By Josh Darby
Well, it’s January and for me that means three things: Car
breaking down (check), football playoffs (go Seahawks!), and most importantly the
Oscar race is in full swing. This year the Oscar nominations are coming out
earlier than ever (They're being released this coming Thursday Jan 10th)
which means that most of the big contenders have already hit theaters
nationwide; there are a few exceptions but they should be out soon enough
especially if they get as many Oscar nods as they are supposed to.
I was lucky enough to stumble upon a great service called
Movie Pass (it’s a monthly subscription service that allows me to see as many
films in theaters as I want) which has allowed me to be able to see many of
this year’s contenders and pretenders. It will also allow for seeing many more
films over the next year.
So what does this mean for Nerd 5? It means let the Oscar
discussion begin! Each week (at least that’s the plan) we’ll be giving you a
look at a specific Oscar category. We will show you what The Academy has to
say, and then either Jeff, or I, or both of us will also give you what we think.
It’s a fun time of year for films fans, and this Oscar season at Nerd 5 has a
lot to offer and some special surprises along the way.
For a little bit of context and background on my (Josh’s)
2012 film knowledge, I have seen 38 films released in 2012 (as of Jan 6th)
and this number will continue to grow. There are few notable films I have not
seen: Zero Dark Thirty, Silver Linings
Playbook, The Impossible, Frankenweenie, and Searching for Sugarman. My goal is to see all of these as well as
any other nominated film that I may have missed. This means there's still a lot of
film watching for me to do! (I'll include at the bottom of the article a list
of the 2012 films I've seen, if for some reason you are interested.)
With that being said, this week’s top five is a more
personal one. Since the actual nominations come out in just a few days I
wanted to give you a top 5 that has a little to do with my year at the movies.
Basic guidelines for this week’s top five, be an enjoyable experience going to
the movie, which is a combination of film, people, theater, and overall
experience. Not all of these are great movies, but they helped shape my
personal 2012 and quite frankly I think are worth a watch. Let jump right to
Josh’s Top Five!
Top 5 Most Fun Film Experiences of 2012
5. Django Unchained —Jamie
Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Karry Washington, Samuel L. Jackson,
Dir. Quentin Tarantino
The official Nerd 5 film of the year! No… we are not
endorsing this as the best film of the year. But it is the one film that Jeff
and I got to see in theaters together. Christmas night I went with my blog
partner in crime (and my best friend) along with my girl. I couldn't ask for more.
The movie itself was exactly what you think it will be, and if you like
Tarantino then it’s a very enjoyable watch. Good times can be had by all, and
what better way to celebrate the holiday season then by going to the theater with the people you love to watch Christoph Waltz and Leo DiCaprio give two of
the best performances of the year?
4. Parental Guidance –
Billy Crystal, Bette Midler, Marisa Tomei, Tom Everett Scott, Dir. Andy Fickman
Every once in while you watch a film at just the right point in time and it hits home. Parental
Guidance was a film that I only saw because I have Movie Pass. It’s my
personal goal to see everything that I can, so with that in mind I went to the
theater after a very bad day needing something mindless to shut my
brain off and escape. Enter Parental
Guidance. Now, I’m not saying by any means that this movie is amazing. But
for what it is, it’s not bad. It’s fluff, it’s cliche, it’s something that will
be on TBS for years to come, but honestly it’s enjoyable. Parental Guidance is the typical story of a family who isn't close,
but over the course of the film they learn to love each other and become
closer. It's... uh...
But you know what, Billy Crystal is entertaining, the kids are adorable
and it helps that I’m a baseball fan (Crystal’s character is baseball announcer, which he uses it to bond with his grandkids). Parental
Guidance makes the list for simply being in the right place at the right
time.
3. The Avengers – Robert
Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson,
Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Cobie Smulders, Stellan Skarsgard, Samuel L.
Jackson, Dir. Joss Whedon
Okay. I've talked enough about The Avengers on this blog,
It’s clear that I love it. I saw this three times in theaters (the most of any film
this year). It makes the list at number three because, well… I saw it three
times, each time better than the last and it can’t be number one all the time.
2. The Hunger Games –
Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Stanley Tucci, Wes Bentley, Elizabeth
Banks, Woody Harrelson, Dir. Gary Ross
One of the things that I enjoy most in world is midnight
showings. First off, because you have to be pretty excited to see a movie
starting at midnight, second, the theater is usually filled with people who also are
fans of film and will give a honest reaction to it, and third, it's an
event. Going to the movies used to be a BIG event, something to look forward
to. Now it’s just something people do. But when you have a special
showing, something you can only do at that time, and get to be one of the first people
to experience a film, it becomes an event again. So when I showed up to the
midnight premier of The Hunger Games I
knew nothing about the story, so how did I end up there? Well, it was my last night in LA so I gathered a group of friends together and what better thing to do in LA
than see a movie? The experience of seeing it with a bunch of Hunger Games fanatics was great, they
reacted to everything and the film itself was pretty good too, an above average
summer blockbuster. Sometimes all it takes to enjoy a film is to get together
with a great group of friends and make it an event! Don’t worry LA friends,
I’ll be back soon!
1. The Cabin in the
Woods – Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemswroth, Anna Hutchison, Fran Kranz, Jesse Williams, Richard Jenkins,
Bradley Whitford, Dir. Drew Goddard
What’s a better experience than seeing a great film for the
first time? Nothing. This was a film that I knew very little about going in
(except who wrote it – Joss Whedon(!!!!!!!!!!) – and who directed it – Drew Goddard (a
writer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and
Angel(!!!!!!!!!)). That is exactly how you
should see this film: know as little about as you can about it. Which is why
I’m not saying a word. To me this was the best experience of the year because I
was shocked, overjoyed, laughed, tricked, and went on an adventure with the
characters. This was all about good old, good filmmaking. From front to back it
was a great film.
Postscript!
Jeff here! You'll be hearing more from me in the coming weeks. I have a lot of thoughts about The Life of Lincoln's Skyfalling Atlas of Unchained Miserables, so you can look forward to that. In the meantime I wanted to bring up a few honorable mentions not on Josh's list:Wreck-It Ralph, which gets two giant thumbs (attached to oversized hands and arms) up as the feel-good animated movie of the year, which still had some shockingly dark and heartfelt moments. Plus Alan Tudyk. Love him.
The Life of Pi, which I can, and will, go on and on about. Look forward to 277 days of me muttering at sea.
and a quick shout out for the worst steaming heap of disappointment in 2012. Prometheus. Prometheus. You are a shithead.
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