A Third of the Year is Over and Here Are My (somewhat brief) Thoughts on the 33 Films I Have Seen So Far

Though there have been (amongst the perpetual crap inherent in moviemaking) some rather good films released so far this year (possibly even a great one or two) I do believe the brunt of what will eventually fill my annual best of list have yet to make their collective ways into US cinemas.  At this time last year, only one film (Scorsese's Shutter Island) of my eventual Top 20 had been seen by yours truly.  Many anticipated films (The Social Network, Black Swan, Carlos, White Material, Scott Pilgrim) were yet to be seen and many more (Blue Valentine, The American, I Am Love, Winter's Bone, Machete) were to pop up as mid and late year surprises.  This year I am sure it is the same.  With films such as von Trier's Melancholia, Almodovar's The Skin That I Inhabit, Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method, Alfredson's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Soderbergh's Contagion, Malick's Tree of Life and Scorsese's Hugo Cabret still off in the proverbial horizon (and probably another few surprises awaiting us) the following list is far from complete and should probably (no, make that definitely) be looked upon as just a mid-Spring lark.  I would also like to add that, due to circumstances beyond my control (mainly my missing the NYFF screening last year and inability to procure a screener from Oscilloscope), I have yet to see Kelly Reichardt's Meek's Cutoff - a film that could very well take over the number one spot on the list below once I have seen it.  Anyway, sundries and all out of the way, I give you my larkish rankings of the 33 (new release) movies I have seen so far this year, ranked in descending order from Near-Great (no truly great films have popped up yet, but the aforementioned Meek's Cutoff is coming soon) to the simply God-Awful.

The Near-Great:

1) Certified Copy

2) Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

The Very Good:

3) Rango

4) Kaboom

5) Hanna

The Good:

6) We Are What We Are

7) Drive Angry

8) Source Code

9) Super

10) Rubber

The (mostly) Good:

11) Paul

12) The Lincoln Lawyer

13) When We Leave

14) Of Gods and Men

The Mediocre:

15) Cedar Rapids

16) Limitless

17) Unknown

18) The Green Hornet

19) The Adjustment Bureau

20) Rio

The (mostly) Bad:

21) Take Me Home Tonight

22) No Strings Attached

23) Jane Eyre

24) Water For Elephants

The Bad:

25) Your Highness

26) Battle: Los Angeles

27) I Am Number Four

28) The Mechanic

The Very Bad:

29) Arthur

30) Season of the Witch

The Terrible:

31) Dylan Dog: Dead of Night

32) Red Riding Hood

The God-Awful:

33) Sucker Punch