Favourite Film's Seen In 2012

At 23:00 on New Years Eve 2011 my girlfriend and I started to watch F.W Marnau's silent masterpiece Sunrise for the first time. The film was stopped before midnight and we saw the new year in with a toast and sparklers in the garden. We then eagerly continued Sunrise the other side of midnight 2012. What a way to see in the new year! A sign of what was to come...

So, it's time for a quick look back at some of the best film's I've seen in 2012 and there's been many, I'd say over three hundred have been viewed (I predictably lost count around August). As per usual I haven't seen many releases from this year so I have lots of catching up to do in 2013. Anyway without further ado...

The Cream Of The Crop -

Sunrise
Lost In La Mancha
The Muppet Christmas Carol
Tangled
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Enchanted
Hugo
High and Low
Come and See
Goodnight and Good Luck
Mamma Mia!
The Extraordinary Adventures Of Adele Blanc-Sec
Fat City
The Last Detail
Le Crime de Monsieur Lange
The Dark Knight Rises
From Paris With Love
The Raid: Redemption
Moon
The Long Voyage Home
Le Quattro Volte
Drive
We Bought A Zoo
Zombieland
The Guard
Salt
The Lives Of Others
Million Dollar Baby
Aparajito
The Tree Of Life
Vampyr
Warrior
Gone, Baby, Gone
Heavens Gate
Narco Dollar
Tucker and Dale Vs Evil
The International
The Loveless
Strangler Of The Swamp
P2
Io, Emmanuelle
The Child
Night Of Fear
Source Code
Beat Street
La Belva aka Rough Justice
Dukes Of Hazard
I Saw The Devil
My Week With Marilyn
Can't Stop The Music
Beowolf
Splinter
Call Him Mr Shatter
The Pink Angels
Budo, The Art Of Killing
High Sierra
Valhalla Rising
Steppenwolf
Zeder
The Shooting Party
Lady In A Cage
Ratcatcher
The Super Ninja
Mafia vs Ninja
The Brinks Job
Deadhead Miles
Hellzapoppin
Long Hair Of Death
Castle Of Blood
Little Cigars
Maximum Overdrive
The Peace Killers
Triangle
Enemy Territory
Violent Naples
The Cynic, The Rat & The Fist
Caveman
Siege At Firebase Gloria
Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind
The Ides Of March
Intolerable Cruelty
Snowtown
Tyrannosaur
Night Of The Juggler
The Social Network
Bewitched
Lemon Popsicle
Harold and Kumar Get The Munchies
52 Pick Up
Welcome To Arrow Beach
Golden Swallow
Beach Of The War Gods
Carnage
The Naked Prey
Airwolf The Movie
Purple Rain
Rad
Mystery Of Chess Boxing
Punisher War Zone
Eyes Of A Stranger
Assignment Outer Space
Leptirica
Seems Like Old Times
Bridge To Teribithia
Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events
Blazing Magnum
Risky Business
Norwegian Ninja
Bicentennial Man
Synecdoche, New York
The Woman
Be Kind Rewind
Forbidden Photos Of a Lady Above Suspicion
The Strange Vice Of Mrs Wardh
Black Belly Of The Tarantula
One On Top Of The Other
The Other Guys
Greenberg
Half Baked
Shutter Island
Death Carries A Cane
The Red Queen Kills 7 Times
Ministry Of Fear

The most bonkers -

Taoist Drunkard
Gymkata
Ebola Syndrome
Vace De Noces
Catman In Lethal Track
Mardi Gras Massacre
Goodbye Uncle Tom
Black Magic
Black Magic 2
Rolf aka The Last Mercenary
The Impossible Kid
Terror Express
Fist Of Fear, Touch Of Death
Night Of The Demon
Hell Of The Living Dead
Death Powder
Xanadu
W aka Filipino Mad Max

Best Repeat Screening -

Les Yeux Sans Visage
Pather Panchali
Watch Out, We're Mad
The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow (dir Henning Schellerup '80)

Favourite Performance's - 

Aleksey Kravchenko - Come and See
Michael Caine - Harry Brown and The Dark Knight Rises
Sam Rockwell - Moon
Gary Oldman - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Olivia Colman - Tyrannosaur
Amy Adams - Enchanted
Meryll Streep - Mamma Mia!
Carey Mulligan - Shame


Memorable scene -

Carey Mulligan's performance of New York, New York in Shame


Coolest Cinema Moment

The Evil Dead at Duke Of Yorks

Worst Cinema Moment

Almost choking to death on pick'n'mix during Expendables II

Memorable Villain's - 

Javier Bardem - Skyfall
Jean Claude Van Damme - Expendables II
Sean Harris - Harry Brown
James Caan - Lady In A Cage
Albert Brookes - Drive
Clarence Williams III - 52 Pick Up

Favourite Kickass Heroes

Angelina Jolie - Salt
John Travolta - From Paris With Love
Ryan Gosling - Drive
Maurizio Merli - Violent Naples
Iko Uwais - The Raid

and lastly...

Favourite Car Chase

Blazing Magnum aka Shadows In An Empty Room - any list highlighting the greatest car chases in film that does not include Blazing Magnum is incomplete.

I could go on a lot more but it's Christmas Eve and I've much to do, so thanks for checking my favourites of 2012 and here's to 2013 and many more great films.

Where did my love of film stem from?

I was born in southern England in the heat wave of 1976. Three months later in Tokyo, Japan, the first VCR, the Victor HR-3300 went on sale and home video was born. Fast forward ten years later and the VCR was a fairly common device in most households including mine.

My earliest film memories are of horror films. Horror films were more regularly screened on late night television back in the early to mid eighties than they are nowadays. My Dad would record these and play them back whilst my brother and I were occupied with more suitable activities. We were however paying more attention to these films than I think my Dad realised at the time.

A very hazy childhood memory - A bloodied young man stumbles down a staircase with a knife in his head. He is followed by a ghoulish figure who is then shot by a man at the bottom of the stairs.

The man at the bottom of the staircase is Peter Cushing. The film is The Ghoul directed by Freddie Francis in 1975. I had many other memories of horror film’s from this period, now after years of film viewing I can put titles to them all - Tower Of Evil (dir Jim O‘Connolly ‘72), And Now The Screaming Starts (dir Roy Ward Baker ‘73), Theatre Of Blood (dir Douglas Hickox ‘73), Dracula (dir Terence Fisher ‘58), Dracula A.D 1972 (dir Alan Gibson ‘72), Taste The Blood Of Dracula (dir Peter Sasdy ‘70), The Curse Of Frankenstein (dir Terence Fisher ‘57), Frankenstein And The Monster From Hell (dir Terence Fisher ‘74), The Fog (dir John Carpenter ‘80), Alien (dir Ridley Scott ‘79). I remember fleeing the lounge in tears at the sight of Quint’s graphic demise in Jaws. I remember seeing a season of fifties science fiction movies that included Invaders From Mars (dir William Cameron Menzies ‘53) and Forbidden Planet (dir Fred M Wilcox ‘56). All these films and images stayed with me. They laid the foundations for what was to be one of my life’s main passion’s. I believe they are responsible for making me the film enthusiast I am today.