but at the risk of her marriage and her social position.
The plot is very parallel to ANNA KARENINA, also remade this year.
But this film is deeply affecting in just the way that ANNA
KARENINA fails, mostly due to Ms. Weisz's acting in one of the best
performances of the year. Rating: low +3 (-4 to +4) or 8/10
8. THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL
Seven English retirees come to a retirement hotel in Jaipur, India,
most unprepared for the culture differences good and bad that await
them. Their five or six different intertwined storylines tell
stories of past love, present love, humor, and pathos. Perhaps
only one of the stories rises above cliché, but they are all told
well with the total being more than the sum of the parts making for
a satisfying and even touching experience. And these seven British
actors would make a powerhouse cast for any film. Rating: low +3
(-4 to +4) or 8/10
9. IN THE FAMILY
A gay man fights to regain the custody of his son who is the
biological child of his deceased life partner. IN THE FAMILY is a
moving film that will remind viewers of the emotional tugs of a
KRAMER VS. KRAMER. This is a very good 165-minute film, but it
could have made a better 105-minute film. The newcomer producer,
director, and star Patrick Wang starts out making one of the best
films of the year. Rating: low +3 (-4 to +4) or 8/10
10. SKYFALL
James Bond is after a stolen list of MI6 agents who have been
placed in terrorist cells. At the same time all of MI6 is under
attack from someone who has access to the inside of the
organization. Bond is fighting an enemy that has his knowledge and
skills. This is a strong, fast, and sexy action story that gives
us something different from the Bond films than we have seen
before. SKYFALL has a darker tone than we have seen in the past
from the series. Sam Mendes directs a script by Neal Purvis,
Robert Wade, and John Logan. Rating: low +3 (-4 to +4) or 8/10
Mark R. Leeper mleeper@optonline.net Copyright 2013 Mark R. Leeper