2012s 25 Best Films

by afrotrek | created - 02 Nov 2012 | updated - 27 Dec 2012 | Public

In order, the best films released in 2012

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1. Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)

PG-13 | 93 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy

86 Metascore

Faced with both her hot-tempered father's fading health and melting ice-caps that flood her ramshackle bayou community and unleash ancient aurochs, six-year-old Hushpuppy must learn the ways of courage and love.

Director: Benh Zeitlin | Stars: Quvenzhané Wallis, Dwight Henry, Levy Easterly, Lowell Landes

Votes: 85,045 | Gross: $12.80M

2. 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: 366,593 | Gross: $45.51M

3. 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: 742,254 | Gross: $132.09M

4. Les Misérables (2012)

PG-13 | 158 min | Drama, Musical, Romance

63 Metascore

In 19th-century France, Jean Valjean, who for decades has been hunted by the ruthless policeman Javert after breaking parole, agrees to care for a factory worker's daughter. The decision changes their lives forever.

Director: Tom Hooper | Stars: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried

Votes: 345,825 | Gross: $148.81M

5. The Sessions (2012)

R | 95 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama

79 Metascore

A man in an iron lung who wishes to lose his virginity contacts a professional sex surrogate with the help of his therapist and priest.

Director: Ben Lewin | Stars: John Hawkes, Helen Hunt, William H. Macy, Moon Bloodgood

Votes: 43,973 | Gross: $6.00M

6. Flight (I) (2012)

R | 138 min | Drama, Thriller

76 Metascore

Troubling questions arise after airline pilot Whip Whitaker makes a miracle landing after a mid-air catastrophe.

Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Denzel Washington, Nadine Velazquez, Don Cheadle, John Goodman

Votes: 375,925 | Gross: $93.77M

7. 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: 666,376 | Gross: $124.99M

8. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011)

PG-13 | 124 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

62 Metascore

British retirees travel to India to take up residence in what they believe is a newly restored hotel. Less luxurious than advertised, the Marigold Hotel nevertheless slowly begins to charm in unexpected ways.

Director: John Madden | Stars: Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson

Votes: 99,413 | Gross: $46.41M

9. 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: 272,465 | Gross: $182.21M

10. 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: 273,737 | Gross: $15.02M

11. Killer Joe (2011)

R | 102 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller

62 Metascore

When a debt puts a young man's life in danger, he turns to putting a hit out on his evil mother in order to collect the insurance.

Director: William Friedkin | Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsch, Juno Temple, Thomas Haden Church

Votes: 83,277 | Gross: $1.99M

12. 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: 1,692,571 | Gross: $162.81M

13. 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: 318,720 | Gross: $95.72M

14. 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: 1,458,408 | Gross: $623.28M

15. The Paperboy (2012)

R | 107 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

45 Metascore

A reporter returns to his Florida hometown to investigate a case involving a death row inmate.

Director: Lee Daniels | Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Nicole Kidman, John Cusack, Zac Efron

Votes: 39,593 | Gross: $0.69M

16. The Hunger Games (2012)

PG-13 | 142 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

68 Metascore

Katniss Everdeen voluntarily takes her younger sister's place in the Hunger Games: a televised competition in which two teenagers from each of the twelve Districts of Panem are chosen at random to fight to the death.

Director: Gary Ross | Stars: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Stanley Tucci

Votes: 1,002,786 | Gross: $408.01M

17. Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012)

PG | 93 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy

60 Metascore

The Madagascar animals join a struggling European circus to get back to New York, but find themselves being pursued by a psychotic animal-control officer.

Directors: Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath, Conrad Vernon | Stars: Ben Stiller, Jada Pinkett Smith, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer

Votes: 197,738 | Gross: $216.39M

18. 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: 602,597 | Gross: $66.49M

19. The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)

PG-13 | 103 min | Drama

67 Metascore

Charlie, a 15-year-old introvert, enters high school and is nervous about his new life. When he befriends his seniors, he learns to cope with his friend's suicide and his tumultuous past.

Director: Stephen Chbosky | Stars: Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller, Paul Rudd

Votes: 547,519 | Gross: $17.74M

20. Frankenweenie (2012)

PG | 87 min | Animation, Comedy, Drama

74 Metascore

When a boy's beloved dog passes away suddenly, he attempts to bring the animal back to life through a powerful science experiment.

Director: Tim Burton | Stars: Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, Martin Short, Martin Landau

Votes: 117,025 | Gross: $35.29M

21. The Scapegoat (2012)

Not Rated | 108 min | Drama

Set in 1952, as England prepares for the coronation, this movie tells the story of two very different men who have one thing in common - a face.

Director: Charles Sturridge | Stars: Matthew Rhys, Eileen Atkins, Anton Lesser, Jodhi May

Votes: 5,346

22. End of Watch (2012)

R | 109 min | Action, Crime, Drama

68 Metascore

Shot documentary-style, this film follows the daily grind of two young police officers in LA who are partners and friends and what happens when they meet criminal forces greater than themselves.

Director: David Ayer | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Peña, Anna Kendrick, America Ferrera

Votes: 268,804 | Gross: $41.00M

23. 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: 253,329 | Gross: $37.40M

24. 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: 638,745 | Gross: $136.03M



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