1. Drive:

A great cast in a wonderfully low-budget modern noir. Slick and surprisingly gruesome, Drive is my surprise hit of the year.

2.Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2:

Harry and his wizardly mates go out in style with the final chapter of this magical saga that defined a generation.

Editor’s note: Seeing as how we let film columnist Morgan P. Salvo run wild with the 10 worst movies of the year in the special section of the paper, we figured we’d find out what performances he actually liked this year.

1. Rutger Hauer: Hobo with a Shotgun

The title says it all. Brains splatter, guts burst open and Hauer stays right on top of his character’s dedication to vengeance in true vigilante style.

2. Michael Shannon: Take Shelter

The guy who specializes in tormented souls delivers the goods here in subdued brilliance.

OK, I have to admit that on my drive to the theater I was semi-excited about my impending Mission Impossible IMAX experience, looking forward to hyper-realistic stunts and fistfights. Once inside, I was told by a blank screen to prepare for “the full IMAX immersion.” I sat back ready for the eye candy.

Well, it’s clear enough and plenty loud (one guy in the audience actually yelled for it to be turned down a notch), but once the crystalline dust settled and my eyes focused, I seriously didn’t notice any difference from a regular movie theater experience. But then glaring at me square in the face was this entity called Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.

What you need to know about Diablo Cody and Jason Reitman’s new film Young Adult is that it’s a dark comedy. I know you saw the trailer, and yes, as advertised, there are parts that will elicit laugher, but this isn’t you’re average, run-of-the-mill joke fest. While the title may be Young Adult, the humor goes more sinister than Cody’s Oscar-winner predecessor Juno. The humor in that film, while edgy, definitely stayed more in the young-adult realm, while Mavis (Charlize Theron) brings out a more sinister, adult side of Cody’s humor and psyche.

Director David Gordon Green has come a long way since Undertow and Snow Angels. I guess the comedy bug hit him with Pineapple Express and his time working with Danny McBride on Eastbound and Down has produced some of the most vile, offensive, hedonistic and, thus, funniest television I have ever seen. Just in time for the holidays, Green is back in the comedy saddle, this time with Jonah Hill grossing us out in The Sitter.

But let me cut to the chase. With this comedic romp, Green has made the worst movie of his once illustrious career and possibly the worst film I saw this year. But I really don’t know why it ended up so bad. The premise is good, the ideas seem funny, but instead of a crude comedy we get a tired, soul-searching, “everything’s-fine-if-you-just-accept-yourself” fable. In the end we get a Disney pic with swearing.

Beginning with a raunchy little scene and an in-joke nod to James Franco’s soap-opera acting in the background, it seems we’re going to see a continuation of Hill’s Superbad character shooting off X-rated one-liners, proving his role choices have still yet to mature, even if he did gain some respect for his work in Moneyball.

But as quickly as the crudeness appears, it’s taken away. Hill’s comic timing and command of banter is awesome, but is lost in this mishmash of moral ideology and channeling of various ‘80s flicks. Basically, this movie is a more curse-laden Adventures in Babysitting. We’ve seen this all before: disgruntled babysitter has something better to do (like have sex and do drugs), so the sitter takes the kids on one raucous escapade after another, racing to complete tasks before the parents return. We spend the entire movie waiting for Sitter to go wild, but it never does, instead segueing from one lecture to another on “how to be yourself” amidst bad stereotypes and foul-mouthed dialogue.

This should work in the hands of Green, but the ball drops straight to hell when we realize that the babysitter is going to continue to heroically dish out nuggets of wisdom to these troubled kids. And what’s the deal with filmmakers once again wasting the talent that is Sam Rockwell? (Yeah I’m talking to you, Iron Man 2 and Cowboys and Aliens). Sam does his best as the conflicted drug dealer, but he’s up against a barricade of bad ideas.

Usually a movie that makes this many mistakes redeems itself with at least a couple of decent scenes. Such is not the case with The Sitter. Sold to us as the raunchiest holiday flick ever by its previews, the true vulgarity of this lazy, embarrassing and boring movie is the fact that its creators expected anyone to like it.

The Sitter

½ star

Starring Jonah Hill, Sam Rockwell, Ari Graynor, Max Records

Directed by David Gordon Green

Rated R