[balaspa]

I generally see a lot of movies.  I write about them for Examiner.com and have been a reviewer of movies for years.  This year, however, with my marriage and the holidays right on top of each other - I feel like I missed so many movies I hear getting great Oscar buzz.

So, I have not seen "Argo" or "Silver Linings Playbook" or "The Sessions" or "Les Miserables."

So, from all of that my favorite movies of 2012 were:

Looper
Skyfall
The Dark Knight Rises
The Avengers

I couldn't come up with a 5th one...  Those are the ones I really enjoyed and remember now that the year is ending.  I saw more, but those are my top 4.  I guess I could put The Amazing Spider-Man up there, but so many fan boys hated it - but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

So, what are your top films for the year?  I'd love to hear them and then add them to my watch list for cable/Netflix/Red Box.

 

[JimJ]

1. Les Mis
2. Lincoln
3. Django Unchained
4. Looper
5. The Avengers

The top 3 are pretty much interchangeable. Loved all 3 of them. Very incomplete list though, still a lot of stuff I need to see. I live in an area that doesn't get the limited release stuff until a few months after they premiere in the big cities, if ever. Plus, there are ones that I just missed like Argo and Skyfall. Skyfall still has one show time at a theater near me, so I may still try to get to that.

 

[Carol (was Dara)]

Ever since we had kids, we don't get to see as many movies as we used to. It's too hard to get a babysitter. So I only saw a few movies in theatres this year:

The Hobbit
The Avengers
Snow White and the Huntsman
Brave (took the kids)

I loved Hobbit, liked Avengers, and didn't have strong feelings about the rest. 

 

[Hadou]

The Devil Inside - Was terrible.  Not even good in a "that's so crappy that it's fun" way.  Felt bad about getting dragged to that one.
The Grey - Good, but was disappointed by the way the trailers made the movie look.  The trailers gave me the impression that we were going to see Liam Neeson throat-chopping wolves for an hour and a half.
Chronicle - Was pretty fun.
The Lorax - I fell asleep, but my kid loved it.  So, that's all that matters I guess.
Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie - I'm in the minority in that I enjoy Tim and Eric's stuff.  And, as such, I enjoyed this movie.  It's not one that I'd recommend to pretty much anyone, though.  Unless you're a fan of their "comedy" style, avoid.
The Hunger Games - The missus read all the books and then pulled me along to see the movie.  I liked it.  It was a fun watch.  The drive home wasn't fun as all I heard was "THIS didn't happen in the books...they NEEDED to have *this* in the movie..." 
Cabin in the Woods - Loved it. 
Bad-A** (not sure about swear filters here, so I'll just play it safe) - It's amazing how they can take a short youtube clip of "Epic Beard Man" punching out some dude on a bus and stretch it out into a full length movie.  I saw this on Netflix one night and it was a pretty funny little action movie. 
The Avengers - Tanfastic.  I had SO much fun with this one.  My boy loved it too. 
Battleship - Ugh.  Why?
Chernobyl Diaries - I like these found-footage types.  And, this was so-so.  If you can catch it for cheap, and you're a fan of that type of movie, it could be enjoyable.
Prometheus - I absolutely loved this one. 
Brave - Once again, one of those movies that looked TOTALLY different with the previews/trailers.  Wasn't bad, though.  Just nothing overly great.
Abraham Lincoln vs Zombies - Asylum crap-fest that was so bad it was great.  Bill Oberst played a pretty good Lincoln.  "EMANCIPATE THIS!" *Slice*
Dark Knight Rises - I had more fun with The Avengers, but I think TDKR was the better movie.
Expendables 2 - Incredible. 
Resident Evil: Retribution - I'm a huge nerd for the game series, so I only see these movies out of morbid curiosity.  God, what a pile.
V/H/S - A nice anthology of found-footage scary movie things.  I really liked this and wish there were more anthology type movies like it.
Grave Encounters 2 - I love the first movie; it had some legitimately creepy moments in it.  The sequel?  Pass.
Wreck It Ralph - Fun fun fun.

I don't watch a lot of movies.

 

[balaspa]

Wow, that is quite a list.  But what are your favorites?  Mostly interested in the good stuff.

 

[balaspa]

And I am wishing I had The Dark Knight Rises on DVD to watch again tonight!

 

[luvmy4brats]

The Hunger Games
The Avengers

Those are my top 2. I only saw a few others this year (Hobbit, Lorax, & Dark Knight Rises). I liked parts of Dark Knight and The Hobbit was pretty good (didn't care for the 3D though). I think we went to see The Avengers 4 times, we liked it so much.

We're actually going to see the Hobbit again on Monday in 2D. My oldest daughter hasn't seen it yet. We also want to see Les Mis, but that won't be this year.

 

[kindlequeen]

The BEST movie I saw this year, hands down was Safety Not Guaranteed.  DH and I found it on Vudu and we both enjoyed it.  I haven't seen a movie so clever and well written in a very long time (well, ok, no original films).

Safety Not Guaranteed was about a guy who puts out an ad to find a companion to travel back in time with him, a news reporter goes to do a story on him, and I can't tell you the rest but it's got Aubrey Plaza from Parks and Rec and she's darling.

Others I REALLY enjoyed:
For A Good Time Call - two girls start a s*x line, not as raunchy as it could have been but a good film, DH laughed!
MIB 3- better than 2
Dark Knight Rises - I only liked this one, parts were confusing but I'm looking forward to Robin!!!!!
The Hunger Games - feels like forever ago but it was fantastic, DH who didn't read the books cried when a certain adorable character died (shhhh, don't tell him I let that secret out!  )
Spiderman - the new one with Emma Stone, not too bad
The Avengers - despite what this list looks like, I'm not the biggest fan of superhero movies but this one was good

 

[balaspa]

Interesting list there "queen."  I have not even heard of Safety Not Guaranteed.  I also quite enjoyed The Amazing Spider-Man.

 

[JumpingShip]

Best movies I saw were :
Argo
The Hunger Games
Lincoln

If I lived in NY or LA, I'd be adding Zero Dark Thirty to that list, I'm sure, but it doesn't open nationally for a few more weeks.

 

[gdae23]

Well, I'm definite about my top 3, in this order:

1. Lincoln
2. The Hobbit
3. Moonrise Kingdom

Three very different types of movies!

Other films I liked a lot this year, in no particular order:
- Ruby Sparks
- The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
- Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Balaspa, I think these movies are very different from the types of movies you listed (none of which I have seen). So I won't go so far as to say I'd recommend them, only that I liked them myself. For you or anyone who wants something a bit different, Moonrise Kingdom is the quirkiest of the lot.

I'll also mention Beasts of the Southern Wild. I actually didn't like this movie much myself, except for the incredible acting by the young girl in the film, but I know it got many top critical reviews, so it's probably just my taste. I didn't hate it, just couldn't get into the story.
Lots of viewers loved it though, so you may want to consider it.

 

[kindlequeen]

I want to scream that everyone should go find Safety Not Guaranteed right now, but I do know that I have odd taste.

I forgot about Moonrise Kingdom!  That movie was so good, much better than I expected from the trailer.  I have been wanting to see Beasts of the Southern Wild but I'm a bit worried the real movie wont live up to the trailer which is quite captivating.

Looper becomes available in about an hour to rent on Vudu, my DH and I are counting down the minutes but I haven't seen anyone on here mentioning it.

And.... I just saw the pre-theatrical release for John Dies in the End (also available on Vudu) which I wouldn't have normally chosen to watch but the book has been highly enjoyed by several readers on here.  It was a bit odd and cheesy.  The trailer for the movie is so disjointed I didn't know what to expect, my DH refused to watch the trailer after about 10 seconds because he said it looked good.  I'm not sure it was worth $12 but I like Paul Giamatti and I would recommend it to people who like cheesy horror/sci-fi a la Army of Darkness (but this is lacking Bruce Campbell's awesomeness).

 

[Keith Blenman]

I'm not sure I can pin this down to an exact order, but out of everything new I saw this year, I'd gauge them something like this:

1. Looper
2. Cabin in the Woods
3. The Hobbit
4. Avengers
5. Moonrise Kingdom
6. Django Unchained
7. Skyfall
8. Sleepwalk With Me
9. Chronicle
10. Dark Knight Rises
11. Amazing Spider-Man
12. Prometheus

 

[balaspa]

I haven't seen Django or Sleepwalk with Me (although I love Mike Birbiglia).  I also did not see Chronicle.

And I forgot about Skyfall!  I loved that....

Damn...

 

[N. Gemini Sasson]

1. Life of Pi
2. Men in Black 3
3. Hunger Games
4. The Hobbit
5. Brave

(Actually, just watched Brave on DVD last night with my daughter for New Year's. I need to get out more. Still need to go see Les Mis.)

 

[Guest]

I have two clear favourites, but I didn't get to the cinema much:
Avengers Assemble
Dark Knight Rises

I still have to see The Hobbit and Les Mis, which are on my to do list.

 

[Geemont]

I don't watch a lot of movie, but I feel like I watch too many.  Nothing I saw last year deserved more than 3 out of 5 stars.


1. Due Date, Comedy, DVD, 2 stars.  Stupid, stupid, stupid; a few laughs here and there saved it from being a 1 star.
2. The Iron Lady, Drama, Theater, 2 stars.  Good acting, but too sappy at the end.
3. Moneyball, Drama, DVD. 3 stars.  It was OK.
4. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Drama\Comedy, Theater, 2 stars. Good acting, but too sappy at the end.  Maybe it's a trend.
5. No Impact Man, Documentary, DVD, 3 stars.  Good information, a worthy topic, but poor quality film making brought it down a notch.
6. Argo, Drama, Theater, 3 stars.  This could have been a really good movie, but the invented "escape" scene at the end put me off. 
7. Brave, Children's, DVD, 3 stars.  Great animation, but a sappy ending (again).  And I'm not a kid.
8. 2016: Obama's America, Documentary, DVD, 1 stars.  Sweeping generalizations and lowball polemics.

 

[Kristine McKinley]

I tend to watch more movies than I should and since we don't have kids yet we were able to go see a lot in theaters. So my favorite movies of the year in no particular order:

The Raid: Redemption
Django Unchained
The Avengers
The Hobbit
The Dark Knight Rises
The Expendables 2
Skyfall
Cloud Atlas- this was amazing
Lockout

I saw a lot more but those were by far my favorite. It was a very violent year.

 

[Keith Blenman]

How did I forget Cloud Atlas?! I actually met David Mitchell (author of the novel) a couple of days after I saw the film. Really nice guy. If you haven't read any of his fiction, you're definitely missing out.

Hmm. I also forgot to include Men in Black 3 on my list. Actually, I'm okay with that.

 

[N. Gemini Sasson]

1. Life of Pi
2. Men in Black 3
3. Hunger Games
4. The Hobbit
5. Brave

Les Miserables. Favorite movie of the year. Now I remember why I fell in love with the book so many years ago.