Palooza's Top 125 Films of 2012

[Goober]

Did 'This is 40' even have a plot? It seemed to get really serious with the financial problem stuff, which was weird.

 

[Palooza]

53 . The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey

Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Graham McTavish, Ken Stott, Aiden Turner, Dean O'Gorman, Mark Hadlow, Jed Brophy, Adam Brown, John Callen, Peter Hambleton, William Kirchir, James Nesbitt, Stephen Hunter, Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, Christopher Lee, Sylvester McCoy, Ian Holm, Elijah Wood, Andy Serkis, Manu Bennett, Lee Pace, Benedict Cumberbatch, Barry Humpfries, John Rawls, Bret McKenzie, Kiran Shah, Jeffrey Thomas, Michael Mizrahi​

Director(s) - Peter Jackson
Writer(s) - Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, Guillermo del Toro
Source Material/Connections - Based on the 1937 children's fantasy novel "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkein. Prequel to The Lord of the Rings films.
MPAA Rating - PG-13
Release Date - December 14
Runtime - 2 hours, 50 minutes
RT Score - 65%
Metacritic - 58/100
Views - 1
Viewed - in theaters
Quote - "I would have doubted me too"
Review - On one hand, there are so many things wrong with the idea of making this movie - Peter Jackson was essentially forced into it, so the passion was lacking, this story is much more lighthearted than the Lord of the Rings and even looking past that, was it really necessary to do this? No, probably not. On the other hand, sometimes a world and its source material are so good, you can't help but want as much of it as you can get. This movie is equal parts cash grab and fan-pleasing. Somewhere blurred inbetween is a weird mix of Peter Jackson not having the heart or passion for this anymore and trying so hard to recapture what made the Lord of the Rings trilogy so great.

Martin Freeman as Bilbo is a perfect choice. He knocks it out of the park, but the problem is that the film is already so long and so bloated with characters who need screentime that Bilbo gets lost in the shuffle. Outside of the best scene of the movie where Bilbo meets Gollum, Bilbo is more a part of the audience, looking on as Gandalf makes things happen. He does have a heroic moment of sorts during the film's climax that helps erase the thoughts of "why the fuck are you there, Bilbo?!" even though you know very well why he is.

The screentime that is taken away from Bilbo is handed off to another wizard, Radaghast the Brown, who is an animal whisperer and also the weirdest dude in Middle Earth. His entire body looks like a Hobbit's foot. He's annoying and brings the movie down. He takes up way too much screen time, even if it isn't all that much. In a movie that's already pushing 3 hours, you could have cut some of his bullshit. In addition to this, there are so many damn dwarves it is almost impossible to keep track. All I paid attention to was the only one who was important - Thorin Oakensheild, who is a stubborn badass and pretty much the poor man's Aragorn at this point. On top of that shit, all their make up made them look like Christopher Meloni as Freakshow in Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle.

The comparisons between Lord of the Rings will forever haunt this trilogy. This is supposed to be more appropriate for children and lighthearted, but for someone of my age and interests, it's hard not to watch a bunch of dwarves toss around dishes while singing weird tunes and not laugh at how stupid and ridiculous it is. It really takes you out of the movie because it feels so corny and childish, even if it is supposed to.

48 fps. The biggest crime of the film. Peter Jackson, the visuals are ruined because of this. Everything looks like its painted on a canvas and the makeup for the characters, especially the dwarves is so laughable. It really takes you out of the film. A piss poor experiment, I don't wanna see a pseudo-violent soap opera reality show that takes place on Middle Earth. Nuh uh.

All in all, it's hard not to blame both myself and everyone involved for the disappointment that this movie is. Not sure what the fuck was going on with Peter Jackson for this one, but he's all over the place. My expectations were low, I thought, but once I was back in Middle Earth, I didn't want it to be as disappointing as it was. I hope things get better as they go along and there is more of the tension and fun that there was during the climax and the Bilbo/Gollum meeting.
Rating - C

 

[Palooza]

52 . Bachelorette

Kirsten Dunst, Lizzy Caplan, Isla Fisher, Rebel Wilson, Kyle Borheimer, James Marsden, Adam Scott, Horatio Sanz, Hayes MacArthur​

Director(s) - Leslye Headland
Writer(s) - Leslye Headland
Source Material/Connections - n/a
MPAA Rating - R
Release Date - September 7
Runtime - 1 hour, 31 minutes
RT Score - 55%
Metacritic - 52/100
Views - 1
Viewed - VOD
Quote - "What do you call a bachelorette party without a bride?" "Friday."
Review - This movie will forever get lost in the shadow of the HIGHLY overrated Bridesmaids and it's totally unjust. Simply because they have similar titles and deal with the same basic concept of women celebrating their marriage. It's actually more in the vein of a dark version of a previous entry on our list 10 Years. What we've got here is essentially a reunion/wedding movie that really serves as a way to allow the three leads to reflect on their lives from when they ruled high school to where they are currently as they watch their least favorite friend (Rebel Wilson) get married. The three main bridesmaids played by Kirsten Dunst, Lizzy Caplan and Isla Fisher all represent the high school stereotypes, but grown up. These three women (the bitch, the burnout, the ditz, respectively) will make or break the movie for you. For the most part, they are awful people. Everything they do is selfish and fucked up, but I couldn't help but root for them. Kirsten Dunst is a perfect controlling bitch and here she thrives, carrying on the success she had with 2011's Melancholia. Lizzy Caplan is a fucking goddess and can do no wrong and when you pair her up with FUCKING ADAM SCOTT HOW CAN I NOT LOVE THIS MOVIE?!!?! Seriously, that is fucking incredible. If every filmmaker does this, you have a good movie in my book. I don't even wanna talk about this movie anymore. PARTY DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

p.s. Rebel Wilson is hilarious and so much funnier than Melissa McCarthy's fat ass, I'll do her justice in a few posts...
Rating - B-

 

[DoubleDeuce]

Hobbit too low imo.. but then again I'm a LOTR nerd and loved it

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

Hobbit is definitely too low.

On par with the original trilogy? No. But, I felt Jackson gave LOTR fans exactly what they wanted, which was a trip back to Middle Earth...a little more light hearted than the original Trilogy. The "Fellowship" of this series, I supposed.

 

[Cornelius]

Watched This is 40, with exception to the Melissa McCarthy principal's office scene, that movie was fucking awful. I wish it ended with them broke and homeless.

 

[BigHouseUSA]

I was so bored with The Hobbit, but it's probably because I'm not a huge fan of the books. Jackson is definitely indulging the superfans adding shit from The Silmarillion and expanding it way more than necessary.

 

[dell71]

I haven't watched The Hobbit, yet, but I have a co-worker who swears it's the best movie of the last decade.

Then again, he got "prepared" by re-reading the book for the millionth time and re-watching the LOTR trilogy the week before The Hobbit opened. Sigh.

 

[Palooza]

Game of Thrones killed the Hobbit.

 

[Palooza]

51 . ParaNorman

Kodi Smit-McPhee, Tucker Albrizzi, Jodelle Micah Ferland, Anna Kendrick, Casey Affleck, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jeff Garlin, John Goodman, Leslie Mann​

Director(s) - Chris Butler, Sam Fell
Writer(s) - Chris Butler
Source Material/Connections - n/a
MPAA Rating - PG
Release Date - August 17
Runtime - 1 hour, 33 minutes
RT Score - 87%
Metacritic - 72/100
Views - 1
Viewed - theaters
Quote - "It would've been a quiet night too, if it hadn't been for those meddling kids!"
Review - Made by the same studio behind Coraline, one of the best non-Pixar animated films of the past 10 years, ParaNorman has the same look and feel as Coraline, but nothing else really measures up. Norman is a horror movie geek who can also speak to the dead. Norman (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is a loner who gets picked on by pretty much everyone from his sister (Anna Kendrick) to the school bully (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), but once his crazy uncle (John Goodman) tells Norman that the old witch legend that the town has been profiting off of is legit. He dies and then it's up to Norman and his group of misfits to stop a zombie invasion and put the witch out of her misery for good. It's a fun, if sloppy and preachy plot. It explores a whole fuck-ton of child-friendly themes (anti-bullying, be your own person, etc) that, although they are thrown at you almost constantly through the messy plot, they help you relate to the characters and invest in their story. The stop-motion in 3D was absolutely fantastic, I loved every second of it. A solid Halloween-watch with kids or if you do drugs then it's fun then too.
Rating - B-

 

[Palooza]

50 . Jack Reacher

Tom Cruise, Rosamund Pike, Richard Jenkins, Werner Herzog, David Oyelowo, Jai Courtney, Michael Raymond-James, Robert Duvall​

Director(s) - Christopher McQuarrie
Writer(s) - Christopher McQuarrie
Source Material/Connections - based on the Jack Reacher novel “One Shot” by Lee Child
MPAA Rating - PG-13
Release Date - December 21
Runtime - 2 hours, 10 minutes
RT Score - 62%
Metacritic - 50/100
Views - 1
Viewed - theaters
Quote - "Just remember, you wanted this."
Review - This may be your run-of-the-mill action movie where the lead character is the embodiment of "bad ass", but it's highly entertaining with a creepy villain who stays far enough away from the action so that he doesn't become a cartoon thus allowing Tom Cruise's Reacher to control the show. For all the negative press Cruise gets for being a psychotic Scientologist, he's a fantastic action star. He's essentially the Brett Favre of Hollywood. He has his loyalists and he's always in the press, but nobody actually likes him as a person anymore. I certainly don't, but if you tell me he's going to be kicking some ass in an action movie, hopefully titled Mission:Impossible, but if not, as long as it doesn't star Cameron Diaz and tries to blend action and romance equally, it should be pretty good and I'll wanna see it. This is nowhere near as good as last year's awesome Mission:Impossible - Ghost Protocol, but it does most of the same things right. Christopher McQuarrie (writer, The Usual Suspects[won Oscar], Valkyrie, upcoming The Wolverine; dir. The Way of the Gun) is still getting the hang of directing and here he takes a step in the right direction, adapting the novel on top of directing duties. His ability to create awesome fist fights, car chases, gun fights and other varieties of action conventions is really what makes this movie what it is. Jai Courtney, who you may have seen as John McClane's son in A Good Day To Die Hard plays the right hand man to Werner Herzog's brilliant villain. Courtney does all the dirty work while Herzog moves all the pieces in place. Herzog is both scary and creepy as the villain, pulling off a guy who is not afraid to do anything or of anything that comes his way. He's in no way an equal match physically for Reacher, so that's why we have henchmen and Jai Courtney. This is a cool little espionage action thriller with some awesome chase and action scenes. If you can stand Tom Cruise and respect him for the action star he is, you will definitely like this movie. Robert Duvall shows up along the way to help, too, which was a nice little touch. Rosamund Pike and Richard Jenkins do their best with what they are given, but in a movie like this characters aren't going to be the most perfectly written. In terms of the writing, a few predictable elements (who the mole winds up being you knew from the get-go). You gotta know what you're getting going into a movie like this. It is mindless entertainment that helps 2 hours go by. It's not revolutionary (quite the opposite) but it does all these action movie, badass anti-hero cliches perfectly. Not going too far over the edge with them, but embracing them at the same time. I haven't read the novels so maybe Tom Cruise was a horrible choice physically, but he's still the go-to guy when you need a badass to solve a crime.
Rating - B-

 

[Palooza]

:runaway::runaway::runaway::runaway:
omg less than 50 movies left

 

[NAHSTE]

Hobbit is definitely too low.

... I felt Jackson gave LOTR fans exactly what they wanted,

If only that was the criteria with which Palooza was judging his movies. Fuck your couch, fanboy.

:bobbyv:

 

[Palooza]

Gunna do my best to get all the B- out of the way, which would end the day with #40.

This means I'll probably post one more today :thumbsup:

 

[DoubleDeuce]

I loved ParaNorman.. second best animated film of the year imo behind (Wreck-It Ralph)

 

[Palooza]

I loved ParaNorman.. second best animated film of the year imo behind (Wreck-It Ralph)

Agreed, but I LOVED Wreck-It Ralph, so you'll be waiting a while for that one.

 

[Palooza]

49 . Pitch Perfect

Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow, Skyler Austin, Rebel Wilson, Anna Camp, Ester Dean, Alexis Knapp, Ben Platt, Adam Devine, John Michael Higgins, Elizabeth Banks, Freddie Stroma, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jinhee Joung, John Benjamin Hickey​

Director(s) - Jason Moore
Writer(s) - Kay Cannon
Source Material/Connections - based on the book of the same name by Mickey Rapkin
MPAA Rating - PG-13
Release Date - October 5
Runtime - 1 hour, 52 minutes
RT Score - 81%
Metacritic - 62/100
Views - 2
Viewed - torrent
Quote - "You girls, are awesome...ly horrible. I hate you. Kill yourselves."
Review - I actually kinda fucking really liked this movie. It is some of the most fun you can have without admitting it to you guy friends. I imagine this movie may work out for guys in the long run, becoming a Mean Girls esque female-driven comedy that guys will be allowed to like. Me? I don't give a fuck. I really dug this tongue-in-check tolerable version of Glee. Still, at the end of the day it's Bring It On mixed with Glee with a brain, but what put it over the edge for me was the cast, Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson especially. Ooooh, want another "it's just like (this movie) but with (this quality)? Okay, let's do it - Pitch Perfect is surprisingly good music-oriented film like Drumline, but the lead (Anna Kendrick) is one of the most adorable and likable people on Earth unlike Nick Cannon who is the opposite. Seriously, Kendrick plays a perfect cute, underachieving talent who can lead these girls to victory! Seriously, she's perfect. We'll discuss it more in a bit. So the cast is great, it's has a ton of laughs from some self-aware, tongue-in-cheek humor and most of all, it is a lot of fun. I'm a sucker for catchy musical numbers in a movie and this movie has plenty of them. My low expectations certainly added to the experience - I definitely liked this movie a lot more because I didn't expect to; fuck all ya'll if you didn't think my expectations would be factored into all of these rankings. Whatever, end sidebar. Obviously with a movie like this you can see that all it takes it a tweek or two to a overdone, cliche genre or plot and you can be successful and make something that feels fresh. However, you can still see flaws in the storytelling that allows a film like this to exist - there are certain character qualities and situations that NEED to happen, even though they happen in every competition based movie and it sucks that it's unavoidable, but it's obviously going to bring the movie down, if only for a moment.

The movie works so well thanks to the brilliant cast, lead by Anna Kendrick who has perfect chemistry with everyone. Once I start getting into the plot you're going to start seeing the problems with it. The genre tropes are blatant and something obnoxious, but you carry on. So, like I said, she is perfect in the role of Beca, a rebellious, musical genius who wants to be a producer, making and remixing on her laptop. She is forced to go to the school her father (John Benjamin Hickey) teaches at, even though she wants to go to LA and start making music. Whatever, she stops going to class, meets a boy (Skyler Austin) at the school radio station she works at and Pops finds out and he drops the old PROPOSITION on her. Sure, fine. You can go to LA and become DJ Spin That Shit and I'll pay for the whole thing. BUT, you gotta stick it out this ONE YEAR and get involved. You must join one club and if you don't like it after a year, you can go to LA on my dime. Boom. The wheels on the plot bus go round and round. So she goes to a club fair and is propositioned by the Bellas, an all-girls a cappella group. The Bellas performing actually open up the movie where they are at regionals (regionals? what the hell is regionals? :thumbsup against their ARCH INTER-SCHOOL RIVAL the Treblemakers and they do their signature song and in the middle of it, Aubrey (Anna Camp) pukes all over the place. Projectile vomit. It is a pretty obnoxious and hilarious way to open the movie and certainly sets the tone. Either way, Aubrey and Chloe (Brittany Snow) are the only two members left from that STACKED SQUAD and they're recruiting hard on oops campus for girls who can just sing naturally. Considering this is a movie, they find five girls - lead by Rebel Wilson's hilarious fat Amy - who can sing really well. She's overly sexual but she's fat and obnoxious and it works perfectly with the humor of the rest of the movie, which if it wasn't present this movie would be pretty lame. Fat Amy leads the comedy train, so kudos to fat people for once. Unless we're talking about the "granola bar" then they have kudos all the time. Back to the plot, boy from the radio station joins the Treblemakers who themselves are lead by Adam from Workaholics, who is a perfect bully/asshole/faggot singing douche. After Anna Kendrick sings her tits off in the shower, Brittany Snow walks in and pretty much convinces her to join. Except there are rules! Like no hook ups with the Treblemakers! Except radio station guy is putting the moves on Beca hard, trying to force the movie-hating Beca to watch the end of The Breakfast Club with him. So we have the classic band of misfits story for the rest of the way. Aubrey is a controlling bitch who wants to do the same old lame songs that made her puke last year. Everyone else is too chicken shit to speak up except for Beca and after barely making it through the first couple rounds, Beca tosses in her own remix in the middle of the song, to everyone's approval except for Aubrey, fucking bitch. Beca quits, everyone is like omg wtf noooo sad face. But then Beca watches The Breakfast Club and she's all like what the fuck dude we are those misfits. We are a Band of Misfits! We must stick together! She comes back, takes the fucking crown from Aubrey's snatch and puts it on her head, declaring she's Queen Bitch here. We start remixing and doing new songs and boom, we're da best man, we did it. Adam from Workaholics bails before the big regionals! competition to sing back up for John Mayer so radio station guy takes over and at the end of the movie we see radio station guy and his homie and then Beca and her REGIONALS CHAMPION trophy next to her, obvs remixes are how you win. Remix with your mouth. So yeah, that's kinda dumb but like I said it's extremely entertaining, and most if not all of the tropes they use are filled with tongue-in-cheek humor and totally makes it tolerable, definitely an easy watch with lots of laughs. Ya dig?

It's like 8 Mile but with singing. It's like Bring It On but with singing. It's like Drumline but with singing. It's like Glee but not terrible. As you can see, there is a formula and here it works, but it is so easy to fuck it up, because these days following the formula means fucking it up. So what you gotta do is use the formula as a basis for your movie and then add a ton of humor, characters that are easy to root for, realistic challenges and an amazing lead and you have yourself a success. This movie is a success, but it still gets caught up a little bit in the cliches and obnoxious storytelling. The sequel will probably suck.

I really did like this movie. It was entertaining as fuck, both times. I could watch it a million times, too. Rewatchability is a huge factor, I'm sure it'll end up on MTV or like TBS at some point and it'll become everyone else's guilty pleasure, too.
Rating - B-

 

[Palooza]

48 . Lawless

Shia LeBeouf, Tom Hardy, Jason Clarke, Mia Wasikowska, Guy Pearce, Gary Oldman, Jessica Chastain, Dane DeHaan, Chris McGary, Lew Temple​

Director(s) - John Hillcoat
Writer(s) - Nick Cave
Source Material/Connections - based on the novel “The Wettest County in the World” by Matt Bondurant
MPAA Rating - R
Release Date - August 29
Runtime - 1 hour, 55 minutes
RT Score - 68%
Metacritic - 58/100
Views - 1
Viewed - torrent
Quote - “We control the fear. And without the fear, we are all as good as dead.”
Review - If you know who John Hillcoat is, you know you are in for a beautifully directed film with awesome landscapes, but what you're not sure of is whether it will have the storytelling of The Proposition or of his last attempt at adapting a novel, The Road. And don't ya know, it's pretty much a blend of both. Again, for the third time in a row, the movie looks beautiful. Awesome job on that front. However, the storytelling is much more packed than both The Road or The Proposition, but he is able to capture the same hopeless feel in all three. However, at times it can be a bit of a jumbled mess and somehow boring simultaneously. I'm not as much of a Shia LeBeouf hater as most people are, some of his movies are guilty pleasures of mine, but nothing has struck me as being really good. Here, he is the weakest point of the film. His growth in the movie feels forced and not really genuine, you can't believe him as a tough guy and it's unfortunate because there needed to be something from him to counteract yet another mumbling performance from Tom Hardy. Not sure what the fuck is up with the guy but he needs to learn some speech lessons from Christian Bale. His southern accent sounds like a drunken slurr of whatever he is trying to say, sometime to the point of frustration. Having this immediately following the voice controversy in The Dark Knight Rises is not a good look for Hardy. I'm still a fan, just fucking speak so I can understand what you are saying. Back to LeBeouf, his side story with Mia Wasikowaska is really fucking painful and uninspired. It takes away from the time we could have spent with the most underused character, the older brother played by Jason Clarke. So yeah, that's how I feel about this one - Awesome direction, solid writing, good acting outside of Hardy's mumble and LeBeouf entirely, but definitely could have used some better casting on that one, the movie definitely had some serious potential that it wound up mostly wasting.

Also, Gary Oldman disappears for a majority of the movie which was fucking annoying. Guy Pearce shows up as a dickhead and does it well. The weird make up works here only because of his work in Prometheus.
Rating - B-

 

[Leftwich]

I would fuck the everloving shit out of Anna Kendrick

 

[Palooza]

I would fuck the everloving shit out of Anna Kendrick

Get in line, buddy. Been waiting since she broke stuttering hearts in Rocket Science.