I saw 20 movies in 2012, so far… By that I mean, 20 movies that were released in 2012. For various reasons, these are the ones I ponied up money to see. I would have seen more, but time and money are limited resources. Also, I may have seen more but am forgetting some.
My top 3:
Hobbit, Avengers, Hunger Games. I give them each an A or A-. Each had lots of hype, and managed to live up to or even exceed expectations.
My bottom 3: Goon, Haywire, and The Vow. For different reasons. Goon was terrible. No plot. No point. No redeeming qualities. The Vow had horrible acting and was supposed to be a feel good movie with a great story of commitment (i.e. “the vow”), but the changes made from the actual story turned it into a drivel-filled story that was more about hopelessness and chance rather than commitment and love. Lastly, Haywire had so many plot holes that it was laughable. And the acting and fight scenes weren’t much better. All 3 movies were unintentional spoofs. All these movies were Fs.
Other bad movies: I gave these movies a D (+ or -). October baby – terrible acting, especially from John Schneider, who was the only actor with name-recognition. Lawless – no reason to care about any of the characters, or what happens to them. Stuff happens, but nothing that really matters. Ice Age (3? 4? It doesn’t matter) – went with family to see this one, with hopes it would make me laugh like the first one. Nope. Act of Valor -some cool stuff, but who can get past the terrible acting? I feel a little bad putting this movie here with the others though.
The C movies: Taken 2, Expendables 2, and Red Dawn all were basically what they were supposed to be, but didn’t re-capture the original, uh, “magic”? The other Cs were: Bourne, Skyfall, and the Grey. All these movies felt like false advertising and were disappointing, but could have been a decent movie if not for expectations. They just felt wrong.
The other movies got some form of B. Three of them are: Batman, Spiderman, and Prometheus. All three movies came with tons of hype, and were kind of disappointing. Spiderman just failed to create excitement. Perhaps it was the casting or the directing. I’m not sure, but it didn’t generate the drama of Raimi’s version of the original. Prometheus was what it was supposed to be, but wasn’t what the fans wanted. Batman was surprising, and was okay, but not great. Some plot holes were too much, even for a comic book movie. And the last movie to get a B from me was Timothy Green. A feel good movie, with good acting, and not a lot of flaws. It just wasn’t good or exciting enough for an A. Jennifer Garner is the weak link.
