EWB's Favorite Movie of 2012: The Results

[GA!]

Lincoln was fucking boring.

Silver Linings Playbook was superb. Completely cliche, and the third act is total schmaltz, but the acting performances overpower any so-called problems. Practically jumped for joy at the end despite, you know, it's obvious what would happen.

Hopefully watching Searching for Sugar Man today so will report back.

Haven't seen the others.

[Jimmy]

Wanna see The Man with the Iron Fists eventually when I fancy a good fun film. Sinister doesn't interest me.

Lincoln was exactly what I expected it to be -- which was a good bit of Oscar bait. It's extremely well made and full of fantastic actors; Daniel Day-Lewis steals the show. Not in a real rush to watch this again, but it's good.

I've had plenty of say on Silver Linings. A very good film which I think was blown out of proportion with all the oscar nominations. Great performances from the lead two though, would love to see Cooper build on this.

And yeah Searching for Sugarman is just sublime.

[GA!]

Okay, I watched it: Searching for Sugar Man was pretty great.

I also finally finished The Raid. The fist-fights, or the parts where weapons weren't used anyway, were beautifully done. Other than that I wasn't too arsed.

[GoGo Yubari]

The Man With the Iron Fists is great. It doesn't try to be anything more than it is. Supposedly RZA originally wanted to release it in two 2-hour installments, which sounds ridiculous and amazing and like something I'd want to watch one time.

Lincoln was great for the old-timey insults and Daniel Day-Lewis monologues. Only barely made my top ten, though.

I will never see Sinister. Horror is the genre that is by far the least interesting to me.

Silver Linings and Sugar Man are pretty high up on the list of 2012 movies I'd like to see.

Anyway. Next!

15. Dredd 3D (35 pts, appeared on five ballots)

14. 21 Jump Street (38 pts, appeared on eight ballots)

13. The Hunger Games (39 pts, appeared on ten ballots)

12. Moonrise Kingdom (40 pts, appeared on eight ballots)

11. The Master (52 pts, appeared on six ballots)

Next Time, on EWB's Top 30 Movies of 2012: It was the pioneer days; people had to make their own interrogation rooms. Out of cornmeal.

[deli]

The only one I've watched out of that bunch is moonrise kingdom, which was pretty decent.

I do want to see Dredd though. Heard great things about it.

[LL!]

Dredd was entertaining, but I don't feel the same way many others have felt about it. It's a ridiculous film and that's the best thing it has going for it. It was badass, but some of the sequences were kinda meh. So yeah, it's a movie that suffers from a lot of, "hell yeah, but..."

21 Jump Street was way funnier than it had any right to be. I really really enjoyed it and laughed quite a bit. I think I can attribute a bit of that to how low my expectations were coming into it.

The more I think about The Hunger Gamers the more I really just didn't like it. Some aspects were good, but it was waaaaay overdrawn and the actual Hunger Games felt like an afterthought. It was not well made.

Moonrise Kingdom was a great little movie which seems to be what I think about all Wes Anderson movies. It was definitely ripping at the seams with kitchy stuff (moreso than other Wes Anderson movies) which kind of devalued it a bit for me. But I still really enjoyed it.

The Master was a fantastic film, though, it did have me kinda waning interest in some parts. Some of the conversations were just a little too.. drab? I guess? I can't find the word for it, but the story and acting were killer and thus made my top ten.

[Kaney]

Dredd is the only one I've seen, and it was awesome. Just a badass brutal action flick that is everything a Dredd story should be, without coming close to anything cerebral.

[MalaCloudy Black]

I've seen 21 Jump Street! I enjoyed it. Like LL, I went in with low expectations and it turned out to be a pleasant surprise.

[Jimmy]

Really wanna see Dredd, seems like a film I'd dig if I fancied something fun.

21 Jump Street was great and completely surpassed all my expectations. I need to watch it again because I remember it being so great. A comedy which managed to be very contemporary too, which was a nice change.

Hunger Games was okay and nothing more.

Loved Moonrise. Managing to see a Wes Anderson film on the big screen was great, his films are just so beautiful. I think it just about made my top 5, which is more of a reflection on how good this year was for film, instead of how much I rated this.

The Master would've been my number one if it wasn't for Avengers. Mesmerising film making with world class acting. I think Phoenix would've walked away with the oscar any other year and how Hoffman didn't get one is beyond me. Some people found it boring, or that it didn't have a suitable end, but the film just left me with a feeling I've never had in the cinema before. I think I could've watched those characters for hours on end. Shame it didn't crack the top 10.

[GA!]

Now I've seen The Raid, I can call Dredd a poor man's Raid. Unfortunate plot coincidence aside, dare I say, Sly's Judge Dredd is marginally better. For all its Rob-Schneider-ness, it does at least try some characterisation and is more aethestically pleasing. For a film that's clearly style over substance, Dredd looks like crap. It also seems they badly wanted to make a Judge Anderson film but couldn't get the funding unless they shoehorned Dredd in as, essentially, a background character.

21 Jump Street was very surprising. Expected the worst, got one of the funnier comedies I've seen in a while.

The Hunger Games was the most disappointing film of 2012. Thanks to tweenage audiences/censorship, this is closer to Twilight than Battle Royale. Not that there's anything wrong with Twilight, but I wanted fucking Battle Royale.

Need to see The Master ASAP.

[Your Mom]

How the hell can you say the Sly Dredd movie was better? If we are talking comedy maybe. Otherwise not a chance!

[TKz]

Dredd was good fun, it's a shame it won't get a sequel, but I'm not really bothered at all? I don't know, I feel like a Dredd film could have been more, despite what we got being great fun. After it ended, I didn't care about seeing more of that world, which hurts it for me.

21 Jump Street was way funnier than I expected it to be. I despise Jonah Hill, but holy shit, that was fun.

I really enjoyed Hunger Games. And as someone that loved the books, I'm glad it did well and is getting sequels, even if 2 films for Mockingjay is stupid. Jennifer Lawrence was great and if they could cut down on the love angle a bit more, I'd enjoy it even more. It's really not very well portrayed, through out all of the first book Katniss never actually has any interest in Peta... she plays it up and then doesn't want to break his heart by telling him. That's all there is to it, really.

Moonrise Kingdom was actually my first Wes Anderson film. Really touching story that was just a great ride all the way through. Those kids man, those kids. Phenomenal.

Haven't seen The Master.

[GoGo Yubari]

Haven't seen Dredd. Maybe if it's on HBO one night and I have nothing else to do. Same with Jump Street, and Hunger Games.

Moonrise Kingdom was very good. I mean, incredibly twee even by Wes Anderson standards, but I liked it a lot. I very much need to buy the soundtrack.

God, I fucking love The Master. It's so fucking weird and sprawling and crazy and at points cryptic, and occasionally I drifted because it is looooong but it always dragged me back, and the way PT Anderson chose to film it was awesome. It's the kind of movie I could see myself returning to periodically, like every couple years or so. I can't really protest DDL winning Best Actor too much but it's a pity that it came as the same year as Joaquin Phoenix's amazing lead performance. Honestly, if I could choose the Oscar winners it would have been a Phoenix/Hoffman/Adams sweep for their awards. Amy Adams deserves more props than she gets for taking that role and absolutely finding the driving force of that character and making the power she wields blatantly clear even in scenes where Phoenix and Hoffman are front and center.

[Walker]

Dredd is decent, definitely deserve more than it got. It'll probably go down as a cult film. However, for a battle through an apartment building I think The Raid was better.

Did not enjoy 21 Jump Street. Did not enjoy Hungry Games.

Moonrise Kingdom is the sweetest film of the year. I loved every moment of it.

The Master was really good, it really should have been in my Top 10 but I couldn't find room for it.

[livid]

Catching up a bit...

I haven't seen God Bless America but have heard good things. It's been in my queue for awhile so maybe I'll finally actually watch it.

I liked Flight but am a big Denzel Washington fan too. It probably would've made my Top 20 but nothing more though.

I haven't seen The Imposter yet but like five different people have told me to over the past week so I think I'll have to sooner than later.

Haven't seen Prometheus and might give it a shot one day but the mixed reviews might make that a long time from now.

I enjoyed Ted. It wasn't the best comedy of the year or anything but it was decent. Not sure sequel is necessary but it made a ton of money so duh.

The stuff I've heard about The Man With the Iron Fists is so polarizing that I haven't seen it yet. I probably will soon though because I have been curious.

Still haven't actually watched Lincoln and even though I will, I'm not sure I really need to.

No interest in Sinister.

Silver Linings Playbook was good but I wouldn't say one of the best 20 of the year. The performances were but the film itself wasn't as good.

Need to see Searching for Sugar Man.

I thought Dredd was decent and Urban was fine but kinda meh to the rest. Didn't help that I had seen The Raid before it.

I loved 21 Jump Street. Best comedy of the year.

The Hunger Games was alright. Fairly indifferent towards the film but am looking forward to the sequel.

Haven't seen but need to see Moonrise Kingdom and The Master. Will soon-ish, maybe.

[GoGo Yubari]

Sorry for the late update. But only three left, so y'know.

10. Wreck-It Ralph (58 pts, appeared on thirteen ballots)

9. The Amazing Spider-Man (58 pts, appeared on eleven ballots)

8. The Cabin in the Woods (61 pts, appeared on thirteen ballots)

7. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (62 pts, appeared on ten ballots)

Next Time, on EWB Top's 30 Movies of 2012: All this jumping and fighting, it's exhausting! Relax. You need to relax... ah well, mother's calling. I will give her a good-bye kiss for you.

[TKz]

Wreck It Ralph was good. I kind of had higher hopes, which didn't really get met, but it was still a pretty great film. I don't think it's going to go down as one of the Pixar greats, though.

I liked Amazing Spider-Man, but whilst I think Garfield makes an incredible Peter Parker, there was a lot in that film that didn't really meet my expectations. The villain, followed by the lack of humor. Worst was just that it wasn't very thrilling at all... and whilst I'm excited for the next one, my hopes for this franchise are kind of wavering.

Cabin in the Woods was a great twist on an old story. The first half was fun enough, but that second half was fantastic. Blew the entire first half out of the water. Also, Sigourney Weaver cameo!

I loved The Hobbit. It felt like the pressure from LOTR was off and you were able to just sit back and really enjoy this world before it got corrupted. I'm not sure why it's being split into three films, though. Kind of seems like Desolation of Smaug is going to deal with the Dragon part of the book... so I don't know what a third film would even entail. Still, great film.

[Colly]

Wreck It Ralph wasn't a Pixar film at all.

[TKz]

Wreck It Ralph wasn't a Pixar film at all.

It wasn't? That probably explains why it wasn't as good as most Pixar films. >_>

[Walker]

Excellent, decent, excellent, meh.