the best movies of 2012

starts slow,but speeds up into a thriller,masqued in the costume of a drama..the difficult question,if murder could-under extreme circumstances-be reasonable...and the question if one would die for his believes...great thriller-drama with highly emotional ending..

typical modern genre-mix of social drama,thriller and coming of age-like story.intense,gripping,scary and in a superbe way minimalistic.one of the innerly calm works,similar to MONSTERS or KILL LIST..great!

the pervert mechanisms of western capitalistic politics;its criminality,its social cruelness and its victims.In this case the US Democrats;brilliantly done by George Clooney and an EXTRAORDINARY and SUPERB cast..i think the Oscar knows,to where it is going..

I was afraid of TOO much Spielberg and too much family-fitting film.BUT it was a pleasure and a highly emotional experience to watch this.Okay,it definetely IS a bit of family-cinema,and YES,sometims it IS a bit soppy and surely a kind of..how can i say??...TOO MUCH pathos,perhaps..But hey,this is Spielberg,and what *beep* am I,if I am not able to let mainstream or family-cinema reach me,too??Then I am no film-fan,then I am against everything normal by profession,and that's stupid.No,sometimes it simply feels good to let yourself be carried away by his (unreachable) pictures...And THESE the film has....a LOT of pictures and images for your soul...´This is nervertheless a differented and highly detailed watch on WWI..The story is told in a thrilling and suspenseful way from diferent views(not only the "good" and winner's view of the British,but also from the "evil" and in this case not really evil side of the germans)..*SPOILER* It's definetely no film for kids,the war is pictured quiet gruesome and many of the protagonists die *SPOILER END*
But it' s simply perfect entertainment...

a gripping,intense and unstandable masterpiece from Finland;centers around love in times of war.brilliant,sad and powerful!!

Another one from scandinavia;this time norway.A very harsh,sad view on a correction house for boys between 11 and 17,in 1914.Told through the eyes of a newbie;a rebellious but righteous boy who wants to be a harpooneer (okay,may the whale-hunt be normal in norway,nevertheless the pictures of a whale hunt,dreamt of by him in his daydreams,are disgusting und unwatchable,the only minus-factor in this film).Dark blue pictures and reduced colours,as usual,make a cold movie,kept in perspective and as cold as the situations in this movie.But the atmosphere is very intense and it's possible to feel the snow and the shivering frost of the norwegian winter.Well done,a swirring view on inhuman justice.

A detailed,strongly atmospheric and gripping historical drama..but the point is,that it's even the bit more of - typical Cronenberg-like- kind of pervert,filthy,horny little story of secret,unsaid and dirty things,centering around Sigmund Freud and C.G.Jung

a nearly cruel film in his slow,slow-motion-like,action-free but nailbiting suspenseful plot.It reminds of a theatre play with only few people,but it doesn't need action,direct circumstances or explanations.Slow,intense,noiseless,intelligent and consequent in it's -rather senseable than optical-violence and sexuality..Brilliant,unidealistic view on the british (and therefore the worldwide)secret services..

Dark and depressing,stunning brutal and making speechless as usual from Colombia.No mercy between the characters,no mercy with the audience,no mercy with the future of this state,seemingly rotten to it's inner core.But a jewel for all fans of high-class thrillers and of philosophing about humankind,vengeance and being selfish under special circumstances.Dark but brilliantly made and suspenseful

I expected merely optical and atmospherical shiver;less plot and less good acting..i ever loved the hammer films and their re-entry "wake woods" before 2 years pleased me much..okay,one prejudice was right:Daniel Radcliffe truly is of very limited talents concerning acting..but he doesn't waste too much of this lovely,classical and chilling ghost-movie..he fits into this trip of old-fashioned,classic images,old-british haunted-place-feelings and dark suspense...If you love old style-ghostmovies like "The Haunting","The Innocents" or especially "The Others" of 2001,you'll love this one..lean back,do not expect too much philosophy or logic,just feel the cold wind,the old staircases and the shining of the candles..Very good!

May we be of opponent opinion concerning Thatcher as a political person and her conservative,partly ruthless way to rule Britain with harsh decisions.May we find her clear way to use war as an intstrument to gain power for Britain too much and may we regard her brutality against her demonstrating population as simply wrong:
this is a true masterpiece.This film doesn't concentrate too much only on her political career or on her family..the film also does show a very special,sometimes a bit mysterical and bittersweet,melancholic feeling about past and memories..Beautiful!And Streeps performance-say,what you like-is the best female performance i saw in the last ten years..Better by far than Helen Mirren as the Queen..

Okay,i expected even MORE.And it's obvious,that the film is made by an american with lots of ambitious ideas,idealistic thoughts but less REAL empathy for this european tragedy.It's somehow a little bit naive,superficially and first of all it is striking.Perhaps a bit too lurid,perhaps a bit too stereotype messages,perhaps a bit too much hero-bosnians and the evil nazi-serbs.PERHAPS we,as Europeans,remember this war in a more quiet and horrid way,with images in our heads,that spoke merely for themselves..

Nevertheless this film is very good,very intense and contains one or two scenes,where even a hard-boiled thriller- and terrormovie-watcher like me crossed his own boundaries between self-control and unrestrained trauma while watching.Nevertheless one of 2012's best,if perhaps not a candidate for gold,silver & bronze at year's end.
Well done,Angelina..

Dark,shadowy,classic,scary,eerie,full of suspense,quite shocking...not too surprsising,but for sure MORE surprising,than most thrillers nowadays.
Contains a lovely setting,a very classically gaunt atmosphere,contains a solid twist in the end and even some links to history,i.e.WWI.A bit sad,a bit lurking,a bit erotic and first of all packed with oustanding performances.Namely and before everybody else by beautiful Rebecca Hall and Imelda Staunton.

But what i liked most;no,what I LOVED most and what catapulted the film into my year's bests was it's unusual,unlikely end,even beyond it's own story twist.
GREAT!!!

a calm,soft,tender,colourful and tasty film about wine,everybody's personal luck,death,love and destination.dreamlike sequences,fairytale-like style of storytelling,rich colours and a vast range of emotions are shown in this beautiful masterpiece.A journey through 19t century France,through wishes,heaven and hell of all humankind and an experience like a dance in warm rain.Watch it and love it..

Not for it's story,not for it's actors..BUT for it's wonderful hommage to italian horror "giallo" films of the 60s and 70s (Mario Bava,Lamberto Bava,Dario Argento,Lucio Fulci;"Amer" is PERFECTLY made in this style),for it's wonderfully selected Music (Only selected of small,unknown films of the 70s with well known composers like Bruno Nicolais or Popstars like Adriano Celentano(!!!!))and nevertheless for it's soft,truly erotic pictures..Great!!!!!

Very scary thriller,that deals with the fears,mental damages,boogeymans and hidden secrets out of nursery days as well as with the incompetence of psyhologists and the modern,catholic church(no wonder,it's mainly a spanish
production ;-))
In some scenes it frightens the black out of your thumbs and it contains a solid,good and quite surprising story twist.
Good,competent entertainment for a rainy evening..

Classical Vampire- and Ghost-motives mix up extraordinary with adolescent problems,friendship and lesbian aspects between teenage-girls..But don't worry:this is no pathetic,british chav- *beep* or ridicolous english youth-gang dirt with uppercool british hoodies,who saw EVERYTHING in their SO experienced and SO sophisticated 14 year-old-life,right after their first abortion(think of crap like "4..3..2..1","Sket","Demons never die" or,the emperor of all crap:"Shank"..)Here,a classical,quite,calm and old-fashioned structure is shown,that underlines the creepy atmosphere perfectly and that fits the topic " i know-evil-and-i-tell-everybody-but-nobody-believes-me" absolutely nice.Full of suspense and full of atmosphere..Very good..

I was afraid of a pure teenage-popculture-youtube-Twillight-like disappointment.But the film is made and FILMED in a cool,reality-style way,mixed with bombastic scenes and deep emotions.Lawrence is a fantastic actress and the score is great.You'll like it,if you liked "Running Man","Gladiator" and "Lord of the Flies"..

Another one from the Balcans,I thought..During last years,these fims grew out of the soil, I thought..But THEN.....Claustrophpbic,dark,fate-ridden,scary,nemesistic,doomed,harsh,dark-brown-white-pictures,symbolic,anti-hating,cruel,desillusionating,full of the spirits of the past,calm,hopeless,ill-fated...BRILLIANT!!!!!(If you liked THE BUNKER,THE KEEP,DEATHWATCH,WARRIORS and BELOW,you'll like this film)

An Action Film,which is no Action Film;a Mafia Flick,which definetely IS a Mafia Flick.Enriched by outstanding optical violence (think of Refns "Valhalla Rising"),this is a sick piece of sick story with lots of sick wankers doing sick things and deciding sick decisions..
Nobody here is to be liked,this film contains solely bastard antagonists and *beep* protagonists;even the harmless,lonely young mother with the little boy at her side is a stupid bitch who isn't able to do the right and correct things,she woluld have to..But this film is SO well crafted,SO great filmed and contains a SO superbe atmosphere,that at least for these aspects i chose him for my this year's favorite-list..

Look into the Abyss;look into the ULTIMATE form of vengeance and look into a real pervert idea of a screenplay.Nevertheless brilliantly made,high-class,spanish,jet-set-like and expensive inscenated and scenographed cinema for real adolescents..erotic,dark,sizzling hot and surprising..love it and feel the tension of this masterpiece

It's old,it's Austrian (not German),it's strange and you HAVE not only to know the very special way of austrian filmmaking with its soulfoul,melancholic and flamboyant but rational and gentile attitude;you HAVE to know at least a bit about the very special people of Vienna,too.This bittersweet and wise masterpiece about life and,first of all,death,is the finest,most gentle and filigrane view into the souls of ordinary people,I've ever seen(at least since years).
Expect an absolute seemingly rational and boring story,which develops into a sad,bittersweet symphony of life,caring and friendship!!Great!!!

Again:Austrian..I've seen SO much films about murders,serial murders,serial killers,profilers,guilt and conscience in my life...from EVERY country...believe me;I watch A LOT of films;perhaps between 400 and 500 every year...But THIS brilliant,quiet movie;a german/austrian co-production,is the BEST and most PROFESSIONAL interpretation of the topic pedophile/children-killer-/psychologic I could imagine...It doesn't take part PRO such bastards,that kill children(DEATH to them!!!),but it tries,to get a grip on their destroyed and disturbed psyche...WATCH IT!!!

A stunning,careful film about love with the background of an epidemic sickness killing all human senses slowly..the mixture between a modern single-relationship-drama and a horror thriller like "Carriers" or "Contagion" is SUPERBE..The director manages to build up a soft,calm atmosphere which draws its caracters very intense and very human,as well as human behaviour when the epidemy increases and the symptomes get deeper and worse..
You will cry some tears perhaps,if you recognize yourself in some reactions of the main caracters..

Scary,shivering one...See,HOW BRILLIANT some directors create a truly haunting atmosphere,a deeply frightening mood in a very routined made ghost movie..Limited to a very small space in a typical poor,L.A:-style black neighbourhood...Nothing scary about the environment but only the atmosphere works to scare you out of your couch..Okay,may the end be a bit predictable,because of that no 8 stars of ten,only 7...But according to atmosphere,music,setting,shock moments...great!!