TOP TEN 2012

[This post was originally composed for my personal blog, The Name Is Rebel. I am replicating it here for posterity's sake. As you might guess, the list would look a little different if I had written it today--but no alterations were made!]

In my time, some have called me a Movie Buff.  Some have called me a No You're Not A Movie Buff.  Regardless, I love movies.  They're one of my three favorite forms of media (novels and video games probably fill the other slots).  I live on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes.  As such, I'm pleased to have viewed twenty-one films so far that were released in the good year 2012.  Of these, I present to you my top ten.  Unlike my Top 10 Books of the Year list, these are not culled from all the movies I have seen this year, but all the movies I've seen that were released in 2012.  I have no idea what all the movies I watched this year are.

So, without further ado... some preliminaries.

END OF WATCH: Foundering Footage

Crimefighting is delightful.

Director: David Ayer
Writer: David Ayer
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Peña, Anna Kendrick
Runtime: 109 mins.
2012

I want to talk about found footage.  Let's talk about this movie more generally first.

End of Watch is a boots-to-the-pavement police thriller that follows the everyday lives of two patrolmen, partners Brian Taylor (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Mike Zavala (Michael Peña).  They aren't corrupt, and they aren't saints.  They're just a couple of good dudes.  The film is rather plotless, or at least the plot operates covertly.  These characters eventually get bound up in Mexican drug ring shenanigans, which is the sort of thing that tends to turn out poorly for everybody involved.  But for most of the film, this pair is just cruising about their day, and we feel like we're along for the ride.