2012 winners - top tiered viewing released in 2012
by d-JCB | created - 04 Jan 2013 | updated - 07 Jan 2014 | Publicthis list comprises of the top films i saw in melburn / australia, either at the cinema (limited run or full release), on dvd or digitally, all released in 2012 locally, plus some films that played at MIFF...
all these films i would highly recommend and come with a minimum rating of 8/10, of which is a very high score for me... anything 9 or higher i consider to be excellent and/or a masterpiece... comments added for each title based on my feelings & what ive read up on the film
films are listed in chronological order, from fave to least fave
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1. Holy Motors (2012)
Not Rated | 115 min | Drama, Fantasy
A man boards a limousine to be driven to his day's work: nine mysterious "appointments."
Director: Leos Carax | Stars: Denis Lavant, Edith Scob, Eva Mendes, Kylie Minogue
Votes: 48,856
9/10
2. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011)
Not Rated | 157 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A group of men set out in search of a dead body in the Anatolian steppes.
Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan | Stars: Muhammet Uzuner, Yilmaz Erdogan, Taner Birsel, Ahmet Mümtaz Taylan
Votes: 50,223 | Gross: $0.14M
9/10
3. Shame (2011)
NC-17 | 101 min | Drama
A sex addict's carefully cultivated private life falls apart after his sister arrives for an indefinite stay.
Director: Steve McQueen | Stars: Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan, James Badge Dale, Lucy Walters
Votes: 206,061 | Gross: $4.00M
9/10
4. A Separation (2011)
PG-13 | 123 min | Drama
A married couple are faced with a difficult decision - to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer's disease.
Director: Asghar Farhadi | Stars: Payman Maadi, Leila Hatami, Sareh Bayat, Shahab Hosseini
Votes: 258,275 | Gross: $7.10M
9/10
5. Searching for Sugar Man (2012)
PG-13 | 86 min | Documentary, Biography, Music
Two South Africans set out to discover what happened to their unlikely musical hero, the mysterious 1970s rock n roller, Rodriguez.
Director: Malik Bendjelloul | Stars: Rodriguez, Stephen 'Sugar' Segerman, Dennis Coffey, Mike Theodore
Votes: 72,838 | Gross: $3.97M
9/10
6. Amour (2012)
PG-13 | 127 min | Drama
Georges and Anne are an octogenarian couple. They are cultivated, retired music teachers. Their daughter, also a musician, lives in Britain with her family. One day, Anne has a stroke, and the couple's bond of love is severely tested.
Director: Michael Haneke | Stars: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Riva, Isabelle Huppert, Alexandre Tharaud
Votes: 105,568 | Gross: $6.74M
9/10
7. Maniac (2012)
Not Rated | 89 min | Horror, Thriller
As he helps a young artist with her upcoming exhibition, the owner of a mannequin shop's deadly, suppressed desires come to the surface.
Director: Franck Khalfoun | Stars: Elijah Wood, Nora Arnezeder, America Olivo, Megan Duffy
Votes: 40,308 | Gross: $0.02M
8-9/10
8. Lawless (2012)
R | 116 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
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: 253,272 | Gross: $37.40M
8/10
9. Killing Them Softly (2012)
R | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
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: 152,989 | Gross: $15.03M
8/10
10. Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai (2011)
Not Rated | 128 min | Drama
A tale of revenge, honor and disgrace, centering on a poverty-stricken samurai who discovers the fate of his ronin son-in-law, setting in motion a tense showdown of vengeance against the house of a feudal lord.
Director: Takashi Miike | Stars: Koji Yakusho, Munetaka Aoki, Naoto Takenaka, Hikari Mitsushima
Votes: 9,140 | Gross: $0.08M
8/10
11. Cosmopolis (2012)
R | 109 min | Crime, Drama, Fantasy
Riding across Manhattan in a stretch limo in order to get a haircut, a 28-year-old billionaire asset manager's day devolves into an odyssey with a cast of characters that start to tear his world apart.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, Sarah Gadon, Mathieu Amalric
Votes: 50,026 | Gross: $0.74M
8/10
12. The Hunt (2012)
R | 115 min | Drama
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: 363,657 | Gross: $0.69M
8/10
13. Seven Psychopaths (2012)
R | 110 min | Comedy, Crime
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: 273,685 | Gross: $15.02M
8/10
14. Like Someone in Love (2012)
Not Rated | 109 min | Drama
In Tokyo, a young sex worker develops an unexpected connection with a widower over a period of two days.
Directors: Abbas Kiarostami, Banafsheh Modaressi | Stars: Rin Takanashi, Tadashi Okuno, Ryô Kase, Denden
Votes: 13,067 | Gross: $0.22M
8/10
15. Looper (2012)
R | 119 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
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: 602,448 | Gross: $66.49M
8/10
16. The Raid: Redemption (2011)
R | 101 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A S.W.A.T. team becomes trapped in a tenement run by a ruthless mobster and his army of killers and thugs.
Director: Gareth Evans | Stars: Iko Uwais, Ananda George, Ray Sahetapy, Donny Alamsyah
Votes: 216,842 | Gross: $4.11M
8/10
17. Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie (2012)
R | 93 min | Comedy
Two guys get a billion dollars to make a movie, only to watch their dream run off course. In order to make the money back, they then attempt to revitalize a failing shopping mall.
Directors: Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim | Stars: Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim, Robert Loggia, Will Ferrell
Votes: 10,632 | Gross: $0.20M
8/10
18. Samsara (I) (2011)
PG-13 | 102 min | Documentary, Music
Filmed over nearly five years in twenty-five countries on five continents, and shot on seventy-millimetre film, Samsara transports us to the varied worlds of sacred grounds, disaster zones, industrial complexes, and natural wonders.
Director: Ron Fricke | Stars: Balinese Tari Legong Dancers, Ni Made Megahadi Pratiwi, Puti Sri Candra Dewi, Putu Dinda Pratika
Votes: 37,997 | Gross: $2.67M
8/10
19. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
R | 127 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
In the bleak days of the Cold War, espionage veteran George Smiley is forced from semi-retirement to uncover a Soviet Agent within MI6.
Director: Tomas Alfredson | Stars: Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong
Votes: 212,301 | Gross: $24.15M
8/10
20. Tabu (I) (2012)
Not Rated | 118 min | Drama, Romance
A restless retired woman teams up with her deceased neighbor's maid to seek out a man who has a secret connection to her past life as a farm owner at the foothill of Mount Tabu in Africa.
Director: Miguel Gomes | Stars: Telmo Churro, Miguel Gomes, Hortêncílio Aquina, Américo Mota
Votes: 7,418
8/10
21. L (2012)
Not Rated | 87 min | Comedy, Drama
It's absurd not to trust me.
Director: Babis Makridis | Stars: Aris Servetalis, Makis Papadimitriou, Lefteris Matthaiou, Nota Tserniafski
Votes: 805
8/10
22. Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)
PG-13 | 93 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
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: 85,037 | Gross: $12.80M
8/10
23. Love (I) (2011)
Not Rated | 84 min | Drama, Music, Sci-Fi
A man spends years alone on a space station orbiting Earth after losing communication with Houston/Earth. He spends time on maintenance, exercise, watching old messages, and reading a journal by a soldier in the American Civil War.
Director: William Eubank | Stars: Gunner Wright, Corey Richardson, Bradley Horne, Nancy Stelle
Votes: 8,962
8/10
24. Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
PG-13 | 94 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
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: 366,529 | Gross: $45.51M
8/10
25. Hugo (2011)
PG | 126 min | Adventure, Drama, Family
In 1931 Paris, an orphan living in the walls of a train station gets wrapped up in a mystery involving his late father and an automaton.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Asa Butterfield, Chloë Grace Moretz, Christopher Lee, Ben Kingsley
Votes: 336,609 | Gross: $73.86M
8/10
26. Wakey Wakey (I) (2012)
63 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Teen Josie tries to make sense of a frightening world in which a sleep condition blurs her dreams into waking life, and comes under the sway of her sister Samantha, whose dark web of secrets she must unravel.
Director: Adrian Goodman | Stars: Laura Wheelwright, Fabiana Weiner, Shane Nagle, Laura Lattuada
Votes: 115
8/10
27. The Painting (2011)
TV-PG | 80 min | Animation, Adventure, Drama
Three characters of different social classes escape their unfinished painting in search of the Painter, hoping he will complete it.
Director: Jean-François Laguionie | Stars: Jean Barney, Chloé Berthier, JB Blanc, Steve Blum
Votes: 4,524 | Gross: $0.01M
8/10
28. The Master (2012)
R | 138 min | Drama, History
A Naval veteran arrives home from war unsettled and uncertain of his future - until he is tantalized by the Cause and its charismatic leader.
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson | Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Jesse Plemons
Votes: 186,015 | Gross: $16.38M
7-8/10
29. Room 237 (I) (2012)
Not Rated | 102 min | Documentary
An exploration of various interpretations of Stanley Kubrick's horror film, The Shining (1980).
Director: Rodney Ascher | Stars: Bill Blakemore, Geoffrey Cocks, Juli Kearns, John Fell Ryan
Votes: 23,100 | Gross: $0.26M
7-8/10
30. Beyond the Hills (2012)
Not Rated | 152 min | Drama
The friendship between two young women who grew up in the same orphanage; one has found refuge at a convent in Romania and refuses to leave with her friend, who now lives in Germany.
Director: Cristian Mungiu | Stars: Cosmina Stratan, Cristina Flutur, Valeriu Andriuta, Dana Tapalaga
Votes: 13,187 | Gross: $0.11M
7-8/10
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