2012 in Review: The Top 10 Films of 2012

Where did Looper find itself on this year's top 10?

Time for another top 10 folks!

2012 was an absolutely fantastic year for films, and by far the best year for films in a long time. This year’s top 10 list was by far the hardest list I’ve put together over the years that I’ve done this and I agonized over the order and content of this list for quite a while. Ultimately I’ve created it though and, for the most part, I’m happy with it. As with all these lists I see everything commercially and thus don’t see certain “important” films that could have been off this list (actually this year’s list is more “complete” than any other I’ve done at the end of the year and the only film I’m really sore from not seeing is Zero Dark Thirty) and the list, as usual will be revisited come Oscar time. As of now though, here is the Top 10 of this amazing year of film:

Honorable Mentions:

Les Misérables, The Avengers

10. The Dark Knight Rises

Who would have thought at the beginning of the year that this film would barley scrape on to this list. Despite not being as great the second and third time around the film still has some fantastic moments and I still consider the last 45 minutes of this film to be one of the best ending sequences to come in the last few years. The Dark Knight Rises was big, bold, and ambitious and, while it wasn’t The Dark Knight, it definitely warrants a spot on this list. Even if it’s not as high up on the list as originally expected.

9. Moonrise Kingdom

Wes Anderson’s best film deserves to be on this list. One of the little films that could of this year Moonrise Kingdom is a painstakingly beautiful effort that displayed the importance of family, love, and childhood. Each frame was meticulously filmed to convey a beautiful, fairy tale like atmosphere that made the film such a special effort. It also doesn’t hurt that the two child actor leads, Jara Gilman, and Kara Hayward gave the film the heart that all other Wes Anderson films seemed to lack. A beautiful, magnificent effort indeed.

8. Argo

Ben Affleck’s third film, Argo was a surprisingly amazing thriller that proved, in a generation of explosion based thrillers that a great thriller is not equal to the sum of its action scenes. Argo was tense and suspenseful without the need to through constant action and explosions as it used the powers of writing and acting to fill these needs. Add in a stellar cast and some great humor (“Argo f*** yourself!”) and Argo is one of the biggest winners of this year.

7. Skyfall

After a four year hiatus Bond returned to the screen and in better form than ever. The best action film of the year, Skyfall proved that Bond can still be Bond while retaining the grit and darkness that was introduced with Daniel Craig in Casino Royale. It’s good to know that the trilogy of Bond “coming of age” films can end just as amazingly as it began.

6. The Master

The best character study and actor showoff of the year, Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master was a fantastic effort in the never ending barrage of “art” film. Conversations and dialogue were equal to dynamite action scenes in this film thanks to not only the writing but to two of the absolute best performances of the year from Joaquin Phoenix and Phillip Seymour Hoffman as a damaged soul and the person who tries to “save” him. Add in the truly insightful commentary on religion and cults and the Master is easily one of the greatest films of 2012.

5. Beasts of the Southern Wild

Who would have thought that the best female performance of the year would come from a six year old girl with no acting experience? Not only that but who would have thought that a little indie film could catch so much attention. Well along comes Beasts of the Southern Wild a deep, yet magically whimsical study of the troubled and toxic relationship between a father and his daughter. The film is perhaps one of the most unique films ever made and it really captured the nature of survival and the lengths one will go to hold on to home. Beasts may be the smallest film on this list but it arguably may be one of the most triumphant.

4. Cloud Atlas

From a small film to a really, really big one. Cloud Atlas was the biggest, boldest and most ambitious film of the year, by far. Six stories melded together with each of the lead actors sprawled across all six may sound like a disaster waiting to happen but with the Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer behind the project along with some fantastic actors Cloud Atlas managed to pull this together marvelously. Add in the strong, deep philosophical messages and no other film reached for the stars quite like Cloud Atlas. That in itself is an amazing achievement.

3. Lincoln

Steven Spielberg plus Daniel Day-Lewis with a little bit of grand American biopic equals a fantastic film. Add the greatest supporting cast Spieberg has ever worked with and some absolutely fantastic writing and you have Lincoln one of the greatest biopics in a long time. The only film to really humanize the great president while still managing to keep focus on the passing of the thirteenth amendment. The film is Spielberg back at the top of his game and it’s great to have him back in this way.

2. Django Unchained

In a year filled with unique films, perhaps no one can quite out unique Quentin Tarantino. This trend of uniqueness continued in Django Unchained in which Tarantino got to turn the western upside down. The most fun to be had in a cinema in 2012 Django Unchained proved that Tarantino is still one of the best Writer/Directors in the business and that his films almost 20 years later are still as unique as ever.

1. Looper 
The best original Sci fi film since Minority Report Rian Johnson’s Looper was the near perfect sci fi adventure. Looper combined an amazing premise, an uncomplex yet intelligent way of presenting time travel and mixed it with a beautiful human story about hope and sacrifice. Looper is original, thrilling, beautiful and any other positive descriptive adjective you can find (at this point so many nice things have been said I’m running out of them). In a year of great films Looper ultimately stands out as the greatest