The Best Movies of 2012

Once those ever-debatable Academy Award nominations are announced next month, you're likely to see a few movies receiving multiple nominations: specifically, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, Life of Pi, and Les Misérables. All of which are strong, worthwhile films, each possessing individual traits that justify their critical acclaim and prestigious accolades. Be warned, though: None of those pictures will be found on our countdown of The 25 Best Movies of 2012.

So what does that mean, exactly? Complex is down on easily awards-lavished films by A-list actors and directors? Not at all—the truth is actually quite optimistic. You see, 2012 was a marvelous year for cinema, offering an endless stream of excellent major studio releases and artsy independent fare. And when it came time to assemble our list of the year's best, the decision-making process hinged on a few simple questions. Which movies have stuck around in our minds the longest? Which stories will we frequently revisit? And, most importantly, which films excelled the most in their respective genres?

Here are the crown jewels of 2012's cinematic output, most of which won't win any statues or be able to overcome the likes of the extremely polished but narratively plodding Lincoln when it comes to most critics' calendar assessments. And that's just fine. The past 12 months offered so much more to audiences than the dozen or so films that'll undoubtedly dominate the next couple of Oscar-dominated months. These are the best movies of 2012.

Note: Limiting a year's tally of new movies to just 25 isn't easy. Too many good ones are ultimately left off. Thus, it feels necessary to list five superior movies that deserve praise here. Call them our Honorable Mentions: Lovely Molly, Take This Waltz, Safety Not Guaranteed, Sound of My Voice, and Chronicle.

Written by Matt Barone (@MBarone)

Director: Sam Mendes

Stars: Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Berenice Marlohe, Albert Finney

It's not that James Bond fell off with 2008's Quantum of Solace—007 merely stumbled, albeit in a mostly boring and ridiculous fashion. In both that film and its predecessor, the far superior Casino Royale, Daniel Craig's phase with the iconic super-agent continued its pushing back against the franchise's trademarks and vintage spirit, trying for a darker, grittier tone that was only half successful. With the rousing Skyfall, though, director Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Road to Perdition) and screenwriter John Logan brought the character back to his lively, somewhat playful but always thrilling roots, and the result was an action-charged knockout.

Clearly taking several cues from Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight formula, Mendes upgraded the current Bond era into a new stage of visual grandeur, using sterling cinematographer Roger Deakins' breathtaking shots to add colorful, stunning layers to a series of airtight action set pieces (the opening motorcycle chase turned speeding train brawl is a showstopper).

Craig, for his part, gives his best 007 performance yet, executing too-cool-for-school mojo when necessary but also nailing every moment of subtle vulnerability, most of which is sparked by two counterparts: the motherly M (Judi Dench) and the charismatically sinister Silva (Javier Bardem), the latter being the strongest Bond villain in decades.

To say that James Bond got his swag back would be a serious understatement. Calling Skyfall one of the best 007 movies ever made feels much more appropriate.

Directors: Sam Fell and Chris Butler

Stars: Kodi Smit-McPhee, Anna Kendrick, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Casey Affleck, John Goodman, Tucker Albrizzi, Leslie Mann, Jeff Garlin, Elaine Stritch, Jodelle Ferland, Tempestt Bledsoe, Ariel Winter

Keep the little pre-school-aged kids away from ParaNorman, unless you want to promote night terrors. Though its anti-bullying, wholly positive story (about forgiveness and finding one's purpose in life) is meant to uplift, not petrify, this magnificent achievement in stop-motion animation is decidedly too grown-up for wee lads.

Blame that on filmmakers Chris Butler and Sam Fell's shared affinity for, and readiness to pay homage to, classic horror films. Nightmarish-looking zombies stumble about, corpses are used for sight gags, and the olden days' practice of executing women thought to be witches is the basis for the script's villainous sub-plot. Yeah, ParaNorman is a bit darker than, say, Ice Age.

More importantly, though, it's also stronger in the originality department, striking a delicate balance between adult horror and child-friendly wonder. Also worthy of praise is the fact that its protagonist, the kind-hearted, spirit-seeing Norman (voiced with heartfelt conviction by Let Me In's Kodi Smit-McPhee), is a well-realized, multifaceted triumph of a kiddie character offering something more than aww-shucks naïveté. If not for the little girl at the center of this countdown's top-ranked film, Smit-McPhee's Norman would rank as the summer's most inspiring hero.

Director: Jason Moore

Stars: Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow, Rebel Wilson, Skylar Astin, Alexis Knapp, Anna Camp, Adam DeVine, Ester Dean, Brock Kelly, Freddie Stroma

Ever since Glee made a sharp turn from tongue-in-cheek sitcom to after-school special, audiences were convinced that the prospect of having anything resembling a musical on screen should be thrown out before ever seeing the light of day. It's not a surprise why Pitch Perfect, a comedy revolving around an all-female a capella troupe, was largely overlooked and dismissed as yet another kitschy waste of big-studio money. However, people who did decide to give it a chance realized that the $10 they shelled out for that Saturday matinee ticket was actually worth every penny.

The formulaic and predictable teen comedy plot aside, the film, adapted by 30 Rock producer Kay Cannon from Mickey Rapkin's book of the same name, boasts a few of the most enjoyable performances we've witnessed all year. Not only was the vocal talent of Academy Award nominee/top-biller Anna Kendrick revealed to us, but breakout star Rebel Wilson spit one-liners that'll live forever as the funniest memes on the Internet. And, dare we say, the music is actually impressive enough that you don't cuff your ears and cower in your seat during the Top 40 mash-ups.

But most importantly, what the film gives audiences more than almost any other motion picture this year is the sense of pure, unadulterated entertainment that makes you feel as nice as tucking yourself into bed every night. Call it an instant comfort movie or a cable classic, Pitch Perfect is the kind of easygoing comedy that will have viewers for years to come tuning into it every time it's on TV. —Tara Aquino

Director: Bart Layton

File this under both the "stranger than fiction" and "disturbing reality" categories. Directed by Bart Layton with the tightness, mystery, and subtle creepiness of a David Fincher narrative thriller, The Imposter is a documentary so profoundly unsettling that it's arguably the summer's scariest movie. Of course, it's devoid of any jump scares, instead focusing on the inherent paranoia at the center of master con artist Frédéric Bourdin's truly bizarre case.

Without giving away too much of The Imposter's deep impact, Layton's real-life white-knuckler focuses on Bourdin's elaborate, unbelievably successful stint posing as Texas kid Nicholas Barclay, who disappeared as a 13-year-old in 1994. Despite the fact that Bourdin, a Frenchman, looked nothing like Barclay, the missing boy's family allowed themselves to fall victim to the criminal's rouse, and that's just the beginning of The Imposter's fascinating and unpredictable tale.

Mixing in-depth interviews with all involved (chiefly a manipulatively charming Bourdin), taut reenactments, and a macabre score, The Imposter is a first-rate horror show disguised as a probing investigative piece, one that has the power to make viewers question their own perceptions. Layton knew that the immediate reaction from audiences would be, "How could these people fall for such a trick?" The ways in which The Imposter casually puts viewers in the same unknowingly vulnerable positions as Barclay's own family members is only one of its key strengths.

Director: Ben Affleck

Stars: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, John Goodman, Tate Donovan, Scoot McNairy, Clea DuVall, Christopher Denham, Kerry Bishe, Rory Cochrane, Kyle Chandler, Chris Messina, Titus Welliver, Taylor Schilling

Hopefully the current rumors of Ben Affleck pursuing John Kerry's now-vacant U.S. Senate seat aren't true, because the guy is one hell of a filmmaker. Since his 2007 debut Gone Baby Gone, Affleck's directorial chops keep getting better by the project, first improving from excellent to mesmerizing with The Town (2010) and now elevating to master status with Argo.

It doesn't hurt that Affleck found screenwriter Chris Terrio's wonderfully taut script to translate for the big screen. Based on an incredible true story, Argo follows CIA specialist Tony Mendez (Affleck) as he heads to Iran to use a fake Hollywood cover to secretly escort six U.S. diplomats trapped there after the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis. It's one of those real-life cinematic exercises that's contingent on selling the suspense even though audiences know exactly how everything will turn out. Affleck's film is a funny, engrossing seat's-edge thriller that generates an impressive amount of excitement during its (somewhat fictionalized) third act.

Argo also excels at the hands of its large, uniformly first-rate ensemble cast, marked by superb, scene-stealing turns from Alan Arkin and John Goodman as a couple of snarky, no-bullshit movie business veterans. Overseeing a massive group of seasoned actors and promising newcomers (namely Scoot McNairy as the most skeptical of the diplomats), Affleck shows that he's an exceptional shotcaller on a film's set. For the sake of quality cinema, let's just hope he doesn't decide to test those crowd control skills out in Washington, DC.

Director: William Friedkin

Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsch, Gina Gershon, Juno Temple, Thomas Haden Church

The power of a thunderous movie ending should never be underestimated. Even if everything that precedes a film’s closing scenes underwhelms, the last shot can send audiences out on a high that’ll make them forgive all of the inadequacies. Acclaimed director William Friedkin’s (The French Connection, The Exorcist) extremely pulpy and grimy, though unfairly NC-17-rated, Killer Joe has one of the craziest, entertainingly off-the-rails endings in recent years, but what makes it such a complete success is that the film as a whole is a victory.

In Pulitzer Prize-winning screenwriter Tracy Letts’ adaptation of his own 1993 play, Matthew McConaughey serves a smoldering, combustible turn as a seedy Dallas cop, nicknamed Killer Joe, whose side hustle involves killing folks for cash. His target of the moment is the good-for-nothing mother of a young, in-debt deadbeat (Emile Hirsch) from a dysfunctional trailer park family. Unable to pay Joe, Hirsch begrudgingly gives his cute space cadet of a little sister (Juno Temple) up as a “retainer.”

From there, Killer Joe fires on all trashy cylinders, gleefully offering up sex with a minor, corpses, brutal misogyny, and the most perverted use of a fried chicken leg imaginable. And the best part of it all: It’s a black comedy. One that’s simultaneously shocking and funny as hell.

Directors: Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris

Stars: Paul Dano, Zoe Kazan, Annette Bening, Chris Messina, Antonio Banderas, Steve Coogan, Elliot Gould

Take our advice: Rent a copy of Ruby Sparks, schedule a home video night with your preferred lady friend, and be prepared to receive cool points a-plenty from your fairer-sexed partner. Perhaps even some post-movie loving as a reward for displaying such quality taste in cinema. But we digress.

What's truly special about the second feature film from sharp husband-and-wife directing team Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (Little Miss Sunshine) is the wonderful script from star Zoe Kazan. Blending magical-realism with touching romance, Kazan's screenplay brilliantly develops a romance from the seemingly impossible.

The actress' real-life boyfriend, the perennially underrated Paul Dano, gives a strong leading man performance as a struggling novelist who inexplicably wills a fictional dream girl (Kazan) into existence and falls in love with her. Ruby Sparks works on several levels concurrently: It's a genuinely sweet comedy, a heart-tugging love story, and a Twilight Zone-esque look at human connection in a heightened reality. Most critics would call Silver Linings Playbook the year's best romantic comedy—around these parts, the title goes to Ruby Sparks.

Director: Benh Zeitlin

Stars: Quvenzhane Wallis, Dwight Henry, Levy Esterly, Gina Montana, Lowell Landes

It’s rare that a movie given such a high amount of critical hyperbole and instant prestige lives up to the hype. After winning both the top grand jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival in January and the Camera d’Or (designated for best first-time director) at the Cannes Film Festival in May, debut feature helmer Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild rode one of the loudest, most enthusiastic waves of pre-release build-up seen in quite some time before its late June release.

Thankfully, all of the positive word was absolutely justified. Anchored by an astounding performance from 6-year-old rookie Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts is an emotional powerhouse. The film follows a tough little girl, Hushpuppy, who, living in a fictional New Orleans marshland community called “The Bathtub,” must contend with both a dying father (the equally dynamite Dwight Henry), mythical monsters known as “aurochs,” and rising waters that are washing her homeland away.

Shot in the heart of New Orleans with newbie actors and a tight-knit production crew, Zeitlin’s picture is as authentic as it is captivating. When Hushpuppy’s defiant narration isn’t either making you laugh or stand at attention, the film’s rich characters and brave narrative turns will leave you clutching for fresh Kleenex. It’s a towering achievement from a director and young rugrat/actress whose names we’ll be hearing a lot of come awards season.

Director: Rich Moore

Stars: John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jane Lynch, Jack McBrayer

You don't need to have a nostalgic fondness for Q*bert to love Wreck-It Ralph, but it sure does help. On its surface, the video-game-minded Disney triumph appeals to all those '80s babies who grew up smacking the sides of their Nintendo Entertainment System consoles to make Castlevania work without freezing. And in that regard, Wreck-It Ralph doesn't disappoint, throwing as many gamer references and visual cues at viewers as is humanly possible over the span of 108 minutes.

The best animated movie of the year truly resonates, however, thanks to its endlessly beating heart. Voicing the eponymous Ralph, John C. Reilly is top-notch, giving the world's loneliest arcade game villain a disarming tenderness that's perfectly matched with Sarah Silverman's rambunctious Vanellope, a 9-year-old glitch who just wants someone to believe in her. Their unlikely yet genuine friendship carries Wreck-It Ralph through its energetic mixture of snappy humor, eye-popping animation, and familiar yet effective underdogs-get-their-due theme.

Director: Craig Zobel

Stars: Dreama Walker, Ann Dowd, Pat Healy, Bill Camp, Philip Ettinger, Ashlie Atkinson

Using several real-life cases as his inspiration, Craig Zobel's discomforting Compliance is a film that's best viewed as a case study in the darkest of human behavior. The film's set-up is straightforward: A prank caller phones into a nondescript fast food joint saying he's a cop and convinces the manager (Ann Dowd) that one of her employees (Dreama Walker) stole money from a customer. The entirety of Compliance consists of the young, cute worker's humiliation, which begins with an awkward strip search and escalates into heinous acts of sexual violation.

How far Zobel's film goes is best experienced for one's self, but what we can say about Compliance is that you'll definitely ask yourself, "Would I be so gullible?" Zobel deftly explores our subservience in the face of authority, showing how fears of legal punishment can make people do the craziest things. Staged with an unsettling matter-of-fact vibe, Compliance mines psychological horror out of basic human miscommunication, and the excellent performances from all on board sell every cringe, gasp, and wide-eyed shock.

Director: Sean Byrne

Stars: Robin McLeavy, Xavier Samuel, John Brumpton, Victoria Thaine, Richard Wilson, Jessica McNamee

It's arguably the biggest thorn sticking into any passionate, knowledgeable horror film lover's back: Cinematic excrement like The Apparition and Silent Hill: Revelation receive wide theatrical releases while smaller, exceedingly better flicks like The Loved Ones fight to even show in one American theater for three years. And when Australian filmmaker Sean Byrne's gleefully deranged horror-comedy finally did get a release this past June, it was through the blink-and-you'll-miss-it TUGG platform, which basically meant that only a select few could catch it before its subsequent DVD debut.

If ever you're able to check out a copy of this little gem, consider yourself fortunate. The Loved Ones is a sick, consistently invigorating marriage of John Hughes-inspired coming-of-age teen drama, John Waters' brand of perverted comedy, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre-like horror moments. It also introduces a new genre villain for the ages: Lola Stone (played brilliantly by Robin McLeavy), a shy high school misfit who gets her equally demented father to kidnap the boy who said "No" to her prom date request and proceeds to torture him—and that's before the real craziness begins.

Byrne's film is the perfect antidote for any casual moviegoer who hunkers for memorable new horror but can't find anything better than, say, the mediocre The Possession in their local theater. Beneath its mainstream surface, the genre is alive and incredibly well, and The Loved Ones is one of its finest recent entries.

Directors: Phil Lord and Chris Miller

Stars: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Brie Larson, Dave Franco, Ice Cube, Rob Riggle, Ellie Kemper, Jake Johnson, Nick Offerman, Chris Parnell, DeRay Davis

Hollywood’s long, painful history of unsuccessfully adapting cop TV shows into feature films cast a dark, seemingly impenetrable shadow over the Jonah Hill-steered 21 Jump Street reboot—think of flops like Car 54, Where Are You?, Dragnet, and Taxi. But guess what none of those flicks had? The comedic wizardry of babe-melting beefcake Channing Tatum. Yeah, writing that statement felt as weird as it does for you to read it, trust us.

But that’s the truth. Playing the more intelligent of the film’s two young cops turned undercover high school students, Jonah Hill scores, but 21 Jump Street’s biggest secret weapon is your boy C-Tates, whose turn as the Hill’s dim-witted counterpart is nothing short of a revelation. The same goes for screenwriter Michael Bacall’s script, which dexterously balances outrageous humor with character development.

And let’s not forget directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller, whose only previous big-screen credit was the memorable animated pic Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Under their energetic control, 21 Jump Street has a loopy energy throughout, most evident in a drug trip sequence that’s spit-your-drink funny.

Directors: Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, and David McMahon

It's quite difficult to not want to play N.W.A.'s "Fuck the Police" after watching The Central Park Five, an amazingly constructed and emotionally infuriating look at how five black and Latino teens were suckered by manipulative police officers into confessing to the brutal rape of a white woman in New York's Central Park back in 1989.

Through each of the now-adult ex-cons own words, documentarians Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, and David McMahon provide a stunning look at the dangerous ways in which the media and our justice systems treated minorities decades ago, and, without overtly spelling the point out, how, in many ways, things haven't changed all that much.

If The Central Park Five was just an angry rant against "the Man," it'd most likely be a sledgehammer-subtle exercise in preaching to the choir. But the gripping documentary hits such deep personal chords because its subjects—five guys who have every right to furious at everyone—are so level-headed and willing to reflect on their traumatic pasts with mature, insightful minds.

Director: Stephen Chbosky

Stars: Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller, Nina Dobrev, Mae Whitman, Paul Rudd, Kate Walsh, Dylan McDermott, Melanie Lynskey, Johnny Simmons

The Perks of Being a Wallflower remains the year's most pleasant surprise, more than six months after we first saw it. With its young cast and high school angst vibes (seen via the early batches of promotional stills and trailers), writer-director Stephen Chbosky's adaptation of his own popular young-adult novel gave us the impression that, at best, it'd be a somewhat more thoughtful version of American Pie. Boy, were we dead wrong.

The emotional wallops stored inside the vastly underrated The Perks of Being a Wallflower are some of the most poignant felt in all of 2012. Hats off to young stars Logan Lerman (as an insecure kid looking for friendship while battling depression and other personal demons), Ezra Miller (as the perky yet susceptible-to-pain gay teen who befriends Lerman's character), and Emma Watson (Lerman's bubbly, heart-melting, seemingly unattainable love interest), each of whom give honest, raw performances that go well beyond the usual high school cinema levels.

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Stars: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, Don Johnson, Walton Goggins, James Remar, Laura Cayouette

Any new Quentin Tarantino movie is immediately an event. Who else can make a hardcore genre movie about a freed slave who viciously kills dozens of white slave owners and have it instantly be up for serious Academy Awards consideration?

The same guy who—with the backing of old friend, and Hollywood capo, Harvey Weinstein—earned multiple nominations and statues for films that included a sliced-off ear (Reservoir Dogs), man-on-man rape scene involving gags and Samurai swords (Pulp Fiction), and Adolf Hitler's face being shot to smithereens (Inglourious Basterds). And Django Unchained—Tarantino's latest dose of reverential, in-your-face throwback cinema—is Tarantino's goriest and most audacious movie yet.

So, yes, it's one of the best times you'll have in a theater all year. Django Unchained works best as an exciting revenge flick, finding Jamie Foxx's titular ex-slave teaming up with a hilariously deadpan German bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) to rescue his wife (Kerry Washington) from a despicable yet charming plantation owner (Leonardo DiCaprio). The performances are top-shelf across the board, though Samuel L. Jackson's genius-level turn as Dicaprio's Uncle-Tom-worthy righthand man is by far the film's crowning acting achievement.

Is Django Unchained Tarantino's best movie? Not quite, due to some pacing issues and a double-ending that's viscerally satisfying but narratively clunky. But guess what? Minor flaws are powerless in a crowd-pleaser that features, amongst other attractions, arguably the funniest KKK scene in movie history, a fiendish DiCaprio delivering a dynamite phrenology monologue, and horse dancing.

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Ambyr Childers, Jesse Plemons, Laura Dern, Rami Malek

Paul Thomas Anderson doesn't make easily consumed films. Even at his most accessible (see: Boogie Nights or Punch-Drunk Love), he's an ambitious storyteller who's interested in writing contemplative and complex scripts anchored by multifaceted characters. The Master—the always challenging Anderson's most divisive movie to date—stands as the ultimate example of Anderson's singular sensibilities. It's cold, enigmatic, unconventionally structured, and altogether dreamlike. Fortunately, it's also brilliant, and, sadly, a source of widespread misunderstanding and rejection.

One can't blame viewers for leaving the film feeling either drained or negatively chilled. Inspired by the origins of Scientology, The Master centers on the combustible Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix, in the year's best performance next to Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln), a troubled drifter who difficultly connects on an emotional level with a jovial yet manipulative cult leader (Philip Seymour Hoffman, another marvelous performance).

Theirs is a strong, somewhat impenetrable bond that Anderson never sugarcoats or trivializes—not all friendships have happy endings or thrive on simple commonalities, and the writer-director commendably presents their complicated union with bewildering ambiguity.

Director: Wes Anderson

Stars: Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, Bob Balaban

So what if writer-director Wes Anderson always makes the same kind of incessantly quirky little comedies? When they’re as superbly made as Moonrise Kingdom, there should be no reason to complain, haters—especially since this one is arguably the best movie of Anderson’s illustrious 16-year career.

Set in 1965, the dreamlike Moonrise Kingdom feels more like a fable come to life than a traditional movie. The perfectly cast young duo of Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward play an orphaned boy scout and an eccentric dreamer, respectively, who, guided by a shared first-time love, run away from their homes and cause a formidable cast of grade-A actors (including Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, and Bill Murray) to drop everything and search for them. Bizarre shenanigans, tender (and somehow not creepy) kiddie romance, and unpredictable storytelling ensue.

Admittedly, most of the movies included in this countdown don’t have the most pleasant dispositions; Moonrise Kingdom, however, will make you want clap your hands and flash a cheese-grin, partly because of its wonderful execution but mainly as a reaction to Anderson’s unflappable, singular brand of optimism.

Director: Leos Carax

Stars: Denis Lavant, Edith Scob, Eva Mendes, Kylie Minogue

Like a breath of fresh, revitalizing air, French filmmaker Leos Carax's Holy Motors uncontrollably attacks the senses with unbridled imagination and creativity. It's as imaginative as it is transformative, following a nameless actor (Denis Lavant, in an outstanding performance) who makes a series of pit stops throughout Paris while driving around in a stretch limousine, each separate vignette allowing him to portray a different character in a new mini-movie.

From a performance-capture suit to a leprechaun-like green suit, Lavant's various get-ups inform his many assignments, and they're all vibrant, funny, unnerving, and unnaturally surreal. Carax's multilayered, endlessly fascinating film operates on two distinct wavelengths: One one hand, it's a peppy love letter to all things cinema, but, on the other, it's also a sad, gloomy chamber piece about connecting with cinema's older, simpler ways in the face of modern advancements.

No matter how viewers take it, Holy Motors is one cinematic fever dream from which you won't want to wake up.

Director: Ben Wheatley

Stars: Neil Maskell, MyAnna Buring, Michael Smiley, Emma Fryer, Harry Simpson, Ben Crompton, Struan Rodger

The year’s most disturbing genre movie is also one of most lingering mind-fucks to come around in years. With the scarring Kill List, English filmmaker Ben Wheatley establishes himself as a fearless storyteller, keeping the mood pitch-black while concealing several jarring twists and maintaining a firm ambiguity that, by the film’s end, will leave you bewildered.

Most importantly, though, Kill List will burrow into your nightmares, which is fitting, since the movie’s shocking imagery and brutal ideas come directly from Wheatley’s own scary dreams. At its core, Kill List is about an out-of-work, married military vet and former hit-man (Neil Maskell) who reconnects with an old partner-in-crime (Michael Smiley) to off a few unlucky folks for a mysterious new client. And that’s all we can say here.

Though Wheatley himself has been open to discuss the film’s crazier elements in the press, like he did with us, we’re suggesting that you wait and see Kill List for yourselves before probing its deep, dark enigmas. But just know that you’re not likely to see a more psychologically damaging horror flick any time soon.

Director: Christopher Nolan

Stars: Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Marion Cotillard, Michael Caine, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Ben Mendelsohn, Juno Temple

With staggering ambition comes the occasional misstep, and Christopher Nolan's third, and final, Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises certainly has its fair share of slip-ups. While being swept away in every stirring, visceral, and emotionally resonant moment, audiences can't help but succumb to Nolan's magic, but take a few post-viewing steps back and the film's script begs a large number of questions.

Here are a few: How could they end Bane's (Tom Hardy) story line with such an anticlimactic punch line? How in Sam hell did Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) manage to restore his broken-down body, with its cartilage-less knees, to walk properly, let alone fight an army of bad guys? And how could Batman's customized airplane get away from that nuclear bomb's three-mile blast radius?

Taking such logical questions into consideration, it's inevitable to label The Dark Knight Rises an inferior follow-up to Nolan's 2008 masterwork The Dark Knight. But here's the thing: Even with those flaws, The Dark Knight Rises is still superior to any summer blockbuster in recent memory. And, as this list shows, it's also better than damn near every other movie released in 2012.

With the odds against him, post-Heath Ledger and mountains' worth of piled-up expectations, Nolan relied upon his dazzling visual sense and command of high-stakes emotion to put together a satisfying conclusion to arguably the greatest big-screen trilogy of all time (don't act like The Dark Knight Rises isn't superior to The Godfather Part III).

Director: Drew Goddard

Stars: Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Fran Kranz, Anna Hutchison, Jesse Williams, Richard Jenkins, Bradley Whitford, Amy Acker, Brian White, Jodelle Ferland

Give it up for the year’s most difficult-to-market movie, a meta-horror-comedy so ambitiously self-aware that its distributors had no choice but to sell it as a generic slasher movie. Written by Joss “Mr. Avengers” Whedon and first-time director Drew Goddard, The Cabin in the Woods inevitably suffered a quick demise at the box office, surely on its way to cult infamy and home video glory. Is that fate frustrating for all of us who quote-unquote “got” it? No question, but we’re also just happy that it exists.

Deconstructing practically every overused horror movie trope in the book, The Cabin in the Woods winks at savvy genre fans in every scene, all while delivering several genuine shocks and a plethora of intelligently comedic moments. And then comes the see-it-to-believe-it final act, a fan-pleasing climax that’s both totally batshit and amazingly generous. Even if general audiences didn’t pay attention, we passionate horror lovers salute you, sirs Whedon and Goddard.

Director: Rian Johnson

Stars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, Noah Segan, Paul Dano, Jeff Daniels, Piper Perabo, Pierce Gagnon, Garret Dillahunt

Watch, years from now, when critics and cinephiles look back on Rian Johnson's Looper, they're going to realize that it's a new genre classic.

As of now, folks are well aware of its many virtues, least of which is Johnson's ability to make time travel story mechanics easily digestible while never skimping on the headiness and ambition. Joseph Gordon-Levitt (hardly recognizable under tons of makeup) plays a futuristic mob-hired hitman whose job requires him to murder people sent back from the 30 years into the future, and whose life gets very complicated once his future self (played by Bruce Willis) becomes his latest target. And with that, you've got a high-concept action film rooted in science fiction and driven by characters.

Impressively, though, Johnson (coming off the well-received, and vastly different, indie flicks Brick and The Brothers Bloom) underscores all of Looper's genre tropes and glossy eye candy with an surprising amount of emotional intensity. As the film progresses, it becomes clear that he's not afraid to plunge into dark moral territories, ones that require viewers to adjust their sympathies and expect the unexpected. It's comparable to Christopher Nolan's Inception. That's no small compliment.

Director: Amy Berg

Prepare to have your hearts and guts beaten to pulps. An astoundingly researched and exhaustive look at social injustice, director Amy Berg's magnificent West of Memphis is the year's epitome of powerful, awe-inspiring documentary filmmaking. And, it's worth pointing out, 2012 was a phenomenal year for documentaries (see, in addition to those previously included in this list: The Queen of Versailles, The Invisible War, How to Survive a Plague, The House I Live In, and Searching for Sugar Man).

At a sprawling yet justified 146 minutes, West of Memphis leaves no figurative stone unturned, probing deeply—through multiple interviews with those who lived through the events—into the controversial case of the West Memphis Three. They're Damian Echols (who co-produced the film), Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley, Jr., three guys who, as teenagers back in 1993, were targeted for their antisocial ways and interests in occultism as the savage murderers of three little boys.

Berg's harrowing film unflinchingly shows every aspect of the actual killings, the investigation, the subsequent trials, and the eventual evidence of wrongful imprisonments. West of Memphis is intimate, shocking, maddening, and revelatory.

Director: Joe Carnahan

Stars: Liam Neeson, Frank Grilo, Dallas Roberts, Dermot Mulroney, Joe Anderson, Nonso Anozie, James Badge Dale

Fun fact: The Grey was the first screening we attended in 2012, way back in early January. Nearly 360 days later, it's still an unshakeable and profound piece of work.

The commercials promised one thing: Liam Neeson knuckling up against a pack of vicious wolves in freezing cold, snowy conditions. Action movie gold, right? So imagine our surprise when director Joe Carnahan’s remarkabe film brought us close to tears. Much like last year's Warrior, it's a pure guy-cry experience, though, in The Grey's case, the spiritual undercurrent lingers long after its bravura final scene.

Guided by an extraordinary, well-rounded performance from Neeson, The Grey is anything but a man-versus-animal smackdown. Pitting a small group of airplane crash survivors against not only the threat of malicious wolves but also ferocious weather and depleting hope, Carnahan’s uniquely solemn action film challenges feelings of spirituality, masculinity, and emotional fortitude, all with superior deftness. It’s the uncommon “guy movie” with an active brain and a big, beating heart.

Director: Kathryn Bigelow

Stars: Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Edgar Ramirez, Jennifer Ehle, Chris Pratt, Joel Edgerton, Mark Strong, James Gandolfini Mark Duplass, Stephen Dillane, Harold Perrineau, Scott Adkins, Taylor Kinney

There's a strong chance that the majority of people who'll pay to see Zero Dark Thirty will do so with the sole intention of watching Osama bin Laden get killed. And why not? What could be more cathartic and celebratory than seeing the monstrous terrorist who orchestrated the 9/11 attacks receive his long-overdue comeuppance? Even if it's through secondhand acting and Hollywood production values.

While that's not a bad way to enter Academy Award-winning director Kathryn Bigelow's (coming off The Hurt Locker) in-depth look at the 10-year C.I.A. manhunt for bin Laden, there's so much more going on throughout Zero Dark Thirty. By the film's end, it's actually tough to stand up and cheer. Most likely, you'll be too mesmerized and emotionally drained to do anything other than catch your breath.

Led by a formidable performance from Jessica Chastain (playing the stone-faced yet sympathetic C.I.A. hotshot who ignited the decade-long search), Zero Dark Thirty is, first and foremost, a tremendous piece of investigative journalism decorated as a white-knuckle film. Screenwriter Mark Boal (also of The Hurt Locker) parlayed tireless research and interviews with those who lived the film's events into what should, in a just world, take home the upcoming Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. With admirable objectivity, he and Bigelow touch upon all of the positives and negatives that come from tracking down a man like bin Laden, from heinous torture methods to dangerous on-the-ground undercover work.

Zero Dark Thirty's biggest strength is that it never even flirts with "America, fuck yeah!" sentiments. Its primary concern is to outline all of the hard work, stress, and mortality that was spent in order to locate a mass murderer. And once bin Laden's compound is raided (in a long, masterfully staged sequence for which Bigelow deserves excessive props), crying children and petrified, innocent women remind us that, in the end, bin Laden was just a defenseless, weak man. One taken out by our nation's finest soldiers, all of whom, much like every other C.I.A. figure who's fictionalized in Zero Dark Thirty, are honored by filmmakers confident enough to let their actions speak for themselves.