It was an amazing year at the movies. This video countdown represents my favorite 25 films of 2012 (including big-budget, non-Criterion releases and a few red herrings thrown into the intro sequence just to mess with you — come back soon for my list of the year’s best Criterion Collection releases). I was super-aggressive this year about seeing everything that I possibly could, so admittedly this list is all over the place, ranging from massive blockbusters to festival favorites and a tiny no-budget masterpiece that you can stream for free on Vimeo (link below). I tried my best to play fair and really stick to movies that played/are playing/will play in American movie theaters at some point during this calendar year, but at the end of the day I can’t resist taking a Walter White approach to these things: “I’m the one who lists.” I get to bend the rules a little bit if and when I feel like it. Two films in my top 10, for example, won’t be hitting theaters until the spring, but I just couldn’t wait, and I’m eager to help get people excited for them while I can. Likewise, stick around for the title card at the end, which mentions a bunch of incredible “2012” films that I over-excitedly included on last year’s countdown.
I work with David Michod, who did Animal Kingdom and is really close friends with Andrew Dominik. It’s with Guy Pearce and Rob Pattinson. It’s called The Rover.
Is it going to be as intense as Animal Kingdom?
You know, I don’t know the direction in which David’s taking it, but it’s a futuristic western that takes place in the Australian Outback.
Can you talk about the character you play?
I play Rob’s brother. If I say anything else about it, it gives it all away.
Do Taylor and you learn to love each other in this movie?
Sure! I give him my daughter! That’s love. You could even say this entire thing is a love story between Edward and Jacob.
What’s your favorite memory of this experience?
One time Peter stole a bike, it was hilarious! Or when we filmed in Brazil, it was like saying “We’ve done this for years and now we’re in Brazil,” Kristen and I were wearing bathing suits in front of 6,000 Brazilians with water guns and cameras.
What was happening?
We were filming in the jungle, we had to make out and pretend we were in a waterfall.
How do you deal with the paparazzi and the madness that follows you everywhere?
You learn to live with it. If you look at the cameras, the flashes blind you. You can’t even smile around these people.
This success came over too fast, did it make you grow up faster than people your age?
When you’re making movies like these, and there’s people waiting for you outside your hotels, you’re living a very unusual life. You’re actually scared of not being a normal person because you don’t get to meet new people very often. I don’t know if I’m growing faster than people my age. I don’t feel different than my friends. I’m just myself.
Do you believe in the power of love, a love that lasts a lifetime like in the movies?
Definitely, yes. It sounds cheesy, but I see it with my parents. My dad met my mom when she was 17 and they’re still happily together.
That’s not cheesy.
No, it’s rather cute, especially when most of the kids at my school had parents going through divorces. So it was great seeing my parents sticking together.
Do you ever get privacy anymore?
I can manage in London, actually. It’s so different. In America it’s much harder.
What’s been your biggest lesson so far? Has something happened that made you change the way you see things forever?
I believe in keeping your family and friends close, because they’ll treat you the same no matter what. Real relationships are not affected by whatever happens in life. Knowing that you’ll always keep something special no matter what happens is something that has made an impact in my life. That’s one of the biggest lessons I’ve received in life.
National averages suggest that most Americans watch three movies a year in theaters. Unfortunately, that means a lot of great films never end up getting seen. In 2012, there were plenty of quality releases that missed out on the big crowds. If you’re wondering what, exactly, you should’ve seen this year but didn’t, we’re here to fill you in.
The following is a list of movies that, for whatever reason, just didn’t get the attention or large-scale critical appreciation they deserved. However, each are very much worth your time.
Cosmopolis (David Cronenberg)
There seemed to be a little juice behind Canadian director David Cronenberg’s latest effort, a wonderfully meandering adaptation of Dom DeLillo’s novel of the same name that charts a single, seemingly endless limousine ride. For one, the film premiered at Cannes, to mostly ecstatic audiences (full disclosure: I was in one of them), and for another, Cronenberg loaded his bizarre contraption with a secret weapon: Robert Pattinson. As a disaffected billionaire, Pattinson showed unheard of gravitas and wit, both of which were sorely missing during his five-movie tenure as sparkly vampire Edward in the “Twilight” movies. But not even his handsome or borderline hieroglyphic face, could get people to come out to “Cosmopolis.” Granted, the movie is pretty weird. But it’s also tremendously rewarding — it works its hooks into you and, months after seeing it, I still can’t stop thinking about it
Thinking of Rob is not affiliated with Robert Pattinson or his management in any way.
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