2012 Theater Roundup

I forgot to post my list of movies I saw in the theater in 2012. So here it is a little late. My memory is bad so my review might be the same opinion I had at the moment, in fact some of these I have already watched a second time. I discuss many of these films in more detail here: A Dozen Films Reviewed (Quickly)

  • The Grey: On the face a decent survival adventure, but even better as an allegory for death
  • The Lorax: My girls loved this movie, sure its about saving the earth – nothing wrong with that.
  • The Secret World of Arietty: Ella digs fairies, so this was right up her alley
  • John Carter: Its too bad the marketing was so bad for this, if people understood that it is based on the novel that basically all modern sci-fi is based off, I think it would get more love. But without knowing that, you just think, seen it all before.
  • The Hunger Games: Decent flick, I was happy Erin was interested in going to a genre movie like this. I actually noticed this is on Netflix so gonna watch it again
  • The Cabin in the Woods: Joss Whedon is a damn clever writer!
  • Lockout: Entertaining – Guy Pearce cracked me up
  • The Five-Year Engagement: Another date movie, fun to see Ann Arbor on the big screen.
  • The Pirates! Band of Misfits: Fund kids movie, watched it with girls again and enjoyed it again.
  • The Avengers: Hulk steals the show, caught it multiple times in theater.
  • Battleship: A little corny, but fun.
  • Men in Black 3: In another year or two, I plan to give Ella the MIB trilogy, I think she will dig it.
  • Moonrise Kingdom: My favorite movie of 2012. I love Wes Anderson, you could freeze-frame about any moment in his films and it will look like a well-composed painting.
  • Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted : Girls and I sang this for days: “Circus afro, circus afro,
    Polka dot polka dot polka dot afro”
  • Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked: Meh
  • Brave: Love stories with strong female characters for the girls.
  • Ice Age: Continental Drift: They can stop making these now.
  • The Dark Knight Rises: Didn’t love it. Logic issues and shadow of the theater shooting kept me from really liking it.
  • Total Recall: Mashed together elements of my favorite sci-fi movies (Bladerunner, Fifth Element, irobot, etc), but ultimately had no original story to tell.
  • Prometheus: Have I mentioned I love sci-fi? Even if it doesn’t make sense sometimes, it still so fun to watch.
  • The Bourne Legacy: Worthy sequel/prequel/parallelquel or whatever it was. I liked the change from amnesiac Matt Damon character, with one with a darker past and motivation.
  • The Campaign: Hilarious!
  • The Expendables 2: Terrible! Everything that is wrong with violence in movies.
  • Premium Rush: Who would have though a bike messenger chase move would be so entertaining, clearly without Joseph Gordon Levitt and Michael Shannon it would not have been.
  • Dredd: Dark and violent. But entertaining.
  • Hotel Transylvania: Fun kids movie. Ella can never remember the name of this movie, but brings it up a lot saying “you know, the monster hotel movie”
  • Looper: I would have preferred they left Joseph Gordon Levitt’s face alone, it distracted me
  • Frankenweenie: Very Tim Burton.
  • Flight: Way better than I expected, still think of that mini-fridge scene.
  • Wreck-It Ralph: Loved it. Girls favorite movie right now.
  • Lincoln: Was surprised that it was more about Congressional procedural than the Civil War, but very good nonetheless.
  • Rise of the Guardians: Decent kids movie I guess.
  • The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey: Loved it. I love The Hobbit, its more light-hearted then LOTR
  • This is 40: Depressing at times in its realness, but probably Aptow’s best movie in terms of holding quality until the end.
  • Paranorman : Clever horror movie for kids, we have rewatched several times
  • Finding Nemo: Classic, was fun to see in theater again. Erin and I went with my folks the first time it came out – without any kids.
  • Beauty and the Beast: Ella was so happy to see this in theater.
  • Journey 2: The Mysterious Island: Made for a decent matinee I guess
  • La Luna : Great little short film.
Already looking forward to next year’s list, since now I have MoviePass and will surely break the 50 movie barrier, my goal was 100, but doubt I will make that. Maybe 60-70 though.

(I discuss many of these films in more detail here: A Dozen Films Reviewed (Quickly))

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