This list is up weeks later than I wanted to post it — I broke my yearly tradition of getting my favorites up on December 31st. But I had to wait to see Zero Dark Thirty in theaters. In retrospect, I’m glad I did. Zero Dark Thirty is toward to tippy-top of my Best Movies from 2012. It features my favorite character of the year, Maya, played by Golden Globe winning Jessica Chastain. Her powerful role as the woman charged with hunting down Osama bin Laden makes Zero Dark Thirty one of the best of the year. Along with it are Flight , Silver Linings Playbook , and many more.
As I say every year with these posts, these are my favorite ten movies of 2012. I cannot speak for movies I did not see.
10. The Perks of Being a Wallflower
This teen flick is the same song and dance we’ve all seen before, but with refreshing execution. The characters fit the mold of many teen characters we’ve seen in the past, but they feel like real adolescents struggling with real life issues. Growing up in the 90′s, this felt like a journey into some of my own high school memories. The best from The Perks of Being a Wallflower comes from Logan Lerman and Emma Watson fighting to overcome their inner demons.
9. Moonrise Kingdom
Wes Anderson’s latest has the same quirkiness of any of his classics and young characters that are easy to adore. This time Anderson is able to get two young actors to embody his eccentric lead roles playing out a budding love story of two adolescents defying the governing adults.
8. Flight
Director Robert Zemeckis showcases the true struggles of alcoholism as his anti-hero battles with his addiction after being caught under the influence in the post-investigation of a plane crash. Denzel Washington is brilliant as usual, giving a seemingly untouchable, cocky persona humanity.
7. Wreck-It Ralph
John C. Reilly leads a cast of recognizable voices in this truly imaginative video game based animation. The video game universe fabricated by this team of filmmakers is gorgeous, immersive, and full of surprises — trying to keep up with all the video game and cultural references is a fun task. A sequel is on the horizon in my estimation.
6. Brave
With Brave , Pixar restores the gloss to their shimmering name after their first “dud” in 2011 in Cars 2 . This tale of a strong heroine fighting to change the customs of her family is much like Disney animated tales of old, but with picturesque visuals so beautiful it may melt your face.
5. The Avengers
This can easily be considered the most fun superhero movie I’ve ever seen. This mash-up of so many leading characters is full of adventure, fun, and exciting action sequences. Who would have thought Joss Whedon could pull off this movie so well, meshing all the egos of these heroes into one big enjoyable summer blockbuster? Not me.
4. Argo
Ben Affleck has won countless awards for his latest, making this his crowning achievement as a director. Argo sets the stakes early and then builds the drama slowly to a tension filled climax that leaves viewers on the edge of their seats. This film has all the espionage and drama one could possibly ask for.
3. Pitch Perfect
This is the movie that surprised me the most in 2012. I skipped a chance to see it back in October, but made time to see it after countless recommendations. Pitch Perfect is filled with so much fun, music, and life from the characters it’s hard to keep a smile at bay. The musical numbers have a jubilant quality to them which makes these sequences nothing but pure entertainment. Anna Kendrick is excellent in this leading role, mixing her voice talent with her acting chops.
2. Zero Dark Thirty
While I was not a huge fan of Director Katheryn Bigelow’s Oscar-winning The Hurt Locker , her latest on the armed forces is surely her best film yet. The hunt for Osama bin Laden is long and arduous, but Jessica Chastain’s Maya weathers the storm with her bold and brash demeanor. The last 40 minutes of this film are unrelenting, paying off for all the first two hours of the film where Maya sifts through intelligence and ruthlessly searches for this marked man. Zero Dark Thirty is a film that will have you pondering its content for days.
1. Silver Linings Playbook
This film lives and dies with the two leading characters Pat and Tiffany — Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence are mesmerizing every moment they are on screen. Both characters are flawed in so many ways, but they learn to accept the shortcomings of one another to be partners, on and off the dance floor. This has one of those endings where you root for the main characters to figure it all out — when they do, it’s hard to choke back the tears.
Something that surprised me after I composed this list was my top three movies all featuring significant leading female figures (as well as Brave ). Pitch Perfect has a cast of ladies, but is led by the film’s emotional center, Anna Kendrick. With Zero Dark Thirty I already went on about Chastain and Silver Linings Playbook features an impossible to forget performance from Jennifer Lawrence. It’s nice to see these immensely talented women getting compelling roles as strong female figures. It appears the days of women simply being eye candy in cinema is waning.
Honorable Mentions: End of Watch , Life of Pi , 21 Jump Street , Django Unchained , Lumpy , Lawless , Hitchcock , Les Misérables , The Amazing Spider-Man , Silent House , and The Sessions .
Follow Matthew on Twitter: @matthewdeery
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Source:
http://themoviemash.com/2013/01/the-best-movies-of-2012/