Best DVDs of 2012!

Here's my list of best DVDs for 2012. All of these are films from the library, since that's where I tend to get my newer DVDs. I do watch plenty of Netflix as well but they tend to be older, more obscure crap that I am not including here. Due to an accident of birth - my child - I very seldom get to the theaters for anything other than kid and superhero movies. There's one big exception to that this year (Killer Joe) that I included below. I had to drive through Cubs traffic to the one theater in the city that was playing it so dammit, I'm including it!

Margaret

I had been under the impression that 2012 had been a crappy year for DVDs and was surprised to see how many films I ended up giving 4 to 5 stars. I've also included a couple of the worst films of the year, including one overhyped Oscar nominee. Finally, there are some notable older ones that I discovered this year for the first time and fell in love with. Enjoy!

The Skin I Live In

NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

The breakdown: 13 documentary and 11 subtitled out of the 53 that are listed below

Comedies: I'm surprised by how many comedies made the list below considering that it's probably the hardest type of film to do well. In particular there were many stupid comedies (21 Jump Street, Wanderlust, God Bless America, Goon, The Dictator) that were really entertaining.

Remakes: I usually dread seeing remakes but Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Fright Night and Straw Dogs were all surprisingly done well.

Quiet and Contemplative: A type of film that I love when it's well directed and I'm in the right mood, I hate it when someone complains that a films is "slow, but...". Slow but NOTHING. Good is good. Jiro Dreams of Sushi, Le Quattro Volte, The Mill and Cross, Bombay Beach and Nostalgia for the Light are all nice quiet films with real moments of beauty.

A Welcome Return: Only 13 years after The Last Days of Disco, Whit Stillman's Damsels in Distress was a lot of fun and definitely Stillmanesque.

Small Films You Might Have Missed: The Hunter, with Willem Dafoe, set in Australia. A Lonely Place to Die, a Scottish action flick with great scenery. The Last Rites of Joe May, set in Chicago and starring Dennis Farina. Carnage, a wicked, funny little gem from Polanski.

The Big Mess That Everyone Should See: Margaret was fantastic in so many ways. Hoping that Kenneth Lonergan gets his act together since he is clearly a director with big ideas and talent.

Letdown of the Year: Hugo was everything that The Artist wasn't. It was heavy handed while The Artist was light on its feet. It felt like a lecture while The Artist was a lighthearted tribute. Really just atrocious in every aspect.

S is subtitled. D is Documentary.

Killer Joe

5 Stars:
The Artist
Drive
The Hunter
Jiro Dreams of Sushi (S)
Killer Joe
Margaret
My Perestroika (D)
Senna (D)
The Skin I Live In (S)
Take Shelter
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Le Quattro Volte

4.5 Stars:
Bernie
The Cabin in the Woods
The Dictator
50/50
Garbo the Spy (D)
George Harrison: Living in the Material World (D)
Headhunters (S)
The Ides of March

Let the Bullets Fly

The Interrupters (D)
Klown (S)
Let the Bullets Fly (S)
Marley (D)
Moneyball
Moonrise Kingdom
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (S)
Post Mortem (S)
Project Nim (D)
Le Quattro Volte (S)
21 Jump Street

Bombay Beach

4 Stars:
Better This World (D)
Bombay Beach (D)
Bullhead (S)
Carnage
City of Life and Death (S)
Contagion
Cowboys and Aliens
Damsels in Distress
Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (S)
Fright Night
God Bless America
Goon
Into the Abyss (D)

The Mill and the Cross

The Last Rites of Joe May
A Lonely Place to Die
The Mill and the Cross
Nostalgia for the Light (D)
Sleepless Night (S)
Straw Dogs (remake)
Urbanized (D)
Wanderlust
Warrior
Woody Allen: A Documentary (D)

1 Star Stinkers:
Battleship
Hugo
The Innkeepers
Putty Hill

The Ruling Class

Criterion Gems from this year:
Black Narcissus
Design for Living
Downhill Racer
The Ruling Class
Vanya on 42nd Street