2012 was a ho-hum year for "serious" cinema. As proof, the Oscar race has narrowed to films like the chipper Argo and dreary Zero Dark Thirty — a chase so routine that the alternative is a Steven Spielberg period piece as wholesome and agreeable as enriched bread. But it was also a banner year for the films that we'll still want to watch in 2022: Ambitious over-reachers (Cloud Atlas, The Master, Les Miserables), loony passion projects (Killer Joe, Magic Mike, The Paperboy), and perfect popcorn flicks (Step Up 4, The Expendables 2, Premium Rush).
That last category is frequently left off top ten lists, but it deserves our applause. When studios get tired of risking $250 million on a single blockbuster (and audiences get tired of paying $14 just to keep up with water cooler conversation), mid-priced modest hits like Looper will be our collective salvation — and help build the next generation of filmmakers and stars. The films that made my Top Ten did so because they were bold, memorable and flawless (or at least two of the three). But of course, if critics can judge art, we should take our own creative risks. And so I've written my remarks in haiku.
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Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña spent months developing the brotherly rapport they share as LAPD officers under fire in End of Watch, out Friday from director David Ayer. Channel a fraction of that effort in composing your best haiku ode to the Gyllen-Peña cop drama and you could win a T-shirt and signed poster from the film. Unholster those typing fingers!
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In honor of today's horror extravaganza Cabin in the Woods, pen a masterful horror-themed haiku and you could win a bounty of Cabin swag! Included in the grand prize: A Cabin t-shirt, a signed poster, the visualization "movie tie-in" book, the novelization (so you can understand the twists and turns and surprises at hand), and your very own Cabin in the Woods expanding bong (to, um, help you expand your mind and grasp what writer-producer Joss Whedon and director Drew Goddard are doing in this ultra meta-horror send-up). [UPDATE 4/16, 9:30 a.m. ET: The deadline has moved up! Read on for details...]
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Here at Movieline readers have to work for their hard-earned prizes, but today we have a haiku contest that should also engage your inner child and tap into the most whimsical, fantastical depths of your imagination: Write an original haiku inspired by this weekend's colorful and witty Snow White retelling Mirror Mirror -- a movie featuring heroines in swan dresses and people wearing boats as hats! -- and you could win dinner and a movie for four! UPDATED: See the winning entry below!
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This won't come nearly close to matching the poetry witnessed throughout last week's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy premiere giveaway contest (or the tense, masterful symphony of the film itself, chock-full of your favorite British thesps and "Pillow lipped chameleons"), but: "Thanks to all who played/With odes to Tinker, Tailor.../Winners after the jump!"
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Attention all spy genre enthusiasts, Cold War buffs and Gary Oldman fans: Movieline is giving away three (3) pairs of VIP tickets to the Los Angeles premiere of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy to the trio of readers who come up with the most clever haiku poems dedicated to one of the film's stars.
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