I will turn 50 in November of this year, so my project for 2023 will be to watch and review one movie from each year of my life. The only qualification is that it has to be a movie I’ve not reviewed previously.
2012
Top Grossing Movies of 2012:
- The Avengers
- The Dark Knight Rises
- The Hunger Games
- Skyfall
- The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2
Best Picture Oscar Nominees and Winners
- Argo
- Amour
- Beasts of the Southern Wild
- Django Unchained
- Les Misérables
- Life of Pi
- Lincoln
- Silver Linings Playbook
- Zero Dark Thirty
Other Movies I’ve Reviewed from 2012:
- 56 Up
- Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry
- The Amazing Spider-Man
- Ballplayer (Pelotero)
- A Band Called Death
- Boredom
- Brave
- The Cabin in the Woods
- Central Park Five
- Ernest & Celestine
- Goldman Sachs: The Bank That Rules the World
- Knuckleball!
- Moonrise Kingdom
- Pitch Perfect
- Safety Not Guaranteed
- Slavery By Another Name
- Sleepwalk With Me
- Wreck-It Ralph
- Yellowstone: The World’s First National Park
Title: ParaNorman
Release Date: August 3, 2012
Director: Sam Fell & Chris Butler
Production Company: Laika
Summary/Review:
Norman Babcock (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is an 11-year-old who can see and talk with dead people. His talent is related to a curse of a woman executed for witchcraft in the colonial era of his hometown of Blithe Hollow, Massachusetts. But for Norman, it means he’s considered a weird and an outcast by his family and classmates. When the witch’s curse causes zombies to arise it’s up to Norman to find a solution along with an ad hoc crew of his only friend Neil (Tucker Albrizzi), his older sister Courtney (Anna Kendrick), his bully Alvin (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), and Neil’s buff older brother Mitch (Casey Affleck).
The stop motion animation is impressive, making everyone and everything look grotesque which is on theme. I liked the way they used a zombie story to tell a story that focuses on themes of self-acceptance and reconciliation. On the other hand the running gags about mob mentality got tired quickly. Overall this is a clever and entertaining movie and should be enjoyed by families with older children. It would pair well in a double feature with Wendell & Wild.
Rating: ***
Panorama of the Mountains 