Following on from my Top Six of films in 2011, I thought it was only fair to put together a Top Six of my predictions for 2012, because there are a lot of films to be looking forward to, for a variety of reasons. So basically, it's a list of the six films that I am most looking forward to and that I think will do well over the next 12 months.
Because I haven't seen any of these films, it's hard to put them into much of an order. Also, because these films haven't been released yet, it's difficult to have much to say, so I'm just going to let the posters and available trailers do the talking :)
6. Dark Knight Rises
UK Release: 20th July 2012
5. Snow White and the Huntsman
UK Release: 1st June 2012
4. The Great Gatsby
UK Release: To be confirmed...
3. Perks of Being a Wallflower
UK Release: To be confirmed...
2. Avengers
UK Release: 27th April 2012
1. Hunger Games
UK Release: 23rd March 2012
Will these films be awesome in 2012? I don't know, but I have high hopes. Although, a quick message to the makers of The Great Gatsby and Perks of Being a Wallflower, come on, stop drip-feeding us rubbish images and give us a trailer, a release date or at the very least a teaser poster....you know you want to ;)
Chris Evans Hugo Weaving Hayley Atwell Tommy Lee Jones Stanley Tucci Dominic Cooper
Last weekend I went to see Chris Evans in action in the new Captain America film and I just thought I'd share my thoughts on the film. I'll try and point out the highs and the lows without giving anything important away.
First impressions
To be honest the film wasn't quite what I expected, then again I wasn't sure what to expect. On the whole I thought it was a pretty fair adaptation of the comics but Joe Johnston's direction failed to depict the horrors of war and that is one of the reasons why it didn't live up to expectations. Of course it would be unfair to put down the film on that point alone and so I will look at some other bad points later in the review, and some good points too.
The good points
On the whole The First Avenger is a pretty decent action film with plenty of well thought out fights and some witty dialogue. The script was good enough to keep me watching which can't be bad. Right then, what about Chris Evans performance? Well, he is certainly not Johnny Storm in fact he is far removed from that character which is a good thing. The casting of Chris Evans did leave me thinking that it was a wrong choice however there is nothing to fear as he was spot on as the star spangled avenger. He character is worth rooting for as it is easy to warm to the underdog especially when he takes a beating in an alley but refuses to back down.
Other performances of note are Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark who showed that he was just as eccentric as his son. Stanley Tucci pulled of the friendly German act pretty well. He is a likable character and was much departed from his role in The Lovely Bones (Thought I'd mention his role in that film as I watched it for the first time the weekend before).
The effects are worth noting particularly the mind blowing early sequences which show Chris Evans as a skinny individual. The effects team definitely had their work cut out pulling off that effect. There are also plenty of decent action sequences which help to demonstrate Caps enhanced strength and ability.
The bad points
What didn't I like about this film? Personally I would have preferred to have seen Captain America mucking it up with the average soldiers, storming the beaches of Normandy for instance. The horrors of war are not explored in this film and I feel that if they're where it would have given the character of Captain America more depth. I just wanted him to endure what many young soldiers would have endured in the war. Hugo Weaving as the Red Skull didn't quite cut it. Think Agent Smith with a German accent and you'll have an idea of how he played the part.
Final thought
I kind of liked this film, in fact I preferred it to X-Men First Class and Thor. It had a bit of character, a good performance from Chris Evans and an endearing period setting which set it apart from other superhero movies. I just thought that we could have seen more of the war, instead it was slightly glossed over for the sake of taking a safe approach.
For me, music plays an immense role in a film, and it can be one of the most important defining pieces that a film can possibly have, amongst good casting, good scripting etc. And when it comes to film soundtracks, I have to say that by rule of thumb (noting that this is not always the case), but soundtracks driven predominantly by bands and contemporary artists grow dull. I love the old-fashioned, full Orchestra instruments with great passion. They speak volumes, create awesome amounts of emotion, and are just important.
But, like most things in life, I have my favourite film composers, and then I have the ones that I'm not too keen on. Here is my Top Six Film Composers. I'm sure your list will be totally different, so feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.
6. Danny Elfman
Danny Elfman is potentially one of these most well-known film composers of the past couple of decades. Completely quirky, Elfman's name usually coincides with similar works, but most often anything by the just-as-quirky Tim Burton. If there was one composer I had to say creates personality through his music, Danny Elfman would be that composer. His music is often bright, often quirky, but similarly can be twistedly dark, yet oddly humourous.
Best Compositions: The Simpsons theme tune, Desperate House, Nightmare Before Christmas and practically everything by Tim Burton. It's quite easy to guess which film scores were composed by Elfman.
Not-so-Great Compositions: Nothing Elfman has done has ever been bad, as such, I just get bored with the fact that most of his pieces are very similar. In a sense, this isn't necessarily a bad thing, because at least he's a composer whose sound you can genuinely recognise.
Elfman has done so much when it comes to film scores, so here is a selection of his best!
5. Randy Newman
Like with Danny Elfman, when you hear a Randy Newman song, you know that it is a Randy Newman, but not entirely for the same reason as with Elfman. The recognisable aspect of Newman "compositions" is the presence of vocals provided by Newman himself. Personally, I haven't come across any other composer who provides vocals to their scores, and Newman's voice has become a sort of gimmick, that you recognise instantly.
The nice thing is that Newman pieces are generally quite sweet and jolly, that you can't help smile about when you hear them.
You'll Know Newman from: Toy Story, Monk, A Bug's Life.
This song, from the classic Pixar "Toy Story", is probably Newman's most well-known piece.
4. John Murphy
John Murphy is a composer that I can imagine you have probably never heard of. I certainly hadn't until recently, that's for sure. But, I bet if you heard one of his most infamous pieces, you'd slap yourself and think "I know that one".
The nice thing about Murphy, is that he is a true British composer, and has worked predominantly on British films, or films with British connections. But, interestingly, despite not realising who he is, Murphy has actually composed the score for 49 different films!
You'll recognise his work from: Sunshine, 28 Days Later, 28 Weeks Later, Kick Ass, Snatch, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. See, I told you you'd know his work. And yes, Murphy did compose that infamous piece of music from 28 Days Later, that also featured in Sky One's Hex and was changed, by Murphy for Kick Ass.
Final Thoughts: For a composer I was unaware of, I really have a huge amount of respect for Murphy. His music is so hauntingly beautifully, and conjures up so much emotion. This piece from the Danny Boyle film "Sunshine" is definitely my favourite Murphy score, because it represents the sheer awe and magnificence that the sun creates.
3. Ennio Morricone
I know that a lot of people are probably screaming at me, for not putting Morricone at number one, because he is an absolute legend, but personally, he honestly isn't my favourite film composer.
With 499 (wow, how amazing will it be when he hits 500?) film scores very firmly under his belt, all spanning a total of fifty years (Holy Cow!), Morricone has worked with some of the biggest names in Hollywood, including Hitchcock, Brian DePalma etc.
What you'll know him from: Morricone is probably most famous for his Spaghetti Western compositions, of which are often incredibly epic and often quite moving. His most moving pieces are of course from the classic 1986 film "The Mission".
My favourite Morricone piece has got to be Chi Mai, which is an amazingly beautiful piece of music and never, ever fails to make me cry (I am not ashamed to confess that!). And here it is, so that you can all enjoy it too :)
2. John Williams
Yet another, that could have been number one, but still not entirely my favourite composer (obviously), John Williams has composed some of the movie industries most well-known scores, and his career of 135 film scores spans fifty five years, which I have to say, is incredibly impressive.
Unlike some composers mentioned, Williams' work tends to be quite diverse, but he has to be the King of big Orchestral film scores.
You will definitely have heard his work in: Star Wars, Schindlers List, Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan, Harry Potter and so much more.
It's really hard to choose just one piece of Williams' to share, but I definitely feel that I have picked the right one, in The Schindler's List theme tune, partially because it is a far stretch away from his typical work, in the sense that it is a very dark score, but it is such a beautifully moving piece that perfectly depicts and summarises the tone of the film.
1. Hans Zimmer
Putting Hans Zimmer at number one of my list of film composers felt like a complete no-brainer. Similar to Williams, Zimmer's work spans a wide range of genres and overall sounds that always fit perfectly into the world of the visuals being created, whether that is an epic adventure, or even the quirkyness of a Decective story.
Like all of my favourite composers (excluding perhaps Elfman, but only because his "sound" doesn't really fit this description!), Zimmer's scores are always so haunting and moving, that I always feel deeply touched by them, and they always help you to become connected with what is going on.
You'll know him from: Inception, Sherlock Holmes, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Dark Knight, Black Hawk Down, Gladiator, Rain Man.
With a career spanning the equivalent of my whole life (twenty seven years, if you must know!!), Zimmer hasn't been around as long as legends such as Morricone and Williams, but he has arguably done so many classic scores in that period of time.
To show how excellent a composer Zimmer is: Whenever I listen to the Inception soundtrack, I can always pinpoint exactly what was going on during the scene that the piece was used, with so much detail it's kind of weird.
But then, whenever I listen to the Sherlock Holmes soundtrack, I always feel like I'm half smiling, purely because the theme tune has this quirky little "edge" to it, that sums up Robert Downey Jnr's Sherlock absolutely perfectly. He's a character with so many quirks, and faults with such a quite mind, and Zimmer has mimicked this so well in his soundtrack. For me, this is exactly what a good composer does. They can look at something going on on screen, whether it is the actual events, or the character and they can create a piece of music that represents a feeling, an emotion, an image in a way that is breathtaking and often beautiful.
I honestly couldn't pick just one score of Zimmer's to share with you guys, so since I made him my number one, I thought he deserved two. Both of my choices are recent scores, however, they are both compeltely different from each other. The first is from the quirky Sherlock Holmes, which I summed up before, but this piece really captures the period, and never fails to make me smile from ear to ear.
My second score choice is from Inception, a completely different film and of course a completely different type of score. It's big band drama, is utterly sinister but an absolutely incredible piece of music that supports the mind-bending, confusing film.
As Marvel have offloaded their most well known characters onto the public (X-Men, Iron Man and Hulk) they are now digging deeper into their comic book arsenal. Captain America and Thor are next in line to receive the big screen treatment before the release of the Avengers in 2012. These two films along with Hulk and Iron Man where made by Marvel Studios which means they are all interlinked.
This is a great step forward for Marvel fans and for anyone who has a soft spot for any Marvel related films that have gone before. Superhero films can have a tendency to lack any kind of depth however there are those that do stand out from the rest, namely the X-Men films and the first Hulk (although many may disagree). I've been hoping for a decent Captain America film for a long time, after the weak 90s version, so I'd like to see good things from the First Avenger.
So what could go against the Captain America film?
The first potential downside to this film is the lead actor. Wasn't Chris Evans the Human Torch in a certain other Marvel film a few years ago? It seems a bit strange to have the same actor play another Marvel character. But I will give him the benefit of the doubt.
So what about the choice of director? I would have said he was a bad choice a few years ago but after the Wolfman I'm not so sure. I will confess that I haven't actually seen the film but judging from the trailer and the odd clip I've seen, his directing abilities have veered to a more serious approach. This is what I want from the Captain America film, not a shallow special effects laden no-brainer; I think the comics deserve more than that.
Captain America has a lot of potential and unlike many superhero films there is a lot more scope for the sequels. The comics have dealt with some pretty edgy issues such as terrorism and in today's uncertain world it would seem appropriate (but difficult to approach) to include such a storyline a future Captain America film.
Well those are some of my thoughts on the Captain America film, if anyone wants to make a comment please feel free to do so. We'd like to hear your thoughts on this, or any other film.
