The genre movies of 2012 were plentiful, but the quality was
less so. I attended more theatrical films this year than I have for many years.
Partly, so that I could write more timely reviews for this blog, but also because
I had been anticipating most of them long enough that I knew I didn't want to wait
the extra four months before being able to rent them on disc. As I have written
in this blog in the past, I am also a firm believer that if, as a genre fan,
you wish more Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror films to be made, the best
way to tell the film industry to do this is by seeing these films at the
theater, where most of the profit for films is still made.
Here is a list of all the genre films I saw in 2012 and
most of them I reviewed here in GOTG! I have listed them from best to worst,
using my numerical grading system to place them in order.
THE CABIN IN THE WOODS - 96
JOHN CARTER - 96
PROMETHEUS - 95
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN - 95
THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY – 92 *
LOOPER - 91
LOOPER - 91
TOTAL RECALL - 91
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES – 90
MEN IN BLACK 3 - 90
IRON SKY – 90
RED LIGHTS – 89
RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION - 88
UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING - 87
THE HUNGER GAMES - 86
DETENTION - 85
CHRONICLE - 82
BATTLESHIP - 82
LOCKOUT - 81
DREDD – 80
ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER – 79*
WEREWOLF: THE BEAST AMONG US – 78 *
BAIT – 75 *
STARSHIP TROOPERS: INVASION – 72 *
NAZIS AT THE CENTER OF THE EARTH – 70 *
THE TALL MAN – 65 *
THE DIVIDE – 63
* These films were not reviewed on GOTG! either from lack
of time or lack of interest. I still have a difficult time mustering up the
effort to write reviews of bad or boring films.
I’m looking forward to 2013 and the many genre films that
will be released. At the top of my most anticipated genre movie releases for
2013 are: Pacific Rim, Star Trek: Into Darkness, Iron Man 3, Ender's Game,
Elysium, Riddick, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Thor: The Dark World, The
Man of Steel, World War Z, Oblivion, I, Frankenstein, and though technically
not a SF, Fantasy or Horror film - Sin City: A Dame to Kill For.
I’d like to apologize ahead of time because this year I
will not be reviewing every genre movie that I see in this blog. I almost made
my goal of doing so in 2012 and even then I omitted a few – although only one
of them was a theatrical viewing. I find the process of writing film reviews to
be more work than fun and my primary goal in starting this blog was to have
fun. The most pleasure I get from writing film reviews is the comments that I receive
on them and lately there have been fewer than I would like. I hope that it is
not the quality of the reviews themselves that have caused this sparsity of comments;
but rather the ridiculous CAPTCHAs that Blogger uses to prevent spammers from
posting comments. I find these extremely irritating and they have definitely reduced
the number of comments that I post on other people’s blogs.
I will still be posting my opinions, my interests and the
Zombzany videos on GOTG! I will also still be writing film reviews if time and
interest permits.
Thank you to all the followers of this blog for reading
and contributing comments to it and to anyone else who has taken the time to
read or leave comments here.
Happy 2013 everyone!
Whatever you decide Doc. We love having your contributions here in the blogosphere, but I definitely understand what you mean about the work. It should be fun. It shouldn't be work.
ReplyDeleteI find that if I get too close to that work line I tend to shut it down a bit. It's no good for me or anyone if the enjoyment doesn't come across. I really know what you mean.
I rarely get comments and well, at this point, I'm still okay with it, but you're right. It is enjoyable to receive feedback and the conversation does spark the desire as it were to a degree. It definitely helps light a flame.
You always offer the most current look at science fiction and I enjoy seeing your take on them.
All the best going forward. Sff
Thank you for taking the time out of your busy posting schedule at Musings of a Sci-Fi Fanatic to comment on my current state of blogging blasé.
DeleteI appreciate that you are enjoying my ramblings on films, Sci-Fi Fanatic, but the only way that we bloggers have of knowing what people think of said ramblings is the comments left by readers of the blog. I do check the stats area of blogger and I noticed some time ago that my pageviews increased significantly on my film reviews. I thought that by increasing my output of film reviews – and hopefully with practice, the quality of my reviews – that the other postings that I actually enjoy working on more would also increase tangentially. Unfortunately, such was not the case.
As you are aware, I am always trying to focus on the positive here at Guardians of the Genre and will continue to do just that. The bottom line for this blog now is to have fun posting what I like and what I’m interested in and hopefully that will translate into some comments and blogger interaction.
Thank you for your kind words of encouragement, Sci-Fi Fanatic!
I understand. Keep the faith.
DeleteOh and one more thing. I'm really looking forward to Pacific Rim, Elysium and to a degree Oblivion [which I wonder if it wasn't cut from the same script circulation of Elysium, hmmm...].
ReplyDeleteI think Snyder will do a great job with The Man Of Steel.
I think the similarities of Elysium and Oblivion are purely coincidental.
DeleteElysium is an original idea written and directed by Neill Blomkamp, the co-writer and director of District 9 (2009). The film stars Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley, Wagner Moura, Carly Pope and Alice Braga. It is scheduled to be released on August 9, 2013. Elysium takes place on a ravaged Earth and a space habitat named Elysium.
Oblivion is a science fiction film based on the Radical Comics graphic novel Oblivion created by Joseph Kosinski, but written by Arvid Nelson and illustrated by Andree Wallin. Oblivion will be directed by Kosinski, who co-wrote the screenplay with Karl Gajdusek and Michael Arndt. Interestingly enough, the graphic novel has not yet been released despite a release date of July 19 2011. As far as I know, Radical Comics has not published anything in over a year! It stars Tom Cruise, Olga Kurylenko, Andrea Riseborough, Morgan Freeman, Melissa Leo, Zoë Bell, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. The film was initially scheduled to release on July 10, 2013. Since the 3D re-release of Jurassic Park was set for a July 19, 2013 release date, the project was moved forward to April 19, 2013.
Elysium’s plot description:
In the year 2159, two classes of people exist. The first are the very wealthy who live on Elysium, a pristine man-made space station similar in appearance to a Stanford torus[2] built by the Armadyne Corporation. The rest live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth. Secretary Rhodes (Jodie Foster), a hard-nosed government official, will stop at nothing to enforce anti-immigration laws and preserve the luxurious lifestyle of the citizens of Elysium. That does not stop the people of Earth from trying to get in, by any means they can. When unlucky ex-con Max (Matt Damon) is backed into a corner, he agrees to take on a daunting mission that if successful will not only save his life, but could bring equality to these polarized worlds
Oblivion’s plot description:
Jack Harper (Tom Cruise) is one of the last few drone repairmen stationed on Earth. Part of a massive operation to extract vital resources after decades of war with a terrifying threat known as the Scavs, Jack’s mission is nearly complete. Living in and patrolling the skies from thousands of feet above, his soaring existence is brought crashing down when he rescues an attractive female stranger from a downed spacecraft. Her arrival triggers a chain of events that forces him to question everything.
While the environments of both films look similar, the plots of the films seem dissimilar. Interesting as well is the film After Earth (originally known as 1000 A.E.) an upcoming American science-fiction thriller film directed by M. Night Shyamalan, starring real-life father and son Will and Jaden Smith as Cypher and Kitai Raige, also dealing with a devistade future Earth. I didn’t add this to my list of films that I’m looking forward to because I think M. Night Shyamalan is a terrible filmmaker.
I am looking forward to Man of Steel as well, but I don’t have quite as much faith in Zach Snyder as you do. I’m a little concerned that Snyder’s emphasis on the darker aspects of humanity may not work well for Superman as a character. I do know it will look amazing, as his past films Sucker Punch, Watchmen and 300 all proved, but the story does concern me. I do know it will be better than Bryan Singer’s derivative and lackluster Superman Returns (2006).
I cannot put into words how excited I am to see Pacific Rim!
DOc
ReplyDeleteI didn't see this until after posting on your new post.
After Earth - thumbs down. I can feel it.
Man Of Steel - thumbs up, but I understand your reservations and you may be right in the end. I do think Snyder appears to be ensuring the human element is in that film, more than ever. I think.
Bryan Singer... hmmm. Ya know. I agree. The Man Of Steel will be a better picture. I had a bigger opinion of Bryan Singer at one time.
The Usual Suspects had me believing his films would be amazing. Sadly, I don't think so.
Pacific RIM! Oh yes, BIG BIG popcorn for that one! :)