2012: A Year In Review - Part 1: Films

    Another year comes to a close and once again it's time for that celebrated holiday tradition.   My annual year in review, the time when I drop all pretense and explain exactly what was worth caring about during the past solar cycle.   This year I will be doing this in multiple installments with the first being my reviews of the films of 2012.

    After 2011 which was just awesome with so many big movie releases 2012 faced an uphill battle which it won more with sheer scale and quality than with quantity.   I may have spent less time in the cinemas this year but the time was well spent.

    The first film that was really worth seeing this year was John Carter.   Yes despite the boring name, the complete failure of disney to market the film, and the fact that the original story literally invented a number of sci-fi and fantasy cliches this film was awesome.   Being an 80s/90s kid I grew up with Masters of the Universe so the swords and planets subgenre has a special place in my heart and it was nice to see that so well represented here.   Since you probably haven't seen it do yourself a favor and check this film out.

    From a personal favorite to a box office favorite...  The Hunger Games movie was good enough to finally get me to read the books.   Maybe I am reading too much into it but I like the grim parody of our recent cultural obsession with reality TV.   Yes the main character was uninspired and annoying taking the "reluctant hero" trope to it's most extreme and the use of shaky camera was, as always, a poor decision but the film was not bad and perhaps, in the right frame of mind, I would even call it "good".

    Snow White and the Huntsman was a good film.   There I said it and I would say it again.   It's a good film and it's a shame that it got more buzz over the director's dalliances than anything else.   It was good to see Chris Hemsworth doing what he does best, over the top fantasy action scenes and it was clear why they would make his the title character of the film.   It is less clear why they chose the actress they did for Snow White.   I imagine that there would be a great number of roles she would be perfect for, a female Data for a future star trek movie, a female terminator, essentially any time of female android, robot, or computer simulation that cannot grasp human emotion.   Still the film is saved by the performances of the other characters and by the fact that Snow White is less a character and more the magical MacGuffin over which everyone is fighting.

    Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter has the second most absurd premise I have ever enjoyed in a film (the first being Cowboys and Aliens).   Still I must say I did enjoy it.   There are just enough bits of historical trivia that history nerds will be able to enjoy the film with a sense of smug superiority and more than enough over the top action that regular nerds will enjoy the film too.

    From an original but absurd premise to a less than original reboot of a popular character.   Amazing Spider-Man, while good, is not a film that needed to exist.   Rather it didn't need to exist but Sony is unwilling to give up the rights to the character so they need to keep making movies.   Andrew Garfield is no Tobey Maguire and while he does a fine job I never once bought him as a high school student.   The design for the Lizard was as good or better than the villain designs in the Raimi/Maguire trilogy and the decision to go with the more comic accurate choice of Gwen instead of Mary Jane as the love interest is one I can get behind.   Perhaps my biggest complaint about this film, other than being made too soon after the last trilogy, is the decision to give Spider-Man a pair of web guns instead of having the webs be part of his powers.

    Penultimately we get to the most disappointing film of 2012.   I am of course talking about The Dark Knight Rises.   Yes, I said it, most disappointing film of 2012.   This is not to say it was a bad film because really it was... fine.   I mean, considering the fact that the filmmakers have obviously never read a comic or seen any cartoons featuring Batman they did a pretty good job.   I imagine that, under different circumstances, I would have liked the movie a lot.   Still, as I have said many times before:  Christopher Nolan made a great crime drama that explores human nature and some fairly deep political issues and he did all of that very well but do not slap ears and a cape on it and expect me to believe that it's Batman.   Batman lives in a world with aliens, gods, magic, monsters, robots and pretty much every other fantastic thing one can imagine.   If you try to take that away you are not making it more believable you are just making it.... not Batman anymore.

    Well dear reader I imagine by now you have noticed at least one glaring omission on this list.   I have tried to go in something resembling chronological order but one film needs to be saved for the end.   In past years it  has been easy to decide on my pick for best picture but this year we have two strong contenders, both masterpieces that build on and add to their respective franchises.   Yes I am talking about The Avengers and The Hobbit.

    Avengers was everything I hoped it would be.   It took the established characters and had them meet in a way that was believable.   It would have been easy to let one character, namely Iron Man, steal every scene but that never happened.   Instead every character got a chance to shine and we got a satisfying conclusion to the story that has been building since 2008.   If I have any complaints about this film I would have to say I was less than enthusiastic about the decision to re-cast Bruce Banner.   Edward Norton was believable in the role and the new actor was... less so.   Still, it was not as bad as if they had failed to get Downey, Jackson, Hemsworth, or Evans back because all of those people really brought their characters to life in a way that few others could have.

    When I was seven years old I entered into one of the most rewarding and satisfying relationships I have ever known...  my lifelong relationship with the written word in general and with fantasy specifically.   It started with a beat up old copy of The Hobbit I found in my grandfathers garage.  The point is that I have a love for Middle Earth that defies words.   For three years waited in anticipation of the next Lord of the Rings film and upon seeing each film I was left feeling.... satisfied in a way that goes beyond mere happiness.   After seeing the Hobbit I had that feeling again.   I know some people will complain that Jackson went off book both to draw from Tolkiens other works and to add in more action because, after all, this was a movie.   I am not one of those people.   I loved this film, I loved the casting choices (only one recast and they stil paid homage to the original actor), I loved the look, I even loved the lighter tone of the film compared to the trilogy which I felt respected the book.

    So, my 2012 film of the year is, wait for iiiiitttttt......     The Avengers.   It was a tough call but in the end I think it's harder to finish a story than it is to start one (just look at every film trilogy ever).    So for that reason, for giving me the climactic payoff I have been waiting years for, Avengers wins as my favorite film of 2012.

    Before closing out the movie section I should probably say a few words about some of the really bad films of 2012.   I don't think anyone was surprised that Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance or Battleship have earned dishonorable mentions but still... wow.   Ghost Rider manages to be the most half assed reboot in film history.   Instead of building on past continuity (I admit to actually liking the first one) this film throws out the past story for no reason whatsoever.   They didn't use the same settings and most of the characters were new so they didn't have to explain any casting changes, they even used the same lead actor from the first film.   It. Doesn't. Make. Sense.   Battleship, the second worst film I saw this year, seems like another film that didn't need to exist.   Seriously, the filmmakers did a few good action scenes but those could have been seamlessly cut and pasted into any of the Bayformers movies and nobody would question it.  

    So, there you have it.   My exhaustive look at the films of 2012.  I hope you enjoyed it and that you will share your agreement and/or disagreement in the comments.   In our next installment I will discuss the best and worst games and TV programs of 2012 before concluding with a more autobiogaphical look at what seems to be one of the biggest years in my life.