MY TOP 12 FILMS OF 2011!

My Top 12 Favorite Films of the Year. Why have I chosen 12 films? The answer is simple: There are 12 months in a year. Thus, one great film for each month. The list is diverse; from Oscar Contenders to absolute nerd bait. But they are my choices and I stand by them. If they were chosen, it's because they lingered with me for a few days, or made me feel something. These are the films that resonated most for me--

12) THE DESCENDANTS

A film that shouldn't work on paper. It's set in a Hawaii but deals with a patient who is in such a severe coma, the main character struggles throughout the film about whether or not to pull the plug. George Clooney gives another effortless performance of a man who was so busy working that he never gave himself the time to be a father to his two young girls. When his wife has a freak accident, he must rise to the occasion and be a real father to his children. To complicate matters he finds out that his comatose wife has cheated on him. Basically this man who hid from life in the beautiful tranquility of Hawaii must now confront life (through the possible death of his wife) head on. It's a quiet, languorous film that is also surprisingly funny. Clooney has a great moment toward the end of the film when he could be a complete asshole to a very unkind character. But instead of blowing up and letting the person have it, he swallows the insults and keeps his dignity. In that moment, George Clooney the actor shines like we've never seen him before. He's a lock for a Best Actor nomination come Academy Award season. Side note: I saw the film a few months after going to Hawaii for the first time and this film perfectly captures the vibe of one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to in my life.

11) MISSION IMPOSSIBLE : GHOST PROTOCOL

Some say the Cruiser is back, I say fuck that, he never left. I'm a huge fan of Cruise. Always have been and always will be. I love this ever evolving series of action films. Every film has its own style. Its own rhythm. Cruise nails every damn stunt in the film. He oozes charisma, charm and swagger all at once. It has a straight forward plot that is propulsive and never lets up. The Dubai scaling the tallest building in the world sequence is a breathtaking moment that must be seen on IMAX to be believed and appreciated. This is the pure definition of a popcorn movie. The audience was gasping at the building sequence. And the sandstorm chase was epic. One of the best times I had at the movies this year. Brad Bird, in his live action debut, delivered big time. Give this man the next Batman reboot, stat!

10) SHAME

Director Steve McQueen knows how to make you squirm while watching what should be erotic. He makes sex icky and disturbing. Michael Fassbender (who will either be the next Bond or the next Batman) gives the best Male Performance of the year as a sex addict. This is the Requiem For A Dream of sex films. Unable to perform with girls he actually likes, he turns to hookers and whores. This only distances him from any real human connections. The only person Fassbender is close to, is his sister played by the damaged Carey Mulligan (who is in two of my favorite films this year). They seem to share a strange and complicated relationship with a hint of incest. Mulligan has a scene where she sings Sinatra's classic New York, New York at a bar. Watch Fassbender's face in the scene and tell me you're not seeing the birth of the next biggest movie star on the planet. A difficult film to watch that doesn't give us any easy answers. Fassbender and Mulligan are so damaged that at one point she tells him: "We're not bad people. We just come from a bad place." A sad, moving and daring film.

9) INSIDIOUS

The Writer/Director of SAW makes his best film. Insidious is hands down the scariest film I've seen in the past five years. If you were to take Poltergeist, Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist and put them in a blender you would get INSIDIOUS. The fact that it was shot for 1.5 million dollars and made 150 million at the box office is astounding. I love that it relies on old fashioned in-camera tricks for the most part. It's creepy and unsettling with top notch performances by Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne. See this with your loved one with all the lights closed. The less you know about the film the better. It may be the best haunted house film ever made.

8) THE TREE OF LIFE

Notorious recluse Terrence Malick delivers a powerful, moving picture and gives Brad Pitt his best role ever. Pitt is a successful man whose dreams of being a musician died long ago. He tries to teach his boys to be tough, smart and ambitious but his limited parental skill set does more harm than good. But he's not a bad man. This film will make you understand your parents better. There were no how-to manuals for child-rearing in the 50's. Parents did their best and relied on instincts, which often resulted in destructive decisions. Sean Penn plays the adult child of Pitt and the end result of such parenting. The film is about evolution, maturity and trying to reach a state of grace. Malick even shows us the evolution of humans in a beautiful sequence that takes us through the big bang and all the way to the dinosaurs. Scenes that linger in my mind... a velociraptor stumbles upon an injured baby dinosaur. Instead of eating it alive, the raptor shows mercy. In that moment, Malick shows us that creatures that appear to be monsters also have undercurrents of compassion and kindness. I can't say I understood the whole film but it did move me. A transporting and meditative film.

7) HANNA

Who would think that the director of Atonement had such awesome action chops? Hanna may be the second best action film of the year. Joe Wright takes a mundane concept -- a father teaches his daughter how to be the ultimate assassin, to basically adapt or die -- and infuses it with a fairy tale sensibility. Cate Blanchett is the Big Bad Wolf and Saiorse Ronan is little Red Riding Hood and the world around them is an evil forest. The score by the Chemical Brothers is awesome (whenever I hear Hanna's action theme I scream -- "Run little Piggy, run!" -- much to the annoyance of my Wife). And Eric Bana has the best hand-to-hand one-take fight I've seen since Oldboy. Hanna is constantly on the run throughout the film and she meets up with a sweet family who has a daughter that instantly takes a shining to Hanna. There is a hint of lesbianism between the two young girls but Wright keeps it classy. Hanna is a rarity: A great soulful action film.

6) LIMITLESS

This is the film that showed me Bradley Cooper is a movie star. After watching Limitless, I joked that this was the best film about cocaine ever made. Of course, the substance he uses in the film isn't yeyo but damn if it isn't a metaphor for it. Cooper plays a disheveled writer, whose career and life is in the shitter. A chance meeting with his ex-wife's brother-in-law provides him the opportunity to try a new superdrug that is purported to make you access your entire brain instead of the commonly-held belief that we only use 10%. And just like that he gets his life back; he writes his novel in a few days, he gets the girl of his dreams back, he's able to see patterns in the stock exchange but it all comes at a deadly price. It's a Faustian tale with a surprising ending. The fact, that it almost felt like a superhero origin story also put this film in my top 12 list. I'd also like to see a sequel. A film that surprised me at every turn. Limitless lived up to its name.

5) XMEN : FIRST CLASS

This is Marvel's Batman Begins. A complete reboot that improves and surpasses the original Xmen series. Taking the film into the swinging 60's during the Cuban Missile crises was a genius move. Matthew Vaughn has yet to make a film that I didn't like. He knows action and always gives us compelling characters that we love and root for. Case in point: Michael Fassbender (what a year he had with this and Shame). McFassy (as I like to call him) is basically James Bond with superpowers for the first hour of the film. In fact, I would watch a 2 hour Magneto the Nazi Hunter film anytime. Macavoy is great as a randy Professor X and the ending is heartbreaking. I wish they held back and kept Magneto and Charles friends for at least one more film. This might be the best XMEN film ever made.

4) HUGO

Firstly, you must see this film in 3D. Truly the best usage of 3D since AVATAR. Scorsese uses all the new cinematic tricks of the future to look back at cinema's past. A beautiful, painterly film that has a strong beating heart. Ben Kingsley's character is a heartbreaker and will surely garner him an Oscar Nomination for Best Supporting Actor. More than anything this film made me appreciate the filmmakers of the past whose innovations made a film like Hugo possible. This is a love letter to movies and the dreams they inspire in all of us.

3) THE HELP

I saw The Help a few days ago. I had zero expectations. Man, did this film take me by surprise! I can't remember the last time I was this moved by a film. I felt rage every ten minutes at the indignities the maids had to undergo. I wanted to reach into screen, through time itself and shake some sense into those southern Valley of the Dolls robots. The little girl in the film broke my heart. Viola Davis is a lock for an Oscar. In fact, I would be surprised if she doesn't win. Her words to the little white girl she took care of is something that I will in turn tell me daughter on a daily basis: "You are smart, you are kind, you are important." The Help made me tear up more than I'm willing to admit. If I was a betting man, The Help is this years Crash. It is the sleeping giant that might just take the big award come Oscar night.

2) RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

A film in which the main character is an ape who doesn't speak for almost the entire running time. This is basically a silent film. Apes is the biggest surprise of the year for me and was almost my number one film. This film should not have worked. The humans are secondary characters. Like the title, it's the Apes who rule the film. Andy Serkis deserves a nomination for his breakthrough role as Ceaser. John Lithgow as the father afflicted by Alzheimer's was fantastic. This film has so many special moments; when Franco abandons Ceaser at the Sanctuary, it's heartbreaking... Ceaser running through the red wood forests of San Francisco... Ceaser asking his master if he is a pet... Ceaser speaking for the first time, screaming "NO!" All wowza moments in a wowza film. I can't wait for the sequel. Ceaser is kind to humans but a war will erupt between the kind apes and the warrior apes... and I will be there opening day!

1) DRIVE

Motherfucking DRIVE. The only film I saw 3 times in a theatre this year. A film in which Ryan Gosling barely has 25 lines of dialogue but owns the screen like Steve Mcqueen used to in the 70's. A film that made me feel cooler than I actually am. A film that made me drive faster. A film that will put hair on your chest, even if you're a girl. A masterpiece on par with Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs. Forget THOR, Green Lantern or Captain America, DRIVE was the best superhero film of the year. The Driver sacrificed himself for a girl he knew he could never have. That's some noble shit. Nicholas Windig Refn is the next Christopher Nolan. A guy who understands genre and can give us memorable iconic characters. And the jacket... the iconic silver jacket with the gold scorpion on the back, that keeps getting bloodier and bloodier as the Driver gets into deeper and deeper chaos. The elevator sequence is my favorite of the year. It is the entire movie encapsulated in one scene: Tremendous beauty one moment and terrible graphic violence the next. The look on Carey Mulligan's face at the end of the elevator scene is heartbreaking. The Driver just saved her life but she will never see him the same way again. Not after that burst of insane violence. Bryan Cranston is tremendous as the constant screw-up and Albert Brooks will win the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. The way Brooks plays his character as a guy with a shady past who's trying to get out of the shade but has to revert to his old self to save his skin is sad... We feel sympathy for Brooks despite the fact he's a homicidal maniac. And the soundtrack by Cliff Martinez with the help of Kavinsky and others is pure heaven for an 80's boy. It's also in constant rotation in my car. If I were voting for the Best Film of the Year, DRIVE would get my vote. See. It. Now. You'll thank me later.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

HARRY POTTER & THE DEATHLY HALLOWS part 2: A classy ending to a classy franchise. This series could've been drivel but it wasn't. The kids grew up and it was sad to see them go.

TINTIN: Another great usage of 3D. The Bagghar one-take chase sequence is pure cinema and one of the best action scenes of the year.

HANGOVER 2: Don't care if it was a carbon copy of the original. I laughed my ass off and will follow these guys anywhere.

TROLL HUNTER: A great foreign film with convincing effects. Completely unexpected. A hell of a ride.

THOR: Surprisingly good with a great performance by Chris Hemsworth as the titular character.

FLOWERS OF WAR: Christian Bale is great in a film that told the story of 12 prostitutes in China during WWII who gave their lives to save a dozen children.

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO: Fincher has never made a bad film & he's not about to start now. Tattoo is the definitive version of the best-selling novel. Mara is captivating as a female Goth-Batman & The score by Trent Reznor is unsettling.

DIE: A little film I wrote that deals with fate, chance and chaos.

Next year will be huge... a little film called THE DARK KNIGHT RISES is coming out. I wonder where it will sit on my top 12 list?

Happy New Year Everyone!!!

Your Friend,

D.

FINAL POSTER FOR THE FILM I WROTE: D I E

The Final Poster for the Film I wrote called D I E. I must commend the artist on a great job. It looks like the comic book cover of a graphic novel. I'm rather fond of this poster and look forward to hanging it in my office. The man with the Christ-like visage in the poster is the magnificent John Pyper-Ferguson as the villainous JACOB ODD. (Click on the poster to Super-Size it).

Roll the Die. Let Fate decide.

Emily Hampshire as Lisa Meridian-- surrounded by mysterious light.

A victim of Fate.

The always awesome Elias Koteas as a good cop trapped in a bad situation.

When hope is gone.

Former Bond Girl Caterina Murino as Detective Sofia Valenti.

That's all for now.

Your Friend,

D.

Before we get to the review, I would like to say a few words. Firstly, this reviewer definitely got it. It was always my intention to write the villain of the piece as a Batman-esque rogue and the fact that he noticed means that on some level, it worked. The antagonist, Jacob Odd, was meant to be a realistic supervillain and John Pyper Ferguson did a magnificent job in the role. I'm very happy with the film and can't wait to hear what everyone else thinks about it.

Your Friend,

D.

The Strangers.

THE REVIEW by TODD MARTIN can be found at:

http://horrornews.net/30519/film-review-die-2010/

When I first heard what “Die” was about the first thing that crossed my mind was that it was nothing more than a “Saw” rip-off. I went into it with less than high expectations and was pretty sure that it was just going to be another poorly done “Saw” clone and nothing more. I couldn’t have been more wrong. While the basic premise may be similar to “Saw” it is by no stretch of the imagination just a poor imitation. I thought that it was a pretty good movie and in its own way it was pretty original. Once you get past the whole “it’s a movie where people are forced to play a game or die” and give it a chance it isn’t a bad film at all.

I think that what makes this movie good is the basic idea behind it. The people being held captive are forced to roll a die (there is a back story as to why the guy holding them hostage makes them roll a die, but I’ll let you find that out for yourself when you watch it) and then the outcome of their roll impacts someone else. For example, a man has to role a die and what number it lands on he must put that many bullets in a gun and shoot at the person. Another woman has to roll the die and what number it lands on depends on how many minutes a man has to be submerged under water (if it lands on 1 it is only one minute, 2 is 2 minutes and so on). I just thought that it was a cool idea that hasn’t been done before as far as I know and it was fun to watch the outcome of each roll of the die. I’ll give it to the writer that this is a pretty cool concept for a film and I think that most viewers would agree.

It isn’t ultra violent, but I was so into the story that I didn’t really mind this time around (normally I am one of those people who thinks the more violent and gory a movie is the better). We get a guy getting his brain blown out, a drowning, and someone who has a large portion of their blood drained from their body but other than that there wasn’t a great deal of slicing and dicing. The deaths are pretty subtle, but I thought that it worked considering the overall tone of the movie. I think that if the death scenes would have been over the top hardcore and blood drenched that they wouldn’t have quite worked. The movie has a more realistic feel to it and I liked the fact that the filmmakers didn’t try to make the deaths super violent and gory (wow, being a gore hound myself I never thought I would make such a statement. The end of the world may be nigh, fellas).

I really liked the cast of characters as well. Elias Koteas (who is looking pretty rough and worse for wear these days) is top notch as Mark, the suicidal cop who is under investigation for killing someone. Emily Hampshire is also equally good as the woman who isn’t so happy to be a mother who suffers from a gambling addiction. The person who steals the show though, is John Pyper-Ferguson who does a great job playing the demented antagonist Jacob Odd. I thought that this character was just kick ass and he would make a perfect Batman villain. I wouldn’t necessarily say that he is an evil person as in his sick and twisted mind he thinks he is helping the people he abducts. He has a pretty cool back story and he is just so insane and out there you can’t help but like him. Though his methods may be a little unorthodox I think that deep down he truly wants to help others, so in my opinion I can’t really say that the character is a bad person.

I thought that the ending was great as well. There are a couple of pretty cool twists toward the end that I didn’t see coming and both of them work. I am not going to say a word about either one as I want you to find these out for yourself when you watch them, but let’s just say that at least one of them comes completely out of nowhere and I could actually see it happening in real life. The ending leaves things open for a sequel, and I really hope that the filmmakers follow through. I know I wouldn’t mind seeing the next chapter of the story.

The Trials.

I was really into “Die.” While it is more of a thriller than a horror movie I still thought it was good and I enjoyed it. Some people may not give it a chance as they may dismiss it as a “Saw” knock off, but I assure you that isn’t the case. It is well-written, suspenseful, and has a couple of cool twists that make you think. I urge you to check it out. I think that you will be pleasantly surprised.

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL CELLULOID IMAGE OF THE YEAR (2010)

For my money, nothing comes close to this magical, ominous shot of the city folding in on itself from Christopher Nolan's INCEPTION. This is the image of the year, hands down. It's something we've never seen before. It's a frightening prospect that you can't take your eyes off of. It represents confusion and chaos in an anything can happen world... which we happen to be living in. This is just an extreme example of what our minds can accomplish.

Beautiful image.

Your Friend,

D.

TOP TWELVE FILMS OF 2010!

1) THE FIGHTER

My top 12 films of the year. Why 12? Because there are 12 months in a year. One great film for each month.

I really vacillated between the number 1 and 2 spots but in the end the story with more heart wins... and THE FIGHTER is nothing but heart and soul. The Fighter is part Raging Bull, part Rocky but in reality it's Raging Family. This is arguably Mark Whalberg's finest acting moment on screen and it's a shame that his low key performance will go virtually unnoticed because of one man: Christian Bale. The Dark Knight lifts this film to an entirely new level. I never thought I'd find a crackhead lovable but Bale managed to make me care so much for such an utterly lost and selfish character. The Best Supporting Actor statue is his. Everyone else need not apply.

The Fighter is a film about family. It's about how a family can be at one a place of comfort and an entity which holds you back from self-actualizing and becoming the person you always dreamed of. Micky Ward (Marky-Mark) desperately wants to be the champion of the world but his crackhead brother, his selfish over-bearing mother (the great Melissa Leo) and his crazy brood of sisters all stand in his way, until he meets Amy Adams. She opens his eyes and pushes him in the direction of independence. The Fighter is also about second chances. Because of Micky the entire family is redeemed. The all get a second chance to do things right and it's all on Micky's very generous shoulders. It's such a great film. Watched it twice and it still moved me.

Funny, last year the Joker won the Best Supporting Actor award and this year Batman will take home the big prize. This film will make you cheer, it will make you cry and the final moment with Bale and Whalberg on the sofa had my throat lumping in way that I hadn't felt in a movie in the longest time. Give this film all your love because it deserves it and it will, in my humble opinion, pull a CRASH and upset all the Oscar pundits by winning the best film of the year.

2) INCEPTION

One of the Best Living Directors of our time getting to make his own very personal film on the most epic scale possible... and the masses went nuts for it. I'm a huge Nolan fan, as I'm sure you know. He can do wrong. Everyone in the film is great. The film has a cold sheen to it but beneath the coldness lies the story of a man who just wants to get home to his kids and the final moments when Dominic Cobb (Leo's character) is walking through the airport in anticipation of seeing his kids for the first time in years is both thrilling and heartbreaking. With Zimmer's score making the hair on the back of my neck stand, you just want Dom to hug his kids forever. As a new father, this scene resonated on a deep level. I hope that the top stopped spinning and that Dom is playing with his kids in the backyard with a big goofy grin on his face.

3) ANIMAL KINGDOM

What can I say about this tiny Australian film that I saw with no advance word, no trailer, I just sat down and the film put a gun to my temple and blew the back of my head onto the wall. I grew up with the mafia all around me and this film felt real. Grandma Smurf (Jackie Weaver deserves a Best Supporting Actress nom) is vicious, cruel and vain. She destroys in this film. Guy Pierce is the voice of sanity as the one good cop. What an awesome Australian mob story. There's a scene where a main character cruelly kills an innocent girl, that scene and the scene when the boyfriend of said girl realizes what happens, shook me. When someone you care passes, you look at the remnants of the little things that made up their lives, like a t-shirt or a small makeup kit and just looking at these innocuous objects can shake you to your core. Animal Kingdom is a must see. Powerful stuff.

4) 127 HOURS

I saw an advert on Santa Monica Blvd that said that 127 Hours is a disarming film. Made me laugh but it shortchanges what is a magical and brilliant film. It takes a special kind of genius to make a film about a man stuck in a crevice and make it exciting, visceral and spiritually uplifting. That man is Danny Boyle. James Franco gives the performance of a lifetime. The scene which is making people faint is powerful but the scene right after is redemptive, it will put tears in your eyes. Great film.

5) ENTER THE VOID

After watching Gaspar Noe's latest film I wasn't sure if I liked it. But it stayed with me. Three days later I was still dreaming about it. Lurid and graphic in its sexuality and sleaze, this is a film for film buffs. It's a powerful and colorful burst of energy and the closest we will come to dying in every day life. This film shows us death as conceived by Noe by way of the Tibetan Book of The Dead. I am dying for Gaspar to make a slightly more commercial or genre film just to see what his version of an action film or a horror film would be because there are segments of ENTER THE VOID that rival any horror film ever made.

6) THE SOCIAL NETWORK

This is a film that will come to define a generation. Generation me-me-me-me-me, please look at me! I'm guilty of it too. Everyone wants to be looked at, adulated, worshiped in one way or another. It's just that Mark Zuckerburg found a way to monetize his, and our, me-obsession. The film is made by master filmmaker David Fincher who keeps perfecting the art of directing with each successive film. The word genius is thrown around a lot, but it definitely applies to Finch. The performances are great and I expect this film to receive multiple nominations but it is cold. Frosty. It's about callous people who are taking advantage of others. The only person who comes away unscathed is Garfield (aka the new Spiderman). He is the one we root for. A great film with a cold heart.

7) THE TOWN

Ben Affleck is the man. Handsome. Talented. His films are down-to-earth pot-boilers about real people in life and death situations. Expertly directed. I bought every moment of this film. Jeremy Renner is great as usual as the loose cannon. The best compliment I can give this film is that it made me want to rob a bank and I'm not a violent man.

8) KICK ASS

One of the best times I had in a movie theatre is watching kick ass unfold. I loved the comic book but this took the comic to a new dimension and much of the credit must go to little Chloe Moretz (who was also great in Let Me In). Hit Girl was sensational. She was a tiny stick of dynamite just waiting to go off at any moment. Matthew Vaungh is one of the cleanest action directors working right now. When Big Daddy (a great Nic Cage doing his best Adam West impersonation) breaks into the mobsters warehouse and proceeds to take everyone down in what seems like one take. That was a wowza moment in a movie with at least three other wowza moments. Whenever Hit Girl came on the screen, the crowd went wild. The Best action film of the year. Hands down. The fact that it deconstructed the hero myth was a bonus.

9) SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD

Speaking of deconstructing the superhero myth. Edgar Wright's unfairly maligned gem Scott Pilgrim deconstructed the entire video game generation aka me and my peers. This film will become a classic in years to come. From the music, to the sound effects, this film put a huge grin on my face for the entire run time. It is also unabashedly romantic. A great date movie with a strong coming of age theme. In fact, the film could've been called Scott Pilgrim grows up and leaves his selfishness behind. I can't say it's for everyone but if you give it a chance, Scott Pilgrim will win you over.

10) THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT

Yes it has some sitcom-y moments (like when the mom walks in on the kid mistakenly watching gay porn and she assumes he's gay) but it also has Mark F-ing Ruffalo in one of the best supporting roles of the year (if Bale wasn't so good in THE FIGHTER, Ruffalo would've won the Award). This is an actor's piece through and through. Benning will most likely win for Best Actress based solely on her quiet shock-reaction to finding out about an ultimate betrayal. I love the way lesbianism in the film is handled like it's no big deal... because it isn't! Ruffalo plays the slacker father/donor to perfection and the kids in the film are great. Laughed a lot during this one. It has a good heart and an even greater message about family, loyalty and love.

11) GHOST WRITER

A film that nearly slipped through the cracks for me. Obi-1 and James Bond are basically given great roles and run away with them. A finely crafted thriller by the still great Roman Polanski. This film had me on the edge of my seat and the production design for Brosnan's compound was gorgeous and lush. Made me want to live in that big, grey art deco house. Best thriller of the year with an absolutely haunting ending.

12) TRON LEGACY

Another film that the geeks were hard on because Tron had 28 years of expectations riding on its light-cycle. For me, the film clicked early on when Sam Flynn was riding his motorcycle in the real world being chased by cops and the "Son of Flynn" song played on the giant Imax speakers. I was all in at that point. The reason: Jeff Bridges is not the star of this film, neither is Garrett Hedlund, not even the dazzling special effects are the stars of this film. The true stars of Tron Legacy are the french duo DAFT PUNK. Their propulsive score elevates this film to the next level of bleeding edge coolness. DAFT PUNK were genetically engineered to score TRON LEGACY. It's the best soundtrack of the year (just beating out Hans Zimmer's great Inception score). No matter what critics say this film delivers emotion, thrills and images that will burn your retinas... and Jeff Bridges is great in a low key performance that hits the right notes. Hedlund reminds me of a young Christian Slater and Olivia Wilde is impossibly hot in her sleek Tron outfit. Great effects and awesome score make this a must see on the biggest screen possible.

Special mentions for films that just barely missed out on being in the top 12:

CATFISH - The end result of the Social Network. Haunting and heartbreaking. Rumors are that it's a hoax. Who cares. The film got to me, regardless. Great cautionary tale.

MONSTERS - A film that did so much with so little. Great performances and great effects on a non-existent budget. Made me want to shoot a film in my backyard.

THE CRAZIES - F-ing scary and relentlessly directed by Breck Eisner. One of the scariest films of the year. Timothy Olyphant brings home another solid performance. Love him.

CELDA 211 (Cell 211) - It would've been in my top 12 but it came out last year and I only saw it last month. The Best prison break film I've ever seen and I'd kill to do an english language remake. A great Spanish film that deserves to be sought out and studied for the precise way it's directed and written. Great script. Great set-ups and payoffs. I can't speak more highly for this film.

Have a Happy Holiday and a great New Year.

Team OCULARSTORM

DIE TEASER POSTER

I am proud to present the official Teaser poster of the film I wrote titled DIE (directed by frequent collaborator Dominic Laurence James).

We shot the film last year and it will be released next spring. The title has a double meaning. Think about it and it will come to you. Does the film have comic book influences? What do you think? If Two-Face had a crazy brother his name would be JACOB ODD. You'll know more about him after you see the film.

What is DIE about? I hate giving away secrets, thus I will opt to remain nebulous. Suffice it to say that DIE is an epic locked room mystery with global consequences. It's about fate versus pre-determinism and how choice and chance affect who we will become... and of course people will die horribly.

Six sides to a die. Six ways to die.

Terrifying scene that was even scarier to watch as it was being filmed. The film is called DIE, not everyone makes it out alive.

The always fantastic Elias Koteas making the most important decision he'll ever have to make. A true gentleman. An actor's actor.

Stephen MacHattie teaching a lesson. You've seen him in everything from WATCHMEN to 300. An industry veteran. Much respect.

The alluring Caterina Murino (the Bond girl from Casino Royale) in a pivotal scene.

His fate has been decided.

Jacob Odd (the awesome John Pyper Ferguson) displaying his sensitive side.

Our heroine, the ever resourceful Emily Hampshire.

I have to admit, it really is cool when you see something you worked on so hard come to life. Sometimes I can't even believe that there's a film out there about to be released, which bears my name in the credits. It's a mind-blasting notion. As soon as I'm allowed to post a trailer, it will be here. Stay tuned.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts upon seeing DIE.

DS

A TASTE OF WHAT"S TO COME

Something the Ocularstorm Crew has been working on. It's a dream project and we collectively feel this is our favorite one.

Can't wait to say more.

The Ocular Staff