Never Mind Pop Film

2012 saw the world's collective obsession with the apocalypse take place on the silver screen on numerous occasions. Whether it was a downbeat comedy, team-up comic franchise, or exploration of our origins, most protagonists saw themselves battling a cataclysmic event. The planet has nearly been blown up, invaded by aliens, lorded over by evil geniuses and the like.

Batman, the Avengers, 007, Django, and even Abraham Lincoln fulfilled the collective wishes of moviegoers to have someone stand up for others in a time when seemingly there are no heroes left. Perhaps it is for this reason that so many of the year's best films were centered around good guys.

If it wasn't the end of the world, it was the end of line for the characters. Bernie desperately trying to avoid prison, Ottway fending off a pack of wolves systematically eliminating his crew, Bond facing a betrayal from one of MI6's own. The end days have been on the mind of many.

This year was also strangely reminis…

Widowed husbands are frequently used tropes in action films. It delivers empathy quickly and without wasting a lot of screentime. However, what Liam Neeson does with The Grey is more than A-B-C screenwriting. No shoe-horned breakdown scenes are inserted forcefully into the narrative for the audience to get to know Ottway (Neeson). In the midst of carnal mayhem, he clutches a small picture of his wife in his wallet before he faces what seem like insurmountable odds.

He leads these men through the snow, through the wilderness, through the darkness. That the story doesn't fall into laughable territory suggests the level of gravitas Neeson possesses. In each battle with the elements and its inhabitants, the slowly dying embers of his life crackle to life a little more.

An honest reflection of grief in a film that was marketed as anything but. This is not a performance that garners awards attention, but it should.

As we draw nearer to the end of June and consequently the halfway point of the year, what better time to reflect upon some of the highlights of 2012 so far? The list is fairly commercial at this point, curse moving out of the city for summer! Not all of us were able to attend film festivals in Cannes or Sundance, so I cannot speak to what will deliver Oscars, but for moviegoer enjoyment you cannot look past these select films.

Prometheus(You say tomato, I saw good sci-fi/horror)
The Avengers(The Comic Books Gods delivered)
The Grey (A film that captures emotion, visual flourishes and an ace performance from Mr. Neeson)
John Carter(It may not have made a lot of money, but Andrew Stanton created the only real fantasy story of the year)
Haywire(A genre exercise filled with capable actors)
Cabin in the Woods(Horror with a genuine surprise and comic wit. Thanks again, Whedon!)
Hunger Games (Jennifer Lawrence shines again in the woods)
Seeking A Friend for the End of the World(Is its tone a little…

John Ottway (Liam Neeson) lingers in the frozen wilderness that are the oil fields of Northern Alaska. He protects the workers from the dangers that present themselves. Beneath the solid exterior of Ottway's demeanor lies a man that is lost: his wife is no longer in his life, he sees no good in what he does for the world, he sees no purpose left. He has only a day left until he flies back to Anchorage.

The plane ride is nothing more than normal, brief bouts of turbulence offset by the testosterone-laden chatter about what the workers will do with their paychecks, girlfriends, wives, etc.Turbulence becomes more noticeable than usual and the chatter teeters out; the men are scared.

The unabashed desire to live finds itself in Ottway. He straps himself into the seat and holds on for dear life as pieces of the plane start coming off around them. Now, faced with the unlikely prospect of being discovered, Ottway and the six remaining members of the flight are tasked with leaving the wr…

Looks like a return to form from Narc director Joe Carnahan. Rugged survival in one of the harshest places on Earth. Liam Neeson was a perfect choice.