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THIS IS 40 - If you liked FUNNY PEOPLE. I kinda like Apatow's new meandering style.
BACHLORETTE - Puts Bridesmaids to shame. Funnier, coarser, wiser.
DJANGO - Bummed me out and left a real bad taste in my mouth.
HYDE PARK ON THE HUDSON - Jesus fuck, what a boring movie, which Bill Murray does not a thing to help.
LINCOLN- Jesus fuck, what a boring movie, which Day Lewis does something to help. Also Kushner's occasionally brilliant script, though there are some flat-out bad moments in there too.
ZERO DARK THIRTY - An oddly cold, emotionally vacant movie. That's the point, I suppose. Left me with a cold, emotionally vacant response.
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK- HATED this movie. Quirky, attractive people initially don't get along, but they are too hot to NOT fuck each other.
LES MIS - Probably a really good movie, just not for me. I started skipping around once my eyes got used to the mindblowing effects. What'sherface is really good.
TEXAS CHAINSAW - Big surprise: it's not too bad. Well made, good enough plot, and there's a moment near the end when Leatherface is getting beat up and we feel kinda bad for him. Neat trick.
SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS- I liked it a lot, particularly the ending which turns the movie's meta ways towards something deeper.
BERNIE- Almost unbearably slow for the first hour, but it's a movie that I've had difficulty shaking off since watching it. Jack Black's performance is lovable, as always. Dude'll win an Oscar someday.
SAVAGES- I guess it's dumb to complain about a movie with such a title, but this very unnecessary violence and lack of moral center (and really lousy ending) put me in a queasy, bad mood.
ARGO - This film in and of itself is fantastic. It's a classic with the same riveting pace and social/historical import as ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN. But beyond the film itself I've learned that Affleck changed some of the facts. In other words, he didn't trust the drama of the story he chose to tell, so he amped up reality. I know he's hardly the first, but this time it seems so pointless. The real story is great. A film just as exciting could be made based solely on the dry facts, but Afleck couldn't do it or didn't trust himself to do it.
So the best movie of the year is actually not. Very frustrating.
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