10. Haywire
First-rate ass-kicking goes international; Channing Tatum gets beat up by a girl - that alone was worth the price of admission.
9. Coriolanus
Ralph Fiennes does Shakespeare the way it was intended - with big guns and Gerard Butler, all seen through a CNN camera.
8. The Avengers
Noise, jokes, Hulk, shawarma (stay through the credits).
7. Hunger Games
A decent adaptation of the book, although it could have been called The Not-So-Hungry Games.
6. Cloud Atlas
I read and loved the book...still couldn't follow the movie.
Don't think, just watch. (Seriously, the thing defies even simple logic) (Bonus take away: if you ever find yourself on the run from a giant rolling spaceship, just remember - tuck and roll to the side).
4. The Master
Nothing conveys authority like a mustache.
3. Beasts of the Southern Wild
Too heartbreaking to be really enjoyable, but an amazing movie with an incredible performance from that young actress whose name I can't pronouce (Quvenzhané Wallis...say THAT five-times fast, then tell me how to say it).
2. Looper
Joseph Gordon-Levitt growing up to be Bruce Willis is almost as unbelieveable as the mob using time travel to whack people. But...whatever - Looper was an action movie you can think about, with characters you can care about. It's a close second to my favorite movie of 2012...
1. Argo
I don't care if I'm unoriginal for saying so - Argo was a tense, yet funny thriller reminiscent of Three Days of the Condor. It's the kind of movie Hollywood stopped making right around the time Spielberg taught everybody how to make dinosaurs look real.