My Favorite Top 30 Movies of 2012
by pardonemepaddre | created - 17 Jan 2013 | updated - 18 Nov 2022 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. 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: 38,029 | Gross: $2.67M
2. 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: 72,891 | Gross: $3.97M
3. The Sessions (2012)
R | 95 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
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: 43,979 | Gross: $6.00M
4. The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)
PG-13 | 103 min | Drama
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: 547,853 | Gross: $17.74M
5. The Impossible (2012)
PG-13 | 114 min | Drama, History, Thriller
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: 244,005 | Gross: $19.02M
6. Argo (2012)
R | 120 min | Biography, Drama, History
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: 638,992 | Gross: $136.03M
7. Dark Horse (2011)
Not Rated | 86 min | Comedy, Drama
Romance blooms between two tricenarians in arrested development: an avid toy collector who is the dark horse of his family and a depressed woman on the rebound.
Director: Todd Solondz | Stars: Jordan Gelber, Selma Blair, Christopher Walken, Mia Farrow
Votes: 6,385 | Gross: $0.94M
8. The Queen of Versailles (2012)
PG | 100 min | Documentary
A documentary that follows a billionaire couple as they begin construction on a mansion inspired by Versailles. During the next two years, their empire, fueled by the real estate bubble and cheap money, falters due to the economic crisis.
Director: Lauren Greenfield | Stars: Jaqueline Siegel, David Siegel, Lorraine Barrett, June Downs
Votes: 13,700 | Gross: $2.40M
9. 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: 85,056 | Gross: $12.80M
10. 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: 105,671 | Gross: $6.74M
11. Life of Pi (2012)
PG | 127 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
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: 666,707 | Gross: $124.99M
12. 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: 366,714 | Gross: $45.51M
13. Lincoln (2012)
PG-13 | 150 min | Biography, Drama, History
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: 272,582 | Gross: $182.21M
14. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011)
PG-13 | 124 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
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: 99,461 | Gross: $46.41M
15. Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
R | 122 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
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: 742,605 | Gross: $132.09M
16. Hysteria (2011)
R | 100 min | Biography, Comedy, Romance
The truth of how Mortimer Granville devised the invention of the first vibrator in the name of medical science.
Director: Tanya Wexler | Stars: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Hugh Dancy, Jonathan Pryce, Felicity Jones
Votes: 33,178 | Gross: $1.80M
17. Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)
R | 86 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Three magazine employees head out on an assignment to interview a guy who placed a classified advertisement seeking a companion for time travel.
Director: Colin Trevorrow | Stars: Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass, Jake Johnson, Karan Soni
Votes: 130,837 | Gross: $4.01M
18. Flight (I) (2012)
R | 138 min | Drama, Thriller
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: 376,087 | Gross: $93.77M
19. Bernie (2011)
PG-13 | 104 min | Biography, Comedy, Crime
In small-town Texas, an affable mortician strikes up a friendship with a wealthy widow, though when she starts to become controlling, he goes to great lengths to separate himself from her grasp.
Director: Richard Linklater | Stars: Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine, Matthew McConaughey, Brady Coleman
Votes: 63,431 | Gross: $9.20M
20. 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: 273,879 | Gross: $15.02M
21. Arbitrage (2012)
R | 107 min | Drama, Thriller
A troubled hedge fund magnate desperate to complete the sale of his trading empire makes an error that forces him to turn to an unlikely person for help.
Director: Nicholas Jarecki | Stars: Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Brit Marling, Tim Roth
Votes: 54,819 | Gross: $7.92M
22. God Bless America (2011)
R | 105 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
On a mission to rid society of its most repellent citizens, terminally ill Frank makes an unlikely accomplice in 16-year-old Roxy.
Director: Bobcat Goldthwait | Stars: Joel Murray, Tara Lynne Barr, Mackenzie Brooke Smith, Melinda Page Hamilton
Votes: 71,951 | Gross: $0.12M
23. The Cabin in the Woods (2011)
R | 95 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
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: 450,559 | Gross: $42.07M
24. Sinister (I) (2012)
R | 110 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A controversial true-crime writer finds a box of Super 8 home movies in his new home, revealing that the murder case he is currently researching could be the work of an unknown serial killer whose legacy dates back to the 1960s.
Director: Scott Derrickson | Stars: Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance, James Ransone, Fred Thompson
Votes: 280,075 | Gross: $48.09M
25. The Dictator (2012)
R | 83 min | Comedy
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: 334,731 | Gross: $59.65M
26. The Intouchables (2011)
R | 112 min | Comedy, Drama
After he becomes a quadriplegic from a paragliding accident, an aristocrat hires a young man from the projects to be his caregiver.
Directors: Olivier Nakache, Éric Toledano | Stars: François Cluzet, Omar Sy, Anne Le Ny, Audrey Fleurot
Votes: 929,055 | Gross: $13.18M
27. The Hunter (IV) (2011)
R | 100 min | Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Martin, a mercenary, is sent from Europe by a mysterious biotech company to the Tasmanian wilderness on a hunt for the last Tasmanian tiger.
Director: Daniel Nettheim | Stars: Willem Dafoe, Sam Neill, Morgan Davies, Jacek Koman
Votes: 41,152 | Gross: $0.18M
28. Compliance (2012)
R | 90 min | Crime, Drama, History
A normal Friday service at a fast food restaurant becomes interrupted by a police officer who claims an employee stole from a customer, but something more sinister is going on.
Director: Craig Zobel | Stars: Ann Dowd, Dreama Walker, Pat Healy, Bill Camp
Votes: 37,285 | Gross: $0.32M
29. Peace, Love & Misunderstanding (2011)
R | 96 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
An uptight New York City lawyer takes her two teenagers to her hippie mother's farmhouse upstate for a family vacation.
Director: Bruce Beresford | Stars: Jane Fonda, Catherine Keener, Elizabeth Olsen, Nat Wolff
Votes: 8,777 | Gross: $0.54M
30. Being Flynn (2012)
R | 102 min | Drama
Working in a Boston homeless shelter, Nick Flynn re-encounters his father, a con man and self-proclaimed poet. Sensing trouble in his own life, Nick wrestles with the notion of reaching out yet again to his dad.
Director: Paul Weitz | Stars: Paul Dano, Robert De Niro, Julianne Moore, Olivia Thirlby
Votes: 17,835 | Gross: $0.53M
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