Having written recently about my 2011 favorites, I figure that it's now time to pick out those other ones. I've decided to compose a list of disappointments rather than a list of worsts, as disappointments really hinge on expectations.
Most Disappointing Movie: Battle: Los Angeles
My biggest movie disappointment was nearly the Conan the Barbarian remake, but I'd really been looking forward to Battle: Los Angeles as a spiritual successor and an update to the 1996 movie Independance Day. Instead, I got a "glorify the troops" movie full of hard-ass soldiers who are so unrealistically dedicated that they return from a horrific ordeal and decide not to even eat before going back out for more punishment. Ditto for the movie Skyline, which also disappointed me but for different reasons - Skyline approached the alien invasion thing from a horror movie angle.
Most Disappointing Video Game: Dragon Age 2
Odd that I can even comment here, since I never purchased the game. But I downloaded the demo as soon as it was available. It's as if they took everything that I loved about Dragon Age: Origins and removed it. So sad.
Most Disappointing Book: A Dance with Dragons
The first three books in George R R Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series were so good. But the fourth stunk. And I'd been hoping against hope that the fifth would pull it all out. No such luck. After three hundred plus pages of boring, I closed the book and haven't gone back. And then on Monday, a major plot point (which for all I know may be the only significant plot point in the book) was spoiled for me. Ugh.
Most Disappointing TV Show: Fringe
Of everything on the list, Fringe was probably the least disappointing. But this season definately hasn't been as good as last season. The reboot idea had potential, but as of yet it isn't paying off. I'm hoping that the series picks up when it resumes on January 13th.
Also Disappointing: Pixeljunk Monsters Facebook game
In case you weren't aware, I'm an avid fan of Pixeljunk Monsters. I played the crap out of the PSN game and its expansion, getting 100% of the game's trophies, and then bought the PSP version which I also played the crap out of. I was very excited for the browser game, and even when I learned that it was to be a Facebook game, my excitement only diminished a bit. But having now played the game, I won't be going back to it.
All that said, there were a few things in 2011 in which I'd expected to be disappointed where I found myself happily mistaken. Rise of The Planet of The Apes was far better than I'd expected, as was the movie Limitless. And the robot boxing movie Real Steel turned out to be a lot of fun despite the stupid premise.