There's generally not much noteworthy opening at the theatres this week so let's keep living in the past and continue on with more of the Best Flicks of 2012.
Best Comedy — Django Unchained is an iconic Western, a revenge flick, a killer soundtrack and a bold look at early racism in America but somehow writer/director Quentin Tarantino also manages to make it hilarious. For all the "N-words" and exit wounds and perfect camerawork and astounding acting, Tarantino also drops in just the right amount (and right kind) of humour. Django Unchained channels Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles as much as the classic Sergio Leone flicks and the result is one of the best films of 2012.
Best Stoner Comedy — It would have been easy to shit the bed with Ted, a full-length film about a talking Teddy Bear, but Family Guy genius Seth McFarlane sustains the hilarity throughout his first feature. A bang-up cast led by Mark Walberg and too-hot-to-be-true Mila Kunis doesn't hurt either. Note that this one starts with a young boy's Christmas wish and actually plays really well when you're draped over the couch at the in-laws place, nursing a turkey hangover with the family.
Best Date Movie — Wes Anderson (Steve Zissou, The Royal Tennenbaums, Fantastic Mr. Fox) jumped back into things this year with Moonrise Kingdom a simple-but-fun love story/adventure set on a tiny, historic island that's preparing for the storm of the century. Anderson matches his rich mise-en-scene with simple gestures and grand ideas and the result is always masterful. A good date movie looks innocent, contains romance and creates conversation. This is it.
Best Chick Flick — No question the winner is Stephen Soderberg's rags-to-bitches male stripper film Magic Mike starring Channing Tatum and Matthew McConaughey. It looks like beefcake but there's an undercurrent about our financial situation in there too (and not just bills in g-strings).
Best Movie You'll Never See on an Airplane — Flight kicks off with one hell of a plane crash but then switches gears into a sharp portrayal of addiction and blame, hung onto a procedural drama framework. You pretty much can't go wrong starting a moral dilemma flick with Denzel Washington and some hookers and blow.
Worst Movie of 2012 — I avoid crap. I didn't see the film where Helen Hunt jerks off the paraplegic but I saw the trailer for What to Expect When You're Expecting and surely that is worst of the year. Despite starring stunners like Elizabeth Banks and Brooklyn Decker, alongside real actors like Anna Kendrick and Chris Rock, this one still reeks of hack filmmakers trying to cash in on people who are suddenly either scared, sleep deprived or realizing their social lives just took a huge hit. It's just cruel.
Hottest Chick Firing a Big Gun — Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow was one of the best parts of The Avengers but pop-tart songbird Rhianna wins for being the hottest army chick of any era in Peter Berg's Battleship, which otherwise sucked the big one.
Best Movie You Didn't See (and neither did I) — Hitchcock was only given limited theatrical release last month but hopefully it will rear its bald head again early in 2013. It's a love story/drama/dark comedy about the great filmmaker and his wife set in 1959 during the filming of Psycho. Scarlett Johansson plays the Janet Leigh/shower scene role so you can imagine why there was some drama between ol' Alfred and the wife: "Sorry, we're gonna have to shoot that one more time..."
