the 25 best movies of 2012

Yes, I'm aware that the Oscars have come and gone, and 2013 is all the rage now that Argo has collected its prize, but I got back into the blogging game on the tail end of Oscar mania, so my best of 2012 lists are coming a tad late. To kick things off, let's start with the 25 best movies of the year that turned out to be modest in terms of "classics." Unlike the great 2007s and 2009s that came before it, 2012 was home to some nice flicks, but few gargantuan moments. Nevertheless, here is a handful of my favorites, starting, of course, with my five Best Picture nominees in ranked order...

1. Beasts of the Southern Wild

dir. Benh Zeitlin

Fox Searchlight Pictures

2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower

dir. Stephen Chbosky

Summit Entertainment

3. The Master

dir. Paul Thomas Anderson

The Weinstein Company

4. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

dir. Peter Jackson

Warner Bros. Pictures

5. Zero Dark Thirty

dir. Kathryn Bigelow

Columbia / Sony Pictures

6. Life of Pi

dir. Ang Lee

Fox 2000 Pictures

7. Compliance

dir. Craig Zobel

Magnolia Pictures

8. Looper

dir. Rian Johnson

TriStar Pictures

9. Argo

dir. Ben Affleck

Warner Bros. Pictures

10. Silver Linings Playbook

dir. David O. Russell

The Weinstein Company

11. Lincoln

dir. Steven Spielberg

Touchstone Pictures

12. The Cabin in the Woods

dir. Drew Goddard

Lionsgate

13. Pitch Perfect

dir. Jason Moore

Universal Pictures

14. Bachelorette

dir. Leslye Headland

The Weinstein Company

15. Natural Selection

dir. Robbie Pickering

The Cinema Guild

16. Django Unchained

dir. Quentin Tarantino

The Weinstein Company

17. The Avengers

dir. Joss Whedon

Walt Disney / Paramount Pictures

18. Wreck-It Ralph

dir. Rich Moore

Walt Disney

19. Brave

dir. Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman & Steve Purcell

Walt Disney / Pixar

20. ParaNorman

dir. Chris Butler & Sam Fell

Focus Features

21. Moonrise Kingdom

dir. Wes Anderson

Focus Features

22. Cloud Atlas

dir. Tom Tykwer & Andy and Lana Wachowski

Warner Bros. Pictures

23. Celeste and Jesse Forever

dir. Lee Toland Krieger

Sony Pictures Classics

24. Prometheus

dir. Ridley Scott

20th Century Fox

25. Liberal Arts

dir. Josh Radnor

IFC Films