Showing posts with label 2012 in Film. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2012 in Film. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Film List of 2012
These are all of the movies I have watched throughout last year and were qualified to be judged for my awards.
If I didn't watch a film at all or in its entirety, it is disqualified and ineligible. A few examples of films I wanted to see but couldn't before the mandated deadline were Amour, The Master, Bernie, Life of Pi, and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
21 Jump Street
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
Act of Valor
The Amazing Spider-Man
The Apparition
Argo
The Assault
Atlas Shrugged: Part II
ATM
The Avengers
Battleship
Beasts of the Southern Wild
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Beyond the Black Rainbow
The Bourne Legacy
Brave
The Cabin in the Woods
The Campaign
Casa de Mi Padre
A Cat in Paris
Chronicle
The Dark Knight Rises
Dark Shadows
Dark Tide
Darling Companion
Detention
The Devil Inside
Django Unchained
Dredd
End of Watch
The Expendables 2
The Five-Year Engagement
The FP
Gerhard Richter Painting
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
The Grey
Haywire
Hit & Run
Holy Motors
House at the End of the Street
The Hunger Games
The Impossible
The Innkeepers
Jiro Dreams of Sushi
John Carter
Joyful Noise
Kill List
Killer Joe
Killing Them Softly
Last Ounce of Courage
Lawless
Les Miserables
Lincoln
Lockout
Looper
The Lorax
Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted
Man on a Ledge
Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present
Men in Black 3
Moonrise Kingdom
October Baby
The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure
ParaNorman
People Like Us
The Pirates! Band of Misfits
Polisse
The Possession
Premium Rush
Project X
Prometheus
The Raid: Redemption
Rise of the Guardians
Rock of Ages
Safe House
Savages
The Secret World of Arrietty
Seeking Justice
Seven Psychopaths
Silent House
Silver Linings Playbook
Skyfall
Smashed
Snow White and the Huntsman
Ted
That’s My Boy
This Means War
A Thousand Words
The Three Stooges
Total Recall
V/H/S
Wanderlust
The Woman in Black
Wrath of the Titans
Wreck-It Ralph
Zero Dark Thirty
Overall Count: 96 Films
Joke Film Awards of 2012
Most Accurate Film Title: Gerhard Richter Painting (Runner Up: Man on a Ledge)
A Movie More Confusing than Holy Motors: V/H/S' "The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger"
Same Dress, Different Hairstyle: The Raid: Redemption and Dredd
Palm Dog Award: Bonny, Seven Psychopaths
Best Animal Duel: Tiger vs. Wolf, Casa de Mi Padre
Best Cinematography of Boogers: Danny Cohen, Les Misérables
Most Suspenseful Sequence Involving Film Storyboards: The Iranian airport in Argo
Most Suspenseful Sequence Involving People Sitting and Staring at Each Other: The last third of Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present
Most "Suspenseful" Sequence Involving a Vending Machine: Nic Cage ordering a hit in Seeking Justice
Worst Use of the 80's Nerd Girl Trope: Maïwenn in Polisse
Best Use of the 80's Valley Girl Trope: Anna Kendrick in ParaNorman
Dumbest Head of a Major Agency: Agent X, the 1969 xenophobic boss of MIB in Men in Black 3
Best Product Placement: "K-Fried-C" in Killer Joe
Worst Product Placement: Costco in The Apparition and The Watch
Best Use of Vaio Computers: Skyfall
Worst Use of Vaio Computers: The Amazing Spider-Man
Worst Use of a Ton of Computers: Paranormal Activity 4
Best Use of a Katy Perry Song: Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted
Best Use of a Rita Coolidge Song: Ted
Oddest Use of a Flight of the Concords Song: The Pirates! Band of Misfits
Most Boob-tastic Poster: Dark Tide
Most Butt-tastic Poster: The Avengers' Black Widow Character Poster (Runner Up: One for the Money)
Best Raunchy Tagline: "The only thing getting blown tonight is their cover.", 21 Jump Street
Worst Raunchy Tagline: "The jizz is up", The Babymakers
Best of the Rest of 2012
BEST BREAKTHROUGH: Gina Carano
Honorable Mentions: Dane DeHaan, Frank Grillo, Iko Uwais, Quvenzhané Wallis, Genesis Rodriguez, Kara Hayward, Dwight Henry
BEST ENSEMBLE: The Cast of The Avengers
Honorable Mentions: Silver Linings Playbook, Django Unchained, Lincoln, Zero Dark Thirty, End of Watch, Polisse, The Hunger Games
BEST DIRECTOR: Joss Whedon, The Avengers
Honorable Mentions: Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty), Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained), Ben Affleck (Argo), Sam Mendes (Skyfall), Leos Carax (Holy Motors), Juan Antonio Bayona (The Impossible), Drew Goddard (The Cabin in the Woods)
BEST SCREENPLAY: Drew Goddard & Joss Whedon, The Cabin in the Woods
Honorable Mentions: Chris Butler (ParaNorman), Mark Boal (Zero Dark Thirty), Max Landis (Chronicle), David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook), Seth MacFarlane, Allen Sulkin, & Wellesley Wild (Ted), Chris Terrio (Argo), Phil Johnston & Jennifer Lee (Wreck-It Ralph)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Roger Deakins, Skyfall
Honorable Mentions: Greig Fraser (Zero Dark Thirty), Robert Yeoman (Moonrise Kingdom), Matt Flannery (The Raid: Redemption), Oscar Faura (The Impossible), Ben Richardson (Beasts of the Southern Wild, Rodrigo Prieto (Argo)
BEST EDITING: Jay Cassidy, Silver Linings Playbook
Honorable Mentions: William Goldenberg (Argo), Bob Ducsay (Looper), David Blackburn (Detention)
BEST SCORE: Hans Zimmer, The Dark Knight Rises
Honorable Mentions: Alexandre Desplat (Zero Dark Thirty), Henry Jackman (Wreck-It Ralph), Paul Leonard-Morgan (Dredd), Cecil Corbel (The Secret World of Arrietty), Dave Holmes (Haywire), Mike Shinoda & Joseph Trapanese (The Raid: Redemption), Thomas Newman (Skyfall)
BEST SONG: "Skyfall" by Adele, Skyfall
Honorable Mentions: "Abraham's Daughter" by Arcadia Fire (The Hunger Games), "Sugar Rush" by AKB48 (Wreck-It Ralph), "Ancora Qui" by Ennio Morricone & Elisa Toffoli (Django Unchained), "Who Did That to You?" by John Legend (Django Unchained), "Bug Hunt (Noisia Remix)" by Skrillex (Wreck-It Ralph), "Breath of Life" by Florence + The Machine (Snow White & the Huntsman), "Casa de Mi Padre" by Christina Aguilera (Django Unchained), "Undercover Love" by Diego Boneta (Rock of Ages)
BEST OPENING CREDITS: Casa de Mi Padre
Honorable Mentions: Django Unchained, Skyfall
BEST STINGER: The Avengers
Honorable Mentions: The Grey, Wreck-It Ralph, Casa de Mi Padre
BEST POSTER ART: Django Unchained
Honorable Mentions: Zero Dark Thirty, The Dark Knight Rises, V/H/S, Moonrise Kingdom, Chronicle, The Cabin in the Woods, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Wreck-It Ralph, Prometheus, ParaNorman, Savages
BEST TRAILER: Prometheus Teaser
Honorable Mentions: Zero Dark Thirty, Wreck-It Ralph
BEST ANIMATED FILM: Wreck-It Ralph
Honorable Mentions: ParaNorman, Rise of the Guardians, The Secret World of Arrietty, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, The Pirates! Band of Misfits
BEST DOCUMENTARY: Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present
Honorable Mentions: Jiro Dreams of Sushi
BEST GUILTY PLEASURE: The Possession
FUTURE CULT AND APPRECIATION
Films that I feel will grow on me beyond my initial expectations and opinions and become the great films that they sought to be.
Casa de Mi Padre
Dredd
Haywire
Jiro Dreams of Sushi
Kill List
Looper
Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present
Premium Rush
Skyfall
Ted
UNDERRATED AND UNDERAPPRECIATED
Actors and Actresses that gave great performances in terrible films and/or in roles with little material and screentime.
Josh Brolin (Men in Black 3)
Michael Caine (The Dark Knight Rises)
Jessica Chastain (Lawless)
Lynn Collins (John Carter)
Eva Green (Dark Shadows)
Tom Hardy (Lawless)
Richard Jenkins (The Cabin in the Woods, Killing Them Softly, Darling Companion)
Karen Maruyama (The Campaign)
Elizabeth Olsen (Silent House)
Guy Pierce (Lawless)
Rihanna (Battleship)
Amandla Stenberg (The Hunger Games)
Mark Strong (Zero Dark Thirty)
Vanilla Ice (That's My Boy)
Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook, The Five-Year Engagement)
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Best Performances of 2012
Honorable Mentions:
Matthew McConaughey, Killer Joe
Denis Lavant, Holy Motors
Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Dane DeHaan, Chronicle
Jason Clarke, Zero Dark Thirty
Ewan McGregor, The Impossible
Jaime Foxx, Django Unchained
Karl Urban, Dredd
Jake Gyllenhaal, End of Watch
Liam Neeson, The Grey
John C. Reilly, Wreck-It Ralph
Honorable Mentions:
Naomi Watts, The Impossible
Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Smashed
Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Hannah Fierman, V/H/S
Judi Dench, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Olivia Thirbly, Dredd
Honorable Mentions:
Dwight Henry, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Javier Bardem, Skyfall
Tom Hiddleston, The Avengers
Tom Holland, The Impossible
Michael Shannon, Premium Rush
Mark Ruffalo, The Avengers
Michael Peña, End of Watch
Leonardo DiCaprio, Django Unchained
Samuel L. Jackson, Django Unchained
Alan Tudyk, Wreck-It Ralph
James Spader, Lincoln
Jude Law, Rise of the Guardians
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
Chris Pratt, The Five-Year Engagement
Bryan Cranston, Argo
Honorable Mentions:
Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables, The Dark Knight Rises
Jodelle Ferland, ParaNorman
Jane Lynch, Wreck-It Ralph
Samantha Barks, Les Misérables
Penelope Wilton, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Alison Brie, The Five-Year Engagement
Next Up: Best of the Rest of 2012
Worst Performances of 2012
Dishonorable Mentions:
Marshall Teague, Last Ounce of Courage
Eddie Murphy, A Thousand Words
Sebastian Stan, The Apparition
Jason Trost, The FP
Johnny Depp, Dark Shadows
Adam Sandler, That's My Boy
Max Thieriot, House at the End of the Street
Dishonorable Mentions:
Brooklyn Decker, Battleship
Diane Keaton, Darling Companion
Jennifer O'Neill, Last Ounce of Courage
Jessica Biel, Total Recall
Ashley Greene, The Apparition
Bella Heathcote, Dark Shadows
Rachel Hendrix, October Baby
Dishonorable Mentions:
Austin Johnson, October Baby
Cary Elwes, The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure
Larry David, The Three Stooges
Daniel Kaufman, V/H/S
Lee Valmassy, The FP
Michael Hall D'Addario, People Like Us
Chris Sligh, October Baby
Nick Swardson, That's My Boy
Martin Short, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted
Clark Duke, A Thousand Words
Chazz Palminteri, The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure
Dishonorable Mentions:
Toni Braxton, The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure
Chelsea Handler, This Means War
Ayelet Zurer, Darling Companion
Next Up: Best Performances of 2012
Monday, January 7, 2013
Best Films of 2012
2012 was the year of the bow. Seemingly every hero, both male and female, had a mastery of slinging arrows into their targets. However, the prevailing theme among the best of the movies was the exploration of meta. They either attacked, lampooned, or celebrated the tropes of film or of the place in the "world" of their characters. On the other hand, other films wanted harsh realism, featuring people who need to fight and survive through nature's elements, world politics, or even the life of a city. There was also the major case against bullying, highlighted greatly through American news stories and a hyped-up documentary, but was also addressed in a few spectacular films, often displayed as a vicious cycle of humanity that needs to be expunged from the genetic code.
Superheroes saved the day, audiences became enamored by the history surrounding of the American Civil War, children had to persevere often by themselves, and a popular spy got to stay current again. Humor came from a foulmouthed teddy bear, a posse with bad head-wear, and a couple stricken with mental disorders. An American sweetheart got to be spicy and sour, a reigning sexy man ruled in all of the biggest roles of his career, a fan-friendly nerd icon got to step up into the big leagues, and the nation found comfort in the multiple critically and/or commercially acclaimed films of Channing Tatum.
These are the films I have deemed the best of 2012. Though I put them in list format, I was equally entertained and moved by these films.
Now comes the usual disclaimer that sadly everyone forgets to remember: This list is of my own opinion, not the general public nor the Internet consensus. If I didn't see the film at all or in its entirety, than it isn't counted.
TOP TEN BEST FILMS
1. Wreck-It Ralph
The best films are the ones where you want to enter and live in their worlds, exploring all of the nooks and crannies. This film was that for myself, where all of the video game characters of a still thriving arcade meet up after hours at the strongest circuit protector ever made. A rich and well served cast, strong themes about social placement, and some of the best damn puns ever pulled off. Having a little Toy Story element in it also didn't hurt.
2. The Avengers
This was film history in the making. The long-term strategy of making a series of comic book films, all leading up to one where the creative staff got to run wild, the actors each get their moment to shine, all before a breathtaking climatic finale. Genius.
3. The Cabin in the Woods
Joss Whedon got to celebrate early before his work in The Avengers. This long-delayed film opened up to rapturous applause, breaking down in a humorous though dark light why horror films are crafted and why innocent blood must be spilled. The ending "purge" never lets up for the viewer.
4. Django Unchained
Three hours never went up so fast. Each act had a fun beginning, middle, and end soaked in copious bloody gore and hilarious gags. Revenge never tasted so sweet recently. Another Tarantino masterpiece.
5. ParaNorman
A stop-motion animated version of The Crucible and 80's splatters, this movie haunts the viewer with the scary sights of school bullying and crowd mentality. If not those, the last confrontation with give you permanent goosebumps for awhile.
6. Argo
Another notch higher in the directing career of Ben Affleck. This was simply put a well crafted Hollywood thriller. It may look and feel basic but the film expertly recreates the 70's milieu, deliver strong punches to the Hollywood business, and features some of the best nail-biting sequences.
7. The Impossible
Probably the most unbearable film of the year, especially for anyone with a child. Based on a true story, this epic film recounts the struggles and despair suffered by a vacating family, as they try to reconnect with each other after a deadly tsunami in 2004. Bring the tissues because this somber film is sure to keep everyone in tears.
8. Zero Dark Thirty
Kathryn Bigelow re-teams with screenwriter Mark Boal to bring another story about American modern warfare, this time focusing on the long search for Osama Bin Laden. Well acted and featuring many unnerving and suspense-filled scenes, the film ends with a magnificent third act, as the Navy Seals Team Six are sent off to the Bin Laden's compound.
9. Holy Motors
This confounding but stellar feature from the French radical director Leos Carax absurdly spins a story from a series of "assignments" for the actor Denis Lavant. Lavant, as a peculiar individual named Oscar, travels around Paris in a limo, stopping at set locations to become a female begger, a destructive leprechaun who eats the hair of Eva Mendes, a motion-capture actor, a hitman, and much more. A metaphor for the transition of real film to digital, this odd duckling is brilliantly insane.
10. The Hunger Games
A perfect case of a film adaptation being far better than its original book. Certainly my most controversial pick, I feel the film moves past its shaky camera problems to tell both a disturbingly quiet sci-fi tale and a satire on reality television and young adult audience expectations.
THE NEXT TEN
11. Beasts of the Southern Wild
This was a story of a little girl who lived with her father in a place called "The Bathtub". A fantasy analogy of a Katrina-stricken Louisiana, this crowd-pleasing eccentric Sundance indie was sold thanks to its imaginative Malick-like cinematography and blissful performances from untrained actors.
12. Chronicle
The best film to incorporate the found footage style, not to mention advance it through the use of "telekinesis", this tale of teenagers who gain, use and abuse their new super-abilities often showcases the tragic modern lifestyle of universal technology and the joyous camaraderie between an adventurous few.
13. Silver Linings Playbook
Manic and unnervingly good, this offbeat dramedy is graced by the fantastic performances of Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence as two people who seek to overcome their romantic and life problems and find a new beginning.
14. Rise of the Guardians
Outfitted with an amazing plethora of production design and a nice message about the power of belief, this animated film of mythical characters teaming up to tackle the children's fear of the Boogeyman is a joyous delight.
15. 21 Jump Street
Uproariously funny, this movie is a very refreshing take on how to remake a television show. It is gleamingly frisky when fiddling with the traditional and modern settings of both high school life and the cliches of action films.
16. End of Watch
David Ayer finally moves beyond the limitations of forever being the writer of Training Day. Playing with the conventions of found footage and thankfully featuring LAPD officers that are not corrupt for once, the film is held greatly together by the fine chemistry of Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña.
17. The Secret World of Arrietty
Balanced well between melancholy and wonderment, this Studio Ghibli movie finds marvel in the simplest things for its small characters.
18. Detention
This is an assault on 90's nostalgia. Featuring a girl who's so-called life is avoiding a serial killer, a jock who mutates into a different spider-man, and a time-traveling, body swapping airhead, this movie is one of a strange kind.
19. The Grey
This harsh action flick, featuring a too close for comfort Liam Neeson as a grieving widow, is fueled by gruesome violence, jolting surprises, and its purgatory-like tone of a pack of manly crash survivors battling against wolves and frostbite.
20. V/H/S
An interesting and accomplished fusion between found footage films and horror anthologies. Though a couple of the segments are flawed, the others are very inventive and a delight, particularly David Bruckner's "Amateur Night" and Radio Silence's "10/31/98".
Next Up: The Worst Performances of 2012
Worst Films of 2012
2012 was certainly a shocking year of changes and surprises. Several of the big male heavyweights of cinema (Tom Cruise, Johnny Depp, Adam Sandler) all suffered from major failures at the box office. Taylor Kitsch, a talented actor primed to be a new big thing in movies, had to sit and watch his three films, two of which cost a giant chunk of change, be stricken with disastrous decisions and bomb hard, giving him the unfortunate stigma of box office poison. A Republican-friendly documentary actually did well, despite negative critical notices, fooling the public view into thinking there will be a major shift come election day and in later films, only for those films to sink back down into the abyss they came from.
There were some unfortunate ones, though: Despite an exciting year of animation, most of the offerings performed way below expectations. The horror and romantic comedy genres were in a general state of malaise and tepid response, except for a few bright examples. However, all of the previous things couldn't compare to the universal derision and/or ongoing debate about the merits of two major works from the top auteurs of the field, Ridley Scott and Christopher Nolan. From all of this tumultuous time comes a group of the most despicable and heinous.
These are the films I have deemed the worst of 2012.
Now comes the usual disclaimer that sadly everyone forgets to remember: This list is of my own opinion, not the general public nor the Internet consensus. If I didn't see the film at all or in its entirety, than it isn't counted.
TOP TEN WORST FILMS
1. Last Ounce of Courage
One of the two awful right-wing propaganda films that won't convert viewers but just reassure the target audience that they correct in their beliefs and being white is truly "right". This film was far, far worse, however; Set in an unreal America, a white privileged grandpa encounters his "falling down" phase and tries to fight back on the so-called "War on Christmas" in his town. Woefully acted and directed, the film targets both the ACLU and black people, who are all shown to be absolutely evil or servants to others. What makes it the top pick is its distasteful ending, where a holiday school play celebrating aliens(?) is transformed into a nativity story before becoming a public screening of a snuff film, which is then given a slow clap. What an ungodly disgrace.
2. October Baby
You know what was missing from the Britney Spears-starring Crossroads? Abortions. A college girl stubbornly spends her spring break searching for her birth mother, who abandoned her after a failed abortion attempt. This purely Christian, anti-abortion movie is a slow, painful crawl, spending more time on its beautiful imagery than its pathetic performances or its excrement-soaked script. In case you didn't get its message bashed into your brains, or overhearing the pathetic folk songs that declare the "Life is beautiful!", the closing credits has interviews with the creators embedded in. Even if you are pro-life, you will turn this off quickly.
3. Darling Companion
If you told me years ago that writer-director Lawrence Kasdan's return to film, with a large, talented ensemble cast (Diane Keaton, Kevin Kline, Elizabeth Moss, Richard Jenkins, Dianne Wiest), would be in my worst films list, let alone the top three, I would've certified you insane and threw you in the paddy wagon. This extremely boring tale follows an extended family searching for a lost mutt in the woods, often following the visions of their gypsy housekeeper. This has Gerry-level pacing and tone, as the characters walk and walk some more, when not suffering from minor white people problems. The movie even has shockingly bad cinematography, most notably a long sequence in pitch-black night. Don't pick this dog up, just put it down and move on.
4. A Thousand Words
Locked up in distribution purgatory for several years, this Eddie Murphy family film fails like the rest of his work. Removing his most major talent (his voice), this unbearable sit wastes or ruins many fine actors, including the thankfully rarely appearing Allison Janney. Even more odd is the fact that it is PG-13; were the swear words and furry mentions really necessary?
5. That's My Boy
Pedophilia and incest sure are funny, especially in the hands of Adam Sandler. An expected top contender, the film notched lower due to its frank nature of being a liberation of Sandler's gross-out and explicit content. Thankfully, the public took notice of the smell and left it alone to die. It was never really funny outside of Vanilla Ice, who stole the show.
6. The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure
A history-making catastrophe, this fiasco scared away the kids either from its pitiful, lip-unsynched titled creatures or the idea of being interactive. The songs were horrendous and the cameos were absolutely random. Remember, if a wobbly cowboy comes up to you and screams out "DO YOU LIKE BUBBLES?!", run like hell.
7. Project X
It may have accomplished its task of being a dirty found footage film about a humongous party but it was never fun nor entertaining. Plagued heavily by an atrocious supporting character, sickening hatred of women, and a loathsome final message. I wished the riot police came sooner or the flame-throwing vet burned it all down.
8. The FP
I love video games and its humor but that doesn't give your terrible film a free pass from being railroaded. This comedy short turned feature film has obnoxious below Troma-level actors revel in their misogyny and bad taste before competing in unexciting DDR-ing. Certainly not worth pressing start.
9. ATM
A simple horror tale that becomes a pipe-bomb to the senses. Three yuppies are trapped in an ATM kiosk by a winter-coated killer. Why they parked 50 feet away from it is one of the many unexplained questions. The story becomes incredibly unstable, even before a headache-inducing ending that can only be accomplished and viewed as a sound plan through planets aligned-like coincidences with a little sheer luck on the side.
10. Dark Shadows
Poor Eva Green. Stuck in a gangrenous Tim Burton production. Featuring a truly unlikable lead character, a story filled with plot trips and pointless diversions, and a long running time of non-laughs, this remained dead and buried.
THE NEXT TEN
11. The Apparition
Spoiler poster! A ghostly demon escapes from another dimension in order to ruin a development house, pretty white people, and the local Costco. Not the Costco!
12. People Like Us
Rain Man with more whiny losers. I wished that the kid was in juvenile prison, I wished that Chris Pine was in jail, and I wish that Elizabeth Banks would finally fire her agent.
13. House at the End of the Street
This rip-off of Psycho, or its more likely copycat Homicidal, was the biggest blemish of the otherwise stellar year for Jennifer Lawrence.
14. Atlas Shrugged: Part II
What a surprise! The sequel to a terrible film last year also made it this year. The remodeled cast and added timely elements (Oh hai, Occupy movement!) were completely for naught.
15. The Devil Inside
A hen-picked favorite since its controversial ending and audience reaction videos made it online last January, this stupid found footage horror film at least can coast by from its many unintentional laughs.
16. Silent House
Elizabeth Olsen puts too much effort into this displeasing horror film, that utterly betrays the camera's viewpoint and relishes its exploitation.
17. Rock of Ages
Loud, dumb, and wasted, this musical adaptation removed much of the bite of the original Broadway show in order to show off the dull dancing skills of its actors and the eye-rolling covers of overplayed songs. Also, Diego Boneta.
18. Total Recall
A director's cut can't help this giant borefest. I cared more about the production design and the robot soldiers than I did for any of the characters and their dilemmas.
19. This Means War
Making a action-romantic-comedy out of CIA agents that abuse the Patriot Act and their work privileges was more creepy than funny.
20. The Campaign
Sliding in low at the polls, this Jay Roach film drew no laughs and was the laziest display of satire this year.
Next Up: The Best Films of 2012
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