At the end of last year, I wrote a post about the Top 12 Things I Looked Forward to in 2012. Fortunately, I have managed to experience all 12 of these. Given that the world is supposed to end, according to the Mayans anyway, in a couple of days time, I figured I should at least review these things before the world comes to an end. If we're still around on the 22nd, then I'll start thinking about the things I'm looking forward to in 2013. For those of you scoring at home, if the world is going to end, it should end at 8pm Malaysia time (7am EST) for the simple reason that all regions of the world, according to the time zone lines, would have hit the 21st of December. But of course, it'd be 1am on the 22nd of December in Samoa, so, yeah...Haven't really figured out how it would work.
But anyway, here we go. I'm introducing a new 3-tier ranking system for evaluating these 12 things. I figured, anytime you have to add yet another convoluted method of ranking things to all the previous convoluted methods of ranking things you've done before, you got to do it. Even that previous sentence is convoluted. Anyway, it's pretty simple. We're going either by Underwhelmed, Whelmed or Overwhelmed. Underwhelmed just means that it was below expectations. Overwhelmed means it hit above expectations (obviously this means a lot more as we more higher up the rankings). Whelmed is just that. That feeling when things meet your expectations but all you can go is, "Oh, okay."
Onward ho.
12. American Reunion
This one was always about nostalgia for me. It was fun to see the crew get back into it. It was exactly as I expected, so I can't complain.
Verdict: Whelmed
11. The Avengers
I think that one of the saddest things to come across is to see someone with so much potential fail to make the most out of their potential. This is essentially my problem with the Avengers. There was so much room to do stuff with the characters. I understand the appeal behind the final product of the movie - it was good fun, nice rock and roll type thingy. But I think it could have done a lot more, plot-wise. Also, Loki didn't cut it for me as a villain.
Verdict: Moderately Underwhelmed
10. Rise of the Guardians
In fairness, I was always going to be a bit biased towards this movie because of its premise. I think it's pretty kickass to have the Sandman, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, Jack Frost and Santa battle the Boogeyman. While the plot was fairly standard cartoon-y stuff, I did like the theme of believing. I still believe in Santa, in all fairness. (If you're wondering why I can let this plot go, it's only because the Avengers had way more potential).
Verdict: Very slightly overwhelmed
9. The Amazing Spiderman
It's really not even fair how Emma Stone can have such an effect on males and females alike. She stole my heart completely, again, in the movie as loveable Gwen Stacy. In the sequel, shit is going to be flipped by me. I don't want to spoiler things but in my defense, the comic series has been out there for ages. In any case, I thought the movie was alright overall. Nothing really stood out but Emma. Not the biggest fan of the Lizard, but I can see why they pulled a Batman Begins thing by only introducing the archvillain in the sequel.
Verdict: Whelmed
8. The Raven
I watched this on a plane ride somewhere and it's just as well. The movie tried quite hard to be all dark and stuff, but it didn't really reach a level of darkness I felt would be good for the movie. It's hard for me to take John Cusack seriously anyway, what more as Edgar Allan Poe. Again, I expected it earlier to be dark along the lines of Se7en or Zodiac. But it probably only reached along the lines of some generic ghost story.
Verdict: Underwhelmed
7. Lob City
Did not disappoint. Got treated to an incredible array of dunks and lobs throughout the season. Granted, my respect for Chris Paul, the lobber, grew more than my excitement for Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, the lobbee-s, but Lob City was still great fun. More to come for sure.
Verdict: Overwhelmed
6. The US Olympics Basketball Team 2012
Of the 12 players I tipped to be included in the team, 7 were in - Lebron, Kobe, CP3, Deron Williams, Kevin Durant, Kevin Love, Carmelo Anthony. The remaining 5 were all injured. And I gotta say, my 5 picks were spot on. The ones who came on after were replacements for the 5 that were injured. Russ West for Derrick Rose. James Harden for Dwyane Wade. Andre Iguodola for Blake Griffin. Anthony Davis for Chris Bosh. Tyson Chandler for Dwight Howard. Anyway, it was good fun watching the team play. And great fun watching Kevin Durant showing his all-world scoring skills. And much greater fun watching Lebron own the team and the Olympics.
Verdict: Overwhelmed
5. Lebron and Wade with the Eff You Edge
I do love it when athletes play with a real Eff You Edge. D-Wade does that on a regular basis anyway but Lebron did it this year, which I wrote about here and here. We saw a transcendent basketball player in his prime as a result. As a Celtics fan, screw you Lebron. As a basketball fan, I was a Witness.
Verdict: Significantly Overwhelmed
4. Euro 2012
For the 2010 World Cup, I decided to try and be unconventional and pick Brazil to win in my betting pool, assuming of course that gambling is legal. For the 2012 Euros, I decided to go with convention and pick Spain for my betting pool. I finished a close second. It was the right choice. What does this tell us? Firstly, people like picking the unconventional decision because if it pans out, you look like a genius. But there's a reason it's unconventional. Secondly, conventionality tends to win because the odds are in its favor. Like so many things in life, unless you feel very strongly against the odds, just go with the bloody odds. Go with convention. In other news, the football was okay - it was fun watching a transcendent team get down and boogie. And I love watching Xabi Alonso.
Verdict: Only Slightly Overwhelmed
3. BBC's Sherlock
Well, I wrote about this here and here. You know what I think about it. If you don't watch it, you're just seriously denying yourself a fricking blast of a TV show. I would like to make a correction though. In my review on "The Final Problem", I did say Fuck the Hobbit. Well, that was premature as I now know. But even so, I can't bloody wait for Season 3. This is the best show on TV right now.
Verdict: Magnificently Overwhelmed
2. The Dark Knight Rises
My full opinion on the movie is here. For the purposes of a review of things I looked forward to, here is 1 important thought - I sincerely believed that this movie could be my greatest movie of all-time. The potential was high. Expectations were high. And as we know, things tend to regress to the mean and maybe basing the Dark Knight Rises off a reference point of The Dark Knight made it significantly more difficult for the movie to whelm me, what more overwhelm me.
To reiterate, this was my main problem with the movie:-
"In a world where I can suspend belief to believe that the Batman is real, I'm still finding it difficult to believe that after an epic war/battle such as this one, all the major 'good guys' got happy endings...It was just too neat fore me. I would have liked to have seen an ending like the Godfather series, particularly in Godfather 2 - Michael Corleone sitting in his cabin at Lake Tahoe, on top of the world but bitterly alone (before you crucify me on a spoiler for Godfather 2, the movie has been out for 38 years. It's your fault if I spoiled anything for you)."
Verdict: Significantly Underwhelmed
1. The Hobbit
Hand on heart, I will be watching this movie for the third time in 7 days in just an hour's time. I will post a full review once more people have watched it. But this should give you an inclination of what I think and how I feel about the movie. I picked this particular picture because it's the White Council - the Council of the Wisest beings on Middle-Earth. This would naturally appeal to me. And after the meeting, Gandalf has some amazing words of wisdom that should be kept to heart. In any case, you can also tell given my seriously substantial love for Sherlock, I did admit that I was wrong about "Fuck the Hobbit." That was a mistake. The Hobbit is, well, deserving of my number 1 spot. (Hint: If you can't guess who takes my Number 1 spot for the year 2013, assuming no apocalypse, you need to evaluate things).
Verdict: Magnificently Overwhelmed
But anyway, here we go. I'm introducing a new 3-tier ranking system for evaluating these 12 things. I figured, anytime you have to add yet another convoluted method of ranking things to all the previous convoluted methods of ranking things you've done before, you got to do it. Even that previous sentence is convoluted. Anyway, it's pretty simple. We're going either by Underwhelmed, Whelmed or Overwhelmed. Underwhelmed just means that it was below expectations. Overwhelmed means it hit above expectations (obviously this means a lot more as we more higher up the rankings). Whelmed is just that. That feeling when things meet your expectations but all you can go is, "Oh, okay."
Onward ho.
12. American Reunion
This one was always about nostalgia for me. It was fun to see the crew get back into it. It was exactly as I expected, so I can't complain.
Verdict: Whelmed
11. The Avengers
I think that one of the saddest things to come across is to see someone with so much potential fail to make the most out of their potential. This is essentially my problem with the Avengers. There was so much room to do stuff with the characters. I understand the appeal behind the final product of the movie - it was good fun, nice rock and roll type thingy. But I think it could have done a lot more, plot-wise. Also, Loki didn't cut it for me as a villain.
Verdict: Moderately Underwhelmed
10. Rise of the Guardians
In fairness, I was always going to be a bit biased towards this movie because of its premise. I think it's pretty kickass to have the Sandman, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, Jack Frost and Santa battle the Boogeyman. While the plot was fairly standard cartoon-y stuff, I did like the theme of believing. I still believe in Santa, in all fairness. (If you're wondering why I can let this plot go, it's only because the Avengers had way more potential).
Verdict: Very slightly overwhelmed
9. The Amazing Spiderman
It's really not even fair how Emma Stone can have such an effect on males and females alike. She stole my heart completely, again, in the movie as loveable Gwen Stacy. In the sequel, shit is going to be flipped by me. I don't want to spoiler things but in my defense, the comic series has been out there for ages. In any case, I thought the movie was alright overall. Nothing really stood out but Emma. Not the biggest fan of the Lizard, but I can see why they pulled a Batman Begins thing by only introducing the archvillain in the sequel.
Verdict: Whelmed
8. The Raven
I watched this on a plane ride somewhere and it's just as well. The movie tried quite hard to be all dark and stuff, but it didn't really reach a level of darkness I felt would be good for the movie. It's hard for me to take John Cusack seriously anyway, what more as Edgar Allan Poe. Again, I expected it earlier to be dark along the lines of Se7en or Zodiac. But it probably only reached along the lines of some generic ghost story.
Verdict: Underwhelmed
7. Lob City
Did not disappoint. Got treated to an incredible array of dunks and lobs throughout the season. Granted, my respect for Chris Paul, the lobber, grew more than my excitement for Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, the lobbee-s, but Lob City was still great fun. More to come for sure.
Verdict: Overwhelmed
6. The US Olympics Basketball Team 2012
Of the 12 players I tipped to be included in the team, 7 were in - Lebron, Kobe, CP3, Deron Williams, Kevin Durant, Kevin Love, Carmelo Anthony. The remaining 5 were all injured. And I gotta say, my 5 picks were spot on. The ones who came on after were replacements for the 5 that were injured. Russ West for Derrick Rose. James Harden for Dwyane Wade. Andre Iguodola for Blake Griffin. Anthony Davis for Chris Bosh. Tyson Chandler for Dwight Howard. Anyway, it was good fun watching the team play. And great fun watching Kevin Durant showing his all-world scoring skills. And much greater fun watching Lebron own the team and the Olympics.
Verdict: Overwhelmed
5. Lebron and Wade with the Eff You Edge
I do love it when athletes play with a real Eff You Edge. D-Wade does that on a regular basis anyway but Lebron did it this year, which I wrote about here and here. We saw a transcendent basketball player in his prime as a result. As a Celtics fan, screw you Lebron. As a basketball fan, I was a Witness.
Verdict: Significantly Overwhelmed
4. Euro 2012
For the 2010 World Cup, I decided to try and be unconventional and pick Brazil to win in my betting pool, assuming of course that gambling is legal. For the 2012 Euros, I decided to go with convention and pick Spain for my betting pool. I finished a close second. It was the right choice. What does this tell us? Firstly, people like picking the unconventional decision because if it pans out, you look like a genius. But there's a reason it's unconventional. Secondly, conventionality tends to win because the odds are in its favor. Like so many things in life, unless you feel very strongly against the odds, just go with the bloody odds. Go with convention. In other news, the football was okay - it was fun watching a transcendent team get down and boogie. And I love watching Xabi Alonso.
Verdict: Only Slightly Overwhelmed
3. BBC's Sherlock
Well, I wrote about this here and here. You know what I think about it. If you don't watch it, you're just seriously denying yourself a fricking blast of a TV show. I would like to make a correction though. In my review on "The Final Problem", I did say Fuck the Hobbit. Well, that was premature as I now know. But even so, I can't bloody wait for Season 3. This is the best show on TV right now.
Verdict: Magnificently Overwhelmed
2. The Dark Knight Rises
My full opinion on the movie is here. For the purposes of a review of things I looked forward to, here is 1 important thought - I sincerely believed that this movie could be my greatest movie of all-time. The potential was high. Expectations were high. And as we know, things tend to regress to the mean and maybe basing the Dark Knight Rises off a reference point of The Dark Knight made it significantly more difficult for the movie to whelm me, what more overwhelm me.
To reiterate, this was my main problem with the movie:-
"In a world where I can suspend belief to believe that the Batman is real, I'm still finding it difficult to believe that after an epic war/battle such as this one, all the major 'good guys' got happy endings...It was just too neat fore me. I would have liked to have seen an ending like the Godfather series, particularly in Godfather 2 - Michael Corleone sitting in his cabin at Lake Tahoe, on top of the world but bitterly alone (before you crucify me on a spoiler for Godfather 2, the movie has been out for 38 years. It's your fault if I spoiled anything for you)."
Verdict: Significantly Underwhelmed
1. The Hobbit
Hand on heart, I will be watching this movie for the third time in 7 days in just an hour's time. I will post a full review once more people have watched it. But this should give you an inclination of what I think and how I feel about the movie. I picked this particular picture because it's the White Council - the Council of the Wisest beings on Middle-Earth. This would naturally appeal to me. And after the meeting, Gandalf has some amazing words of wisdom that should be kept to heart. In any case, you can also tell given my seriously substantial love for Sherlock, I did admit that I was wrong about "Fuck the Hobbit." That was a mistake. The Hobbit is, well, deserving of my number 1 spot. (Hint: If you can't guess who takes my Number 1 spot for the year 2013, assuming no apocalypse, you need to evaluate things).
Verdict: Magnificently Overwhelmed
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