Finally, here is my list of the Top 20 Favorite Movies of 2012. I would definitely say that its been a great year for movies, one of the best ones recently. I specially watched many of the foreign releases as well which furthermore proved quite great for me. The Awards Season mania is what makes most of the earlier months a bit bland because of too many low-profile or big blockbuster releases while the last few months are always filled with the gems that i always anticipate. In a year filled with many adaptations of the books that were deemed "Unfilmable" or filmmakers taking risks and doing daring things, i must say it was an amazing experience. Though due to the many incidents that happened in real life, the way people responded to a certain movies was at large understandable but then quite unnecessary. The controversy of Zero Dark Thirty has to be the most ridiculous thing about the previous year. 2012 was also the year when the big summer flicks that i was anticipating (The Dark Knight Rises, The Avengers etc) disappointed me in a sense but then movies that i least expected to like (Chronicle, The Amazing Spider-Man) surprised me. Below is the list of my 20 favorite movies of the year as well as some honorable mentions. The changes in my list wont be updated here, you can check my list on IMDB which i would regularly update.
1. The Master:
The response that this new Paul Thomas Anderson movie got mainly from people was disappointing but critics sure loved it. The Master is both a provocative and a meditative experience and its take on the two main routes people take in life and its study is extraordinary. It is packed with some amazing performances by Joaquin Phoenix as Freddie, the drifter with no clue about his life, who cares only about women, sex and booze. On the other hand, Philip Seymour Hoffman plays Lancaster Dodd, a charismatic and intoxicating leader of a religious organization called "The Cause" that attracts Freddie. Paul Thomas Anderson created something that lets us observe these characters and then makes us decide who we think is right. Mind that there is no wrong here, no one is the bad guy because life is what you make it. On one hand there is a man who doesn't care about the shit he lets himself into and the other one puts on this big show for people to love him. Also it is one of the most technically amazing films ever. The cinematography with those sweeping moves and uncertainty as well as the powerful score by Johnny Greenwood is excellent. This hypnotic, mesmerizing and gorgeous mini-epic is something that i consider a flawless masterpiece and my favorite movie of the year.
2. Zero Dark Thirty:
One of the best thrillers, crime procedural, journalism based docudrama in the recent years. Zero Dark Thirty is fictional/fact-based dramatization of the decade long events that led to the capture and killing of the al-Qaeeda leader Osama Bin Laden at the hands of the U.S. Navy Seals. Kathryn Bigelow created a wonderful piece of work, her career best and her abilities are seen clearly this time. Bigelow decided to include a character, Maya that is played by the wonderful Jessica Chastain. Whose steadfast and truly stubborn confidence is what drives the narrative and she is the reason that CIA finds the man they are looking for. The movie unfolds in a very thrilling way, the slow build-up of events that you know about and the events that mostly took place within the offices makes up for an amazing experience. Cut to the final few minutes when the operation is happening and you'll see some of the best filmmaking. Nothing beats those final thrilling moments when even you know how it all ends, but the suspense that is created through pin-drop silence, night camera visions and the gorilla filmmaking is mindblowing. A wonderfully written and edited drama with amazing direction and the best female performance of the year with Jessica Chastain who deserves all the praise she is getting. For a much grittier, realistic depiction of the serious political event, Zero Dark Thirty is much better and much thrilling than many believe and the "pro-torture stance" controversy is nothing but a stunt to bring down the credibility and its just downright stupid.
