20. Wreck-It Ralph
The best American animated film of 2012, Wreck-It Ralph is nothing short of a glorious, full-blown rebirth for Disney Animation Studios. This is the most creative, energetic, intelligent, and powerfully heartfelt film to come out of the animation department in decades, one of the very best in the entire Disney canon, and one of the year’s most pleasant surprises.
Wreck-It Ralph is currently playing in theatres nationwide.
19. Hope Springs
Speaking of surprises, David Frankel’s Hope Springs was so mismarketed and undervalued before it arrived that even after earning heaps of critical praise, the film still failed to find quite the audience or awards traction it deserved. But this is a staggeringly powerful little film nevertheless, one of the most achingly authentic looks at trust, intimacy, and partnership I have ever seen.
Hope Springs is currently available on DVD and Blu-Ray.
18. Flight
Robert Zemeckis’ Flight may hook us with one of the most expertly staged plane crashes in cinematic history, but the film actually rises to greatness as an intense and intimate portrait of alcoholism, beautifully executed on the exact same creative strengths that propel that amazing plane crash: Attention to detail and an absolutely stellar performance from the incomparable Denzel Washington. As smart and mature commercial drama goes, Flight stands among the best of 2012, and makes me very happy to finally have Zemeckis return to the land of the living.
Flight is currently playing in theatres nationwide.
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