Movies - 2012

[BainIhrno]

Well, it's that time again. What movies did you see this year?

 

Movies I saw and my evaluations:

 

Wreck-It Ralph 9/10 (best)

Brave 8/10

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey 8/10

The Hunger Games 8/10 (weakest)

 

I did also see Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace in 3D (6/10), but it's far from the first time I've seen it, and it's not a 2012 movie, so it doesn't count in the above list. I saw it just for.... fun...

 

"Weakest" is a different categorization from "worst", since although it is designating the weakest film that I saw this year, but it's still good enough that I could not say "worst". I'm sure though that there are movies that would rank "worst" this year if I saw them, but I simply have no interest. To be honest, with a few exceptions, there's very little I haven't seen this year that I want to.

 

Unfortunately, I'm not optimistic about the slate of films for 2013, either.

[Trenton.]

Geneforge: Quest for the Great GeneSword.

 

Aw. That was such a nice dream Now why'd you have to wake me up?

 

((Come on Jeff! Get in the movie business!))

[Triumph]

I think the only new (meaning released in 2012) movies that I've seen are:

 

The Hobbit

Lincoln

The Avengers (on DVD, not in theater)

 

I strongly recommend seeing all three; each in its own way was a fantastic and thoroughly enjoyable film. I have a hard time choosing favorites, but if pressed, the above order is probably what I'd end up with.

[Cairo Jim]

I seen The Hobbit the other day. So far, it's the only Lord of the Rings movie that I liked and didn't fall asleep watching.

[keira]

 

that is all

[Actaeon]

I'm not sure I've attended any films this year that were actually a waste of my time. As such, all of them rank above 5/10. Not quite as good a run as last year, in my mind, but still pretty decent. I have not yet made it to Lincoln, which I hear is excellent, and am also planning on attending Anna Karenina and Les Mis. I'm also itching to see "On the Road", but it hasn't shown anywhere nearby yet.

 

Searching for Sugarman: 6/10

Skyfall: 7/10

Argo: 7/10

The Hobbit: 9/10

Life of Pi: 8/10

Cloud Atlas: 9/10

Perks of Being a Wallflower: 6/10

Arbitrage: 6/10

Beasts of the Southern Wild: 6/10

The Intouchables: 8/10

Best Exotic Marigold Hotel: 6/10

To Rome with Love: 6/10

Moonrise Kingdom: 10/10

The Kid with a Bike: 6/10

Chico and Rita: 7/10

The Avengers: 7/10

The Dark Knight Rises: 7/10

Brave: 7/10

[Callie]

I felt this year in film was somewhat better than the lackluster selection in 2011. Here's to hoping that 2013 might be like 2010!

 

Chronicle: 6/10 - A mostly unoriginal storyline but nonetheless decent.

Jiro Dreams of Sushi: 9/10 - A superb documentary that also made me really hungry.

The Hunger Games: 7/10 - This film suffers from not being violent enough for its subject matter. Some of the supporting actors weren't that great, but overall it's a solid film with an interesting score and a great lead.

The Avengers: 6/10 - An entertaining film with solid action scenes, but the plot isn't anything exceptional. And maybe a flying, cloaking aircraft carrier is just a little over the top.

The Dark Knight Rises: 3/10 - This movie makes no goddam sense.

The Master: 8/10 - The interaction between the two main characters is engrossing thanks to great acting performances and a well-written screenplay. A few parts were difficult to follow though.

Looper: 5/10 - Meh. There's some great action sequences, but the time travel concept in the film is flawed from the get-go.

Seven Psychopaths: 6/10 - I liked Christopher Walken's performance a whole lot. The other actors kind of drag him down, and although there's some good laughs, it's not as funny as it should be. (Oddly, about three-quarters of the people I saw in the theatre were baby boomers)

Skyfall: 7/10 - The opening scenes of the film are terrific and the MI6 director is an awesome character. It's too bad the villain is poorly constructed and almost seems to be enforcing a prejudiced stereotype.

The Hobbit: 7/10 - Way, way, way too long in the exposition. Once it finally gets started it's epic, but it certainly doesn't live up to hype. The most disappointing aspect of the film, I thought, was the score.

 

I still want to see Django Unchained and the Silver Linings Playbook, but have not yet had the opportunity.

[Mosquito---Slayer]

I will give The Dark Knight Rises a bit more than 5, but it was such a disappointment compared to the previous one, at least it was better than John Carter: Crap of 2012.

[Goldengirl]

I'm also itching to see "On the Road", but it hasn't shown anywhere nearby yet.

 

I've been dying to see OTR, being a Kerouac fanboy myself, but I've not had any chance. I've also heard that, regrettably, it's not that great of a movie, according to the critics. They've been wrong before, though.

 

Films I've seen this past year:

 

21 Jump Street - Lighthearted, humorous, probably wouldn't watch it again.

The Avengers - This was a good action movie that got around the problems of cliche plot and long exposition by having that in its prequel movies. Thus, it escaped the trappings of most superhero movies.

Chernobyl Diaries - Generic horror. Meh.

Men in Black 3 - This was a decent franchise, and the 60's novelty was cool for a little, but not that cool. Especially with the sci-fi lite apporach to time travel.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter - Someone played this when we had nothing better to do. Decent action, terrible plot.

The Watch - Funny, but not that funny. It would have been better without the marriage drama and the aliens.

The Dark Knight Rises - This would have made a lot more sense if I had seen Batman Begins right beforehand, but I didn't. It was good, but the Dark Knight was still far better.

Pitch Perfect - Funny and musical. Very funny, in fact, and one of my favorites from the year.

Cloud Atlas - Rarely do I say this, but I liked the movie far more than the book. Things were different, sure, but I felt like a lot more was done to tie everything together meaningfully.

The Hobbit - Holy hell, I can't imagine the extended edition of this. Great movie, but it took a while to get moving.

Les Miserables - Some of the changes they made didn't make much sense to me, but I love all the hints to things they put in to the film that would only make sense if you'd seen the book. The very ending was a bit problematic for me, as they sing about peace while standing at a giant barricade with guns and swords in hand, but everything prior was amazing.

[Lilith]

i think the last film i saw in a cinema was The One

 

spoilers: it was not a good film

 

Les Miserables - Some of the changes they made didn't make much sense to me, but I love all the hints to things they put in to the film that would only make sense if you'd seen the movie. The very ending was a bit problematic for me, as they sing about peace while standing at a giant barricade with guns and swords in hand, but everything prior was amazing.

 

possibly what you posted here was not what you meant to say

[Goldengirl]

possibly what you posted here was not what you meant to say

 

Not what I meant to say at all, though I still think it makes sense.

[adc.]

Geneforge: Quest for the Great GeneSword.

 

Aw. That was such a nice dream Now why'd you have to wake me up?

 

((Come on Jeff! Get in the movie business!))

Hehe. Aw. That was such a nice post. Now why'd you have to make me "like it"?

As a matter of fact, I agree on your post.

[Alex]

Ring Wars: Episode I (a.k.a. The Hobbit) - 7/10

I disliked the clumsy attempt to make it "family friendly"; decapitations are OK as long as you add in potty jokes, it seems. Radagast was disgraceful. The action scenes were too many and too cartoonish. The White Council meeting was OK, but I got the impression that Gandalf was somehow romantically involved with Galadriel, which was...weird. I liked the tough-as-nails dragon, though.

[Dikiyoba]

I think I only saw The Hobbit. It was worth watching once, but I wouldn't see it again. And the score was definitely a disappointment.

 

*checks*

 

Wait, Ice Age 4 went from theaters to airplane fodder is less than six months? Shows how little Dikiyoba knows.

[Death Knight]

-The hobbit-9/10. Really a good movie. The characters were solid and I liked it much more than lotr. Bilbo was in my opinion a better protagonist than frodo.

 

-Dark Knight Rises-10/10, excellent. I always like it when the main bad guy is just a brutish bully that beats the heck out of people. The only thing that made this awkward was that I couldnt let my guard down when in theatre due to the shooting that had happened a week prior.

 

-Total Recall, 9/10, What do I like about action movies that move from fight scene to fight scene, ones that I can follow and understand. The characters were great too.

[Tyranicus]

Wait, Ice Age 4 went from theaters to airplane fodder is less than six months? Shows how little Dikiyoba knows.

That's pretty typical, really. In my experience, airplanes usually show films that have left theaters but are not yet available on DVD or Blu-Ray.

[Actaeon]

-Total Recall, 9/10, What do I like about action movies that move from fight scene to fight scene, ones that I can follow and understand. The characters were great too.

How did it compare to the original?

Ring Wars: Episode I (a.k.a. The Hobbit) - 7/10I disliked the clumsy attempt to make it "family friendly"; decapitations are OK as long as you add in potty jokes, it seems.

You might be looking at the opposite. The original WAS family friendly. The attempt was to make it a bit edgier and more like The Lord of the Rings. I though they struck a good balance for the most part, but I did think it was a shame to make a Hobbit movie you wouldn't want to take the kids to. And the potty humor (a lot of which was straight from the book) doesn't really appeal to an adult audience. Maybe they'll learn some lessons for the second.

[Death Knight]

How did it compare to the original?

 

It was better in every way in my opinion. They took out the sci fi heavy bits and made the remake a non-stop action flick with little talking in between and less sci fi. Jessica Biel is good as always and the main character's wife is 5 times crazier than the one with arnold. Im not the biggest Arnold fan so I might be biased towards the new one. Definitely loads of fighting going on reminded me of Safe house.

[Alorael at Large]

I agree about Cloud Atlas. The book left me fairly cold. As a series of short stories it was a mixed bag; I liked some, but not all. As some kind of nested narrative it failed for me. But with actors shared between stories it held together a little bit better. I still wouldn't call it a masterpiece, but at least it works for me more as a single work.

 

—Alorael, who gives Argo the highest marks for films he's seen this year, as far as he can recall. Looper, Lincoln, Les Mis, and the sadly non-alliterative Wreck-It Ralph are still on his to-see list. Maybe Brave, too, and The Hobbit's an inevitability. The Dark Knight Rises was fun but felt falser than The Dark Knight. The Avengers was over the top comic silliness, delivering exactly what it promised but never rising above it. Dark Shadows was actually better than expected and not painful during viewing but still utterly forgettable. But really, what 2012 should be remembered for is the timeless classic Battleship.

[Actaeon]

Just returned from Anna Karenina. Quite the film- even knowing the ending. I'll have to let it percolate for a while before I can tell whether the content was up to the style, but the latter makes it worth a watch. Tom Stoppard's influence is omnipresent, but the set designer, costume designer, and cinematographer all contribute beautifully.

[Balladeer]

The 2012 movies I've seen include a pretty specific set of genres...

 

Superhero movies:

 

The Avengers - 9/10 So good I watched it twice... on purpose. I'm just a big Marvel fan so it suits me. I live to see the cameos.

The Dark Knight Rises - 6/10 Meh. Batman seems so overdone these days and Gotham is always on the brink of extinction... nuthin new

The Amazing Spider-Man - 7/10 Meh again. Spider-man is also overdone and this time outside of cannon but at least it was half new.

 

Animated:

Ice Age: Continental Drift - 6/10 Starting to remind me of the Land Before Time series. Another one? Really? Kids still enjoyed it.

The Lorax - 9/10 Big Dr. Seuss fan to start with so seeing it on the big screen was fun.

The Pirates! Band of Misfits - 8/10 Original enough to keep my interest.

Brave - 7/10 From all the hype I guess I was expecting... idk, just more and better than what it was. I dislike movies that portray all men as idiots. How to Train Your Dragon had a better mix for the "viking" demeanor.

Rise of the Guardians - 9/10 Very cute, and I don't just mean Jack. (Though Ashley mentioned it, too. ) Nice bit of holiday fun with a bunch of laughs thrown in.

 

Movies Others Wanted to See:

The Hunger Games - 7/10 Bethany read the book at school so the movie was requested. Like most movies based on books, it doesn't always flow because of skipped information.

The Three Stooges - 2/10 I detest stupid funny which is what the 3 stooges stood for so... yeah, Chris wanted to watch it and it made the kids laugh.

Chimpanzee - 1/10 Pam noticed it was at the budget theater... Would have been much better if they hadn't taken sides and invented a story around it. As it is, the rhetoric had me wishing it was over the first time "Scar" and his "gang" made an appearance.

Katy Perry: Part of Me - 7/10 I think Dylan has a crush on Katy... Wasn't entirely terrible; I do like music. I learned a lot about her life and know a few more of her songs and the stories behind them.

Here Comes the Boom - 9/10 Classic underdog tale and Kevin James is a favorite for ~decent~ comedy. Stupid funny is out, but awkward funny is in.

 

Movies I wanted to See:

The Odd Life of Timothy Green - 6/10 I wasn't greatly impressed. It was nice, but you always know he's dying so the emotional attachment is not created and the viewer remains un-invested.

 

Movies they saw without me:

 

Madagascar 3

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days

Hotel Transylvania

 

Kids enjoyed them all, I hear. I wouldn't know first hand 'cuz I wasn't invited.

 

Movies I wanted to See but no one would go with me so I haven't seen them yet:

 

The Grey

Man on a Ledge

The Hobbit

Men in Black 3

Chronicle

Journey 2

Ghost Rider 2

A Thousand Words

John Carter

Snow White and the Huntsman

Total Recall

The Bourne Legacy

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Wreck-It Ralph

Lincoln

Breaking Dawn 2 - I blame my sister. Gotta watch it for completeness.

Les Miserables

 

To be fair, there's probably a few that the kids WOULD watch with me, but not the important ones... like The Hobbit... 'cuz LoTR gave them ~nightmares~ or something silly like that, 'cuz they were only 1-5 when the orcs' heads were being chopped off... pft whatever... that was the best part!

[Student of Trinity]

I really liked Wreck-It Ralph. I also saw Skyfall. Skyfall was fun for what it was, but when you think about it at all, the plot is really impossible. And even if you accept that all that hacking could be pre-planned that way, both Bond and the villain pass up numerous clear opportunities to kill each other and wrap it all up, in favor of talking to each other for no reason, when they could easily just have kept shooting instead. Also I didn't get why the old gamekeeper guy was there in the last reel. He did almost nothing.

[A less presumptuous name.]

Wow, I realize that I've watched quite a few movies in theaters this past year. I'll try to recall all of them, mostly by looking through what others have posted.

 

I'm not going to rate them, because I go into the theater with the following attitude: I've paid to see this movie, so I'm going to enjoy it. Also, I'm not a very good critic. It takes a pretty awful movie for me to actually dislike it.

 

So, here we go:

 

Wreck-It Ralph -- I really enjoyed this one!

Brave -- I liked it, but it felt more "Disney" than "Pixar"

The Hobbit -- I technically saw this in 2013, but I loved it. I was worried about the pacing with splitting a 300 page book into three movies, but they did a good job of bringing in other information. There were a few odd bits, like, well, Radagast. And the score seemed to pick out a few themes and not vary too much.

The Hunger Games -- Not bad as I remember it, but I have a terrible memory.

The Avengers -- A great movie. Or at least, a really fun movie. I only remember one issue, and that was that Tony Start didn't seem all that Tony Stark at the end.

The Dark Knight Rises -- Definitely felt too long when I was sitting in the theaters. But hey, Bane was awesome, and Anne Hathaway was excellent.

Skyfall -- I went with a bunch of friends, so it was going to be good no matter what. The plot was fairly basic, and the hacking premiss a little stretched. I personally enjoyed all of the classic bond throwbacks, although YMMV.

Looper -- I didn't like this one coming out of the theaters, but I think I would like it better if I saw it again. I got stuck with the approach to time travel. Some things didn't make sense. And a conversation with a friend revealed that there appears to be an intermediate timeline omitted from the story.

Men in Black 3 -- Don't remember much of this one other than it was much better than expected.

Flight -- A common story of getting over an addiction and whatnot, but with a really cool airplane scene.

The Lorax -- Definitely a fun/cute/whatever movie.

The Bourne Legacy --Even I didn't like this one. Literally the story of a guy trying to get his drugs back.

[Tyranicus]

The Hunger Games - I thought it was a decent representation of the book. I enjoyed reading said book, which was not without its flaws, but I did not like the other two books in the series.

 

The Avengers - I quite liked this one. It was exactly what I wanted out of a comic book action movie.

 

Dark Shadows - It was relatively forgettable, but it had a few enjoyable moments.

 

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter The less said about this, the better.

 

Brave - I enjoyed this one, but I agree with Master1 that it felt more Disney than Pixar.

 

The Dark Knight Rises Unlike most of the people in this thread, I preferred this to The Dark Knight. Batman Begins was better though.

 

The Bourne Legacy - I actually really liked it, except for the ending.

 

Cloud Atlas - I was unable to get into this book, but I really enjoyed the film.

 

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - It was a little long at times but still very enjoyable.

[Balladeer]

Oh, almost forgot to mention. Of all the movies I saw in 2012, my favorite was actually one released in 2011. I found The Decoy Bride purely through David Tennant's roll in it and loved it thoroughly. Only movie watched in 2012 that I rate at a 10/10, though I may be biased... It has that plenty of that awkward funny that I like.

[BMA]

The movies I liked best from the ones I saw last year were The Avengers and Rango (2011-Animated).

 

Especially Rango, I think, it's worth another see.

[Callie]

I saw TED last night. It was very chlichéd and mostly not funny. 4/10

[Cmiller]

Hmm...movies I watched. Here is what i have from memory,

 

Dark Knight Rises

Abe Lincoln

The Hunger Games

Ted

Amazing Spiderman

The Details (horrible)

Ted

The Avengers

and a bunch of others. Could think of more if I could remember better

 

I saw TED last night. It was very chlichéd and mostly not funny. 4/10

 

That's because TED comes from the makers of Family Guy. The voice for ted was the exact same as the voice for Peter Griffin, for those who couldn't notice.

[Trenton.]

Hey! Family guy is fourth best show on the Television.

 

 

Being under only My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Doctor Who, and Star Trek.

[Cpt. Charles]

Hey! Family guy is fourth best show on the Television.

 

 

Being under only My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Doctor Who, and Star Trek.

 

But which Star Trek?

 

I saw The Hobbit a week or two ago, and I was rather dissapointed with it. Of course, I read the book just a few weeks earlier, so I was able to pick out all the discrepencies. It was a good movie, and I enjoyed watching it, but I liked it far less than the Lord of the Ring films, because it seemed to focus much more on the action sequences. In LotR, the plot was more important than the battles, therefore all the action added to the story. In The Hobbit, there were many added action scenes that didn't really make sense (like when Radagast draws off the wargs and Thorin's company flee into Rivendell). To me, there was far too much going on, and hardly ever a moment of rest, at least, that lasted very long.

 

Still though, I enjoyed it. Also I saw The Avengers, which had alot of action, but I didn't expect much of a plot, so I was fine with that.

 

I saw and liked Men in Black 3, and saw Ice Age: Continental drift, which wasn't the best. The first Ice Age was funny, because it didn't appeal exclusively to kids, but this last one didn't have alot of subtle humor. As far as I can remember anyway.

[Trenton.]

I don't know. The Netflix title only says Star Trek x.x

[keira]

does it have corny graphics

 

if so, are the corny graphics lens flares

[Actaeon]

Hey! Family guy is fourth best show on the Television.

 

 

I stopped watching Family Guy when it got into rape jokes.

 

That said, perhaps it is time to necro the TV thread.

[The Mystic]

I didn't go to see any new movies this past year. On a good day, my movie theater experience usually rates less than zero on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the best, of course). I still plan on seeing a couple of movies from 2012, though; I'm on the waiting list at my local library for Men in Black 3 (I'm number 72, and they have 12 copies), and I intend to do the same with The Hobbit.

Hey! Family guy is fourth best show on the Television.

If that's among the best that television has to offer, then I'd hate to see the bottom of the barrel. That said, my "idiot box" usually spends a lot of time turned off, so much so that I may as well not own one. For years now, with the exception of Doctor Who, the best thing I've seen on television has been a thick layer of dust.

[Juan Carlo]

When I lived in a larger city I used to go to movies constantly. Sometimes three a week. Now I live out in the sticks, though, so there aren't any decent arthouse cinemas around here. So I won't see most 2012 movies until later this year.

 

Of the ones I did see, though, my favorites of 2012 are:

 

1. Amour (I love Michael Haneke, and this is one of his best)

2. Kill List (awesome, insane, and sadly overlooked. I'd say more about it, but it's the sort of film that works best if you know absolutely nothing about it going in)

3. Django Unchained (the most fun I had at the cinema all year)

4. Cabin in the Woods (I love horror films but it seems like a good one only comes around once every 3 or 4 years or so. This is the best English language horror film since "The Descent."

 

 

I did see quite a few other movies, but most of the big movies this year I was kind of underwhelmed by.

 

 

Competent mediocrities (e.g. well made films, but kind of boring because they don't really do anything new or take any sort of risks):

 

The Avengers, Argo, Lincoln,

 

Could have been great if it nailed the ending (but it didn't):

 

Looper

 

Flawed but worth seeing regardless:

 

The Hobbit, Prometheus, The Deep Blue Sea

 

Biggest Disappointment:

 

The Dark Knight Rises (maybe Nolan's worst film, and definitely the worst of the trilogy)

 

Saw it and hated it:

 

Spider Man, Life of Pi

 

I know I saw way more than just the above, but I'd have to sit down and make a list to remember everything.

[nikki.]

So I saw a fair few films this year, and with the exception of Looper, they were all pretty good. Actually, okay, Looper wasn't the worst film I've ever seen, but what could have been an excellent movie just didn't work for me. Also, Bruce Willis is really looking his age now, which makes me a bit dubious about the potential lack of awesomeness in Die Hard 5.

 

The Dark Knight Rises was probably the best thing I saw this year - no, it wasn't as good as The Dark Knight, but it was still incredibly good. I need to watch the Trilogy again before I'd feel comfortable sorting them into any kind of order, though all three films stand head-and-shoulders above Batman and Robin.

 

I also saw The Avengers, Skyfall, Prometheus,The Cabin in the Woods and, of course, The Hobbit.

[Tyranicus]

though all three films stand head-and-shoulders above Batman and Robin.

That statement applies to most films.

[A less presumptuous name.]

I know it's late to the party, but I just saw Django Unchained tonight. I believe that it's my first Tarantino film, and all I have to say is that I look forward to watching more of his movies.

[Callie]

I saw two films at the theater today. I'm on winter break and the small theatre in my hometown takes a long time to actually show recent movies. The ones below just came out at that theater. I miss being at the university...

 

Life of Pi: 5/10 - Impressive in the technical aspects but dumbfounding in terms of the actual story. I thought the exposition was the best part of the film...

Django Unchained: 9/10 - Finally a great action film, and with gleeful violence to spare. Foxx, Waltz, and DiCaprio all give stellar acting performances.