CliqueClack2012 movies – a few of my favorite things
As 2012 comes to an end, I take a look at the movies that weren’t necessarily the best of the year, but the ones that gave me the most entertainment.
What more needs to be said about Marvel’s The Avengers? After years of planning by giving audiences superhero movies featuring Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, and even The Incredible Hulk (the second one), Marvel Studios managed to bring together not only the heroes but the stars who played them, making this kind of like an Irwin Allen all-star disaster epic from the 1970s. And with the already established characters on board, they also brought in Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye and managed to reinvent The Hulk by re-casting the role yet again with the always excellent Mark Ruffalo. Ruffalo really embodied the character of Bruce Banner that was created way back when on TV by Bill Bixby, and defined his entire personality with a single line, “I’m always angry.” And as the Hulk, we loved Ruffalo when he was angry. And now that they finally got someone in the role who really gets the characters (and Edward Norton’s version wasn’t bad, but Ruffalo and the character just fit like a glove), could Marvel be willing to take another chance on giving the big green guy another shot at his own movie?
I know, I know … you can put this one right up there with The Three Stooges in the category of “What is he thinking?” but I enjoyed Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter. I enjoyed the performances, I liked the vampires of the Deep South and why they didn’t want slavery to end, and the film’s attempts at tying in real historical figures in Lincoln’s life. Plus it had a magnificent finale set aboard a runaway train and some pretty decent 3D. No one is going to mention Benjamin Walker’s name for awards consideration as Lincoln in the same breath with Daniel Day-Lewis, but he did an admirable job nonetheless. If you want a history lesson, see Lincoln. This one is pure popcorn.
I am not a fan of Seth MacFarlane’s Family Guy series, so I wasn’t sure if I was going to appreciate the humor in his talking teddy bear movie Ted. But I did! For a raunchy comedy starring a CGI teddy bear and Mark Wahlberg, MacFarlane really scored a home run. First, he got a surprisingly good comic performance from Wahlberg, and he managed to cram the movie with pop culture references that appealed to a wide age range. This viewer, in particular, got a real kick out of the love shown for the 1980 camp-fest Flash Gordon and the appearance by … well, if you haven’t seen it yet, I’m not going to be the one to spoil it. The movie only stumbled a bit with Giovanni Ribisi’s creepy teddy bear thief, but the rest of the movie was a real hoot.
