The 25 Best Movies Of 2012 (So Far)

One can’t discuss first half of 2012 at the movies without mentioning a certain pop culture juggernaut called The Hunger Games (see: its $403 million domestic gross to date), so here goes: The Hunger Games will not make an appearance on the following countdown of the year’s top flicks thus far. Sorry, all those who worship at the bow-and-arrow of Jennifer Lawrence’s character, Katniss Everdeen. Please consult our review for any further explanation.

Now, on to what did make the cut, a diverse array of exceptional films ranging from box office titans to independent gems that have unfortunately been overshadowed. Getting off to a strong start in January, with Liam Neeson’s heady survival drama disguised as a popcorn action exercise (The Grey), the film world’s creative momentum hasn’t subsided since.

In fact, the film that tops our list of The 25 Best Movies Of 2012 (So Far) opens in theaters this week. And what might that be? Spoiler alert: It’s not Magic Mike, Channing Tatum's and director Steven Soderbergh's foolproof crowd-pleaser about male strippers that, according to critics who’ve seen it, is an undeniable winner (alas, we haven’t seen it yet).

Written by Matt Barone (@MBarone)

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Director: Lorene Scafaria
Stars: Steve Carell, Keira Knightley, Rob Corddry, Patton Oswalt, Derek Luke, Connie Britton, Adam Brody, William Petersen, Melanie Lynskey

Most of the critics who’ve written negatively about novice director (and more experienced screenwriter) Lorene Scafaria’s Seeking a Friend for the End of the World have chastised the filmmaker for bouncing around tonally, settling into a reflective vibe before quickly upending the sentiment with cheap laughs. And we agree, Seeking a Friend doesn’t have the most fluid of screenplays behind it, but here’s what it does have: two excellent leads and a well-developed romance that pays off in a beautifully heartbreaking manner.

Scafaria also receives bonus points for mining originality out of the otherwise tired end-of-the-world narrative set-up. With only 21 days left before an asteroid crashes into Earth, people are partying hard and heavily indulging in illegal vices, except for Dodge Petersen (Steve Carell), a disenchanted man whose wife has just left him. He finds a reason to wake up in Penny (an enthralling Keira Knightley), his perky, cute neighbor who convinces Dodge to track down an old high school sweetheart before mankind ceases to exist.

It’s not a spoiler to say that Dodge and Penny gradually fall in love with one another, but what may come as a surprise is that, for once, Seeking a Friend supplies us rom-com skeptics with a heart-to-heart connection we can actually feel. Together, Carell and Knightley sell every sentimental moment, principally the film’s profound closing sequence. You’d have to be made of stone not well up a bit.

Director: Ti West
Stars: Sara Paxton, Pat Healy, Kelly McGillis, George Riddle, Lena Dunham, Brenda Cooney

Don’t underestimate the charms of a simple, old-fashioned ghost story. Inspired by his actual experiences inside the film’s setting, Torrington, Connecticut’s allegedly haunted Yankee Pedlar Inn, independent writer-director Ti West tapped into vintage Charles Dickens-esque ghost stories to make The Innkeepers, an engrossing concoction of slacker comedy and campfire tale.

Lead actress Sara Paxton and Pat Healy complement each other quite well as a couple of bored Yankee Pedlar employees passing the time before the hotel’s out-of-business closing by investigating whatever paranormal occurrences they can uncover. With equipment straight out of Ghost Hunters, they seek out any signs of Madeleine O’Malley, a jilted bride who, back in the 1800s, hung herself in a room on the top floor.

Favoring character over cheap scares, West saves the white-knuckle moments for the film’s second half, spending the first 40-some-odd minutes of The Innkeepers letting his chief protagonist (Paxton) earn the viewers’ goodwill. So when the shit hits the fan, we’re rooting for her, not voluntarily signing her death certificate.

Director: Eduardo Sanchez
Stars: Gretchen Lodge, Johnny Lewis, Alexandra Holden, Ken Arnold

Horror and comedy go hand in hand—the two genres always have, and they always will. Essentially, horror filmmakers and directors concerned with laughs are all trying to accomplish the same thing, and that’s to provoke an extreme reaction out viewers.

But there’s nothing like a scary movie made with no other purpose than to wholly disturb audiences, without a nary of mirth. That’s exactly what Lovely Molly director, Eduardo Sanchez, one half of the revolutionaries behind the seminal found-footage hit The Blair Witch Project, has done with his latest creepfest, which warranted more attention during its brief, very limited May theatrical run.

Newcomer Gretchen Lodge, in a blistering performance, plays Molly, a newlywed who moves into her old childhood cabin with her new husband (Sons of Anarchy alum Johnny Lewis); once she’s there, past traumas bring Molly’s suppressed inner demons (i.e., drug abuse and fears of a malevolent supernatural force) to the surface.

Blending traditional camerawork with sporadic flips on the intimate, first-person/found-footage approach, Lovely Molly paints an extremely bleak picture of a volatile character. And, to his credit, Sanchez is surgical when it comes to setting an eerie mood (the film’s unnerving sound design plays a part in that) and serving up paranormal pay-offs.

Director: Nicholas Stoller
Stars: Jason Segel, Emily Blunt, Chris Pratt, Alison Brie, Rhys Ifans, Kevin Hart, Mindy Kaling, Jacki Weaver, Randall Park, Brian Posehn, Chris Parnell, David Paymer, Mimi Kennedy, Dakota Johnson

One of 2012’s biggest surprises was the poor box office performance of The Five-Year Engagement, the latest collaboration between the Forgetting Sarah Marshall team of star/co-writer Jason Segel, director/co-writer Nicholas Stoller, and producer Judd Apatow. Only grossing $29 million domestically (compared to Forgetting Sarah Marshall’s robust $63 million intake), The Five-Year Engagement prefaced the summer blockbuster season (it opened a week before The Avengers) with a resounding thud.

The sad thing is, it’s actually a funnier and more well-rounded comedy than Forgetting Sarah Marshall. At the forefront, Segel and the ravishing Emily Blunt share a naturally enjoyable chemistry. And, though it follows the unfortunate Apatow tradition of being overlong, the film benefits greatly from an underlying zaniness most notably felt through a pair of fantastically goofy supporting turns from Chris Pratt and Alison Brie. Pratt’s remixing of Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” and Brie’s Sesame Street riff with Blunt are two of the year’s strongest comedic bits in any film thus far.

Director: Gerardo Naranjo
Stars: Stephanie Sigman, Irene Azuela, Miguel Couturier, Gabriel Heads, Noe Hernandez, James Russo

Look above and picture the beautiful Stephanie Sigman in a much more pleasant situation, one that doesn’t require the bikini-clad beauty to hide underneath a hotel bed as gunfire erupts all around her. Imagine you could spend 110 minutes’ worth of action directly alongside Sigman—doesn’t sound all that bad, right? OK, now recall that aforementioned bullet-spray and add in permeating dread and the uninterrupted threat of death.

Directed by Gerardo Naranjo with a fierce sense of ground-level urgency, the punishing Mexican action-thriller Miss Bala fearlessly delves into the gruesome, drug-minded criminal underworld that exists south of the border. Sigman, in an outstanding acting debut, plays Laura, a shell-shocked beauty pageant contestant who reluctantly falls deeper and deeper into the clutches of a violent gang.

Just like Laura, the viewer is never let off the hook, as Naranjo endlessly attacks the eyes, ears, and mind with explosive action and obdurate statements about his native country’s darkest impulses.

Director: Joss Whedon
Stars: Chris Evans, Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Hiddleston, Clark Gregg, Cobie Smulders, Stellan Skarsgard, Gwyneth Paltrow

Yes, we’re aware that The Avengers is the third-highest grossing American movie of all time. Indeed, we loved every second of Mark Ruffalo’s interpretation of the Hulk, a Marvel character previously unable to make a triumphant leap to cinemas. And, of course, we also ogled Scarlett Johansson’s curves in that black latex outfit.

All that being said, we stand by The Avengers just cracking the top 20 in this countdown’s rankings—sorry, comic book stalwarts. Enormously entertaining, Joss Whedon’s superhero blowout is a towering accomplishment that should be applauded, namely because Whedon somehow managed to fit so many larger-than-life characters into one movie and give them all breathing room.

The film’s closing action sequence, an eye-popping siege upon New York City that runs for nearly an hour and never loses its appeal, is extraordinary enough to excuse the script’s flaws (read: some hokey jokes and a slightly lagging first act). Simply for re-instilling that old, childlike feeling of cinematic grandiosity, previously experienced back in the Independence Day and Jurassic Park days, Whedon’s The Avengers deserves every bit of its staggering success.

Directors: Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin

Undefeated, the winner of this year’s Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, is proof that resonant characters and honest emotions can trump familiarity—even more so if those characters are real-life people.

Directed with non-intrusive, observational clarity by first-time documentarians Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin, Undefeated follows the Manassas Tigers, a high school football team in Memphis, TN, coached by a great man named Bill Courtney. Over the course of one particularly dramatic season, the Tigers achieve excellence both on the gridiron and off, despite many negative forces.

Lindsay and Martin focus on Courtney and three specific players, each representing a different facet of the squad’s collective resiliency. The directors also benefit from capturing a few spontaneous moments of teary-eyed, unscripted warmth that can only come from the documentary format.

Director: Zal Batmanglij
Stars: Brit Marling, Christopher Denham, Nicole Vicius, Davenia McFadden, Kandice Stroh, Richard Wharton

Movies about a character’s immersion into a dangerous cult are nothing new—it was only a few months ago that the indie scene gave us Martha Marcy May Marlene. Exciting young filmmakers Brit Marling (star/co-writer) and Zal Batmanglij (director/co-writer) were operating under very imaginative guises when conceiving Sound of My Voice, though, and the final product is a vibrant, unsettling descent into The Twilight Zone by way of a twisty, J.J. Abrams-style television series.

Marling owns the film as Maggie, a creepy yet alluring cult leader who secretly gathers her white-robed followers in a Los Angeles basement, claims to be from the future, and is a master at deconstructing her weaker minions. One of whom is Peter (Christopher Denham), a journalist going undercover into Maggie’s world, determined to expose the group’s inner workings.

Marling and Batmanglij structure Sound of My Voice episodically, padding the smart and enigmatic script with multiple reveals, each more invigorating than the previous one, and an overall sense of slick ambiguity.

Director: Seth MacFarlane
Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Joel McHale, Giovanni Ribisi, Jessica Stroup, Patrick Warburton, Laura Vandevoort

Even if you’re not totally up on Seth MacFarlane’s animated mega-hit Family Guy, his directorial debut, Ted, should make you laugh more than any other movie in 2012 so far, save for 21 Jump Street (more on that flick later).

Thanks to Mark Wahlberg’s best comedic performance yet (as John, a 35-year-old slacker who pals around with a potty-mouthed teddy bear) and MacFarlane’s voice work as the titular bear with a taste for weed, booze, and flesh-and-blood women, Ted is a laugh machine with plenty of filthy humor. And, for Family Guy purists, MacFarlane’s signature knack for welcomed, obscure pop culture jokes (see: Tom Skerritt and the 1980 superhero bomb Flash Gordon).

What lifts Ted above your typical R-rated comedy, however, is its palpable sweetness. Firmly establishing the 27-year bond between John and Ted, the film is actually a rather sweet buddy comedy; albeit, one that’s aided by the peripheral presence of an unsurprisingly radiant Mila Kunis and a prostitute unable to control her bowels. Bet you never thought you’d hear those two things mentioned in the same sentence.

Director: Richard Linklater
Stars: Jack Black, Matthew McConaughey, Shirley MacLaine

Frankly, we didn’t think that Jack Black had it in him. Toning down his usual loudmouth, rampantly over-exaggerated shtick, Black blesses his School of Rock director Richard Linklater with a properly subtle performance in the sadly overlooked Bernie, a fascinating black comedy seeped in documentary influences.

A proud Texan, Linklater is the perfect filmmaker to capture the authentic Longhorn sensibility needed to tell the real-life story of jovial mortician Bernie Tiede (Black), a Carthage, TX, resident loved throughout the community for his warm heart and willingness to help the elderly. When one particular old woman’s (Shirley MacLaine) bitchy ways push Bernie over the edge, he shoots her dead and hides her body in a garage freezer. The catch is, though, that the people of Carthage root for Bernie’s freedom once the local district attorney (Matthew McConaughey) pushes for the likeable killer to enter prison.

In addition to strong acting from both Black and McConaughey, Bernie constantly absorbs attention thanks to Linklater’s inspired decision to mix man-on-the-street interviews with actual Carthage citizens into the story. Their lively Texas slang and rural ideologies pepper Bernie with just the right amount of home-cooked goodness.

Director: Gareth Evans
Stars: Iko Uwais, Donny Alamsyah, Ray Sahetapy, Yayan Ruhian, Pierre Gruno, Joe Taslim

There’s definitely room to nit-pick writer-director Gareth Evans’ heavily lauded action extravaganza The Raid: Redemption. The story is, yes, at times too thin: A squad of SWAT members get locked inside an apartment building in the slums of Jakarta, Indonesia, one that’s overflowing with criminals ready to viciously kick some ass. After a very brief calm before the storm, where leading man Iko Uwais’ character’s back-story is painted by the numbers, Evans’ film basically turns into a video game on steroids.

Here’s the thing, though: When the fight choreography is this unbelievable, and the action set-pieces are of The Raid’s A+ caliber, why should it be so difficult to accept the narrative limitations and watch the mesmerizing fisticuffs in awe?

Incredibly demonstrating Evans’ favorite type of martial art, Pencak Silat, Uwais and the rest of the brawling cast spend the entirety of The Raid: Redemption engaging in some of the best on-screen fights we’ve ever seen—no exaggeration. Even if a little viewer fatigue does set in near the end, we’ll gladly take too much of Evans’ independently made good thing over Hollywood’s typically ham-fisted action any day.

Director: Sean Byrne
Stars: Robin McLeavy, Xavier Samuel, John Brumpton, Richard Wilson, Victoria Thaine, Jessica McNamee

Unless you’re a die-hard horror supporter or a frequent user of the see-by-request movie service TUGG, this is probably the first time you’re even hearing about Australian writer-director Sean Byrne’s long-awaited The Loved Ones. Fortunately, we were lucky enough to catch the stellar horror-comedy two years ago (seriously) at a special New York screening, so it’s all the more disappointing that the film received such a lame, inaccessible release.

Whenever The Loves Ones hits the DVD circuit, though, make it a top priority. Incredibly gory, often hilarious, and never conventional, Byrne’s loony thrill ride is equal parts John Hughes, John Waters, and Eli Roth. Robin McLeavy (seen on AMC’s Hell on Wheels) cements herself as one of modern cinema’s greatest female villains, playing the insane Lola Stone; obsessed with a high school classmate (Xavier Samuel), Lola kidnaps him on prom night, ties him to a chair in her kitchen, and, with the help of her similarly unhinged dad, tortures him beyond belief. And that’s just the first half of the movie—please believe, it goes wonderfully downhill from there.

It’s a crying shame that The Loved Ones wasn’t given a wider theatrical release—it’s the quintessential “midnight movie,” ripe with money shots and crowd-geared scenes just begging for an audience packed with excitable moviegoers. Guess Byrne and company will have to settle for the eventual word-of-mouth DVD/Blu-ray circulation.

Directors: Phil Lord and Chris Miller
Stars: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Brie Larson, Dave Franco, Rob Riggle, Ice Cube, Ellie Kemper, Dakota Johnson, Johnny Simmons, Jake Johnson, DeRay Davis

Hollywood’s long, painful history of unsuccessfully adapting cop TV shows into feature films cast a dark, seemingly impenetrable shadow over the Jonah Hill-steered 21 Jump Street reboot—think of flops like Car 54, Where Are You?, Dragnet, and Taxi. But guess what none of those flicks had? The comedic wizardry of babe-melting beefcake Channing Tatum. Yeah, writing that statement felt as weird as it does for you to read it, trust us.

But that’s the truth. Playing the more intelligent of the film’s two young cops turned undercover high school students, Jonah Hill scores, but 21 Jump Street’s biggest secret weapon is your boy C-Tates, whose turn as the Hill’s dim-witted counterpart is nothing short of a revelation. The same goes for screenwriter Michael Bacall’s script, which dexterously balances outrageous humor with character development.

And let’s not forget directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller, whose only previous big-screen credit was the memorable animated pic Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Under their energetic control, 21 Jump Street has a loopy energy throughout, most evident in a drug trip sequence that’s spit-your-drink funny.

Director: Josh Trank
Stars: Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell, Michael B. Jordan, Michael Kelly, Ashley Hinshaw, Bo Petersen

Based on its early trailers and plot synopsis, Chronicle had so much room for error: It’s yet another found-footage genre movie (possible strike one), is centered upon a bunch of, per Hollywood’s unfortunate tradition, potentially irritating high school kid characters (possible strike two), and its director is a first-timer tasked with executing a big-studio, special effects bonanza (possible strike three).

Who would’ve thought that all three possible strikes would ultimately prove to be the film’s three best attributes? Employing a slew of inventive, clever uses of the first-person POV aesthetic, director Josh Trank does the impossible in the highly impressive Chronicle, justifying the found-footage conceit while also progressing the technique.

As for those “potentially irritating high school kid characters,” we couldn’t have been more wrong in our assumptions. As written by Max Landis, the three central leads in Chronicle are all delicately handled, never losing our connection even as their sudden exposure to superpowers alters their lives in negative ways. Specialized kudos go to Dane DeHaan, though, who gives a richly layered performance as the bullied outcast unable to control his sudden faculties.

Director: Frederic Jardin
Stars: Tomer Sisley, Serge Riaboukine, Julien Boisselier, Joey Starr, Laurent Stocker, Birol Unel

Sleepless Night, made in France and quietly released by Tribeca Film’s distribution company in May, is an action movie lover’s dream come true—that is, if you dream of reading about great films that are impossible to see in theaters. Courtesy of Tribeca’s Video On-Demand service, though, director/co-writer Frederic Jardin’s breathless thriller is available to watch, and we recommend that you do so immediately.

Mostly taking place inside a crowded, claustrophobic night club, over the course of a couple, nearly-in-real-time hours, Sleepless Night races the clock alongside a corrupt cop (terrific leading man Tomer Sisley) who’s scrambling to save his kidnapped son from a drug lord while also trying to elude his fellow police officers. The pace is effectively frantic, and Jardin stages a trio of taut action sequences—one being a messy shootout during which Sisley is handcuffed to his kid—like a seasoned veteran.

Director: Sarah Polley
Stars: Michelle Williams, Luke Kirby, Seth Rogen, Sarah Silverman

The fragile lead character in actress-turned-filmmaker Sarah Polley’s brave and original romantic dramedy Take This Waltz is a role that Academy Award nominee Michelle Williams was born to play. She naturally exudes vulnerability and effortless sexiness, so it’s easy to accept her as an unhappily married girl-next-door who struggles to curb her attraction to, and acute fascination with, an artsy charmer (Luke Kirby), in hopes of not cheating on her well-meaning but unexciting husband (a nicely restrained Seth Rogen).

Following Williams’ character every step of the way, Polley’s buoyant script never loses touch with reality; whether she’s running back to her spouse’s arms or inching closer to other man’s forbidden, um, fruit, Williams blurs the line between conjuring up viewer contempt and earning audience sympathy. Especially in the film’s unforeseen third act, an intriguing turn of events that, through sharp writing, piercing dialogue, and Polley’s commitment to honesty, separate Take This Waltz from every other “chick flick” in the market.

Director: Joe Carnahan
Stars: Liam Neeson, Frank Grillo, Dermot Mulroney, Dallas Roberts, Joe Anderson, Nonso Anozie, James Badge Dale

The commercials promised one thing: Liam Neeson knuckling up against a pack of vicious wolves in freezing cold, snowy conditions. Tickets immediately purchased, right? So imagine our surprise when we saw director Joe Carnahan’s The Grey and left the theater damn near in tears.

Guided by a remarkable performance from Neeson, The Grey is anything but a man-versus-animal smackdown. Pitting a small group of airplane crash survivors against not only the threat of malicious wolves but also ferocious weather and depleting hope, Carnahan’s uniquely solemn action film challenges feelings of spirituality, masculinity, and emotional fortitude, all with superior deftness. It’s the uncommon “guy movie” with an active brain and a big, beating heart.

Director: Justin Kurzel
Stars: Lucas Pittaway, Daniel Henshall, Aaron Viergever, Louise Harris, David walker, Kieran Schwerdt

Looking for a downer of the most visceral kind? Let us suggest Australian filmmaker Justin Kurzel's phenomenally bleak The Snowtown Murders, the “based on a true story” serial killer knockout about Aussie’s most notorious homicidal maniac, John Bunting (a masterful Daniel Henshall). From 1992 through 1999, using his disarming charm and manipulative personality, Bunting infiltrated a practically destitute community and amassed a growing legion of followers to help him slay those he deemed as wrongdoers.

Cleverly, Kurzel and screenwriter Shaun Grant enter the hellish events through the eyes of a sympathetic teenager, Jamie (Lucas Pittaway); fatherless and lonely, Jamie yearns for a paternal connection, which, unfortunately, he finds in Bunting. How Jamie’s life devolves into misery and bloodshed is what gives the unflinching Snowtown Murders the ability to have such a vice-like hold on your nerves, right down to the film’s intensely grim final shot.

Director: Morten Tyldum
Stars: Aksel Hennie, Nikolaj Coster-waldau, Synnove Macody Lund, Julie Olgaard, Elvind Sander

It comes as no surprise that Mark Wahlberg and other Hollywood deal-makers have already bought the rights to remake the Norwegian director Morten Tyldum’s livewire Headhunters. As accessible as any stateside popcorn thriller, Headhunters is tailor-made for popular consumption—well, except for those “pesky” subtitles. Oh, and the airtight plot developments, inventive scene structuring, and every other creative element that sets it apart from routine Hollywood product like Wahlberg’s recent hit Contraband.

The charismatic Aksel Hennie leads the way as a wealthy headhunter whose secret art thief hustles place him in hot, deadly water with a mercenary turned icy businessman (Game of Thrones actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). A series of mistaken identities, near-death experiences, double-crosses, and the occasional disemboweled farm animal are all staged by Tyldum with precision and tireless verve; altogether, Headhunters is an exemplary piece of action-adventure cinema.

Director: Wes Anderson
Stars: Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Frances McDormand, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, Harvey Keitel, Bob Balaban

So what if writer-director Wes Anderson always makes the same kind of incessantly quirky little comedies? When they’re as superbly made as Moonrise Kingdom, there should be no reason to complain, haters—especially since this one is arguably the best movie of Anderson’s illustrious 16-year career.

Set in 1965, the dreamlike Moonrise Kingdom feels more like a fable come to life than a traditional movie. The perfectly cast young duo of Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward play an orphaned boy scout and an eccentric dreamer, respectively, who, guided by a shared first-time love, run away from their homes and cause a formidable cast of grade-A actors (including Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, and Bill Murray) to drop everything and search for them. Bizarre shenanigans, tender (and somehow not creepy) kiddie romance, and unpredictable storytelling ensue.

Admittedly, most of the movies included in this countdown don’t have the most pleasant dispositions; Moonrise Kingdom, however, will make you want clap your hands and flash a cheese-grin, partly because of its wonderful execution but mainly as a reaction to Anderson’s unflappable, singular brand of optimism.

Director: Drew Goddard
Stars: Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsowrth, Fran Kranz, Jesse Williams, Anna Hutchison, Bradley Whitford, Richard Jenkins, Brian White, Amy Acker, Jodelle Ferland

Give it up for the year’s most difficult-to-market movie, a meta-horror-comedy so ambitiously self-aware that its distributors had no choice but to sell it as a generic slasher movie. Written by Joss “Mr. Avengers” Whedon and first-time director Drew Goddard, The Cabin in the Woods inevitably suffered a quick demise at the box office, surely on its way to cult infamy and home video glory. Is that fate frustrating for all of us who quote-unquote “got” it? No question, but we’re also just happy that it exists.

Deconstructing nearly every overused horror movie trope in the book, The Cabin in the Woods winks at savvy genre fans in every scene, all while delivering several genuine shocks and a plethora of intelligently comedic moments. And then comes the see-it-to-believe-it final act, a fan-pleasing climax that’s both totally batshit and amazingly generous. Even if general audiences didn’t pay attention, we passionate horror lovers salute you, sirs Whedon and Goddard.

Director: Colin Trevorrow
Stars: Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass, Jake M. Johnson, Karl Soni

Safety Not Guaranteed is almost too good to be true: It’s a romantic comedy that’s both hilarious and genuinely touching. So it figures that its recent limited release has rendered it all but overlooked by mainstream audiences, which is a real pity, because director Colin Trevorrow’s nimble comedy gives independent cinema a great, singular name.

Beautiful and quirky Aubrey Plaza, proving that she’s more than the cold, awkward character she so brilliantly plays on NBC’s Parks and Recreation, is a delight as one of two magazine interns who, along with their chaperone/arrogant reporter (New Girl’s Jake M. Johnson), investigate a newspaper ad from a recluse (The League’s Mark Duplass) who’s looking for a shotgun driver with whom to time travel. Oddly enough, it’s based on an actual ad, too.

With uniformly convincing performances, consistently spot-on humor, and a ballsy climax that’s unexpectedly poignant, Safety Not Guaranteed is a heartfelt little picture that dishes out laughs and butterflies in equal measure.

Director: Michael R. Roskam
Stars: Matthias Schoenaerts, Jeroen Perceval, Jeanne Dandoy, Barbara Sarafian, Tibo Vandenborre, Frank Lammers

Before its limited release in early February, the uncompromising Belgian drama Bullhead caught our attention when it was listed amongst the Best Foreign Language Film nominees for this year’s Academy Awards. Ultimately, it lost to the exceptional Iranian domestic drama A Seperation, but that doesn’t mean that director Michael R. Roskam’s movie is slight by any means; in fact, it’s a devastating haymaker to viewers’ guts and brains.

Matthias Schoenaerts, in one of the year’s best performances to date, stars as a diesel cattle farmer who masks his paralyzing insecurities, which stem from a horrific and sexually destructive incident from his childhood, with brute force exhibited in a criminal lifestyle.

It’s the kind of no-holds-barred character study that Robert De Niro would’ve pounced upon in his Raging Bull/Taxi Driver days, complete with, hands down, the most cover-your-eyes, viscerally revolting sequence of 2012 so far. Those who’ve seen Bullhead should know exactly what we’re talking about—trust us, they’re currently grabbing their crotches in sheer revulsion.

Director: Ben Wheatley
Stars: Neil Maskell, MyAnna Buring, Michael Smiley, Emma Fryer, Harry Simpson, Ben Crompton

The year’s most disturbing genre movie is also one of most lingering mind-fucks to come around in years. With the scarring Kill List, English filmmaker Ben Wheatley establishes himself as a fearless storyteller, keeping the mood pitch-black while concealing several jarring twists and maintaining a firm ambiguity that, by the film’s end, will leave you bewildered.

Most importantly, though, Kill List will burrow into your nightmares, which is fitting, since the movie’s shocking imagery and brutal ideas come directly from Wheatley’s own scary dreams. At its core, Kill List is about an out-of-work, married military vet and former hit-man (Neil Maskell) who reconnects with an old partner-in-crime (Michael Smiley) to off a few unlucky folks for a mysterious new client. And that’s all we can say here.

Though Wheatley himself has been open to discuss the film’s crazier elements in the press, like he did with us, we’re suggesting that you wait and see Kill List for yourselves before probing its deep, dark enigmas. But just know that you’re not likely to see a more psychologically damaging horror flick any time soon.

Director: Benh Zeitlin
Stars: Quvenzhane Wallis, Dwight Henry

It’s rare that a movie given such a high amount of critical hyperbole and instant prestige lives up to the hype. After winning both the top grand jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival in January and the Camera d’Or (designated for best first-time director) at the Cannes Film Festival last month, debut feature helmer Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild has been riding one of the loudest, most enthusiastic waves of pre-release build-up seen in quite some time.

We’re more than happy to report that all of the positive word is absolutely justified. Anchored by an astounding performance from 6-year-old rookie Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts is an emotional powerhouse. The film follows a tough little girl, Hushpuppy, who, living in a fictional New Orleans marshland community called “The Bathtub,” must contend with both a dying father (the equally dynamite Dwight Henry), mythical monsters known as “aurochs,” and rising waters that are washing her homeland away.

Shot in the heart of New Orleans with newbie actors and a tight-knit production crew, Zeitlin’s picture is as authentic as it is captivating. When Hushpuppy’s defiant narration isn’t either making you laugh or stand at attention, the film’s rich characters and brave narrative turns will leave you clutching for fresh Kleenex. It’s a towering achievement from a director and young rugrat/actress whose names we’ll be hearing a lot of come awards season.