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  1. Top 7 Supporting Actors of 2012

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    1. Philip Seymour Hoffman as Lancaster Dodd (The Master)
    2. Patton Oswalt as Matt Freehauf (Young Adult)
    3. James Gandolfini as Mickey (Killing Them Softly)
    4. Garrett Hedlund as Dean Moriarty (On the Road)
    5. Andy Serkis as Gollum (The Hobbit)
    6. Michael Fassbender as David (Prometheus)
    7. Tom Hardy as Bane (The Dark Knight Rises)

    Honourable Mentions: Jon Hawkes as Patrick (Martha Marcy May Marlene), Mark Ruffalo as Dr. Bruce Banner (The Avengers), Dwight Henry as Wink (Beasts of the Southern Wild), Edward Norton as Scout Master Randy Ward (Moonrise Kingdom), Thomas Bo Larson as Theo (The Hunt), John C. Riley as Michael Longstreet (Carnage)

  2. Prometheus (2012) Dir. Ridley Scott 5/10 Like many Alien fans, I was looking forward to this for a long time which may mean I am more disappointed than the film itself should allow; but there are a lot of bugs in Ridley Scott’s sparkling return to space. Firstly the good: The cast is fantastic as you’d expect with the names and Fassbender is puts in a super performance as the synthetic human. On a visual level the film succeed, there is lights and holograms constantly flickering on grand, platinum sets without a hair out of place. It is super slick. The first half hour or so of the film is really great, there is a tension built up towards a mystery of a supposedly epic scale with some really interesting ideas that you think may be explored. However, the problem I found was that as the mystery started to unravel too many narrative strands fell out, some hit the ground rolling but most of them exploded on impact or were just plain duds. This problem wasn’t just in the narrative or plot, but also existed with the characters. There were just too many! 17 crew members with many just disappearing or getting wiped out without even meeting them. I don’t think there was a single scene where the entire crew interacted and talked to each other freely like in the first two Alien films. This even filters down to there being too many main characters, so when it focuses on one or two, you constantly wonder what the others are doing because they just seem to not exist. There is a poor script at the heart of this film that can not keep up with the large scale ideas and themes Ridley Scott is trying to put across; it is constantly chasing the sweeping visuals, which for the most part is particularly tiresome, even if rather handsome. You won’t leave the theatre without at least one thing or hole in the narrative that annoyed you, even if it is only Guy Pearce’s awful make up. 

    Prometheus (2012) Dir. Ridley Scott

    5/10

    Like many Alien fans, I was looking forward to this for a long time which may mean I am more disappointed than the film itself should allow; but there are a lot of bugs in Ridley Scott’s sparkling return to space. Firstly the good: The cast is fantastic as you’d expect with the names and Fassbender is puts in a super performance as the synthetic human. On a visual level the film succeed, there is lights and holograms constantly flickering on grand, platinum sets without a hair out of place. It is super slick. The first half hour or so of the film is really great, there is a tension built up towards a mystery of a supposedly epic scale with some really interesting ideas that you think may be explored. However, the problem I found was that as the mystery started to unravel too many narrative strands fell out, some hit the ground rolling but most of them exploded on impact or were just plain duds. This problem wasn’t just in the narrative or plot, but also existed with the characters. There were just too many! 17 crew members with many just disappearing or getting wiped out without even meeting them. I don’t think there was a single scene where the entire crew interacted and talked to each other freely like in the first two Alien films. This even filters down to there being too many main characters, so when it focuses on one or two, you constantly wonder what the others are doing because they just seem to not exist. There is a poor script at the heart of this film that can not keep up with the large scale ideas and themes Ridley Scott is trying to put across; it is constantly chasing the sweeping visuals, which for the most part is particularly tiresome, even if rather handsome. You won’t leave the theatre without at least one thing or hole in the narrative that annoyed you, even if it is only Guy Pearce’s awful make up. 

  3. Top 7 most anticipated films 2012 (June - December)

    1. Killing Them Softly 

       Dir. Andrew Dominik 

    I still hold Assassination of Jesse James as one of the most overlooked ‘masterpieces’ in recent years. It is so rich with character and with Casey Affleck and Brad Pitt giving a perfect example of subtle and multi-dimensional performances. Brad Pitt’s performance was completely ignored and his was probably even the better. Going on this, Brad Pitt is back as a lead and surrounded by a real spunky gangster cast. I can not wait to see Killing Them Softly, it is going to be completely different in style to Jesse James but I hold hope that Dominik can show that he can make genres his own. If he does I see him becoming the next P.T Anderson in 10 years time. 

    2. Prometheus  

       Dir. Ridley Scott

    I think everyone is excited for this and if your an Alien fan then you probably get those shivers every time you see the trailer. I even like Alien 3 and even in some weird way Alien: Resurrection so you can imagine how excited I am!

    3. The Master

       Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson 

    P.T Anderson made himself boots of a truly visonary drector in There Will be Blood, and I can’t see those boots wearing or tearing. Or I hope not. Plus Juaquin Pheonix who I always thought was a brilliant actor is making his ‘comeback’ after the disasturous but still well performed I’m Still Here. 

    4. Like Someone in Love

        Dir. Abbas Kiarostami

    Kiarostami’s films have always strung my heart as well as making my brain work and fill in the intentional gaps. I think he is one of the great film makers in history. His last film  Certified Copy was his first outside of Iran and his first that seemed clean and polished. Although it was a storm with critics, it is probably the most ‘European Art-House’ film you can see and I thought it kept alot of humanity that were in his earlier films but covered something in its polish. Like Someone in Love looks like it will have that polish, but an even further amplified in it’s beauty amongst the Tokyo backdrop.

    5. Only God  Forgives

        Dir. Nicholas Winding Refn

    I liked Drive so much last year that Refn next film was always going to interest me. Especially when I found out it is going to be along the lines of a martial arts thriller…with Ryan Gosling again as a lead. 

    6. Mud

       Dir. Jeff Nichols

    Take Shelter was one of those film that shook me right up, it was one of the best films of 2011. I also watched Shotgun Stories recently and that too was a great little film. Nichols does so well to capture little family disturbances and blow them up into large, cerebral narratives. He is great at creating a constant feeling that lingers from the start to end of his films. I don’t know much about Mud but if it directed by Nichols then I am excited. 

    7. Django Unchained  

    Dir. Quintin Tarantino

    This film is just going to creep in at the end of December, but I have very high hopes. The cast is great and the Western genre is just a perfect one that suits Tarantino style.

    What are you top 7 most anticipated films for the rest of 2012?

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