Top 10 of 2012 – Adelaide’s Picks

January 17th, 2013 | POSTED BY Adelaide Blair

 7. The Social Network (2010)

I do not much care for David Fincher’s movies. I generally find them to be cold, often borderline misogynistic, and much more conventional than their slick surfaces would have you believe. To some degree, all of those adjectives can be applied to The Social Network, but it’s good in spite of it, and maybe more truthful because of those qualities. It tells a story about the founding of Facebook, and it does so with a tight script, great performances, and agile direction. It’s a riveting story about some pretty unsympathetic people, and it’s told well.




6. The Manitou (1978)

This movie is batshit crazy and it is awesome. Tony Curtis is a fake psychic who may or may not have real powers. His girlfriend, played by Susan Strasberg, gets this weird growth on the back of her neck that keeps getting bigger. Turns out, there is an ancient Indian medicine man growing back there, and pretty soon he is going to get man-sized and really mean. Tony Curtis joins forces with a shaman played by Michael Ansara, and they struggle to rid the world of this growing evil. There is nothing I can do to prepare you for the wonder that is this movie. It has an insane premise balanced with a wonderful cast, and it should not be missed. LOVED IT.

5. Argo (2012)

Yes, there are some legitimate questions regarding the portrayal of Iran in this movie, and yes, the women in this film could be slightly more interesting, but it sucked me in and I fell for it, hook, line, and sinker. It’s an old-school man drama, and the real star of the film is its pacing. Any movie that can put me on edge just by watching John Goodman and Alan Arkin walk from one end of the set to the other is doing its job. I never ever thought I would say this, but Ben Affleck is kind of awesome. (I think Good Will Hunting is a giant piece of sentimental crap, and never really got interested when Affleck started directing. I’m very glad to have been proven wrong.)




4. Your Sister’s Sister (2012)

I super love this movie about two sisters spending some time with a male friend at their father’s island cabin. It’s both funny and romantic, which is something I usually never get when watching a romantic comedy anymore. The chemistry between the two sisters, played by Emily Blunt and Rosemarie DeWitt, is really touching, and Mark Duplass nails it as a lovable loser. I do wish that he had been more lovable and less loser, but he was at least believable as a romantic interest and not a total jackass like lots of dudes in romance movies. (Not that the women in these films are much better.) I liked everybody in this film, which is rare for me. I cared about what happened to them, and even when things veered off into improbability land, the tone never became falsely sentimental or emotionally manipulative. (For the guys: my husband also really enjoyed this.)




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2 Days in New York, Alan Arkin, Argo, Ayrton Senna, Ball of Fire, Ben Affleck, Bernie, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Charles Ruggles, David Fincher, David Siegal, Edward Everett Horton, Emily Blunt, Good Will Hunting, Herbert Marshall, In Name Only, Jackie Siegel, John Goodman, Kay Francis, Ken Russell, Magic Mike, Mark Duplass, Matthew McConaughey, Michael Ansara, Michael Redgrave, Miriam Hopkins, Oliver Reed, Public Speaking, Richard Linklater, Rosemarie DeWitt, Senna, Shirley MacLaine, Sound of My Voice, Susan Strasberg, The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford, The Browning Version, The Devils, The Gatekeepers, The Manitou, The Queen of Versailles, The Social Network, Three Godfathers, Tony Curtis, Trouble in Paradise, Vanessa Redgrave, Your Sister's Sister