Favorite films of 2012

I saw 29 first-run movies in 2012, a little more than my average. I wasn’t consistent about it; I would go weeks letting stuff pass me by, then go on a tear and see two per week for a month before again sinking into a moviegoing torpor. I say this as prelude to my annual list of my favorites of the year.

There are plenty of movies I didn’t see, “The Master” being one of the more acclaimed ones that didn’t interest me. Consider the following merely a conversation-starter. “The Artist” and “The Iron Lady” came out at the end of 2011, but like most of the public, I saw them in 2012. Biggest puzzler of the year: the acclaim for “The Avengers,” a perfectly serviceable entertainment but one that didn’t excite me, and I’m a fan of the comics. What average folks saw in it is beyond me. It and “Amazing Spider-Man” didn’t quite make my Top 20. My least favorites were “Prometheus,” “Hitchcock” and “To Rome With Love.”

1. “Take This Waltz”

2. “Searching for Sugar Man”

3. “Silver Linings Playbook”

4. “Moonrise Kingdom”

5. “Safety Not Guaranteed”

6. “Lincoln”

7. “The Sessions”

8. “Monsieur Lazhar”

9. “Bernie”

10. “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry”

From there, 11 to 20 would go something like this: “Skyfall,” “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” “Les Miserables,” “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” “The Dark Knight Rises,” “Jiro Dreams of Sushi,” “Argo,” “Looper,” “The Artist” and “The Iron Lady.”

What were your favorites and least favorites?

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