1. Avengers Assemble (12A)

Dir: Joss Whedon

Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Samuel L Jackson, Tom Hiddleston

There was no doubt in my mind that this film would feature in my top 10 from when I first read about it being filmed.  I wasn't sure however that it would feature so highly in the list!  This was because when a film is hyped up so much and has an amazing team behind it, it tends not to meet expectation and can be seem as a little bit of a let down (see this years Prometheus for further details!) but this actually exceeded my very very very high hopes!  It was very comedic, both in slapstick and dialogue.  I think the director (Joss Whedon), writers (Zak Penn, Josh Whedon etc) got the feel just right about how the ego's of Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth),  Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and even Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) would all interact with each other and adapt to their surroundings.  

SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There were so many great scenes, my favorite being this one (which is actually my favorite scene of the year):

Also the little one liners and nods were amusing.  Admittedly I did have to look it up but for them to get the word quim into a film literally millions of kids will see was awesome, it really is a genius way of getting round the censors, using ye olde english.  Of course it wasn't all fun and games, I remember before it came out people were wondering and taking bets on which of the Avengers would die.  A popular choice was Hulk given the mauling the characters previous incarnations had received from audiences and critics alike, even to the extent that this universes original Hulk (Edward Norton) was replaced by Mark Ruffalo (rumors have cited "artistic differences").  However Hulk proved to be, this time round, the strongest of the characters (pun not intended!) and the CGI was actually quite good.  They went down the motion capture route which has led to some amazing things happen on film for our eyes to marvel at (this time it was intended!).  You could see it was Ruffalo, Hulked up!

Going back to who survives and who doesn't, the person who did "die" did come as a genuine shock, I think for most people.  Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) was an essential part of getting the Avengers together and he was a nice guy, most importantly, he was a "normal" human being, someone the audience could connect with and feel for.  I saw this film twice in the cinema and both times when we witness his murder and the hands of Loki (Tom Hiddleston) the audience went silent.  I mean eerily quiet, no talking, rustling of sweets, nothing.  It truly was an amazing thing to witness and certainly added to the emotion.  Now you may have noticed that I put the word die in quotation marks.  This is because #CoulsonLives.  Many people (myself included) think Coulson is not dead and in fact Fury just told this to the Avengers to get them riled up and ready for war, I fully expect to see his face pop up in one of those post credit sequences accordingly. #CoulsonLives.

My one and only complaint of the film.  I did find it unfair that us here in the UK were not treated to a post credits scene that those in the USA were.  This was down to it being filmed way in to post production.  I have since watched it on Blu Ray and although it adds absolutely nothing to the plot it is still a lovely, quirky little treat.

2. The Artist (PG)

Dir: Michel Hazanavicius
Cast: Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo, John Goodman

This film certainly belongs on the list for coming out of nowhere and blowing everyone away.  Last year I went to Empire's Big Screen, a movie festival and we all got treated to clips and background info of the years to come films.  To my recollection this was not mentioned at all (I could be wrong, there was a lot of info!).  As you know it cleaned up at the awards season, Jean Dujardin obviously and deservedly the biggest winner, getting Best Actor at almost every ceremony. 

As soon as I did eventually hear about this film I wanted to see it, if only for it being different and going back to a time of film that I, and the generation before, were too young to have witnessed first hand.  Also as a person (geek) who is not just a movie goer but someone who has a genuine passion for it it was interesting to see some of the old fashioned ways of Hollywoodland.  I liked the fact that I read on IMDb that the house Peppy (Berenice Bejo) lives in was actress Mary Pickford's in real life.   I loved the use of the signature tune from Vertigo even though that films main female star, Kim Novak objected to it.  I was shocked though that a few people who went to see the film did not realise it was a silent movie and actually walked out, demanding their money back! sigh.  Of course I can't write about this film without talking about Uggi the dog, he often stole the show in the scenes he was in and he and George made a great double act.

SPOILERS!!!!!

I really liked the story of how the two main protagonists, George (Jean DuJardin) and Peppy (Berenice Bejo) film career has so many parallels although going two ways and criss-crossing.  He's at the top of his game when they meet and she's just starting out which he indirectly helps with then at the end she's the big shot and he has lost his edge with the invention of the talkies and she rescues him, in more ways that one.  

3. War Horse (12A)

Dir: Steven Spielberg 
Cast: Jeremy Irvine, Peter Mullan, Emily Watson

I wasn't too bothered about seeing this film when I first heard about it and is seemed a little to twee and not something that would really interest me.  Thanks to Sky Rewards though I got 2 free tickets to an advance screening one Sunday morning way back in January.  As you can see with it being on this list I am so glad I did see it.  It was not exactly like I though it was and I cried about 5 times throughout the whole film, in fact when I looked at myself in the mirror in the toilet after the film I noticed my left eye looked like a pandas it was so smudged!

SPOILERS!!!!!!!!

It was all the mini-stories in-between that made me cry, such as the two German boys (Leonard Carow and David Kross) and of course all the soldiers.  Looking at the certificate the film could easily have been watched by children, and indeed was and as such most of the traumatic death scenes were left to your imagination such as the torture of Maj Jamie Stewart (Benedict Cumberbatch).  I thought this was a nice touch although as we all know things can be  a lot scarier done this way!.  Ironically the story that had the least emotional attachment to the audience I felt was the main one with Joey the horse and Albert (Jeremy Irvine)!  On a closing note and an FYI to those who know me I feel I have to say that, although you'd be forgiven for thinking it was Thor, this is where the crush really started (see trailer for further details!) ;)

4. Headhunters (15)

Dir: Morten Tyldum
Cast: Aksel Hennie, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Synnove Macody Lund

I didn't really know what to expect when I went to see Headhunters as all I knew was it was based on a book by Jo Nesbo, what the poster looked like and that a few other people I knew wanted to see it.  I am really glad I did manage to catch it as I really enjoyed it and, as you can tell from it being in this list it was one of my favorite films of 2012.  As I put in my original review I was sad that the guy who I bought my ticket off had to tell me it was Norwegian and had subtitles, people had walked out because of this!

Headhunters is a great thriller which centers on the life of Roger Brown (Aksel Hennie).  He is a very very successful headhunter for a major company and is quite rich but not rich enough, so he thinks, to keep up with his lavish lifestyle and to keep his trophy wife Diana (Synnove Macody Lund) happy.  To get a bit of extra cash Roger is also an art thief.  He questions the people he is interviewing to see if they house anything precious and if they do he, with the help of his partner in crime Ove (Eivind Sander), goes to the house when he knows they will not be there steals their originals and replaces it with a fake copy.  One day Roger is interviewing Clas (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), Clas has an exquisite piece of art that if Roger could get his hands on it would set him up for life.  He does manage to get the piece but from here on in his life spirals out of control making Roger extremely paranoid of everything and everyone around him.

Another thing that I really loved about this film is that it was quirky and funny, sometimes wrong but in the good way.  Also I watched this before I had seen any episodes of Game of Thrones which of course stars Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jamie), given the shows hype I thought maybe more people would see this film because of that.

5. Chronicle (12A)

Dir: Josh Trank
Cast: Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell, Michael B Jordan

I first saw the trailer for this when watching Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and thought it looked OK but the same old same old re found footage films.  I actually only saw it originally because I was meeting a friend later that evening to watch another film (The Vow) and I had finished work early so could squeeze it in, I thought I'd missed the beginning but only a few days later I was out with another group and owing to timings I saw the film again and discovered I actually got into the screening just in time.  The reason for this is that it just starts.  Andrew (Dane DeHaan) is a bullied loner with a very tragic home life, his mother  (Bo Petersen) is dying and his father (Michael Kelly) is an abusive drunk.  He comes into possession of a camera and decides to chronicle his life, his cousin Matt (Alex Russell ) sort of takes him under his wing and tries to makes his life better by inviting him to a party.  Here he meets Matt's friend Steve (Michael B Jordan) , Steve has discovered something rather odd, a huge hole in the middle of almost nowhere and he wants to use Andrews camera.  Andrew is for obvious reasons very attached to his camera so goes down into the hole with Steve and Matt.  When down there they witness something very strange that results in them all having nosebleeds.



SPOILERS!!!!!









The screen then goes blank and we flash forward to discover that the guys have developed some special powers.  It starts off as telepathically moving balls and eventually they learn to fly.  After the usual fun that any normal human being would have with these new found powers (probably my biggest reason for loving this film) things take a dark turn.  As already stated Andrew has a very bad life and after an even nastier than usual altercation with his father and an especially bad day he flys high up in the air in an attempt to let his anger out but also be by himself.  Owing to the telepathic ability Steve senses something is wrong with Andrew and he is able to find him.  Andrew just wants to be alone, there is a bad storm happening and tragically Steve gets hit by lightening and dies.  This serves to prove not only how dangerous these powers can be but also that they are not in fact immortal.   After a few more humiliating and nasty incidents Andrew decides to use his powers to hurt those who hurt him.  This lands him in hospital.  When he comes round his father is there and tells him his mother has died and he blames Andrew for it.  The father attempts to kill Andrew but Andrew is still strong enough to overpower him.  Meanwhile Matt is at a party but senses something is wrong and heads to the hospital where he and Andrew have a battle to the death.
Apart from the boys using the powers in a normal none superhero-y way at the beginning of the film I also liked the fact that although it was found footage the camera work was not restricted to just one camera, the film incorporated the use of the news, police cameras and CCTV.  This meant for a better, rounded view of the action.  The ending did seem a bit trite when I first watched it and even more so the second time round but thinking about it again it was actually a good thing to do as it showed that although Andrew did flip (and who can really blame him?) at the end of the day he was just a peaceful, slightly weak boy who just didn't want anymore pain in his life, which essentially is what he got, living on through his camera.




With this and Lawless I have to point out that Dane DeHaan is definitely my newcomer of the year and yes he does look like DiCaprio and yes his career does seem to be mirroring slightly!

6. The Dark Knight Rises (12A)

Dir: Chris Nolan

Cast: Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway

This was a film that I had been waiting all year to see and was very privileged and honored to see it not only earlier than most but also on an IMAX screen.  The day before I had watched the two previous Batman films of the Nolan world, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight on the big screen.  They both still stood up on repeat viewings and it was a good thing I did watch them as there were some bits I had forgotten which were important to this final installment of the trilogy.

SPOILERS!!!!

The film begins 8 years after The Dark Knight, owing to the events of the previous film, Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) has become even more of a recluse. There is also a memorial for Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) who is still being praised as a hero for his tragic death and the hands of "Batman", no one knows about his alter ego Two-Face.  Although a recluse there is a charity event being held at Wayne mansion.  One of the maids sneaks into Waynes' private quarters breaking into his safe and stealing his mothers pearls.  The maid is Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) AKA The Cat "woman".  Selina manages to escape and Bruce discovers she also took copies of his fingerprints.  During "Dent day" Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) nearly reads a letter revealing the truth about Harvey Dent but decides its not the right time, for once Gotham is at peace.....

Not for long though as a terrorist known as Bane (Tom Hardy) is planning on destroying Gotham completely, just for the pure hell of it.  

A congressman goes missing and John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) informs Commissioner Gordon that he knows something fishy is going on and that he may have discovered who Batman really is, Gordon dismisses this.  As Bane and his henchmen gain more and more power and create utter havoc over Gotham, Wayne realises (with some help from Gordon) that it is time to don his bat suit again to help the citizens of Gotham even though they truly hate him and he could get arrested.

I loved this film and thought the trilogy was wrapped up nicely, I have to admit I did guess the big revel re Gordon-Levitts character, I knew there was some secrecy surrounding him so knew he played a big part in some way and going from his age and other things it wasn't too hard to work out, this didn't stop the enjoyment though when it was finally confirmed, little fan girl/boy squees all round from the audience!  Bane was a great villain which is unsurprising given he was played by the amazing Tom Hardy.  The main ending (you know what I mean!) did seem a bit twee at first which was my only complaint but thinking about it and reading into it, did it really happen like that or was it just a sweet fantasy?  Seeing it in IMAX added to the amazement as some of the scenes just looked epic.  I just have to say actually writing this review now and revisiting the film has actually bumped it up my list a few!

7. The Cabin in the Woods (15)

Dir: Joss Wheedon
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Fran Kranz, Kristen Connolly

Again I obtained free tickets to see this film thanks to Sky.  I really wanted to watch this anyway and (after having been told) made sure I knew as little about it as possible. All I did know was it was a horror film directed by Joss Wheedon and starred Chris Hemsworth.  

SPOILERS!!!!

So the film starts off with two men, Sitterson (Richard Jenkins) and Hadley (Bradley Whitford) who seem to be at work, they are just having a normal, rather mundane chat.  Someone informs them that there has been an incident in a similar facility in another country.  They do not seem to mind and  say something rather puzzling about the US always coming in second.  We then cut to some college students getting really to go on a trip to, surprise, a cabin in the woods.  There are 5 people, Jules (Anna Hutchinson), her boyfriend Curt (Chris Hensworth), his friend Holden (Jesse Williams), Jules friend and potential date of Holden, Dana (Kristen Connolly) and their stoner friend Marty (Fran Kranz).  We soon see that the two men from the beginning of the film are following the group and taking some bizarre bets for a still unknown reason with other workers in some huge office.  The group stop for petrol and are greeted by the stereotypical Southern creepy old man who warns them about the cabin.  The gang laugh it off and continue on their journey.  Here we witness another bizarre happening, a bird flys into an invisible electric "fence" and falls to its death.  Once in the cabin the gang chill out and decide to play Truth or Dare.  Suddenly the cellar door opens up and one of the dares is to go down there.  All the gang end up there and discover all sorts of weird and wonderful things.  Dana starts reading a girls diary, the girl was abused by her father and there is a Latin phrase in it which she explains will bring her and her family back to life.  Dana of course reads the Latin and lo and behold zombies appear outside, not just any zombies but redneck ones!  The men in the office seem disappointed and we realise the bets were on which monsters the gang would conjure up.  Hadley really wanted a mer-man.  Even though I have mentioned this has spoilers I don't really want to or feel I need to discuss more of the plot and to just write about why I like it!

This film was awesome! Yes it was bonkers and totally far fetched but that was the whole point!  I loved all the nods to almost every horror film you can think of, even the more thriller ones.  My fave scene was obviously the bit in the lift and what comes out of it, this is because it was stunning to watch and you literally had no idea what you would see next.  My favorite monster was the guy who was a nod to pinhead in Hellraiser.  He said nothing, just stood there and if you've seen him you'll know that is enough!  The fact it took the horror genre and made not just a spoof of it but also a sort of social commentary on it I thought was genius.  You had the typical Jock, Nerd, Virgin etc.  you also had a mild form of reality TV thrown in and even some found footage.  Then at the end you get a rather bleak ending but it doesn't seem anything like a downer.  I know some people who didn't like the film purely for it being too far fetched and even stupid.  Which I suppose is a fair point but I've seen other films just as much far fetched and also enough horror to get the references.  The funniest thing of all was that it felt new and refreshing when almost every part was taken from another film in some way.  This is postmodernism done right.