(:

Your middle sister,

Stiney

And I fight dirty.

I also really liked IT’S KIND OF A FUNNY STORY (as evidenced by the fact that it made my Runners-Up last year).

And I have to say that your list is more a fingerprint for you than you probably realize. But I’m not going to tell you how. Bwahahahaha!

I’m pretty sure I feel similarly to Stuart about The Beaver, but you knew that. I can’t abide this affectation-heavy, abstracted look at depression and mental illness that makes everything seem okay. I mean, it was a damn sight better than, say, It’s Kind of a Funny Story, and Mel Gibson brings it in a way I didn’t quite expect, but it left me cold and angry at it more than anything. I wish it had gone to a different director who would have chopped out the lame subplot and made a movie that felt so universally safe despite its volatile premise.

Bridesmaids was totally on my list right up until I saw Young Adult. Whoops. But it’s still probably the best straight comedy I’ve seen in a long while. Streeeeeet poopin!

Another Earth was one that I went back and forth about for weeks, and in the end I’m still not sure if I did the right thing by choosing other films over it. I think it’s a beautiful, wonderful thing, despite its problems (most of them having to do entirely with the camera work). I agree 100% on the ending, it is amazing and perfect, probably better than the entire rest of the film by a whole octave, if you’ll permit the mixed metaphor. Also, Brit Marling is <3. I can't wait to see Sound of My Voice.

Hugo I thought was a shoe-in until I got to the period where films start to settle and the opinion starts to age a bit. And then I found myself with a pretty big problem. I still think Scorsese managed a minor miracle, especially in terms of 3D and in the marriage of all the disparate elements of film history. And I feel like the story ends up in an amazing place. But it's a weirdly split film, with this great reveal in the second half but a first half that managed (at least to me) to feel out of place. There's an hour of movie there that I feel is a masterpiece, and then the rest of it is simply charming and solid. When it came time to cut stuff, I couldn't justify a movie that I felt was so resolutely half-great when there were movies I felt were full-great, even if they didn't have quite the same highs, that would be getting cut by its inclusion. I still adore it, though. I dunno. SO MUCH CONFLICT.

I'm unsurprised to see Beginners on here, and I'll repeat what I said before: I feel it strange and unsettling that movies like this (and a lot of movies, really) get such limited, arthouse-platform releases these days. I know there was a mess of mediocre tentpoles this year, but god damn this movie should have had an actual opening and marketing and whatnot. It is perfectly suited for just about everyone. That fine, normal movies like this one are marginalized to the 'indie' scene just further serves as proof of the broken nature of film distribution these days. It sucks, and I hate it. But the movie was lovely. Christopher Plummer remains super awesome (he was also my favorite part of Dragon Tattoo, oddly enough).

In closing, great list. I'm glad I didn't have to repeat my Super 8 speech. You're better than that!