THE 12 BEST FILMS OF 2012

The oscar noms are in. I am mostly pleased minus the two great omissions of Arbitrage and Bernie. Below are my top twelve films of the year in no particular order.




MY TWELVE

- ZERO DARK THIRTY—my choice for best overall picture

- BERNIE—a cringing delight of a film

- DJANGO UNCHAINED—well made and ultra stylish

- THE QUEEN OF VERSAILLES—shocking terrifying amusing

- THE AVENGERS—the best fanboy movie of the year

- ARGO—an excellent political thriller

- THE MASTER—my intellectual favorite

- SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK—a blistering comedy

- END OF WATCH—seriously hilarious and sobering

- FLIGHT—sad intransigent fun

- THE BOURNE LEGACY—action at a distance

- BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD—wowed

HONORABLE MENTION

- MAGIC MIKE—a Soderbergh affair

- SAVAGES—a Stone affair

- WRECK-IT RALPH—lucid animation

- THE IMPOSSIBLE—revealing despair

- ARBITRAGE—wealth gone haywire

- LOOPER—interesting time travel

- HOPE SPRINGS—geriatric musings

- FRANKENWEENIE—a return to form

- MOONRISE KINGDOM—bizarre yet touching

- SAFTEY NOT GUARANTEED—more coolness

- AMOUR—awful tragic reality

- CHRONICLE—surprise superheros

- THE RAID: REDEMPTION—phenomenal fight scenes

- FRIENDS WITH KIDS—quiet thoughtful drama

- SILENT HOUSE—neat idea, well shot

- PROJECT X—my best experience in the theater

- THIN ICE—quirky upbeat murder



I hope you have enjoyed my reporting this year. My desire is to continue guiding your feet and your minds to new and interesting places. Thanks for reading.