Tag Archive: the dark knight rises


My Top Films of 2012 review

Filed under: Film News by thefriedgold — Leave a comment
January 9, 2013

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?

 

 

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The Dark Knight Rises

Filed under: Cinema by thefriedgold — 2 Comments
July 25, 2012

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Directed by Christopher Nolan

Starring Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway and Joseph Gordon-Levitt

 

 

8 years have passed since Batman took the blame for Harvey Dent’s death to give Gotham the real hero that they deserved. During this time Bruce Wayne has become a recluse and is living his life in Wayne Manor while the Bat suit has been hung up. However when a new force comes to the city in the form of Bane, Bruce must put the suit on once again and prove to the whole city that he is the real hero.

The concluding chapter to Nolan’s Batman trilogy The Dark Knight Rises (TDKR) and Batman must once again battle an enemy who is trying to take over Gotham City. Bane is the new enemy, played by the wonderful Tom Hardy, who fits very nicely into Nolan’s telling of the Batman story by keeping the character grounded in the real world and a totally different type of enemy when compared to Ledger’s Joker. Other characters added to story are Anne Hathaway’s Catwoman (although she is never called this throughout the whole film), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (JGL) playing a young cop called John Blake and Marion Cotillard playing Miranda Tate who is a business lady and Bruce Wayne’s love interest. These characters are in addition to the regulars of Gary Oldman, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman.

The film definitely has that final film feeling to it while rocking out at a massive 165 minutes with a lot of this seeming to be 1 on 1 conversations between characters. However this doesn’t detract from the amazing story that is being played out along with the fantastic camera work and the brilliant music of Hans Zimmer. Hathaway and JGL were nice additions and fitted into the trilogy easily plus Hathaway looked great in her outfit.

I believe this to be a great film that gave you exactly what you wanted from the third and probably final Batman film that Nolan will be directing. Yes I think there are a lot of bits that were made for the fans and the comic book lovers but this is why I loved it. Is it better than The Dark Knight? I’m unsure. I’ve seen that film so many times I know it better than the back of my hand. I will need to see TDKR a few more times before I can give that question a proper answer. I did like the little Easter eggs and cameos in the film to give true fans a nice nod to certain themes or characters.

 

Recommend

This film was hyped up so much that I believe it has affected the way that some people have viewed the film. Some people have said that the lack of Batman fighting let the film down. What people need to realise is that Batman is technically a Detective not an all-out arse kicker so I had no problem with this side of things. Having waited for this film and jumping on the hype bandwagon I have not been disappointed by what I saw and I will definitely be making repeat viewings. Go and see this film!

TheFriedGold rating – 4/5 – A fantastic ending to a Bat-tastic trilogy

 

Film Fact

Christopher Nolan said that the film’s theme deals with “Pain”. For Batman Begins, it was on “Fear”, while The Dark Knight deals on “Chaos”.

 

 

 

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My Top 10 films to look out for this year

Filed under: Cinema, Film News by thefriedgold — 6 Comments
May 22, 2012

updated

G.I Joe Retaliation has been pushed back to 2013 so i have added a different entry on to my top 10

2012 is a big year for films and we are almost half way through the year already. We have had the box office smash the Avengers which has literally destroyed all records  previously set but there are still plenty of other great films to look forward to. So here is my mini breakdown of what to look out for and the dates you need to put in your planner.

 

Moonrise Kingdom

Directed by Wes Anderson

Starring Bill Murray, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton,

Frances McDormand, Jason Schwartzman and many others

Two young lovers decide to run away together which starts a

search party to find them and bring them home.

Reason to watch: Wes Andersons first live action film since 2007. He loves to use a large star heavy cast, most of which will play a quirky if not slightly wierd character.

Release Date: 25th May

 

 

Men in Black 3

Directed by Barry Sonnerfeld

Starring Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin

Agent K has to travel back in time to stop the events of Agent J being killed.

Reason to Watch: Jermaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords plays one of the bad guys

Release Date: 25th May

 

 

 

 

 

Snow White and the Huntsman

Directed by Rupert Sanders

Starring Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth and Charlize Theron

This is Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs reimagined for an older audience. The Evil Queen sends a Huntsman into the woods to kill Snow White so she can reign supreme. Things don’t go quite to plan though when the Huntsman becomes Snow Whites protector.

Reason to watch: Apart from getting to see Chris Hemsworth fighting off bad guys with a sword (might as well be Thor’s Hammer) but we get the likes of Nick Frost, Ray Winstone, Bob Hoskins and Ian McShane playing dwarves.

Release Date: 30th May

 

 

Prometheus

Directed by Ridley Scott

Starring Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron and many others

An invitation, found by a group of explorers, is used to hopefully find the origins of man on a distant planet. Things seem to start taking a turn for the worst and instead of finding the origins they have to stop the end of the human race.

Reason to watch: Ridley Scott makes his long awaited return to the Sci-Fi genre. A prequel to Alien? Not a prequel to Alien? Based in the same universe?  Can he match the brilliance of Alien? There is only one way to find out.

Release Date: 1st June

 

 

The Amazing Spiderman

Directed by Marc Webb

Starring Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and Rhys Ifans

Peter Parker is back in a reimaging of the Spiderman story. Peter has to come to grips with his new powers and discover what happened to his parents which leads him to Dr. Curt Connors.

Reason to watch: Yes it’s only been 10 years since Spiderman came out but there was this feeling that the film series needed a new lease of life. From the trailers so far it looks like we are more in line with the comics and Emma Stone as Gwen Stacey should be reason enough to watch.

Release Date: 3rd July 

 

 

The Dark Knight Rises

Directed by Christopher Nolan

Starring Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway and Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Eight years have passed since the end of The Dark Knight and there is a new face in Gotham, Bane. Batman must come back to save the city he once protected and come face to face with one of his toughest enemies.

Reason to watch: This is the conclusion of Christopher Nolan’s Batman and if the previous two films are anything to go by then this will be one fantastic end to the story. Anne Hathaway as Catwoman, JGL, visually fantastic action scenes and probably the odd surprise.

Release Date: 20th July

 

 

G.I Joe Retaliation

Directed by John M. Chu

Starring Dwayne Johnson, Bruce Willis, Channing Tatum and Ray Park

The G.I. Joe’s are back and once again battling against Cobra. However this time they also have to deal with people in their own government trying to take them out.

Reason to watch: Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and Bruce Willis kicking arse together. That is all!

Release Date: 3rd August 

New Release Date: Sometime in 2013

 

 

 

The Bourne Legacy

Directed by Tony Gilroy

Starring Jeremy Renner, Edward Norton and Rachel Weisz

There was never just one. Based around Aaron Cross, a CIA operative, he finds himself in the same situation as Jason from the other films in the series. Is there more behind what is going on in the CIA than we first thought?

Reason to watch: If the film follows the same pattern as the other Bourne films and with Renner in the lead role then this could be the coolest film of the year.

Release Date: 13th August 

 

 

 

 

Skyfall

Directed by Sam Mendes

Starring Daniel Craig, Ralph Fiennes, Javier Bardem, Helen McCrory, Naomie Harris and Judi Dench

Bond is back and is tested to the limit with his loyalty to M. All while MI6 is under attack and James must find and stop whoever is doing it.

Reason to watch: It has been 4 years since our last Bond outing and given the trailer it seems like we could be back to Bonds best. Bond 24 has also been confirmed already.

Release Date: 26th October

 

 

 

 Gangster Squad

Directed by Ruban Fleischer

Starring Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone

Based in the 1940’s and 50’s a group of LAPD’s finest are recruited to help tackle and take down the Mafia gangs trying to make a name for themselves in LA with Mafia gangster leader Micky Cohen top of their wanted list.

Reason to watch: Tommy guns, shotguns, car chases, funny talking and everyone’s new favourite golden boy Ryan Gosling. Emma Stone once again stars alongside Gosling

Release date: 9th November

 

 

 

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Directed by Peter Jackson

Starring Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage and practically everyone from the LOTR films

A group of dwarves are on a mission to reclaim some treasure that was stolen from them by a dragon called Smaug. Accompanying them is a curious little hobbit called Bilbo Baggins who meets someone on the way who will change his life forever.

Reason to watch: Nine years after The Lord of the Rings concluded we now finally get the prequel story as to how Bilbo came to be in possession of the one ring. The film has been split into two and they could easily (and hopefully) equal or better Jackson’s original LOTR films.

Release Date: 14th December

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