So it wasn't the greatest year for movies in the history of mankind. Maybe it wasn't even the greatest year for movies in the history of this short, savage decade — 2010 had Black Swan and Winter's Bone and The Social Network, The Fighter and Inception and True Grit, Blue Valentine and The Town and Toy Story 3. The highest compliment we can really pay 2012, if we're being honest, is probably something along the lines of: It wasn't 2011.

Still, it was pretty great. Michael Bay did not make a movie. Paul Thomas Anderson did. Our 2012 Best Picture winner will have sound and color and a judicious, restrained attitude toward whimsy and tap dancing. (Well — maybe strike that about the tap dancing.) Steven Spielberg made a movie about a man instead of a horse. This summer's comic book movies were better than last summer's comic book movies. There was no seismic shift, exactly — not in a year when there was something called Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter — but a wobbly industry seemed to find its balance. Yes, there were wildly cynical brand extensions (Battleship), unasked-for sequels (MIB3), a movie in which Ryan Reynolds failed to guard an empty building (Safe House). But going to the movies this year was mostly a buoyant, cheering experience. There was a sense that something went right.

I guess I'm trying to figure out what that something was.

Actually, this year had several great movies.

Cloud Atlas was exceptional.

Lincoln, Argo, Moonrise Kingdom, Silver Linings Playbook, Hunger Games, Wreck It Ralph, Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, and Prometheus all had great moments.

And Zero Dark Thirty, Les Miserables, and Django Unchained look promising.

I agree that Jennifer Lawrence is a much better actress than she gets credit for.

I loved Battleship.  I can't wait to see Zero Dark Thirty, Skyfall, Cloud Atlas and Django.

Thanks for reminding me to rent Battleship. That one came and went quickly.

i continue to worry about that one so it will remain at bottom of netflix queue

Why worry, Jared?

a few people have said battleship was good.  I am not sold.