http://www.imdb.com/list/wtnNK13Iwvg/ Best movies seen in the year 2012 Tue, 01 Jan 2013 11:05:24 GMT Fri, 04 Jan 2013 17:04:37 GMT Tue, 01 Jan 2013 11:05:47 GMT http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1492030/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1492030/ With “Double Indemnity,” “The Postman Always Rings Twice” and “Mildred Pierce” James M. Cain certainly had a way with melodrama. The toxic mother-daughter pair in “Mildred Pierce” may be his most volatile duo. Todd Haynes, who earned his period-piece melodrama credentials with “Far From Heaven” does not disappoint. Tue, 01 Jan 2013 11:08:20 GMT http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1527186/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1527186/ Lars von Trier’s sublimely beautiful black comedy tells the story of two sisters, Justine (Kirsten Dunst) and Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg). Justine’s clinical depression, which scuttles the storybook wedding Claire has thrown for her, turns out to be exactly the right attitude for what comes next, the annihilation of the planet. Tue, 01 Jan 2013 11:08:37 GMT http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1560747/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1560747/ Paul Thomas Anderson explores the mysterious co-dependency between master and disciple in post World War II America. Philip Seymour Hoffman plays cult leader Lancaster Dodd and Joaquin Phoenix plays rudderless seaman Freddie Quell whose loose-cannon ways could scuttle Dodd’s entire enterprise. Dodd can’t live without Freddie’s blind faith. Tue, 01 Jan 2013 11:08:55 GMT http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1748122/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1748122/ Wes Anderson’s whimsy, which sometimes feels like a self-conscious stylistic choice, is completely suitable in this childhood fable about an orphaned scout who runs away with a troubled young girl. A pitch-perfect ensemble of actors, meticulous art direction and Benjamin Britten’s music help conjure 1960s small-town Americana. Tue, 01 Jan 2013 11:09:16 GMT http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1570989/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1570989/ This female version of “The Graduate” takes an excruciatingly unglamorous look at a young woman’s post-collegiate life as she tries to find her place in the world and escape her upper middle-class upbringing. Her artistic mother and overachieving sister can’t imagine why she’s having such a hard time. Tue, 01 Jan 2013 11:09:43 GMT http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1441326/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1441326/ Just as the title suggests, Martha (Elizabeth Olsen), is facing a rather daunting identity crisis. Having physically escaped the clutches of a creepy cult, she takes shelter in her sister’s home. But her mind, has trouble staying in the present and Sean Durkin’s fragmented style mirrors her troubled psychological state. Tue, 01 Jan 2013 11:09:58 GMT http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1742336/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1742336/ In the year’s best largely improvised romantic comedy, Jack (Mark Duplass) who has recently lost his brother goes to a secluded island cabin at the behest of his brother’s girlfriend Iris (Emily Blunt). There he runs into Iris’s sister (Rosemarie DeWitt) who is running from her own demons. Complications ensue. Tue, 01 Jan 2013 11:10:15 GMT http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1690455/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1690455/ Todd Solondz delivers his best black comedy since “Happiness” in the tale of Abe, a grown up baby in his thirties who lives with his parents, works for his father, and convinces an attractive depressed woman to marry him because she hasn’t the energy to resist his cluelessly relentless advances. Tue, 01 Jan 2013 11:10:33 GMT http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2125666/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2125666/ This serendipitous documentary starts out to chronicle the building of the world’s largest private residence. Through the sublime intervention of the 2008 financial crisis it instead documents a family addicted to wretched excess as funds to fuel their lifestyle have suddenly dried up. The result is both funny and sad. Tue, 01 Jan 2013 11:10:56 GMT http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1122614/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1122614/ For those who enjoyed Spalding Gray’s autobiographical yarns, Steven Soderbergh’s compilation of interviews and monologue excerpts serves as a fitting send-off for the man who stepped off a ferry to end his life in 2004. For those who don't know him, the piece serves as a pretty good introduction.