Before I talk about the films that I have seen in 2012. I must first mention that some of the successful that I have not seen and will not feature in my top are: The Master, Flight and The Sessions.
I managed to avoid some of the real stinkers of 2012. But here are some of the not so good or disappointing films that I have managed to encounter so far. One of the first films I saw in this year was Wrath Of The Titans. Not quite as enjoyable as Clash Of The Titans but still like the content as I am a sucker for Greek mythology. I cannot see them do another Titans film. This next film did get lot of love. I felt it be good, but not as good as I was expecting, and that film is Magic Mike. One great bit was Matthew McConaughey's performance. One big summer film was The Bourne Legacy. Without Direcotr Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon, this was never going to be as good. But there still enough content in there to be good. But sadly, it always going to be disappointing. 2012 had a bit of a Snow White reboot battle between Mirror Mirror and Snow White And The Huntsman. I felt Mirror Mirror to be quite cheesy but in a bad way. The comedy was quite poor, the story was not exciting and the actress who played Snow White was not even that attractive in my opinion. Sadly, I have not seen Snow White And The Huntsman. But I was interestd by its trailer and heards its pretty decent and far superior to Mirror Mirror.
There was one film this year that really annoyed me. It was not the film itself. I thought it was a solid film that did what it was supposed to do. But the idea of it being made frustrated me, and that film is The Amazing Spider-Man. With the last of the Tobey Maguire versions released in 2007, this is far too soon for a reboot. Especially when the films shows no signs of needing one. I do agree the third one was not that great, but it was not crying out for new take on the franchise. I heard that they were planing on doing a fourth but it got rejected. So I have no idea why they accepted a reboot. Better yet, why not go for a different superhero? The only bad thing I would say about the film is Andrew Garfield. The attitude of his character put me off and instantly had me wanting Tobey Maguire back in the suit.
One film that on the whole was not that great, but was important viewing to me was Crooked Arrows. I play a lot of Lacrosse and to see a Lacrosse film was a big deal to me personally. It starred Brandon Routh from Superman Returns and despite the slow story and substandard acting, they had actual Lacrosse players with was a huge plus. The Lacrosse action alone definitely made it compelling viewing, because I can see they respected the game and wanted to show the best of it on the big screen.
The biggest hyped film ended up being the most talked about after viewing it. This was also my first film to see at a midnight screening. I of course am talking about Prometheus. This loose prequel to the Alien films directed by Ridley Scott seemed to confuse a lot of the general movie goers. To some of the Alien fans it made sense to them due to the content seemed quite exclusive to only the hardcore fans. Whether you were a fan or not, the common negative was the poor acting and horrible plot holes. My view was, that it was good but it should have been great. Alien was great for its minor characters and in Prometheus we had people you did not like and did not believe them. However, there was a great performance by Michael Fassbender and solid ones by Noomi Rapace, Logan Marshall-Green, Charlize Theron and Idris Elba. I also liked its ideas and the visual effects and set designs were fantastic. I hope the two sequels completes the Alien saga and makes good films out of them.
The surprises of the year are the real secret in making a successful in film. On that was released on Boxing Day was the TV movie 'The Girl' which shows the life of Alfred Hitchcock and Tippi Hedren during the making of 'The Birds'. Toby Jones who played Hitchcock was quite a presence and made the whole film really creepy to watch.
Other surprising successes was the comically dark Sightseers, the thrilling End Of Watch and the very interesting film documentary, Indie Game: The Movie.
Not many films that heavily featured in the awards missed out on my top 10. Two Best Picture nomination that did not make it was Lincoln. Steven Spielberg's epic drama on Abraham Lincoln's path to abolishing slavery was really good. Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln deserves every award coming to him. However, it is not as engaging as Spielberg's other immortal classics. The other was Beasts Of The Southern Wild. The small budget fantasy drama was quite interesting, but not as captivating everyone made out. Despite that, I still thought it was very good. Best Animated film nominee The Pirates! In An Adventures With Scientists was the family film of 2012 as Aardman animation returned with another romping action adventure with a great blend of smart comedy. A couple of foreign language films that did not make it was the very good Rust And Bone and interesting period drama A Royal Affair. Finally, the winner of Best Picture Argo missed out on what was a competitive list. I thought it was very well made and a gripping film that director and actor Ben Affleck deserved everything he got. But sadly, there were at least 10 films I felt were better. I have recently seen The Impossible which I felt to be very generic, but still gripping viewing.
There were more very good films that missed out, but these ones did not feature in the major awards. We'll start with 21 Jump Street which I did not intend to watch straight away but heard a lot of great reviews. I found time to watch it and thought it was one of the funniest high budget comedies in the last 10 years. Really excited for the sequel in 2014. Others were the incredible gripping The Hunger Games, the thrilling Mud which features another recent Matthew McConaughey renaissance performance, the funny and yet moving Robot & Frank, the deeply emotional The Perks Of Being A Wallflower and the thrilling Looper. One film that deserves a big mention is The Cabin In The Woods that I myself am surprised it didn't make my top 10. I was completely surprised by this. It is not afraid to be different and really goes to town on re-imaging the horror genre. Definitely this generations Scream.
I have to mention Life Of Pi. This is a visual masterpiece by director Ang Lee. It had the feeling of a modern biblical tale, this terrific story really makes the use of 3D and still brings terrific performances. It has some of the best visual effects I'v ever seen and should be seen on the biggest screen possible.
The performances of Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence are incredible and the story is wonderfully charming and has a nice subtle amount of comedy.
If this was a top 11, then Skyfall would have made it. In terms of awards wins, this is the most successful Bond film of all-time. Daniel Craig is back on top form as the famous British spy. Everything about it is highly enjoyable. It contains great fast-paced action with terrific performances by Judi Dench and Javier Bardem. Director Sam Mendes has created a smart and mature Bond film that can easily been as something separate from the franchise.
With those missing out, you may wonder what could be the 10 films that are better than them. Well, here is my top 10:
It sees a reclusive girl meet a man with a strange secret. That chance meeting gives us such a wonderful story that went down places that I was not expecting.
On paper it sounds strange, but my goodness does it work with your emotions.
I wasn't sure if it would work with many main characters. But director Joss Whedon and his team perfectly mixed everybody to make pure popcorn cinema.
8) Wreck-It Ralph - Saw this quite recently and was completely over-whelmed by it.It sees a video arcade villain wanting to become a hero and sets to fulfill his dream.
The clever use of the material provided makes this thrilling viewing. Another Disney timeless classic is in the books.
Director Peter Jackson returns to the world where he just adores the source material. With The Hobbit book being a short one Jackson makes the most of the appendices written by author J.R.R Tolkien and has started another terrific franchise.
It's great to be back in Middle Earth.
It tells the tale of a young New York City girl get caught up in the middle of a custody battle.
It is such a wonderfully told story that has a fairy tale tone to it, with great performances and had me totally invested.
Child actress Onata Aprile is directed wonderfully to make her performance so natural and innocent as our central character. Julian Moore and Steve Coogan as the parents do what they do best also.
Definitely the hidden gem of 2012.
With terrific performances from Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz and Samuel L. Jackson, everything is vintage Tarantino.
Is there really anything more that is needed to be said?
A lot of people were expecting something better than The Dark Knight.
It was going to surpass its predecessor. But it is still a great addition to the franchise that beautifully completes the story.
There are also great performances by new characters played by Tom Hardy and Anne Hathaway.
3) Les Miserables - The 32 year old musical hit originating from a 19th century novel has finally made a successful version for the big screen.Director Tom Hooper carries on from his success with The King's Speech with this latest blockbuster.
With constant singing throughout, it is great to a proper musical being shown after what has been quite a long drought of these.
With many top performances from a stellar cast, this is great viewing that can never get tired of watching.
This was also the only film I have seen at the cinema that ended with a round of applause.
2) The Hunt - A devastatingly emotional Danish drama about how a little white lie can lead to ruining someone else's life. The performances are fantastic, especially from Mads Mikkelsen and youngster Annika Wedderkopp.It is a brutal watch. But it covers an important topic that we should also remind ourselves with. This broke me both mentally and physically, and not many films can do that to me.
From a supposedly unfilmable book, directors Tom Tykwer and The Wachowski's have created something quite ground-breaking and unique.
It's complex story-telling and film presentation got extremely mixed reviews. But I can see this gradually becoming the biggest cult classic of our time.
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