IvoryKick

I’ve never done a list before and it’s taken me a couple weeks into the new year to determine which scenes, which lines, which shots have remained lodged in my noggin.  I’d never call it a ‘Best 10’ list because that just seems silly…who is anyone to determine that?

With that said, here are the ten movies that made an impression on me in 2012.

10) Looper - Time travel is tricky to write and to digest.  Rian Johnson made an exciting action film that dealt (or didn’t deal with) time travel wonderfully.

9) Argo - Ben Affleck killed it again.  Tense, funny, tightly constructed.  Everything you want out of a film.

8) Friends With Kids - Jennifer Westfeldt nailed it in her directorial debut.  What really impressed me was the writing, which explored topics we’ve seen depicted a million times but brought a refreshing honesty to them.

7) The Cabin in the Woods - Whedon.  Goddard.  I’ve heard they wrote this (after outlining) in a couple of weeks.  It doesn’t play like that.  It has all the wit you’d expect from these dudes and more.

6) Arbitrage - Nicholas Jarecki’s feature-length debut and it’s a doozy.  It has the pacing and control you’d expect from Fincher or even Polanski.  And Cliff Martinez provides another engaging, hauntingly beautiful score.

5) Killer Joe - Standard noir plot.  But add an invigorated William Friedkin, a brand new Matthew McConaughey, and some fried chicken and you’ve got yourself a shocking movie that’ll stick with you for days. 

4) Seven Psychopaths - Martin McDonagh’s dialogue always crackles and in his latest, so do the performances.  He juggles a myriad of distinct characters, a thick plot, humor, and tense violence…and makes it look easy.

3) The Perks of Being a Wallflower - One of my favorite books growing up.  I haven’t read it in a while and seeing this film was like seeing the pages come to life.  I guess that’s what happens when the author, Stephen Chbosky, adapts and directs his own material.

2) Killing Them Softly - This was one of those movies that had so much buzz going on that it was hard to shake it off when I finally saw it.  After the first viewing I knew I liked it but all of the critical praise was rattling around in my head.  After the second viewing I simply enjoyed it for what it is: a George V. Higgins adaptation expertly directed and perfectly interpreted.  

1) Safety Not Guaranteed - I couldn’t believe the grip this movie had on me.  It was charming, funny, heart-wrenching, and suspenseful, all without being manipulative or cynical.  My number ten and one both deal with time travel so that may say something about me, but the topic is fascinating and here it’s dealt with in a very interesting way. I’ll be looking out for more work from writer Derek Connolly and director Colin Trevorrow in the future.

HONORABLE MENTION - Not Fade Away.  Mostly because I find anything David Chase does fascinating but what this movie may have lacked in structure and evenness, it made up for in tone and swagger…which is really what a flick about rock and roll should be, isn’t it?

In the fall of 2005 I interned on the Warner Bros lot at a development office located right under the iconic water tower.  On my first day I realized I was mainly there as a transportation vessel for caramel macchiatos and egg white omelets, but I didn’t care – I was living the dream.

Every day there was a flurry of activity in the office and I was expected to keep up.  “Will Smith is coming in today.  Please, please don’t ask him to get jiggy with it.”  This was asked without an ounce of sarcasm.  Okay, no jiggy.  “Run to stage 16 with these script revisions and please don’t talk to the actors.  Especially Richard Dreyfuss.  He’s been in a water tank all day and we hear he’s very cranky.”  Richard’s having flashbacks to 1974, got it.  “We’re out of apple butter and watermelon juice!?  Fly like the wind to Trader Joes!”

Like the wind I flew.  I was contributing to the world of cinema.  My name wouldn’t be in the credits or on IMDB but we all knew – this whole machine would come crashing down were it not for my ability to hold seven cups of coffee at once or search high and low for that special peanut butter that guy in the copy room kind of likes to eat sometimes.

It was exhilarating in that development office.  Deals were made, artists waltzed in to show concept art for the new sci-fi project, Hollywood speak was bandied about.  “I have Terry for Harris.  Checking availability on Brad, Tom, and Liam.  Sir, would you like a cold or room temperature water?”  But what most intrigued me were the graduate level professors that walked in with their sport coats and sour ‘I’m-up-way-too-early-for-this-shit-and-it-better-be-good’ faces: the writers.

They usually had the later meetings, accepted their (normally) room temperature waters with a smile and sat waiting and waiting as actors, directors, and yoga instructors took up the more coveted appointment times.  They’d leaf through the industry rags, talk with the assistants, and politely correct executives when asked why they hadn’t waxed the Lexus in space six.

How did these writers keep going?  They were constantly being re-written, fighting to get noticed, and the fates of their original dream projects were in the hands of recent college grads.  To me, these were the real rockstars.  They didn’t swagger into the office with $600 sunglasses on, holding the keys to a Bentley.  They slinked in wearing ironic T-shirts and cool sneakers, holding tattered scripts under one arm.

The scripts they carried were the blueprints for everything that went on in that office, the Warners lot, and the entire machine of Hollywood.  That’s how I saw it at least.  So when these writers sat down to wait, after assuring the VP of production they were not, in fact, the pool contractors there for the 11am, I’d make sure to fetch them the most room-temperatury bottle of water possible and deliver it proudly, knowing full well I was, once again, responsible for keeping Hollywood running – by hydrating the architects, the true stars of the lot…the writers.