Honorable Mentions: American Reunion, Dredd, Looper
End of Watch: Subversion is essentially a foreign concept in the world of police procedurals. Traditionally, thee stories tend to follow a group of cops investigating who is behind a series of criminal acts (typically murders) without really divulging who these characters are outside of their professional lives. End of Watch approaches the genre differently. Writer/director David Ayer spends just as much time developing the men (Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Pena-both outstanding) behind the badge as it does following them around as they try to survive after getting marked by a cartel following their discovery of a human trafficking operation during a routine call. Taking the time to develop these characters' lives as well as their relationship with each other gives End of Watch a rawer, more human feel and elevates the emotional impact of the unexpected ending.
The Expendables 2: Sylvester Stallone had a very simple goal with The Expendables: assemble an all- star team of action stars from past and present to make a vintage, over-the-top blockbuster. Considering that the film featured a murder's row of genre legends and an abundance of electrifying action sequences filled with applause-worthy moments (Terry Crews mowing people down in a narrow hallway with an AA-12 shotgun, Dolph Lundgren harpooning a pirate torso's to the wall, Randy Couture spearing Stone Cold Steve Austin into a ring of fire), it's safe to say that he achieved that goal with ease. The Expendables 2 managed to do an even better job of bringing Stallone's maximalist vision to life. Embracing a lighter, more self-aware tone, bringing on the slyly charismatic Jean-Claude Van Damme as the villain and of course, continuing to deliver tremendous bursts of massive, gory action made this a note perfect recreation of the late 80's/early 90's action movie aesthetic.
Smashed: This way under-the-radar indie triumph may contain the single most realistic portrayal of alcoholism I've ever seen on screen. Through its grounded script that never even comes close to fetishizing this delicate subject matter and a completely fearless performance from Mary Elizabeth Winstead as an elementary school teacher who reluctantly begins going to AA meetings following an embarrassing public intoxication incident, Smashed highlights the ugly revelations that come to light once the haze of perpetual intoxication goes away as well as the huge challenges that come with trying to shake an addiction that has dictated how you lived your life for so long. It's a beautiful, devastating and important movie that deserves to (and hopefully will) find an audience at some point.
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