As it has been our tradition for the last few years, before unveiling our favourite films of 2012, we’ll venture briefly into the dark side for a quick recap of those which disappointed us the most.
Last year’s hall of shame should feature such cinematic horrors as ‘The Devil Inside’; ‘This Means War’; ‘That’s My Boy’; ‘What To Expect When You’re Expecting’; ‘The Watch’; ‘Battleship’ or ‘The Lucky One’. Those who were brave enough to watch any of them are still telling frightening stories.
For our money the worst film of the year, probably of many years, was Noel Clarke and his mates’ take on the wedding comedy subgenre in ‘The Knot’. Deeply unfunny; clumsily told and cliché ridden it was by far the most painful experience to be had in a theatre near you during the last twelve months. Not a good year for wedding related films, following it closely another so-called comedy, ‘A Few Best Men’, saw a bunch of British lads at their grossest embarking on a trip to Australia for one of the friends’ nuptial ceremony. Its standout moment was Olivia Newton-John snorting coke. Hilarious! Plan B debuted as a director with his multidisciplinary latest proyect ‘Ill Manors’ and kept on trying to become an actor in the ill-fated remake of ‘The Sweeney’; both better forgotten.
But we didn’t expect much of any of the aforementioned titles, so no harm done. In more reputable waters, the latest works from Stephen Frears ‘Lay The Favourite’; Fernando Meirelles ‘360’, Zhang Yimou ‘The Flowers Of Evil’ and Tim Burton’s non animated project of the year ‘Dark Shadows’ all tanked creatively and in the box office, but managed to remain bubbling under the list of our biggest disappointments, which goes as follows: