The Top 10 Films Of 2012

From January all the way through to December, we have been spoiled with all sorts of cinematic riches. Many great established filmmakers delivered some of their best work to date – Wes Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, Judd Apatow, David O. Russell, Kathryn Bigelow, etc. – while many new or developing voices – like Steven Chbosky, Rian Johnson, Colin Trevorrow, Benh Zeitlin, and more – burst onto the scene with refreshing passion and vision. At the multiplex, blockbusters were generally smarter and bolder than the usual crop of Hollywood cookie-cutter fare, while local arthouses and independent cinemas were constantly filled with vibrant and intriguing efforts. If 2012 did not produce the sheer quantity of masterworks as 2010 or 2011, it possessed deeper and more consistent quality from beginning to end, and whether you were a critic or just a fellow film enthusiast, chances are you had a fair share of highly memorable experiences throughout the year.

Jonathan R. Lack

Published: Dec 12, 2012 01:50 pm

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1. Django Unchained

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As great, deep, and varied a year as 2012 has been for cinema, it took Quentin Tarantino hardly any time at all to make me forget about everything else. With remarkable craftsmanship, a top-notch ensemble, and the year’s very best screenplay, Django Unchained immediately had me hooked in a way nothing else these past twelve months could compare to.

Over the course of two-and-a-half riveting and explosive hours, Tarantino subverts, explores, and ultimately rewrites the iconography that fuels the Western genre, using film as a method to account for the horrors of the past and the past as a method to account for gaps in cinematic representations of history. The result is a spectacularly powerful film, one more stylish, profound, and wildly, unequivocally satisfying than anything in Tarantino’s filmography, or, indeed, anything else released in 2012. In looking to the past, Tarantino has crafted a potent masterpiece for our times, one that towers ridiculously tall over what has been an all-around fantastic year for cinema.

Django Unchained will arrive in theatres nationwide on December 25^th.

What did you think of the year in film? Would any of these movies make your top 10 list? What films did you love that were not included? Sound off in the comments and help us reminisce on a wonderful year at the movie theatre!

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Author

Jonathan R. Lack

With ten years of experience writing about movies and television, including an ongoing weekly column in The Denver Post's YourHub section, Jonathan R. Lack is a passionate voice in the field of film criticism. Writing is his favorite hobby, closely followed by watching movies and TV (which makes this his ideal gig), and is working on his first film-focused book.