Favorite Things About Film and Television in 2012

Like last year, instead of making a typical year-end list, I thought I would share what some of my favorite things about film and television in 2012 were.

The third season finale of The Good Wife: Entitled “The Dream Team,” this episode had all that I could ever want from an episode of The Good Wife.  It brought back everyone’s favorite guest stars – Martha Plimpton and Michael J. Fox – and ended with that jaw-dropping cliffhanger in Kalinda’s apartment.  Oh, and it had one of the best moments in Good Wife history, as shown below:

Call the Midwife: This is a show that surprised me more than anything this year.  I wasn’t planning to become to involved in the story of a group of midwives and nuns in 1950s East London, but this show has great humor, heart, and drama.  I’m eagerly anticipating the Christmas Special and the second season.

Where Do We Go Now?:  I wrote a review of this marvelous Lebanese movie earlier this year, but I really feel that I need to mention it again, as it was one of my favorite movie  going experiences this year.  Nadine Labaki’s blend of hilarity and humanity makes this an unforgettable movie.

The music of Brave: I’d been looking forward to Pixar’s Brave for quite a while since I love Scotland. When I found out that Scottish folk singer Julie Fowlis, of whom I’ve been a fan for the past few years, would be involved in the soundtrack, I was ecstatic.  Though the Mumford and Sons song seems to be getting most of the buzz, let’s hope that “Touch the Sky” (shown in the clip below) will be nominated an Oscar – because I would love to see Fowlis perform at the ceremony.

The Downton Abbey 2011 Christmas Special: The second season of Downton Abbey may not have been perfect, but last year’s Christmas Special (which only aired in the U.S. earlier this year) was the Downton episode I had been waiting for.  Its last few minutes are perfection.

Awake: Awake was the most underrated network television show of recent memory.  It’s the type of show I feel should have been more successful than it was; it had the procedural element to bring in audiences, but it also had a cerebral and emotional core to it as well.  Jason Isaacs completely owned the role of Michael Britten, a man who, after an accident, experiences two realities: one in which his son died and one in which his wife died.  Even though the show only got thirteen episodes, the series somehow felt complete, and that’s more that we could have wished for.

This Is Not a Film, 5 Broken Cameras, and The Law in These Parts: These are three brilliant, timely, and wholly important documentaries.  This Is Not a Film follows a day in the life of Iranian director Jafar Panahi, who was put under house arrest under charges of propaganda against the Iranian government.  5 Broken Cameras* documents five years in the life of a Palestinian filmmaker whose town protests the building of the Israeli wall.  The Law in These Parts investigates the legal measures that supposedly justify the Israeli occupation of the West Bank.  (There’s another supposedly great Israeli documentary along the same lines called The Gatekeepers – it’s getting a New York release in February, so I’ll be seeing it then.)  Watch these films to learn about the human spirit – and the politics that try to thwart it.

Argo: Before going into Argo, I had no idea what it would be like.  I knew it dealt with getting diplomats out of Iran during the hostage crisis, but I had no idea that there were some genuinely funny moments dealing with the movie industry as well.  Director Ben Affleck’s blending of the two elements makes this more than just a riveting political drama; it’s a greatly enjoyable movie as well.

The pilot of Last Resort: I wasn’t going to watch Last Resort, but the critical reviews made me watch the pilot in advance online.  It was so gripping that I watched it again when it aired, riveted.  No further episode quite lived up to it, but that would be a tall order.  This speech towards the end sealed the deal:

The technical achievements of Anna Karenina: Director Joe Wright decided to set most of his Anna Karenina on a stage.  As such, background characters often move furniture around, sets fold into each other, and the movement is choreographed so that it almost looks like a dance.  It’s a visually stunning film that will no doubt garner some Oscar nominations in the technical categories.

Sci-fi swan songs: While I was watching season six of Doctor Who, I worried that Amy and Rory would be leaving the show at its conclusion.  Thankfully, we got another five episodes – the first part of season seven – with them, and for that, I am glad.  Likewise, Fringe was able to get a shortened fifth season to wrap up its story, and I’m just thankful to have a few more episodes to spend with Olivia, Peter, Walter, Astrid, and the rest of the gang.

The return to Middle Earth: When I sat down to watch The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, it swept me back into Jackson’s version of Tolkien’s Middle Earth – and what a welcome return it was.  The opening segments in Hobbiton and Erebor were just the right amount of throwback to The Lord of the Rings and anticipation of this new series about Bilbo Baggins and Thorin Oakenshield.  I get chills (the good kind, of course) every time I watch this clip below, which so perfectly exemplifies everything about the race of dwarves:

What did you enjoy about film and television in 2012?

*A brief cautionary note: 5 Broken Cameras contains content that might be troubling to some viewers, including several instances of shooting and a short scene of animal slaughter.

From Book to Film: Anna Karenina

The Story: In imperial Russia, the wife of a prominent politician begins an illicit romance with an army officer, while a philosophical landowner courts a princess.

The Book: If the above description sounds a tad boring, rest assured that Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina defied all my expectations.  Anna Karenina is considered one of the greatest novels ever written, and this is no exaggeration.  But if you think this means that the book – which weighs in at over 800 pages – is dry and dull, think again.  From the very first line, Tolstoy assures us that this is going to be as enjoyable a read as he can make it.  Though there are parts in the middle in which not a lot happens, Tolstoy intertwines the story of Anna and her illicit love of Vronsky with Levin’s courtship of Kitty to give the novel balance.  It’s too great a book to pass up.  You can read a few more of my thoughts on Anna Karenina here.

The 1927 Film (Love): This is the second of four films that Greta Garbo and John Gilbert made together.  If this film’s main characters weren’t named Anna and Vronsky, I don’t think I would have caught on that this was meant to be an adaptation of Tolstoy’s novel.  Levin is not featured at all, and the American version changes the ending – though the version I saw from TCM noted this and also showed a European ending to the film that maintains Tolstoy’s vision of what happened to Anna.  Only recommended for classic/silent film fans or those interested in Garbo and Gilbert.

Garbo in the 1935 Anna Karenina (public domain) – via Wikimedia Commons

The 1935 Film: Garbo’s second turn as Anna Karenina is more famous – and arguably, a lot better – than her silent version.  Beautifully directed by Clarence Brown, this is often considered the best film made out of Anna Karenina.  Compared to the book, however, it falls a bit short.  Garbo has excellent rapport with Freddie Bartholomew, who plays her son in the movie, but has a lot less chemistry with Fredric March, who plays Vronsky, which hampers this film’s efforts.  One plus is that Levin gets some screen time, though his arc is given little attention.

The 1948 Film: Critically panned, this version of Anna Karenina holds up fairly well now.  I found its treatment of the story to be better than either of the Garbo versions.  If anyone played “tragic heroine” better than Garbo, it was Vivien Leigh, and if Leigh’s resume weren’t as formidable as it is, I think her performance as Anna would be considered better.  She receives great support from the incomparable Ralph Richardson as her husband.

The 2012 Film: Much has been said about director Joe Wright’s decision to situate most of the action of this move in a theater, but the effect works surprisingly well.  The choreographed movement and characters moving furniture around takes a bit of time to get used to, but it makes for a very meta viewing experience.  This version is also notable for giving the Levin and Kitty storyline a decent chunk of time.  Keira Knightley’s performance as Anna has ups and downs, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson seems miscast as Vronsky, but the rest of the cast, particularly Jude Law, does a fantastic job.

The Bottom Line: Each of the versions I’ve seen has its strengths and weaknesses.  See Love for Garbo and Gilbert, the 1935 film for Garbo and Brown’s direction, the 1948 film for Leigh and Richardson, and the 2012 version for its artistry and handling of Levin.  But the book tops all.  Read it first, for sure.

I know that there are several versions I haven’t seen, so feel free to share thoughts about any other versions you may have seen.

Top Five Movies and Television Programs

To continue from my last post, below, I introduce my Top 5 favorite movies and television programs.

Movies: The movies I enjoy divide themselves into the classics and the very contemporary, and my favorites reflect this divide.  I admit that I’m not well-versed in the decades in between these two groups, and that’s something I hope to work on in the future.

1.      Gone with the Wind (1939): A few months ago, I wrote about how I watched Gone with the Wind for the umpteenth time and almost struggled to enjoy it.  The experience made me rethink about why I really enjoyed GWTW: its exploration of survival.  A few weeks afterward, I had the opportunity to see GWTW on the big screen for the first time – and from then on, I knew that no film could ever take its place as my favorite movie of all time.  I love that it’s grandiose but still manages to function as a character story.

2.      Atonement (2007): I struggle to think of a more beautiful movie than Atonement.  There’s a very vocal group of filmgoers who think Joe Wright overdirects his movies; I rather think that he has an excellent eye for shots and ear for sound that creates near perfection in every frame.  Atonement is a sad but powerful story, and under Wright’s direction, it’s a thing of beauty.

3.      The Women (1939): I included The Women as one of my Favorite Flawed Films, but in all honesty, it’s one of my favorite movies, period.  Unlike my previous two picks, The Women is just plain fun.  I’m hard-pressed to think of another movie that makes me laugh as much as this one.  What I love about The Women is that it still reflects how certain groups of women would react, even though it was made more than seven decades ago.

4.      Roman Holiday (1953): Along with GWTW, Roman Holiday is one of the classic movies I loved before I became a classic film nut.  It’s an effortlessly charming movie that still manages to ground itself in realism with its ending.  Add the charm of Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, and you have a winning movie.

5.      The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003): I honestly don’t know which Lord of the Rings movie is my favorite – but I just went with the grandest for this list.  Epic is the word that best describes this movie, and I think that only Lawrence of Arabia could rival it in that respect.  Its story pays off what has been building since Fellowship of the Ring – it’s emotionally moving and also contains some of the best battle scenes ever put on film.

Television Programs: My list of favorite TV shows can be quite fluid, which explains the presence of so many recent shows on the list.  As I’ve noted before, I tend to gravitate towards network television for one reason or another, which explains why you don’t see the many much-lauded cable shows here.

1.      Lost (2004-2010): Lost is the television program that showed me how great television could be.  In all honesty, it’s the show that made me realize that television could be more than mindless entertainment – it could be complex, philosophical, and tell a ripping good story.  Like Gone with the Wind, Lost tells an epic tale, but it’s really about the people involved.  It’s hard not to feel strongly about each and every character in this sprawling show.

2.      Everybody Loves Raymond (1996-2005): I have a soft spot for traditional family sitcoms, and Everybody Loves Raymond is certainly at the top of my list.  I’ve seen every episode and will often reference events from favorites.  What I love about Raymond is that, despite the caricatured characters, the family feels refreshingly real.  The Barones have their quirks, but despite all this, they are first and foremost a tight-knit (perhaps too much so) family.

3.      Downton Abbey (2010-): I’ve gone on about my love of Downton Abbey several times in this blog, so I’ll put it this way: Downton combines the best things about period dramas – the lords and ladies, the etiquette, the gowns, the accents, the class issues, the love triangles – and rolls them neatly into one digestable package.  There are several dashes of complexity scattered about, but Downton is also the kind of wonderful, grandly melodramatic soap opera that exists merely to entertain.  And I love it for that.

4.      The Good Wife (2009-): The writers of The Good Wife have the firmest grip on what network television can and can’t do.  There are a lot of shenanigans going on in The Good Wife – affairs, backstabbing, politics, scandals, and secrets aplenty – but the key to its success is balance.  As I’ve written before, The Good Wife blends the best of the procedural (with the legal case of the week) and the serial (with the scandals and politics).  It tackles big issues while still having intimate character moments.  On top of that, it has a stellar cast and attracts some of the best guest stars around.  It’s network TV at its finest, simply put.

5.      Doctor Who (2005-): I had a difficult time choosing #5 because the Top 4 are quite a bit above other shows for me.  I narrowed it down to three or four, and I ultimately went with Doctor Who because I realized that for such an uneven show, I really, really love it.  I only include the new series because I’ve merely seen a handful of classic Who episodes.  Under the hands of Steven Moffat, Doctor Who has become highly serialized, complex, and philosophical.  You really can go anywhere and anywhen with Doctor Who.  It’s a joyous ride that I love despite the odd bad episode here and there.

Favorite Underappreciated Films

I love making lists, so I decided to write my first list post.  Today, I discuss five of my favorite films that I think are underappreciated.  These are films that have not enjoyed mainstream success, whether because they are forgotten or because they have mixed reviews.  Three are classic films, and two are from after 2000, which is an accurate representation of the types of films I generally watch.

5) Beat the Devil (1953)

Why I Love It: This is a light film that is not in any way meant to be taken seriously, and sometimes, it’s refreshing to watch something like this.  It’s a bit silly, but it’s a laugh riot and immensely enjoyable to watch.  Nevertheless, the plot is intricate, and it requires a bit of concentration to appreciate it.  It also stars Humphrey Bogart and Jennifer Jones, both of whose work I enjoy.  I honestly can’t find much not to like about it.

Why I Think It’s Underappreciated: This is a film that, for whatever reason, people don’t understand or simply haven’t seen. For a film with such star power both behind and in front of the camera (besides starring Bogart and Jones, it was directed by John Huston, who co-wrote the screenplay with Truman Capote), it’s a film that is underseen.  Of the people who have seen it, there’s a minority that loves it – Roger Ebert among them – but the majority is ambivalent towards it.

4) Cluny Brown (1946)

Why I Love It: It’s funny that the only two comedies Jennifer Jones made are on my list, but there you have it.  Cluny Brown is a delightful little film about an English plumber’s niece who gets a job as a maid at a large estate.  The character of Cluny Brown is always looking for opportunities to increase her store in life, and she is a wonderfully optimistic person.  In addition to the comedy, Cluny Brown poses interesting questions about the nature of servitude, making it a well-rounded, entertaining social commentary.

Why I Think It’s Underappreciated: If you’ve seen Cluny Brown, please speak up.  It seems to be a film that not too many people have seen.  The two stars – Jones and Charles Boyer – aren’t terribly remembered outside classic film fans, which probably adds to its obscurity today.

3) The Fountain (2006)

Why I Love It: Watching this film is an intellectual exercise, and just as I enjoy watching light films like Beat the Devil, I also like to watch more cerebral films.  The Fountain tells its story nonlinearly, and that makes it all the more intriguing.  I also love the film’s style, with its yellow-gold visuals and its at times rockish score.  To make the style more interesting, all the visuals, including some involving a nebula, were made without CGI, making the whole film look more organic.

Why I Think It’s Underappreciated: The film wasn’t seen by too many people, and many critics panned it, citing that it doesn’t make sense.  In all honesty, I love The Fountain, but I do not pretend to understand it in its entirety; its open-endedness is what makes it great.  I think that The Fountain has achieved a bit of a cult status.  When you meet somebody who loves it, they think it’s one of the best films ever made.  It certainly is a divisive film but one that I wish more people could find a way to appreciate.

2) Hanna (2011)

Why I Love It: I’m a big fan of director Joe Wright’s style, and Hanna is basically all about style.  Unlike some of Wright’s other films, the story of Hanna isn’t nearly as important as how it’s made.  I love the fluidity of the shots and the way the electronic score punctuates the action sequences.  All in all, I find this to be an incredibly slick film.  On another note, it involves so many actors I like: Saoirse Ronan, Cate Blanchett, Eric Bana, Tom Hollander, Olivia Williams, and Michelle Dockery.  How can I not love it?

Why I Think It’s Underappreciated: The film received mixed review from critics and fared okay at the box office.  For a film that I think is just so great, I wish it could have achieved greater mainstream success.  We have yet to see if it will receive any Oscar nominations (there’s a chance especially in the technical categories), and if it doesn’t, that would be a gross mistake.

1) To Each His Own (1946)

Why I Love It: Simply put, this is a film that makes me smile.  Sure, there are melodramatic moments even facepalm moments, but at its core, the story of To Each His Own is heartwarming and made me grin ear to ear when I first saw it.  Thus, I find it a difficult film to dislike.  On top of all this, Olivia de Havilland gives a knockout performance and rightfully won an Oscar for it.

Why I Think It’s Underappreciated: Despite my admiration of this film, I have only met one other person who has seen it.  But on imdb, its rating is 7.9, which is pretty high, showing that people who have seen it really do like it.  Thus, like with Cluny Brown and The Fountain, I think one of the main reasons this film is underappreciated is because it is underseen.  It is also not as well known as some of de Havilland’s other films like The Snake Pit (1948) and The Heiress (1949).

Has anyone seen (and liked) any of these films?  If not, what are some of your favorite underappreciated films?