Here at Film School Rejects, we take our features game very, very seriously. On average, we roll out at least fifteen fresh recurring features every week, and that doesn’t even include one-off editorials, interviews, and whatever else our evil little cinematic brains cook up for fun.
In 2012, we continued to churn out more of your very favorite features, including Commentary Commentary, our weekly Drinking Game, Aural Fixation, Boiling Point, Channel Guide, Culture Warrior, Over/Under, and our evergreen Short Film of the Day. That stable of goodies was joined by a bevy of new features (many of them thanks to our brilliant new Weekend Editor, Christopher Campbell, including Filmmaking Tips, Short Starts, our new Oscar blog, the Walking Dead blog, The Ingredients, Movie Houses of Worship, and the Reject Recap. But 2012 also saw the end of some of our most beloved originals, including Austin Cinematic Limits and Reject Radio. We don’t like to brag (lies), but if you crave a feature about something movie-related, chances are that we’ve got something for you.
So what were the very best features we brought to you this year? After the break, check out Our 12 Best Features of 2012 (by our most humble of approximations). Did we miss one of your favorites? Object to one of our choices? Have an idea for a new feature you’d like to see in 2013? Take it to the comments!
The 10 Greatest Movies of All Time (According to the Internet)
Perhaps one of our most ambitious works, Scott took to the Internet (weirdly, it’s basically made up of our pals) and asked a number of movie writers and filmmakers to share their “All Time Top Ten” list of films, in advance of Sight & Sound announcing the results of their latest poll of the same thing. The results? Shocking, in a lot of different ways.
11 Things That Didn’t Work in ‘The Dark Knight Rises’
One of our most popular features ever, debates are still raging in the comments section of Robert Fure’s title-explanatory July article. Not enough TDKR chatter for you? Take a look at two follow-up features: 11 Things That Did Work in ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ and 11 Things That Were Just Okay in ‘The Dark Knight Rises’. Yes, it’s okay to chuckle at those titles, whether or not you actually agree with their content.
The Hostess-Inspired Alternate Universe Junkfood Cinema
and
5 Things That Could Get Taken in ‘Taken 3’
Sometimes, we do let Brian Salisbury off his (already very long and covered in the prettiest sparkles in all of Texas) leash, and that’s usually when we get his best work. Brian applied his own twisted, funhouse humor to two of the year’s biggest stories – the closing of Hostess Foods and the no-duh news that we are getting a third Taken film – and turned them into two of his funniest columns of the calendar year. Bravo, you magnificent bastard.
Hurting ‘Game of Thrones’ Through Piracy Won’t Change HBO’s Business, It Will Just Get the Show Cancelled
Remember this kerfuffle? Sure you do. Back in February, online comic webby guy The Oatmeal crafted a comic that essentially stands as a justification for online piracy. Fure’s response? One of his most coherently reasoned pseudo-Boiling Points ever. The rest of just shook our heads, but Fure laid it all out, and without the use of poorly-drawn pictures.
(The Entire Run of) Filmmaking Tips
Yeah, yeah, we’re breaking the rules here by including the entire run of one (new!) feature, but Scott’s Filmmaking Tips column (as rolled out in April) has swiftly become one of our most essential, informational, and fun features yet. Few features anywhere on the ol’ worldwide web condense so much information and trivia in one tasty little package, and that’s something we have no problem bragging about. Hell, we even got some tips straight from Rian Johnson himself!
Why ‘The Hunger Games’ Isn’t ‘Twilight’ (And Why That’s a Good Thing)
I may have gotten some shit for this piece – let’s not even try to count the number of comments that popped up that snarked something along the lines of “well, who said they were?” – but, you know what, everyone said they were. Even you did (yes, you), or you at least wondered how the reigning YA adaptation champ stacked up against the new kid. Here’s your answer.
13 Famous Actors Who Debuted in Iconic Movies
You should probably just read all of David’s insanely fun movie lists, but this one is particularly packed with trivia and nostalgia, everyone’s two favorite movie list ingredients.
Why the White Wealth in ‘The Impossible’ Trailer Is So Jarring
and
Why Rotten Tomatoes Is Bad for Film Criticism
Our own Culture Warrior, Landon Palmer, is smarter than all of us. He just is, there’s nothing to argue here, no debates, no bullshit. And that’s precisely why it’s Landon who gets tasked with unraveling some of the messiest of conundrums that befall modern cinema, like the maybe white-washing of The Impossible and the hard truth that Rotten Tomatoes just isn’t good for the goose or the gander. Got a hard topic? Give it to Landon, watch the magic unfurl.
How Clint Mansell Brought ‘Moon’ Down to Earth for Three Nights in LA
In case you’ve missed it over the past few months, our own Allison Loring is swiftly becoming the go-to girl for Clint Mansell interviews and information. Back in April, she saw the composer live in an intimate theater in the heart of Los Angeles, which she then wrote about in one of the best live event write-ups to ever appear on these hallowed (go with it) pages.
How ‘Funny People’ Ruined Adam Sandler’s Career
Anyone who has even casually charted Adam Sandler’s career has certainly wondered the same thing – what the hell happened? In June, Scott tackled it with his own theory – how Judd Apatow’s mostly-misunderstood Funny People ruined the funnyman’s career – and he did it with precision, knowledge, and numbers. And laughs – more than in any recent Sandler flicks, that’s for damn sure.
10 Classic Movies That Critics Hated
The Shining, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Psycho, The Night of the Hunter…really, what didn’t critics hate back in the day? A nifty little list of some to the most famously loathed movies that are, more often than not, now hailed as masterpieces, David again tackled a “trivial” subject with all sorts of juicy tidbits to sift through. Break this one out at your next party.
Freedom of Speech Needs Defending When It’s Hardest to Defend
Amidst the tremendous tensions of the Muslim Innocence disaster, Scott tackled one of the year’s toughest subjects, reminding us all of what it means to defend freedom and art, even when the stakes are as high as they’ve ever been.