2012: A Year To Look Back On...

OK, so 2012 was when I first starting blogging my film reviews of everything that I saw at the cinema (and sometimes what I saw on DVD.) One of the first blogs of 2012 I did was what films I was looking forward to seeing and likewise, those that I wasn't looking forward to seeing. Let's have a look and see if I was right to be excited?



The Amazing Spiderman - ***/*****

As I said in the original blog post, I was a massive fan of Sam Raimi's Spiderman trilogy, so I was naturally looking forward to The Amazing Spiderman. While Andrew Garfield did a stand-up job taking over the red and blue suit and Emma Stone was great as his love interest, Gwen Stacey, the whole film felt a little boring and been-there-done-that. Basically, it wasn't that much different to the Raimi films.



Prometheus - ****/*****

I loved Prometheus. I don't care what you all think, I absolutely loved it. Sure, it wasn't a great prequel to Alien, and the stupid tacked on ending of the alien being born bugged me, but I loved how it raised so many questions. So what if it didn't answer all of them, it was a beautiful, beautiful film.



The Woman in Black - ****/*****

I loved the stage play. I then read the book and thought it was very chilling. The film? It was a bit reliant on heavy jump scares and sure, Daniel Radcliffe looked a little young to be playing Arthur Kipps, but it just felt like a well made tight little British horror film, something we have been missing since Hammer's heydays (minus the campiness of Christopher Lee).



Wrath of the Titans - ***½/*****

Clash of the Titans was pretty tame, had too much Hollywood gloss to it and had really flat 3D, but I was entertained on the most basic level. I was expecting more of the same from Wrath of the Titans, even though it had a new director, and I was unfortunately spot on. It suffered the same flaws in its look and plot, with even more monsters being abruptly killed off in this one. Looking back on it, I think my 3½ star writing might be a bit generous.



The Cabin in the Woods - ****/*****

I loved Cabin in the Woods. It was just what the horror genre needed to give it a bit of a boost - much like what Scream did in the 1990s. I'm just a little disappointed looking back on it that the film didn't get the mainstream advertising that it deserved. I can even overlook that ridiculous closing scene...



The Hunger Games - ***/*****

I don't like to admit it, but I was right with this one. It's a film that should have been a more extreme version than what it was. I don't understand why the filmmakers went for a light film which dealt with young people hunting and killing each other?!



The Avengers Assemble - **½/*****

One of my biggest disappointments of the year. I love superhero films and a film which had some of the big titans altogether should have been great. Instead, the 3D was flat and it just felt like it was the Thor show rather than a joint effort.



And films I wasn't looking so forward to...

American Pie: Reunion - ***/*****

I don't know how it did it, but American Pie: Reunion wasn't terrible. Sure, it wasn't an amazing feat of cinema, but it also didn't pretend to be anything else. Instead of finding the older actors weird and creepy doing the same stuff they did over 10 years ago, I felt a weird sense of nostalgia and remembering when I went to the cinema for the first films.



The Dictator - ½/*****

I was right - it was terrible. Sasha Baron Cohen needs to move on from his brand of "outrageous" humour, because it's not funny.



Titanic 3D - N/A

It was... nice to see this film in cinemas again and felt a lot more epic than watching it on the small screen. The 3D wasn't too shabby either, but not the best film of 2012 (or even 1997).



The Expendables 2 - ***/*****

I actually enjoyed The Expendables 2 a lot more than I thought I would. Even though Nan Yu nearly brought down the entire film with her appalling attempt at acting, it was great to see so many cameos by actions biggest stars.



Now on to 2013!