Best of 2012: Best Films

Honorable Mention:
Chronicle - For proving you can be low budget AND mind blowing.
End of Watch - For giving us the best chemistry of the year.
Life of Pi - For being stunning, and reminding me why 3D isn't all that bad in the right hands.
Magic Mike - For being a movie about male strippers that is both fun and good.
Killing Them Softly - For being a beautiful, violent stunner.

10. Silver Linings Playbook - For being sweet and fun, romantic and silly, like the best screwball comedies (like a modern day Bringing Up Baby); and for that joyous dance scene, the one moment this entire year that had me grinning from ear to ear.
09. Moonrise Kingdom - For being so lived in and memorable, for being a sweet love letter to childhood when everything was innocent and sweet; and for inspiring my desire for saddle shoes.
08. Django Unchained - For being big and brassy and ballsy; for giving us that rich, memorable Tarantino dialogue and so many characters that live so vividly in our minds.
07. Beasts of the Southern Wild - For being a mystical fairy tale, beautiful and aching; for giving us the most scene commanding performance of the year in the form of a tiny, little dynamo.
06. The Dark Knight Rises - For completing a trilogy with an epic, exciting final chapter; for having a female character - in a world of so many tough guys - stealing the entire show.
05. Argo - For being exciting and thrilling and crowd pleasing, and above all, smart (we need more smart crowd pleasing blockbusters).
04. The Perks of Being a Wallflower - For making every misfit in the entire world feel like someday you will find a group of people to whom you belong; for perfectly depicting high school, first loves, and above all, friendship.
03. The Master - For being the most beautiful, challenging, thought provoking film released this year, hands down.
02. Zero Dark Thirty - For being the most controversial film of the year; for being intelligent and action packed; for that finale with the Navy Seals in which it feels like Kathryn Bigelow is controlling your pulse.
01. Looper - For being a movie that is smart, action packed, highly enjoyable, and emotionally stimulating; for being as close to perfect as we came during this year full of absolutely stunning films.