What?!? I only saw 29 movies in the theater this year? I know Sandy slowed me down, but still! I think I was on a record pace early in the year. What happened? I don’t know, but I know I let you down and I promise I’ll try harder in 2013.
Yet again, I’ll say: I can love a movie and you can hate it, and we’re both right. And vice versa. And even my mood right now is affecting which movies I put on the list and in what order. So don’t give it too much thought, eh? You can click for my best-of lists from 2009, 2010, and 2011. For 2012, see below.
But, man, only 29? Can I at least count Keyhole? That was a 2012 film, but I saw it on video. It would give me an even 30. Ooh, and A Dangerous Method and Young Adult. Those were 2011 films but I saw them in 2012 after I’d done my count. No? OK, OK.
10) Celeste and Jesse Forever There were movies I actually gave higher ratings to during the year, but this one stayed with me a little more, and that absolutely counts in my book. Rashida Jones (who co-wrote this) and Andy Samberg do great work in a mature story of trying to grow up and move on. Don’t worry, there are plenty of laughs too.
9) Lincoln Starts more good-for-you than enjoyable, but the significant combined talents of Daniel Day-Lewis and Steven Spielberg ultimately make this a very compelling tale with many modern-day parallels. And ya gotta love that hat.
8 ) The Avengers “Wait, where’s Batman on your list? Wah, wah, wah!” Yeah, The Dark Knight Rises was good I guess, but this was fun. A lot of fun. And in my day, you whippersnappers, that’s what comic books were about. Yeah, I’m talking to you, new dark-and-serious Superman trailer.
7) The Three Stooges Hands down the funniest movie I saw all year. But also sweet and old-fashioned and Larry David plays a nun. The Farrelly Brothers brought back the manic Stooges magic I loved so much as a kid.
6) The Salt of Life I enjoyed Woody Allen’s To Rome With Love, but for Italy-based comedies this year, I choose this one (even with subtitles). Gianni Di Gregorio wrote, directed, and stars in this tale of growing older and trying to stay relevant. The ending is absolutely perfect and even a very truncated review of this movie needs to mention that Italian women are very, very attractive.
5) The Dictator Sacha Baron Coen sets his comic sights on Brooklyn-roof-garden-neo-hippies, Arabs (ok, North Africans, but I think I know what Cohen was up to), the war on terror, newscasters, China, and countless other targets, this time in a scripted film. It hilariously climaxes in one of the clearest-spoken political commentaries of the year.
4) The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey I wasn’t really sure I could sit through another Peter Jackson Middle Earth trilogy. But those New Zealand sons-of-guns pulled me back in. Fun action, straight-forward storytelling, and it was genuinely good to see the old gang again.
3) Frankenweenie I readily admit that I am a huge Tim Burton fan, and this felt like vintage Burton. It’s dark, it’s funny, it’s visually brilliant. And at the end of the day, it’s a sweet story of a boy and his dog.
2) The Master Yeah, I’m a big P.T. Anderson fan too. Here, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix put on an acting clinic and it’s a pleasure to watch them duke it out. Many felt the beautiful-looking film ultimately didn’t have anything to say, but to me it was a treatise on craving escape—seeing it but not being able to reach it—that had real resonance.
1) Moonrise Kingdom And in the battle of the directing Andersons, Wes comes out on top! Tremendous fan of him as well. Wes Anderson has a very specific worldview and it’s not for everyone. But if you’re along for the ride, this is textbook Anderson: clever, quirky, artful. Reality just a little bit skewed. This film also deals with the desire to escape, but we also get the first flickers of love and the great power of caring for each other. For me it added up to the most overall satisfying movie of the year.
Honorable mentions: Argo, Skyfall, Hyde Park on Hudson, To Rome With Love, Dark Shadows
Worst movie: I guess I didn’t see enough to really say one was particularly crappy. I know I was most disappointed by Casa de mi Padre.
You can check out all my movie reviews by clicking: here and here
Jack Silbert, curator