The End of LOST Explained

Lost is one of the greatest television shows of all time, and I will argue that until I'm blue in the face -- and then I'll go and blog about it. I remember when I watched the first part of the pilot when it premiered on ABC back on September 22, 2004 and that inexplicable feeling I had that I was witnessing the beginning of something special. Before Lost came crashing into the living room television and became all that I could think about, there was Alias, another series hatched from the mind of creative genius J.J. Abrams. Alias was the first show where I made an effort to catch each new episode, fearful that I might miss out on a crucial plot twist or that a favorite character might bite the dust. But, as Alias tinkered with its plot each season and, as a result, began to lose all semblance of the show it once was (a criticism more than a few people have leveled at Lost), I lost enthusiasm after Season 3, unable to keep up with the show's complex plotting. But with Lost, a show in which I believed I had found a kindred spirit, I was there from beginning to end, unable to break free from the bonds I had formed with the show's cast of flawed characters.

But I'm not here to talk about how much I love Lost (which, if you haven't noticed, is a lot). That blog post is for another time -- though I can't imagine this blog ever being short on posts about Lost, so you might as well get used to the topic. No, what I want to address about Lost in this post is perhaps one from the most controversial aspects of the show: The ending.

Since the final episode aired on May 25, 2010, there has been a chorus of fans who have not spoken kind of the series, often aiming their vitriol at the show's executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, the men believed to be responsible for the alleged disappointment of the final season. These fans are often critical of the writers for not resolving some of the show's more intriguing mysteries (and, in some cases, for offering answers that didn't live up to fans' expectations), bemoaning that the final season introduced an element of spiritualism to the series that didn't mesh with what had come before. But then there are fans who, myself included, loved the final episode, and offer nothing but gratitude to Damon and Carlton for crafting one of the most groundbreaking shows to ever grace the small screen. To illustrate the polarizing effect of the final episode, take for example Entertainment Weekly, which ranks the finale seventh on its list of 20 Best TV Finales Ever but then also includes it among its list of 19 Most Frustrating TV Finales Ever.

In talking to several fans who have expressed disappointment with the finale, I've noticed that a lot of their disappointment stems from a misunderstanding of the events of the final season, and how those events reflect on the series as a whole. So, in a bid to clear up the confusion, I will offer my own personal interpretation of the finale, explaining why I consider it to be the best possible finale the writers could have come up with for the series. If you have not watched the series and wish to do so in the future without knowledge of how the final episodes unfold, DO NOT READ PAST THE IMAGE BELOW. Proceed with caution!

To better understand and appreciate the elegance of the series finale, I'd like to first quote a speech from Jack in the first season's fifth episode, "White Rabbit." In this episode, Jack has been chasing visions of his late father through the jungle, while the rest of the survivors on the beach grow restless. When Jack returns to the beach, he finds his fellow survivors about to gang up on Boone, who has been caught concealing the camp's last few bottles of water.

"It's been six days, and we're all still waiting. Waiting for someone to come. But what if they don't? We have to stop waiting. We need to start figuring things out. A woman died this morning just going for a swim. He tried to save her, and now you're about to crucify him? We can't do this. Every man for himself is not going to work. It's time to start organizing. We need to figure out how we're going to survive here. Now I found water. Fresh water, up in the valley. I'll take a group in at first light. If you don't want to come, then find another way to contribute. Last week most of us were strangers. But we're all here now. And God knows how long we're going to be here. But if we can't live together, we're going to die alone."

Now, I'll get back to that later. But keep it in the back of your mind until then. When I've asked a fan why they were disappointed in the finale, most of their answers have been in the form of a single similar statement: "They were dead the whole time." This could not be further from the truth.

The source of this confusion is, without a doubt, the introduction of what some fans refer to as the "Flash Sideways World." The first three seasons featured flashbacks to the lives of the survivors before the plane crash, the fourth season introduced flash forwards that revealed the lives of the six survivors who would escape the island, and the sixth and final season, with no other direction to go, brought us the Flash Sideways World. In this world, Oceanic Flight 815 never crashed and instead landed at its destination in Los Angeles, preventing the passengers from ever being stranded on the island, which now resided on bottom of the ocean. The existence of this alternate world was never explained until the finale, when both the audience and the survivors became aware that it functioned as an afterlife of sorts for our band of castaways. But when Christian Shephard informed his son that he was dead in the final moments of the series, this revelation led several confused viewers to believe that Jack and the other survivors had been dead for the entire series, and the events of the previous six seasons were all part of this Flash Sideways World.

To those fans still under this belief, I urge you to watch that scene again. Characters died at various points throughout the series, but no one was from ever dead from the beginning (with the lone exception of the Smoke Monster). Jack did die on the island, but not until those final moments of the series as he succumbed to his wounds while watching his friends leave the island via the repaired airplane from Ajira Flight 316. Once he died, his consciousness or soul or spirit or whatever you want to call it was then lifted into the Flash Sideways World, where it would remain undisturbed and unaware until his other survivors were able to join him in the great beyond. Characters like Kate and Sawyer, who were able to return to the mainland on the airplane, would continue to live their lives off-island until death, when they'd be whisked off to the Flash Sideways World.

One clever hint about the nature of the Flash Sideways World is when Jack (or the version of him inhabiting this other world) continues to find what appears be a shaving cut on his neck in several episodes, when in fact the cut matches the one he receives from Locke in their fight in the finale.

You see, the Flash Sideways World was nothing more than a construct, a purgatorial world created so that Jack and the other characters of Lost could move on together, even if most of them were forced to die alone on the island or in the real world. In his speech in "White Rabbit," Jack warned the other survivors that they'd die alone if they couldn't figure out how to live together. The Flash Sideways World was the fulfillment of that promise, allowing this group of friends the ultimate reward of being able to move on together in death after learning to live together on the island.

But why was the Flash Sideways World so different? Sawyer was a cop, Jack and Juliet were divorced with a teenage son, Hurley was the luckiest man alive, and so on and so forth. The Flash Sideways World, in addition to operating as a waiting room for the castaways after death, also functioned as wish fulfillment, allowing the characters to live out aspects of their lives that they were otherwise unable to in their real lives. Jack was able to work through his father issues with the son he never had, Kate was able to help Claire and make up for taking Aaron off the island, Sayid was able to protect Nadia like he never could in real life, and the list goes on.

But their re-imagined lives were far from perfect. While some of them were offered a second chance at life, each of them was still haunted by the flaws that had defined them in real life. Take, for example, John Locke. For most of his existence, John was miserable and pathetic. His flaw was that he thought he was special, and he wasn't. Even his death was unspectacular, strangled and left hanging in a rundown hotel room. But his death was the catalyst for the return of the Oceanic Six and, eventually, he inspired Jack to embrace his destiny as the Protector of the Island (however briefly). In the Flash Sideways World, Locke was able to experience the life with Helen that he never had, but even then he was plagued by guilt and self-doubt. It wasn't until he let go of those feelings and let Jack help him (much like how he helped Jack in death) that he was able to make peace with his unexceptional fate and realize that he as an individual wasn't special, but rather it was his experiences and relationships on the island that were important.

The Flash Sideways World allowed each of the survivors to come to terms with both the blessings and burdens of their past lives, let go, and move forward with the people who mattered most.

Why have none of the characters aged when we see them in the Flash Sideways World? Because, regardless of how long each of them lived, the most important experiences of their lives were shared on the island. Remember, Jacob brought each of them to the island because all of them were broken in their lives back in the real world, struggling and unable to find happiness. During their time on the island after the plane crash, each of the characters experienced a spiritual and personal awakening, allowing them to let go of their past mistakes and instead realize their potential (e.g. Sawyer is reborn a selfless leader, Jin and Sun save their marriage, etc.).

What about Michael and Walt? Michael left the island in Season 2, and even then his relationship with the other survivors was almost non-existent after the shooting deaths of Ana-Lucia and Libby. Even when he was able to redeem himself by sacrificing his life on the freighter in Season 4, Michael was remanded to the island, his spirit trapped there until he could atone for his sins. Walt also didn't spend much time on the island after leaving with his father at the end of Season 2, having spent that season living with the Others. Other characters, like Ana-Lucia and Eko, were also absent, because they were unable to redeem themselves on the island or simply didn't spend enough time there to have the chance to truly change.

How was Desmond able to cross over into the Flash Sideways World? Desmond, as was revealed by his nefarious father-in-law Charles Widmore, was special. Because he possessed a resistance to the unique electromagnetic properties of the island, Desmond was able to shift his consciousness through space and time when exposed to the island's energies. When Widmore blasted him with electromagnetism, Desmond suffered a near death experience, and was transported to the Flash Sideways World for a brief time. It was then that he began to wake up the other characters in the Flash Sideways World, forcing them to realize that this world was a lie and that each of them needed to remember their previous lives in order to move forward together. These awakenings were often triggered by an interaction with a significant other, often a loved one, or an experience similar to an important event from their previous life. Desmond was under the false impression that the Flash Sideways World was a place where the others could escape the island, when in fact it was a meeting place for them after death.

Did you get all that? It can be a lot to digest, but I think, at its core, the introduction of the Flash Sideways World was intended to emphasize the importance of the show's characters, as opposed to the various mysteries that surrounded them. The writers were focused on resolving the characters because, in the end, it is the connections viewers had to those character that kept them coming back for more. Still confused? Let me know in the comments! I love a good discussion about Lost (obviously). I realize that the Flash Sideways World is only one aspect of the final season, but I'll leave the discussion of Jacob, the Man In Black, and the Heart of the Island for another time and a different post. (For what it's worth, I loved it!)

Whatever Happened To M. Night Shyamalan? (Part 1 of 4)

I remember sitting in the movie theater with my dad, when I was just eleven years old, watching Signs on the big screen. It was August of 2002, and this was a movie that I had been anticipating for some time, ever since it had been featured on the cover of Entertainment Weekly's Summer Movie Preview for that year. I had convinced my mom to let me rent both The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable from Blockbuster, so this was my first time seeing an M. Night Shyamalan film in an actual theater -- and it did not disappoint. I was on the edge of my seat, and a chill ran down my spine when I saw the news footage of the alien emerging from its camouflaged hiding place at a child's birthday party in Brazil. I turned to see if my dad was as horrified as I was, but he was asleep in his seat, so I nudged him, incredulous that he could be nodding off at a time like this.

I remember excitedly whispering to him: "Are you seeing this?"

From then on, if it involved M. Night Shyamalan, I had to see it, and I had to see it now. I can't quite explain what it was about his films that captured my imagination -- back then I had no inclinations for themes, performance or style -- but I was hooked, nonetheless. Following the well-deserved critical acclaim he garnered for The Sixth Sense, Shyamalan was considered a rising star in Hollywood, with some heralding him as the next Steven Spielberg or Alfred Hitchcock. For a while, I cited his first films as some of the chief influences on my desire to pursue a career as a screenwriter. Everyone, myself included, waited with bated breath to find out what supernatural thriller he would come out with next -- that is, until his next film turned out to be The Village.

With Signs, Shyamalan started to fall out of favor with critics, as if the grace period he had earned with the sheer brilliance of The Sixth Sense had come to an unceremonious end. Unbreakable was no critical darling either, but it still has its ardent fans and, at the time, received a bit of a free pass from more than a few people, given that the enormous expectations for Shyamalan after The Sixth Sense were near insurmountable. Signs was dismissed by several critics as hokey, uninspired, and dull, but that criticism was nothing compared to the onslaught that Shyamalan was about to endure after the release of The Village. If Signs represented the first few cracks in his armor, then The Village saw him stripped of it. Even some of his most loyal fans stepped aside and allowed him to take the critics' beating, they themselves feeling slighted by a disappointing film with a letdown ending that was considered ludicrous. It seemed as if his trademark twist ending had run its course and the magic had finally run out for Shyamalan.

So, Shyamalan went a different route. And the result was the end of his business partnership with Walt Disney Studios, a fruitful relationship tarnished by a dispute over creative differences concerning his next proposed film, Lady In The Water. And with the release of that film, which he was able to secure through Warner Bros., the dissenting voices only grew louder. The problems with the film were myriad. It was structured around a fairy tale, not a pre-existing tale but one that he created himself for his own children, with some aspects of the film's bedtime story leaving audiences bewildered and confused. Not to mention the not-so-passive-aggressive inclusion of a clueless, condescending movie critic as a supporting character, no doubt a slight at the very critics who seem to have been using his films for target practice. Worst of all, he made the damning decision to cast himself as Vick Ran, an author in the film who is told that his work will end up changing the world. This bizarre casting move did nothing to dispel the rumors of his over inflated ego that ran rampant during his public falling-out with Disney, which was well documented in Michael Bamberger's revealing book, The Man Who Heard Voices.

CollegeHumor's Favorite Funny Videos

Believe it or not, his films proceeded to get worse from there. The Happening, a laughable paranormal thriller about a rash of nature-induced suicides, and The Last Airbender, a movie so thoroughly awful that even the fans of the popular cartoon on which it was based couldn't bear to give it a passing grade, sunk Shyamalan to new lows, leaving most people wondering how he could have fallen so far after the undeniable talent he showed with The Sixth Sense.

But now, three years later, Shyamalan has returned with After Earth, which hits theaters on Friday and strands the real-life father-son duo of Will Smith and Jaden Smith as a fictional father-son duo on a future version of Earth where mankind has been forced into exile after their own planet and its natural inhabitants turned against them. With the impending release of his new film, my interest in M. Night Shyamalan has been renewed, and I've decided to launch my own personal investigation into the circumstances surrounding his meteoric rise and disastrous fall by revisiting each of his previous films. My goal? See how well each of them holds up -- for better or for worse -- and determine, if possible, the source of how and where it all went wrong.

For the sake of length, I'll be dividing  my findings into three different posts. I'll discuss The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable in Part 1; Signs, The Village, and Lady In The Water in Part 2; and The Happening, The Last Airbender, and After Earth (if I get around to seeing it, that is) in Part 3. To get things started, I've compiled a list of the elements that I consider to be near essential to the works of M. Night Shyamalan. Take a gander below and then check back soon for the first post:

• Ordinary people, extraordinary circumstances. A former preacher finds crop circles in his backyard in Signs. The superintendent of an apartment building finds a fairy tale creature living under the swimming pool in Lady In The Water.
• The supernatural or the fantastical. Visions of dead people in The Sixth Sense. Superhuman abilities in Unbreakable. Extraterrestrial invaders in Signs. The fairy tale brought to life in Lady In The Water. And so on and so forth.
• The cameo. Similar to Alfred Hitchcock, Shyamalan likes to make at least a cameo appearance in each of his films, the significance of his role varying from film to film.
• The location. All of his films (with the exception of The Last Airbender and the upcoming post-apocalyptic After Earth) take place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the city where he grew up after being born in India.
• The twist ending. You could call this his Achilles' Heel. Others might refer to it as his fatal flaw. But after The Sixth Sense and up until Lady In The Water, Shyamalan's signature was a twist ending that often forced the audience to re-consider everything that had come before. This is his most well-known trademark.

Top 5 TV Shows of 2012-13

I love television. I know it is common practice for some parents to tell their kids that too much time spent in front of the television will rot their brain, but I can't help but disagree. I've held the belief for a while now that the best storytelling was taking place on the big screen, but in recent years, my enthusiasm for Hollywood has waned as I've started to realize the creative boom that the small screen has been experiencing. Television has long been considered an inferior medium to film, but the gap has been closing since the emergence of original programming on cable channels like HBO, and the sheer amount of talent both in front and behind the camera that have migrated to television work is clear evidence of that power shift. But even as the number of quality television shows has increased, the amount of time in one day has not, so unfortunately I haven't been able to catch up popular shows like Mad Men, Game of Thrones, Homeland, and countless others. Of the shows that I've been able to watch, I've assembled a list of five that I believe stand out above the rest. Other shows that I've watched this past season, outside of the ones listed below, are American Horror Story, Bates Motel, Dexter, Sons of Anarchy, and The Walking Dead.

Without further ado, here is the list:

5. Fringe (FOX, Fridays, 8 p.m.) Fringe was the little show that could, debuting on FOX back in the fall of 2009 as one of the highest rated new dramas on television before ratings began to dwindle and the series' increasing serialization made it difficult for the show to attract new viewers. But FOX kept the show alive, against all odds, almost as an act of contrition for canceling Joss Whedon's Firefly after eleven episodes in 2002, another sci-fi show that had a devoted fan base but was the victim of low ratings. Four seasons later, FOX renewed Fringe for a fifth and final season, allotting the writers 13 episodes to give the show the proper swan song its fans deserved. Season 5 saw the core members of Fringe Division, after encasing themselves in amber, being awakened in a dystopian future where mankind lives under the tyrannic rule of the Observers, evolved human beings from the future who have traveled back in time to install a totalitarian regime after their own version of Earth became uninhabitable. Our heroes' mission? Take back control of the planet. And while much of this last season at times felt like a different show than the one I've been watching for the past four years, the writers were able to bring the series full circle by the time the finale rolled around, servicing the familial relationships that have stabilized Fringe from the beginning. But if I do have one qualm, it is that John Noble never received the awards recognition that he deserved for his performance as the brilliant but debilitated genius Walter Bishop.

4. The Americans (FX, Wednesdays, 9 p.m.) On one side of the street in this suburban neighborhood lives Philip and Elizabeth Jennings, a married couple who, in addition to owning their own travel agency and raising their two children, are both deep cover operatives working for the KGB, sent to America over 15 years ago with new identities. On the other side of the street lives Stan Beeman, a dedicated Counter-Intelligence Agent for the FBI whose strained marriage is falling apart and who has a non-existent relationship with his teenage son. The Americans is asking you to root for (or at least empathize with) the Jennings, a request that, on paper, might seem dubious at first, but credit the superb writing and the nuanced performances of Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell for making it seem like there was never even a doubt where your allegiances should lie. Set during the Cold War era of the early 1980's, The Americans is as much a show about the institution of marriage as it is about the tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States. When we first meet Philip and Elizabeth, the two of them are beginning to consider if their marriage has become more than a charade, 15 years after being paired up and shipped off without ever having met each other before. Their struggles to find balance in their marriage, while also staying true to their original mission as spies for the KGB, are the heart and soul of the show, even when they're wearing disguises, planting bugs, and hunting down rogue assassins.

3. Hannibal (NBC, Thursdays, 9 p.m.) I'm not sure how, but before last year, I had never even heard of Bryan Fuller. It wasn't until I watched his pilot for Mockingbird Lane, a modern re-imagining of The Munsters that stalled out at NBC, that I became familiar with the mad genius behind such hidden gems as Pushing Daisies, Wonderfalls, and Dead Like Me, all shows that were brilliant but short-lived due to the fickle nature of television ratings. Hannibal, another show from Bryan Fuller that thus far hasn't been able to translate critical acclaim into ratings success, is a prequel of sorts to the series of novels by Thomas Harris, which were made famous, of course, by their film adaptations starring Anthony Hopkins in his iconic role as the titular cannibal. While both the novels and films kept Hannibal Lecter behind bars for the most part, Hannibal is more interested in his pre-incarceration life, in particular his relationship with Will Graham, the gifted but troubled criminal profiler who will one day recognize Hannibal for the monster that he is. While some might be turned off by the gruesome crime scenes that populate each episode, the series doesn't glamorize or sensationalize the violence, because the show is more interested in the psychology of what it means to take a life and what separates the hunter from the hunted. This is no more evident than in the dynamic between Will and Hannibal, where the riveting performances of Hugh Dancy and Mads Mikkelsen, respectively, raise the show to a whole new level.

2. Justified (FX, Tuesdays, 9 p.m.) It's hard not to root for Raylan Givens. As much as his reckless behavior, impetuous attitude, and total disregard for procedure draw the ire of his more straight-laced colleagues, Raylan is a Deputy U.S. Marshal who gets results. With his personal life - which consists of sleeping in a room above a bar where he has been romancing the female bartender while his pregnant ex-wife lives with her sister - a work in progress, Raylan focuses all of his efforts into his work, even while picking up the occasional illegal side work from a bail bondswoman to pull in some extra cash. This season, in a break from the tradition of pitting Raylan against a single season-long adversary, revolved around the manhunt for Drew Thompson, an infamous criminal who was believed to have been killed 30 years ago after jumping out of an airplane with bags of cocaine and a faulty parachute. When it becomes clear that Drew faked his death and has been hiding out in Harlan under a new identity, the race is on to find him before the wrong people get a hold of him first. Justified, which has often struggled to service its supporting characters, is at its best when the storytelling centers on Raylan and his childhood friend turned criminal Boyd Crowder (played by Timothy Olyphant and the underrated Walton Goggins, respectively). With both of them on the hunt for Drew, the show continues to explore how these two men, on opposite sides of the law, are more similar than either of them is willing to admit.

1. Breaking Bad (AMC, Sundays, 8 p.m.) "I won." Those two words, from the mouth of high school science teacher turned meth manufacturer Walter White after orchestrating the death of his former employer and drug kingpin Gus Fring, were the chilling culmination of a transformation that we've been witness to for four seasons now. Now, with his most formidable competitor blown in half, Walt was free to build his empire and claim the power he felt he had been deprived of for most of his life, having been condemned to a classroom teaching disinterested adolescents when his brilliance should've led to a life of luxury. But, as the first eight episodes of the show's fifth and final season proved, the road to the top is paved with obstacles, yet none of them were capable of toppling the impenetrable hubris that has come to define Walt. Bryan Cranston, as you'd expect from the winner of three Primetime Emmys, continues to own the show with his performance, tasked this season with portraying a Walt whose last traces of a soul have been diminished by his obsessive greed. But the breakout performance of the season belongs to veteran actor Jonathan Banks as the surly fixer Mike Ehrmantraut, who has no qualms about going toe to toe with Walt when it comes to a difference of opinion. The final eight episodes of Breaking Bad will begin in August, and as much as I'll miss the show, I'm curious to find out what twisted fate awaits Walt. If that game-changing scene at the end of the midseason finale is any indication, Walt's reckoning is almost upon us.

Top 10 Movies of 2012

Okay, folks. It's that wonderful time of year again, when any movie buff or film fanatic worth his salt looks back on a year's worth of going to the movie theater (or Redbox) and cobbles together a list of the top ten films that struck his or her fancy. Now, I must preface the dramatic unveiling of this list by saying that I have NOT seen every single film released in 2012, because, unfortunately, I don't have the time nor the cash flow to accomplish that. We are, after all, in an economic recession (and I'm also a college student), so cut me some slack. But I did put forth my best effort to see the films that most appealed to me and others that received either strong critical acclaim or positive word-of-mouth. I should also mention that these might not necessarily be the best movies of the year, so to speak, but they are the ones that I loved the most, and I don't expect everyone to agree with all of my choices. For example, Zero Dark Thirty has been receiving high praise from critics everywhere, but it didn't open at a local theater. So, I never had the chance to see it, and as such, you won't find it included on this list. But enough rambling. Have at it!

10. The Cabin In The Woods. You've seen one horror film, you've seen 'em all. Dumb teenagers engage in all sorts of lascivious activities involving sex, drugs, and alcohol before falling victim, one by one, to some type of murderous (and often times, supernatural) antagonist. The Cabin In The Woods takes this formula and turns it on its head, giving us a horror film that is both familiar and unlike anything you've ever seen before. Five college students spend the weekend at a remote cabin in the middle of the woods and find themselves fighting for their lives against a group of backwood zombies, unaware that there are people watching, controlling, and manipulating these horrific events. To say anything else about the plot would spoil the surprise, and this is certainly a film that is keen on keeping the viewer guessing by playing with audience expectations and genre conventions. There is a tongue-in-cheek quality to it that keeps the mood light - even with a gruesome climax that turns into an all-out bloodbath - and it never takes itself too seriously, with much of the humor coming from Fran Kranz's lovable pothead Marty. The Cabin In The Woods is smart, imaginative, and the perfect antidote for a genre that has grown stale after being inundated with endless installments of cheap and tasteless "torture porn" like Saw and Hostel.

9. Argo. With 2007's Gone Baby Gone, 2010's The Town, and now Argo under his belt, Ben Affleck can seemingly do no wrong from behind the camera. It is hard to believe that this is the same man whose career hit rock bottom after his much-publicized relationship with Jennifer Lopez culminated with 2003's Gigli, an undeniable stinker that went up in flames with both critics and audiences upon its release, but Affleck has risen from the ashes and Hollywood is much better for it. Argo is a dramatized version of an audacious rescue mission attempted by the CIA during the shocking 1979 crisis in Iran, when revolutionaries stormed the American Embassy and took hostages, with the exception of six Americans who were able to find refuge in the home of the Canadian Ambassador. Affleck, in addition to directing, is also the star of the film, giving an understated performance as Tony Mendez, the extraction expert tasked with getting the six fugitives out of Iran before the authorities can figure out where they're hiding and execute them. Argo benefits from a memorable supporting cast led by veteran actors John Goodman and Alan Arkin and the skilled direction of Affleck, whose obvious talent is most evident in the thrilling final half hour of the film, where he delivers a master class in tension and suspense.

8. The Avengers. This was never supposed to work. Bringing together the titular superheroes from four (albeit, second tier) comic book film franchises - Iron Man, The Hulk, Thor, and Captain America - and squeezing them into a single film should have been a logistical nightmare. But writer/director Joss Whedon was more than up to the daunting task, and the result is a stunning achievement and a landmark addition to the superhero genre. The Avengers are assembled by Samuel L. Jackson's dour Nick Fury to combat a threat from another world in a battle for the fate of mankind, but our heroes must first learn to set aside their egos and work together as a team before saving the world. It might not carry the same dramatic weight as The Dark Knight Rises, but what it lacks in strength of plot it makes up for in sheer execution, successfully spreading the wealth amongst its multiple leads and giving each hero his due in terms of action, dialogue, and character development. There isn't a weak link in the bunch and quite a bit of well-deserved praise has been heaped upon Mark Ruffalo for his performance as Bruce Banner, the mild-mannered scientist with an unfortunate anger problem. The Avengers is the impressive culmination of a monumental (but dubious) promise that has been in place since the release of 2008's Iron Man.

7. Seven Psychopaths. It took a couple viewings before I began to appreciate writer/director Martin McDonagh's debut film In Bruges (also starring the underrated Colin Farrell), but once I did, I couldn't wait to see what he had in store for us next. But Seven Psychopaths was not at all what I was expecting, and I mean that as a compliment. I was expecting more of a straightforward comedy, which was foolish of me considering McDonagh was at the helm, and what I got instead was a darkly comic deconstruction of the action genre through the eyes of Farrell's struggling screenwriter Marty. Helping Marty through a bout of writer's block as he attempts to pen a new film with nothing but the title Seven Psychopaths is his wily best friend Billy, played with manic brilliance by the always reliable Sam Rockwell. Now, I know what you're thinking. A film from Martin McDonagh called Seven Psychopaths about a screenwriter named Marty writing a film called Seven Psychopaths? Trust me, it only gets more bizarre from there - and you'll love every minute of it. Though Rockwell steals the show, Woody Harrelson and Christopher Walken shore up the supporting cast as the volatile gangster Charlie and the non-violent Hans, respectively, and their inspired performances complete what might be one of the most entertaining ensembles of the year.

6. Silver Linings Playbook. I remember when Jennifer Lawrence first burst onto the scene with an impressive performance in 2010's Winter's Bone, displaying a maturity beyond her years that has been absent in generic performances from X-Men - First Class and The Hunger Games. Lawrence re-captures some of that gravitas in Silver Linings Playbook, portraying a tortured and emotionally damaged widow trying to regain some sense of control over her life. It isn't until she crosses paths with Bradley Cooper's bi-polar former school teacher - fresh off an eight-month stint in a mental institution after a violent incident - that she begins to find her footing again, and it is their mutual journey towards personal fulfillment that gives the film its heart and soul. Director David O. Russell, who received widespread critical acclaim for 2010's crowd-pleaser The Fighter, has brought us another film packing quite the emotional punch, and the performances are all top-notch, especially Robert De Niro in his best role in years. At its core, Silver Linings Playbook is an uplifting but heart-wrenching drama that will make you laugh as much you'll cry, as it tells the story of two people struggling to find happiness in a world more interested in sweeping their problems under the rug than helping them overcome the inner demons threatening to destroy them.

5. Lincoln. Daniel Day-Lewis is the greatest actor of our generation. There is no question about it. If it wasn't obvious enough after his mesmerizing turns as Bill the Butcher in Gangs of New York and Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood, it should be more than apparent now after his awe-inspiring portrayal of Abraham Lincoln, which will no doubt earn him another Best Actor Oscar come February. Day-Lewis, a method actor, spent a year researching and preparing for the role, and his hard work - both in his appearance and his performance - is evident every time he appears on the screen. But what makes this an exceptional film is the fact that Day-Lewis is supported by an all-star cast, with veteran actors Tommy Lee Jones and Sally Field delivering powerhouse performances as Thaddeus Stevens and Mary Todd Lincoln, respectively. Jones almost steals the show in his crowd-pleasing role as the Radical Republican Congressional leader and fervent abolitionist who must go toe-to-toe with the Democrats who would love nothing more than to see the proposed Thirteenth Amendment (to abolish slavery) go up in flames. This is also somewhat of a return to form for acclaimed director Steven Spielberg, who, working off an outstanding screenplay from playwright Tony Kushner, appears to have re-captured some of the magic that helped him usher in modern classics such as Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan.

4. The Dark Knight Rises. With 2008's The Dark Knight, writer/director Christopher Nolan delivered quite possibly the greatest comic book film of our time, re-defining what a filmmaker could accomplish in the modern superhero genre. You can imagine the impossible expectations audiences would have for a follow-up, and The Dark Knight Rises falls well short of them, due to some plot holes, a few ill-advised subplots, and a surprising lack of attention to detail. But it does succeed where other third installments have failed, bringing closure to the trilogy while also raising the stakes and turning the focus back to Bruce Wayne. The Joker took center stage and wreaked his havoc in The Dark Knight, and this film is all about Bruce picking up the pieces now that he is left broken and alone, "defeated by victory," to borrow the words of his formidable new foe Bane. Tom Hardy, saddled with the unenviable task of having to follow Heath Ledger as the antagonist, doesn't quite the capture the larger-than-life quality that made the Joker so unforgettable, but his turn as the cold and merciless Bane is one of the film's highlights. It's not a perfect film by any stretch of the imagination, but it does bring one of the most revered trilogies of our generation to a spectacular finish, even if we're not quite ready to say goodbye to these characters.

3. Skyfall. Shot in the chest and presumed dead (in the first 15 minutes, no less), this is James Bond like you've never seen him before. After setting the bar in terms of silly, over-the-top action with 2002's Die Another Day, Casino Royale saw Bond make a welcome return to his roots, with Daniel Craig taking the reins as a more grounded and realistic incarnation of the iconic 007. Quantum of Solace, with production handicapped by the writer's strike, was an unfortunate stumble for the franchise, but Craig and director Sam Mendes have more than made up for it with Skyfall, which might just be the best Bond yet. Here, we find Bond broken and defeated, living a meager existence on an unnamed island while his superiors, who believe him to be dead, are none the wiser. That is, until a threat that hits close to home emerges and Bond decides that the time has come for him to return to action, even if he might be a little worse for wear. For the first time in the franchise, Bond is rendered more human than ever, and Craig is well up to the task of bringing to life a haunted but driven Bond who is fast becoming an analog player in a digital world. But the true gem here is Javier Bardem, who, as the enigmatic Raoul Silva, continues to prove that he was born to be a villain and provides us with the kind of Bond baddie this franchise has been missing.

2. Looper. There is a scene in Looper where a character portrayed by Paul Dano allows his future self - whom he has been tasked with killing - to escape, prompting his employers to use a unique (and horrific) method of torture to lure him back. It was during this scene, this disturbing moment of ingenuity, that I realized I was going to love this movie. I had seen both The Brothers Bloom and Brick, the previous works of writer/director Rian Johnson, and, while I admired the technical brilliance of the films, neither of them struck me as special. Looper, on the other hand, is an amazing film, and I was completely engaged from start to finish. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, outfitted with make-up and facial prosthetics to mimic the appearance of a young Bruce Willis, is compelling as Joe, the apathetic looper who must elude his own employers and find his renegade future self before both of them end up dead. Bruce Willis and Emily Blunt, who both have had their share of recent misfires, more than hold their own, but I must reserve most of the praise for seven-year-old Pierce Gagnon, whose role (and I won't spoil it here) is key to the second half of the film. To put it simply, this is the most thrilling and inventive film of 2012, and you'll not want to miss it.

1. Django Unchained. What makes writer/director Quentin Tarantino such a unique and brilliant filmmaker is his talent for borrowing elements of the films that he loves - in this case, cult classic Spaghetti Westerns like 1966's Django, 1967's Day of Anger, and 1972's The Grand Duel - and repurposing and reconstituting them into something that feels fresh, entertaining, and original. Tarantino puts that talent to excellent use in Django Unchained, which, like his previous film Inglourious Basterds, is a revenge fantasy, this time centering around a slave liberated from his chains by a sympathetic bounty hunter who agrees to help him find his long lost wife in exchange for his help in tracking three wanted men. As much as Django is a shining example of his skills as a master storyteller, Tarantino also continues to have a brilliant eye for casting, with Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Samuel L. Jackson all delivering some of the best work of their respective careers. I could talk at length about each of their performances, but I'll reserve most of the praise for Foxx and DiCaprio. DiCaprio, in particular, appears to be having the time of his life as the despicable plantation owner Calvin Candie, whose Southern charisma masks an ugly and sadistic nature. More than anything, Django Unchained is the outstanding work of a master filmmaker whose love of cinema permeates every frame of this epic, good old-fashioned Western.

________________________________________________

Just A Bit Outside: 21 Jump Street, Chronicle, Cloud Atlas, Flight, The Hobbit: Part 1 - An Unexpected Journey, Moonrise Kingdom, ParaNorman, and Ruby Sparks

Biggest Surprise of the Year: Magic Mike. Yes, I saw a movie about male strippers. But if you go into it expecting nothing more and nothing less than that, you'll be disappointed, because this is a character drama, more than anything. Channing Tatum (who also impressed with his comedic chops in the underrated 21 Jump Street) gives his best performance to date in a semi-autobiographical role as Magic Mike, a stripper and self-proclaimed entrepreneur who has aspirations of owning his own business, but can't seem to find his exit from this self-indulgent lifestyle. It is, by no means, a great film, but I have to give a lot of credit to director Steven Soderbergh for taking what could have been a raunchy, laughable chick flick and producing an interesting study of a man forced to face the repercussions of living two different lives.

Biggest Disappointment of the Year: The Master. I have a great appreciation for the work of writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson (with Magnolia and There Will Be Blood be among some of my favorite films), so you can imagine how I felt when The Master fell far short of lofty expectations. I'll admit, the performances of Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman are more than deserving of praise and recognition, but the script is something of a mess, bordering on pretentious and tedious at times. I can understand that Anderson likes to leave a lot open to audience interpretation in his films, but I've never felt more frustrated or confounded than I was while watching The Master, especially in the latter half of the film. I'll have to watch it again and see if it improves on a second viewing, but the first time around left a lot to be desired.

And with that, we close the book on another year of movies. For a look back, please take a few minutes and check out the amazing video below:

The Dark Knight Trilogy (Part 3 of 3)

Eight years after the death of Harvey Dent, Batman is no more, hunted by the Gotham Police Department and condemned by the public when he assumed responsibility for the murders perpetrated by Two-Face. Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) has become a recluse, exiling himself to the re-built Wayne Mansion and leaving the day-to-day operations of Wayne Enterprises to his trusted CEO Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), all the while still struggling to cope with the death of his childhood sweetheart Rachel Dawes at the hands of the Joker. Gotham City, as a result of new legislation enacted in the wake of Dent being murdered, has seen its crime rate plummet to an all-time low, with much of the credit going to Commissioner Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman), the man tasked with perpetuating the lie that has helped Harvey Dent become a symbol of hope for the people of Gotham. Bruce is drawn out of seclusion when, at a gala held at his house in honor of Harvey Dent, a cat burglar manages to abscond with one of his most precious possessions, leading him to track down the enigmatic Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway), a woman with a mysterious agenda who warns him of a coming storm. When the terrorist leader Bane (Tom Hardy) and his forces descend upon Gotham City, Bruce is forced to don the cape and cowl once again to defend his home, but it soon becomes clear that this might be a battle even Batman can't win.

Where do I begin? I will admit, I have mixed feelings about THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, mere hours after leaving the midnight premiere. But, more than anything, I feel closure, and that is what Christopher Nolan set out to do when he began constructing this final chapter to his epic saga. While there are new characters added to the mix in Selina Kyle, Bane, John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), and Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard), THE DARK KNIGHT RISES is all about Bruce Wayne. Here, eight years after taking the fall for Harvey Dent, Bruce is a man without a purpose, unable to move on with his life despite living under the belief that he sacrificed his alter ego for the greater good. Back in BATMAN BEGINS, Bruce decided to put on the cape and cowl because he wanted Batman to serve as a symbol for the people of Gotham and inspire them to believe in good. In THE DARK KNIGHT, Bruce believed he had accomplished that goal by positioning Harvey Dent as the white knight of Gotham, certain that he - not Batman - was the hero that could inspire the citizens to take action. But, as THE DARK KNIGHT RISES explores, the foundations of that success were tenuous at best, built on a lie that, if exposed, would cause Gotham to collapse on itself like a house of cards. THE DARK KNIGHT RISES is about Bruce realizing that Batman is the hero that Gotham needs and coming to terms with the fact that, in order to be that hero, he must first confront his own personal demons, rather than let them continue to define him.

There are some flaws to be found in THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, but a lot of them are forgivable. Most of the performances are top notch and the writing behind the characters works well enough, with the lone exception of Miranda Tate, whose character never seems to find her footing even as she takes on a more pivotal role towards the end of the film. I never expected to love Anne Hathaway as much as I did, having had some misgivings about her initial casting as Catwoman, and I am happy to report that my one complaint about her character is that she wasn't given more screen time, taking a backseat to Bane during the film's cataclysmic second half. Because much of the focus is on Bruce Wayne, Bane isn't given a whole lot to do here, unlike his predecessor the Joker, but Tom Hardy still owns the role nonetheless, functioning as a brutal force of nature the likes of which Batman has never faced before. THE DARK KNIGHT RISES struggles at times to find an equal balance of its characters, with regulars like Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine) and Jim Gordon assuming minimalized roles in favor of John Blake, an earnest beat cop who serves as a sobering reminder to Batman of the kind of good he once intended to inspire. But it never feels bloated or overcrowded, like what we saw from SPIDER-MAN 3, and the worst criticism I can give it is that I left the theater not quite ready to say goodbye yet to some of these characters.

Was it better than THE DARK KNIGHT? No. Was I at all disappointed? I'd be lying if I said I wasn't, but that doesn't detract from the quality of the film. I went into THE DARK KNIGHT RISES with unrealistic expectations, certain that Christopher Nolan was going to top THE DARK KNIGHT, but what I got instead was a final chapter that was more interested in providing closure than spectacle. The writing here isn't as tight as THE DARK KNIGHT, with a couple ill-advised plot twists that don't quite work as well on screen as they might have on paper, but this might be the most ambitious entry of the trilogy, tackling issues of class warfare, social injustice, and the difference between heroism and vigilantism. I'll need to watch it again one more time to see how well it holds the second time around, but this is without question the swan song that Bruce Wayne deserved and I tip my hat to Christopher Nolan, who managed to close out his trilogy with a spectacular final film that felt both necessary and cathartic. With crisp storytelling that brings everything to a satisfying finish and an all-star cast that leaves it all on the table in terms of performance, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES is a poignant end to a trilogy that has re-defined comic book films as we know them, and I will miss this version of the Caped Crusader more than any of his predecessors.