Top 10 Movies of 2012 by Chris Morin

Making a "Best Of" movie list is very difficult because many studios release potentially Oscar worthy films very late in the year in hopes that the Academy and its short attention span might remember only the most recent movie releases. I have dealt with this problem the same way as I did last year. First there's my Best Of 2012 list. It is my top ten list of movies that were released in 2012 that I actually got a chance to see in the calendar year. The second list is called Honorable Mention. This is a list of movies that were either not released in 2012, movies that were leftovers from the previous year or movies that I got to see for the first time despite the movie's release year. This is followed by the Best Players category. This list comprises of actors, directors, animators or anyone else who I felt had a big impact on the world of movies in the past year. Finally there's the ever popular Worst Piece Of Junk Award. I think you can probably figure out what that's all about.

Well, 2012 has come and gone and it was probably the best year of movies in a long, long time. My favorite has to be Django Unchained. The language was rude, the action was at times crude and there were lots of socially unacceptable language in the film but it was a blast. I knew from the beginning when Tarantino used the music from Two Mules For Sister Sara that the film was going to be a wild ride.

The cast is awesome. Christoph Waltz is amazing once again as are Jamie Foxx and the much under appreciated Leonardo DiCaprio who gives another Oscar caliber performance. The bag scene is one of the best written scenes I have seen in a long while. Tarantino is getting better with age and has taken nearly every genre to the next level. I'd love to see what he would do with Star Wars. :)

Best Of 2012:

1. Django Unchained - The D is silent but I give the film an A.
2. The Dark Knight Rises - Great finale to Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy.
3. The Hobbit - There and back again looks better than ever. The Bilbo/Gollum scene is super cool.
4. Silver Linings Playbook - Great performances by Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper.
5. Life Of Pi - Not the movie I thought it was going to be. A real surprise!
6. Argo - Fuck yourself. Had to go there. Alan Arkin and John Goodman are great.
7. Frankenweenie - Another Tim Burton Masterpiece.
8. Bernie - Jack Black is awesome and should be given an Oscar nomination for his performance.
9. Lincoln - Daniel Day Lewis is great but it is Tommy Lee Jones who steals the show.
10. Les Miserables - If not for Anne Hathaway's performance this movie wouldn't have made the list.

Honorable Mention:

1. Paranorman - Just missed the top ten.
2. End Of Watch - Good gritty cop flick with good perfomances by Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peņa.
3. The Secret Life Of Arriety - Studio Ghibli does it again. Beautiful looking film.
4. Skyfall - Best Bond movie ever?
5. Brave - Pixar's most georgous movie to date.
6. Lawless - Fun prohibition film.
7. Looper - One of the better sci-fi movies in quite some time.
8. Premium Rush - Fun high octane action.
9. Flight - Good story but Denzel was not as good as he used to be.
10. War Of Arrors - Great foreign action film. Check it out on Netflix.

Best Players:

1. Joseph Gordon-Levitt - An actor would be lucky to be in 1 great movie a year but 4? How about Looper, Premium Rush, The Dark Knight Rises and Lincoln. Whoa!
2. Anne Hathaway - Single-handedly saved Les Miserables.
3. Joaquin Phoenix - He's brilliant in The Master. Oscar?
4. Bradley Cooper - Silver Linings Playbook may bring Bradley an Oscar.
5. Daniel Day-Lewis - Almost a shoo-in for best actor.
6. Jack Black - Oscar worthy performance in Bernie.
7. Quvenzhane Wallis - Young house of fire in The Beasts Of The Southern Wild.
8. Quentin Tarantino - Brilliant in the explosive Django Unchained.
9. Jennifer Lawrence - Excellent performance in Silver Lininings Playbook.
10. John Goodman - Brief but memorable performances in Flight and Argo.

Worst Piece Of Junk Award:

Silent Hill 3D: Revelations - In fairness to this movie it looked good and was clearly better than a couple of movies I saw this year but compared to the original it was a total let down. The original Silent Hill was smart, creepy and innovative. This was just a rehash of the original in 3D. Move along, there's nothing new to see. In contrast, at least the horrible Abraham Lincoln Vs. Zombies had one of the coolest lines ever: Lincoln is slashing a zombie and he yells, "Emancipate this!"

The Movies I Saw In 2012:

5 - Excellent
4 - Good
3 - Fair
2 - Poor
1 - Terrible
0 - What In God's Name Were They Thinking? - (No longer used. Created and used in 2001 only for A.I.) 

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - 2009 - 4
The Girl Who Played With Fire - 2009 - 4
The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest - 2009 - 4
Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close - 2011 - 4
A Better Life - 2011 - 3
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy - 2011 - 4
Beginners - 2010 - 3
Real Steel - 2011 - 3
Warrior - 2011 - 3
The Artist - 2011 - 4
Rango - 2011 - 3
Jane Eyre - 2011 - 3
Albert Nobbs - 2011 - 3
To Hell And Back - 3 
If A Tree Falls - 2011 - 3
Rio - 2011 - 3
The Secret World Of Arriety - 2010 - 4 
The Cabin In The woods - 2011 - 3
The Avengers - 2012 - 3
Prometheus - 2012 - 3
War Of The Arrors - 2011 - 4 
The Amazing Spider-Man - 2012 - 3
The Dark Knight Rises - 2012 - 5
IP Man - 2008 - 3
IP Man 2 - 2010 - 3
Abraham Lincoln VS. Zombies - 2012 - 3
The Bourne Legacy - 2012 - 3
Paranorman - 2012 - 4
Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter - 2012 - 3
Lawless - 2012 - 4
Premium Rush - 2012 - 4
Looper - 2012 - 4
End Of Watch - 2012 - 4
Tomorrow, When The War Began - 2010 - 3
The Master - 2012 - 3
Argo - 2012 - 4
Silent Hill - 2006 - 4
Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark - 2010 - 4
Silent Hill: Revelation 3D - 2012 - 3
Frankenweenie - 2012 - 5
Atlas Shrugged Part 1 - 2011 - 2
Skyfall - 2012 - 4
Flight - 2012 - 4
Thor - 2011 - 3
Dead Season - 2012 - 2
Chernobyl Diaries - 2012 - 3
Day Of The Dead - 2008 - 2
Radio Bikini - 1988 - 3
Trinity & Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie - 1995 - 4 
The Big Lebowski - 1998 - 4
Halloween: Resurrection - 2002 - 2
Halloween 6: The Curse Of Michael Myers - 1995 - 2
Lincoln - 2012 - 4
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance - 1962 - 4
Two Mules For Sister Sarah - 1970 - 4
Arbitrage - 2012 - 3
The Odd Life Of Timothy Green - 2012 - 3 
Anna Karenina - 2012 - 3
Life Of Pi - 2012 - 4
Silver Linings Playbook - 2012 - 4
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - 2012 - 5 
Moonrise Kingdom - 2012 - 3
Superman/Batman Apocalypse - 2010 - 2
Batman: Under The Red Hood - 2010 - 3
Justice League: Doom - 2012 - 3
Batman: Year One - 2011 - 3
The Ward - 2010 - 3
Bernie - 2011 - 4
Django Unchained - 2012 - 5
Les Miserables - 2012 - 4
Brave - 2012 - 4
Total Recall - 2012 - 4
Salmon Fishing In The Yemen - 2011 - 3
Beasts Of The Southern Wild - 2012 - 4
The Grey - 2011 - 4
The Devil Inside - 2012 - 3

Chris' Corner