Love Will Never Do (Without These): Fall and Winter 2012

Like everything else on this blog, this annual feature is a bit delayed, but at least I got here. Trust me; by this time next year, it'll be worth it!  In any case, it tickles me that 2.4 of you actually look forward to it, and I like having the list to update and consult later.  Plus, a perfect yearly capper to The Fifties, which are all about looking at the best of what's behind me.  So, here's this year's version of what I'm looking forward to (and not) for the last three months of the year.  And you know some middle-aged diva from when I was young always shows up to croon the categories at you, so...

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THROB
Holy Motors - Pola X is one of my tip-top favorite movies; this seems even madder

A– - This shit is bananas, like Matthew Barney's lusty stab at Céline and Julie Go Boating. Melancholy undertow a surprise.

Amour - I'm in for any movie that truly looks at what most movies avoid. Viva Riva!

A - Perfectly shot Book of the Dead, showcasing partners more bonded to each other than to their child. Impeccably acted and cut.

Zero Dark Thirty - Bigelow had me at Strange Days. Scope, context fascinating.

B - Ace last act thrives on Bigelow's strengths. Previously halting, uneven in story, structure, style. Chastain iffy.

Wuthering Heights - I'd follow Arnold anywhere, especially into austere erotic folly

B– - Dour, statically self-regarding naturalism misses Brontë's pagan turmoil and eerie necrophilia until strong end.

ANY TIME, ANY PLACE
Argo - Salivating over this is like hoping to date the Prom King. Obvious, but c'mon!

C+ - Proficient, minus The Town's tautness or Gone Baby's eerie peaks. Strong on period. Dodges complex engagement with its story.

The Loneliest Planet - Day Night Day Night wowed me. Still don't know the twist.

B - Bold, dilated minimalism as two-hour frame for two-second, bond-breaking outrage. Gutsy, well-shot, bit vague.

Sister - I'm a sucker for any euphorically reviewed film by a rising female auteur

B+ - Moving, unsettling parable of economic and emotional abandonment, without didacticism. Style closer to Denis than Dardenne.

The House I Live In - I trust this filmmaking team to elucidate a complex quagmire

B+ - Vivid, broad, pedagogically lucid. More coherent than prior Jarecki docs, despite repetitions and iffy spots.

Silver Linings Playbook - R.I.P. "The"? I'd been told this was bad. But no, I guess?

C+ - Acting from the gut. Writing from Jupiter. Direction highly erratic. Camera no help. Cooper easily MVP.

The Wise Kids - Queer-childhood microcinema that's been building buzz for a year

B - Perks of Being a Southern Believer? Can't claim much filmmaking finesse, but generosity of conception is remarkable

Las Acacias - Sounds pretty minimalist, but the Cannes '11 reporting was inspiring
Anna Karenina - Of all the season's go-for-broke visions, this one seems gutsiest

C - Ionlyhave140charactersforthissprawlingstorysosorryIhavetorushnotemycollap singwallsandunbeatablegownsshameaboutVronsky

The Central Park Five - I know enough to know I care, but details will all be new

B - A potent record of railroading, but again, the Five carry the narrative burden. Contexts, complicities vague.

Promised Land - I always want the last-minute schedule additions to be diamonds

THE PLEASURE PRINCIPLE
This Is 40 - Trailer scores a lot of laughs in two minutes. Eager for Mann's big move.

D+ - Finally, a vaguely Albee-inspired marathon of Growing Pains! So cute that Apatow's actual daughters shot and edited it.

The Sessions - Computers didn't crash at Y2K, but Hunt did. Why? Welcome back.

C+ - Sympathetic, appealingly played across the board, but feels oddly truncated in almost every direction. Abrupt finish.

Skyfall - Apt use of Mendes' style-over-substance gifts? I even liked Quantum, so...

C+ - Breathtakingly handsome shots alternate with flat set-ups. First-half scenes all feel slumpy. In-jokey for fans. Missable.

Rust and Bone - To quote Helen Mirren, this movie sounds purple, and I like purple

B– - Audiard's gifts at rhythm and texture, stylistically and psychologically, pay richer dividends than script or theme.

Cloud Atlas - Despite bad Wachowskiing in my past, I'm sympathetic to ambition

C - Wachowskis persist in joining rhetoric of revolution with dictatorial, pacifying image-making. Hit and miss. Ambitious.

Lincoln - Hearing it's wonky has made me more eager, and War Horse surprised.

B+ - Old-Hollywood clarity and roundness, laminated by modern, Eastwoody, chilly introspection. Steady rhythm. Quiet authority.

The Bay - I'd have liked Rain Man or Bugsy more with open sores, rotting scapulas.

C - Compulsive viewing but full of bad writing, cheap tricks. Dumb frame story. Shots needlessly repeat. Et tu, Barry Levinson?

The Guilt Trip - Forget the Tiffany-lamp thing and the white mics. Babs is hilarious.

C - Rogen/Streisand chemistry disarms, though they sometimes switch on cruise control. Needed the guts of Hope Springs.

Les Misérables - I'll give Hooper stink-eye if I ever meet him, but I can be turned

D– - Cheap pomposity. Unspeakable direction. Not one story beat or actor really well-served. Utterly abstracted emoting.

This Must Be the Place - I hear My Sean embarrasses himself but I'll B there 4 him

B– - Euro Americana in Don't Come Knocking vein, but more winningly idiosyncratic. Uneven, but out on fun limb.

Middle of Nowhere - I'm so hooked on DuVernay's story, I'll see it no matter what

B+ - Unfolds with the impeccable ease of a beach read, but writing, acting, versatile lensing give it uncommon depth

Hitchcock - I'm more eager for Toby Jones, but casting is inspired. I loved Anvil!

D - Pop-colored warren of blind alleys and broad in-jokes. Utter hogwash, but tiny embers in Mirren, Johansson, D'Arcy perfs.

A Royal Affair - I wouldn't care if reviews weren't so strong, but since they are...

B - Pacing, camera could be defter, but rivals Lincoln in blending character portraits with complex historical critique.

ALRIGHT
In Another Country - I've never seen a Hong. Curious, though this one sounds iffy.
Sinister - Consensus is forming that this is really scary. Even Emily Rose got me.

F - Thankfully so laughable that the edge is dulled from its luridness. 100% miscalculated hackwork, from leads to locations.

The Impossible - No arc? All white people? Soulless tech exercise? Probably, but...

C+ - Verisimilitude impresses; moving moments. But one family's stamina and luck feel insufficient as window on tsunami.

Arbitrage - Gere playing a smug bastard, Sarandon a tetchy pill sounds very smart

B– - The opposite of innovative, but acted and mounted with conviction. A shrewd portrait of marrow-deep cynicism. Peak Gere.

Smashed - Sounds like late-90s ensemble pic with Faye Dunaway. In a good way?

C - Some keen observations in script and performances, but wobbly on the whole. Tone feels elusive. Overquick leap to last act.

On the Road - I had dreaded this, but so did friends who have filed happy reports

C+ - Prismatically shot and cut, but never feels multifaceted. Charismatically cast, but never fires the imagination. Fine.

Killing Them Softly - The trailer is insufferable, but Telegraph boys sprang for it

B– - Political, stylistic rhetoric dialed way up. Turgid valleys, hypnotic peaks. Prosaic baseline. Solid ensemble.

Seven Psychopaths - Still want to enjoy a McDonagh film like a McDonagh play
Butter - Probably bleak, but if we don't support Jen, we'll never see her Blanche
Django Unchained - Let's skip to the one where an '80s PWA kills Jesse Helms

C+ - Out of two frying pans (brazen voice, gutsy premise), into two fires (puerile bloodlust, QT's ever-duller images).

Flight - Oscar sites, NYFF programmers all excited. Why? Must be some reason.

C+ - Strong Denzel perf and cliché-testing idea about alcohol highs as mixed blessings. Still, full of crutches and cul-de-sacs.

Life of Pi - Ads worse than Killing Me Softly's. Ang and I don't always get along.

B+ - Quite beguiling, especially after a shaky first act. Defter and lovelier than Avatar, with a thornier idea at its core.

A Late Quartet - Sounds like small fry, but I hear Walken's good. Casually curious.

C– - Walken subtle, meticulous, and moving in a film that sadly inclines in all the opposite directions. Keener adrift.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - I'm sure I'll end up here, but do I want to?

C– - 2D, 24fps, 41.9°N, 87.6°W: Splitting this tweet into three separate tweets but still no room to

LET'S WAIT AWHILE
Ginger and Rosa - Potter is quite erratic, but every word about Fanning is a rave.
The Intouchables - I keep postponing this. Literally no one has blamed me for it.
Paranormal Activity 4 - I missed 3, but I liked its predecessors. Time to revisit?

C+ - Series narrative getting sillier but scares still work. Handles logical transition to portable-screen setup.

Alex Cross - I've got time for Tyler Perry, but he's been plucking my nerves lately.
Hyde Park on Hudson - I could wait and watch Olivia Colman's bits on YouTube

F - Raise the Red Lantern remade as FDR dramedy? Camera, script, score, edits all wholly disordered. Humanoid cast.

Jack Reacher - I adored Ghost Protocol but I don't see lightning striking twice
Quartet - As a plot, "Maggie Smith in a beaded dress" often ends with me grumpy

IF
The Details - If Linney's role is as fun as she's been saying. Still: Tobey problem.

C - Best scenes lift suburban weirdness to edge of delirium, and set old hands like Linney, Haysbert to fun new tasks. But.

The Man with the Iron Fists - If RZA's wit comes through. Still: grisly comedy?
Any Day Now - If The Gays get behind it. Still: dully earnest? Not an Alan fan.
Playing for Keeps - If it pulls off a fraction of a Jerry Maguire vibe. Still. Still!
The Other Dream Team - If I can read "spirit-lifter" reviews and not doubt them
Not Fade Away - If anyone thinks of one. thing. to sell me on besides Sopranos
Jack and Diane - If reviews pan out, and Juno agrees to a short break afterward
Wreck-It Ralph - If this gets How to Train Your Dragon notices. Still: cartoon.

C– - Clever conceits and creative potential of first half-hour explode into eyesores, excess, and sticky sentimentality.

West of Memphis - If (I'm sorry) I feel less played out of this media obsession

COME BACK TO ME
(i.e., early-year releases I'm still hunting)
Elena - Played Chicago at worst possible time for me. Back for one night in Oct.

A - Warmth and cold. Suspense and certainty. Western arthouse style merged with Ozu-esque themes and framing elements. Exquisite.

Post Mortem - No raves help, but Guy Lodge has been stumping for two years

B - Steady, muted accretion of Chilean political horror, intriguingly if unevenly joined to Lanthimos-style deadpan macabre

Trishna - I know. I heard you. You think it's pretty bad. But I love Winterbottom.
Polisse - Wesley Morris was gaga for it. Other reviews all over. I'm intrigued.
Goodbye, First Love -Also repeatedly eluded me. That Mia's a good egg.
The Forgiveness of Blood - Joe Reid and Criterion Coll. can't both be wrong
The Kid with a Bike - I'm not positive this is where I wanted Dardennes to go.

B+ - Taut, economical as ever. Strong kid's eye view. Thinner around adults, but Rongione great foil for de France.

The Color Wheel - One of those indie-indies with a vehement following.

B - Not to all tastes, arguably not even to mine, but I laughed a lot and jived to its raffishness. Risky ending works.

Whores' Glory - I mean, with that title... Plus, festival journos went to the mat.
Bernie - Hosannas for Black, rare MacLaine, McConaughey's big year. Oh, my!

C– - Many folks have really connected to this, but I didn't buy a moment of it, no matter how many "real people" it threw at me.

Your Sister's Sister - Shelton still can't stick landings, I hear. But, those actors!

C+ - Three spry, splendid actors animate a compelling-enough premise. Still, third act astoundingly non-existent.

Crazy Horse - Wiseman's this living legend, yet his films just vanish. Where is it?
Breathing - "From the man who starved in The Counterfeiters" actually sells me
Elles - Good actresses, but getting a Whistleblower vibe of intentions > results.

B - Lurid edits and over-agitated handhelds but Binoche's bourgeoise and two well-acted teenage hookers echo in intriguing ways.

Norwegian Wood - More old Venice news that I'm still chasing. Split opinions.
Footnote - Good reasons to heed the skeptics, but Ashkenazi's a selling-point

B– - Cedar's shallow, flamboyant direction tends to dull what's nervy and rich in his script. Strong actors. Strangling score.

Dark Horse - Since I loved Palindromes I can't trust tepid reviews of Solondz
Detropia - Ewing and Grady apparently knock another tough doc out of the park

B - Structure isn't the strong suit of this urban-downsizing documentary, but candor, sobriety, and imagery are all memorable.

Ruby Sparks - Honestly, I'm only in to see Bening having a laugh. Just say daNo.

D+ - Semicomic stab at critiquing male narcissism and creative labor suffers from rudimentary notions of both. Lumpy dough.

People Like Us - Honestly, I'm only in to see Pfeiffer startle Pine with real acting

C - Total dick takes baby-steps toward basic decency. Everyone claps. I'm amazed a joint like this clicks even a little.

Sound of My Voice - Slow-to-debut sci-fi noodle from the Another Earth team

B– - Richer, denser than Another Earth, but equally prone to implying space-time might be, like, WHOA. Uneven script.

Natural Selection - SxSW/Indie Spirit hit seemed to die on vine. Too "quirky"?
2 Days in New York - Loved 2 Days in Paris. Do I need to meet its plainer sib?
We Have a Pope - Sounds negligible, but I'm a Palme Competition completist
Mosquita y Mari - Lesbian features are so rare I try to catch them all. Returning?
Lola Versus - Gerwig made me such a believer recently that I'll join her anywhere
Rock of Ages - Word of mouth very discouraging, but still sort of fascinating

F - Tuneless, garish, not remotely fun. Nonstop travesties of mostly great pop songs the film neither spoofs nor respects.

Brave - I'm exhausted of Pixar. There, I said it. Also don't love Kelly Macdonald.

C - Not a farrago, but a dull cluster of missed chances. Story wonky, character designs off, limp songs. Who wants to be Merida?

Chicken with Plums - Not as sold on Amalric or Satrapi as most. Try two bites?
Savages - Joe Reid had a ball. Tim Robey had a near-death experience. Tiebreak!

C– - Stone's lurid, overripe style tends toward the graceless. Film's ideas and metaphors are blunt...but at least it has some?

The Amazing Spider-Man - Colin Low's vote for the performances might do it.

MISS YOU MUCH
(i.e., postponed to next year)
Gravity - Six Seven years too long to wait for new Cuarón. Love that risk-taker.
Frances Ha - Everyone says this is rich and adorable, so of course we must wait
The Great Gatsby - It'll be pretty, but casting mystifies. Not eager for this at. all.

NASTY
Parental Guidance - Quinnipac exit poll: "Which star emanated more self-love?"
Red Dawn - This year's Fame or The Thing: if I feel tempted, I'll see the original
Chasing Mavericks - Gerard Butler is surfing, I guess, and ... oh, who knows.
Fun Size - Is this aiming for Superbad or Hannah Montana? Either way: Nope.
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part II - Whole cast seems miserable.
Rise of the Guardians - I thought this was a sequel to Ga'hoole! A vacuole.

BLACK CAT
Atlas Shrugged, Part II - GOP moneybags won't pay taxes but will fund this?
Here Comes the Boom - Like Warrior but with more kicks to the groin, I'd bet.