50 best movies of 2012

21. Young Adult

The Movie: The Juno team of Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody reunited with this black comedy about a stunted adolescent who returns to wreak havoc in her hometown.

Impact: A welcome restorative to cutesy films about manic pixie dream girls. Mavis Gary is an unrepentant bitch and all the better for it, serving notice that Charlize Theron is back big-time.

20. Killing Them Softly

The Movie: After the ballad of The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford, Brad Pitt and Andrew Dominik tackle the blues in a downbeat thriller about a hitman grubbing about in the gutter of recession-hit America.

Impact: A bold fusion of old-school crime tropes with contemporary political subtext, which reinforced the feeling that Pitt/Dominik might be the new Pitt/Fincher.

19. The Kid With A Bike

The Movie: Social realism with a hint of magic, as Cecile De France's guardian angel takes in the titular troubled teenager in the hope of transforming his fortunes. That is, if she can stop him riding off.

Impact: By this stage, the Dardennes brothers could make a film about a paper bag and win a major prize at Cannes. To their credit, they turned in their warmest, most accessible film to date and found a wider audience than ever before.

18. Searching For Sugar Man

The Movie: The documentary we've all been waiting for about 1960s folk musician Rodriguez. We just didnt know we'd been waiting for it.

Impact: In an era of big documentaries about musical greats - Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Bob Marley - Malik Bendjelloul's joyous celebration goes the other way, using film as the springboard to investigate and reveal a largely forgotten talent.

17. Ted

The Movie: Seth MacFarlane's feature debut married his trademark offence and animation nous to create a walking, talking furry joke machine. But the biggest surprise was how nice his romcom was.

Impact: With MacFarlane showing his cuddly side en route to one of the year's biggest hits, has he truly become a Family Guy? We'll know for sure after Oscar night.

16. Sightseers

The Movie: After Down Terrace and Kill List, Ben Wheatley shows his lighter side with this comedy about caravanning couple Steve Oram and Alice Lowe. Well, we say 'light'... tourism can be such a bloody affair.

Impact: With three great films in as many years, Wheatley is the hardest-working and most exciting director in Britain today. He's already completed film #4, A Field In England. Whether Sightseers will see an increase in caravan holidays is a moot point.

115. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

The Movie: Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) is recruited by Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen) on a perilous adventure that will, in time, result in the events of The Lord Of The Rings. After nearly a decade away, Peter Jackson returns to Middle Earth for an epic adaptation of Tolkien's first novel about orcs and hobbitses.

Impact: Controversy over Jackson's artistic choices - elongating a slim novel into a Rings-sized trilogy, and using a revolutionary 48 frames per second shooting technique that some have found distracting - are tempered by familiarity. It's nice to be back.

14. Silver Linings Playbook

The Movie: Troubled Bradley Cooper meets equally troubled Jennifer Lawrence in David O. Russell's quirky but barbed romcom about dancing, American football and mental illness.

Impact: Two mainstream, critically-adored hits in a row for one-time indie bad boy David O. Russell: where did it all go right? The Midas touch in casting apparent in The Fighter drew exceptional work from the leads and Robert De Niro's best work in years. Even Chris Tucker wasn't bad.

13. Life Of Pi

The Movie: Yann Martel's Booker prize-winner about an Indian boy marooned on a lifeboat with a tiger called Richard Parker gets the 'art-house blockbuster' treatment. Ang Lee spent four years working on this 3D CGI epic. It was worth every moment.

Impact: The first of a flurry of ambitious literary adaptations, with Cloud Atlas due in February and The Great Gatsby to follow in the summer. Given the positive reviews, it's in with a shout of becoming the first 3D movie to win Best Picture.

12. Amour

The Movie: Brutally realistic study of an elderly couple's gradual physical, mental and emotional disintegration under the pressures of old age. Gruelling stuff but, unlike much of Michael Haneke's back catalogue, the title wasn't ironic: this is a genuine love story.

Impact: His second Palme D'or in a row confirmed Haneke as probably the greatest director working in world cinema, and also led to the year's finest Twitter account. It was also a last hurrah for French New Wave icons Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva.