Films of 2012

31. Shaft
This was just utterly boring.  An awful film.  Avoid.

30. Coriolanus
If tried and tried, but I just don't like Shakespeare.  I thought the plot of this was average to poor, and I can't stand the whole Shakespearian-language-in-a-modern-setting thing they keep doing.

29. The Lord of the Rings
No, not the new one.  The 1978 animated one.  Really very poor.  Laughable in fact.  Thank God for Peter Jackson.

28. Alien: Resurrection
Ludicrous.  Didn't even make sense.  Some cool action, and Sigourney Weaver, were the only positives.

27. Dante's Peak
Similar to above but slightly less ludicrous and without Sigourney Weaver.

26. 12 Monkeys
I've seen it twice and I couldn't tell you what it's about.  Very forgettable, except for Brad Pitt's brilliant performance - the only thing that saves the film.

25. American Psycho
Christian Bale is superb as always and the film is strangely gripping, but in the end it's not much more than a load of rubbish.

24. Source Code
A brilliant idea which falls apart when it runs into logic.  Not an awful film but far from satisfactory.  Some good ideas, but in the end, I felt cheated of an actual storyline.

23. Drive
I quite liked the first half, mainly because of Carey Mulligan.  The second half kind of fell apart, and not even a bit of Carey Mulligan could hold it together.  Half of a reasonable film.

22. Nativity 2
A few hilarious scenes that had me laughing out loud, but the ridiculous plot means that this is not a good film.  Entertaining, but not quality.

21. The Wolfman
This was ok.  Not particularly good, not particularly bad, just ok.

20. Spartacus
Long, but I don't mind that.  Some pretty dramatic stuff.  Just not that inspiring or gripping in the end.  It's like the Tesco Value version of Gladiator.

19. Juno
A good, fun, lighthearted film.  I enjoyed watching this, though I probably wouldn't bother watching it again.

18. The Recruit
This was a reasonable film.  Some very gripping moments.  But ultimately, it's a spy film, and I don't really like spy films.

17. Phantom of the Opera
This was reasonable.  Really good music, nicely done.

16. Life of Pi
Great effects, though that's not unusual these days.  I really liked large chunks of it, but it had a lame ending. and not a great start.

15. Looper
Some excellent moments, and they really tries hard to make it a sensible film.  It was great to watch, but met the obstacle that every time-travel film meets: its doesn't make any sense.

14. What's Eating Gilbert Grape?
This would be a lot lower if it weren't for Leonardo DiCaprio.  He is amazing in this.  Other than him, it's not that special, but his performance is outstanding.

13. Contagion
I missed this in the cinema so was happy to see it on DVD.  It's exciting and gripping.  A good film.

12. The Wrestler
This was very good, very watchable, but had a disappointing ending.

11. Phone Booth
What a brilliant idea, and really well done.  Very exciting, and Colin Farrell is excellent.

10. An Education
This is a decent film.  But Carey Mulligan is, as always, brilliant.  She makes this film.

7=. Brave
Pixar never really fail do they?  Good plot, great animation, watchable, funny.

7=. Alien
Some amazing scenes and great acting.  Completely gripping.  Limited by poor effects, but that's about it.

7=. Alien 3
More like Aliens than Alien, but not quite as good as Aliens and about as good as Alien.

6.  Aliens
Bigger, more exciting, more impressive than Alien.  And therefore slightly better.

4=. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Quality.  In pretty much every respect.  A really, really good film.  David Fincher is definitely one of my favourite directors.

4=. Holes
Wow.  Quite simple, and quite a small film, but really good.  Very deep and thought provoking, and also very entertaining.

2=. The Hunger Games
Great plot, great action, great characters - a great film.

2=. The Dark Knight Rises
There was a lot of pressure on this film, but it delivered.  All round excellence.  Review here.

1.  The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
No, it's not LOTR.  So far, it's certainly not as good as LOTR.  But it still does almost everything better than almost any other film.  If most films are on Earth, and LOTR is on another planet, then this still is one of the films that is on the moon.  Review here.

Albums of 2012

Here is a ranked list of the albums I have got this year.  Just in case anyone cares.  Bizzarely, there are three times as many albums on this list as on last year's.  It seems I have acquired a lot of new music this year.

21.  Northern Lights - Someone Else's Eyes
This is ok.  Some nice tunes.  Just not very interesting.

20.  Jamie Hill - One Day
Meh.  It's just ok.

19.  Phil Joel - The Deliberate People
Some reasonable songs here.  Nothing special though.

18.  Sigur Ros - Valtari
Other than () and Takk, I'm not too fussed by Sigur Ros.  Those two albums are incredible.  This one is ok.

17.  Soul Survivor - Soul Survivor 2011
This is quite mediocre.  The best songs on here are the ones of Matt Redman's album or One Thing Remains - all of which I already knew.  Not that impressive.

16.  The Gentlemen - A Candid History of Faith, Hope, Love
This is cool.  Not as good as their first album, but not bad.

15.  Bluetree - Kingdom
Quite underwhelming after their impressive first album, but some decent songs here.

14.  Syntactical Sugar - The Deuteronomy
This is pretty cool.  Not amazing, but no weak points.

13.  The Last Spectacular - The Last Spectacular
A nice album, featuring, but unfortunately dominated by the outstanding No Resistance.

12.  Jenny and Tyler - This Isn't a Dream
Some really nice songs.  A good album, though it doesn't hit the heights of some of their other stuff.

9=.  Jenny and Tyler - Open Your Doors
Slightly better, including the lovely Skyline Hill.

9=.  Bloc Party - Four
This is certainly no Weekend in the City, but it still has some really good songs.

9=.  The Birthday Suit - A Conversation Well Rehearsed
Solid.  Just very solid all round.

8.  Something Like Silas - Divine Intervention
Similarly solid.  I really like listening to this album.

7.  The Temper Trap - The Temper Trap
The Temper Trap are really good, and this album is really good.

6.  Tom + Olly - Spirals
I love Tom + Olly's style.  This album is packed full of tunes.

4=.  Muse - The 2nd Law
Another very strong album from the inimitable Muse.  Highlights include Madness, Follow Me and Big Freeze.

4=.  Anberlin - Vital
A happy return to form after the previous album.  Great stuff.  Anberlin back to (almost) their best.

3.  Jesus Culture - Come Away
Very strong.  Just very strong.  They really are excellent at this stuff.

2.  The Birthday Suit - The Eleventh Hour
Very surprising.  This band only appeared this year.  But this is really good.  Not quite Idlewild-good (The frontman is former Idlewild guitarist Rod Jones), but still really good.

1.  Jenny and Tyler - Faint Not
A very good album, with at least 5 superb songs, including probably my song of the year, Song For You.


It should be noted that I also got The Chilis' Stadium Arcadium this year, but couldn't committ to putting it on this list as it's a double album, which felt a bit like cheating.  I do like it though.  There were also some decent EPs this year: This is Freedom - Welcome Home; To Kill a King - My Crooked Saint; Martin Smith - God's Great Dancefloor; Lifecolour - Time to be Free; Dennis - Colliery Welfare.

The Hobbit: review

Here are my thoughts, in a slightly structured but slightly random order.  I will try to limit comments on large scale adaptation of the book until I've seen all three films in a couple of years.  Spoilers follow.

• I've seen the film in 2D and 3D.  3D still does not impress me - it just costs a bit more and makes my eyes hurt a bit.  I expect that 3D IMAX would be very impressive, but I haven't seen it.  I also haven't seen the film in 48fps, so I can't comment much on it - but I expect it looks good and I expect it to become the cinematic norm.
• It was great to see Ian Holm and Elijah Wood in the film.  It helps to connect the film to LOTR.  I actually teared up when these two came on screen.
• Martin Freeman is perfect.  I expected him to be very good, but he exceeded my expectations.  Simply outstanding.  He's a very capable serious actor but also has a great deadpan humour about him.  Sometimes it was just like watching him in The Office (in a good way).
• New Zealand looks, if anything, even more spectacular than it did in LOTR.  Some of the wide shots are stunning.
• The soundtrack is brilliant, both in it's own right and in the way it connects to the LOTR soundtrack.  Howard Shore, I salute you.
• All three LOTR films started with some sort of prologue, and the first Hobbit film followed the pattern.  It worked really well, especially with Ian Holm's Bilbo narrating it.  I also liked the bonus prologue section later on detailing Azog and Thorin's enmity (more on Azog later).
• The party scene was an excellent to introduce the dwarves.  It was full of humour but also meaty exposition.  It started to paint the picture of dwarven culture.  And it had some really good camerawork too.
• Riddles in the dark was superb.  Everything I'd hoped for.  It's one of my favourite scenes from any book, and I was not let down.  I've already said how good Freeman is, and Serkis is, of course, a master.
• The action sequences were sometimes a bit ridiculous.  The troll fight was good, as was the battle outside Moria, but the storm-giants scene and the escape from goblin-town were ludicrously overdone.  The storm-giants scene was unnecessary, and there was little chance anyone would have survived such an encounter, let alone all 15 of them.  Similarly, sequences in goblin-town were very unconvincing, especially with respect to the survival rate of the heroes.  One reviewer described these scenes as "extended, jovially bloody battle between dwarves and goblins, larded with visual jokes involving decapitation, disembowelment, and baddies crushed by rolling rocks. The sequence is more like a body-count video game than like anything in the sedate novel, where battles are confused and brief and frightening, rather than exuberant eye-candy ballet."
• The warg attack was excessive and unnecessary.  It slowed the story down.  They could have just let Radagast go back to keep an eye on Mirkwood, and have Gandalf convince Thorin to go to Rivendell to check out the map.
• One common criticism has been that the dwarves are just a bunch of personality-less simulacrums.  To an extent I agree with this.  I think Dwalin, Balin, Fili and Kili are distinct, partly because they arrive at the party in small groups, and Bofur is too, because he has an enlargened role and everyone always remembers James Nesbitt.  But the others lack screen time as individuals and lack opportunities to show themselves.  I can understand that a viewer would struggle to identify with many of them, especially if they hadn't been following the film's developments in advance.  I think Jackson could have spent more time with the dwarves, developing their characters, and cut the warg attack.
• The troll scene good - funny but also perilous, and another chance to see the dwarves in action just being dwarves - as I just mentioned, the film needed more of this.
• I liked the Radagast/Necromancer stuff.  It added an extra level of plot and peril above what was going on in the dwarves' quest, and it helped to start linking the film to LOTR.
• Azog's role was changed from the book.  This was good.  It helped expand Thorin's role and added an extra elements of suspense.  It also provided this first film with a climax - much like the character or Lurtz did for FOTR.  More on Azog here.
• The use of the orc language confused me.  In LOTR, orc and uruk-hai use the common tongue - not precisely accurate, but it makes sense from a simplicity point of view and makes the film easier to watch.  In The Hobbit, orc spoke their own language (subtitled) while on their own, and used the common tongue in scenes with dwarves.  This just seemed inconsistent with LOTR, which is a shame while most of the film is consistent.  It would have been better to just keep the orcs using the common tongue.
• Gandalf's magic seemed inconsistent especially compared with LOTR.  He uses his magic a lot more in The Hobbit, or at least a lot more overtly.  Which begs the question, why didn't he use it more in LOTR.  Again, this is a consistency issue between the two trilogies.  It will be interesting to see what happens in parts 2 and 3.
• I think they chose a good point at which to break the film - between the eagles and Beorn.
• When Thorin charges Azog at the end of the film, the music playing is the Nazgul theme.  This baffled me.  I have no idea why they did this.  Anyone care to suggest a reason?
• FOTR was practically the perfect film.  It had no weaknesses.  This wasn't as strong an opening to a trilogy as that was, but this was nevertheless an excellent film.  And I expect that the extended edition will include more dwarvishness, which I will enjoy.
• Overall - a great film and excellent adaptation.  A very promising start to the trilogy indeed.  A bit to action-heavy for me, and the action that was there was sometimes over the top.  But other than that I have very few complaints.  My film of the year, perhaps?  That list will come soon.

Soundtrack of 2012

Here is my soundtrack of 2012 - the songs I have been listening to most this year.

The Birthday Suit - The Eleventh Hour (no video available)
I love the start of this song - the guitar, drums everything.  A very catchy song, with great melodies.

Bluetree - Burn Me Up
From when Bluetree weren't afraid to be creative.  I love how stripped back large parts of this are.

DC Talk - In The Light
A very funky song.  DCTalk doing what they do so well.  Great sounds, great message.

Dennis - Ella
I love listening to this song.  Very upbeat, and a lot of fun.

Dennis - Carry Me Home (no video available, but you can listen here)
Possibly my favourite Dennis song.  It's just lovely.  I love the build through the choruses near the end.

Easyworld - A Stain To Never Fade
An old song that reminds me of being a teenager.  David Ford's vocals are still ridiculous.

Jenny and Tyler - Song For You
Possibly my song of the year, and on my 'contenders for greatest song of all time' list.  It's just massive.

Jenny and Tyler - Through Your Eyes
Beautifully haunting?  Hauntingly beautiful?  Either way, this song is wonderful.

Jenny and Tyler - Skyline Hill
Not normally the sort of thing I'd go for, but this song grabbed me this year and didn't let go.

Jesus Culture - Come Away/Let Me In
Jesus Culture are so good at what they do.  I love the positivity of this song.

The Last Spectacular - No Resistance (no video available, but you can listen here)
This song, possibly more than any other song, impressed me from the very first time I heard it.  Another on my 'contenders for greatest song of all time' list.

Lifecolour - Faking Masqurades (no video available, but you can listen here)
This song reminds me of Hebron.  I don't know why.  I just love it.

Muse - Follow Me
Another great song by Muse, they just keep coming.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Otherside
An old song, but it's been in my head all year.  It has everything I love about the Chilis.

Rock'n'Roll Worship Circus - Everybody Awake
Fun, optimistic, and a good tune.  This was the first song onto my soundtrack this year.

Sigur Ros - Vaka
A lovely tune.  Interestingly, the only Sigur Ros song I can sing by heart in its entirety.

The Sunshine Underground - The Messiah
I love how this song is less than 6 minutes long, but feels like at least 8.  Some great moments of music here.