Top 50 Films of 2012: No.40 - 31

Here we are into the second part of our journey with a mixture of big budget favourites and some smaller films you may not have seen.

The Amazing Spider-Man 
Director: Marc Webb

Kicking off a trio of superhero movies with one that really caught me by surprise as I wasn't expecting much from the spiderman reboot. What Marc Webb did was to add some real heart to Peter and Gwen and make them a more believable couple thanks in part to the performances from Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone. While Peter was easier to like I also enjoyed how the film explored his parents and his relationship with his aunt and uncle here played by Sally Field and Martin Sheen. While the CGI spoilt matters I have to say I really enjoyed this film a lot more than I thought I would and am looking forward to future instalments in this franchise.

Avengers Assemble 
Director: Joss Whedon

I feel like I'm in the minority in regards to the Avengers films as I haven't found them as amazing as everybody else seems to have done. With the exception of Iron Man, I thought they were all enjoyable in their own way but never really blew me away in the way I felt they should've done. To be fair to Avengers Assemble it was definitely the best of the bunch as it was sort of a greatest hits montage of all of the gang with Mark Ruffalo really impressing as The Hulk while once again Tom Hiddleston stole the show as Loki. In my mind the film fell down a little bit with the final battle which was far too long and a little over-indulgent. Overall though this was one of those films that did exactly what it said on the tin although I personally wanted something different to what was delivered here.

The Dark Knight Rises 
Director: Christopher Nolan

As much as I love Christopher Nolan, with Inception being my favourite film two years ago, I can't help but think his Batman trilogy has been a little over-hyped. While I enjoyed both Batman Begins and Dark Knight I didn't go overboard in my praise of them as some did while I found the concluding part to the trilogy in The Dark Knight Rises a little disappointing. Despite that it still had a lot going for it from the fantastic visuals to the great performances from Christian Bale, Gary Oldman and Joseph Gorden-Levitt while Anne Hathaway's Catwoman also came into her own in the latter stages of the film. The reason why this film isn't higher in my list is that the ending was a little underwhelming considering what had come before but having said that I think that Nolan has changed the face of the summer blockbuster by making films that aren't created for idiots.

In Darkness 
Director: Agnieszka Holland

From the comic book to the real life now for something a lot more serious but gripping nonetheless with Agnieszka Holland's mentally-draining In Darkness. The film is about a sewer inspector in occupied-Poland who hides families in his sewers away from the Nazis in return for a cash sum. Everything from the characterisation to the almost black shots of the sewers was incredibly stark and realistic however this wasn't a film you could particularly enjoy but rather admire. The best thing about In Darkness is that it really makes you think about what some of the families hiding from the Nazis went through and the mental and physical trauma they suffered while trying to escape the camps.

Juan of the Dead 
Director: Alejandro Brugues

Initially Juan of the Dead could've been laughed off as another comedy zombie film, and indeed there are some hilarious sequences which involve the killing of the undead, however I felt Alejandro Brugues' film went deeper than that. As the film is set in Cuba, and the zombies are constantly referred to as dissidents, there are definitely political underpinnings throughout the film while there is also a sense that the rise of the zombies gives slacker Juan a chance to shine. Juan of the Dead had a lot going for it as was part comedy, part horror and part political satire with some great central characters thrown in for good measure. Though it did drag occasionally it left me with a big smile on my face and you can't say fairer than that.

Liberal Arts
Director: Josh Radnor


Best known as Ted from How I Met Your Mother, Josh Radnor's second film as writer and star is a wry look at growing up and trying to move on from the place you feel the most connected with. In the case of Radnor's Jesse it's his old college which he returns to for the retirement of an old professor and where he also meets current student Zibby, played by Elizabeth Olsen, with whom strikes up a friendship which develops into something more. Liberal Arts explores the themes of growing up, not dwelling too much on certain areas and holding someone up on a pedestal. While I found some plot devices a little contrived I did really connect with the themes and characters throughout and the supporting cast, which including Richard Jenkins and Alison Janney, was just superb. 

Like Crazy 
Director: Drake Doremus

One of the very first films I watched last year was Drake Doremus' semi-improvised drama about two young lovers who are constantly separated by circumstance. Anton Yelchin and Felicity Jones play Jacob and Anna who meet at college and fall in love however the only problem is that she breaks her student visa and they rarely get to see each other. The film follows them over a number of years in which both find love elsewhere but keep returning to what was their strongest relationship despite the fact that they might not know each other anymore. Doremus' film was a thought-provoking piece which did have its dull moments but overall was an incredibly likeable piece with two very realistic performances from its two lead actors.

Magic Mike 
Director: Steven Soderbergh

A film about male strippers starring the often wooden Channing Tatum didn't sound like an appealing prospect however I found Magic Mike to be one of my surprise favourites of the year. Thanks mostly to Soderbergh's direction, Tatum succeeds in making us like his everyman Mike someone who has taken to stripping in order to fund his furniture design store however he finds himself almost stuck in that world. Soderbergh's visual style perfectly lends itself to the seedy stripping scenes but once again it is Matthew McConaughey who steals the show as club promoter Dallas who is both rowdy showman and ruthless businessman. Though British actor Alex Pettyfer is a bit of a letdown as new stripper Adam overall Magic Mike is a well-acted, well-scripted film which I was really surprised how I much I liked.

Martha Marcy May Marlene 
Director: Sean Durkin

More Elizabeth Olsen but this time she's a lot more haunted as she plays Martha a young girl taken in by a cult who she falls for only to escape when she learns their true motives. The film follows two different timelines one with Martha being taken in by the cult and the other in which she tries to adjust to life with her sister and her husband with the latter story being my favourite. While the visual style totally suited the story I really enjoyed Olsen's performance while John Hawkes was equally striking as the sinister cult leader.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower 
Director: Stephen Chbosky
Ending this chapter with yet another indie film and another surprise as I really connected with this story of the high school outsider and his efforts to find friends for the first time. Though it was a little issue-laden The Perks of Being a Wallflower gave us many great performances notably from Ezra Miller as the outrageous but unhappy Patrick in a role that was a lot more likeable than the one he previously played in We Need to Talk About Kevin. This film really struck a chord with anyone, like me, who's ever felt like an outsider while the soundtrack was top notch and even Emma Watson was able to expel memories of Hermione Granger with her performance as the messed-up Sam.

Next time we have crossbows, tigers, bikes and maniacal laughs to look forward to so I'll see you then.

Review No.136: The Amazing Spider-Man

From arthouse to blockbuster now as we turn our intention to possibly the third most important superhero movie of the year that being the franchise rebooting The Amazing Spider-Man. Yes though it's only been a mere five years since the downright dismal Spiderman 3 we've been taken right back to before Peter Parker was bitten by the spider and was still a rather ordinary high school student. Sam Raimi's place at the director's chair has been taken over by 500 Days of Summer's Marc Webb while 28 year old Andrew Garfield goes back to school and, to be honest, is totally believable as a teenager. Garfield's Peter Parker isn't nearly as geeky as Tobey Maguire's was instead he is more of a cool outsider with his skateboard and his camera he isn't the one that gets beaten up at lunchtime although he does get punched a fair few times when he tries to stick up for the geek. There is also a new love interest in the form of Gwen Stacey, played by Garfield's now real-life girlfriend Emma Stone, a smarter and more interesting girl who he doesn't follow round like a lovesick puppy as much as Parker did with MJ in the last set of films. The Amazing Spider-Man is also much more interested with Peter's parents and why he was left with Uncle Ben and Aunt May in the first place it is a mystery that he starts to uncover when he finds his father's old briefcase. He discovers that his father's old partner the scientist Dr Curt Conners is behind a project to try and genetically repair the dying Norman Osborn, who we all know as the Green Goblin but who doesn't feature here, and after tracking Connors down Peter is bit by one of the spiders which are part of his research. We all sort of know much of the rest of the story as Peter struggles with his new-found abilities however he does help Conners to solve his problems but this comes at a cost as the Doctor decides to inject himself with his new formula and in the process becomes the film's villain The Lizard. At the same time Peter's experiments have meant that he neglects his uncle and aunt with the former being shot after trying to stop a robber so to avenge Ben's death Peter dons the mask and apprehends any of the villains who bare a resemblance to the man who bumped off his beloved uncle. Obviously things come to a head between Spiderman and the Lizard which inevitably involve both Gwen and her police chief father however the ending has some ambiguity to it plus giving us some ammunition for a sequel which I'm sure we'll see in the near future.

When The Amazing Spider-Man was first announced I personally believed it to be a bit of redundant endeavour as the Raimi/Maguire Spiderman films were still fresh in everyone's minds there didn't seem to be any reason to reboot the franchise. While this to an extent may be true Marc Webb has done a good job of making this film as different as possible as we have a new love interest, a new way in which Peter becomes Spiderman and a new villain in The Lizzard. What makes The Amazing Spider-man work so well is that the majority of it is set while Peter and Gwen are still at school, something that was skipped over fairly quickly in the Raimi original, this gives the film its own identity with Peter using his new skills to fend off those who pick on the weak. The relationship between Gwen and Peter is also a lot more equal as he didn't follow her about as much Maguire did Mary Jane Watson instead the two have an easier chemistry which may be due to the fact that the two struck up a real romantic relationship during filming. To me Andrew Garfield played the everyman well and as I previously mentioned was totally believable as a 17 year old schoolboy while his metamorphosis into Spiderman was very well dealt with indeed. Stone is also great in her role, although I love her in everything, making Gwen a funny and intelligent love interest who doesn't define herself through her relationship. There is great support from Martin Sheen and Sally Field as Ben and May the former in particular has some great warmth in his scenes with Garfield which makes his death scene even more poignant. Whereas I felt The Avengers film over-egged the pudding in terms of its set pieces The Amazing Spider-Man makes you wait with only two really big moments one involving an accident on a bridge and the other was the climax at Oscorp. It's fair to say that the film drags at times and that some of the high school scenes are fairly generic but for me this was better than Raimi's first Spiderman film if not quite on the level of 2004's Spiderman 2. Overall this is one of the best blockbusters of the year so far due to its mixture of visual splendour, emotionally balanced script and great performance across the board.

Verdict: One of this year's strongest blockbusters The Amazing Spider-Man is overlong but kept me interested throughout due to great performances, a brilliant script and wonderful set pieces so for those reasons it gets 8/10