33 movies that should see in 2012

by zeas | created - 10 Sep 2012 | updated - 31 May 2018 | Public
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1. 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: 1,826,087 | Gross: $448.14M

2. 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: 602,729 | Gross: $66.49M

3. Lawless (2012)

R | 116 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

58 Metascore

Set in Depression-era Franklin County, Virginia, a trio of bootlegging brothers are threatened by a new special deputy and other authorities angling for a cut of their profits.

Director: John Hillcoat | Stars: Tom Hardy, Shia LaBeouf, Guy Pearce, Jason Clarke

Votes: 253,360 | Gross: $37.40M

4. V/H/S (2012)

R | 116 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller

54 Metascore

When a group of misfits are hired by an unknown third party to burglarize a desolate house and acquire a rare VHS tape, they discover more found footage than they bargained for.

Directors: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, David Bruckner, Tyler Gillett, Justin Martinez, Glenn McQuaid, Radio Silence, Joe Swanberg, Chad Villella, Ti West, Adam Wingard | Stars: Calvin Lee Reeder, Lane Hughes, Adam Wingard, Hannah Fierman

Votes: 68,314 | Gross: $0.10M

5. Cloud Atlas (2012)

R | 172 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi

55 Metascore

An exploration of how the actions of individual lives impact one another in the past, present and future, as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero, and an act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution.

Directors: Tom Tykwer, Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski | Stars: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugh Grant, Hugo Weaving

Votes: 374,280 | Gross: $27.11M

6. Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

PG | 101 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy

72 Metascore

A video game villain wants to be a hero and sets out to fulfill his dream, but his quest brings havoc to the whole arcade where he lives.

Director: Rich Moore | Stars: John C. Reilly, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch, Sarah Silverman

Votes: 458,140 | Gross: $189.42M

7. The Man with the Iron Fists (2012)

R | 95 min | Action

51 Metascore

On the hunt for a fabled treasure of gold, a band of warriors, assassins, and a rogue British soldier descend upon a village in feudal China, where a humble blacksmith looks to defend himself and his fellow villagers.

Director: RZA | Stars: Russell Crowe, Cung Le, Lucy Liu, RZA

Votes: 64,249 | Gross: $15.63M

8. Skyfall (2012)

PG-13 | 143 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller

81 Metascore

James Bond's loyalty to M is tested when her past comes back to haunt her. When MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.

Director: Sam Mendes | Stars: Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Naomie Harris, Judi Dench

Votes: 730,821 | Gross: $304.36M

9. Anna Karenina (I) (2012)

R | 129 min | Drama, Romance

63 Metascore

In late-19th-century Russian high society, St. Petersburg aristocrat Anna Karenina enters into a life-changing affair with the dashing Count Alexei Vronsky.

Director: Joe Wright | Stars: Keira Knightley, Jude Law, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Matthew Macfadyen

Votes: 106,475 | Gross: $12.82M

10. 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: 272,524 | Gross: $182.21M

11. 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: 872,593 | Gross: $303.00M

12. 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: 318,796 | Gross: $95.72M

13. 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: 1,693,557 | Gross: $162.81M

14. Prometheus (I) (2012)

R | 124 min | Adventure, Mystery, Sci-Fi

64 Metascore

Following clues to the origin of mankind, a team finds a structure on a distant moon, but they soon realize they are not alone.

Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Noomi Rapace, Logan Marshall-Green, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron

Votes: 643,876 | Gross: $126.48M

15. Men in Black³ (2012)

PG-13 | 106 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy

58 Metascore

Agent J travels in time to M.I.B.'s early days in 1969 to stop an alien from assassinating his friend Agent K and changing history.

Director: Barry Sonnenfeld | Stars: Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Jemaine Clement

Votes: 386,815 | Gross: $179.02M

16. 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: 280,394 | Gross: $79.73M

17. 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: 334,551 | Gross: $59.65M

18. Battleship (2012)

PG-13 | 131 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

41 Metascore

A fleet of ships is forced to do battle with an armada of unknown origins in order to discover and thwart their destructive goals.

Director: Peter Berg | Stars: Alexander Skarsgård, Brooklyn Decker, Liam Neeson, Rihanna

Votes: 257,241 | Gross: $65.42M

19. The Bourne Legacy (2012)

PG-13 | 135 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller

61 Metascore

An expansion of the universe from Robert Ludlum's novels, centered on a new hero whose stakes have been triggered by the events of the previous three films.

Director: Tony Gilroy | Stars: Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton, Scott Glenn

Votes: 315,501 | Gross: $113.20M

20. The Expendables 2 (2012)

R | 103 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller

51 Metascore

Mr. Church reunites the Expendables for what should be an easy paycheck, but when one of their men is murdered on the job, their quest for revenge puts them deep in enemy territory and up against an unexpected threat.

Director: Simon West | Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Liam Hemsworth, Randy Couture, Jean-Claude Van Damme

Votes: 322,193 | Gross: $85.02M

21. 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: 656,796 | Gross: $218.82M

22. G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013)

PG-13 | 110 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

41 Metascore

The G.I. Joes are not only fighting their mortal enemy Cobra; they are forced to contend with threats from within the government that jeopardize their very existence.

Director: Jon M. Chu | Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Channing Tatum, Adrianne Palicki, Lee Byung-hun

Votes: 187,284 | Gross: $122.52M

23. Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)

R | 95 min | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi

39 Metascore

Alice fights alongside a resistance movement to regain her freedom from an Umbrella Corporation testing facility.

Director: Paul W.S. Anderson | Stars: Milla Jovovich, Sienna Guillory, Michelle Rodriguez, Aryana Engineer

Votes: 150,058 | Gross: $42.35M

24. The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

PG-13 | 136 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

66 Metascore

After Peter Parker is bitten by a genetically altered spider, he gains newfound, spider-like powers and ventures out to save the city from the machinations of a mysterious reptilian foe.

Director: Marc Webb | Stars: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Irrfan Khan

Votes: 701,858 | Gross: $262.03M

25. Total Recall (I) (2012)

PG-13 | 118 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

43 Metascore

A factory worker, Douglas Quaid, begins to suspect that he is a spy after visiting Rekall - a company that provides its clients with implanted fake memories of a life they would like to have led - goes wrong and he finds himself on the run.

Director: Len Wiseman | Stars: Colin Farrell, Bokeem Woodbine, Bryan Cranston, Kate Beckinsale

Votes: 266,272 | Gross: $58.88M

26. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012)

R | 105 min | Action, Fantasy, Horror

42 Metascore

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, discovers vampires are planning to take over the United States. He makes it his mission to eliminate them.

Director: Timur Bekmambetov | Stars: Benjamin Walker, Rufus Sewell, Dominic Cooper, Anthony Mackie

Votes: 161,607 | Gross: $37.52M

27. The Watch (I) (2012)

R | 102 min | Comedy, Sci-Fi

36 Metascore

Four men who form a neighborhood watch group as a way to get out of their day-to-day family routines find themselves defending the Earth from an alien invasion.

Director: Akiva Schaffer | Stars: Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, Billy Crudup

Votes: 133,001 | Gross: $35.35M

28. 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: 638,884 | Gross: $136.03M

29. Killing Them Softly (2012)

R | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller

64 Metascore

Jackie Cogan is an enforcer hired to restore order after three dumb guys rob a Mob protected card game, causing the local criminal economy to collapse.

Director: Andrew Dominik | Stars: Brad Pitt, Ray Liotta, Richard Jenkins, Scoot McNairy

Votes: 153,077 | Gross: $15.03M

30. Taken 2 (2012)

PG-13 | 92 min | Action, Crime, Thriller

45 Metascore

In Istanbul, retired CIA operative Bryan Mills and his wife are taken hostage by the father of a kidnapper Mills killed while rescuing his daughter.

Director: Olivier Megaton | Stars: Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen, Maggie Grace, Leland Orser

Votes: 322,523 | Gross: $139.85M

31. The Cabin in the Woods (2011)

R | 95 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller

72 Metascore

Five college friends head out to a remote cabin for a getaway, but things don't go as planned when they start getting killed. They soon discover that there is more to the cabin than it seems.

Director: Drew Goddard | Stars: Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison, Fran Kranz

Votes: 450,416 | Gross: $42.07M

32. The Campaign (2012)

R | 85 min | Comedy

50 Metascore

An incumbent Representative embroiled in personal scandal faces a no-holds-barred challenge from a naive newcomer funded by two unscrupulous billionaire lobbyist brothers.

Director: Jay Roach | Stars: Will Ferrell, Zach Galifianakis, Jason Sudeikis, Dylan McDermott

Votes: 136,978 | Gross: $86.91M

33. Brave (2012)

PG | 93 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy

69 Metascore

Determined to make her own path in life, Princess Merida defies a custom that brings chaos to her kingdom. Granted one wish, Merida must rely on her bravery and her archery skills to undo a beastly curse.

Directors: Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman, Steve Purcell | Stars: Kelly Macdonald, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Julie Walters

Votes: 441,952 | Gross: $237.28M



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