Some
films that I did not see, and therefore, cannot be on any list are Silver Linings Playbook, Safety not
Guaranteed, Prometheus, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Sessions, Rise of
the Guardians, The Master, Armour, Moonrise Kingdom, Jack and Jill, John
Carter, and The Oogieloves in Big
Balloon Adventure.
Spoilers ahead. Obviously.
Spoilers ahead. Obviously.
Honorable
Mentions
Wreck-It Ralph
There’s really
not much wrong with this movie. Ralph
is a solid, solid movie that does the whole inside a video game thing well
(loved how it explained first person rail shooters). The movie thankfully doesn’t
get too crazy or pandering with its cameos (M. Bison gets a speaking role?
Hooray!), has well developed characters, good voice acting (Sarah Silverman and
Jane Lynch being most notable for me), and a surprisingly high amount of
emotion. Oh, and I can't forget the puns. Those deliciously dumb but awesome candy puns. The Oreo joke had me laughing harder then anyone else in the theater. If I had to point out a negative, it’s that the film ultimately plays
things a bit too safe. In the end, Ralph
barely misses being on my list. Also, Paperman
rocked.
The
Avengers
If I was making
a list of the most fun and/or entertaining movies of 2012, then this would
surely be on that list. If I was making a list of which movies in 2012 gave me
the best theater experiences, then this would be on the list. Alas, my list is none
of the above. Make no mistake, The
Avengers is a fun, fun movie that is pretty much everything I want in a
summer blockbuster. In addition, I do appreciate the way many of the shots in
the final action scene look like they’re right from a comic book (ie the famous
shot of Hulk punching the leviathan. I could easily see that being a two page
spread). That being said, the movie has too many problems, such as having a
less than stellar opening, and having some of the most facepalm worthy mind
control in a while. Still, I’m able to forgive these problems pretty easily, as
this movie was just too fun.
The
Dark Knight Rises
Let’s get one
thing straight: The Dark Knight Rises was
a good, solid movie that unfortunately, had to go up against both unrealistically
high expectations and overly partisan interpretations of the movie*. It came as
no surprise that TDKR could not live
up to said expectations. Still, there is a lot to like about the movie. Really
solid performances all around (with the exception of a certain death scene),
some really good action set pieces, and a story that overall did a nice job
completing the story that started in Begins.
Yes, the movie’s too long, the villains go out poorly, and the whole Robin
thing was kind of eh, but this was not a
bad movie. It just wasn’t good enough to make it on my list. (On a side note, I do wish the people
who talked about how the movie was a slam against the occupy movement would
have paid attention to a.) Bane’s speech about purposely creating a false hope
for Gotham, and b.) noticed that many of the rioters were the freed inmates).
Also, I don’t care what anyone else thinks: I liked this version of Bane. Admittedly,
I missed the luchador mask, but Tom Hardy still did a great job giving the
character a lot of physical presence. Plus, it’s pretty damn fun to try to do
his voice.
*And of course, there’s the real
life event that kind of tarnished people’s enthusiasm for the movie. I’m not
going to touch that here.
Life
of Pi
If Life of Pi had only been the middle
section (a.k.a. I’m on a boat…with a tiger), then it probably would have made
my list. Ang Le and Claudio Miranda did a wonderful job at capturing both the
beauty of Pi’s surroundings, and the feeling of pure isolation of Pi’s
predicament. The movie handled 3d in an intelligent way, and there are images
in the film that are some of the year’s best, such as the shot of the sinking
ship from an underwater view, or one of the many overhead shots of the boat on
the water. It’s too bad that such beauty had to be sandwiched between two
slices of meeehhhhh. The first act, just like in the book, just isn’t that
engaging. As for the end, I think that the story tried to go too far. Other
people have already pointed out that the overall messages of the story are kind
of shallow (Believe in the story with the animals because it’s more fun and
will make you feel better! God exists because God allows you to escape the
harsh realities of your situation!)You want to tell me a story that will make
me believe in god? Great. Tell me a story of miraculous survival in the face of
impossible odds. Spare me the not-as-deep-as-you-think philosophy about
religion and spirituality. But, again, the film is beautiful to watch.
Cabin
in the Woods
This was a fun
movie, with some clever satire of the horror/slasher movie genre. I do accept
the theory that in addition to spoofing slasher films, Cabin was also spoofing movies in general, and audience
expectations. (In short, the ancient ones are the audience, who get irritated
and pissed whenever a movie differs from the formula that we expect to see. Because
of this, we, the audience, have forced writers (Richard Jenkins and Bradley
Whitford) to constrain their own creativity. Meanwhile, the accountants usually
get to decide what will be the most “entertaining” for the audience. And so
forth). The last fifteen minutes have some of the most wildly entertaining
carnage I saw in 2012, and the movie certainly is responsible for some of the
best kills of 2012. So why is this not on my top twelve list?
The big red button.
WHY DID THEY PUT THAT THERE? WHAT PURPOSE DOES IT
SERVE? WHEN DID THEY EVER THINK THAT THERE WAS GOING TO BE A USE FOR A KILL EVERYONE
BUTTION??????!!!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!
I
know, I know, I shouldn’t get too hung up over plot holes, but months later, I still
haven’t been able to figure out why an organization that has made the art of
murder into a procedural process would do something so dumb.
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