2012 in Review The Best/Favorites

These are less the best of the year and more my favorite films that I saw in 2012. yes some are the best but most are the films that I keep returning to. For example there are a few films on yesterdays Film Finds list that could easily fit here ( A Separation, Amour, Journey to Planet X and Bloody Fight in Iron Rock Valley for example)

You'll also notice that there are way more than the normal 10. I'm doing this because I saw way more than the normal mount of films this year, plus these films deserve it. Since the list consists of films from different years I've marked the actual 2012 releases. (I have also not bothered with figuring out if they are released or unreleased, I saw them in 2012 so this is where they belong)


The Cinematography in WAR HORSE is amazingly beautiful. So much so that I couldn't buy the pain and suffering of the war. Still it's great to lok at.

Patton Oswalt in YOUNG ADULT is amazing. Why he didn't get an Oscar still confounds me. That the film worked at all was thanks to him.

TT: CLOSE TO THE EDGE motorcycle racing on the Isle of Man. Who the hell needs Hollywood? This is the real thing and utterly amazing.

HIDDEN HAND- Great old mystery about an escaped mental patient doing in the relatives is everything I look for in a moldy oldie.

The opening of the Korean WHITE NIGHT that makes you sit bolt upright and go Hello!

Sigur Ros INNI and HEIMA two concert films that began my obsession with a band.

ALL WATCHED OVER BY MACHINE  A head trip I still can't completely grasp sent me deeper into the world of Adam Curtis as the week in September looking at most of his out put will attest.

DELICACY- Romantic comedy of mismatched lovers done real and right

MORIS LESSMORE- The magic of books in an Oscar winning short

The pooing Hippos and sky diving cows in ZARAFA (2012) are so wrong and yet so wonderfully right

JOHN CARTER OF MARS (2012) they nailed the books in tone and mood and character. If the film bombed its because it's an old school literary adventure rather than a mindless action film.

MONKEY KING 3D One of the most magical experiences of 2012 was seeing a restored 50 year old cartoon redone in 3D. Movies and movie going do not get better than this.

CHRONICLE (2012)- best found footage ever?  Oh hell yea. Best Super Hero movie? If not it's damn close

SCABBARD SAMURAI(2012) A long one joke film flips in the end to be one of the most moving films I saw in 2012. .

HEAVENLY CREATURE (2012) Centerpiece in Doomsday Book is one of the best meditations on religion and what it means to be alive ever put on film.

La TABLEAU (The Painting) (2012) artistically amazing but its story about characters in a painting trying to find their creator works on so many more levels as to boggle the mind. They actually showed this at a kids film festival ! God I love, and long live, NYICFF

INACCURATE MEMOIR(2012) Chinese action film about rebels taking on the Japanese has style to burn. And a flop or two into reality that makes it more than just flash.(Will some one realease this with ENglish subtitles please)

GIRLTALK//ALLDAY- Joy Joy and bliss. One of the happiest things I have ever seen. Easily one of my most favorite films ever- How can one film make me feel so good everytime I see it? This is my best film of the year.

THE FOX a tuly scary 15 minutes. One of the best horror films of this or any other year

SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN(2012) Rodriguez need I say more? and I loved it before I got to meet him.

Fanboy gets to talk to certain singer from Detroit - Photo by Chocko

Meeting Rodriguez was one of the high points of the year, especially when he told Chocko and myself to hang around so he could talk instead of  doing interviews.  Of course his manager had other ideas  but it was still nice to have been invited.

ANY DAY NOW (2012) -Alan Cumming deserves an Oscar. So does the film. And I swear to you that most critics seeing this at Tribeca left the theater wiping tears away and blowing their noses giving excuses as to why their eyes were puffy. I know I saw them---and I tried not to let my tears show too.

GRACELAND (2012) - A thriller unlike any other. A kidnapping that goes wrong and gets worse. Mean and nasty and must be seen to be believed.

ELGUSTO (2012) the power of music to bring people together 

THE FLAT (2012) what secrets are your family hiding?

EDDIE THE SLEEPWALKING CANNIBAL (2012) Horror comedy that is so wrong and so damn funny

SLEEPLESS NIGHT (2012) amazing action film set in a night club. All films should be this tense

XINGU (2012) true life adventure of brothers who go to map the jungle and find a calling. Indiana Jones who?

CHINESE TAKEAWAY(2012) Marvelous film with what seems like a non-sequiteur beginning is a wonderful look at a loner and how he comes back to the world. Its almost final image melted me.

ASURA (2012) The story of a feral child on the path to enlightenment is a disturbing trip but who said any trip of value is easy?

GYO (2012) Apocalyptic story of mutant zombie fish coming to take over the world. Nothing, I mean nothing can prepare you for this mind warp this film lays on you in a darkend theater. I mean none of us who saw it remembered anything that happened before it.

FAR OUT ISN'T FAR ENOUGH  THE TOMI UNGERER STORY (2012) Artist as his own man. One of my all time favorite films about one of my favorite artists of all time

SHEPARD AND DARK (2012) - one of the best meditation on friendship I've ever seen.

YOU AINT SEEN NOTHING YET (2012) While watching a tape of a play actors reenact it themselves. Movie Magic and an acting master class.

CELLULOID MAN (2012) The history of cinema in the life of one man

PUNK IN AFRICA (2012) DIY music in a DIY film about the need to express one self

Oliver Stones Q&A was a fabulous almost 90 minute talk about history and how we view it.

Like wise The Q&A during EDDIE ADAMS SAIGON 68 was how we see perceive events and often get it wrong

And the DRIVERS WANTED Q&A was just great fun

THE AVENGERS (2012) Comic book bliss

NOTHING CAN TOUCH ME(2012) Aftermath of a school shooting is a punch in the face- more troubling in the wake of recent events in Connecticut

A BRIEF HISTORY OF JOHN BALASARI (2012) one man's life in 6 minutes.wow.

Bill Murray in Hyde Park on the Hudson deserves an Oscar

CLOUD ATLAS (2012) a glorious mess that comes together. Does it really belong here? no clue but the audacity of it getting made does.

Elle Fanning in GINGER AND ROSA gives a performance for the ages, She is that good and then some. Lets hope when the film gets a regular release this year she's remembered at years end for an Oscar.

The this is a test opening of NOT FADE AWAY is the best thing in an other wise cliche movie, it's also possible the best opening two minutes of any film all year

BLANCANIEVES (2012) SadlyI only saw one film at the Spanish Cinema Now series, but when a film is as good as this quality trumps quanity. Silent re-invention of Snow White is light years superior to a certain Oscar winner. Its also a beautiful touching film, that does what it’s director wanted, it makes the audience FEEL something.  There are several sequences that have indescribable marriages of image and music that will stun you. And as for the end, it haunted me for days. Not only one of my favorites but easily one of the films that can truly be called the BEST of 2012.

The 3D in THE LIFE OF PI is so good it makes the case as to why 99% of other films should never use it.

The Subway Cinema prove yet again why they are top of the film festival heap with a last minute addition to the list, TIGER ON BEAT, my new favorite Chow Yun Fat film, It's action packed and damn funny...and better than some of the John Woo films he was doing at the same time.

2012 in Review The Film Finds

Every year I do a list of Finds. For those who don't know these are the films or bits of films or what ever that were so good I feel that they have to be remembered at the end of the year. Some are almost on the Best of the Year list,  some never came close, but all had something about them that made them stand out. As always they are not all from 2012 but what I saw in 2012

REDLINE- Wild Sci Fi Madness from Madhouse about a car race across planet.  It doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense but the OH WOW factor is in high gear.

THE MUPPETS- Pure nostalgic joy. It made me smile and tear up and just feel so damn good.

The music and look in PRINCE OF THE HIMALAYAS were amazing. I just wish this retelling of Hamlet was more interesting...or involving.

WE BOUGHT A ZOO Not really what happened, hell they moved the story from England to America but what fun to watch a family come back to life.

A SEPARATION-The Oscar winner for Best Foreign film really is one of the best films I saw in 2012 but for some reason here at the end of the year I can't put it there. I think the fact that I had been battling with it since the 2011 NYFF had something to do with it. I'm just tired of talking about it.

FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL wonderful WTF martial arts film that I stumbled up

THE MAN WHO WAS SUPERMAN- Believe and it will be so . This live action Korean film is the perfect co-feature for Iron Giant.  I only discovered it on a whim- the all in Korean box cover looked good. Happy accident doesn't begin to describe it.

UNBEATEN 28 More WTF martial arts madness

SMUGGLERS SONG- A great film about a rogue and a writer that feels almost as if it was shot at the time it takes place. Its only flaw was that it falters at the end

7/7 RIPPLE EFFECT Flawed look at the London  subway bombings was made by a crazy man and has had most of its points explained away but it raises some interesting questions about some of what happened and forces you to dig deeper about the incident and more importantly how we percieve things.

LUMINARIS- you can stop motion with the sun? Apparently

THE RAID- I'm blown away by this film. I've seen it several times now in theaters and on DVD and as mind blowingly wonderful it is it just misses being on my best of the year list despite being on my list of greatest action films ever. (I know that makes no sense)

BLACK MOON- Jack Holt Faye Ray in a creepy voodoo thriller that I only discovered because BAM ran it as part of a double feature. I thought I knew all the old horror films, apparently not.

10+10 20 films about China.The most amazing thing about it is all work are good and worth seeing. That never happened with any anthology until now.

NASI LEMAK 2.0 Smile producing fun about food.

THE GREY More meditation than action film, I know some people HATE this film, especially the ending, on the other hand other people,myself included, it love it.

CARDBOARD VILLAGE- A church, some refugees and a priest. It's that simple. This film has moments that remind me why I love movies

DIRTY HANDS- DAVID CHOI- Artist as Madman. As crazed and frantic as his art this film had me going out and buying the DVD

LET FURY HAVE THE HOUR- artistic response to the coming of Ronald Regan and the neo-cons is a look at how art, in all its forms, can change the world.

WORLD BEFORE HER amazing look at the path that some women take in order to find their place in a restrictive society

WAR WITCH This film about a kidnapped girl who can see the dead and her life with the rebels that kidnapped her hit me out of left field. I know this film has slowly been building a word of mouth following, but it's so much more. I suspect that this should be on the best of the year list but I'll have to see it again.

RUSSIAN WINTER Look at John Forte's trip to Russia. Amazing amazing amazing. I went out of the film and raced to You Tube to find more clips from the trip and concerts and then started buy the music of the artists.  It's like opening a dooor to a musical wonderland.

SEXY BABY- Sexuality and the teen girl. Food for thought and then some

LOVE PARADE Witty adult musical from 1930.  And we think we only started acting this randy recently.

BLOODY FIGHT IN IRON ROCK VALLEY - I'm still battling whether to put this on the best of the year list or not. Certainly it's one of the best westerns of the last 10 years despite being set in modern day Korea. An amazing film I need to see again simply to see if its as good as I think it is.(actually thats what I say publicly, privately it's just a damn great action film .

HONEY PUPU Mind blowing science fiction meditation cum relationship film cum I don't know what. Brilliant film is simply unlike anything you've ever seen. And I do mean EVER.

REVENERANT- brilliant undead action film about life and death and friendship. I know some people hated this film, but damn this sucker is a kick in the ass with twists and turns that surprise and characters who break your heart.

AMOUR- A Michael Haneke film that I really like. I was rapturous when I saw it and was certain it was one of the best films of the year.While I've cooled on it it's still worthy of note and if it wins an Oscar or two so much the better.

THE THIEVES Wonderful Korean caper film is what the Ocean 11 movies might have been if they had a bit more weight and people got hurt and died. I can't wait for the DVD so I can share this with everyone unlucky enough not to have seen it in theaters.

JOURNEY TO PLANET X - Wonderful look at the joy of filmmaking and the need to create.a last minute deletion  from my best of the year list, this is a stunning film that actually staddles both lists and can ultimately be considered to be on that list which appears tomorrow..

FLYING GUILLOTINE 2 was a blast. Great action, characters you care about and fear for, and an ending that leaves no wiggle room for a sequel. It builds from the first film logically deepening what went before. The rare sequel that deserves to exist and is better than the original (Look for a review during Chinese New Year)

UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING is a mean and nasty action horror film that is closer to Beyond the Black Rainbow or an early David Cronenberg film than the ones in the series. It's not so much an action film but a trip into the heart of darkness of reality.

GANGS OF WASSEYPUR bridges years. It was my last film of 2012 and the first of 2013. It's an epic Indian crime saga that is worthy of standing next to the Godfather and Once Upon a Time in America or any other great crime film.  It's playing Sundance and is a must see. I need to see it again (and not at 3AM) before I decide whether or not to make it part of my Best of 2013 list. ( A preliminary review will run a few days before it screens at Sundance)

2012 in Review The Worst of the Year (and a few disappointments)

Mercifully the year was relatively free of crappy movie events. Yes I had problems getting coverage of the New York City Horror Film Festival and my Gold Coast coverage got wiped out by a hurricane but mostly I can't complain about anything I atteneded.

I also can thank the the movie gods that while there were plenty of bad movies this year only a small percentage of really shitty films burned their badness into my brain to be remembered as the worst. Most of the bad films were simply not even worth noting on any level.

While I've forgotten most of the bad films I've seen, a few required some sort of notation.  WHile in several cases the films listed below were never mentioned here at Unseen Films, many ended up reviewed here because they played at various festivals, and I feel I have to review what I see. As you read the list please feel thankful that you didn't have to sit through them.

Here then is my list of the worst films I remember seeing in 2012:

SLEEPING BEAUTY- first of the bad films I saw concerned a girl who allows her self to be drugged so that men can fondle her. I need to see this why? Better question, you're showing me this because?

NEW YEARS EVE- Awful Gary Marshall film that exists to give its many stars a paycheck but nothing else.

QUICK- Stupid Korean action film (I do have to say that some other people here at Unseen did like the film)

PERHAPS SOMEWHERE- perhaps somewhere there is a good version of this movie. The least film at KAFFNY

DARK SHADOWS- Soooooooo disappointing. A great beginning gets pitched off a cliff in to uncertain tone, bad edits and piss poor jokes. Probably the worst Tim Burton film, even though it has a fantastic beginning.

OFF LABEL- alleged documentary on prescription drug abuses is a perfect example on how not to make a documentary. The best example of whats wrong with the film it tries to tell 8 or 10 complicated stories in under 80 minutes.

FREE SAMPLES- Who are these people and how can I kill them. Unfunny doesn't begin to describe it. Alleged comedy about an obnoxious woman in an ice cream truck. As I said back in April These free samples are poisoned.

RAT KING- Thriller about a weird on line game that kind of sort of could have worked if it pulled it together at the end instead of going even further off the rails.

ROOM 514- interrogator looks into a shooting by Israeli soldiers and throws logic and reason out the window. No one  behaves like this, no one...except people in bad movies

LAST WINTER- End of the world tale that makes no sense on any level. The only good thing about the film was my negative review got picked up by Yahoo News as an example of the bad things people were saying about it. 9 months later I still think the film needed zombies.

WAUMBA Documentary about a man going back to where he was raised in Africa only to realize the trip has no story potential so he bluffs a film anyway. It has a couple of amazing sequences but otherwise was complete waste of time.

GOLDEN SLUMBERS- The history of the Cambodian film industry reduced to memory and a few fleeting images. There is nothing to connect to since you never connect with what you're being told . A vitally important subject reduced to nothingness.

SAVOY KING- an enjoyable film about jazz great Chick Webb, but placed here because the film and its director failed to really say anything about the subject- a point driven home when the audience at the NYFF screening corrected him and told better stories than were in the movie.

MEMORIES LOOK AT ME- The Same conversation repeated in diferring static shots from start to finish.

Brian DePalma's PASSION goes here if it's supposed to be a serious thriller. If it's a satire it's off the list. It all depends on if the laughs are intentional

NATIVE SON- Richard Wright adapts his novel and stars in film that is too stilted by when it was made to be much of anything except frequently unintentionally funny

ST PIERRE- as boring and pointless as a short film can be.

TABU-Three part tale about Africa that I was told  gets better as it went on. I kept expecting an AH HA moment. It finally came when I realized if I left the screening right then I could have lunch and still get to the day job on time. I know that many people love this and have it on their best of the year list but I don't know what they saw in it.

LEVIATHAN- Abstract film about fishing. To me it's just ultra close up images mixed with loud noise, mostly a ship's engine. One of the more painful film experiences of the year where you never know what you are looking at except the occasional fish head with bulging eyes or seagull.

TWILIGHT BREAKING DAWN PART 2- I was told this is the best of the bunch and that non-Twilight fans would love it. I literally fell out of my seat laughing at the early scenes of Kristen Stewart and her superpowers. Things get even worse from there. As for the acting only Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner are any good.This movie stinks to high heaven and then some.

DARK KNIGHT RISES is not the worst film of the year, but it is probably the most disappointing. How could a filmmaker like Christopher Nolan make a film that has so many basic plot and continuity problems? I’ve got a rant on that coming in two weeks, but until then know the film is a mess.

2012 in Review the Festivals or it's all about the friends

For me Film festivals aren’t just about the films they are about friends. It’’s through film festivals that I’ve met many great people some of whom are now some of my best friends.

Years ago I connected with Mondocurry because of and at the New York Asian Film Festival. Mondo is one of my favorite people and because of him I met Mr C and through them I met Chocko (both at the NYAFF) and a whole slew of people I would never have otherwise.

The progression of friends continued this year with my meeting of Peter Gutierrez on line around Tribeca and in person at NYAFF.  Peter has become a good friend who has given me the heads up on  people to talk to, films to see and advice on how to stay out of trouble. More importantly he's just damn good company.

At this years  NYAFF I met the Hubert Vigilla at the Donnie Yen interview. Hubert is also someone  who has become a good friend who has made seeing many of the screenings at NYFF and elsewhere much more interesting. He too, is good company.

Through MrC and Chocko I also met Brian Geldin who managed to steer me toward and through KAFFNY and DOC NYC and several dynamite films...

Yea the movies are important, but I like that in this age of texting and social media that when you get down to it that there are still people, who despite having a love of sitting in a darkened theater, still like to be social in the real world and not just the virtual.

I have to say that the festivals this year were, with the exception of one, across the board great fun. The films all seemed to be for the most part top flight (hell my worst of the year list is really small this year). The one exception, to the good festivals was the New York City International Film Festival, who botched something and well there is story here but I’ll save it for another time. I will say I’m still waiting for my refund and that my contact with the festival at several locations made me think it’s not particularly well organized.

Enough bad stuff on with the good.

We at Unseen managed to cover well over 20 film festivals and series. New Directors New Films, The Korean Cultural Service screenings, The Romanian Film Festival, Spanish Cinema Now, Open Roads Italian Film Festival, The South Asian Film Festival and on and on....

There were some wonderful discoveries this year.

Thanks to MrC and his befriending of Brian Geldin at the Montclair Film Festival We discovered the Korean American Film Festival New York (KAFFNY) this wonderful film featured works by Korean American filmmakers. Thanks to it we discovered the wonderful (Ultimate Christian Wrestling) the marvelous Dirty Hands and one of my favorite happy films of all time and my pick for best film of the year Girl Walk//All Day. The discovery of a treasure such as that was one of the high points of the year.

The other huge discovery this year was DOC NYC. This was the festival’s 3rd year and our first time attending. The best thing I can say about the festival is that while I used to say that there were four must attend film festivals in New York (see below) there is now a fifth, DOCNYC.

Not to put too fine a point on it this small treasure of a festival showcasing any number of truly great films and providing several evenings of great entertainment and some of the best post film discussions I’ve attended (Driver’s Wanted and Eddie Adams:Saigon’68). The festival provided one of my most favorite films of this or any year: Far Out isn’t Far Enough:The Tomi Ungerer Story.

As of now this is now one of my must attend film festivals and I can’t wait for next year.

As for the other members of my BIG FIVE festival, all of them didn’t disappoint.(they are arranged in order of occuring)

This year the New York International Children’s Film Festival snapped back after a mixed year in 2011 to put on one of their best festivals ever ( and having gone to all of them I can say that). This year the festival managed to run some stunning films, from the fantastic The Painting aka La Tableau (co-presented with Rendezvous with French Film) which is one of my favorite films from this year, to the completely under the radar must see Cinderella Moon, to one of the best times in the theater all year The Monkey King which has some of the best uses of 3D you’ll ever see- which is weird since it was shot 2D... in 1962. NYICFF is one of my most favorite pleasures of any year and I can’t wait until the announcement of this year's titles in a couple of weeks.

Tribeca....

What can I say that Oh wow, please let us come back doesn’t? In the course of the three years that I’ve attended this went from something where I saw 10 films of decidedly mixed quality to a full on gangbusters festival where we at Unseen saw something close to 100 features and shorts. We went to a concert (Rodriguez before he hit- and one of my favorite memories of this years festival), attended panels, did interviews and covered the red carpet. Best of all I made a several of friends.

This years festival was a prime example of what is Tribeca’s strong point, it showcases a ton of films, many of which you wouldn’t normally give a second glance to, but which, if you try, will most likely turn out to be a favorite. My Best of the Year list is full of films which I stumbled into with low expectations but staggered out overwhelmed and in love with. I know some people live for Sundance, for my money give me Tribeca.

The New York Asian Film Festival and it’s sister Japan Cuts are manna to anyone who loves Asian film. Showing everything from everywhere across Asia, with a concentration on Chinese Korean and Japanese films, this continues to be the best programmed festival. What do I mean by the best programmed? I mean simply that even when you see a bad movie you still completely understand why the film was being shown. The fact that the festival continues to do this when the programmers were almost all completely new says a great deal about the people who are behind the festival.

I would like to express one complaint with the NYAFF proper, and that is they programmed a festival that was so good across the board it made it damn near impossible to discuss the ups and downs because there were only ups. For me the ups included getting to talk to Donnie Yen and watching Choi Min Sik spend his cigarette break signing autographs (that is another one of the best moments at the cinema all year).

This year’s New York Film Festival was magical. While I saw a good number of great films what will stick with me will be the endless film discussions. I had a blast talking to everyone from  John, Peter, Hubert, Mondocurry, Chris Bourne and any number of other people both journalists and members of the public who broadened my enjoyment and understanding of what I was seeing. I loved that I got to see Oliver Stone talk about history and Ricky Jay prove to be human. I learned about African Punk and saw what digital restoration should be.

Say what you will about the New York Film festival and its relevance since a certain upstart festival in Toronto has stolen some of it’s thunder, the New York Film Festival is still the New York Film Festival. It’s the one that has been around 50 years and set the standard for all the others. Gloriously still more about the films and less about the commerce, it’s still a place to discover unexpected treats (Final Cut: Ladies and Gentleman or You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet or Celluloid Man or…)

The New York Film Festival means the world to me. It’s the first film festival I ever attended. It’s a festival I’ve been going to off and on for 20 something years. While there are ups and downs in the past, this year’s 50th anniversary was full of ups. As exhausted as I was when it ended I was so sad because it meant I had a another year to wait for its tents to unfurl and it’s treats to be displayed. I’m hoping that the changes that will come with the departure of Richard Pena are all for the better since the NYFF is sone of my favorite ways to spend a fall evening.

And what of the others? They were great too, but I have only so much space and so much time, as is I have three more end of the year lists to get through....speaking of which, tomorrow I give you the worst films of 2012.