2012: The Best and Worst For Me

2012 is about to finish so, despite the fact that I haven't seen a lot of films, I figured why not make a list of the best and worst for me? First, lets get the films I haven't seen out of the way, so you won't start wondering why this or that didn't "make it". Some of the ones I haven't seen are: The Avengers, Skyfall, Django Unchained, Lincoln, Les Misérables, The Hobbit, Life of Pi, Argo, The Master, etc. etc. As of today, I've only seen 15 films from 2012, so here are my best and worst.

The Best

To this day, I hadn't really seen anything spectacular. Casually, the one that I would consider the best 2012 film I've seen so far is Chained, which I saw this last week. It is a little known thriller starring Vincent D'Onofrio. Neatly acted and overall well done. The rest of the best that I've seen tend to fall more in the B-grade range, but entertaining nonetheless. Films like Savages, The Sound of My Voice, and The Hunger Games, among others, were all entertaining films, albeit not spectacular.

The Middle of the Pack

Not far from the last three I mentioned above, are a group of films that were also entertaining, but leaning more towards average. Films like Prometheus or The Dark Knight Rises could be considered disappointments, but they were far from awful. Other films that would fall in the middle would be Haywire, The Grey, Safe House, and The Raid, among others.

The Worst

Just like I haven't seen anything spectacular or mind-blowing, I haven't seen a truly awful 2012 film. The one I would probably consider the worst would be The Raven. Overall, a mediocre film with pretty good directing, but uneven acting and a mediocre script. After that, I would probably say that Chronicle was very disappointing. I thought the premise was pretty good, I felt the approach was inventive, the acting was solid, but the use of the "handheld camera" ended up being annoying and distracting, and the final act ended up being a mess.

Maybe later, as I end up watching more 2012 films, I'll add more to this entry. But as of now, that would be my feeble list of 2012 best and worst.

The Raven

 

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary

Over how bad The Raven could be, and if it would leave my eyes sore.

After renting it and watching, suddenly in my mind there came a tapping

As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my brain door.

“This isn’t as bad as I expected” I muttered, “but it’s still a bit of a bore”

“Only this, and nothing more”

Ah, distinctly I remember it was James McTeigue who directed,

Danny Ruhlmann’s cinematography that cast lights, shadows on the floor.

Eagerly I wished the film would’ve been better, and not as hollow.

From John Cusack’s miscast role – he did good, but could’ve done more;

To the script that could’ve glowed, and could’ve soared,

But it was just there, nothing more.

Then a supporting cast that was solid, they delivered with their acting

By Luke Evans and Brendan Gleeson, although they could’ve done more

Though their roles were stuck and underdeveloped, I said at least it’s a haven

In a film that brought little thrill, could’ve been so much more

Tell me why with such a great source, it could’ve been easy to score

But The Raven? Nevermore.

This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing,

On the climax and the ending, could’ve taken the film to the next shore;

On the killer’s motivations and identity, that could’ve used some more refining

On the resolution that the film tried to rest o’er,

But whose contrivances where so weak to look over

'Tis just a C and nothing more.

(Silly, but I had fun writing it XD )

(All images belong to Relativity Media and their affiliates)