2012 Most Anticipated

10. The Wettest County in the World
- Good Director (John Hillcoat) and Good cast (Tom Hardy, Guy Pearce, Gary Oldman, and Jessica Chastain). Well with the the exception of Shia Lebeuf.
9. Only Good Forgives
- Fresh off Drive, Refn and Gosling are back.
8. Brave
- Pixar looks to get back on track after their first failure.
7. Gravity
- Alfonso Cuaron says he wants to open this film with a twenty minute uncut shot (awesome), oh yeah Clooney is in it.
6. Django Unchained
- This seems like maybe QT most important film, he'll need to change his usual approach if he wants to make a serious film about slavery.
5. Seven Psychopaths
- In Bruges star and director reuniting, oh and that feels so good.
4. Skyfall
- James Bond is back, enough said.
3. Prometheus
- Ridley has returned to the franchise he started, but also to the genre he shaped.  He has returned HOME, lets hope he doesn't leave in total shit.

2. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
- This needs no introduction

1. The Dark Knight Rises
- Neither does this

So I think we are in for one badass year.  We have some interesting properties and a lot of ambitious film makers, this gives me a lot of hope for 2012.

10 Best Films and Performances

The Ladies
1. Jessica Chastain - The Tree of Life, The Debt, and The Help
2. Rooney Mara - The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
3. Saoirse Ronan - Hanna
4. Mia Wasikowski - Jan Eyre
5. Shailene Woodley - The Descendants

The Men
1. Michael Fassbender - Jan Eyre, X -Men First Class, and Shame
2. Ryan Gosling - Drive and The Ides of March
3. Albert Brooks - Drive
4. Andy Serkis - Rise of the Planet of the Apes
5. Gary Oldman - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

The Films
1. Drive (Nicolas Winding Refn)
2. The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius)
3. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (David Fincher)
4. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (Brad Bird)
5. A Separation (Asghar Farhadi)
6.  Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Rupert Wyatt)
7. Midnight in Paris (Woody Allen)
8. Hanna (Joe Wright)
9. X-Men First Class (Matthew Vaughn)
10. {Tie} Rango (Gore Verbinski) & Hugo (Martin Scorsese)

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

Brad Bird comes to live-action with sheer badassery.  This film is like a new master practicing his form, and its hard to believe that it comes from one franchise that I've really hated.  Not any more though.  Ghost Protocol stars Tom Cruise coming back as Ethan Hunt, and also stars Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, and the deliciously sexy Paula Patton.

The plot is Ethan Hunt and his team are on the run after being set up for a blowing up The Kremlin.  Then they have to find a Swedish terrorist who wants to do what all evil genius villains do which is to create nuclear war. (Oh  this guy still hasn't gotten over the 80s.)   The story is very simplistic indeed.  However, simple can be good for director if he wants to visually do a lot of things.

The film exceeds with some of the greatest action set pieces I have ever seen.  One involves Tom Cruise climbing on the biggest building in the world which is intnse as hell.  Another is a foot chase and a car chase through a sandstorm.  Then one of hell of and ending showdown between cruise and the villain in a car garage while playing keepaway with a briefcase. It has one short-coming in it script, which we hardly get to know the bad guy.  However where this film exceeds where the other in the franchise has not is that comradery between the team is there. I highly reccomend this film

rating - 94%