And so, with the end of the year upon us, it’s time to reflect on the films of the past year. The ones that are new and came out this year I mean, not every single review I did. Especially since I started in August.
Now, I’m going to do three segments to this; the films that I enjoyed, the films that I didn’t like, and the films which I wanted to see but didn’t. So we will now start off with the films which I didn’t see for whatever reason, but which I wanted to and the reasons why I wanted to see them.
Why am I doing this sort of list? Well, it’s mainly because I didn’t see enough films to do a top ten mediocre list. So, let’s get started.
Okay, you all know what I’m like with trying to do video reviews. My video review for ‘Song of the Dead’ back in November just didn’t happen and I was planning a four-part video review story arc which would end with a review on ‘A Harold & Kumar Christmas’, which I was surprised that it happened because I thought Kal Penn, who plays Kumar, retired from acting to go work for President Obama. That was why he was killed off in the television series ‘House’.
But after doing some extensive research (i.e. five seconds on Wikipedia), since he had made some commitments before his employment to the White House, he temporarily left to do these roles, which included this film. So, why didn’t he stick with ‘House’ for the time being? Wait, television show verses working for the President...okay, I can see why.
But the reason why I didn’t see this was simply because I couldn’t find anyone to go with. Granted, I’ll admit, I have gone to see some films by myself. But for a comedy film like this, it is better to see to with someone else.
I’ll admit though, I didn’t really want to see this. I did enjoy the film before this, ‘Harold & Kumar go to Guantanamo Bay’, it was a prison to those who are too young to remember, but as I got older I started to dislike roles which basically promote drug usage. Okay, it’s not meant to promote, but films like these, and ‘Knocked Up’, we see people and Seth Rogan constantly use drugs without any real consequence. In ‘Knocked Up’s defence it did show Rogan give up the drugs to establish a good, honest life, and ‘Pineapple Express’ showed that if you do drugs, criminal gangs will hunt you down.
Back to this film, I wanted to see it to do a Christmas review because it was very likely I would’ve hated it.
There’s only one reason why I wanted to see this; Nicholas Cage. That man is one of my favourite actors, oh yes. I first saw him in ‘Gone in Sixty Seconds’ and, while the film isn’t the best, I really enjoyed it, especially because of Cage. And he continued to entertain me in other films like ‘Leaving Las Vegas’, ‘The Rock’ and ‘National Treasure’.
So why didn’t I see this one? Because...it just didn’t happen. Sure there were other reasons like university work and other people not wanting to see it, but I just didn’t see the appeal. I hardly saw any advertisement besides bus posters and what I did hear wasn’t good.
I did see though that the Cinema Snob listed this as one of his favourite films this year, so now I feel I missed out. And Nicholas Cage breaks out of Hell, saying a big “screw you” to Lucifer. Hopefully I’ll see it soon.
This film looked awesome. Aliens invade London and a group of people, including the hilarious Nick Frost, team up to take them on. The effects looked great, the story appeared good, it looked like it could be funny, the acting seemed excellent for the characters.
The problem which put me off? The characters! They looked like chavs and acted like them, so I had the feeling that I was never going to like them. And if I wasn’t going to like any of the characters, how was I going to like the film? Even in the trailer I found the Dappy looking one annoying as Hell. Granted, I should’ve given them a chance, but there was one other reason.
And, again, university took priority. With my exams literally round the corner, I had to focus on that, rather than go off watching films. But yeah, exams and character dislike, that’s what put me off.
A film with Seth Rogan where, for once, he isn’t smoking pot. In fact, he redeems himself quickly in this film, he starts off as a slacker before becoming a superhero. There’s a good start. Then I find out Cameron Diaz is in it. That’s bad.
Yes, I am not a fan of hers. Once in a blue moon I might find her okay in something, like ‘The Mask’ or ‘Gangs of New York’, but I think she is one of the worst actresses ever. I think she’s overrated, awful and should be avoided at all times. Take a look at ‘The Box’ and the ‘Charlie’s Angels’ films if you don’t believe me.
But apart from that, again, it just didn’t happen. It was “Oh yeah, I want to see that, but not tonight, maybe tomorrow night,”, and repeat. I really did want to see this, but I just kept putting it off until I forgot it existed. A bit of a lousy excuse, but there you go.
Ah yes, the big American/UK...ish remake of the Swedish film which came out two years prior. It seemed to have been a bit of a “screw you, we can do better” message, the same which happened to ‘REC’ when the Americans remade that only a year later, with terrible results.
Though, from what I hear, this one has received universal praise. So this film has ignored the cardinal remake rule; this remake must suck. It actually has Rooney Mara as the title character, who was the only acting talent from the ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ remake that I actually liked.
But I haven’t seen this film for one reason; I’m tired. Yeah, my working hours, my sleep pattern, Christmas, I just didn’t have time. But I’ll have to see it soon, maybe in January, expect a review.
Three teens ‘borrow’ a car to meet up with a woman who invited them for sex, but they’re instead held hostage by a group of religious fanatics who...plan to do something, I don’t know, I haven’t seen the film.
And why? Because no cinema near me was showing it! The odeon at Kettering, the vue in Northampton, the cineworld at Sixfields, none of them were showing it! The closest was Milton Keynes, which is a 40 mile trip to and from there, and Birmingham, which I’m not going to go all the way to just for a film.
4. We Need to Talk About KevinI first heard from my stepdad about this film, because he found the same problem as ‘Red State’, that he couldn’t find any cinema playing it. Which is a shame because the concept sounds brilliant.
We follow the mother of a teen who went on to commit a massacre, including killing his father and sister. What made this film so interesting was that it deals with the aftermath of the mother, how she has to deal with being the mother of a killer, how she has to suffer for her son’s heinous crimes. Which, even in real life, people tend not to think about. The pain and suffering any family member of a killer has to go through, to think that the person they loved committed such a heinous act.
And once again, no cinema near me was showing this.
So let’s see, we have James Franco, who I loved since seeing him in the ‘Spiderman’ films (yes, even the third one) and directed by Danny Boyle who also worked on ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and ’28 Days Later’, what’s not to love?
We follow the tale of real life mountaineer Aron Ralston, who was forced to amputate his arm off in order to free himself from a boulder which pinned him in a narrow passage, after having spent 127 hours down there.
Like ‘The Green Hornet’ though, I just didn’t end up seeing it, I don’t really know why, it’s a fascinating story. I suppose it was because no-one else wanted to see it, probably put off by the self-afflicting amputation.
What looked like a drama flick which I wouldn’t like, soon turned into something more interesting when we see the main character slowly go insane, the film takes a darker tone and draws you into the crumbling world of the White Swan.
The film itself stars the perfect Natalie Portman, the beautiful Mila Kunis, and directed by the master Darren Aronofsky who had previously worked on ‘Pi’, ‘The Wrestler’ and ‘Requiem for a Dream’.
But why didn’t I watch it? I don’t really know. I knew people who wanted to see it, it was on at a nearby cinema, I had free time, but it just didn’t happen. Which really is a tragedy because I really wanted to see it.
And it’s not because Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis make out. No. Not at all.
Not...at...all.
And finally ‘Melancholia’, a film which saw Kirsten Dunst return to the big screen since.........Spiderman 3? Yeah, I think so. ‘Melancholia’ focuses on the relationship of two sisters as a rogue planet is set to collide with the Earth, which would, obviously, result in the death of everyone on the planet.
This was a film considered so good, that the director, Lars von Trier, hoped that there were actually some flaws. Trier thought about this whilst suffering from depression and, from what I’ve heard, you can really see that in the film.
And like ‘We Need to Talk About Kevin’ and ‘Red State’, this film was not shown anywhere near me. Why were films this year mean to me? It happened with ‘Troll Hunter’ as well and I was fortunate enough to see that. ‘Melancholia’ and ‘Red State’ were on my film schedule for September, and it didn’t happen, I was really annoyed that happened.
And those were the films that I wish I had seen this year, some of them are out now on DVD, some are coming out soon and one or two are still in the cinemas so hopefully I’ll get round to them.
But now that I’ve got those out the way, I can get down to the two lists which everyone wants. Coming next, my top ten best films of 2011.
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