Best of 2012

by Man_Of_Science | created - 04 Jan 2013 | updated - 16 Sep 2017 | Public

The following is a ranking of the most outstanding feature films I've seen from the year 2012.

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1. Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

PG-13 | 94 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama

84 Metascore

Two 12-year-olds, who live on an island, fall in love with each other and elope into the wilderness. While people set out on a search mission, a violent storm approaching them catches their attention.

Director: Wes Anderson | Stars: Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward, Bruce Willis, Bill Murray

Votes: 366,684 | Gross: $45.51M

2. Django Unchained (2012)

R | 165 min | Drama, Western

81 Metascore

With the help of a German bounty-hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal plantation owner in Mississippi.

Director: Quentin Tarantino | Stars: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington

Votes: 1,694,069 | Gross: $162.81M

3. Argo (2012)

R | 120 min | Biography, Drama, History

86 Metascore

Acting under the cover of a Hollywood producer scouting a location for a science fiction film, a CIA agent launches a dangerous operation to rescue six Americans in Tehran during the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran in 1979.

Director: Ben Affleck | Stars: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, Alan Arkin

Votes: 638,935 | Gross: $136.03M

4. Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

R | 122 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

81 Metascore

After a stint in a mental institution, former teacher Pat Solitano moves back in with his parents and tries to reconcile with his ex-wife. Things get more challenging when Pat meets Tiffany, a mysterious girl with problems of her own.

Director: David O. Russell | Stars: Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver

Votes: 742,545 | Gross: $132.09M

5. The Hunt (2012)

R | 115 min | Drama

77 Metascore

A teacher lives a lonely life, all the while struggling over his son's custody. His life slowly gets better as he finds love and receives good news from his son, but his new luck is about to be brutally shattered by an innocent little lie.

Director: Thomas Vinterberg | Stars: Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Annika Wedderkopp, Lasse Fogelstrøm

Votes: 364,146 | Gross: $0.69M

6. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)

PG-13 | 169 min | Adventure, Fantasy

58 Metascore

A reluctant Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, sets out to the Lonely Mountain with a spirited group of dwarves to reclaim their mountain home, and the gold within it from the dragon Smaug.

Director: Peter Jackson | Stars: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Andy Serkis

Votes: 872,738 | Gross: $303.00M

7. Mud (2012)

PG-13 | 130 min | Adventure, Drama

76 Metascore

Two young boys encounter a fugitive and form a pact to help him evade the vigilantes that are on his trail and to reunite him with his true love.

Director: Jeff Nichols | Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Tye Sheridan, Jacob Lofland, Sam Shepard

Votes: 188,775 | Gross: $21.59M

8. Lincoln (2012)

PG-13 | 150 min | Biography, Drama, History

87 Metascore

As the Civil War rages on, U.S President Abraham Lincoln struggles with continuing carnage on the battlefield as he fights with many inside his own cabinet on his decision to emancipate the slaves.

Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Votes: 272,551 | Gross: $182.21M

9. Looper (2012)

R | 119 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi

84 Metascore

In 2074, when the mob wants to get rid of someone, the target is sent into the past, where a hired gun awaits - someone like Joe - who one day learns the mob wants to 'close the loop' by sending back Joe's future self for assassination.

Director: Rian Johnson | Stars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, Paul Dano

Votes: 602,820 | Gross: $66.49M

10. Zero Dark Thirty (2012)

R | 157 min | Drama, History, Thriller

95 Metascore

A chronicle of the decade-long hunt for al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden after the September 2001 attacks, and his death at the hands of the Navy S.E.A.L.s Team 6 in May 2011.

Director: Kathryn Bigelow | Stars: Jessica Chastain, Joel Edgerton, Chris Pratt, Mark Strong

Votes: 318,836 | Gross: $95.72M

11. Life of Pi (2012)

PG | 127 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy

79 Metascore

A young man who survives a disaster at sea is hurtled into an epic journey of adventure and discovery. While cast away, he forms an unexpected connection with another survivor: a fearsome Bengal tiger.

Director: Ang Lee | Stars: Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Adil Hussain, Tabu

Votes: 666,653 | Gross: $124.99M

12. The Impossible (2012)

PG-13 | 114 min | Drama, History, Thriller

73 Metascore

The story of a tourist family in Thailand caught in the destruction and chaotic aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

Director: J.A. Bayona | Stars: Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor, Tom Holland, Oaklee Pendergast

Votes: 243,968 | Gross: $19.02M

13. Promised Land (2012)

R | 106 min | Drama

55 Metascore

A salesman for a natural gas company experiences life-changing events after arriving in a small town, where his corporation wants to tap into the available resources.

Director: Gus Van Sant | Stars: Matt Damon, Frances McDormand, John Krasinski, Hal Holbrook

Votes: 39,892 | Gross: $7.60M

14. Barbara (I) (2012)

PG-13 | 105 min | Drama

86 Metascore

A doctor working in 1980s East Germany finds herself banished to a small country hospital.

Director: Christian Petzold | Stars: Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld, Rainer Bock, Christina Hecke

Votes: 15,957

15. What Maisie Knew (2012)

R | 99 min | Drama

74 Metascore

In New York City, a young girl is caught in the middle of her parents' bitter custody battle.

Directors: Scott McGehee, David Siegel | Stars: Julianne Moore, Alexander Skarsgård, Steve Coogan, Joanna Vanderham

Votes: 28,607 | Gross: $1.07M

16. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

PG-13 | 164 min | Action, Drama, Thriller

78 Metascore

Eight years after the Joker's reign of chaos, Batman is coerced out of exile with the assistance of the mysterious Selina Kyle in order to defend Gotham City from the vicious guerrilla terrorist Bane.

Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Gary Oldman

Votes: 1,826,473 | Gross: $448.14M

17. Hannah Arendt (2012)

Not Rated | 113 min | Biography, Drama

69 Metascore

A look at the life of philosopher and political theorist Hannah Arendt, who reported for 'The New Yorker' on the trial of the Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem.

Director: Margarethe von Trotta | Stars: Barbara Sukowa, Axel Milberg, Janet McTeer, Julia Jentsch

Votes: 12,020 | Gross: $0.71M

18. Ted (2012)

R | 106 min | Comedy

62 Metascore

John Bennett, a man whose childhood wish of bringing his teddy bear to life came true, now must decide between keeping the relationship with the bear, Ted or his girlfriend, Lori.

Director: Seth MacFarlane | Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Seth MacFarlane, Joel McHale

Votes: 657,085 | Gross: $218.82M

19. Jack Reacher (2012)

PG-13 | 130 min | Action, Mystery, Thriller

50 Metascore

A homicide investigator digs deeper into a case involving a trained military sniper responsible for a mass shooting.

Director: Christopher McQuarrie | Stars: Tom Cruise, Rosamund Pike, Richard Jenkins, Werner Herzog

Votes: 364,935 | Gross: $80.07M

20. Hitchcock (2012)

PG-13 | 98 min | Biography, Drama, Romance

55 Metascore

The relationship between Alfred Hitchcock and his wife Alma Reville during the filming of Psycho (1960) in 1959 is explored.

Director: Sacha Gervasi | Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, Scarlett Johansson, Danny Huston

Votes: 79,205 | Gross: $6.01M

21. The Avengers (2012)

PG-13 | 143 min | Action, Sci-Fi

69 Metascore

Earth's mightiest heroes must come together and learn to fight as a team if they are going to stop the mischievous Loki and his alien army from enslaving humanity.

Director: Joss Whedon | Stars: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner

Votes: 1,458,909 | Gross: $623.28M

22. No (I) (2012)

R | 118 min | Drama, History

81 Metascore

An advertising executive comes up with a campaign to defeat Augusto Pinochet in Chile's 1988 referendum.

Director: Pablo Larraín | Stars: Gael García Bernal, Alfredo Castro, Antonia Zegers, Luis Gnecco

Votes: 26,211 | Gross: $2.34M

23. Disconnect (I) (2012)

R | 115 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

64 Metascore

A drama centered on a group of people searching for human connections in today's wired world.

Director: Henry Alex Rubin | Stars: Jason Bateman, Jonah Bobo, Haley Ramm, Hope Davis

Votes: 78,125 | Gross: $7.44M

24. Seven Psychopaths (2012)

R | 110 min | Comedy, Crime

66 Metascore

A struggling screenwriter inadvertently becomes entangled in the Los Angeles criminal underworld after his oddball friends kidnap a gangster's beloved Shih Tzu.

Director: Martin McDonagh | Stars: Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken

Votes: 273,846 | Gross: $15.02M

25. The Raven (I) (2012)

R | 110 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller

44 Metascore

When a madman begins committing horrific murders inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's works, a young Baltimore detective joins forces with Poe to stop him from making his stories a reality.

Director: James McTeigue | Stars: John Cusack, Alice Eve, Luke Evans, Brendan Gleeson

Votes: 88,282 | Gross: $16.01M

26. Eat Sleep Die (2012)

104 min | Drama

A young Eastern European immigrant, working in Sweden, is faced with a painful choice when she's laid off from her factory in the name of efficiencies.

Director: Gabriela Pichler | Stars: Nermina Lukac, Milan Dragisic, Jonathan Lampinen, Peter Fält

Votes: 2,291

27. Dark Shadows (2012)

PG-13 | 113 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror

55 Metascore

An imprisoned vampire, Barnabas Collins, is set free and returns to his ancestral home, where his dysfunctional descendants are in need of his protection.

Director: Tim Burton | Stars: Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Eva Green, Helena Bonham Carter

Votes: 280,418 | Gross: $79.73M

28. The Dictator (2012)

R | 83 min | Comedy

58 Metascore

The heroic story of a dictator who risked his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed.

Director: Larry Charles | Stars: Sacha Baron Cohen, Anna Faris, John C. Reilly, Ben Kingsley

Votes: 334,658 | Gross: $59.65M



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