

Ask HN: Best Movies you saw in 2012? - bavidar

Trying to make a list of all the good movies I missed.
======
aaronbrethorst
I'm kind of amazed that no one has said 'you have to watch Looper,' yet, so
i'll say it: you have to watch Looper. It's the smartest time travel movie
I've ever seen.

~~~
FreakLegion
I interpret this as a roundabout way of saying you haven't seen Primer, which
is smart probably to the point of alienating Joe Moviegoer, but perfect for
the HN crowd. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390384/>

~~~
m_d
My favorite review of Primer:

"Anybody who claims they fully understand what’s going on in ‘Primer’ after
seeing it just once is either a savant or a liar."

------
EvanKelly
I stepped out of my proverbial comfort zone and saw Holy Motors[1] at a film
festival on the recommendation of a more film-literate friend.

I knew going into it that it tenuously had a plot (more of a theme) and that
it would be extremely bizarre.

I haven't seen any David Lynch, but I hear it's quite similar. Holy Motors
thoroughly entertained me, and I wasn't really upset at the lack of coherence.
If anyone's looking for something a little out there, I can't recommend it
enough.

[1]: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Motors>

------
aes256
Moonrise Kingdom is incredible. Most everything else was a waste of time.

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psbp
Life of Pi. No contest the best movie of 2012. I saw pretty much every
release, and this is one of the few that left a significant impact on me.

~~~
psbp
Also, worth seeing in 3D IMO.

~~~
edsu
Best use of 3D I've ever seen.

------
trustfundbaby
My favorites this year were Looper, Chronicle and The Amazing Spider-man.

I also _really_ liked Prometheus when it came out, and I feel vindicated that
after initially being panned, its ratings (rotten tomatoes) continually went
up and leveled out at about 72% for both critics and users.

The blockbusters let me down, with the exception of Avengers (which I though
was fantastic) The Dark Night Rises, Skyfall, The Bourne Legacy, and MIB III
were average.

End Of Watch. Dredd. Argo all come highly recommended by friends and well
reviewed on rotten tomatoes, but I did not get to see them this year.

Going to see Django tonight.

------
timr
I suppose it says something that Argo and Moonrise Kingdom are the only movies
that I can remember really liking in 2012. Flight was also memorable, if
you're into character dramas. I've also heard really good things about
Searching for Sugar Man, but I didn't get a chance to see it in theaters.

Avengers was solid entertainment, but I wouldn't make a special trip to see
it. Most of the other big releases with nerd draw were disappointments:
Lincoln was overhyped Oscar-bait, Brave was forgettable, and the last Dark
Knight movie was just bad (below average for summer movies, which is a low
bar).

~~~
psbp
Agree with all of it. Especially Dark Knight Rises.

It was so bad that it reflected badly on the previous two films. I realized at
the end of Rises how poor the character development was throughout Dark
Knight, and getting (re)confused about the authenticity of Bruce Wayne's
motivations in Batman Begins.

------
tferraz
This one in from 2003 , but I watched it this year: Memories of a Murder
<http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/memories-of-murder/>. It's about the first
recorded serial killer from Korea. There is also 2 amazing documentary: Into
Eternity <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoyKe-HxmFk> and Nostalgia for the
Light <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok7f4MLL-Hk>

------
DanBC
Sorry this is such a long list, but I watch a lot of films.

 _"Martha Marcy May Marlene"_ \- a gentle exploration of someone broken after
living with a cult

 _"Never Let Me Go"_ \- A film you can push a lot of meaning into if you want
to. I love the acting of Carey Mulligan

 _"Shame"_ \- Michael Fassbender is amazing in this, as is Carey Mulligan

 _"Catfish"_ \- an amazing documentary about people who lie on the Internet,
but a gentle and kind version, not the obvious "OMG THESE PEOPLE ARE NUTTERS".

 _"End of Watch"_ \- 'found footage' style police thing. I really liked it for
not forcing a traditional plot and pacing on the audience.

 _"Margin Call"_ \- financial collapse and amorality. Not many films show
business in any kind of sensible way. While this movie probably doesn't it
avoids most of the cliches other films make.

 _"Beasts of the Southern Wild"_ \- I'm disappointed this missed out on
awards.

 _"Take This Waltz"_ \- Seth Rogan playing straight might be scary, but he's
pretty good as the husband who's wife falls out of love with him. Sarah
Silverman makes a surprisingly good appearance (I guess her bit at the end of
the film makes it worth it). Directed by Sarah Polley who is, IMO, amazing.

------
baddox
American Reunion is good fan service if you grew up with the series.

The Hobbit is a technical marvel in HFR (everyone who says otherwise is
wrong).

Life Of Pi is another technical marvel—possibly the best visuals I have ever
seen.

Side by Side is an informative documentary about the rise of digital
filmmaking and its cultural and technical effects (positive and negative),
with polarizing opinions from tons of Hollywood folks big and small.

To Rome With Love was this year's Woody Allen entry, if that's your thing.

The Master is a shallow and empty script, but has two great performances and
looks great projected in 70mm.

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is a downright pleasant movie that no one saw,
wherein Ewan McGregor shows that he can do a convincing Scottish accent.

Lockout was a no-holds-barred "dumb action flick" that was surprisingly fun,
mostly because of Guy Pearce's performance.

~~~
smcnally
Re The Master, can you please elaborate on "shallow and empty script"? My wife
felt similarly ~"it's a huckster and a lost child searching, duh." I felt
there was more. Re "two great performances," I presume you refer to Pheonix
and Hoffman -- agreed, and add Amy Adams. It was shot beautifully. Jonny
Greenwood's score was enough on its own to see it a second time.

~~~
baddox
The Master chose to follow the most uninteresting character: an alcoholic
prone to streaks of violence with no real personality, motivations, or
character arc. And there was a potentially extremely interesting character
with his own cult right around the corner in Lancaster Dodd, but both were
largely unexplored aside from the early "debate" with a skeptic and the
admittedly excellent "processing" scene. There was a throwaway line from
Dodd's son saying his dad makes everything up, but Dodd's psyche and
motivations were never explored. It's hard to even say whether he sincerely
believes his stuff.

------
HeyImAlex
Cabin in the woods

~~~
sswezey
This is not the movie you think it will be and I think most people give it a
cursory lookover and think it's a generic horror film. It is more than just a
cheap horror film and definitely worth watching.

------
chewxy
This year seems to be the year of really really brilliant cinematography.

Skyfall was breathtakingly beautiful in terms of cinematography. It had a
solid story too, unlike Prometheus, which while beautiful, falls short on
story.

The Dark Knight Rises concludes the series very well. It was well shot, and
barring a few continuity issues, it was by all means a very good movie.

Argo was fine as a story, also very well made and I liked it.

One surprise this year which I absolutely loved was Pitch Perfect. My partner
had dragged me into an early viewing of the movie, and I didn't know much
about it. So yeah, good surprise.

As for the rest, meh. I mean Spiderman and Avengers were fun, but it is not as
memorable as the ones I mentioned above. So was Looper

------
3825
Here[1] is the list of the highest grossing movies in 2012 thanks to
Wikipedia. Among those top ten, the only one I saw was Dark Knight Rises and
while it wowed me when I watched it, it is just about meh in hind sight.

Prometheus[2] was confusing as [redacted] but if you like the alien
franchise[3], you should watch this one as well.

[1]: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_in_film>

[2]: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prometheus_(film)>

[3]: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_(franchise)>

~~~
trevelyan
There's a point in TDKR where Alfred is talking about pure evil rising out of
a pit, ostensibly referring to Bane, yet Nolan keeps his camera focused on the
batsuit rising out of the depths. Considering that Batman is essentially the
villain of the saga, it is as nice a detail as Nolan's hero Gotham
needs/deserves line from TDK, and just one of many such touches in the movie.

So whether it constituted the best film of the year is debateable (I
personally think so), but TDKR had hands-down the smartest script of the year.
Everything from its character doubles, to its non-obvious symbolism (St.
Swithin for the win!) and its political and literary allusions (Tale of Two
Cities, etc.) gave it real intellectual punch. Would that we get a lot more
films like it!

------
inetsee
I just watched "Les Miserables" and I thought it was great.

I'm usually mostly a Sci-fi and action adventure fan, and I didn't have high
expectations, but it was one of the best movies I've seen this year. I think
it deserves to win several Academy Awards.

------
nicholasreed
The two you need to watch:

\- Get the Gringo

\- Grabbers

The rest:

\- Cloud Atlas was...interesting.

\- Pitch Perfect was the absolute worst, but hilarious. In a similar vein: For
a Good Time, Call.

\- Argo and Beast of the Southern Wild are overhyped in my opinion.

\- Life of Pi was great (make sure to read the book at some point).

\- End of Watch was better than advertised.

\- Dark Knight Rises was a solid conclusion to the series.

\- Ted was funny, but doesn't work so well on repeat views.

\- Other movies you should watch: The new Total Recall. Safety Not Guaranteed.
Lawless. The Amazing Spiderman (awesome series reboot)

------
dangrover
Cloud Atlas was the best one I saw this year.

~~~
jordonwii
I've heard some the music from that movie, and it's really good. Haven't seen
the actual movie yet though.

------
ashbrahma
My favorite movies of the year:

1\. Moonrise Kingdom

2\. Beasts of the Southern Wild

3\. Argo

4\. Life of Pi

5\. Amour (Only NY and LA for now)

6\. Monsieur Lazhar

------
vinutheraj
Moonrise Kingdom was the best. The Hobbit was great.

Looper was good, but the ending wasn't logically consistent I think.

Since no one has mentioned it, I would recommend Dredd. It was a good movie
going experience. Don't know it would make good viewing outside a cinema,
though.

Cloud Atlas was interesting, but not as insightful as it was made out to be.

------
riffraff
since no one mentioned it: "beasts of the southern wild".

A few interesting documentaries, but I am not sure when they came out.

------
polarcuke
Django Unchained - Cloud Atlas - Looper - Argo - Easily the best movies I saw
this year, they were all really, really awesome.

------
b3b0p
I can think of 4 movies I saw this year so far that I enjoyed:

1\. The Dark Knight Rises

2\. The Amazing Spiderman

3\. Bourne Legacy

4\. Brave

However, I did catch a few hidden gems I had never before seen or heard of on
Netflix Instant. My absolute favorites are "Morning Glory", "The Answer Man",
and "Beware the Gonzo".

------
turbojerry
I have to mention We Are Legion, a documentary about Anonymous.

Website

<http://wearelegionthedocumentary.com/>

Watch on Youtube

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_541KmGxGs>

------
sk2code
These are some of the movies that I watched and liked in 2012:

The Grey

Prometheus

The Avengers

The Dark Knight Rises

Skyfall

The Hobbit

And these are some of the good ones I would like to watch:

Argo

Lincoln

Looper

Life of Pi

Zero Dark Thirty

------
jamesjguthrie
My favourites, not in order:

Cabin in the Woods

Looper

The Hobbit

House at the End of the Street

Can't remember much else really. Also seen Twilight but I'd only really
recommend that as a date movie.

------
alexmat
Seven Psychopaths was fun.

~~~
pawelwentpawel
It has Tom Waits in it, main reason for me to pay for the cinema ticket.

------
hamai
"Ruby Sparks" <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1839492/>

worth mentioning "The Campaign" and "Paranorman"

------
Kaizyn
The Dark Night Rises and Skyfall are the two standout movies of the year. I
haven't seen The Hobbit yet, but I presume that this would also make the
year's short list.

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mping
Barfi! <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2082197/>

Indian movie with a minor twist. Great movie.

------
tagawa
Moonrise Kingdom, The Artist and Iron Lady (which I really wasn't expecting to
like). Honourable mention for Ruby Sparks, for its originality.

------
joshguthrie
The Avengers The Dark Knight Rises

(Okay, now I feel like a nerd in the purest sense of the term...)

------
alexmat
The Master

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apathetic
Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2, How could anyone miss that?

------
BrianPetro
Neighborhood Watch was hilarious.

------
adam
The Intouchables

------
clueless
life of pi

