Top 25 Films of 2012 - Revisited.

Last year I did my top 25 films of 2012. As I usually do. The list can be found here. However, a year on, I thought it was time to revisit my list and adjust it how I feel it should be a year on. Instead going from number one down.

1. Young Adult

Not only am I convinced this was the best film of 2012, it's also managed to creep its way into being one of my favourite films of all time. I've lost count how many times I've watched Young Adult this year. Charlize Theron's performance is astounding - I would not hesitate to say it's right up there as one of my favourite performances ever. 

2. The Cabin in the Woods

Still one of the best horror films of recent years, and still a rewatchable classic no doubt. Just no longer number one.

3. Margaret

If Charlize Theron turned in one of the finest performances of the year in Young Adult, then Anna Paquin wasn't far behind. I stand by what I said about Margaret last year, it's a powerful film. 

4. Beasts of the Southern Wild

Maybe my love for this film is powered by one of the finest scores of recent times. An immensely powerful score for an immensely powerful film. The line 'if Daddy don't come home soon, I'll have to eat my pets' still gets me. 

5. The Master

Joaquin Phoenix is still one of the - if not the - great actors working today. The Master cements that.

6. The Raid

You still haven't watched this yet have you? You have no soul.

7. Hugo

You know that meme that went around where people took a picture of them and a can of Pringles and said, still a better love story than Twilight? Well, apply that to The Artist. Basically, when you're thinking about watching The Artist, pick up Hugo instead. 

8. 50/50

We already knew that Joseph Gordon-Levitt was a good actor, but really the revelation here is Seth Rogen. He's always been great to watch, but finally here is a role that is closest to his great work in Freaks & Geeks. 

9. Les Miserables

The film that spawned a year of me getting angry at people in cinemas. Shut up please will be quoted for years. Les Miserables will still be a good movie in years, but it isn't perfect. Anne Hathaway is great though. As always. 

10. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia

One of my most desired films to get a Criterion release in 2014. The reason to have a state of the art home cinema. 

11. Prometheus

Yeah, ok, some of the characters actions make no fucking sense whatsoever, but I still don't give a shit. Haters are going to hate this film, and they can all go hop on their own soapbox and shout at the neighbours because dammit, this is still an enjoyable film.

12. Bernie

If it weren't for the Before... series, this would be Richard Linklater's greatest film. It is easily Jack Black's greatest film for sure. 

13. Kill List

The ending of The Wicker Man still gives me chills, but Kill List's ending is the one which makes me think twice about getting a good nights sleep. Where The Cabin in the Woods is a comical horror flick, Kill List doesn't give a shit about your feelings and shits all over your ability to think straight.

14. Skyfall

I have no interest in the Bond films at all. With that said, I've watched Skyfall a fair few too many times. This is not only a damn good film, it's a damn beautiful looking film. Daniel Craig nails it as Bond here and takes the character to a whole new level. I know people complained about Bond turning into Bourne, but if that creates films like Skyfall, then quit your whinging.

15. Killer Joe

Ah, this is still insane fun. I still can't believe the final scene's of this film.

16. Headhunters

Just like The Raid up above, you still haven't seen this have you? Just terrible. 

17. The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Still the best coming of age film. 

18. Safety Not Guaranteed

Any worries about Colin Trevorrow directing Jurassic World disappeared after I watched this. It's whimsical and fun, but most importantly, Trevorrow understands what it takes for the viewer to accept and believe in the universe they have created. By the end of the film you'll believe that Mark Duplass has invented a time travel machine. 

19. Woody Allen: A Documentary

Only disappointing thing about this is that it doesn't cover Blue Jasmine a little more. I really shouldn't complain about that, but Blue Jasmine is so damn good.

20. Take This Waltz

Just like 50/50, this cements Seth Rogen as someone to watch. I'm still not sure how to feel about things in this film, but that's the power of a good movie - especially a Sarah Polley film.

21. Margin Call

I still haven't watched House of Cards, but I'm sure that it's not as good as Spacey's performance here.

22. Compliance

After reading more about this case, it's still quite a terrifying little story.

23. Cosmopolis

Still an argument inducing film with Bernadette and myself. Still very good in my eyes.

24. Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory

After seeing the subpar West of Memphis, it goes to show how perfect this trilogy of films are. 

25. Seven Psychopaths

Good to watch as a double alongside Hugo.

On Sharks.

I should start this little rant with a preface - something a little bit similar to when someone says, look, don't get offended, but... - that whilst I'm more of an animal lover than a people lover, I do appreciate the human race. If I manage to offend you with this post, then that was not my intention, but... y'know... I did say don't get offended. 

The population of sharks in our oceans is rapidly being reduced. Humans on the other hand continue growing - in fact, I remember being in high school and waiting for the world population to tick over to six billion people; it's now just over seven billion people. 

Where the problem occurs - and this is not news, it's just something I feel like getting off my chest because dammit, the guys playing cricket next door are drowning out my yelling from my soap box - is that there is no population control for humans. Emotionally, because we're the superior species, we are attached to numbers of ourselves. We're attached to the idea of family and the idea of having more of ourselves around. It's in our nature and it's completely understandable. 

So when a shark takes a person from the waters where the shark lives, the knee jerk reaction is to destroy that shark. Keep in mind that if a drunk driver smashes into a van carrying a family and kills all of that family, he is able to go to jail, repent for the trouble he has caused and then carries on his way. Sharks are simply doing what they do in the world they live in. Just like humans do what they do in the world we live in. 

Now, I'm not suggesting something as radical as population control for humans - that's a boundary that nobody is ready to cross - but we, as a species, need to have a greater understanding of the other animals that live on our planet. We need to accept that losses like this occur. Yes, it is awfully depressing for the family that has lost a son, a brother, a husband, a father. But, I'm not suggesting they simply move on with their lives, just to accept the loss. When that family is killed by a drunk driver, the remaining members of the family will no doubt say 'I wish he was dead for killing our family' but the law protects him for being lynched. There is no law to protect sharks, or wildlife for that matter. 

We are more than happy to cull corellas, lorikeets or seagulls if there are too many of them and causing a disturbance. Yet, humans themselves are unable to accept any form of loss, no matter how small. Whatever happened to every life being equal? 

I don't have a solution to the problem of people being killed by animals except to say that we as a country need to accept that in the environment we live in these problems will occur. Sharks do not make a habit out of attacking and killing humans - they are not serial killers. The comparison of them being a drunk driver in the sea feels trite, but that's what they are - they don't know that they are killing a human and they show no remorse for their actions. This does not mean we should react to violently against them. 

We as humans need to start accepting our losses caused by nature, as because of us there will be more happening over time. 

Top 10 Albums of 2013.

Without a doubt, 2013 will go down as one of the greatest years in Australian music. Artists have been delivering albums that have been their finest works to date - and if not their finest, then a damn fine album which stands up perfectly fine with their previous works. Internationally, the work was good, but not as strong. 

10. Once I Was an Eagle - Laura Marling

Best Track: Master Hunter

Laura Marling is one of the finest female singers working right now. Consistently perfect in so many ways, Marling sings beyond her years. Her releases between Alas I Cannot Swim and Once I Was an Eagle have been consistent, but Once I Was an Eagle is the first album which matches Alas I Cannot Swim perfectly. Lyrically it's as beautiful and harmonic as Alas I Cannot Swim, but where Eagle soars (sorry) is the fact that it moves and shakes like one whole beast. The album has been designed to be listened to from the first track through til the end and it works best in this mode. It's always exciting to hear Marling's new releases, especially when they're this consistently strong. 

9. Hobo Rocket - Pond

Best Track: Whatever Happened to the Million Head Collide

I couldn't give two shits about Tame Impala. I'll say that right away. I have no patience for their music at all. But, Pond - which kind of swaps out some of Tame Impala at times to be a rotating musical act of goodness - are just too damn good. The lead track, Whatever Happened to the Million Head Collide harks back to the heyday of The Sleepy Jackson and even throws in a little Gomez style horns at the end. Sure, they go a little Wolfmother-y with stupid song titles, but that's ok when the music is this good. 

8. Unfold Yourself - Ian Ball

Best Track: Open Sesame

Just like Ian's first solo effort, Who Goes There, I was not impressed the first time I heard this album. Nor the second, third, fourth and fifth times. I just simply wasn't taken with it. I figured, that's ok, I love Gomez a heck of a lot and I admire Ian, but maybe this just wasn't for me. Then just recently I saw Ian perform live and the album transformed in front of my eyes. The work that Ian's put into this album is phenomenal. Maybe I was stupid for not realising it straight away, who knows. It really is an album which translates perfectly live and is best experienced that way - even if it was just Ian, a guitar and an iMac laptop. There's no desire to stretch away from what Gomez do here, it's just Ian showing what he's best at doing and that's creating beautiful music. Sure, it took me a few listens to crack the code, but dammit, it's a good album. 

7. What Would Christ Do?? - The Growl

Best Track: Clever Leaver

Earlier this year The Growl supported Tame Impala on their international tour. They played to sell out shows and gained a heck of a lot of exposure. From what I understand, Tame Impala were very good on those shows, but even better was The Growl. I've seen them a fair few times in Perth and they consistently knock you over with the wall of sound they create with their dirty guitar licks and yowling bass. As perfectly dirty an album as you can get. If there was any justice in this world, these guys would be much much bigger than Tame Impala.

6. Push the Sky Away - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds

Best Track: Jubilee Street

Winner of best album cover of the year right here. Nick Cave is a monument in Australian culture. Anybody else this far into their career would be struggling to maintain such perfection, but Cave makes it seem effortless. With Push the Sky Away, alongside his perennial Bad Seeds, he has turned in one of his finest albums - dare I say it's almost (just almost) equal to Henry's Dream and the Murder Ballads. Jubilee Street should go down as one of the great Australian songs. 

5. Ballet in the Badlands - The Chemist

Best Track: Heaven's Got a Dress Code Now

Unfortunately Ballet in the Badlands will go down alongside Ammonia's Eleventh Avenue and Institut Polaire's Make Your Own Mayflower as one of the great one shot albums from a WA band. The quality on this release should have shot these guys to national status, but unfortunately for whatever reasons they couldn't stick around for another album. This release is just bonkers good. The guitar work is addictively insane to listen to. 

4. Harlequin Dream - Boy & Bear

Best Track: Harlequin Dream

Just listen to that saxophone at the end. Goddamit. Really, this album and the next three all could be the best album of the year. Just like Moonfire, Harlequin Dream is one of the most consistently perfect Australian albums. Even though some of the songs feel a little trite, there's something truly heartbreaking when Dave Hosking sings through A Moment's Grace, or when he sings about being a role model for his kids in Old Town Blues. Moonfire is a perfect album without a doubt, but Harlequin Dream is an album which other bands should aspire to match. 

3. All Day Venus - Adalita

Best Track: Trust is Rust

Quite simply put, this is the finest piece of work that Adalita has put her name to. Yes, it tops anything done with Magic Dirt. It's an astounding album full of all the heart break that her first solo album had. The hole that Dean Turner left in Adalita's life is still there, and whilst her self titled album dealt with that perfectly by herself, All Day Venus feels as if she's getting past those demon's with a band behind her. It's a masterpiece of a record that just astounds you on each listen. 

 2. I See Seaweed - The Drones

Best Track: Nine Eyes

To say I was nervous about this release is an understatement. I shouldn't have been nervous at all, but fuck, The Drones previous album Havilah is without a doubt the finest album I've ever heard. I've lost track how many times I've listened to Havilah - I'm on my third copy of it given how many times it's been scratched to shit from being carted around so I can listen to it. Needless to say, I See Seaweed - it doesn't disappoint. Gareth Liddiard is hands down the finest singer songwriter this side of David McComb. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if somehow Liddiard made a deal with some shady devil in Bunbury and bought McComb's soul. The Drones always come on like a slap in the face, a kick in the guts and punch in the nuts all at once. Whilst this is no Havilah, it's pretty much right there next to it. There is no finer band working in Australia right now than The Drones. Does it sound like I've got a hard on for them? Well, sure, maybe, but how many other bands have heard write a song about Google Street View and make it one of the finest songs of the year? 

1. Kiss My Apocalypse - Abbe May

Best Track (Also Song of the Year): Sex Tourette's

There must be something in the water down in Bunbury. In the space of a few years, the sleepy little death toll town of Bunbury spawned both Abbe May and The Drones. Whatever is in the water down there, they better keep putting it in. Kiss My Apocalypse is an evolution. A sexual evolution of synth beats and discarded guitars. It's an album of an artist evolving into something phenomenal. Design Desire hinted at this, but Kiss My Apocalypse comes on like napalm. It's thirty four minutes of something crawling in your head and just having their way with you. Unlike Abbe's previous albums, there isn't a track out of place here. It's an aural exercise in being as tantalising as possible. Abbe May is an artist who is on the brink of major things and once she hits it big, people will rediscover her older music and think, how did we miss this? Add the fact that Abbe can turn a cheesy 90's R&B track into one of the sexiest covers ever is a testament to her talent. 

This year as well I feel I can finally manage to throw together a top ten live acts that I saw. So without any explanation, here's the best live acts I saw this year. 

1. Bruce Springsteen - Hanging Rock

2. Paul Simon - Blues & Roots Festival

3. Abbe May - The Astor Theatre

4. The Brothers Grim & the Blue Murders - The Indi Bar 

5. Ian Ball - Mojo's

6. The Drones - The Astor Theatre

7. Something for Kate - The Astor Theatre

8. Rufus Wainwright - Blues & Roots Festival

9. The Graveyard Train - Blues & Roots Festival

10. Ben Ottewell - Mojo's

Horror Ten Ways.

When I try and start arguments with people about the fact that there are only five genres in film (fact - Drama, Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi, Documentary), they then go ahead and ask what my favourite genre out of those five are (fact - nobody has asked me that.) (Fact - people have usually turned away by point I've started explaining myself about why there are only five genres so a genuine argument has never come out of this.) 

Basically put, there is no finer genre in film than the genre of horror. It's easily the most malleable genre and can hide itself anywhere from a film about a mourning housewife all the way to a bunch of humble Disney films. 

I've tried over the years to pare down all the horror films out there in the world to a top ten horror film list. It's simply not possible. I know the top few, but after that it's a bust. So the following list is merely a list of some of my favourite horror films. I've tried to keep it to films that usually wouldn't feature in lists like this, but if you were so inclined, you really couldn't go wrong with these films either: Suspiria, The Descent, Dawn of the Dead, The Night of the Hunter, The Birds, Halloween, Alien, An American Werewolf in London, Witchfinder General, The Silence of the Lambs and Tenebrae.

The Grand Daddy of horror films is easily The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. This is a brutal film and a nasty one at that, but it's the finest nasty film around. Unlike the over the top Saw's and Hostel's of the gore porn genre, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is an exceptionally suggestively violent film. The violence is intense and the deaths are shocking - even the attempted murder of Sally by the head of the family with a feeble tapping on her head with a hammer is terrifying. The fact that the remakes, sequels and prequels haven't tainted what is a perfect film through and through (in my opinion, the third finest film made) is a testament to how great The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is. 

The House of Sand and Fog is one heck of a claustrophobic film. It suffocates the viewer - and a fair amount of the cast as well - in an intense haunted house style horror. The way the film moves along with this devilish house gradually eating up or injuring character after character in various gruesome ways - a board with nails sticking out of it for example - is glorious in its use of horror. This is not a traditional horror film at all, but the elements are all in place. The house at the center of the film is a vortex of pain for all the characters involved and nobody wins.

Val Lewton had his hands on some of the finest early horror films, but for me the finest of the lot is Cat People. Simone Simon is a mesmerising minx as Irena, a woman who is shackled with a curse that whenever she is aroused she will turn into a panther and kill. The basic plot sounds a lot cheesier than the film is. It's a fantastic investigation into the fear of the unknown and the fear of myths. One of the best horror scenes is a pool scene where a woman swimming alone is stalked by something that may not be there at all. 

A great horror film should make you want to write an angry letter to all those involved. It should make you want to sit in your shower and cry yourself to sleep as the water falls down on you. It should make you question yourself and everyone you meet. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer does exactly that. Where Ruggero Deodata was taken to court for the (non-)deaths of his cast members in Cannibal Holocaust, I wouldn't be surprised if some police body would have looked into Michael Rooker with his performance of Henry - simply one of the finest performances in film, the commitment he has to the role of Henry is astounding. Rooker is possibly only matched by dedication to a role in a horror film by Joe Spinell in the also cry-shower inducing Maniac.

One of the finest elements about horror films are how prescient they can be. Eyes Without a Face focuses on the continuation of beauty and the oppression of anything different. Whilst the plot alone is haunting, the addition of gruesome surgical scenes and the photo's of a surgical transplant being rejected by the recipient elevates the film to a ghastly level which makes it an unforgettable French horror (and those French do know how to create a damn fine horror film.)

Not a week goes by where I don't think about this film. When you look back on the 2000's with horror films, there were really only a small handful that really held the horror flag high and Martyrs is right there alongside The Descent screaming at the top of their lungs. This is a relentless and exhausting film, but one of the most rewarding horror films. Most great horror films have something to say - which is why I find I get bored easily with slasher films or found footage films - and Martyrs packs its message with a punch. This is not only one of the best horror films, it's also one of the finest films ever made.

Carnival of Souls is one of the earliest horror films I ever remember watching. Alongside The Mummy and Child's Play 2, Carnival of Souls was one of those horror films which played on TV late one night whilst my Dad slept and I watched it from the hallway ready to run back to my bedroom if it got too frightening. Carnival of Souls had such a profound effect on other horror films looked and worked that it's disheartening to not see its name thrown around a heck of a lot more - especially when decades later The Sixth Sense tried to steal Carnival of Souls thunder and appropriate its twist as its own. 

If I ever have kids and it comes to the 'don't do drugs' discussion, I'll just sit them down in front of this film and show them the ups and double ended downs of drug use. Darren Aronofsky has always been a director who has leaned towards elements of horror in his films - Black Swan being another great horror film in his ouevre. In only his second film, Aronofsky paints drug addiction as a soul destroying experience. It's not pleasant. There are no happy endings. And no matter how much you say 'be excited, be be excited', just closing your eyes and imagining that montage near the end with the infected injection site, the double ended dildo, the electro shock therapy and whatever happened to Marlon Wayans in jail, will be enough to keep you awake at night not even being able to contemplate taking those sleeping pills in case Christopher McDonald appears and haunts your dreams.

The Wicker Man isn't a film which is overtly scary or terrifying. A sequence with Britt Eckland thrashing to music topless halfway through the film will most likely bring a few laughs rather than make you quake. But it's on reflection after the finale that The Wicker Man is terrifying. It's on repeat viewings when you understand why Eckland is doing that (besides for the paycheck, which probably wasn't a heck of a lot) crazy dance, and why the kids act the way they do. It's a film which gets under your skin and won't let you go. And there's no bee's in this one either. 

The majority of Audition is really quite boring. It's not a perfect film, but it does contain one of the most perfect horror finales. The torture sequence that Takashi Miike stages as the finale is one of the most chilling scenes I've ever seen. The beauty of Asami and her quiet assurance of kiri kiri kiri (deeper deeper deeper) to Aoyama as she saws into his feet with a piano wire is an unsettling image to put you on edge and help you forget the first half of the film. It's a masterclass of horror cinema. 

Hopefully this short list has given a few suggestions of what horror films to watch for those dark nights where you want to be frightened.

Oh, and finally, fuck you if you don't like The Blair Witch Project.

And in closing...

We accept you one of us.

Pain & Gain - One of the Year's Biggest Surprises.

Pain & Gain is the send off film that Tony Scott deserved. It takes the aesthetic that Tony Scott was working towards with Man on Fire, Deja Vu and Unstoppable and elevates it to the next level. Pain & Gain is also quite simply Michael Bay's finest film.

Throughout Bay's career he's pushed his style to the extreme, unfortunately culminating in some of the worst cinema around - the Transformers series. No matter what you think of Michael Bay's work, they've always appeared to be more style than substance. Whether it's the over the top slow motion shots of people getting out of cars, or illogical lens flares, Bay makes his case for the auteur theory pretty strong. His films are the origin of the orange and teal palette in Hollywood.

With Pain & Gain though, Bay's intense style fits perfectly. Where his style has always superseded any semblance of substance, Pain & Gain combines style and substance perfectly. It feels like the film that Bay has been working towards all along. The over the top characters of Bad Boys and the stylistic violence of The Rock come together perfectly in Pain & Gain. 

Mark Wahlberg has always been an actor who is only as good as the director he's being directed by. For every Boogie Nights and The Fighter, there is a Rock Star or The Happening. 
Wahlberg's Danny Lugo is an enjoyable character, one that wants to live in a world of excess. He is a personal trainer who wants the American Dream and the only way he knows how is to take it. After meeting up with Tony Shalhoub's Victor Kershaw, Lugo devises a plan to take Kershaw's money. The rest of the film continues with the plan Lugo has devised and does so brilliantly. 

Fortunately with Pain & Gain, both Wahlberg and Bay are working with a script (written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely - The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, Captain America) which actually works to tell a proper story rather than the usual Bay affair which is simply a set piece followed by narrative exposition followed by random set piece. Pain & Gain has its fair share of set pieces, but they actually further the plot along rather than delay it. 

The sequence where the trio of idiots attempt to kill Kershaw and make it look like a suicide is hilarious and over the top, but it shows character and furthers the plot brilliantly. It's hard to tell whether this is because of the writers having written the scene properly, or an actual development in Bay's directing style, but regardless it's a great display of Bay doing violence properly - the slow reversal over Kershaw's face is cringe inducing and impactful.

There's a deep dark sense of humour with this film. It knows how to be fun and over the top whilst almost appearing to approve of the trio's actions - Danny Lugo, Dwayne Johnson's Paul Doyle and Anthony Mackie's Adrian Doorbal. Bay loves these characters, even with all their imperfections and stupid moves. He loves the madness of the situation and revels in the ripped bodies of the men, and even in the obese characters he litters around the place. For a story which is so mean spirited at times, it's great to see that Bay shoots all of his characters with respect and never actually look down on them - no matter how stupid their actions may be. 

It's also great to see the mean spirited aspects being taken seriously and to their full extent. Some people may have problems with this, and these are probably the same people who had problems with the dead body chase scene in Bad Boys 2, but for others these are the things that made the film. Pain & Gain's use of Shalhoub's Kershaw as a punching bag is over the top, violent and without a doubt mean spirited, but it works perfectly. 

The refreshing thing about Pain & Gain is the coherent action and coherent story - two things desperately lacking in previous Michael Bay films. Whether we'll see this continue on in future Bay films is questionable though as it appears his continuing on with the Transformers films means a continuation with incoherent action and plot. The comparison to late Tony Scott films is unmistakable - with the appearance of dialogue on the screen being one of the most prominent traits, as well as the reliance on that orange and teal look that Hollywood is gravitating to.

If every ten years Michael Bay pumps out a film like Pain & Gain or Bad Boys 2, then there'll be no arguments from this camp. For a year that has included such brilliant films as Zero Dark Thirty, Blue Jasmine and Rust & Bone, it's amazing to see a film like Pain & Gain come along and be right up there in quality.

1/2