I asked the Running Wild team to put together their top favorite films from 2012. We all made very different lists. I hope you enjoy these and will consider watching these films. Here are the favorites from four filmmakers:
Gus Edwards
The Imposter – a documentary by Bart Layton about a French young man who convinces a Texas family that he is their 16 year old son who has been missing for 3 years. It engaged and intrigued me. And I’m still asking questions about the situation all these months after seeing it.
The Paperboy – A tabloid movie if there ever was one. Many critics (mainstream and others) have picked it as one of the worst of the year because it, I suspect, it outrages so many of their middle-class values, which is of course the reason I like it so much. Lee Daniels directed.
Moonrise Kingdom – Wes Anderson’s children book of a movie that took me into a world of its own and delighted me completely.
Holy Motors – If Hieronymus Bosch was alive and making movies I think he would’ve made this one. But his stand-in Leon Carax did. It is a sort of made-up real life fantasia that has to be seen more than once.
Chasing Ice – A documentary about James Balog’s obsession with photographing the melting glaciers on Iceland, Greenland and Alaska. Global warming is the subject and the warning. It was directed by Jeff Orlowski.
And one more.
A Month in Mississippi – by Travis mills. A visual essay/ poem that is both enchanting and sublime. The only reason it’s not among the 5 listed above is that it’s a short and not a feature length film.
This list pleases me because it draws it not only draws from theatrical releases but also from stuff online.
James Alire
(in no particular order and based off of sound design, not storytelling)
Hunger Games
The Avengers
The Dark Knight Rises
Wreck-It Ralph
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Michael Coleman
5. Lawless
Tom Cruise bulldozes through dirtbags with grace, eloquence and blue collar wit in this throwback thriller.
Travis Mills
1. Get the Gringo
2. Zero Dark Thirty
3. The Imposter
4. Jack Reacher
5. Dredd
