2012 in Review -- Movies

I typically kick off a new year with a post summarizing the movies I saw in the previous one. 2012 marked another downward trend for me in viewing (from last year's 126), but the 106 films I did see still averages out to more than two each week.

21 of the movies were on the big screen -- another downward trend from last year's 25 -- though it wasn't uncommon for me to keep quasi-current with 2012's new movies, catching up with them a few months down the road on Netflix. There are still a number of 2012 films I want to see (many thought to be contenders for the Academy Awards this year), but even so, I'm going to offer up my provisional list of the top 10 films of the year (with links to my original reviews):

1. Argo
2. The Cabin in the Woods
3. Lincoln
4. The Woman in Black
5. The Hunger Games
6. Looper
7. 21 Jump Street
8. The Avengers
9. The Amazing Spider-man
10. The Dark Knight Rises

For once, the movie I liked best (Argo) is one that may very well be a nominee for Best Picture. In fact, my top 5 also includes the sure-fire nominee Lincoln. So I guess you could say that this year, more than most times, my tastes lined up a bit with those of Academy voters. But we'll see how it really all shakes out in a few months.

I wanted to like The Avengers more. I really did. And in any case, I'm glad that Joss Whedon has finally an the outrageous financial success to vault him to the A-list. I just wish that financial success could have lined up better with one of his previous creative successes. Basically, I think The Avengers is the least of Whedon's work (not counting things like Alien: Resurrection and the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer film, which got wrested from his creative control on their way to completion). But hey, 2012 gave us The Cabin in the Woods too, so I'm not complaining. Plus, the new year will be bringing us Whedon's take on Much Ado About Nothing, and very likely a new television series, based on Marvel's S.H.I.E.L.D.

It was a good year for action movies that were also smart. Besides The Cabin in the Woods (though that's more horror than action), The Hunger Games and Looper were also solid films. I love it when filmmakers take the "dumb" out of "Big Dumb Action Movie."

I'll plan on amending this post in the coming months if I see any new movies that earn a spot on the list. (Hear that, Dark Knight? Your days are numbered.) But overall, I'd say that 2012 was one of the better years for movies in a while.

Updated (10-26-2013):
(with some reordering upon further consideration)
1. Argo
2. Lincoln
3. The Perks of Being a Wallflower
4. Zero Dark Thirty
5. The Cabin in the Woods
6. Wreck-It Ralph
7. Silver Linings Playbook
8. 56 Up
9. The Woman in Black
10. West of Memphis