Everyone does a review of the best films of the year that has just ended and I am not going to be the exception.

I probably went to the cinema more times in 2012 than I had in any previous years. There were some very good films out and also some very bad ones. I try to see as many as possible as I like to get a nice range of different genres.

I have thought long and hard about narrowing the films down to a top 5 of 2012 which means I have had to cut some good films out including Moonrise Kingdom, The Amazing Spiderman and, probably the closest to making my top 5, Argo.

So here is goes (note: this is not in any order) with the first 3 probably being very obvious and the last 2 being a little bit out there.

 

 

 

The Dark Knight Risesthe-dark-knight-rises-fire

What a perfect way to end the Dark Knight Trilogy. On 1st viewing I did think there were too many long 1 on 1 talking scenes and not enough action however on a second viewing I realised that they weren’t really that long and they really added to the closing of the story. Anything with Joseph Gordon Levitt in is great in my eyes and Tom Hardy is slowly turning into one of my favourite actors. The added little Easter eggs in the film are great for the fans of Batman. This has been added to my Bluray collection.

 

 

 

 

 

Avengers Assemblemarvel_avengers_assemble_uk_poster

This was the film that has been wanted and has been built up to for a number of years by all the previous Marvel films. Seeing all the top Marvel characters (minus Spiderman and the X-men) join forces to take on some big bad just couldn’t stop that huge smile across my face. Robert Downey Jr. is the stand out performer as the playboy billionaire Tony Stark/Ironman although Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk was probably the best take on the character in recent years. The action set pieces in the film were huge with the heroes not only taking on the bad guys but also taking on each other. Most memorable part of the film has to be Hulk punching Thor, classic.

 

 

 

 

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journeyhobbit-poster

The Lord of the Rings trilogy is an absolute favourite of mine and when news first broke that The Hobbit was going to be made the excitement started building and then we find out that it is turning into another trilogy, yes. The only downside is that we have to wait until 2015 for the final part. The film may have been similar to The Fellowship of the Ring following same plot points but it didn’t stop the film being any less enjoyable. The beginning of the film was a nice way to tie it in with LOTR and the whole Gollum/Bilbo scene was very funny. Having been to New Zealand and some of the LOTR locations I always feel happy when I see the country again and brings back lots of memories. I loved the film and cannot wait for the other 2 parts to come out.

 

 

 

 

The Cabin in the Woodscabin-in-the-woods-poster-hi-res

 

A film that was made in 2009 and due to studio differences took until 2012 to be released however it was well worth the wait. This was not your straight forward teen/slasher movie. Yes it had the typical characters that you would expect in these types of films and introduced them in the obvious and I’ve seen this all before. However the comedy and Sci-fi elements that were thrown in were brilliant and not fully expected. A film to watch over and over and now belongs in my Bluray collection.

 

 

 

 

 

Killer Joekiller-joe-poster

This was my stand out film of the year and was so beautiful and disgusting that it was fantastic. McConaughey stepped away from his usual rom-com character and played what can be described as a cool prick dirty cop. This film might be too much for some people and you will probably never look at fried chicken in the same way ever again. If you haven’t seen this I highly recommend it but just be warned.

 

 

 

 

emma-stone-gwen-staceyTo finish off here are a couple of side awards;

Considering Joss Whedon had a hand in 2 of these films makes him my Director/Writer of the year.

Emma Stone as Gwen Stacey in The Amazing Spiderman was my hottie of the year.

Least enjoyable/Worst Film of the year was both Taken 2 and Total Recall as I couldn’t decide between the two which I enjoyed least.

 

 

So what do you think of my Top 5 films of 2012?

What about my side awards? What was the least enjoyable film you saw?