Ask HN: Best Movies you saw in 2012? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Best Movies you saw in 2012?

51 pointsbavidar72 comments

Trying to make a list of all the good movies I missed.

I'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.

Eh, 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.

Looper 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.

would 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.

Paprika

I seem to have been misunderstood: I mean the topic of planting an idea so that it grows by itself.

As far as I remember paprika only just deal with the entering someone's dreams, which is a way more broad, and thus common, topic.

But I have only seen the animation, maybe it was in the book, or I remember incorrectly?

Did you see the entire movie? The whole premise is that a Japanese businessman is implanting a virus like visual into everyone's heads..

the whole premise to me is that the man uses a dream that spreads like a virus _to make people go mad_ which is not quite the same as implanting a single idea.

It's the same difference as having a virus that changes behaviour (e.g. switch which hand people use best) and the black plague: while technically they may be the same thing I wouldn't equate them.

I guess this highlights how things are susceptible to interpretation, thanks for taking time to answer.

Donald Duck?

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/08/10/inception.donald.duck...

> It's a bad sign when all of the "original" films in hollywood are just mediocre remakes

There are only seven stories, and the ancient Greeks already told them. Everything else is just a remake of something several thousand years old.

I interpret this as a roundabout way of saying you haven't seen Primer, which is smart probably to the point of alienating Joe Moviegoer, but perfect for the HN crowd. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390384/

Heard about it, totally forgot about it, but will have to check it out. Thanks for the reminder.

My favorite review of Primer:

"Anybody who claims they fully understand what’s going on in ‘Primer’ after seeing it just once is either a savant or a liar."

... Are you serious?

Go watch Primer.

What time travel movies have you seen? Looper is definitely among the dumbest of the ones I've seen. It seems fairly obvious that the writers were unaware of or never once considered any of the interesting paradoxes of time travel, the chiefest among them being the grandfather paradox. No time was spent exploring anything related to the mechanics or implication of time travel, except for a moment to tell the audience that it's complicated and not to worry about it. One scene in particular, with a man falling apart, shows an impressive lack of understanding of and commitment to any specific model of time travel. After seeing the movie, I was awestruck at the critical reviews which call it an "idea movie."

You rejected Looper because of an "impressive lack of understanding of and commitment to any specific model of time travel"?

Wow. Do you hate the Harry Potter movies for not understanding magic? A movie can be smart without explicitly laying out the axioms of its magical McGuffin.

No, I never said that. I disliked Looper because its action wasn't very fun, original, or well-choreographed, its stylized look doesn't suit me, Levitt's prosthetics were distracting and unnecessary, and, to a lesser extent, its plot details that involved time travel were really dumb.

The time travel stuff is not my chief complaint, because the movie could have ultimately been enjoyable even with a stupid time travel foundation, in which case my previous comment would still be appropriate. I was merely responding to the claim (which is ridiculously common among critics) that Looper is a "smart" movie.

A friend of mine recently said about Looper: "The whole movie is broken when you take time to think about its logic. It's about a future where it's easier to send someone to the past than hide a body."

They at least try to explain that. Something about embedded chips that apparently are programmed to transmit an alert when the host dies, but if they completely disappear.everything is fine. But it's worse than that. Why risk sending future loopers back to themselves, rather than some random other looper? Then just deliver the gold to the correct young looper and tell him he can't work any more.

although generally not talked about in sci-fi scene, probably because of the lack of 'action'... "The time traveler's wife" has been quite a charming interpretation on time traveling!

Oh yeah, totally (emphatically) agree with the above. I went the very next day just to validate my first impression: best time travel movie ever made.

I really like the attitude the movie had about the very topic of time travel. It's basically: Let's not waste our time with talking about this. It would take us the whole day.

I 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

Moonrise Kingdom is incredible. Most everything else was a waste of time.

Life 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.

Also, worth seeing in 3D IMO.

Best use of 3D I've ever seen.

I 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).

Agree 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.

I 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.

This one in from 2003 , but I watched it this year: Memories of a 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 and Nostalgia for the Light http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok7f4MLL-Hk

My 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.

Sorry 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.

Cabin in the woods

This 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.

This 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.

American 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.

Ewan McGregor is Scottish, so it is really no surprise that he can do a convincing Scottish accent.

Yes indeed. That was sarcasm.

I 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"

(way to go to prove my point of not understanding sarcasm) :(

In that case, I think you mean "irony", not "sarcasm"

In this case, it is both sarcasm and irony. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcasm.

Re The Master, can you please elaborate on "shallow and empty script"? My wife felt similarly ~"it's a huckster and a lost child searching, duh." I felt there was more. Re "two great performances," I presume you refer to Pheonix and Hoffman -- agreed, and add Amy Adams. It was shot beautifully. Jonny Greenwood's score was enough on its own to see it a second time.

The Master chose to follow the most uninteresting character: an alcoholic prone to streaks of violence with no real personality, motivations, or character arc. And there was a potentially extremely interesting character with his own cult right around the corner in Lancaster Dodd, but both were largely unexplored aside from the early "debate" with a skeptic and the admittedly excellent "processing" scene. There was a throwaway line from Dodd's son saying his dad makes everything up, but Dodd's psyche and motivations were never explored. It's hard to even say whether he sincerely believes his stuff.

This 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

Here[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

[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prometheus_(film)

[3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_(franchise)

There'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!

I 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.

Cloud Atlas was the best one I saw this year.

I've heard some the music from that movie, and it's really good. Haven't seen the actual movie yet though.

The 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)

Django Unchained - Cloud Atlas - Looper - Argo - Easily the best movies I saw this year, they were all really, really awesome.

Moonrise 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.

since no one mentioned it: "beasts of the southern wild".

A few interesting documentaries, but I am not sure when they came out.

I have to mention We Are Legion, a documentary about Anonymous.

Website

http://wearelegionthedocumentary.com/

Watch on Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_541KmGxGs

I 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".

Seven Psychopaths was fun.

It has Tom Waits in it, main reason for me to pay for the cinema ticket.

The 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.

"Ruby Sparks" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1839492/

worth mentioning "The Campaign" and "Paranorman"

Moonrise Kingdom, The Artist and Iron Lady (which I really wasn't expecting to like). Honourable mention for Ruby Sparks, for its originality.

Barfi! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2082197/

Indian movie with a minor twist. Great movie.

My 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

My 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.

The Avengers The Dark Knight Rises

(Okay, now I feel like a nerd in the purest sense of the term...)

The Master

Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2, How could anyone miss that?

Neighborhood Watch was hilarious.

These 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

The Intouchables

life of pi

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