This Janu - oh, my... it’s already February! And I still have 3 or 4 of this left to do! Let me continue (and, hopefully, conclude) this February this series of articles that would recap or evaluate some (if I have the time, then all) of the highlights of 2012 that involved, concerned, compelled, and/or fascinated me… this is the fifth part…
Forget the Oscars. This is the first ever “Bernels.”
I’ve already picked out my top movies of 2012; so this time, I will be picking out winners by categories
relating to the movies of the past year.
The categories are not necessarily similar of those being given out in
the Academy Awards or Golden Globes.
This is just for fun, with only one criterion in picking out the
categories and winners: my preference.
Let’s begin.
Best Movie Moment: The Avengers’ Final Battle
There’s no other movie moment
that gave me such feeling of rapturous delight and spellbound absorption as
much as that part of the Avengers
where the team squared off with Loki and the Chitauri in New York City. Every
Avenger shined: Iron Man being awesome
was already a given, because ever since Robert Downey Jr. portrayed him in
film, we expect nothing less of the character but cocky and witty awesomeness. Captain America was impressive in his solo
film, but we all know that Cap shines most when he does some captaining with
the Avengers, and this was brilliantly shown in that sequence, as he makes a
clear battle plan for efficiently fighting the Chitauri. Thor is arguably the most powerful Avenger
(but, like Superman, is holding off his full power), and this was also displayed
well in that sequence. Black Widow and
Hawkeye were not merely supplementary or “padding” for the roster but were
showed to have the chops of being great A-list superheroes, despite not having
any superhuman abilities. And Hulk… more
about him later.
I’ve watched that sequence in The Avengers no less than a dozen times,
both from watching the entire film over again and forwarding the film to that
point where Loki and Stark were trading banters. Shows how much I loved this movie moment.
(In fact, writing about it now
compelled me to watch it again. LOL)
Runner-Ups: Cabin in the Woods’ Horror All-Stars Havoc, Pencak Silat fest in The Raid: Redemption
Best Movie Hero: Hulk (The Avengers)
Yes, every Avenger shined in the
movie, but the Hulk stole every scene he’s in.
The scene where he tossed around the arrogant Loki like a ragdoll was reason enough to
become my pick as best male movie character.
Hulk, despite being one of
founding members of the team, is never a fit for team play. He is an unpredictable, uncontrollable Weapon
of Mass Destruction. Therefore, as a
WMD, he is a powerful and dangerous threat to both enemies and the side
he’s on. This is what Hulk on a
superhero team brings. And this
interesting element has been perfectly depicted in the movie. That’s why, when Cap was instructing the
Avengers on their battle plan, Cap’s command to Hulk was merely “Smash.” And he did.
Runner-Ups: Dr. Schulz (Django Unchained), 007 (Skyfall), Abraham Lincoln (Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter)
Best Movie Heroine: Katniss
Everdeen (The Hunger Games)
I’m always a sucker for strong
no-nonsense female characters. And
Katniss is one of them. She is tenacious,
independent, and intelligent. Toughened
by having a hard life, her primarily concern is survival and she has no room
for unnecessary things like romance. Being
a survivalist, her instincts and will carried her through in making the right
calls during the Hunger Games – a televised free-for-all deathmatch among
teenagers – allowing her to stand tall in the end.
Runner-Ups: Selena Kyle (Dark Knight Rises),
Best Movie Villain: Mad Dog (The Raid: Redemption)
The movie The Raid: Redemption was a treasury of intense fight scenes – the
best piece of close combat epicness I’ve seen in a movie for a long time. And two of the three best fight scenes have Mad
Dog (the right hand man of the drug lord who the SWAT protagonists were
targeting) in it. The word badass is
being thrown a lot by people – including me – these days, but Mad Dog brings
justice to this adjective. He is a
tough, brutal, and proficient fighter who finds great thrill in fighting and
killing with his bare hands. He is so
confident with his skills and capabilities that he willingly puts himself in a
handicap so that the fight and the kill can be more stimulating for him. Bane is a badass villain, being able to break
Batman’s back; but if he finds in a fight with Mad Dog, my money
is on Mad Dog.
Runner-ups: Loki (The Avengers), Bane (The Dark Knight Rises), Gollum (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey)
Best Movie Villainess: Madame
Thénardiers (Les Misérables)
There are not much fascinating
female villains to choose from in 2012’s pool of movies, so this is almost just
a “winner by default” pick. I adore
Helen Bonham Carter, so I pick her character in Les Misérables. Along with Sasha Baron
Cohen, they enjoyably played the dirty, dishonest husband-and-wife thieving duo, the Thénardiers,
lighting the mood of the generally gloomy and dramatic musical.
Best Animal Character: Richard
Parker (Life of Pi)
Richard Parker – never just
“Richard” or “Parker”, but always “Richard Parker” – is the name of the tiger
that shared the experience of being stranded at sea with the main character,
Pi. I love how cleanly the tiger has
been animated into the movie; it was so realistic that Pi’s interactions with
him throughout the movie were effectively emphatic.
Best Cameo: Moose (Step Up Revolution)
I decided to watch Step Up Revolution because of three
reasons: a) I am greatly entertained of great dancing, b) my date loves dancing,
thus, she likes Step Up movies and wanted to watch this new one, and c)
Moose’s cameo. Moose is definitely the most charismatic character that ever appeared in the Step Up franchise that a mere cameo of him makes me excited.
Runner-Up: Stan Lee (The Amazing Spider-Man)
Most Hilarious Character: Ted (Ted)
Ted, the movie and the character,
is the most hilarious movie and most hilarious movie character of the year. I’ve never been a fan of Seth McFarlane. I’ve always looked at Family Guy as an inferior Simpsons
rip-off. And McFarlane’s brand of humor,
crude and unclassy though funny, has never appealed to me. But put that kind of humor on a teddy bear
magically brought to life and it works!
There’s something riotous about a typical adorable teddy bear having a
vulgar mouth and lifestyle.
Best Movie News: Disney Buys
Lucasfilm, Star Wars 7 in 2015!
Most Terrible Movie I’ve Watched:
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
Ugh. What a shame.
I never expect this sequel to be an awesome superhero flick, but I was
nonetheless hoping it was, at least, going to be a mediocre but “okay”
superhero movie like its predecessor. Ghost
Rider is one of Marvel’s most intriguing properties, and this movie just crapped
on it. With the exception of that scene
where Ghost Rider converted a huge crane into a gigantic flaming machine, the
entire movie was total garbage. There
are definitely worse 2012 movies than this, but I haven’t gone to see them, knowing they’d
be terrible. With Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, I gave it the benefit of the doubt,
watched it, and wished I didn’t.
Best Direct-to-Video Animated
Movie: The Dark Knight Rises Part 1
Since Paranorman was included in my top 10 movies for the second-half of 2012, I already implied that it’s my pick for best animated movie of the year. So, instead, let’s have a “Best
Direct-to-Video Animated Movie” category instead.
Superman and the Elite made the top movies of the first-half edition,
but it isn’t the best. It’s The Dark Knight Rises Part 1, which was released during the second half of the year. It didn’t make the second half edition’s top 10 because movies are packed at that time and there are just better movies than it for
it to be considered. Nonetheless, it is
arguably one of the best animated superhero movies ever made. Based on Frank Miller’s classic, the story
tells of a 55-year old Bruce Wayne who was forced to come out of retirement as
Batman. Part 2 (which is even better than Part 1) was released in January 2013.
Best Action Scenes: The Raid: Redemption
My preference for a terrific
action scenes are more on close-combat martial arts than Michael Bay
explosions. And I’ve already mentioned
that The Raid: Redemption has among the best fight scenes ever made in the history of action movies. The action scenes were
savagely realistic, sustaining the movie’s testosterone intensity from start to
finish.
Most Romantic Movie: Silver Linings Playbook
If that’s not romantic, I don’t
know what is.
Movies I Wanted to Watch on
Theater but Missed: Titanic 3D
When Avatar was released, there was still no 3D theater here in my
hometown. And when it was re-released
for special screening a week after the opening of the first 3D theater here, I
still wasn’t able to see it. Whether you
love or hate Avatar, you can’t deny
that critics praise James Cameron when it comes to the use of 3D. And I’ve yet to see the visual thrill that
Cameron can do with the 3D medium. This
past 2012, he decided to re-release his classic Titanic in 3D. And reviews
said that it’s “3D conversation done right.”
That kind of praise was intriguing.
Considering that based on experience, most 3D conversions I’ve seen end
up as “pop-up book” visuals, I really wanted to experience this hyped 3D
conversion of Titanic for
myself. But I missed it. Can’t remember why. Maybe I had no money when it was released, or
I had not time. The reason doesn’t matter,
the fact is I was not able to see it.
And it kind of sucks that I still have to wait for Avatar 2 to see if the hype about Cameron’s 3D prowess is totally
warranted.
Most Underrated Movie: John
Carter
Regardless of what the box office
returns for this movie imply, regardless of what critics say of it, John Carter
was a good and enjoyable sci-fi flick – one of the best films of 2012.
Movie That Would Have Made My Top 10
Movies of 2012 List IF I Was Able to Watch It in 2012: Django Unchained
If you’ve read the second half edition of my top 10 2012 movies list, you would know that there were movies
that I wanted to watch in 2012 but wasn’t able to, thus, were not able to be
considered for the top 10. But, if you
notice, those movies – Life of Pi, Les Misérables, Silver Linings Playbook – are being considered here in “The Bernels”. It’s because I was able to watch them already
as of writing. You might even consider “The
Bernels” a “Top 10 Movies of 2012 (Post-2012 Edition)” (Hmmm. That actually
sounds good. Might try it next year.)
However, among those movies, only one would have made my final top 10 if I
was able to watch it in 2012 (thus, would have qualified for the final top 10 picks),
and that is Quentin Tarantino’s Western, Django
Unchained. It would have taken the number 7 spot. I really love a good Western
story and amazing Western gunslingers, and this movie has both. The characters were fascinatingly compelling,
the gunfights were exhilarating, and the dialogues and monologues were very
engaging.
(Bonus!) Coolest Movie-Related Stuff I Found in the Internet:
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