The best movies of the year.

Hey, guys.

I spend a huge portion of my spare time watching movies. I'm a huge fan. What sucks is that so many fly under the radar because of Hollywood blockbusters that overshadow the good ones. (There are good blockbusters, though; The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises)

I generally use Oscar season as a guide to what movies I should be watching (although I usually disagree with some of the nominations). Luckily, this season has some good selections. Of nine best picture nominations, I've watched six so far. I just wanted to talk about some of my favorites and which one's I didn't like as much.

So I've seen Django Unchained, Les Miserables,  Zero Dark Thirty, Argo, Life of Pi, and Silver Linings Playbook. Silver Linings was probably my favorite so far. It was damn entertaining and sooo unexpectedly good. Maybe I was just pleasantly surprised. Who knows.

I also really like Django, Zero Dark Thirty, and Life of Pi. They're all worthy of their nominations. I'd swap out Les Mis and Argo for Perks of Being a Wallflower and The Hobbit. I enjoyed both of those much more. Django comes from my favorite director, Quentin Tarantino, who goes balls to the wall with this one and seriously doesn't apologize for it. Leonardo DiCaprio particularly stood out but was denied a nomination (boo). ZDT was suspenseful and so well directed. I'm really surprised Kathryn Bigelow was snubbed, too.  Life of Pi was extraordinarily imaginative and beautiful. It was reminiscent of Pan's Labyrinth in that it kept you thinking about what was truth and what was fiction. Really great.

I think Perks was the best 'coming of age' or 'high school' movie in recent memory (Yes, it was better than Mean Girls). I particularly loved that Chobsky directed it so what we saw was his vision from beginning to end. The Hobbit needs no explanation. I like Les Mis, but there were some problems with direction. I didn't mind that the actors weren't the best singers, it was more about the plot and emotion for me. Argo was good as well, but it didn't leave an impression on me like the other movies did. It didn't blow me away.

So I still have to see Lincoln, Amour, and Beasts of a Southern Wild. I also want to see The Impossible and The Master. I'll check back in once I have those under my belt.

Some notable acting performances: Everyone in Silver Linings (maybe except Chris Tucker. He was still good). The main four were so great. Jessica Chastain, Leonardo DiCaprio, Anne Hathaway, and Ezra Miller (Perks). I'm sure there will be more once I watch some other nominees.

Let me know your thoughts. Are there other movies from 2012 that I have to see?