Top Ten: Movies of the year 2012

          Before I get to the list itself I just want to thank everyone who's supported me and read these reviews this past year. It means alot and I really enjoy doing this, hopefully I'm improving and hopefully you like what I've been doing. Can I say what a great year this has been for movies, this list was so hard to cut down to ten as as you'll see its technically twelve, but my list my rules so there. Anyway there's a few movies I'd like to mention that didn't quiet make the list, but I still think you should check out so here they are:  The Woman in Black, Men in Black 3, Snow White and the Huntsman, Ruby Sparks, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Sinister, Cloud Atlas, Moonrise Kingdom, Brave, Magic Mike, 21 Jump Street, ParaNorman, Frankenweenie, Argo, Ted, Silver Linings Playbook, The Watch, Sinister and Project X.

          There are four other movies I'd like to talk about briefly about before i get to the list the first is The Amazing Spider-Man and before I saw it I was in the Why-do-we-need-this-movie-we-already-got-before-with-Sam-Rami camp but once I saw it I had to admit it was a good movie and a great take on the Spider-Man franchise, so check if out if you haven't yet. The second film I want to mention is John Carter, a film that did bad at the box office due to bad publicity in my opinion, while it wasn't the greatest movie ever made it isn't anywhere near as bad as you may have heard, and the people who complained that it was ripping off Star Wars and the Flash Gordon serials should know that the book this film is based off was out before all of those and that they ripped this movie off, I also this this movie suffered with marketing, if it had of been called John Carter of Mars, of Princess of Mars would it of done better? Maybe it would of but unfortunatly it wasnt and it got ripped to shreads by critics, I for one am diaspointed as it looked like it would of been a good film series one that could of rivled Star Wars but we'll never get to see that.

          Lastly I'd like to mention The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey & Django Unchained – At the time of writing this I haven’t seen these films but going on pedigree alone I can guarantee that these are both amazing movies. With The Hobbit I’ve heard mixed things but if you’re a fan of the LOTR trilogy you should love it and with Django all I’ve heard has been good, plus it’s a Quentin Tarantino film so you know it’ll be amazing (Death Proof was ok). As soon as I get to see these two I will update this list, who knows one of them could top the list when I do. Anyway with out further ado, here's my top ten films of 2012, enjoy.

10 The Raid: Redemption & Dredd – The Raid was one of the most beautifully shot and original films I have ever seen, I recommend you see the original version not the dub, there’s not many subtitles to read. Dredd is in the same space as unfortunately it has a near identical story to The Raid, I imagine its just a case of bad timing though rather than a genuine attempt to rip off the former and again is a great action film well worth checking out.

9. The Hunger Games – This is here more for the book which I thought was amazing and while I knew the film couldn’t live up to my expectations as it was aimed at a teen market, I wasn’t prepared for how much of a departure it was from the novel. Still a great film that you should check out and the sequel looks like it will be good too.

8. Chronicle – One of the freshest reimagining’s of the superhero genre ever. When this came out earlier this year it was my favourite film of the year so far. It makes great use of the found footage genre too and it inventive having the characters controlling the camera with their minds to make it more stable and to get the wide angle shots. A work of genius, please watch it.

7. The Secret World of Arrietty – I’m a sucker for anything Studio Ghibli, while not my favourite of their films it’s still a captivating film and defiantly worth watching. This film is based on The Borrowers books and in typical Ghibli is visually stunning and heartfelt, the Disney dub is great and so is the original Japanese voice track. The Ghibli movies are a great starting point for anyone wanting to get into Anime and you can get them very easy.

6.  The Cabin In The Woods – I love horror movies, especially the classics like The Evil Dead, so when I first hear about this film and that it was a Joss Whedon movie (he helped write the script) I was in. I knew that this was a twist on the usual horror movie set up but I tried to avoid spoilers, so when I saw this film and how it deconstructed the horror movie genre and the film in a film style of it, I was blown away. Go see this film if you love horror movies and especially if you’re a Joss Whedon fan, you’ll love it.

5. Pitch Perfect –This is the funniest film I've seen all year, and is up there with the best Comedy films of recent year. A heart warming story that never feel forced or unreal and gives the world Fat Amy and shows that Anna Kendrick is quiet a capable young actress. Well worth checking out.

4. Promethus – The sort of prequel to the Alien films, this one really polarizes people, you either love it or hate it. I loved it, it wasn’t a perfect movie but as far as sci-fi movies go its up there with the best, I think living in the shadow of the Alien movies doesn’t help its case but its easily the 4^th best Alien movie if not 3^rd so that’s go to count for something. I say check it out at least but be warned it’s a film that likes to think it’s smart.

 3. The Avengers – The first film on this list that I excited to see before it ever existed. Marvel well and truly deserve a round of applause for making such an ambitious film, full stop, leave alone make one of the best superhero/comic book films ever. The planning that went into this film with all the little post credit scenes just make the pay off so much better, no other film can boast such an ensemble cast of such well known and loved characters, and who knew Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk would steal the show? The only downside is one second viewing some of the magic is lost and having seen it opening night in a packed cinema watching it alone really doesn’t compare, but leaving that aside this is a phenomenal film and one to watch if you’re a comic book fan.

 2. Looper – The most creative and original film I’ve seen since The Raid ha. But seriously this is an amazing film and one you need to see, its story is such a fresh take on the time-travel genre and is the best sci-fi film I’ve seen all year. I won’t say too much more on this film as I have a review of it ready to post to the blog but you need to see this film.

1. The Dark Knight Rise – How do you follow up The Dark Knight, possibly the best super hero/comic book movie ever made? By breaking down your main character to a shell of the man he was before, by having him face a villain that can dominate him in a way no one was ever done before, by literally breaking your hero down and then slowly rebuilding him, by conquering his fear, to rise to the challenge. In case you can’t tell I love this movie and The Dark Knight Trilogy as a whole, Christopher Nolan is an amazing director and one of my personal favourites, but what the man has done here with such a fantastical character like Batman is mesmerising. While Bane might not quite match the intensity of the Joker in the Dark Knight, he isn’t really meant too, all of the villains in the trilogy so far have represented different aspects Bruce Wayne has had to overcome in order to be the hero Gotham city deserves. Watch this film if you haven’t I’d recommend watching all three movies together.

Review: Pitch Perfect (2012) - Jason Moore

"You guys are gonna get pitch-slapped so hard, your man boobs are gonna concave"

          This is one of the funniest film’s I’ve seen all year forget about whatever misconceptions you may have about this film, it’s brilliant. It’s such a smart and funny film, the comedy is layered so if you bring someone younger or more innocently minded they won’t get all the little jokes especially the ones the presenters make and has a great soundtrack, a typical chick flick this is not.

          What really made the film work in my opinion were the great cast; especially the protagonist Becca (Anna Kendrick, one of my favourite young actresses) and the standout comedian Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson) who carries most if not all of the films jokes. The characters seem real and believable and have depth which helps you invest in their struggle and story. So the basic plot of the story is loner girl, whose great at remixing songs wants to be a music producer, she goes to college, reluctantly and then joins an all female  a cappella group (The Bellas), makes friends with the other members and gets a boyfriend, who joins the opposing all male  a cappella group (Treble Makers). I’ll try and keep this review spoiler free as I hope most of you will go see this in the cinema, and guys don’t worry if your dragged along to this as a date movie it’s actually really interesting and while it sounds like the set up for the kind of film most guys would hate, I found myself really enjoying it.

          Anna Kendrick’s character of Becca seems like a very believable person, some people will relate to her, but everyone will certainly understand her and why she is the way she is. The love story never felt tacked on to me and felt like it moved along at a natural pace, there’s no “I love you” after 2 days nonsense and I suppose being awkward like Skylar Astin’s character Jesse, I was rooting for him, oh and most impressively there’s no love triangle shoe horned in because it’s the cool thing to do in teen drama’s. The internal conflicts in The Bella’s are also very grounded and while they can sometimes be blown up for the plot’s sake they come from a real place and it never felt like conflict for conflict’s sake. Fat Amy is the standout character in this film by a mile, you can just tell Rebel Wilson is having so much fun in this role and in a way she’s the films de facto narrator at least in the scenes she’s in, I hope this girl gets an Oscar nomination for this role, but I’m certain she’ll win a few MTV awards and other people choice style awards.

          The soundtrack was not just pretty good, it was downright awesome. Normally with these Glee/Step Up type films there’s one really good some and the rest is just filler which always affects you losing yourself in the movie, well not here. The songs are all current and most if not all have been in the top 30 this year, there are a few songs mainly the ones the groups sung by the group that are Glee-esque but their there for a specific reason so they get a pass.

          If your still on the fence about seeing this movie I’d recommend giving it a chance, like I said bring your girlfriend or sister or go with a group of friends, you won’t be disappointed. So wrapping things up I’d give this movie a solid 8/10, it’s not going to win the Oscar for best picture, but it will win a load of viewer’s choice awards like MTV’s so go and enjoy yourself.

Review: Star Trek (2009) - J. J. Abrams

A legend is retold and improved.

"Your father was captain of a starship for twelve minutes. He saved eight hundred lives, including your mother's and yours. I dare you to do better."

          I'm ashamed to admit that last night was my first time seeing this movie, as a huge Sci-Fi fan I've been meaning to check it out for ages but kept putting it off. I should also let you know I am not a Star Trek fan, not because I don't like the series, I just never got drawn it to it, but I will be the first to admit that this film was amazing. As a Star Wars fan I'm extremely jealous that this was the reboot to your series and how it kept the humour and feel of the original TV and Film series. The catalyst for finally watching this movie was the fantastic trailer for the sequel to this film Star Trek: Into Darkness, which looks amazing so I knew I had to see this film and it's a great jumping on point for anyone who doesn't want to track down and go through the original film and TV series, but still wants to see what the big fuss is with Star Trek and unlike most reboots it doesn't completely throw away the history long time fans have come to know.

          Well to get on with the review proper. The plot of this film is basically a retelling of the origin story of the original (USS) Enterprise crew and how them meet and their interactions with each other and how they rise to their positions, the but that makes this unique though is that this is an alternative reality caused by time travelling Romulan's hell bent on exacting their revenge on Vulcan for the loss of their homeworld by the actions of Spock in the original series timeline/reality. It's not as confusing as it sounds, but like I said it allows everything that happened before to be canon and yet still allow the creative crew behind the film to take liberties and change certain events for the purpose of their story and to surprise both Trekkies and new fans alike. The film opens with the USS Kelvin being attacked by the time-travelling Romulan ship, with the unborn (Captain) James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) on board and the death of his father George Kirk (Chris Hemsworth) as he rams the Romulan ship with the USS Kelvin, in order to allow the escape shuttles to get away.

          Twenty five years later we then see the cocky James Kirk training with the rest of the Enterprise crew, some of whom don't get on with him especially Spock (Zachary Quinto). A similar electrical storm in space takes place where the USS Kelvin was attacked and then Vulcan, Spock's home-planet is attacked by the time-travelling Romulan ship, which wasn't seen since the original attack. The cadets are mobilised to help the Vulcan homeworld, the ships are overwhelmed by the advanced Romulan ship which is drilling into the core of the plan to create a blackhole in the centre of the planet and destroy it. The crew are too late to stop the destruction of the planet but do manage to rescue the Vulcan high council. Spock was promoted to captain and orders that they return back to earth and regroup with the rest of Starfleet, Kirk disagrees and is ejected onto a near by planet, where he meets the original or older Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and Scotty (Simon Pegg) and Old Spock tells Kirk about there friendship and how he was too late to save the Romulan homeworld and how this is an alternate reality to the one he had come from originally, they also come up with a plan to get (young) Spock to show his emotions and therefore have to resign as captain so as Kirk can become captain of the USS Enterprise and basically save the day. Scotty and Kirk beam to the ship and then as Captain, Kirk stops the Romulan's destroying Earth and destroys their ship in a blackhole, and returns to earth where he is promoted to Captain of the Enterprise and starts to become friends with Spock.

          What can I say about this film? Visually it's stunning, the cast are amazing and the story is simple and yet effective. I highly recommend this film if you love good action and sci-fi movies and for me anyway it's a 9/10. Well worth checking out especially if the trailer for the sequel excites you.

Review: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012) - Timur Bekmambetov

          Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, doesn’t that name get you excited, one of the most influential men in history and one of horrors most iconic villains all in one movie? Aren’t you just drawn in? Don’t you want to see this film? Well you’d be disappointed if like me the mere title excited you and had you thinking of the possibilities. I mean the idea of the film sounds simple enough take one historical figure, sprinkle in fictitious elements and boom success, right?

          Well for this film sadly the answer is no. But I don’t know where the film fails, that is to say I can’t see why it doesn’t entertain but it just doesn’t. Maybe it the alternate history, maybe it’s the way the characters are written, but something about this film just doesn’t have that greatness too it that certain films do. The actors though are phenomenal are put in some truly great performances, Benjamin Walker is believable as Abraham Lincoln especially in the 20-40 age bracket, he’s also very likable and should go far as an actor, Dominic Cooper is great as Henry Sturges, Lincoln's mentor in vampire hunting and a vampire who lost his wife and humanity to vampires and Mary Elizabeth Winstead is amazing as Mary Todd Lincoln, Lincoln's wife.

          But maybe semi historical films just aren’t meant to be paired but with action horror movies. I am genuinely struggling for words to say about this film, but by no means am I saying that this is a bad film, its slightly worse than that it’s a plain film. It is worth checking out would probably make a great film to have on in the background as it doesn’t require much attention to understand.

          With the new rating system this film is a 4/10, not a bad film, but sadly not a good one either. It's the kind of film that if it was on TV some night it would be worth a watch of if your drinking with friends and want something on in the background other than that though I really cant recommend this film, which is a pity as it has so much potential.