5 best movies left to see before the end of 2012

2012 is almost over and what a movie year it has been. A action packed summer led by blockbusters like The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises and moved into the fall with hits such as Skyfall and Argo. This year has been crazy with really good movies coming out on a week to week basis. Now we head into the home stretch with just as many hits coming our way. Here are five to anticipate for (in no particular order)!

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

This is a no brainer. Peter Jackson brought The Lord of the Rings to life and now helms the adaption of The Hobbit with three films breaking up the book. The first, An Unexpected Journey, comes to theaters on December 14.

Why to be excited: It is Middle Earth and it is Peter Jackson. Other than that the largest reason that I’m excited to see this is the fact that it was shot in 48 fps. It will be interesting to see if that drastically changes a movie and maybe gives us an alternative to 3D that actually changes the movie and makes it a more realistic experience. Outside of that, most of the magic of The Lord of the Rings has returned with Jackson and leading man, Martin Freeman, looks to lead a pack of great actors.

Django Unchained

Following The Hobbit, this one is a movie that many people will be excited about. It is director Quentin Tarentino’s Django Unchained. This film which stars Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, and Leonardo DiCaprio opens in theaters on Christmas Day.

Why to be excited: Well first, it is Tarentino. Secondly, look at the cast. Third, look at the subject matter. All three of these are reasons to consider this movie. Tarentino loves spaghetti westerns and this looks like his part homage and part attempt at capturing a classic spaghetti western but in Tarentino fashion. The performances of the three leads look incredible judging from the trailer and it looks like a fun ride. Many critics are already giving Tarentino a shot at winning an Oscar finally and I would love to see that happen to one of the best directors in the business.

Les Miserables

Also coming out on Christmas Day to challenge Django Unchained will be the adaptation of the popular musical, Les Miserables. The film stars Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman, and Russell Crowe. It is also directed by Tom Hooper, who most recently directed The King’s Speech, which won Best Picture at the Oscars.

Why to be excited: From the trailers, this looks like both an emotional and visual experience. The performances look incredible and with a running time of three hours, look for a great story told. Right now it looks like Hathaway is leading the performances but rumors say that Jackman could steal the show a little. It will be interesting to see how well Hooper does especially since he is now taking on a large scale movie. If it succeeds, I hope to see more of him.

Killing Them Softly

Brad Pitt, James Galdofini, and Richard Jenkins lead a great cast in this crime thriller that comes to theaters on November 30th and is directed by Andrew Dominik.

Why to be excited: Judging from the trailer, it looks like Pitt will be on the top of his game in this one. He seems like a hard-nosed character that will grab your attention whenever he is on the screen. The supporting cast looks superb with Gandolfini possibly giving a performance that will score him a lot of big roles in movies from now on because he is a great to watch on screen. The tone of the movie is what really hooks me in. Dominik seems to have the suspenseful tone down and it looks like it will be one keeping you on the edge of your seat.

Silver Linings Playbook

Silver Linings Playbook stars Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, and Robert De Niro and is coming out on Thanksgiving Day. It is directed by David O. Russell who directed the Best Picture nominee, The Fighter.

Why to be excited: The cast looks great and the chemistry between Lawrence and Cooper on the trailers is awesome. From what I’ve read from TIFF, the film did very well and a lot of people have it as one of their best of the year. After watching the trailer, I became very excited mainly due to the chemistry between Cooper and Lawrence who seemed to be bouncing jokes off of each other and really giving top notch performances. De Niro is supposed to be great and I’m excited to see this one.

What do you think? Leave a comment.