Honorable mentions (A - Z):
The Avengers - Not being a big supporter of the MCU and everything it represents, I can still acknowledge an entertaining, well-written action movie when I see one. It's big, it's ambitious, and it's better than 90% of popcorn entertainment out there.
Indie Game: The Movie - A video game development documentary that covers some now-famous independent games and does so in a genuinely fascinating and enlightening way.
Jiro Dreams Of Sushi - Another documentary, this one focusing on a world-renowned Japanese sushi chef and his tiny reservation-only restaurant. It's an infectiously passionate look at a man who has dedicated his life to his craft.
Life Of Pi - One of the most visually-breathtaking movies of the decade, Ang Lee's direction is tight, but the screenplay is lacking. Ultimately, it's a movie I'm more impressed by than I actually love.
Safety Not Guaranteed - An indie time travel comedy carried by Aubrey Plaza (playing Aubrey Plaza) and a particularly wonderful Mark Duplass. Scenes involving these two are terrific, even if the plot gets muddied with some unnecessary filler.
Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World - One of the most captivating and genuinely difficult comedies to watch out there, this movie makes light of the apocalypse in a way that is pretty much the perfect balance between humor and tragedy.
Seven Psychopaths - An ultra-meta comedy about a screenwriter and some crazy people. With some great performances by Sam Rockwell and Christopher Walken in particular, this movie has enough humor and twists to rise above the potentially derivative nature of something like this.
Silver Linings Playbook - One of my favorite romantic comedies of the decade, Silver Linings Playbook seems like a pretty standard movie on the surface, but has a lot more to offer in terms of character development and genuinely strong performances by everyone involved.
Sleepwalk With Me - Mike Birbiglia's first directorial feature, and a pretty terrific one at that, focusing on the autobiographical story surrounding his sleep disorder and early days as a stand-up comic. Great for fans of comedy in general.
The Turin Horse - A very slow and deliberate movie (as you might expect from Bela Tarr, assuming you know who that even is) that works mostly on a visual level due to the terrific cinematography and stark lighting.
This is a tricky one for me, since there are quite a few things about this movie that I genuinely don't like. There are a great deal of plot/script issues, Naomie Harris is pretty insufferable, the departures from traditional James Bond tropes and traditions aren't always to the film's benefit, but in the end these things aren't enough to detract from how wonderfully-shot, acted, and shockingly emotional this movie winds up being. Javier Bardem is one of Bond's greatest villains in this, and the Roger Deakins cinematography is suitably terrific. Walking the line between popcorn entertainment and high art, Skyfall winds up a defining film in the franchise.
A powerful drama from a terrific filmmaker, Amour might be the best film Michael Haneke has every directed. It's really a fairly simple movie about two elderly music teachers, but the tension and drama Haneke finds in their story is really what sets it apart. Emmanuelle Riva and Jean-Louis Trintignant are both spectacular in this, giving their characters that added layer of depth that makes the inevitable all the more heartbreaking when it finally comes around. I don't have too much to say about this movie, since it's been years since I watched it, but it's still stuck in my mind and I can't seem to shake it.
When I first saw this movie in theaters I loved it right up until the Miyazaki-esque feel-good finale that I felt undercut the darkly humorous horror that came before it. But after watching it several times, I've come to appreciate the softer approach this movie takes to the subject matter. It's a wonderful gateway horror movie, but that's not all this movie has to offer. As a big fan of stop-motion animation, I find the movie very visually appealing, the characters are fun and memorable, and the script keeps things moving along nicely. It's all-in-all a lovely little movie that holds up well to repeat viewings.
A genre-defining horror movie that's probably a little too lofty in its goals, but that excess is part of what makes it really work. With a fantastically sharp script that goes in all sorts of wild directions - while still staying focused on parodying typical horror tropes - this Whedon/Goddard collaboration definitely feels like the kind of "what if" idea that really shouldn't work on-screen, but somehow does. There's some great acting here as well, with Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford in particular standing out as the Machiavellian orchestrators of the elaborate horror play that's killing off the film's lead characters. Good stuff.
I didn't like this movie for years. When I first saw it in the theater, I was more confused by it than anything, but as time has passed and I've watched it again and again, I've really grown to love the film's attempts at telling such an odd story from the perspective of Joaquin Phoenix's genuinely bizarre character. Not only is the totally-not-Scientology plot an inherently interesting topic, but every filmmaking aspect is top-notch. The music, cinematography, set and costume design are all great. But really it's an actors movie, and the performances are compelling and wonderfully showy from pretty much all major players. It's a movie that really grows on you -- at least, it did on me.
The Judge Dredd movie from 1995 was an overall pretty disappointing experience (thanks largely to... everything about the movie, because it sucked), but this one corrected that film's mistakes and offers a fresh, focused, and energetic take on the source material that I would find difficult not to enjoy on every re-watch. Karl Urban grunts and growls under his Judge helmet (which he thankfully never takes off), and Lena Headey does a terrific job as a drug kingpin. This is a brainless action movie in a lot of ways, but the sharp direction and small scale of events keep the excitement up and maintains a level of focus and control that is often missing in big budget action movies.
Certainly one of the most bizarre movies of the decade, it's hard to even describe the amount of weird that makes up this film. It's a sort of anthology but instead of being told in segments through a traditional campfire framing device, it follows the main actor (played by Denis Lavant, who is fantastic) as he goes from place to place embodying oddball characters as his job, but for unknown reasons. It's surreal, full of memorable scenes and moments, and is ultimately just an unforgettable experience for anyone willing to let themselves be confused for 2 hours.
Wes Anderson is one of the most distinct and talented directors of the past 25 years. While many of his movies tend to blend together stylistically, they each have their own distinct identity and charms, and Moonrise Kingdom is no different. It's rare for me to enjoy child actors in movies, but the main two in this perfectly play off of each other and capture the Wes Anderson quirks wonderfully. It's a sweet story with a ridiculously giant supporting cast made up of tons of recognizable actors, but they never overwhelm or distract from the story. This isn't one of my very top favorite Anderson movies, but I would be lying if I said it wasn't still pretty fantastic, and ridiculously charming.
Technically a three-part series made up of short films released over several years, they all were blended together and fit under this one title in this feature length movie, therefore I'm counting it and I'm counting them all as 2012. It's my list, after all. On the surface, the rudimentary animation and corny sense of humor make this seem like a childish movie with very little to offer, but as the story moves along and it begins to delve into deeper subjects, you begin to realize just the scope of the film, which touches on plenty of weighty topics regarding life and the meaning of existence. I was won over by this one and still find it to be a funny and deeply moving experience, and quite possibly my favorite animated film of the entire 2010s.
Here we are, the greatest action movie possibly ever, and my hands-down favorite movie of 2012. A non-stop barrage of wonderfully choreographed and ingeniously shot violence that goes from guns and explosions to people beating the ever-loving crap out of each other with their fists, knives, and whatever else they have around them at the time. I feel like I've done nothing but praise this movie over the past 7-8 years, but my love for it hasn't faded at all, with my appreciation for its narrative simplicity and brilliant blend of stylistic action only seeming to grow over time. If you want a pure adrenaline rush from start to finish, and you don't mind there being very sporadic plot and characterization, this is the perfect action movie. I loved it, and I think most action fans will like it, too -- even though there are *gasp* subtitles. Seriously, people, reading isn't so bad, get over it. You're only hurting yourselves.
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