THE TOP TEN OF 2012!

AS PICKED BY ARMY1601 

Well, here we are yet again. 2012 has come and gone, and with it, it's movies. The time has come to recount the best trips to Cinema, and the best would be a good word to use. 2012 has been an awesome year for movies in my opinion, one of the best in a long time, while we've had our fair share of polarizing movies (Prometheus, the Amazing Spider-Man), we had some huge hits this year (the Avengers, the Dark Knight Rises, Skyfall), and more subtle award season fare that still packed a big punch (Argo, Lincoln, etc.), and whole bunch more awesome stuff. So naturally, here are my top ten picks for 2012/ A few things to keep in mind, I havent seen everything from 2012, I'm yet to see Silver Linings Playbook and Life of Pi, and Zero Dark Thirty, which doesnt get a theatrical release in most places until mid January, so I will be seeing it then. One more thing, its my opinion, everyones top ten will be different, so take it with a grain of salt, and if you agree, well, thats fantastic.

A FEW HONORABLE MENTIONS!

21 Jump Street/ Ted - I consider them a tie for Best Comedy of the year, so theyre together in this spot laughed my ass off in both, overall, good year for comedies

The Grey - Liam Neeson's thoughtful survival movie, with themes of Death, Life, this thing was a huge surprise especially for a January movie, it's truly spectacular

Paranorman - Another Halloween stop motion gem I can put right there with Coraline and the Nightmare before Christmas. It's such a shocker for a kids animated movie. It's packed with great art, cool characters, and a really neat climax in my opinion.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Not as good as the original trilogy, and it has pacing problems, but the parts that really worked in the movie, were awesome, especially the Riddles in the Dark Segment!

The Amazing Spider-Man- I'm in a minority here, but I really enjoyed the movie. It was a fun ride with different spin on all my favorite characters, and I was a fan of the direction this was taking with the character of Peter Parker, and the kind of arc he had. Kudos to Andrew Garfield for playing him well.

So without further ado, here's the list!

"We are stepped out upon the world stage now, with the fate of human dignity in our hands. Blood's been spilled to afford us this moment! Now, now, now!"

10. LINCOLN

In my opinion, this is Spielberg's best work in years, he re-teamed back with Munich screenwriter Tony Kushner, and brought the brilliant Daniel Day-Lewis into the fray to deliver what will be the best actor winning performance at the Oscars this year. Also stellar work from Tommy Lee Jones, and Sally Field, this really is an actor's showcase. One thing I should add is I liked the way this movie approached Lincoln, it wasnt some bloated biopic analyzing his whole life story, but a microchasm of that story looking at a defining moment in Lincoln's presedential campaign (Emancipation Proclamation) and making that the central focus, it made the film that much more interesting to me.

"We Accept the love we think we deserve"

"There's something wrong with Andrew"

9. CHRONICLE/PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER

I Had to include these two as a tie on my list, had to give them both recognition. Both were well done High School, teenager movies, while vastly different from each other, they had characters that we can relate to through their trials and tribulations. Chronicle was a character study of a kid who had the world shit on him everyday, Andrew played brilliantly by Dane Dehaan, and his evolution into a full fledged villain, which all sorts of awesome to watch. On the other side of the spectrum we have Charlie with a breakout performance by Logan Lerman, adjusting to high school life and dealing with some heavy past trauma, dealing with something everyone must felt, the highs and lows of dealing with that first love. What I love about these two films is the work with the characters, as I said, they are relatable, and played brilliantly by the best of up and coming actors, I'm glad to have seen high school movies done right in 2012. 

"We need to stick together"

....

"This isn't right we need to split up"

8. THE CABIN IN THE WOODS

To be completely honest, I am not the biggest fan of the horror genre. That may have something to do with the fact that the time period I'm growing up in has terrible remakes, sequels, and cash grabs with only the occasional gem. I've enjoyed many of the classics like Evil Dead, Halloween, and such, but until now, I haven't ever been excited for horror movie. Then came Cabin in the Woods, an intelligent imaginative piece of work that deconstructs the tropes and cliches of the horror movies and manages to be equal parts horror and comedy in a successful manor. What can be expected from Drew Goddard who delivered the good remake of Let the Right One In, and Joss Whedon (In his first appearance on the list!). Like Chronicle, the climax is all sorts of AWESOME! You have to see it to believe it, and its brilliant payoff for the first two acts 

"I Don't wanna talk about time travel because if we start talking about it we're going to be here all day talking about it, making diagrams with straws"

I was really looking forward to this one after the great summer season ended, and yep, It lived up to my expectations and then some. Rian Johnson, a talented force who doesnt quite his due, really dreamed up some cool imaginative sci-fi this year when others sort of disappointed. Joseph Gordon-Levitt has had a great year, and this is the peak right here, in a story that goes in to places your were not expecting, and great work from Willis and Blunt here, and the kid was actually pretty good. Looper is fantastic stuff that brings time travel to the table without tying your brain into knots. Enjoyable, Intelligent, and Well Acted.

"I'm Bad and that's good. I will never be good and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me"

6. WRECK-IT RALPH

My favorite animated film since Toy Story 3, this had to land somewhere high on my list. Blending video game nostalgia, with the humor and heart seen in something LIKE Toy Story, or anything from Pixar for that matter, this was a treat for anyone who grew up in the 8-Bit, 16-Bit era, or anyone familiar with Video Games. I loved the work with the characters, any great animated movie will make you love the characters by the end, and Wreck-It Ralph does that in spades, as Vannelope and Ralph end up being in my opinion, the new Woody and Buzz for this generation (If we are lucky!). I was surprised with how much heart this had by the end, I think my eyes got watery by the end, but hey, that's a good thing.

"But what does it Mean?"

"It means ARGO FUCK YOURSELF!"

5. ARGO

Ben Affleck continues to show people that he is a force to be reckoned with in Hollywood. This is his absolute best film he's made thus far, and I tip my hat to him. The script is well written making the first half, filled with politcal intrigue and the humor worked in from the whole Hollywood Aspect. The second half, a nail biting thriller directed so well by Affleck, you ultimately care about this bizarre story, which actually HAPPENED! And the hostages that desperately need to get out. Special Kudos to John Goodman and Alan Arkin, they did great stuff here and will account for 100 percent of your laughs in this movie. 

"You had my Curiosity, now you have my Attention"

4. DJANGO UNCHAINED

A movie thats recently got so much hate around Spill. I Cant not have Tarantino on my list, especially when it's a spaghetti western starring Jamie Foxx as a slave gone cowboy, a badass mentor made out of Christoph Waltz (Which is my favorite supporting actor of the year), and Leo Di Caprio, as a SLAVE OWNER! I admit, I had to see the movie just for that. Don't forget Sam Jackson as the despicable house slave. Yeah its not easy to watch, a certain word is tossed around a lot, and the violence is out there, Tarantino just pulls it off tonally, with his staple dialogue, cinematic style, and a soundtrack that should fail, but works. Django Unchained call me crazy, might be my favorite Tarantino film since Pulp Fiction.

So these top 3 are always switching between each other for number 1, but as it stand now, this is what I think, they are all Honorary Top Pick of the year movies.

"Where the Hell have you been?"

"Enjoying Death...."

3. SKYFALL

The Man with the Golden gun is back in a movie that redefines the double O for the new world. Everything from the cast, the score, and what is the BEST Cinematography of the year, works to bring back Bond for the world. With a story that hits more emotional notes then you would expect from a James Bond movie, similar to what Nolan did with Batman this year, Bond loses his immortality and has his ties with MI-6 and M tested and as an excellent Javier Bardem as Silva enters the fray to cause all kind of havoc for certain reasons. This is what the Dark Knight was for Batman, and I'm hoping we get more of this Bond in the future which seems likely as they've brought on the same screenwriter for future installments.Not to mention it has the best theme song of any movie let alone a Bond movie, thanks to the great Adele. Bond got the ultimate Birthday present this year.

"I Have an Army"

"We Have a Hulk"

2. THE AVENGERS

Just by an inch, Earth's Mightiest Heroes miss the top spot. But it's still a winner, Joss Whedon was the absolute perfect man for the job, has trademark dialogue, geek wisdom, and affinity for working with large groups of characters worked for these larger than life people. It could have easily been a cash grab and still blew the box office, but that fact that it's something special makes this an event, something to be remembered. The first time the Avengers assemble down on the streets of New York outside Grand Central is the single best moment in film this year. It's also awesome to see someone get humor right in a Blockbuster right, the post credit sequence still cracks me up every time I fast forward to it on Blu Ray.

"A Hero can be anyone. Even a man doing something as simple and reassuring as putting a coat around a little boy's shoulders to let him know the world hadn't ended"

1. THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

What will be controversial, my pick for number one is none other than Batman himself. My true fanboy is coming out in this pick, but I could care less. Yes, the movie has its flaws, and it doesnt quite get up to the Dark Knight in terms of quality, but does that stop it from being fantastic? Hell no! The cast was spectacular in this movie, Bale is good as always, Anne Hathaway was the best Catwoman ever, Tom Hardy put a clever spin on Bane and played up the menace, and JGL again killing it in another movie on this list as the good guy cop. The human story, while its been seen before, is told well, with the story of man broken mentally and physically, trying to get back to state he needs to be, it just spoke to me so much in the way it was told in this movie. And the climax of this movie had it all, emotion, tension, action, and glorious closure to one of my favorite trilogies ever. 

So those are my picks, let me know what yours are and your thoughts on 2012 in film, sound off in the comments!