It goes up to... thirteen?

My list of the best 13 films of 2012 in 2012. I write "of 2012 in 2012" because I feel that some of these titles might disappear and others shoot up the list in the coming months and years. I predict a good future for "Lincoln" "Silver Linings Playbook" and of course "Moonrise Kingdom" but this is all speculative (I will have to re-watch all of these several times) so, for now, I keep the list as it is.

1  Moonrise Kingdom- No doubt in my mind, this is the best film of the year, and  nothing else came close.  Yes, it is a film. It was shot in super 16mm. The grainy, yellowish look fits beautifully with the fictional 1960s New Penzance Island. Wes Anderson has always been great at showing grownups who act as kids, which he still manages to do here most noticeable in Edward Norton's Scout Master Ward, but this time Anderson's focus is on two actual kids, acting as grownups, and their romantic escapades. Kara Hayward and Jared Gilman are hilarious and brutally honest as Suzy and Sam playing two kids who are madly in love, and don't care what anyone thinks of it. The soundtrack is also perfect, as usual for a Wes Anderson film. 

2 Dark Knight Rises- what is one more voice in the endless debate? I loved it, just like I loved Inception, The Dark Knight, The Prestige, Batman Begins, Memento, and Following. The only disappointing element of this film was that Alfred leaves midway through it and is not seen until the end. 

3 Skyfall- basically the same movie as Dark Knight Rises? Hero spends the first hour of the movie recovering from major injuries. The film is the third installment of a new series trying to reboot an old series. The list goes on and on. They even gave James Bond the abandoned mansion of his parents and a butler! 

4 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey- it was everything I hoped it would be. I cannot stress enough how much Andy Serkis deserves an oscar specially for playing Gollum/Smeagol. I understand that some people found the first half a little too slow, but I cannot get enough of the Shire and the backstory of Tolkien's rich mythology. .

5. Silver Linings Playbook- a return of the screwball comedy, which presents us an even battle between  two smart, wickedly funny members of the opposite sexes. A romantic comedy instant classic. The montage with Bob Dylan's "Girl from the North Country" was probably my favorite scene of any movie this year, but I could say that about any well placed Bob Dylan song in any film. 

6 Brave + La Luna- Both films are a part of this list. "La Luna" is an amazing coming of age tale of a little boy going into the family business, which happens to be cleaning the moon. The sights of the moon and the tiny stars that give it light are wonderful. I also love the fact that there is no real dialogue, but the film is still able to communicate its plot and themes effectively through purely visual methods. As for Brave, Scotland is a magnificent setting for the Pixar team to show off. Its simple, "brother bear ripoff" story does not detract from its charm. It actually portrays accurately the way young girls interact with their mothers without dehumanizing either one. That is in no way simple. I also love all Scottish accents, as well as Merida's three little brothers who were hilarious (especially as tiny bears) without any dialogue! 

7 Lincoln- Steven Spielberg does not glorify Lincoln. He was a politician. He knew that if he passed the thirteenth amendment, he would crush the South's economy. The film focuses on that fact and does not try to portray Lincoln as an abolitionist who passed the amendment for any moral obligation. It was simply the smart thing to do. Daniel Day Lewis also refuses to make Lincoln into the hero he is seen as today. Lincoln loses patience and yells at his wife, ignores his oldest son, and goes behind the back of his trusted friend and Secretary of State. He is old, and weak, always hunched over with a warm drink in his hand and a warm coat or blanket over his shoulder. All of this is came as a brilliant shock. I should have trusted Spielberg had the courage to show Lincoln as what he was, human. 

8. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia... 

9 Cloud Atlas- I feel that I should have left this film with more questions. But despite my disagreements over certain philosophies the film clearly endorses, I still consider this a great film. It manages to tell 6 compelling stories in under three hours, jumping back and forth through space and time all without ever confusing me. The segments seem build up in action, then quiet down together. The relationship between stories is hard to grasp, but Omer Mozaffar explained it best: 

So, is there are a relationship between the scenes? The answer is of course yes, and of course no. We automatically get a sense of progression when we jump from scene to scene. But, we can, however, detect a series of waves, where a cluster of scenes do connect with each other structurally and thematically. Liberations take place simultaneously. Exposures to truth take place simultaneously. Transformations take place simultaneously. Love is lost and found simultaneously. On the flipside, perhaps there is no relationship between the scenes: it might be that I am sharing the themes as I have constructed them in my mind. I will not know, until I see the film again.

The film also has the best editing, score, and special effects of any film I have seen this year as well as six or seven amazing performances by Tom Hanks. It is marvelous storytelling, impeccable filmmaking.

10 The Grey- Liam Neeson was awesome. The wolves were scary. I jumped of fright several times. I was expecting those things. What I was not expecting was a thoughtful meditation on suicide, human nature, the indifference of nature, and the existence of God.  The film focuses as much on the conversations of men who are about to be eaten by wolves as… the actual eating of the men by the wolves. It also featured the scariest plane crash of any movie ever, including "Flight."

11 Looper- logically brilliant! those are two of the last words I thought I would use to describe a time traveling movie, but its finally here. The conclusion of the film is incredible, and flawless in tying up all loose ends. Joseph Gordon Levitt is not afraid to be an unlikable, selfish drug-addict-murderer, but we end up rooting for him anyway. The violent, crime infested  future portrayed in the film is too close to reality to take in comfortably. This film makes you ask some tough questions. where is the world heading? Do I really want communist China to be the best place to travel to in the future? What is wrong with Joseph Gordon Levitt's face?

 12. Side By Side- a documentary that has every right to be in the top of any list. Keanu Reeves conducts many interviews with famous directors and cinematographers to ask them, the experts, about the differences between the old photochemical film process, and the new fully digitized world of movies. There are diehard film fanatics, like Christopher Nolan, and forward thinking proponents of digital, most notably David Fincher. Still, the most eloquent, and thoughtful of all interviewed was Martin Scorsese. He knows more about film, digital, and movies overall than anyone else. He is the one of the few who has made movies both digitally and photochemically, and he is the only one who seems perfectly ok with both mediums, pointing out the strengths and weaknesses of each. A true master. 

13. Argo- I knew the story coming in. 6 Americans hid in the Canadian ambassador's house in Iran during the revolution in 1979. The CIA produced a fake movie, pretended they were part of the crew, and got them out safely. I was not expecting to have sweaty palms, literally sitting at the edge of my seat during the final moments when it looks like they just might not make it past the final checkpoint. The 1970s, "All the President's Men" look is fanastic. John Goodman and Alan Arkin provide comedy gold as the real Hollywood producers of the fake movie. Ben Afleck is becoming one of my favorite directors. I urge you to watch "The Town," which is my favorite film of his.

Honorary Mention- Liberal Arts, The Avengers, The Intouchables, Friends With Kids, Smashed, Flight, Premium Rush, The Secret World of Arriety. 

I have not yet seen Amour, Zero Dark Thirty, Holy Motors, Django Unchained, or Les Miserables. From what I've read about them, they all seem like possible top 10 contenders.