Top Ten of 2012

A list of my ten favourite films released theatrically in the UK in 2012.

Okay, so I’ve decided to put together a list of the ten best films I have seen this year, I realise that the year is not quite yet over but http://www.heyuguys.co.uk are putting together their blogger list and lists had to be in for that by midnight on Friday.

That said I am very happy with my list, there are a few that didn’t make it that I’d like to give an honourable mention to, such as  – Amour, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Killing Them Softly, The Master, The Dark Knight Rises, Take This Waltz, Rust and Bone, The Raid and Safety Not Guaranteed, to name a few!

To be honest this list could have been much longer, there were so many films in my mind that I wanted to include, but, I had to narrow it down to ten! Which are…

Looper
Moonrise Kingdom
Killer Joe
Argo
The Avengers
Martha Marcy May Marlene
End of Watch
Beasts Of The Southern Wild
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Headhunters

If you’ve read my blog before you’ll know just how much I loved Looper and Moonrise Kingdom, they were the only two films I was 100% about and that have been on this list since I first saw them! The others are all films that I’ve either already seen multiple times or that I’m excited to see again.

I saw Perks of Being a Wallflower this week and was completely surprised at exactly how much I enjoyed it, I went in expecting a film I would think was okay and left with one I loved!

I saw The Hobbit on Friday night and I have to say Martin Freeman’s portrayal of Bilbo Baggins has joined Joaquin Phoenix’s performance in The Master and Matthew Mcconaughey in Killer Joe as one of my favourite performance’s of the year, they could not have cast it better!

So that’s it, my films of 2012, looking back it’s actually been a much  better year for film than I had realised. Let’s hope 2013 can be just as exciting!

The Perks of Being a Wallflower – Review

I went into this with low expectations…

I didn’t know a lot about this going into it, I knew it was based on a book (which I had never read) and that the author of the book was writing/directing the film. I was also aware of most of the cast given that they were all relatively big names, but, I had no idea what the story was actually about or whether it was a comedy or drama or whatever. The reason I wanted to see it was because the music in the trailer was pretty cool and Ezra Miller is one of my favourite young actors.

I went in fearing the worst and hoping for the best.

I loved it! It was as though I was watching a rather dark John Hughes film, I came out of the cinema feeling uplifted and wanting to talk about what I had just seen, which is amazing because it’s very rare that a teen drama has any sort of effect on me other than annoyance!

The performances from the whole cast were very good, Logan Lerman and Emma Watson surprisingly so, when called upon the adult cast members all put in small yet memorable performances, but for me Ezra Miller steals it with another great performance. Seriously if you haven’t seen this kid act check out City Island, Another Happy Day, We Need To Talk About Kevin and Perks because he has a BIG future.

As far as Stephen Chbosky goes he does a great job with the direction of the film as well as the script. I don’t want to say too much about the story as I don’t want to spoil it for anyone, but believe me it’s great!

***Mild Spoiler***

My one complaint would be that given it’s set in the early 90’s and that the main characters are supposed to be misfit outsiders, I found it difficult to believe that they had no idea what “the tunnel song” was, surely teenagers from this time would have heard Heroes by David Bowie before? It’s one of the most recognisable songs by one of the most popular rock stars ever!

***Spoiler Over***

As I said at the start I was not excited for this film, I thought it looked interesting but in truth the only reason I went to see it was because I’m a fan of Ezra Miller and Paul Rudd. So if it won me over I’m sure it can win most people over! GO SEE IT!