2012 at the the Cinema

A Review of 2012 at the Cinema

To be honest this has been my favourite year in watching films, not the amount, but the quality of the films I’ve watched. I really don’t see myself as over-critical, I go into every film with the firm believe I will enjoy it or at least something about it. In the end only a handful of films have scored under 5 (2.5) and considering I’ve seen over 200 films that’s a lot of films I’ve liked!

 So here is my review of 2012 a year where not only did I see a lot of films, but managed to see 4 films at 4 different cinemas in 1 day – 100 miles. Sounds easy but we nearly failed twice! But we had a great laugh doing it.

Finding and using Letterboxd has opened my eyes to the amount of films I’ve never seen or even heard off! It’s a great site and along with twitter and even Facebook I’ve used the Social networks to enhance my film experience. It helps to get advice and feedback from people who love films.

The year in numbers

Total Films on any format : 325

Unlimited Films : 193

Total films seen in a cinema : 228

Watched on Blu Ray : 39   on DVD : 54   and on the TV : 4.

My Top Ten Twenty films

This was a nightmare to compile! I thought about having a critical list and I loved it list, but in the end I just made a top 20!

1)      Skyfall – My favourite Bond, my favourite Bond film, now the biggest Bond film ever. Just superb.

2)      Avengers – Was number 1 for so long but in the end just couldn’t hold on.

3)      Untouchable – Wonderful performances in a heart-felt story of true friendship.

4)      Amour – Wonderful performances in a heart-felt story of love and death!

5)      Silver Linings Playbook – Stella performances form Lawrence and Cooper in a film about people with mental problems finding true love.

6)      Looper – Fantastic Sci-Fi thriller packed full of emotion and time-travel.

7)      Argo – Edge of the seat drama nothing like I’ve seen for a long time – Affleck is proving to be a super Director.

8)      Rust & Bone – The French keep them coming, stunning performances from Cotillard and Schoenaerts in a film about courage and love.

9)      The Raid – Fuels my action junkie needs and then some. Just Awesome!

10)   The Cabin In the Woods – How can I not fail to love this film, I love horror! This spins it on its head! The ending is fantastic!

11)   The Amazing Spiderman – Any normal year this would have been in my top 5! Garfield is so good, the CGI is superb; just love it – all of it!

12)   Sinister – My favourite true horror film, I was expecting a typical Hollywood horror, got so much more – one of the creepiest demons for a long time!

13)   Ruby Sparks – Brilliant of the wall drama, I have a theory it’s not magic just clever film making – loved it and one of my favourite soundtracks.

14)   Shame – Powerful performance from Fassbender in a powerful film about an addiction that’s not usually covered in film! Wonderful direction from Steve Mcqueen.

15)   End of Watch – Didn’t want to see this because of the shaky cam, but everybody on twitter kept telling me I had to see it – Motion Sickness Tablets got me through it and I am glad they did – it was brilliant!

16)   The Perks of A Wallflower – Brilliant casting and an emotionally drama filled with great performances.

17)   Headhunters – Off the wall thriller which just so good!

18)   Killer Joe – One of the best performances of the year – McConaughey nails it!

19)   Killing Them Softly – Brilliant ensemble cast for me, in a tight little thriller. Get direction includes one of my favourite scenes of the year!

20)   Life of Pi –Again in any other year this would have made my top 10! Visually breathtaking, the Tiger is just amazing.... beautiful film to watch!

Here a few more films which could have made it into this list.

Anna Karenina, Wild Bill, The Imposter, A Royal Affair, 21 Jump Street, Martha Marcy May Marlene,  The Hunger Games,  Dredd, The Grey, Lawless, Chronicle, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Young Adult, Ill Manors and The Sapphires.

But where there is good there is also bad – here are my top 5 worst films of the year.

1)      Alex Cross  - I really could find nothing to like, from the poor script, the even worse acting and   terrible direction (some of the worst fight scenes I’ve ever seen!) – This was just poor from start to finish!

2)      Silent Hill 2 – I love horror but I hate this Hollywood drivel – this isn’t horror. One of the creepiest computer games ever and they come up this! I liked one, but they really missed the mark on this one.

3)      Resident Evil Retribution – Oh dear, on the whole I had liked the previous instalments to some degree. This one is the worst one yet!

4)      Haywire – A film which had so much potential was let down with a poor script and a poor casting choice – Carano wasn’t good enough to lead this film!

5)      The Darkest Hour – Oh no – Alien invasion with a cool concept, ruined by a poor script, bad acting and no tension.

So 3 horror films, I’ll class Darkest Hour as a Sci-Fi horror! And people wonder why the horror genre struggles!

Well the general release horror titles may be rubbish but some of the films at this year’s Frightfest were not rubbish.

Frightfest 2012

1)      Sinister – Nothing more to say – class!

2)      Maniac – Brilliant remake and love the fact most of it is from the killers POV.

3)      Sleep Tight – An intense and creepy film from Spain about a building warden doing a little more than his job!

4)      American Mary – Different and with a superb central performance from Katherine Isabelle, makes for a great horror/thriller about body modification.

5)      Tower Block – Nice little UK thriller written by Frightfest’s own James Moran. Well acted and with a fair amount of tension.

A few other notable films from the festival

Chained, Grabbers, Cockneys Vs Zombies, the Seasoning House, Stitches.

The worst film of the festival for me was Tulpa. Wow! The acting in this was so terrible! In-fact this is worse than Alex Cross!

So that was my year at the cinema – in 2013 I plan to do something different with my films – The Film Project 2013.