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2012 Movies in Review
by David Blackwell
2012 did provide a wide variety of movies. The year brought some reboots of well known characters, the latest
installments in well known series like James Bond and Twilight, and a movie year that I felt peaked in the middle of the year
with diminishing returns of quality in the Fall. Some sequels disappointed like THE DARK KNIGHT RISES which wasn't as
good as the first two films in the Christopher Nolan directed BATMAN trilogy. Other sequels really were horrible
like BREAKING DAWN Part 2 which decided to just appeal to the chick flick audience instead of having another TWILIGHT film
accessible to both male and female fans of the film series like the first three movies. BREAKING DAWN
Part 2 wins the Worst Movie of the Year award while RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION gets most disappointing sequel of the year
witha story that does nothing to advance the RESIDENT EVIL movie storyline like the first four movies. Meanwhile,
SKYFALLL was a frustrating James Bond sequel that managed to wink at the past, provide some good moments, and yet it disappointed
in other scenes in what I feel was the worst written of the Daniel Craig Bond films. Below are my thoughts and
links to what I thought were the best movies of 2012 based on what I have seen in 2012. I have yet to see LINCOLN
and I do feel JOHN CARTER gets too much bad press. Feel free to email your thoughts about the worst and best
films of 2012.
CLOUD ATLAS
CLOUD ATLAS has an interesting story and it is rewarding as long as you pay attention to a movie that makes sense despite
going back and forth in time between multiple stories during one of the most underwatched films of the year.
THE AVENGERS (2012)
THE AVENGERS is a fun super hero action film that was my favorite summer popcorn movie of 2012. Joss Whedon managed
to pull off what lesser directors might have failed at or have the film come across as a mess. He knows how to
write characters and give them good dialogue plus THE AVNGERS proves he is a far capable director and writer.
The JUSTICE LEAGUE movie has a lot to live up to if it is going to be as good as THE AVENGERS or the upcoming AVENGERS sequel.
IRON SKY
IRON SKY is a sci-fi satiire which is also a war spoof mixed with plenty of political satire. It is a fun movie
made ona very modest budget of $10 million. This is a cult movie more people should watch and enjoy.
What is not to love about Nazis from the moon invading the Earth in flying saucers, a Sarah Palin-like President being one
of the most interesting polictical satie figures in a movie in the last five years, and Udo Kier brings this production up
a notch by just being a part of it.
THE RAID: REDEMPTION
DREDD
THE RAID and DREDD have stories that share some of the same basic plot despite being dveloped independently of each
other. Both are kick-ass action films. DREDD is one of the best 2012 movies that no one watched and
should have (it comes out on DVD and Blu-ray on 1/8/2013). THE RAID has more impressive action scenes while DREDD
hs the best script of the two with Karl urban doing his best take on Dredd with a Clint Eastwood voice. you shouldn't
let subtitles put you off watching THE RAID (there is an English language track for the subtitled impaired).
PROMETHEUS
PROMETHEUS is one of the best sci-fi films of 2012 that manages to be intriguing and frustrating at times (sometime in
the same scene). The deleted scenes and the story of the movie's production (as shown in THE FURIOUS GODS documentary)
that Ridley Scott opted for a better paced movie instead of a more rewarding film. I still do think the film is
worth watching even those ALIEN fans who wanted a straight prequel instead of Ridely opening up the universe to explore other
things like The Engineers and questions about life and faith. I hope Ridley does follow up with a sequel soon.
ARGO
ARGO is an entratining drame based on true events and Ben Affleck manages to crate a film mixed with drama and humor
while developing the characters. One of the best movies of 2012.
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
I loved this first film of the new SPIDER-MAN trilogy despite some of its flaws. I dod think this film does capture
the characters better in addition to having a better cast than any of teh Sam Raimi SPIDER-MAN films. I can't
wait for the sequel.
this article is (c)1-1-2013 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com All spam and emails with attachments shall be deleted.
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