Jaime’s Worst Films of 2012

by Jaime Grijalba.

I said in an earlier post last year that I didn’t actually like to do reviews on bad movies, mainly because it was so easy to go all funny and mocking towards it, and that’s not a positive attitude, but sometimes we feel in the mood to just condemn and find a way to just vent out our views on the negative side of life, and as always, the movies aren’t always the holy place where all’s good and nice. So, I decided to do this brief list for you to comment on and list your own choices for the worst movies of what you saw in 2012, and don’t worry, no matter what you think, ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ is not even near this list. I shall list 5 movies, because that’s all the respect that I can have for these movies and all the space I want to give them. I’d like to thank Bob Clark once again for the great header image, as always welcome for this top 10’s-20’s-5’s. Oh, and before you go into my list to find the greatest sins to the cinematic form of this year, I’d like to ask you for suggestions on what to write next in these weekly columns, I’ve been finding myself struggling a bit to find something to write about, a short series of essays, reviews, views, recollections, writings, fictions, whatever you’d want me to tackle, whatever the subject, I’m open for it, and I’ll do it, I promise. Anyway, onto the badness.

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Confessions of a Les Miz Junkie

by Sam Juliano

One of the running jokes the last few weeks is how many times I have watched Les Miserables on the big screen.  I have kept this big secret from circulating, as I would surely be seen as someone with more than a few screws loose if I divulged the truth.  I have always regarded a musical film as more imminently condusive to re-viewings if for no other reason than to revel in the songs in much the same way someone would listen to a CD album at home.  The theatre’s booming speakers and the big screen visualization of course make it much too tempting if the theatre is just minutes from your home.  Alas, in the spirit of full divulgence I hereby provide the evidence for the loss of my sanity, if indeed I ever had any when it comes to movies on the outside.

After what seemed like an eternity for the Christmas Day opening, I escorted my family to attend a sneak preview on Christmas Eve at 10:00 P.M. a day ahead of the planned viewing.  The problem with this strategy is that we uniformly refused to forfeit our original itinerary, and went ahead with the holiday viewing, seeing Les Miz a second time, albeit two hours earlier at 8.  What does one do after watching the same film on two successive days, much less days few would ever venture out to a multiplex?  The answer is bonafide lunacy.  See it again on the day after Christmas, and then a fourth time the following night after that.  So there you have it.  Four nights consecutively.  The first two were with the full family contingent, the third with my wife and two daughters, and the fourth with two cousins.  After that four-peat I stayed clear of screens showing the cinematic transcription of one of the most successful musical theater phenomenons in history, content to that point to listen to the CD score in my computer room.

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