This is not my top ten list. Not yet. This post is to highlight the fact that 2012 was such an unusually good year for movies (like 2007 and 1999) that there were a lot of movies I adored that simply didn't make my top ten list. In fact, my top ten list will actually be a top twelve list.
It was such a good year that there were roughly twenty movies I loved that, in any other year, could have easily landed in my top ten. In no particular order, they are:
LOOPER
I just watched this movie again a couple of nights ago, and Rian Johnson's script and fantastic direction really hold up. There's a reason a lot of people are hoping he directs the next STAR WARS movie, though that would be a longshot. Some were put off by the sudden shift into the paranormal in the third act, but the remarkable and terrifying performance by 5-year-old newcomer Pierce Gagnon really makes it all worth it.
BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
As of October of 2012, I was pretty sure Benh Zeitlin's feature film debut would land in my top five, but as often happens, a whole flurry of great movies came out at the end of the year, and this impressive low-budget gem, anchored by yet another incredible child performance, this one by 7-year-old Quvenzhané Wallis, got pushed out of my top ten/twelve entirely. The movie also features a triumphant score and gorgeous low-budget visual effects work that earned it a feature article in the effects trade magazine Cinefex. If you haven't seen "Glory At Sea," the 25-minute sort-of prequel to this film, you can watch it for free on YouTube:
THE AVENGERS and THE CABIN IN THE WOODS
Joss Whedon restored a lot of faith in geek-centric films this year, with the ultimate big-budget superhero blockbuster and with a modest self-referential horror-comedy that is basically every horror movie ever made crammed into one movie. I can watch both of these movies on repeat, and yet they, too, failed to make my top ten.
PARANORMAN
The most soulful and impressively-animated film I saw last year, hiding a powerful message of tolerance amid the very funny gross-out gags.
SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN, THE IMPOSTER, THE QUEEN OF VERSAILLES, JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI, AI WEIWEI: NEVER SORRY
Five very different but vastly entertaining documentaries. The first two can be enjoyed as twisty, suspenseful mysteries, while the other three are fascinating character pieces that are available on Netflix Watch Instantly. Go watch them!
THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER
I'm the age of the characters in Stephen Chbosky's touching adaptation of his own novel, a high school drama set in the early 1990s, so of course it pushes all the right buttons for me. It helps that the script is wonderful and that Ezra Miller gives a warm and funny career-making supporting performance that's a 180-degree turn from his psychotically-scary role in 2011's WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN.
FLIGHT
The first half hour is an intense disaster movie. The next two hours are a grueling addiction drama. What looks like a typical Hollywood blockbuster, Robert Zemickis' first live-action movie in twelve years, turns out to be an intimate and surprisingly cynical character study with a incisive performance by Denzel Washington.
ARGO
Ben Affleck is quickly becoming the Sidney Lumet of this generation. Who knew?
DETENTION
This whacked-out demented horror-comedy from Joseph Kahn (director of the much-hated hyperactive motorcycle bomb TORQUE, which looks downright sedate compared to this movie) is a laugh-out-loud audacious blast. Just rent it and be prepared to have a good time.
LIFE OF PI
You can debate the merits of the ending all you want, but it doesn't erase the fact that Ang Lee is a master who manages to raise the bar on CGI and 3D.
COMPLIANCE
Craig Zobel delivers perhaps the most unsettling movie of the year, one that provokes angry debate wherever it goes, mostly about whether the whole thing is believable. The fact is, this story happened... dozens of times.
BERNIE
Richard Linklater's mix of docudrama and reenactment of murder in a small East Texas town is a dark delight, and Jack Black has never had a better role.
THIS IS NOT A FILM
Acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi has been banned by the Iranian government from making films, but there's no way that's going to stop him from pursuing his passion. In this documentary, he creates a makeshift set inside his house and acts out scenes from what was to be his next film. The subsequent footage was then smuggled out of the country on a USB thumbdrive, and what we get is a stirring and inspiring portrait of his creative drive.
FOOTNOTE
Israel's foreign language Oscar nominee last year is an amusingly bitter comedy about the rivalry between Talmudic scholars who happen to be father and son.
MAGIC MIKE
Steven Soderbergh's male stripper movie turns out to be so much more than that, a dark character-driven comedy/romance about people on the economic fringes. This was the year of Channing Tatum and Matthew McConaughey, and this movie is a big reason why. McConaughey gives a shockingly good performance that coupled with his performances in BERNIE, KILLER JOE, and THE PAPERBOY makes me want to see any movie he's in now.
GOON
I knew I'd forget at least one great movie to put on this list, and that movie is the Canadian hockey movie GOON. Seann William Scott is fantastic as a likable, friendly lunkhead who's hired to be a hockey enforcer. It's truly the best hockey movie since SLAP SHOT, and it's also available on Netflix Watch Instantly, so you really have no excuse.
In addition to these movies I loved, there were dozens of other movies I really liked that deserve mentioning. They are:
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
RUST AND BONE
SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED
PAUL WILLIAMS: STILL ALIVE
THE RAID: REDEMPTION
THE INNKEEPERS
KILLER JOE
THE SECRET WORLD OF ARRIETTY
THE SESSIONS
THE IMPOSSIBLE
JOHN CARTER
JEFF, WHO LIVES AT HOME
THE INTOUCHABLES
THE DEEP BLUE SEA
TAKE THIS WALTZ
END OF WATCH
KILLING THEM SOFTLY
PITCH PERFECT
THE HUNGER GAMES
21 JUMP STREET
CHRONICLE
DARK HORSE
THE GREY
KLOWN
MADAGASCAR 3: EUROPE'S MOST WANTED
THE WOMAN IN BLACK
BRAVE
KILL LIST
TED
OSLO, AUGUST 31st
FRANKENWEENIE
HAYWIRE
THE SOUND OF MY VOICE
ARBITRAGE
Finally, here are a few notable movies that I didn't get a chance to see but will eventually: PROMISED LAND, MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, SMASHED, WEST OF MEMPHIS, THE TURIN HORSE, THE CENTRAL PARK FIVE, NOT FADE AWAY, HELLO I MUST BE GOING, THE GATEKEEPERS
Now you should understand why a movie like LES MISERABLES won't get anywhere close to being in my top fifty of the 2012. The fact is that I like all of these movies a lot more.
Stay tuned for my top twelve of 2012, coming soon!
#Favorited #MoviesOfTheWeek
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