Germain's 10 Most Anticipated Films Of 2012 Revisited: Was I Right Or Wrong?

Around this time every year, for as far back as I can remember, I pick and write about the ten movies I'm most looking forward in the coming year. Here on /Film I did it for the movies of 2011 as well as the movies of 2012 and, in the coming days, I'll do it for 2013.

Before that, though, we thought it would be fun to look back at the films I chose as my ten anticipated for this year and see how well I did. Did any of these films make my top ten of the year? Did they at least meet expectations? Check out some of my embarrassing, and not so embarrassing, picks after the jump. 

Much as I did last year, we're going to go in descending order. I'll list the movie then decide, with a simple YES or NO if it warranted such a coveted spot. Reviews are linked when I wrote them.

First the runners up, very quickly: John Carter (NO), This is 40 (NO), World War Z (Delayed), Gangster Squad (Delayed), Wreck-It Ralph (YES), Lincoln (YES), The Amazing Spider-Man (NO), Brave (NO), American Reunion (NO), Looper (YES). Admittedly, not a good start. But it got better with the real ones.

10. Les Miserables - (YES) Out of the ten films I picked as my most anticipated, this is one of the two I'm most proud of in retrospect. The film opens in a few days and, if you saw my review, I absolutely adored it. It'll most certainly be on my top 10 of the year and a true contenders at the Oscars. When I picked it, there wasn't even a photo yet. Read my review here.9. The Hunger Games – (YES) As a fan of Suzanne Collins' novels, I knew The Hunger Games had the potential to be a big hit. But I had no idea just how big. It was one of the year's most successful films and will have its follow-up released in late 2013. The film itself was solid (read my review here) but even though I was looking forward to it, no one could have predicted its massive success.8. Moonrise Kingdom – (YES) It's hard not to get excited for a film by Wes Anderson, especially with a cast like this one. Still, I was right on the mark. Moonrise Kingdom is fantastic, a definite best of the year contender. And while my review was criticized for harping on some minor flaws, those aside, I still feel Anderson made a fantastic movie.

7. Ted – (YES) Here's the movie I'm most proud of myself for putting on this list. If you look in the comments of my original article, people definitely took issue with me choosing this. What happened? The movie was hilarious (read my review here) and became the biggest comedy of the year.

6. Django Unchained – (YES) Another super solid pick, if I do say so myself. Again – it was hard to go wrong picking a film by Quentin Tarantino, but when Django opens next week, everyone will see a master filmmaker on the top of his game. It's more straight forward than his usual fare, but Tarantino plays the audience beautifully. Great film.5. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey  - (NO) I only say "No" here because, The Hobbit had so much to live up to and didn't meet those expectations. At this time last year, no one could blame me for picking it. It's a new Lord of the Rings movie by director Peter Jackson and we all thought it was going be to two movies, not three. That definitely hurt and didn't make it as memorable as one would have hoped. It's fun, but flawed. Read my review here.4. The Dark Knight Rises – (NO) This one is embarrassing. Not that I picked it for this spot, because it was obviously a film we were all looking forward to. More so because if you'd asked me if it was worthy immediately when I walked out of the theater, I would have said "Yes." I mean, read my review, it points out flaws but is largely positive. But the longer I thought about the movie and the more times I revisited it (three in the theater, once since) the worse it got. Plot holes, boring stretches, I truly think it's a mess. So while I did give the film a positive review at the time, it gets a "No" now. Time was not kind to this hyped up film.3. The Master  - (YES) Paul Thomas Anderson rarely disappoints and even though The Master is, by far, his least accessible film, I still find myself thinking about it months later. I'm not sure if it'll make my top 10, 2012 was a pretty great overall, but it'll be in contention.2. The Avengers – (YES) Is The Avengers an amazing film? No. Does it all make perfect sense? No. Did I see it four times in the theater because Joss Whedon infused so much fun and energy into it? Yes. No matter what criticism people might have, or I agree with, I still love The Avengers and am proud to have picked it. Here's my review.1. Prometheus (NO) I don't dislike Prometheus. There are plenty of good things to take out of it. But for what it could have been, what I wanted it to be when I picked it as my most anticipated film of 2012, it just didn't live up to those lofty expectations. Too many plot holes, too much marred logic, too many questions at the end. Here's my review.

Seven out of ten isn't bad. For the most part, they were very obvious choices. Big films by big filmmakers and none of them really surprised any of us by being that much better, or worse, than we'd hoped. It just so happens smaller films were better in 2012. That said, this wasn't a terrible list. Check back next week to see if 2013 is any better.