RAVE - 2012

I don't relish these RAVEs as much as I do the RANTs. There's not as much to get my teeth into if all I'm doing is saying nice things about nice things.

However, 2012 deserves a good old RAVE rating.

To quote Frankie Howerd, the film has its knockers. Some think it's all flash and trash, typical Hollywood.

Yes, it's like Earthquake, Towering Inferno and Poseidon Adventure all rolled into one humungous catastrophe movie. And yes, it is all about the special effects, but what a glorious explosion in a fireworks factory those effects are.

Special effects have come a looooong way since Moses parted the Red Sea in The Ten Commandments, to the point where you can now believe actors who say how hard it is to deliver the appropriate emotions when all they have are blue screens around them.

I have to admit to being troubled by the notion that 1,500 years ago the Mayans predicted the end of the world on December 20, 2012, ending their calendar on that date. Troubled that was, until I read that little piece of info was fabricated just to get us all anxious. Despite being relaxed by that news, we still found ourselves holding our breaths as buildings toppled, bridges collapsed, freeways fell into chasms, volcanic rocks crashed down and John Cusack rescued everyone.

Curiously, despite all the mayhem that was going on, I found myself distracted by the producers' decision to use Chiwetel Ejiofor and Thandie Newton - 2 English actors - to play 2 central American characters. And no, they weren't playing Panamanians! I meant their characters were central to the action, and there must be hundreds of real Americans who could have done that job.

If you can overlook the hokum, and don't believe the Mayan mumbo jumbo, you'll have a great time.