The best films of 2012

Some of our biggest directors brought out long-simmering projects, with mixed results. Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” had a mysteriously beautiful performance from Daniel Day-Lewis and a few hushed, allusive sequences that captured Lincoln’s grandeur without solemnizing him. But too much of the film felt like a streamlined history lesson in the golden age of Hollywood mold. Quentin Tarantino’s pre-Civil War slave epic “Django Unchained” (opening Christmas) is his latest tasteless (sometimes hilariously so) pop mélange of blood and guts and revisionism. It’s his “Mandingo” redo.

Literary and theatrical adaptations were up and down. “Les Misérables” (also opening Christmas) was a great big fat enjoyable entertainment, with Anne Hathaway sporting what I sincerely hope will not become the new fashion look – shorn hair and hollowed cheeks.

“Anna Karenina” had one of those awful high concepts – all the world is literally a stage – plus Keira Knightley’s too-thin Anna and a Vronsky who resembled Justin Bieber with a moustache. “On the Road” was mostly in the ditch. I suppose we should be grateful that Baz Luhrmann’s 3-D “The Great Gatsby” was put off until next year. (I know, I know, don’t prejudge ...)

The follies, like “Cloud Atlas” and “John Carter,” should have been way more enjoyable. They certainly could have been way shorter.

Franchise fever resulted in a few more-than-OK entertainments, like “The Avengers,” “The Hunger Games,” “The Bourne Legacy” and “Skyfall” – though I wish Bond were less like Bourne these days. Does 007 really have to be that sullen? And what does it say about a James Bond movie when the chief Bond girl is ... Judi Dench?

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