Dueling Reviews Best of 2012/2013: Director vs. Weatherman. Part of an occasional series.

We went on hiatus last year so we’re making up for it with a special 2-year “best of” smackdown:

BEST FILM
Director: The Wolf of Wall Street - Martin Scorsese is the only director I trust to show me a three-hour twisted tale of debauchery.
Weatherman: Zero Dark Thirty - 
I really liked it, and we caught bin Laden in the end. Who doesn’t love a happy ending?

WORST FILM
Director: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - I wasn’t expecting much after Part 1, but Part 2 was even more painful to watch. The Hobbit is what happens when you take the couple of stupid things Peter Jackson did in Lord Of Rings and turn those into a 6hr+ trilogy. And even more frustrating are those moments of good moviemaking here and there that peek through all the bullshit.
Weatherman: There was a Titantic 3D?!?!?!?!?!

BEST ACTOR
Director: Daniel Day Lewis in Lincoln - DDL for win #4.
Weatherman: Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln - Say what you want about the movie -- the fact is I fell asleep about 90 minutes in but that might be because I’m getting old -- Daniel Day-Lewis plays a mean Abraham Lincoln. Also sort of a lifetime achievement award for me, cause I think he’s a boss.

WORST ACTOR
Director: Charlie Hunnam, Pacific Rim - He didn’t have much to work with, but he didn’t exactly give it his all either.
Weatherman: Danny McBride - I didn’t see anything he was in the last two years. Thank God.


BEST ACTRESS
Director: Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games / Silver Linings Playbook / X-Men: First Class - After watching 2010’s best film Winter’s Bone I knew she was destined for greatness (and yes I also have a thing for her).
Weatherman: Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games - 
Sooooo hot, want to touch the hiney. Shoots a mean bow-and-arrow.

WORST ACTRESS
Director: Michelle Rodriguez as Luz in Machete Kills - I know she’s been typecast as the badass Latina chick, but she’s not even very good at it. Sort of a lifetime achievement award for being terrible.
Weatherman: Queen Latifa as Georgia Byrd in Last Holiday - 
Might as well re-name this the Queen Latifa award. This isn’t a 2012 or 2013 movie, but I saw it this year while sitting in a jury duty waiting room in Baltimore City. It’s as interesting as it sounds. Jury duty, that is. As for the movie, it had a good plot (SPOILER ALERT): woman discovers she is sick and decides to spend her life-savings on the vacation she always wanted and chases her dream to become a famous chef. But Queen Latifa just never comes across believable to me in anything that she does. As long as she pumps out movies, she’ll be in the running in this category.

MOST OVERRATED
Director: The Avengers - Yes, it was a fun movie. No, it was not the best superhero movie ever.
Weatherman: The Hunger Games - 
Now that Ray Lewis is retired, guess we need to come up with a new name for this award. Listen, The Hunger Games was good movie, but all the hype around it really rubs me the wrong way. Maybe my dismay is rooted in jealousy for the author of the book, who’s made millions off of it. One day…

MOST UNDERRATED
Director: Dredd - An awesome film that nobody saw. It’s bloody violent, funny, just plain fun, and it’s got Karl Urban (Dr. McCoy in Star Trek, Eomer in Lord of the Rings) as the badass Judge Dredd. His mouth is the only thing you ever see in the film — that’s acting. Do you like one-liners? Do you like explosive violence? Do you like dispensing justice. . .with a gun? Then see this film immediately.
Weatherman: Trouble with the Curve - Clint Eastwood as an old, cranky baseball scout. What isn’t there to love?

BEST COMEDY
Director: The Pirates! - From the studio that brought us Wallace and Gromit. A goofy, fun, claymation adventure in the pirate world. A welcome respite from “adult” comedies.
Weatherman: Honestly, I don’t think I saw a comedy in theaters. What I Debbie Downer I am. No, but really I avoided The Hangover and Anchorman sequels. I recently watched "We're the Millers," on TV so I guess that will have to count here, although I fell asleep during it. Honorable mention to “The Best of Jimmy Fallon” on NBC that I watched the other weekend. I haven’t watched much of that show but he seemed pretty funny a bunch of times.

BEST ACTION
Director: The Raid: Redemption / The Expendables 2 - For great Kung-Fu action check out The Raid, about a police squad that gets trapped in a drug-lord’s apartment building. To see Arnold killing people while riding shotgun in a Smart car and Chuck Norris being Chuck Norris, see The Expendables 2.
Weatherman: Crooked Arrows - What’s this you say? It’s a lacrosse movie. It wasn’t really widely released nationally, but on a smaller amount of screens. But if you’ve never seen lacrosse, check it out. It’s about a group of Native American kids who play against a mostly white prep school team. Kind of like Mighty Ducks, but with lacrosse sticks.

BEST TV
Director: I’ve been watching Dexter each night and it’s dark and funny and fun all at the same time. Unfortunately, Psych is on its last season, fortunately all its seasons are on Netflix. It’s goofy and zany and I love good detective stories.
Weatherman: Now we get the heart of these awards. I’m much more of a TV guy now. I believe this is a golden age for the medium. 

1) I got hooked on season three of Homeland and watched it in about two weeks. Any show that has you shaking or palms sweating is a good one. Can’t wait for season four. 

2) The Newsroom: I’m a journo. Need I say more. Jeff Daniels as the lead? Count me in. From a journalism perspective, the storylines are pretty accurate. Some of the dialogue between the characters is not, but what do you expect from show creator Aaron Sorkin, he of The West Wing where the characters basically ran around a fictional White House dispensing encyclopediatic knowledge without Google.

3) Charlie Rose on PBS. Best interviewer in the game, hands down.

WORST TV
Director: All of the “reality” shows on once proud channels like Discovery and History.
Weatherman: The Kardashians on E! and any Real Housewives show on Bravo. My girlfriend loves them, and I want to cry.

AWARDS GRAB BAG
Director’s Biggest Surprise: Jack Reacher - I didn’t expect much going into this but it turned out to be a solid detective/action film. Reacher is an ex-MP who seeks justice and plays by his own rules. It’s got one of the best car chases I’ve seen in a while through a city (full disclosure: Pittsburgh) and it’s got Wernor Herzog (!) as the villain.

Weatherman’s Hottest Jaun: Julie Bowen in “Modern Family.” - I just have a thing for her. Did you know she was the girl in Happy Gilmore? I didn't realize it!

Director’s Biggest Disappointment: Iron Sky - This low budget German film about a lost Nazi Colony on the moon coming back to Earth for revenge looked like a fun nonsensical so-bad-it’s-good film in the vein of Machete or Black Dynamite. Unfortunately it was just plain bad.

Weatherman’s New Sports Channel to Check Out: 
Fox Sports 1, the new cable channel - 
They’re billing themselves as just pure entertainment, which sounds good by me for a sports channel. I don’t love everything on it, but some stuff is pretty good. For instance, Randy Moss had a weekly segment called “Straight Cash Homey” on Fox Football Daily.

Director’s Best Film to See in the Theater but Worst at Home: Pacific Rim - Loved it in the theater when the giant robots are towering over you and fighting monsters. At home, on the TV, without that sense of awe, a lot of the film’s flaws were revealed like the bad plot, script, etc.

Weatherman’s Show I Stopped Watching: 
“The League” on FX, or is it FXX? Maybe that was the problem.

Director’s Best Use of 3D: Gravity - This is a great survival flick and one of the best of the year - just a woman trying to stay alive... in space! One of the only films that I can say is a must-see in 3D.

Director’s Best Film You Probably Haven’t Seen: Killer Joe - William Friedkin, director of The Exorcist and The French Connection is making a comeback. A trailer park kid and his dad decide to hire a contract killer to off their mom/ex-wife and collect her life insurance. Since they can’t pay upfront, "Killer Joe" demands his ways with the kid’s innocent sister. This film is dark and violent and thrilling in all the right ways. And Matthew McConaughey is terrifying as Killer Joe. Glad to see him hide his abs and stretch his legs these last couple years in some interesting roles.

Director’s Recommended Documentaries: - Strangely enough, as a documentary filmmaker I don't watch very many documentaries. But there are some standouts: Jiro Dreams of Sushi on Netflix for a look behind the scenes of the top-rated sushi chef in the world, who is 85 and still going strong. Although I haven't watched it yet, The Act of Killing on Netflix sounds intriguing and has been nominated for an Academy Award, is about two former Indonesian death squad leaders. If you're in NYC head to Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and see the Dark Universe planetarium show for a fun trip through the universe (and learn some things along the way). For a quick 3-min doc check out Reindeer Wrangling in the arctic. Finally, for some old-school goodness check out this very fun short doc Academy Award winner on glass blowing called Glas.