As I’ve already mentioned in the first half edition (if you haven’t read it yet, I recommend that you should
first), the movies featured in this second half edition are not necessarily those released during the second half of 2012, but,
rather, movies I was able to watch during the second half of the year. So I’ve already listed the top ten movies I’ve seen during the first half of 2012 in the first half edition (if you haven’t
read it yet, I recommend that you should first), and after the second half
edition’s listing below, my top 10 overall picks of 2012 are derived from the
two editions’ top tens. Django Unchained (especially this!), Life of Pi (and this!), Lawless, The Silver Lining Playbook, Les
Misérables, and Jack Reacher are
the 2012 movies that I wanted to watch most but were not able to do so during 2012, but would have been likely contenders and eventual inclusions to this list if I had
been able to watch them last year.
10.) THE PERKS OF BEING A
WALLFLOWER
The tenth spot was a struggle
between Ted, Cloud Atlas, and The Perks of
Being a Wallflower. Ted was the most hilarious movie of the
year, and Cloud Atlas, despite being
less than what I expected, still featured brilliant visuals and makeup and
costume design; solid acting; a fresh narrative style; and an exciting concept of
having six interacting and thought-stimulating stories. But, after further evaluating them, I decided
that The Perks of Being a Wallflower was
the superior of the three contenders for the last spot.
I was unfamiliar with the source
material (the book) so I expected it to be another generic “coming of age” teen
drama. Thus, I was pleasantly surprised how
good this movie was. Great,
actually. It had captivating
storytelling and emphatic themes. And
the actors (or, at least, the three leads) were great in making the characters they
played entertaining – especially Ezra Miller as Patrick.
9.) PARANORMAN
This movie is the best – as well
as the most underrated – of all animated movies this year. This stop-motion movie was no The Nightmare Before Christmas nor Coraline, but, along with Frankenweenie, ParaNorman seem to prove the notion that “if it’s stop-motion
animation, then it has a good story.”
The movie tells of a boy named
Norman who has the talent to see ghosts.
Because of this, Norman becomes a pariah of a skeptical town. However, this talent of his comes to play
when Norman has to save the town from an ancient evil.
This movie not only delivers a good
and enjoyable story, but it also tackles deep, important, and thought-provoking
themes which include making a stand for what is right despite the overwhelming
opposition; the terrifying harm brought by mob mentality; and the fear of the
unknown and what is different lead to making irrational, bigoted, and hateful decisions.
8.) MOONRISE KINGDOM
In a “small island community”
setting, twelve year-old “Khaki Scout” (kind of like a Boy Scout) Sam Shakusky and
Suzy Bishop, daughter of attorney parents, fell in love and decided to
elope. They hiked and camped in the
wilderness of the island while the Khaki Scouts and their scoutmaster, Susan’s
parents, and the island’s police captain (and, presumably, only policeman) were
in pursuit, searching for them. Of
course, since Sam and Suzy are merely children and they were only confined in a
small island, hilarity ensues.
Moonrise Kingdom featured several big name stars, and, thus,
assuring us of high-quality and entertaining acting performances. The humor produced by the movie doesn’t
inspire belly-aching laughter, but the charming, witty amusement it does offer
is still perfect comic quality. The
premise and delivery of the story gives a feeling of warm and pleasant entertainment,
which was present from start to finish.
7.) END OF WATCH
Unless you consider The Raid: Redemption a cop movie, then End of Watch is arguably the best cop
movie of the year. This may even be the
best cop movie in years! Most cop movies
feature plainclothes detectives-type protagonists, who are gloriously decorated
and revered by pop culture; End of Watch’s
protagonists, however, are uniformed police officers – the ones who deal with
the “dirty” and modest day-to-day police work, and are oftentimes the first
ones on the scene of the trouble. The
action in this movie is intense, and the idea of having hand-held cameras an integral part of
the narrative made the viewing experience more personal – as if you are also part
of the action. It is very informative
and thought-provoking, providing a closer look to the life of a policeman –
from cop SOPs and daily routines, to personal struggles and camaraderie – which allows you to have a deeper appreciation and respect for the police.
6.) SKYFALL
Many say that Skyfall is the best Bond film ever. And though I am still not convinced that it
is, I can’t blame them for thinking this.
Personally, I still believe that Casino
Royale is still the best Bond film that stars Craig. Nonetheless, Skyfall was sheer 007 awesomeness.
I’ve become familiar with James Bond
with the films first, thus, I grew up identifying Bond films with the wacky and
gadget-packed movies of Connery, Moore, and – most importantly – Brosnan. Later on, I would read the books and discover
that, though the stories are still over-the-top, they were grittier and more
down-to-earth than the movie interpretation of 007. Skyfall
carries perfectly the tone of the original Ian Fleming books (which is the main
charm of this current Bond series).
Casino Royale might be the first Bond film that has Daniel Craig in
the lead role, but Skyfall was as
much as a Bond “intro” film as Casino
Royale. And this is the best thing
about Skyfall: it makes you excited for the future of the franchise. I sure miss the wackiness of the Bond movies
I grew up with, but with Skyfall, I
am also thrilled of this interpretation of Bond – being more closely similar to
the feel of the book – and looking forward on where all of this will go.
5.) ARGO
Prior to watching Argo, I was already familiar with the
episode in history it was based on (read something about it when I was still in
my teens). But in spite of knowing about
how everything will turn out, it was still a thrilling and suspenseful movie
experience. What do I mean? Let me pick the scene where they were in the
airport, under false identities, about to escape from Iran. I already know that that escape mission was a
success, basing on history, but that sequence in the airport was so intensely and
dramatically well done that it still gave me the feeling of apprehensively wondering,
“Will they successfully deceive the guards and escape?” Kudos to Ben Afleck for bringing this about. Definitely a strong candidate for an Academy
Award for Best Director this year (will be surprised if not at least nominated).
4.) RUROUNI KENSHIN
Dear Hollywood: Making an awesome live-action adaptation of
anime is possible. Learn from this.
3.) THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED
JOURNEY
There are some who were
disappointed with how this movie turned out.
I am not one of them. I think the
problem with those who found this movie lacking is benchmarking it with Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the
Ring (or to the whole LOTR trilogy altogether). Which is unfair. Few movies can ever measure up with that
first LOTR movie, so why take it against An
Unexpected Journey for failing to do so?
Consider also that even with the source material, the LOTR books easily dwarfs (no pun intended) “The Hobbit”.
As it is, An Unexpected Journey was epic.
It was a very solid start for this new trilogy; it even somehow convinced
me that stretching The Hobbit into a
trilogy – despite having only one book and some of Tolkien's notes as base
material – was a good idea.
2.) LINCOLN
Abraham Lincoln is my most
favorite and beloved president (of any country) ever. That’s why I was so excited by the time I
learned that Steven Spielberg is making a Lincoln biopic with Daniel Day-Lewis –
who is notorious a legend in obsessively and meticulously playing his
character as much authenticity as he can – in the lead role. I greatly looked forward for this film… and
it delivered! Lincoln, Spielberg, and Day-Lewis are my hands down bets for Best
Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor respectively for the Oscars this year.
I was expecting, however, that it
would portray the entirety or most of Lincoln’s life. It did not, which is a minor disappointment. It only covered the final four months of
Lincoln’s life, and the showcase of his political genius as he maneuvers and pushes
to have the 13th Amendment passed in Congress. And,
in the end, I was satisfied with that.
It was still an awesome movie depiction of a great man.
There were not much portrayal of Civil
War battles here – though the scenes portraying action in the House of
Representatives was as much thrilling as if they were Civil War battle scenes –
so don’t expect epic battle scenes. But
remember, this is no Civil War movie. It’s
about Lincoln. This movie is to
celebrate that great man. Daniel Day-Lewis
does the best performance of his career, as he effectively brings his character
to life, lighting up every scene he’s in.
Such a joy to watch.
1.) THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
I concluded in the first half
edition of my top 2012 movies list that it is improbable for The Dark Knight Rises to beat The Avengers for my number one spot this
year. However, it was able to do just
that. By a hair, The Dark Knight Rises is better than The Avengers. “By a hair” because The Avengers is still a
close second.
“By a hair” because, as excellent
and intelligent the movie is, it still had several plot holes that is easily
noticed. I usually give slack to a story
with plot holes as long as they’re minor and the story is so brilliant that you
can overlook them. In the case of The Avengers, the sheer awesomeness of
it as a comic book movie was really overwhelming that it made me blinded of the
flaws – if any (since I didn’t notice, or
if did notice, I had unconsciously ignored).
However, in the case of Nolan’s
Batman depiction, it was never the usual comic book movie take. These Nolan-made Batman movies can only be
considered as “comic book movies” because of the characters, setting, and some
elements taken from the comic book. But away
from that, it was not a comic book movie.
The movies’ mythos is definitely different from the comic books’. This Batman Trilogy is too much insightful, profound,
deep, artful, intelligent, and reflective to be a mere comic book movie. It was more than that. Nolan’s Batman Trilogy is what to comic book
movies as what Alan Moore’s Watchmen is to comic books. Christopher Nolan spoiled us for creating
several thought-provoking films (The Dark
Knight, the film’s predecessor, being one of them) that we were expecting The Dark Knight Rises to be
perfect. His films are so intelligent that
when there are plot holes, they easily stand out and can bother the audience. There are several of them in The Dark Knight Rises, but I am willing
to consciously forgive them.
So maybe the high expectations
were this movie’s disadvantage. But,
hey, even with this disadvantage, it still took the number one spot! That’s how awesome this movie is. If there were no noticeable plot holes, this
movie could have been the overwhelming choice for my number one movie this
year.
Nonetheless, The Dark Knight Rises
was well-written, immensely entertaining, and a satisfying and epic conclusion
to Nolan’s Batman Trilogy.
TOP 10 MOVIES OF 2012
10.) John Carter (The majority
might hate it, but this is definitely underrated! This movie is pure old school sci-fi epicness!)
9.) Argo
8.) Rurouni Kenshin
7.) The Hunger Games
6.) The Raid: Redemption
5.) The Amazing Spider-Man
4.) The Hobbit: An Unexpected
Journey
3.) Lincoln
2.) The Avengers
1.) The Dark Knight Rises
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