Film Review 2012

Dear film buff

2012 was a remarkable year for films. Being my 50th birthday, I knew the year held a certain number of blockbusters. One would be its own 50th birthday. There were a few surprises this year not only in success but in failure. There is a very fine line between a film becoming a critical success and a public one. Despite the name behind a picture, it can easily become lost. One such picture, despite the publicity, failed at the box office. It was good but not great. That is the fine line now. What appears to be a very acceptable film now needs the one element of major box office return to achieve success. One so called box office failure was John Carter, the Disney backed science fiction film. It was lavish, great effects, good story but something just did not catch the public.

So to my pick of 2012. Of the films that came out, I will pick my top six.

The first film, Men in Black 3, was a surprise. The original movie was very clever, indicating that aliens had been happily living on Earth for many years. In fact, it stated that some of our most prominent people were aliens. A quote used that Elvis did not die, he just went home. A comedy, featuring two unlikely stars worked very well. The third film had a lot to overcome, given the second movie not being as well received. I wont mention the plot, but it was for me, very entertaining. In the first quarter of the year, other movies made their impact including the re-boot (as it is now known) of Spiderman and Brave. The later film was an animation concerning a Scottish tribe. It is noted here because of its connection to archery, which kept on appearing in the year.

The second film, and my second favourite this year, was The Avengers Assemble. Now this was not John Steed and co but Marvel bringing together its top comic characters. Having spent the last couple of years carefully constructing a number of superheroes, the danger of putting all the cast on screen could have been no more than a fight as who had more space. It never happened. The film flowed brilliantly, the cast worked together just as their characters would. There was tension, the story took care of that, and there was a roller coster effect. Marvel got it right. It also came out just in time for my 50th birthday. Now that was a great present.

The third film was The Dark Knight Rises. This was the last of the current trilogy of Batman movies. Once more, it was waited for with bated breath. This was a battle of the blockbusters, one Knight against one team. Batman was well produced, well written, entertaining but lacked that final punch. I have said before that between the two rivals, DC and Marvel, the later seems to have managed to understand how to produce the complete package. For me, Batman was my fourth best film of 2012.

Another surprise was The Hunger games. Aimed at a certain market I felt, yet worked because of the idea. Unsurprising in fiction is the limited number of basic plots. This one was around, as yet, an unknown incident which caused the North American continent to become a number of districts. This had been done before by other authors, think of Judge Dread for example. The surprise was the change in the main character from plain person to ruthless desire to survive. This film again featured archery, however it is not the sole reason for its inclusion. As with many cinema goers these days, there is a clear push from the companies to continue the episodic film trend. It makes sense and makes money. Disney clearly has a plan for this field. Having made its way into Marvel and Pixar, it announced this year it’s purchase of the Star Wars brand. This caused as much interest as the production of a new film. Where that goes is anyones guess. Watch the skies or space.

My final two films came towards the end of a very busy year. One celebrated along with me it’s 50th year. To find that in 2012, I had the Queen’s celebrations, the Olympic and Paralympics on home soil and a number of ‘awesome’ films to watch, did make me smile. I thought it very apt all this was here for me. Well, that’s my story anyway. James Bond has been around for a little longer than 50 years but this year was the 50th anniversary of the first feature film, Doctor No. Skyfall had a lot to live up to, in fact almost too much. Bond delivered, big style. It was the best Bond film for some time. It had all the right elements, a few twists and it won the audience. It was one of only two films I had to see again on the cinema in 2012. The last film is The Hobbit. There are millions of fantasy, science fiction and fiction novels about. Not many can claim the sort of following that these books have. It is said that half the world has read either the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit or the Bible.

The film was good but a little long. I will have to see it a second time in 2013. The way Peter Jackson has transformed the words into scenes is amazing. New Zealand is now forever Middle Earth. The movie will be a blockbuster and a success with the public, less so with the awards. Those sort never really like to bow to public. Of course the last part of Lord of the Rings did win a few but I suspect they thought that was that. How wrong.

The blockbuster still seems very much in the public and cinema companies minds. The public enjoy going, feasting on ever more mind blowing pictures. Sometimes however, its the simple film, the black and white film that captures people. 2013 will have more blockbusters, more amazing films and episodic series. I for one look forward to at least three, Star Trek, Iron Man 3 and The Hobbit part 2 . What else may surprise me. Lets see.

So the tagline, 2012 a blockbuster year that did not end in disaster for some films.