Wednesday 12 December 2012

2012 in REveiw

So since the world didn't end I am able to give my opinion on this year’s film highlights.
It should be noted that at the time of writing this I am yet to see "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" which is why it is not mentioned any where. Also the opinion expressed here in are my own and if you do not agree with anything I may have written....Go write your own Blog!

Best Films of 2012
  1. Avengers Assemble (The Avengers)
  2. The Dark Knight Rises
  3. Dredd
  4. Skyfall
  5. The Grey
  6. Prometheus
  7. Men In Black 3 
  8. The Expendables 2
  9. Safe House
  10. The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists
Best Director of 2012
Joss Whedon 
This came down to either Christopher Nolan for his epic conclusion to his Dark Knight Trilogy and Joss Whedon for brilliant cross hero adventure The Avengers (Avengers Assemble). I decided to go with Whedon because where as Nolan's Batman is without doubt set to become an example of Cinema history by elevating Super Hero Movies to a level of quality they have never known, tackling the character of Batman in a realistic and humanizing  way.
Joss has done something completely different entirely, something never done before, he has taken four different Super Heroes from four different franchises placed them together and surprisingly made a movie that not only works but is incredible and fun to watch, the characters are well balanced with each character and an array of minor characters being given there moment to shine, a feat that not many directors could accomplish.

Best Actor of 2012
Liam Neeson
Mainly for his brilliant and tragic performance in  "The Grey" as one man who knows how little the odd of his survival are pushes on anyway, but also for his roles in "Taken 2" in which he breaks out his specialized set of skills once again, "Wrath of the Titans" in which God goes EPIC! and his brief cameo in "The Dark Knight Rises".

Best Actress of 2012
Charlize Theron
Charlize Theron delivered two incredible performances this year with her cold and calculating Vickers from "Prometheus" to her Vengeful and Power Hungry Queen Ravenna in "Snow White and the Huntsman" (How bad-ass is both of those names?) Ravenna warranting special mention due to
A. the Child like nature of her performance with her throwing a tantrum when she fails to get what she wants. and B.  Her desire to remain youthful and beautiful as she believes that Men devour beauty and throw women aside as they get older.
Both of these elements are interesting and she portrays them perfectly through her performance.

Best Scene of 2012 
Bane vs The Dark Knight Round I (The Dark Knight Rises)
In a incredibly dark scene Batman(Bale) squares off against Bane(Hardy) for the first time with the fight not exactly going in Batman's favor, in fact in my opinion what makes this scene so great is how incredibly outclassed Batman is against Hardy's behemoth with Batman throwing everything he's learnt against him to no avail, Bane's victory looks effortless, the scenes bleak the music dark and it creates a great moment of dread for the audience.



Best Soundtrack of 2012
The Dark Knight Rises by Hans Zimmer.
Dramatic, Bleak, Moving, Awe Inspiring, Hope inspiring this soundtrack flows perfectly and adds a great sense of drama to the Dark Knights last outing. I strongly recommend checking out the track "Rise" for and example of how one track can portray such a wide array of emotions.

Best Animated Film of 2012
The Pirates! in an Adventure with Scientists.
Aardman's done it again! It's Smart, It's Funny, It's Claymation! Kracken's Biscuits its Good! 



Best Use Of 3D In 2012
Dredd 
Namely for the incredibly effective Slo-Mo sequence in which the Drug "Slo-Mo" slows time to one tenth of it usual speed creating some incredibly effective 3D moments such as water traveling through the air or a fall from a great height being viewed in a new light.

Biggest Disappointment of 2012
Taken 2 
Not that it was a bad film! it simply failed to be as action packed or edgy as the original, the stakes are meant to rise up not fall, yes he has more at risk with both his ex-wife and daughter in jeopardy against an enemy who's stake is personal instead of simply business like in the original, but Taken made for a far more tense and dramatic movies as there were moments when it actually seemed that Neeson's Mills might fail and lose what he cares the most about and Taken 2 never seem to quite match that.

Most Surprisingly Good Film of 2012
Wrath of the Titans
it's not perfect, not by a long shot but its good to see the film take steps to correct the mistake made by previous installment "Clash of the Titans" (such as including an actual Titan this time around) it takes the chance to really delve into Greek Mythology pulling out some impressive sequences such as an attack on a small fishing village by a Chimera and battling a tribe of Cyclopes. Where as it is still just as stupid as the previous installment it is damn fun to watch a proved a massively enjoyable film, also Ralph Fiennes and Liam Neeson GO EPIC! 
(Also the first installment had no where near enough Bill Nighy)


Best Lines of 2012
  1. Doth Mother Know You Wereth Her Drapes? - Tony Stark (Avengers Assemble)
  2. Ma Ma's Not The Law, I Am The Law. - Judge Dredd (Dredd)
  3. I Was Wondering What Would Break First, Your Spirit, Or Your Body - Bane (The Dark Knight Rises)
  4. It's a Waste of Good Scotch. - James Bond (Skyfall)
  5. There Are Always Men Like You - Old German (Avengers Assemble)
  6. Were You Expecting An Exploding Pen? - Q (Skyfall)
  7. Neptune's Naval! - The Pirate Captain (The Pirates! in an Adventure with Scientists)
  8. Now Is Not The Time For Fear, That Comes Later. - Bane (The Dark Knight Rises)
  9. Puny God! - The Hulk (Avenger Assemble)
  10. I Win! I'm Better Than Me! - Boris The Animal (Men in Black 3)
Best Antagonist Death Line of 2012
Dredd - Judge Dredd (Karl Urban): "Yeah"

Worst Antagonist Death Line of 2012
The Expendables 2 -Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone): "His Name Was Billy"

Most Over Hyped Film Of 2012
The Hunger Games
I myself am a fan of the Hunger Games Novels and felt that where the film was a strong interpretation of the books and highly enjoyable it was no where near deserving of the acclaim it received, not that it was a poor movie, it was a decent attempt to adapt a complex and difficult novel but it featured many flaws that many seem to have overlooked, such as blatant exposition via the commentators, little character development on anyone but Katniss herself, and the most annoying child actor ever seen as Prim (Too Much Screaming).
A shame since I know this series to be capable of so much more, but in all fairness it was the first outing, It will be interesting to see if they are able to expand upon these characters and world in Catching Fire.

Best Villain of 2012
Javier Bardem (Raoul Silva): Skyfall
An excellent performance from Bardem see's Silvia as a creepy, unbalanced psychopath with some serious Mummy issues, With a motive unlike any of Bonds other villains - Revenge against M.


Villain With the Most Unclear Motives of 2012 
Jean Vilain (Jean-Claude Van Damme) - The Expendables 2: 
He wanted Plutonium?, To pay for acting lessons?

Most Surprising Death of 2012
Now that would be telling - Skyfall 
But you wont see it coming.

Best Death of 2012 (Spoilers Ahoy- Feel Free To Skip This One)
The Fall of Ma Ma - Dredd
"Negotiation's over. The Sentence is death." After shooting her through the chest Dredd forces all round bad girl Ma Ma to inhale a dose of Slo-Mo a Drug the Slows the brain perception of time to 1%, He then proceeds to lob her out of the nearest window of the top floor in a 200 story building - the result: The fall takes a little while.

Most Awesome Cast of 2012
The Expendables 2 
Duh! its Got Stallone, Willis, Arnie, Van Damme, Norris, Crews, Li, Lundgren, Couture! It's like the Holy Grail of casting!



Most Unavoidable Sequel of 2012
Paranormal Activity 4
Its basically replaced Saw as the one a year tradition

The Bruce Campbell Award (Best Chin Acting of 2012)
Karl Urban: Dredd
So many emotion portrayed only through the use of his chin, OK! so its mainly only mild annoyance, but its such a variation of mild annoyance.



The Michael Bay Award (Best Explosion of 2012)
Bridge Over Explosive Water: The Expendables 2
After rescuing Arnie in what can only be described as the prologue to The Expendables 2 the team attempt to escape the country in there plane, but not before raining fiery death down upon the army they are fleeing from.




Film That I Am The Most Annoyed About Being Remade of 2012
Total Recall
The original had ARNIE! AAARRRRNNNNIIIIEEE!!!

Film With The Most Unanswered Questions of 2012
Prometheus
So Wait, How exactly did this set up "Alien"? 

Best Voice of 2012
Tom Hardy's Bane: The Dark Knight Rises.
"What a Lovely, Lovely Voice"

Most Convincing Young Guy Playing an Old Guy of 2012
Guy Pearce (Peter Wayland): Prometheus.
A King Has His Reign And Then He Dies, It's Inevitable.



Film With The Greatest Sequel Possibilities of 2012
Dredd
Dredd was an exceptionally good movie as you can tell by the number of times its sprung up so far, but due its small budget almost all the action takes place in the mega block of Peach Trees, I hope a sequel would give the film chance to move deeper into the Mega Cities and then hopefully beyond it into the wasteland of the post apocalyptic Scorched Earth.

Saga I Am Happiest To See End In 2012
Twilight
No Question. It's Over! It's Finally Over! We Are Free!

Most Pointless Thing I Have Written In 2012
This.

Sunday 13 May 2012

Avengers Assemble (The Avengers)



So a Thunder God, a Green Rage Monster, a Super Soldier from World War 2, and a Playboy Millionaire in a Robot Suit walk into a bar...
Four Pillars to One Tower. (Mapping the Referencing)
Marvel’s Avengers Assemble is a 2012 superhero action movie directed by Joss Weadon (Serenity) and is unique in that it is a super hero movie starring multiple heroes from across multiple Marvel movies.
The Avengers see’s the return of Asgardian trickster Loki (Tom Hiddleston) who launches an attack on a Shield facility stealing the Tesseract, fearing for the safety of the planet Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) is forced to unite Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), And Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) in the hope of forming a team strong enough to defeat Loki and his army.

So to say that this crossover has been hinted at over the past few years would be like saying that the Titanic suffered badly from damp, the work that has gone into crossing over these various films in order for them to effortlessly mesh with one another is remarkable
Here are some brief examples.
Iron Man (2008)
·         Tony Stark’s father Howard Stark is mentioned as having been instrumental defeating the Nazis. (Captain America: The First Avenger)
·         Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) is introduced.
·         S.H.I.E.L.D. is introduced.
·         Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) is introduced.
·         Nick Fury appears post credits informing Stark that he is not the only “Hero” out there and mentions to him the “Avengers Initiative”. (Avengers Assemble)
The Incredible Hulk (2008)
·         Emil Bonsky Is injected with the same super soldier serum as Captain America. (Captain America: The First Avenger)
·         The Rocket Launcher used against the Abomination features the Stark tech logo. (Iron Man, Iron Man 2)
·         Tony Stark appears at the end of the film and informs General Ross about putting a team together. (Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Avengers  Assemble)
Iron Man 2 (2010)
·         Captain America’s Shield is seen. (Captain America: The First Avenger)
·         Nick Fury continues to hound Stark about the Avengers initiative. (Avengers Assemble)
·         Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) is introduced.
·         Agent Coulson leaves for Mexico for “secret stuff”. (Thor)
·         When Tony Stark skims through his Dads note book an image of the Tesseract is visible (Captain America: The First Avenger, Avengers Assemble)
·         Screens showing The Hulk battling the army can be seen. (The Incredible Hulk)
·         Thor’s hammer is seen post credits. (Thor)
Thor (2011)
·         Erik Selvig mentions a friend of his who was performing research into gamma radiation before he disappeared. (The Incredible Hulk)
·         Agent Coulson reappears following the footage of Thor’s hammer from (Iron Man 2)
·         S.H.I.E.L.D. is present throughout the film
·         Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) appears briefly.
·         When the destroyer appears Agent Coulson Is asked if it’s one of Starks. (Iron Man, Iron Man 2)
·         Loki appears post credits when the Tesseract Is introduced. (Captain America: The First Avenger, Avengers Assemble)
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
·         The Tesseract reappears and its power is shown. (Thor, Avengers Assemble)
·         Howard Stark designs the Captain’s armour and features heavily throughout the film. (Iron Man, Iron Man 2)
·         Nick Fury recruits Captain America Post credits to “Help Save the World”. (Avengers Assemble)

As you can see the films have been carefully setting up the world of one another and the overall Marvel Universe for some time creating not a “film Series” but a “film Universe”, and in doing so allows for Avengers Assemble to seamlessly draw these characters together as all the cross over leg work required to introduce these characters to one another has already been completed.



Earth’s Mightiest Heroes (The Cast)
Joss Whedon may have been the perfect directing choice due to his experience in balancing large casts full of complex and very individual characters and his expertise don’t go to waste here with each character being given plenty of screen time for development and their own character arcs.
The wide variety of different characters works as effectively with each hero representing perfectly reflecting their own individual issues: Iron Man is forced to question the nature of sacrifice, Thor struggles with the emotional burden of having to stop his own brother, Captain America feels alienated in a world in which he doesn’t understand and the gentle and kind Banner struggles with the inner rage of the Hulk. It is these very human problems and issues that make the heroes so likeable and relatable.
The quality of acting is incredibly high as the cast are able to carry their characters across films while remaining true to their individual characters (Stark still doesn’t like to be handed things, Thor worries about Jane Foster and Captain America misses Peggy), but it is the edition of Mark Ruffalo (Replacing Edward Norton) as Dr. Banner that brings a completely new perspective to the character of Bruce Banner as a gentle and kind man who greatly fears the destruction caused by the Hulk, giving a new sensitivity to the role lacking in other movies (and this in my opinion makes Ruffalo the best Banner to date).
Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow’s back story is greatly expanded upon and through her own personal sub plot detailing her complex relationship with Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye adding an emotional depth to the character unseen in “Iron man 2” making the character seem far more rounded and better developed.
Those of you who were disappointed by Hawkeye’s brief appearance in “Thor” will not be disappointed here as he is given a lot more to sink his teeth into this time and despite featuring less screen time than the other Avengers he is still given enough for him to make the impact that his character lacked last time around.
Even the supporting cast are brilliant without exception Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury is finally given more to do than simply turn up post credits, despite being absent in the events of the larger battles he is still given his chance to shine beyond the “Man behind the curtain” role he has played up until this point. But once again the true king of the supporting cast is without a doubt Clark Gregg’s Agent Coulson, who is almost able to steal every single scene that he appears in providing both comedy and raw emotion when it is most needed.
 If there is one under developed character it is Cobie Smulders’ Maria Hill who’s role is limited to little more and Nick Fury’s assistant, her scenes featuring her doing little more than simply following his various orders but even she gets her time in the limelight thanks to a early on action sequence.
And in the corner of EVIL, Facing against the Avengers is Loki in a great performance by Tom Hiddleston who really seems to enjoy his role as the menacing antagonist, who hopes to make up from his fall from Asguard by ruling earth and like most terrifying villains is devout in his belief that he is doing the right thing. He is able to make his character both frightening and fun at the same and is given some great one on one scenes with the majority of the Avengers. Unfortunately the only weakness is that the army that he uses in an attempt to take over the planet are never really expanded upon beyond “Evil Invasion Force” but Hiddleston is able to develop his character so well that the army is simply seen as a expansion of him and his goals.

War comes to Marvel (the Plot)
The plot follows the simple story of these multiple heroes having to put aside their differences in order to unite and stop Loki from taking over the planet, but through the use of numerous subplots and character development this rather simple storyline is expanded into a much more deep and human experience than a simple tale of Good vs. Evil with each character getting their own chance to shine which avoids the effect of one character being elevated above the rest.
And despite moments when things look their bleakest the film never becomes too dark or depressing thanks to the brilliant and funny dialogue by Joss Whedon (Ironman calling Thor Shakespeare in the Park, Captain America’s reaction to hearing a reference that he gets) while scenes that should seem cliché heading off in directions you can possibly suspect (Loki standing up to the Hulk, Loki’s Spear encountering performance issues with Starks chest, Loki threatening Black Widow) preventing the film from ever becoming dull.
And for those of you who up until this point have been questioning Marvel’s grand scheme of approaching the Avengers through cross laying the individual character stories, then doubt no longer as the characters fit together perfectly and it saves a lot of time on having to bring the individuals heroes together.

Suit up! (The Effects)
The visuals throughout the film are impressive with great CGI used bringing the combat to life on a grand scale. The action is brilliant with a wide variety of sequences ranging from a car chase through S.H.I.E.L.D tunnels, to Thor, Captain America and Ironman fighting one another in a forest, the Hulk smashing up the Helicarrier (Yes the Helicarrier is in this movie!) And the final action sequence involving a massive battle in the city that looks incredible with special mention going to one continuous shot that passes throughout the city showing all the various Avengers in battle (a scene that couldn’t help but reminded me of Whedon’s continuous shot used in Serenity’s opening sequence).
Iron Man’s weaponry remains largely unchanged from the previous film until he gets a new suit that combines the accessibility of the suit-case suit from “Iron Man 2” and the heavier firepower of the standard suits to allow him to fight all out in the heavier  final battle. Captain America’s suit also gets an update to appear more closely to the comic design in a more streamline appearance.
For the first time the CGI appearance bares some resemblance of the actor playing him through the brilliance of motion capture better connecting these two distinct characters.
And all these brilliant visuals are assisted by the fantastic score by Alan Silvestri which fits brilliantly to the visuals helping the raise the scale of awe and deepen the quieter, calmer moments.
In 3D! (The 3D)
Like almost every action film released these days Avengers Assemble is released in 3D, the 3D process is impressive in the Avengers if not all that necessary, adding depth to the screen and making the moments when used in action scenes look good but leaving you uncertain why it was so vital to include.
 In Summary
So to sum up Avengers Assemble I will simply say that I had really high expectations going in and when I came out this movie had surpassed them, Featuring brilliant action, well developed characters and great dialogue that ranges from moving to hilarious (and did I mention that the Helicarrier is in this movie?). In fact I have actually seen this movie again since I started writing this review.
I highly recommend seeing it (stay after the credits) and future superhero films now have a new level to beat. It is nothing short of a gem in a few disappointing months of film and with a doubt the best film I have seen released this year.