6. The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)
This was my dark horse of 2012. I had no interest in it until about late December. My sister-in-law said she wanted to see it, so I read about it (no reviews) and watched the trailer. It seemed worth checking out. We saw it at the Minneapolis Uptown theater, which is famous for it's monthly midnight screenings of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." I didn't know about the cult reference in "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" until I saw the movie itself. This was the movie that should keep Emma Watson's movie career alive, now that she's done with Harry Potter, as well as substantiate her evolution from a child star to an adult actress. I would probably give Emma Watson Jacki Weaver's nomination spot for Actress in a Supporting Role in "Silver Linings Playbook." Ezra Miller was more worthy of a nomination for Best Supporting Actor than Christoph Waltz. Dr. King Schultz and Hans Landa were too similar. At least in terms of pretentiousness, which is a trait that really stands out. And the movie itself deserved a nod for Best Adapted Screenplay more than "Beasts of the Southern Wild." It seems really odd that it technically doesn't qualify as an original screenplay. Stephen Chbosky wrote and directed a movie based on his own novel. That's more impressive than what Frank Miller did for "Sin City." What Frank Miller did was truly amazing. But there wasn't really a screenplay. They used the graphic novels' panels as storyboard, and the only writing credit for the movie was "Based on the Graphic Novels by Frank Miller."