8 ms·
Ask HN: Best Movies you saw in 2012?
Trying to make a list of all the good movies I missed.
- aes256 14y agoMoonrise Kingdom is incredible. Most everything else was a waste of time.
- 3825 14y agoHere[1] is the list of the highest grossing movies in 2012 thanks to Wikipedia. Among those top ten, the only one I saw was Dark Knight Rises and while it wowed me when I watched it, it is just about meh in hind sight. Prometheus[2] was confusing as [redacted] but if you like the alien franchise[3], you should watch this one as well. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_in_film https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_in_film [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prometheus_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prometheus_(film) [3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_(franchise) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_(franchise)
- trevelyan 14y agoThere's a point in TDKR where Alfred is talking about pure evil rising out of a pit, ostensibly referring to Bane, yet Nolan keeps his camera focused on the batsuit rising out of the depths. Considering that Batman is essentially the villain of the saga, it is as nice a detail as Nolan's hero Gotham needs/deserves line from TDK, and just one of many such touches in the movie. So whether it constituted the best film of the year is debateable (I personally think so), but TDKR had hands-down the smartest script of the year. Everything from its character doubles, to its non-obvious symbolism (St. Swithin for the win!) and its political and literary allusions (Tale of Two Cities, etc.) gave it real intellectual punch. Would that we get a lot more films like it!
- sk2code 14y agoThese are some of the movies that I watched and liked in 2012: The Grey Prometheus The Avengers The Dark Knight Rises Skyfall The Hobbit And these are some of the good ones I would like to watch: Argo Lincoln Looper Life of Pi Zero Dark Thirty
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- HeyImAlex 14y agoCabin in the woods
- alanctgardner2 14y agoThis was a pleasant surprise, but the second half was pretty lame and uninspired. It should have ended as a pitch-perfect exercise in horror movie lampshading, with a shadowy, unresolved conspiracy. With the first hour, then walk away. Then again, I really liked Cloverfield for not getting too hung up on explanations.
- sswezey 14y agoThis is not the movie you think it will be and I think most people give it a cursory lookover and think it's a generic horror film. It is more than just a cheap horror film and definitely worth watching.
- psbp 14y agoLife of Pi. No contest the best movie of 2012. I saw pretty much every release, and this is one of the few that left a significant impact on me.
- EvanKelly 14y agoI stepped out of my proverbial comfort zone and saw Holy Motors[1] at a film festival on the recommendation of a more film-literate friend. I knew going into it that it tenuously had a plot (more of a theme) and that it would be extremely bizarre. I haven't seen any David Lynch, but I hear it's quite similar. Holy Motors thoroughly entertained me, and I wasn't really upset at the lack of coherence. If anyone's looking for something a little out there, I can't recommend it enough. [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Motors http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Motors
- nicholasreed 14y agoThe two you need to watch: - Get the Gringo - Grabbers The rest: - Cloud Atlas was...interesting. - Pitch Perfect was the absolute worst, but hilarious. In a similar vein: For a Good Time, Call. - Argo and Beast of the Southern Wild are overhyped in my opinion. - Life of Pi was great (make sure to read the book at some point). - End of Watch was better than advertised. - Dark Knight Rises was a solid conclusion to the series. - Ted was funny, but doesn't work so well on repeat views. - Other movies you should watch: The new Total Recall. Safety Not Guaranteed. Lawless. The Amazing Spiderman (awesome series reboot)
- timr 14y agoI suppose it says something that Argo and Moonrise Kingdom are the only movies that I can remember really liking in 2012. Flight was also memorable, if you're into character dramas. I've also heard really good things about Searching for Sugar Man, but I didn't get a chance to see it in theaters. Avengers was solid entertainment, but I wouldn't make a special trip to see it. Most of the other big releases with nerd draw were disappointments: Lincoln was overhyped Oscar-bait, Brave was forgettable, and the last Dark Knight movie was just bad (below average for summer movies, which is a low bar).
- psbp 14y agoAgree with all of it. Especially Dark Knight Rises. It was so bad that it reflected badly on the previous two films. I realized at the end of Rises how poor the character development was throughout Dark Knight, and getting (re)confused about the authenticity of Bruce Wayne's motivations in Batman Begins.
- sbuccini 14y agoI just heard about Searching for Sugar Man after watching the 60 Minutes profile on the musician. I must say, it is a fascinating story and the reviews about the documentary have been nothing but positive. Note that I haven't seen the documentary myself.
- aaronbrethorst 14y agoI'm kind of amazed that no one has said 'you have to watch Looper,' yet, so i'll say it: you have to watch Looper. It's the smartest time travel movie I've ever seen.
- Xion 14y agoEh, my reaction to it was quite the opposite. There is even this scene when it's clearly proclaimed that the scriptwriter has simply given up on maintaining any consistency whatsover, resorting to "anything goes" approach instead. And funnily enough, the movie isn't really about time travel.
- psbp 14y agoLooper proved that you could successfully harvest the story/character beats, and cool moments from other films and shows without creating any of your own. It's a bad sign when all of the "original" films in hollywood are just mediocre remakes of other sci-fi and anime. Same goes for Inception.
- jamestyrrell 14y agoYeh, Looper was quite terrible.
- riffraff 14y agowould you be so kind to as to point out where the inception idea in inception came from? I don't think I recall it from earlier things, and I'd be happy to know about them. Unless your meant "mise en abyme is a trope", which, well of course it is.
- riffraff 14y agosince no one mentioned it: "beasts of the southern wild". A few interesting documentaries, but I am not sure when they came out.
- alexmat 14y agoThe Master
- vinutheraj 14y agoMoonrise Kingdom was the best. The Hobbit was great. Looper was good, but the ending wasn't logically consistent I think. Since no one has mentioned it, I would recommend Dredd. It was a good movie going experience. Don't know it would make good viewing outside a cinema, though. Cloud Atlas was interesting, but not as insightful as it was made out to be.
- Kaizyn 14y agoThe Dark Night Rises and Skyfall are the two standout movies of the year. I haven't seen The Hobbit yet, but I presume that this would also make the year's short list.
- chewxy 14y agoThis year seems to be the year of really really brilliant cinematography. Skyfall was breathtakingly beautiful in terms of cinematography. It had a solid story too, unlike Prometheus, which while beautiful, falls short on story. The Dark Knight Rises concludes the series very well. It was well shot, and barring a few continuity issues, it was by all means a very good movie. Argo was fine as a story, also very well made and I liked it. One surprise this year which I absolutely loved was Pitch Perfect. My partner had dragged me into an early viewing of the movie, and I didn't know much about it. So yeah, good surprise. As for the rest, meh. I mean Spiderman and Avengers were fun, but it is not as memorable as the ones I mentioned above. So was Looper
- alexmat 14y agoSeven Psychopaths was fun.
- pawelwentpawel 14y agoIt has Tom Waits in it, main reason for me to pay for the cinema ticket.
- tagawa 14y agoMoonrise Kingdom, The Artist and Iron Lady (which I really wasn't expecting to like). Honourable mention for Ruby Sparks, for its originality.
- ashbrahma 14y agoMy favorite movies of the year: 1. Moonrise Kingdom 2. Beasts of the Southern Wild 3. Argo 4. Life of Pi 5. Amour (Only NY and LA for now) 6. Monsieur Lazhar
- hamai 14y ago"Ruby Sparks" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1839492/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1839492/ worth mentioning "The Campaign" and "Paranorman"
- dangrover 14y agoCloud Atlas was the best one I saw this year.
- jordonwii 14y agoI've heard some the music from that movie, and it's really good. Haven't seen the actual movie yet though.
- adam 14y agoThe Intouchables
- trustfundbaby 14y agoMy favorites this year were Looper, Chronicle and The Amazing Spider-man. I also really liked Prometheus when it came out, and I feel vindicated that after initially being panned, its ratings (rotten tomatoes) continually went up and leveled out at about 72% for both critics and users. The blockbusters let me down, with the exception of Avengers (which I though was fantastic) The Dark Night Rises, Skyfall, The Bourne Legacy, and MIB III were average. End Of Watch. Dredd. Argo all come highly recommended by friends and well reviewed on rotten tomatoes, but I did not get to see them this year. Going to see Django tonight.
- BrianPetro 14y agoNeighborhood Watch was hilarious.
- inetsee 14y agoI just watched "Les Miserables" and I thought it was great. I'm usually mostly a Sci-fi and action adventure fan, and I didn't have high expectations, but it was one of the best movies I've seen this year. I think it deserves to win several Academy Awards.
- baddox 14y agoAmerican Reunion is good fan service if you grew up with the series. The Hobbit is a technical marvel in HFR (everyone who says otherwise is wrong). Life Of Pi is another technical marvel—possibly the best visuals I have ever seen. Side by Side is an informative documentary about the rise of digital filmmaking and its cultural and technical effects (positive and negative), with polarizing opinions from tons of Hollywood folks big and small. To Rome With Love was this year's Woody Allen entry, if that's your thing. The Master is a shallow and empty script, but has two great performances and looks great projected in 70mm. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is a downright pleasant movie that no one saw, wherein Ewan McGregor shows that he can do a convincing Scottish accent. Lockout was a no-holds-barred "dumb action flick" that was surprisingly fun, mostly because of Guy Pearce's performance.
- jamhan 14y agoEwan McGregor is Scottish, so it is really no surprise that he can do a convincing Scottish accent.
- baddox 14y agoYes indeed. That was sarcasm.
- damaru 14y agoI think sarcasm is hard to get for most of the geek community, and I wonder why, I tend to not get sarcasm until all logical understanding of a statement falls on the side, then I realize, "ho right it's sarcasm"
- damaru 14y ago(way to go to prove my point of not understanding sarcasm) :(
- jamhan 14y agoIn that case, I think you mean "irony", not "sarcasm"
- tferraz 14y agoThis one in from 2003 , but I watched it this year: Memories of a Murder http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/memories-of-murder/ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/memories-of-murder/. It's about the first recorded serial killer from Korea. There is also 2 amazing documentary: Into Eternity http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoyKe-HxmFk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoyKe-HxmFk and Nostalgia for the Light http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok7f4MLL-Hk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok7f4MLL-Hk
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- b3b0p 14y agoI can think of 4 movies I saw this year so far that I enjoyed: 1. The Dark Knight Rises 2. The Amazing Spiderman 3. Bourne Legacy 4. Brave However, I did catch a few hidden gems I had never before seen or heard of on Netflix Instant. My absolute favorites are "Morning Glory", "The Answer Man", and "Beware the Gonzo".
- joshguthrie 14y agoThe Avengers The Dark Knight Rises (Okay, now I feel like a nerd in the purest sense of the term...)
- polarcuke 14y agoDjango Unchained - Cloud Atlas - Looper - Argo - Easily the best movies I saw this year, they were all really, really awesome.
- apathetic 14y agoTwilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2, How could anyone miss that?
- mping 14y agoBarfi! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2082197/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2082197/ Indian movie with a minor twist. Great movie.
- DanBC 14y agoSorry this is such a long list, but I watch a lot of films. "Martha Marcy May Marlene" - a gentle exploration of someone broken after living with a cult "Never Let Me Go" - A film you can push a lot of meaning into if you want to. I love the acting of Carey Mulligan "Shame" - Michael Fassbender is amazing in this, as is Carey Mulligan "Catfish" - an amazing documentary about people who lie on the Internet, but a gentle and kind version, not the obvious "OMG THESE PEOPLE ARE NUTTERS". "End of Watch" - 'found footage' style police thing. I really liked it for not forcing a traditional plot and pacing on the audience. "Margin Call" - financial collapse and amorality. Not many films show business in any kind of sensible way. While this movie probably doesn't it avoids most of the cliches other films make. "Beasts of the Southern Wild" - I'm disappointed this missed out on awards. "Take This Waltz" - Seth Rogan playing straight might be scary, but he's pretty good as the husband who's wife falls out of love with him. Sarah Silverman makes a surprisingly good appearance (I guess her bit at the end of the film makes it worth it). Directed by Sarah Polley who is, IMO, amazing.
- jamesjguthrie 14y agoMy favourites, not in order: Cabin in the Woods Looper The Hobbit House at the End of the Street Can't remember much else really. Also seen Twilight but I'd only really recommend that as a date movie.
- clueless 14y agolife of pi
- turbojerry 14y agoI have to mention We Are Legion, a documentary about Anonymous. Website http://wearelegionthedocumentary.com/ http://wearelegionthedocumentary.com/ Watch on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_541KmGxGs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_541KmGxGs