Cinenerd’s Top 20 of 2012

2012 was a great year for film.

Article first published as Cinenerd's Top 20 Films of 2012 on Blogcritics.

The world may not have ended today (at least as of this writing), but that’s no reason we can’t celebrate the close of 2012 with another “Best of” list, right? In looking back over the year, it’s been a particularly good one for movies.

I know that most lists consist of Top Tens but when I started making my list, the most expected happened. My favorites of the year began to bleed in and they mix rather well. With a final list of 20 films, I decided that instead of ranking them all, why not just list them alphabetically, with links to the full reviews of course, and let you be the judge of this rather outstanding year.

1. 21 Jump Street
2. Argo
3. Marvel's The Avengers
4. The Cabin in the Woods
5. The Dark Knight Rises
6. Django Unchained
7. Frankenweenie (2012)
8. Hitchcock
9. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
10. Lincoln
11. Looper
12. Moonrise Kingdom
13. ParaNorman
14. The Raid
15. Safety Not Guaranteed
16. Seven Psychopaths
17. Silver Linings Playbook
18. Skyfall
19. Ted
20. Wreck-It Ralph

What really makes a “Best Picture” anyway? This year there was no clear winner. Some are far better than others, yes, and out of even this list there were only six I revisited in theaters. Just to be clear, there were some amazing Honorable Mentions as well: Prometheus, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Life of Pi, Rise of the Guardians, The Sessions, For a Good Time, Call…, Sleepwalk with Me, Smashed, and even Men in Black III or Jack Reacher could make up a whole other list. Having not seen Zero Dark Thirty, I couldn't really place it on this list, maybe next year.

So there you have it moviegoers, another year, another list. Have a safe and happy holidays, I’ll see you in 2013!