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John Carter
“John Carter is good, actually” is the hill I will die on. Fantastic soundtrack, gripping and thrilling action, great performances, tremendous fun. →
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John Carter
Enjoyed it a lot, don’t understand why the critics had the knives out for it. →
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My 2012 film highlights
Throughout 2012 I watched approximately 262 films, which I don't think is an unreasonable amount. What follows are 20 films from that list that I felt deserved a special mention for a variety of reasons. Not necessarily what I'd consider to be the best films I saw last year, nor even limited to films that were released that year either. →
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Review of Andrew Stanton’s John Carter
John Carter's closest recent parallel is probably Kenneth Branagh's Thor, in that both films feature fantasy concepts that a contemporary, mainstream audience may find hard to swallow. Thor pulled it off by presenting its world up front and delivering it all straight-faced instead of resorting to eye-rolling irony or tortured attempts to retcon the source material. The subject matter was treated respectfully and helped to put the audience in an accepting frame of mind. John Carter fumbles this just a little. With clunky lines such as "You can't just bow down to Zodanga!", unmemorable character names and a marketing campaign that blinked, you're left with a film that's occasionally difficult to swallow. Get past that and you're left with an enjoyable and good-looking action flick with solid performances and some great set-pieces. →