12 More Favorite Movies I Saw, or Saw Again, in 2012

Just like last week's post, here are 12 more movies I saw in 2012 that I loved, whether they were new or old.  Each month, I've picked two movies I liked and wrote about them.  The list last week, linked here, were ones I watched in the first half of the year.  These are ones I watched in the last half of the year, along with shortened versions of my reviews:

The Amazing Spider-Man

Being such a fan of superhero movies, you’d know I’d have to pick the latest Spider-Man movie, and truthfully, it doesn’t disappoint.  The whole film does a similar, and yet a slightly different, take on the web thrower.  Andrew Garfield is simply a different actor taking over for Toby Maguire, and he’s perhaps no better, no worse.  The older Spider-Man movies are still fresh in our minds, so the effects, though dazzling, are predictable, since we’ve seen something similar in three previous films, though they added the wise-cracking persona for Spider-Man from the comic books that was previously missing. 

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

The film uses 9/11 as a backdrop for the tale of a slightly autistic boy who goes on a scavenger hunt of sorts to reconnect with his deceased father.  His character’s connection with Tom Hanks as his dead dad is undeniable, and Sandra Bullock has the more difficult role of the parent left behind to raise a most difficult child.  However, it is actually her character that provides the greastest sense of love and enchantment when the child discovers his mother is not who he thought she was.  Inspiration in movies is hard to pull off, but I think they managed it here quite well.

2016: Obama's America

In a few months, after the election, this film won’t mean much, being a political film during an election year, and being all about displaying the president’s flaws and real intentions, in his own words.  If Obama doesn’t win, it may have just helped to turn the tide, and can then be viewed as a “thank God we stopped him” historical piece.  If he does win again, and this country sinks further into the abyss, the film can then be viewed as an “I told you so, but it’s too late now” warning.  I relished the opportunity to see Dinesh D’Souza up on the big screen, tackling the same issues he covered in his books Roots of Obama’s Rage, which I read, and Obama’s America, which I haven’t.   There is no denying that D’Souza is one of my all-time favorite writers/thinkers/philosophers/theologians, and though I may not be able to officially include the moniker scientist for him, he has the tendency to be able to out-think most of them.  Even his top anti-God, atheist opponent Christopher Hitchens praised his brain on one of D’Souza’s recent book jacket covers.  This film follows suit. 

50 First Dates

Many movies similar to this are actually kind of like Barrymore’s unfortunate character Lucy, and after a good night’s sleep, you can’t even remember having watched them.  This one, however, had many memorable moments, my favorites being the one at the beginning where Sandler’s overanxious, Russian assistant at the aquarium gets puked on by a walrus, and the one where Lucy beats the crap out of Rob Schneider’s Hawaiian Ula character; and Barrymore and Sandler had quite a lot of chemistry together, just as they did for The Wedding Singer.  I also thought Sean Astin was quite funny as Lucy’s lisping, steroid dependant, net-shirt wearing, yet weakling brother Doug, and actors such as Blake Clark as her dad and Amy Hill and Pomaika’i Brown as her Hawaiian friends Sue and Nick added quite a bit of likable charm as well.

Let Me In

I liked the interplay between the two main characters Owen and Abby, played by Kodi Smit-McPhee and Chloë Grace Moretz, and though there was plenty of disturbing, very dark imagery, it all served the characters and the plot well, particularly once you realized who the character of “The Father”, played by Richard Jenkins, really was, and his parallels with the character of the picked upon boy Owen whom the vampire girl Abby befriends and protects.  Amid the gore and the well-drawn characters, there is a satisfying conclusion, which horror movies these days seem to have a particularly hard time pulling off.  What I liked about it was its literate themes.  This isn’t From Dusk Till Dawn Part 5 or some equally cheesy vampire flick.  You have to have a strong stomach to watch this, but you also have to have a brain to fully appreciate the engaging story of young love that is much more than it seems.

Pan's Labyrinth

Critics said this was director Guillermo Del Toro's crowning glory, and I’ll have to admit going in that I was interested, seeing elements of not only dark fantasy films like Edward Scissorhands, Alice in Wonderland, The Dark Crystal, and Dark City in the preview, but also such dramas as Schindler’s List, Defiance, and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.  I wasn’t wrong in this assessment, and this film manages to juggle both elements to superb effect.  This film was very powerful in both a visual and thematic vein as both vivid science fiction/fantasy and stark realism, and that’s a hard mix to pull off! 

Little Shop of Horrors

If you can get into the campiness of it all, which I could, you are in for a great time at the movies.  This is one of the funnest horror movies I’ve ever seen, and being also a musical in the Hairspray vein, it’s got some great tunes as well.  The fun, campy performances are pitch perfect, yet nothing quite matches the special effects, centering around that man eating plant Audrey II, voiced by Levi Stubbs of the Four Tops, that just won’t stop growing.  I’ve seen some behind the scenes about how they did it, and I’m still quite amazed.  This thing, in all its versions, never looks like a puppet.  Director Frank Oz insisted that it not be simply two “hamburger buns” flapping up and down, and it is not that.  It also has to do so much more than just eat people.  It’s a killer plant with "garden style" that knows how to sing and dance, and how many movie monsters take the time really knock a show tune out of the park like that?  As sci fi horror comedy musical romances go, this is by far the best!

Gorillas in the Mist: The Adventure of Dian Fossey

Ellen Ripley notwithstanding, this is probably Sigourney Weaver’s best performance to date. I think Sigourney and the filmmakers have made a film that I believe even the real, late Dian Fossey would have liked.  The passion they bring to the project was the passion Dian felt for those mountain gorillas of Rwanda, and in fact, some of the real gorillas featured in the film were her mountain gorillas.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, Part 2

As with the other Harry Potter movies, this one had quite a few compelling twists and turns, and as the final Harry Potter movie, it wraps things up quite satisfyingly.  This is ultimately a quite enjoyable franchise with nary a misstep. And I like how the final message was one of love for others over the love of power.  Harry, armed with the first, bests the evil Valdemort by simply being the better man, and it is Valdemort’s own hatred that destroys him.  That’s a great message for kids actually, especially in a movie and book series that have been so maligned by Christians, and some of it from my own hand. 

Underworld: Awakening

What started out as a delicious B-movie find about a war between vampires and werewolves (that’s “death dealers” and “lycans” to you) has turned into quite an interesting little franchise, each film steeped in gobs of dark style and cool visuals, and with refreshing takes on the ongoing story.  Fans should not be disappointed by this fourth installment since it brings the sexy Kate Beckinsale back, decked out once again in black leather and killer attitude and confidence.  This time, she wakes up in the future, discovering that the existence of vampires and werewolves were discovered by humans, and they are now hunted.  Looking for her lover Michael, she instead comes across a vampire/werewolf hybrid girl, possibly her own offspring, and spends the rest of the movie trying to protect her and uncover all the human, vampire, and werewolf conspiracies swirling around her.  As with the other movies, this one has similar devotion to sleek cinematography, well choreographed fight scenes, cool FX visuals, and gobs of style.  What’s not to like?

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

I saw, and loved, each one of the Lord of the Rings movies.  Watching each of the three of them was quite a memorable cinematic experience, and almost nothing was out of place.  They are quite possibly the best epic trilogy ever made.  So going in, The Hobbit had some pretty big shoes to fill, and they really tried.  There was much to like in this new Peter Jackson film.  There was lots of opportunity for grand storytelling, as well as some lighter, comedic moments, such as when the dwarves all show up at Bilbo’s house and he is completely flustered, or when the dwarves are served leafy greens in Rivendell and complain about the lack of meat, with one of them asking, “Are there any chips?”  There’s a new comedic wizard character and a very noble leader for the dwarves, and Gollum is a very welcome addition in his few scenes this time around.  And yet, all in all, it didn’t feel as monumental as the what was going on in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and that’s because it’s not.  Is there a story to still tell here?  Certainly.  But perhaps it’s just not so epic, try as they might.  The ultimate battle of good vs. evil was told in another tale, many years ago!  It was still nice to visit this land once again, and I did like it.  Just not as much as the other three.

Monumental

Like all documentaries, this one was made for a niche audience, but WHAT A NICHE!  These are people who are on fire for God, and when they look at this nation, and this world, they see something different from what the normal people see.  They see sin and depravity, and an embrace of sin and depravity, as people have, over time, given up on God and godly ways and moved on to other things.  They place their faith and trust in Obama, and Nancy Pelosi.  Instead of Jesus, they choose to believe in and follow the teachings of Bill Maher, Howard Stern, and Piers Morgan.  It’s a concept that Kirk Cameron confronts in this very movie, and nowhere is this clearer than by the fact that this movie, and its audience, has been so demonized, trivialized, and marginalized by the “powers that be”.  If they can do it with 2016: Obama’s America, which is one of the biggest documentary hits of all time, then they can certainly do it with a film like this, which drummed up much of its business through online word of mouth on conservative and Christian websites and appearances on conservative TV shows such as Glenn Beck’s.  But it’s a film I just had to include among the favorites because it’s lessons and teachings are something I wholeheartedly agree with and stand by in the way I choose to believe and live my own life.  Hollywood and this world may trivialize Kirk Cameron, as one would expect in a fallen society.  But I continue to hold him up as a role model we can all learn from.  What a great guy!  You won’t hear the common man agreeing with that, and if you ask me, that’s the whole point of this movie, and why this world is in the mess it is in!