Top 10 Best Movies of 2012

The year is round and the time is right to make Top 10 lists. After finishing my, more unconvential list of the Top 10 Best Movie Trailers , here comes the classic list of the Top 10 Best Movies of the year every (wannabe) blogger / (wannabe) movie reviewer has to make, and luckily, I also enyoy doing these.  Of course this list is purely in my opinion and I also haven't seen every movie that came out this year, so don't complain to much. I decided not to watch some, some didn't come to my country, most of them will come in 2013. Most notably between Oscar contenders, I didn't see Lincoln, Zero Dark Thirty, Life Of Pi, Les Miserables and Django Unchained, but I highly doubt they would have influenced the list much. Silver Linings Playbook and Celeste & Jesse Forever seem like having good choices to crack it, but sadly they weren't released in my country and I'll just have to wait to see them sometime in 2013. Also, beware for tons of shameless self-promotion! What can I do, I am happy for anyone who stumbles upon this.

10. Battleship

No, this isn't some weird joke. At first, I hesitated to put this on my list, but when I saw it in the same place on this same kind of list on some serious newspaper, like The Huffington Post or something, I was like "Fuck it! If Huffington Post can do it, so can I!" So yeah, I actually enyoyed Battleship and I was surprised most people didn't. It was more then just a Transformers-type mindless action flick, it knew what kind of a movie it was, it took advantage of that with tons of references and funny dialogues, making fun of itself and other mindless action flicks. Someone during the production of this movie must have said: "People! We're making a movie based on a Hasbro board game! Nobody's gonna take us seriously!" And to that person, I tip my hat off.

9. Looper

In general, I believe this movie is highly overrated. People saying like it was some kind of a new Inception, I tought it would be and it just didn't reach my therefore extremely high expectations. In the end, I still had to admit, that even if Looper isn't the new Inception, it still is an fresh, entertaining and intelligent sci-fi film, with great acting and some killer make-up (check out my full, spoiler-free review of the movie here).

8. 21 Jump Street 

The self-aware, sort-of remake of the 80's TV series (more of a parody, actually) about two idiotic cops who go undercover in high school featured fresh humour and two bright comedic performances by Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum. I had a really hard time picking out the funniest movie of the year and taking up this spot on the list between this and Ted. I definitely laughed more with Ted, but I did see this alone and Ted in theatres, with my slightly immature friends. I finally decided for 21 Jump Street, as Ted will probably crack a lot of other similar lists, and I also felt this had slightly more intelligent humour, better acting and Foster The People on the soundtrack. 

7. Skyfall

This movie was recognized by many as one of the best James Bond films of all time, and it deserves that honor. It succesfully tackled one of the biggest problems of the Bond movies: Some people like the dark, gritty and realistic Bond we have known from the Daniel Craig films, and some people like the campy, cartoony Bond we have known from the Pierce Brosnan films, for example. Skyfall combined the two in a surprisingly crafty way and gave us a perfect mix with a few stunning action sequences and a very memorable villain (check out my spoiler-free review of the movie here and my spoiler-filled discussion here).

6. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Even tough some people critized Peter Jackson's newest trip into Middle Earth for being overlong and full of CGI and whatnot, I simply loved it. With a few great comedic moments, mostly set up by Martin Freeman as Bilbo, a bunch of backstories and subplots to truly showcase everything the expanded story has to offer and some stunning visual scenes, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey might not be exactly like LOTR, but it definitely is a fun and exciting fantasy epic for all ages (check out my full and spoiler-free review of it here).

5. The Hunger Games

Some might not agree on this one with me, but I simply cannot deny of what an effect this movie made on me. A mesmerizing dystopian tale, which critizes capitalism, yet gives young adults enough things to think about was a huge surprise for me and also made me a fan of the books. With a perfectly chosen lead actress, a few incredibly intense and psychologically-realistic scenes and a stylized soundtrack, The Hunger Games just give out a certain vibe and thankfully, take over the world. 

4. The Avengers

A superhero superspectacle uniting several majestic comic book characters into one movie might seem like a big shot, but Marvel pulled it off perfectly. With 4 years of build-up, nerds and geeks have been getting boners since the second Iron Man movie, but The Avengers just kicked it up a notch with amazing action scenes, hilarious dialogues and a great lead performance by Robert Downey Jr. (while also not overshadowing other characters), in order to satisfy geeks, action-movie fans, families and critics (check out my toughts on the clash of the 2012 superhero blockbusters here).

3. Cloud Atlas 

The 3-hour film, directed by 3 directors, starring some actors in up to 7 roles, spanning centuries and telling us six different stories throughout past, present and future was recognized by many as an over-long, over-ambitious mess, but some of us agreed, that it is a crafty-made masterpiece. Unbelieveable make-up, incredible visual effects (this actually is an independent film), a way to make six different stories logically tie into one another in a surprisingly good way, Cloud Atlas is simply a mesmerizing and epic film, worth watching every minute of (check out my full and spoiler-free review of it here).

2. The Perks Of Being A Wallflower

Without doubt the sweetest, cutest and most sentimental movie I've ever seen, The Perks Of Being A Wallflower surprisingly bombed at the box office, but has been rightfully recognized by some critics as »the coming of age film of our generation«. With being a bit geeky and asocial becoming pretty common nowadays, a lot of people could relate to the fresh, funny and deeply affecting story of Charlie, a highly intelligent, yet socially awkward high-schooler, who is taken under the wing of two seniors and welcomed into their little group of outsiders, who listen to mix tapes with old music, perform at the Rocky Horror Picture Show and make artsy magazines (check out my full and spoiler-free review here). 

1. The Dark Knight Rises 

At the beginning of the year, I made a bet with myself, that this would be the movie of 2012. I didn't cheat or anything or put this here just to win the bet, but it's just how it is. Screw haters, I say and rightfully declare this the best film of the year. The grand finale of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy definitely is epic in every way possible. With the best performance by Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne and Batman in the trilogy, a few unbelieveably spectacular scenes in scope and size, thrilling side performances by Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle and Tom Hardy as Bane, an exciting story full of twists, open endings and things to keep our heads scratching about and as always, but this-time especially monumental score by Hans Zimmer, The Dark Knight Rises is the definition of an epic movie at its finest. 

So what are your top 10 best movies of 2012? Do you any good ones I might have missed? Do you think 2012 was a good year for movies? Comment below, let me know!