2012 was a great year for movies. There are plenty of “best of” lists at this time of year, but this isn’t one of them. This is a list of movies that best sum up, or say something about film in 2012.
We saw stars soar to new heights (Jennifer Lawrence, Channing Tatum). We also watched as a few of our old favorites struggled (Tom Hanks, Reese Witherspoon). Some big movies, weren’t as big as many expected (MIB III, Prometheus) and some formulas that worked before, aren’t catching fire anymore (That’s My Boy, The Watch). If you love animation you had Chico and Rita and Hotel Transylvania. Romance fans had plenty to love in The Vow and Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2. In short, there was a little something for everyone.
Here are the 10 Movies That Summed Up 2012…
10. The Hunger Games
The Hunger Games cemented Jennifer Lawrence as a star – a HUGE one. She’s already an Oscar nominated actress, but with this film she moved into the big league of mainstream cinema. The movie made tons of money and broke all sorts of records, but the biggest news is that it played well to diverse audiences. Initially acquired by Lionsgate before the book sold millions of copies; the film was to be a mid-budget actioner for its core young-adult demo (LA Times). Instead, Lionsgate upped the budget and made sure that this was a film on everyone’s list. That this film worked for audiences of all ages bodes well for possibly seeing more movies with young, strong, female leads. At the very least, we’ll definitely be seeing more of Jennifer Lawrence.
9. Think Like a Man
For the most part, most major media outlets ignored Think Like a Man in the weeks prior to its release. The movie opened the same weekend as Zac Efron’s more buzzed about The Lucky One, but came in at No. 1 and stayed there the next week. It eventually topped out at close to $100 million to the surprise of many.
Though it didn’t play well internationally; on a budget of $12 million, it is one of the biggest successes of the year. Think Like a Man should be a reminder to Hollywood that Tyler Perry isn’t the only one who can make mainstream African-American projects. And another thing…we’re all waiting to see what Kevin Hart does with his new star power.
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3 Comments
My movies that best summed up 2012 are:
1) Biggest waste of time movie…Alex Cross/Battleship
2) Get an A for effort or at least trying something original…Cloud Atlas/Les Miserables
3) Lived up to or beat expectations…Avengers/Dark Knight Rises
4) Biggest paradox (commercial success yet pure crap)…Twilight Breaking Dawn 2
5) Biggest injustice (commercial failure yet a great movie ) …Dredd
6) Most unnecessary movie…Amazing Spiderman/Wrath of the Titans/Total Recall
7) Best “Chick Flick”… Silver Linings Playbook
8) Best history lesson (period piece)…Lincoln
9) Worst history lesson (period piece)…Red Tails
10) Film only noticed because of star power …Snow White and the Huntsman
11) Film noticed despite a lack of star power…Think Like a Man
12) Most unfulfilling movie…Prometheus
13) Movie that improved a franchise …Skyfall
14) Movie that damaged a franchise … MIB3/Taken 2/Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance
15) Most dramatic fail based on potential…John Carter
16) Most impressive achievement despite unlikelihood of success …Ted/The Grey
17) Best kids movie…Brave
18) Most creative movie …Chronicle
19) Most thought provoking movie…Looper
20) Best documentary …Bully
21) Worst documentary…2016 Obama’s America
22) The little movie that could …Beast of the Southern Wild
23) Best movie starring/featuring a rookie actor…Haywire/Life of Pi
24) Worst movie starring/featuring a rookie actor…Sparkle
25) Movie that best features a woman lead character…Hunger Games/Zero Dark Thirty
And nobody mentions Moonrise Kingdom?
Wow, you named a few here that I hadn’t even heard of until now, except for Ted of course, I made sure to watch that one in theaters. And I loved it! To be honest, it would take me weeks to come up with the best sum up of 2012. I hardly had any time to go to the theaters last year between working full time at DISH and going to school full time. I have been able to stream several movies straight to my TV using the Blockbuster @Home app on my DISH Hopper, so I do recognize several movies on Patrick’s list. I may not have had time to go to the movies, but that’s fine since I have the movies come to me.