What Movies Did You Go to in 2012?

[Tristan McClark]

Let's see

The Hunger Games
Avengers
The Amazing Spider-Man
The Dark Knight Rises
Skyfall

 

[Michael24]

Saw 11 movies in the theater this year, which is the most since 2001. Here's my ranking of least-favorite to favorite. (Italicized titles are new movies I didn't see until they hit DVD, but I included them here just for completist sake.)

15. The Bourne Legacy
14. The Grey
13. Skyfall
12. The Amazing Spider-Man
11. The Avengers
10. Lockout
09. Taken 2
08. The Woman In Black
07. The Dark Knight Rises
06. Parental Guidance
05. Get the Gringo
04. Ted
03. John Carter (x2)
02. The Expendables 2 (x2)
01. Prometheus (x2)

I recapped my thoughts on all the films on my blog (see signature), so the details are there. There were several more I wanted to catch at the theater but just didn't get the chance to. Also, I have plans to see Parental Guidance on Monday with my mom and will edit my post to add it once I do.

 

[DarkAngel]

14. The Bourne Legacy
13. The Grey
12. Skyfall
11. The Amazing Spider-Man
10. The Avengers
09. Lockout
08. Taken 2
07. The Woman In Black
06. The Dark Knight Rises
05. Get the Gringo
04. Ted
03. John Carter (x2)
02. The Expendables 2 (x2)
01. Prometheus (x2)

Are Lockout and Get the Gringo any good? Have both in my Netflix Instant queue, but haven't made it a priority to get to them.

 

[Michael24]

Lockout isn't great, but it's fun if you check your brain at the door. If your idea of a good time includes watching Guy Pearce play a total smart aleck action hero who kicks bad guy butt, you'll probably enjoy it.

Get the Gringo was really good, at least I thought so. Maybe a little slow in places, but the setting is unique, and it has some nice character moments and action. And Mel Gibson is a total bad ass in it.

 

[Hanshotfirst1138]

Fullmetal Alchemist: Sacred Star Of Milos

Did this hit theaters Stateside? I don't remember it.

 

[HG Revolution]

Did this hit theaters Stateside? I don't remember it.

It got a very limited release: Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos (2012) - Box Office Mojo

What I saw this year in theaters:

2011 Holdovers
The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn - B-
A Separation - A+

Classic Revivals/Special Events
Casablanca - A+
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans - A
Serenity - B
The Wages of Fear - A-
Star Wars: Uncut - grades do no justice

New Releases
Haywire - C-
The Secret World of Arrietty - A
John Carter (of Mars) - B
The Hunger Games - A-
The Pirates! Band of Misfits/In an Adventure with Scientists - B+
The Avengers - A+
The Cabin in the Woods - A
Beasts of the Southern Wild - A+ (favorite film of the year)
Moonrise Kingdom - B+
Brave - B+
The Dark Knight Rises - A
Ruby Sparks - B-
Paranorman - B+
Frankenweenie - A
The Perks of Being a Wallflower - B-
The Master - B+
Cloud Atlas - A-
Wreck-It Ralph - B
Lincoln - B
Skyfall - B+
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - B-
Les Miserables - B-
Django Unchained - A

 

[Hanshotfirst1138]

Sigh. I miss Lord Dalek and GregX, I'm getting lonely.

Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, The (at a theater which shows vintage films)

How do I miss out on almost all of this stuff? I live in the burbs, nearly any of these that do happen happen at odd times in theaters a ways out from my house, or at local places on days I have off . I DID get the opportunity to see It's A Wonderful Life on the big screen for Christmas though, got off work just in time. I went with a friend to a surprisingly packed cinema. I'd seen the film from Clarance on before, but I'd never actually seen it all the way through. A terrific classic, not a dry eye in the house. It's been almost 70 years and the damn thing still works like magic, somewhere Frank Capra has a big smile on his face .

It got a very limited release: Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos (2012) - Box Office Mojo[/quore]

My IMDb app tells me if anything plays within 60 miles, it must've been a very limited time or for a one-day engagement or something.

Classic Revivals/Special Events
Casablanca - A+
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans - A
Serenity - B
The Wages of Fear - A-

I have to find a revival house someplace! ARG this sounds like fun!

Star Wars: Uncut - grades do no justice

I though Lucas wouldn't let anyone play a print of the proper film. I'd give a month's pay to see that.

Haywire - C-

Not one of Soderberg's best, but as a martial arts fan, I think Carano has a nice presence and physicality.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - B-

The Hobbit is really taking a lot of flak, I thought it was a better than some are saying.

Les Miserables - B-

I amazes me that I'm an English Lit major who somehow managed to never read the book or find out much about the musical. I know of it, of course, but I'm not hugely familiar.

Django Unchained - A

I'm going, I'm going, but three hours is a butt-numbingly long time to sit, I did already for the The Hobbit and The Master, not going to the bathroom once was a miracle for me, I don't know if I can do it again .

Oh, so I was cleaning up in my room a little, and found a ticket stub that I forgot about- Chronicle.

It really is a forgettable movie, though. Talk about peaking too soon.

I thought Chronicle had the same fundamental problem as District 9, it was about 60 minutes of an interesting movie with interesting ideas, then it felt like some studio exec came and told them to blow some stuff up and the film became well-staged but much less interesting. And the found-footage thing was beaten to death, I would've worked fine as a normal film. Nice and lean and mean though.

 

[DarkAngel]

Not one of Soderberg's best, but as a martial arts fan, I think Carano has a nice presence and physicality.

Agreed. I'd definitely like to see more of her, just in something a lot better. Highlight was the fight against Fassbender. Story, though, I thought was confusing and uninteresting.

The Hobbit is really taking a lot of flak, I thought it was a better than some are saying.

Agree, again. Way it was structured, and the general adventure of it, reminded me of FOTR, which was my favorite of the LOTR movies. It's more of the same, which I suppose has some feeling the magic's worn off. But, I liked it. I found myself a bit weary of the rinse-and-repeat feel of the action during the latter part of the movie, but otherwise, quite enjoyed it. (And appreciated seeing the Star Trek preview before it)

I'm going, I'm going, but three hours is a butt-numbingly long time to sit, I did already for the The Hobbit and The Master, not going to the bathroom once was a miracle for me, I don't know if I can do it again .

Is The Master worth seeing? Heard it wasn't as good as There Will be Blood.

 

[Hanshotfirst1138]

Is The Master worth seeing? Heard it wasn't as good as There Will be Blood.

I STILL haven't seen There Will Be Blood. I'll be perfectly honest, I REALLY lost patience with The Master about halfway through, it was either self-indulgent to the nth degree or I wasn't firing on the right wavelength. The performances are nothing short of incredible, the cinematography is stunning (This is Anderson's first film without Elswit), apparently PTA shot some of it in 70mm, thought I don't think there are more than a handful of theaters showing it that way. Johnny Greenwood's score is great, a lot of the film feel ambient, like Anderson is more interested in the mood. Hats off to Phoenix, his character frankly repugnant, but totally fascinating. There's not a strong narrative that runs through the film per se, it's an odd mood piece. It's really long, I'm going to rewatch it again on DVD or BR if my lazy self ever gets the player and reevaluate it. The film never "turns it's cards over" or "kicks in," so whatever expectations you have, it's very languid, and European in its pacing. It's one of those movies where I'm going to do some reading on what others have said and watch it again to see if I can refine my own viewpoints. Like Boogie Nights and There Will Be Blood, it's a period piece, and Anderson clearly has social commentary on his mind of some sort. Like I said, I requires a great deal of patience.

Very briefly regarding The Hobbit, I do understand a lot of the criticisms, I think it has serious problems with tonal shifts and narrative meandering, it finds itself pitched between the lighter tone of the book and LOTR's more epic sweep, and it never quite finds a balance. I'm still reserving final judgement until the series is complete, maybe Jackson will wow us all with an overall vision. Overall though, I had plenty of fun returning to Middle Earth with the gang. Wish they'd made the big Defiler villain with proper makeup like Lurtz though, the CG, as in some other aspects of the movie, didn't convince me fully, and he kind of looked like a reject from Avatar.

 

[Dr.Pepper]

I saw:
Beauty & the Beast in 3D
Tintin (at a second run theater)
The Lorax
Brave
Pirates Band of Misfits
Hotel Transylvania
Wreck It Ralph
Rise of the Guardians
Monsters INC in 3D

 

[Michael24]

I though Lucas wouldn't let anyone play a print of the proper film. I'd give a month's pay to see that.

I was curious what this was and looked it up. Turns out, it's a fan film shot-for-shot remake of the original film, comprised entirely of 15-second long segments submitted by participants.

Star Wars Uncut - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An interesting experiment, but from the little bit that I watched it looks like it'd be difficult to sit through the whole thing.

 

[HG Revolution]

It got a very limited release: Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos (2012) - Box Office Mojo

My IMDb app tells me if anything plays within 60 miles, it must've been a very limited time or for a one-day engagement or something.

It was in only 40 theaters for a couple of weeks, so yeah, limited release. Having not really watched Brotherhood, I didn't bother with it, but it was playing at the MFA in Boston for a week.

I have to find a revival house someplace! ARG this sounds like fun!

Casablanca and Sunrise were at the Brattle in Cambridge. Serenity was a midnight movie at the Coolidge Corner in Brookline (it seems several Browncoat groups do midnight screenings at various theaters as part of a "Don't Stop the Serenity" charity event for Equality Now). Wages of Fear wasn't actually in a theater but an outdoor screening the city of Boston did in the summer.

I though Lucas wouldn't let anyone play a print of the proper film. I'd give a month's pay to see that.

It wasn't the original print, but the experimental remake Michael24 posted about. Wildly varying in quality, but someone amazing to behold with a packed house of Star Wars geeks.

Not one of Soderberg's best, but as a martial arts fan, I think Carano has a nice presence and physicality.

Her fighting was good, her acting was weak. And the fighting's impact was lessened by how ugly and jaundiced the cinematography was.

The Hobbit is really taking a lot of flak, I thought it was a better than some are saying.

The Gollum scene does forgive a lot of the problems. But still, those are some major problems.

I'm going, I'm going, but three hours is a butt-numbingly long time to sit, I did already for the The Hobbit and The Master, not going to the bathroom once was a miracle for me, I don't know if I can do it again .

It's much more entertaining than both of those movies (and Les Mis, which was probably the most butt-numbing sit given how badly paced the last half of it was).

 

[Ishtar]

Let's see, I saw:

The Avengers
Men In Black III
The Dark Knight Rises
Brave
Wreck-It Ralph
Skyfall
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les Miserables

Overall, I think this has been a very enjoyable year for movies.

 

[Vegard Aune]

The Lion King 3D (which didn't come out before January over here... for..... some......... reason.................)
The Avengers x3 (First time I just went to see it on a whim to see what all the fuss was about, without having seen any of the previous films in the continuity. It was still great in spite of that though, and I made it a point to see all the other movies shortly after. Then I went to see it again with my friends, and later I just tagged along when my sister went to see it because I had nothing else to do that day.)
The Amazing Spider-Man (Which, despite some pacing-problems and a few minor issues I have with the story, (like the fact that I felt the events leading up to Peter getting his powers felt rather forced) I still found to be quite an enjoyable movie overall.
Brave (Which was a perfectly okay animated movie on its own right... but compared to Pixar's other movies, it felt rather underwhelming.)
Skyfall (BEST. BOND MOVIE. EVER. Which is to say, it was one of the extremely rare cases where I watched a Bond-movie and actually found myself caring about the characters rather than just enjoying the spectacle.)
The Hobbit (Like so many others, I was rather concerned about them splitting it into a trilogy and was afraid that this would bring the movie's pacing down to a snails' pace, even more so when I heard how little of the book this one actually covers... Yet strangely enough, when I did go to see it, I found myself hardly even noticing how slowly it was going, and by the time it was over, it did not feel as though it had been three hours. Suddenly I'm a lot less concerned about the remaining films.)

 

[Hanshotfirst1138]

It was in only 40 theaters for a couple of weeks, so yeah, limited release. Having not really watched Brotherhood, I didn't bother with it, but it was playing at the MFA in Boston for a week.

I didn't watch Brotherhood either (Is it too much to ask that Netflix stream their anime with an alternate Japanese audio track and subtitles?)

Casablanca and Sunrise were at the Brattle in Cambridge. Serenity was a midnight movie at the Coolidge Corner in Brookline (it seems several Browncoat groups do midnight screenings at various theaters as part of a "Don't Stop the Serenity" charity event for Equality Now). Wages of Fear wasn't actually in a theater but an outdoor screening the city of Boston did in the summer.

A B rating is too low for Serenity, incidentally. Apparently Equality Now is a cause Whedon supports good to see that the fandom might have taken it on, great to see fandom do some good. Sounds like a blast though, I'd love to catch that kind of a screening. Like I said, I'm from the suburbs, so the so-called "culture" of that kind of thing is a considerable distance from my multiplex world (though my local multiplex does occasionally screen some interesting stuff, it's usually for a very short time.). Ah well, such is life, I suppose. I'm not a city boy.

Her fighting was good, her acting was weak. And the fighting's impact was lessened by how ugly and jaundiced the cinematography was.

Soderberg is the only one I can name right now who directs and photographs his own films, hell, he's one of the few I could name period. I'm a longtime junkie for screen martial arts, and JJ Perry is a longtime direct-to-video staple. Given how distinct Soderberg is though, the film felt sort of felt like a gun-for-hire project, he's eclectic, but I thought the film worked better in places than as a whole. Carano is obviously a big-time sex symbol, the movie sort split itself among and espionage movie, with a dash of art house, and it never really found its feet. I'd love to see her get her due in a proper punch'em up though.

The Gollum scene does forgive a lot of the problems. But still, those are some major problems.

Yeah, that sequence was definitely handled brilliantly.

[/quote]It's much more entertaining than both of those movies (and Les Mis, which was probably the most butt-numbing sit given how badly paced the last half of it was).[/QUOTE]

I have 80 pages left in Life of Pi, I'm racing to finish that book before I see the movie and the movie will probably be in theaters very soon. I'll try to hit up Django after that.

Also saw The Raid this year, called The Raid: Redemption Stateside because of a copyright issue. It's no holds-barred martial arts mayhem. Had to drive a ways to see it, my local multiplex had a poster for it, but it never hit it, sadly.

 

[GatorMan92]

This year, I saw:

The Lorax
Pirates: Band Of Misfits
The Avengers
Madagascar 3
Brave
The Amazing Spider-Man
Ice Age 4
The Dark Knight Rises
Paranorman
Finding Nemo 3D
Hotel Transylvania
Frankenweenie
Wreck-It Ralph 2x
Skyfall
Rise Of The Guardians
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Looking back, I find if funny that January & February were the only months I didn't spend some time in a movie theater. Who knows, that might change in 2013

 

[HG Revolution]

Also saw The Raid this year, called The Raid: Redemption Stateside because of a copyright issue. It's no holds-barred martial arts mayhem. Had to drive a ways to see it, my local multiplex had a poster for it, but it never hit it, sadly.

I've heard great things about that one. That, Looper, Holy Motors, and This is Not a Film are the movies I missed that I most want to see (maybe Life of Pi, though I've heard mixed things on it, it's still playing and it's probably worth seeing on the big screen for the eye candy so I'll try to get around to that sometime these next few weeks, and of course once it expands I'll want to see Zero Dark Thirty).

 

[DarkAngel]

Also saw The Raid this year, called The Raid: Redemption Stateside because of a copyright issue. It's no holds-barred martial arts mayhem. Had to drive a ways to see it, my local multiplex had a poster for it, but it never hit it, sadly.

Saw it last night. Action was impressive. Wouldn't say I was blown away by the movie. Found the first half more engaging than the second, maybe in part because I found the concluding story elements unimpressive and not as interesting as the build-up. Liked the movie, though. Unfortunate part was that I was watching it online via Directv, and it was dubbed in english. No option to hear the originally recorded dialogue with english subtitles.

I'll have to see Dredd now, as I remember there being comparisons made between these two movies.

 

[hobbyfan]

Three Stooges
Avengers
Broken Arrows
Amazing Spider-Man
Dark Knight Rises
Skyfall

I also ordered Knuckleball! on PPV thanks to a coupon I got from Time Warner over the summer.

 

[Hanshotfirst1138]

I've heard great things about that one. That, Looper, Holy Motors, and This is Not a Film are the movies I missed that I most want to see (maybe Life of Pi, though I've heard mixed things on it, it's still playing and it's probably worth seeing on the big screen for the eye candy so I'll try to get around to that sometime these next few weeks, and of course once it expands I'll want to see Zero Dark Thirty).

I'm going to see Life of Pi tonight, Looper came out on DVD a couple of days ago, check it out, it's terrific. If Zero Dark Thirty is out, then it's a very limited release right now, I think it goes wide sometime in the middle of the month. Definitely on my must-see list and probably one of the films I was most looking forward too.

Saw it last night. Action was impressive. Wouldn't say I was blown away by the movie. Found the first half more engaging than the second, maybe in part because I found the concluding story elements unimpressive and not as interesting as the build-up. Liked the movie, though. Unfortunate part was that I was watching it online via Directv, and it was dubbed in English. No option to hear the originally recorded dialogue with English subtitles.

The narrative is sort of beside the point, it's a martial arts film, it's almost all about the physicality. I liked the film, but didn't love it quite as much as some critics who've drooled over it, maybe because I've seen more of the Hong Kong stuff from which it draws heavily and I'm just jaded. In addition to the English-dubbed version, there are two soundtracks for the Indonesian version, the original score, and one that was recorded by Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park fame, which is the one that plays with the English-dubbed version, and one version of the Indonesian track (It's also irritatingly the only version on the Redbox DVD, so I still haven't seen the film with its original score.). The director himself allegedly condoned both this and the remake, but I'm a nature purist skeptic. In any case, the DVD and BR preserve the original, so all is well. It's a very raw, striped down film, Evans sites Die Hard as his key influence because of the setting, but it has that brutal, exploitation film feeling of Assault on Precinct 13 in reverse as directed by Yuen Wo Ping. The narrative is really stripped down, but some of the martial arts sequences are pretty impressive. At best, you could say that the film captures that raw, stripped down archetypal feel. If you were feeling less charitable or swallowed by the hype, you could say that it basically a video game where you sit and wait between the boss fights as you progress through the literal levels.