Well, well, well. It's that time of the year again my lovely little duckies. Time for me to get all up in your craw about my opinion on how the year in movies and television have been for 2012. For anyone new to this I started this a few years ago because I felt the Oscars were incredibly short sighted. Normally only focusing on films released from November to January Normally completely forgetting the rest of the year.So my rules are quite simple any movie released from January 1st to December 31st in the Republic Of Ireland is eligible. Ditto for TV shows. Quite simple really. Right let's get on with it then.
MOVIES
To be quite honest it's been pretty damn good year. Especially for us geeks. I mean we had 4 superhero movies, an Alien prequel (sorta), a new Bond film and sequel after sequel after sequel. (oh yeah The Hobbit came out too). The full list of elligible films can be seen here and for the most part they were all quite good. However there is always some crap with all the glitter so we might as well start there.
WORST ACTRESS
"Winner" - Gina Carano in Haywire
Stay tuned for more on Haywire but this is a performance that deserves to be singled out. Possibly the most wooden acting performance I have ever seen. This lady was at one stage being talked about to play Wonder Woman. Honey please don't quit your day job. Stick to martial arts. Please, for all our sakes.
The "Keannu Reeves" Award for WORST ACTOR
"Winner" - Sam Worthington - Wrath Of The Titans
Yeah so, there's not much to say about this performance other than if Sam hadn't been there I really don't think anyone would have noticed.
The "Spider-Man 3" Award For WORST SEQUEL/PREQUEL/REMAKE
"Winner" - Wrath Of The Titans
No surprise here. What's more surprising is that Taken 2 would have won this if not for Wrath of The Titans. Anywya back to our "winner". This film just plain sucked. Even Liam Neeson couldn't save it. Why was this movie made? Did Warner Bros not lose enough money with the first one?
WORST FILM
"Winner" - Haywire
I have appolagised numerous times to my co-workers for convincing them to go see this film. So let me do it one more time. Guy's I am so sorry. It wasn't my fault though, I mean come on the cast looked good. Ewan Mc Gregor, Michael Douglas, Michael Fassbender. It should have worked. Who could have predicted it would be a film as bad as Tom Cruise's War Of The Worlds.
BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS
WINNER - Prometheus
Yes on the whole Prometheus was a huge dissapointment but damn it looked pretty. Between space ships, dessert planets and human morphing into ----*SPOILER REDACTED*-----. It just looked awesome. It's just a shame the story couldn't live up to the look of this film.
BEST SOUNDTRACK
WINNER - The Muppets
If there is one thing you can count on from any movie it will be that there will be some great songs. This years restart (it's not really a reboot) was no different and included a very worthy Oscar winner in the shape of "Man or Muppet" written by Flight Of The Chonchords's Brett McKenzie. The rest of the soundtrack was also extremely catchy and hopefully whoever the Sound Director was they will be kept for any sequels.
The "Bill Murray" Award for BEST CAMEO
WINNER - Ryan Reynolds in Ted
Considering we had not just one but two Stan Lee cameos this year it was gonna take something special to win this. Ryan Reynolds showing up completely unexpectedly as Patrick Warburtons gay lover at the house party though was a clear winner. I'm pretty sure Reynolds doesn't even say a word but it's still funny. Kudos sir. Now get to work on that Deadpool film!
HONORABLE MENTION: Chuck Norris in The Expendables 2
BEST MUSICAL MOMENT
WINNER - "Song Of The Lonely Mountain" - The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
For the longest time the "Flash" sequence in Ted had this in the bag. Then I saw The Hobbit or more specifically the scene in Bagend where Thorin and the other Dwarves start into this sad lament for their homeland. It's quite emotive and conveys the sadness and longing the Dwarves have for their homeland The Lonely Mountain.
FUNNIEST MOMENT
WINNER - Seven Psychopaths "Fnal Scene" - Seven Psychopaths
Right I'm not talking about the actual final scene in the movie, though that was quite funny as well.The scene I'm on about is actually the one Sam Rockwell's character suggests to Colin Farrell's for his script "Seven Psycopaths". This was hands down the funniest thing I saw all year and while Rockwell has been stealing the whole film before this he runs away with it in this scene. If you haven't seen this film yet please do, it's very good.
The "Evil Dead 2" Award for BEST SEQUEL/PREQUEL/REMAKE
WINNER - Avengers
(For the record I refuse to call this film Avengers Assemble). This is possibly the hardest award to win this year. There was a lot of strong sequels, prequels and reboots such as: The Hobbit, Dredd, Skyfall, The Expendables 2, Total Recall, Prometheus, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Muppets and that other one who's name I forget. This then was a very tough one to call.... on paper. As soon as I saw this film I knew it had to be a winner. It's a sequel to not one but 4 films! And it's better than ALL of them. I will talk more about this remarkable achievement later.
HONORABLE MENTIONS: Skyfall, Dredd, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
BEST HERO
WINNER - Phil Coulson played by Clark Gregg in Avengers
Surprised? You shouldn't be. Yes the Avengers had 6 comic-book superheroes on the team and Nick Fury to boot. However, the only character that acted a hero from beginning to end was Agent Phil Coulson. The lynch-pin of the Marvel cinematic universe. Virtually all the other characters at one stage or another got caught up with their own self interest but throughout the film Phil Coulson stayed true to the definition of a hero and when he gave his life to save the rest the Avengers were truly born (that being said I have a theory about the death that might need me to recall this award). You can take your Batman that takes 8 years off for no reason and give me a hero like Phil Coulson any day. It also speaks for the character that Marvel has only very recently (after fan demand I suspect) introduced him to the comic universe in a very large role. Kudos Phil Coulson and kudos Clark Gregg. I look forward to S.H.I.E.L.D.
HONORABLE MENTIONS: The rest of the Avengers
BEST VILLAIN
WINNER - Bane played by Tom Hardy in The Dark Knight Rises
Now I have A LOT of problems with The Dark knight Rises which I won't get into now. But the one thing I thought was pitch perfect and which even surpassed anything in the comics was Tom Hardy as Bane. He was menacing, he followed through on his threats and that voice was just fucking awesome! Here I will give praise to Christopher and Johnathon Nolan. They took a two dimensional, one-trick pony of a charcter and gave him depth. The Tom Hardy fleshed him out and gave us a villain that could stand toe to toe with Heath Ledgers Joker. Fair play.
HONORABLE MENTIONS: Tom Hiddlestone as Loki in Avengers and Javier Bardem as Silva in Skyfall.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS & BEST NEWCOMER
WINNER - Clare Foley in Sinister
Foley's character in Sinister is the good old fashioned creepy possessed kid. And she is terrifying in the role. Some of my friends can not handle Horror films. I urge them (you know who you are) to stay the hell away from Sinister. One of the most genuinely scary films I've ever seen and a lot of that goes down to Foley's performance. The ending of the film should be proof enough of why this is a deserved award.
HONORABLE MENTIONS: Olivia Thirlby in Dredd
The "Morgan Freeman" Award for BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
WINNER - Sam Rockwell in Seven Psychopaths
You're in a film with Colin Farrell, Christopher Walken and Woody Harrelson. yet every time you're on screen you steal all the focus. If that is not the definition of a great Supporting Actor then I don't know what is. Rockwell's character is brilliant and as I mentioned before his pitch for the "final scene" may be one of the funniest things I have ever seen. I appeal to you again PLEASE go see this film.
HONORABLE MENTIONS: Mark Ruffalo & Jeremy Renner in Avengers, Donny Alamsyah in The Raid, Bryan Cranston in Argo and John Goodman in The Artist & Argo.
BEST ACTRESS
WINNER - Béreénice Bejo in The Artist
After seeing The Artist earlier this year I got a huge appreciation for silent film actors and actresses. The ability to "speak" without speaking and emote using only facial expressions is a skill that seems to have been mostly forgotten. Bejo in The Artist though manages to channel the starlets of the silent film era and do a great job of making her character come to life. She may have lost out on the Oscar but hopefully this will do.
HONORABLE MENTIONS: Kristen Conolly in Cabin In The Woods and Noomi Repace in Prometheus.
BEST ACTOR
WINNER - Jean Dujardin in The Artist
Copy and past the first sentence from Bejo's win. Dujardin as you probably know won the Oscar for this role and I must say that this is one of the rare occasions I will agree with the Academy. The depth of emotions he has to convey without speaking a single word (until the end anyway) is much larger than Bejo's. We have to see him at the highest high and brought down to the lowest low all without hearing a single word. Not only this but we have to see some grace Kelly level dancing. This would be a tough order for any actor but this man from France pulled it all off.
HONORABLE MENTIONS: Ben Affleck in Argo (not a typo), Daniel Craig in Skyfall, Martin Freeman in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Iko Uwais in The Raid and George Clooney in The Descendants.
BEST DIRECTOR
WINNER - Joss Whedon for Avengers
Okay now it's time to wax lyrical about Avengers. This film could have sucked. I mean it could have been terrible. Just think about it what have you got to work with: a relic from WWII, a Viking "God", a space age knight, the big green giant, a robin hood wannabe and token female character. Yet this film made about 1.5 billion dollars and much acclaim. How is that possible? Quite simply it is only possible if the director both believes and understands what he is directing and most importantly that he genuinely loves it. Joss Whedon take a bow sir. Now I have been a huge fan of Whedon's for years so some might accuse me of playing favorites so let's get down to the facts. Whedon made the Hulk not only interesting but the BEST CHARACTER IN THE FILM! That should be all I need to say but I'll continue. He took a 2 dimensional character like Hawkeye and made him interesting (so interesting in fact that Marvel released a Hawkeye book that might just be the best thing they've done in years). He made Black Widdow not only an important part of the team but never put her in the typical damsel in distress role you would expect. In fact you could argue she saved the day. He let Robert Downey Jr. do what he does best, be Robert Downey Jr. He delivered a version of Captain America that was better than The First Avenger (hopefully this will be the direction going forward). He managed to pull off Loki as the sole villain and make it seem like a genuine threat which could only be handled by this team. His treatment of Thor was just right. He made us care for Phil Coulson only to break our hearts by killing him. Think about all this and tell me I'm being biased? In short what Joss Whedon did was give us the first true superhero epic that was not afraid to be a comic book movie and made it into a phenomenon. Thank you sir for all you have done and hopefully what you will do in the future.
HONORABLE MENTIONS: Ben Affleck for Argo, Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist and Sam Mendes for Skyfall
JOHNPIRE TOP 10 MOVIES OF 2012
Okay folks here it is my top 10 list for 2012 counting down to Best Film Of 2012. Lot of strong candidates so I think we can safely say it was a good year for cinema. Here's hoping 2013 can measure up.
10. The Dark Knight Rises
9. Seven Psychopaths
8. The Cabin In The Woods
7. Sinister
6. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
5. Skyfall
4. Argo
3. The Raid
2. Avengers
BEST FILM OF 2012
WINNER - The Artist
Looks like for all my talk me and Mr. Oscar are in agreement again. The Artist was an absolutely fantastic film.For me it opened up the silent film era and made me look back on some absolute gems like City Lights, Modern Times and The Kid. Films I never would have thought to look at. For that alone I'm grateful. Now some people could say this is just a rehash of Singing In The Rain and they may have a point the general story is very similar but you have to remember that for Singing In The Rain we can hear every word the actors are saying/singing this made their job a hell of a lot easier. Honestly the balls it took to make a silent film in 2012 and to succeed with it deserves a lot of praise.It's also remarkable that this film was mostly made up of actors that noone had heard of with the exception of John Goodman (who seems to be a good luck token, especially if Argo pulls off an Oscar win). While this film was far from the most fiancially successful on the list it had a lot of heart and you could see that throughout. To be fair I knew since about January that this was a clear winner and was judging every other film against it. While The Raid and Avengers came very close. They were just lacking that little x factor that The Artist had. If you haven't already please pick this film up on dvd or blu ray. I will admit it's probably not for everyone but if you like cinema or more specifically the history of cinema you will appreciate this.
TELEVISION
Okay that's the movies over and done with let's head to the second (and shorter) part of the proceedings. The awards for the best of television in 2012. While I can't think off the top of my head of too many new series that set the world on fire (the exception being Homeland), there were many great shows that returned for very strong renewed seasons such as: Game Of Thrones and The Walking Dead. 2012 though for me will be the year I finally discovered Breaking Bad and The Big Bang Theory. Oh man did I discover them. Let's begin.
BEST NEW SHOW
WINNER - Homeland
You probably guessed this one but it was a very deserving winner. Homeland came to our screens and left us more frustrated than we've been since Lost started. Was Brody a terrorist or what? Every week left you with a different impression. Unlike Lost though Homeland didn't leave us waiting forever and when all the pieces fitted together you couldn't help but sit back at the puzzle that had unfolded and admire it. The season 2 started and we were back playing the same guessing game again. Bravo. A lot of the credit for this show has to go to the two leads Damien Lewis and Clare Danes. The chemistry between the two is great and while unfortunately it looks like we won't be seeing the two together in Series 3 (or will we...) what they delivered in the two series which came out in 2012 was epic television acting. Full credit must go as well to the scriptwriters who left us in suspense every week and continue to tell a great story. I hope this show continues for many more seasons.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
WINNER - Elisabeth Moss as Peggy Olsen in Mad Men
Peggy really came into her own in season 5 of Mad Men this year. Finally taking a stand for herself. Her decision to leave Sterling, Cooper, Draper, Pryce and strike out on her own out of Don's shadow really spoke for her character development. Starting as a secretary in season 1, Peggy has really evolved as the character that best defined the women's movement in the 60's and hopefully this move means she won't leave the show but if this was her last hurrah then it was a damn good one.
HONORABLE MENTIONS: Maisie Williams as Arya Stark in Game Of Thrones
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
WINNER - Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman in Breaking Bad
Jesse is a fascinating character in Breaking Bad. At first glance he appears to be a despicable character. A drug dealing, meth cooking addict. However, as you keep watching you realize that Jesse is probably the most sympathetic character in the show. The one that hasn't let it all go to his head and by far the most human. Paul deserves a lot of credit for pulling this trick off. With Breaking Bad finishing in 2013 it will be sad to see this character go but at the same time it's going to be intriguing to see what happens.
HONORABLE MENTIONS: Conleth Hill as Varys in Game Of Thrones, Rupert Friend as Peter Quinn in Homeland
BEST ACTRESS
WINNER - Clare Danes as Carrie Mathison in Homeland
Undoubtedly the standout acting performance by a woman in 2012 is Clare Danes.Playing the role of a CIA analyst who has a hunch and sticks with it like a dog with a bone. A complex character is Miss Mathison undoubtedly crazy but extremely good at her job (not to mention gorgeous). You can't help but root for her and the moment in series 2 when she can finally prove her suspicions feel like as much a win for the viewer as it is for the character. The truly great thing about the character though can be found here. Now how can you look at that face and not give her an award?
HONORABLE MENTIONS: Karen Gillan as Amy Pond in Doctor Who and Jennifer Carpenter as Debra in Dexter
BEST ACTOR
WINNER - Bryan Cranston as Walter White in Breaking Bad
He is the one who knocks! I always loved Hal in Malcom In The Middle. The very definition of a good guy. While the actor may be the same. Walter White is most definitely not Hal.I said about Jesse Pinkman that at first glance he is despicable and then turns sympathetic. Walter White is the exact opposite.At first glance he is a guy with a death sentence from Cancer that is just trying to make a few bucks for his family before he dies. But keep watching and you realize that Walter White is possibly the most despicable and irredeemable character in television history. Cranston is a genius! I mean when you can act so well that you can completely change any sympathy the audience have for a character into loathing what else can you be.8 episodes remain of Breaking Bad and I think we all know there is only one way out for White but maybe just maybe Heisenberg has one last trick in that Fedora hat. Can't wait to find out.
HONORABLE MENTIONS: Damien Lewis in Homeland and Peter Dinklage in Game Of Thrones
BEST EPISODE FROM A TELEVISION SERIES
WINNER - "Blackwater", Game Of Thrones
As good as every episode was of Breaking Bad this year. This episode of Game Of Thrones stands alone. This massive conflict in the penultimate episode of Series 2 was simply outstanding. Every one of the players played their part brilliantly. From Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister stepping up and proving himself a genuine tactical genius, Liam Cunningham as Davos Seaworth playing the good and loyal soldier to Stephen Dillanne's furious Stannis Baratheon. That's only a portion of where the credit should go. All the series regulars played a blinder. And that final set-piece. FUCK ME, that was something else. It was unusual for a Game Of Thrones episode to stay in a single location but for the Battle Of Blackwater Bay it was the correct move. The last thing anyone wanted was a trip to Qarth to hear Daenerys whining about her dragons. More episodes like this please HBO!
HONORABLE MENTIONS: "Say My Name", Breaking Bad. "The Phantom", Mad Men and "Asylum Of The Daleks", Doctor Who.
BEST SHOW
WINNER - Breaking Bad
Hardly a surprise. I may have arrived late to the party but when I got there I caught up in record time. By the way if you're wondering how this is eligible under my very strict rules (must be shown on national tv here within the calendar year) I have decided that Netflix counts and they have series 5 there. There's not much more I can say about this show other than with a cliff hanger like the last episode of season 5 it's a no-brainer that I'm on board for Season5 part 2/6. It's a shame this show can't go on forever but you have to admire a creative team that knows when to stop and not to carry on with filler episodes and mediocre stoylines. There is no bad episode of Breaking Bad and if the next 8 episodes go well there never will be.
Okay folks that's it for 2012. Hope you all had a good year. I know I did. We got Iron Man 3 and Man Of Steel to look forward to next year and probably loads more to boot. So peace out and have yourselves a very Happy New Year.
