From the nearly 100 films I’ve seen (so far) this year here is my list of the 20 best scenes of 2012:
– Karenin (Jude Law) is grasping the news of his wife Anna (Keira Knightley) announcing that she’s having an affair and a child with the other man. Law goes to centerstage and sits in a chair, with the stage lights dimmed low (Anna Karenina).
– Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) needs someone to answer the phone and prove their phoney movie is real while Lester Siegel and John Chambers (Alan Arkin and John Goodman) are being being held-up by the shooting of a scene on the lot. (Argo).
– Cam Brady (Will Ferrell) recites his version of The Lord’s Prayer (The Campaign).
– Pilot Whip Whitaker (Denzel Washington) intentionally inverts his plane and crash-lands into a field (Flight).
– The opening scene with Victor, his parents and dog Sparky watching one of his home movies wearing old-fashioned 3D glasses (Frankenweenie).
– Andy Brewster (Seth Rogen) demonstrating his product – Scieoclean – to HSN execs at a Las Vegas convention (The Guilt Trip).
– Bilbo Baggins plays a riddle game with iconic “Lord of the Rings” character Gollum (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey).
– Henry (Ewan McGregor) shares his story with other victims of the tsunami and one of them shares his cell phone allowing him to make two emotional calls to his family (The Impossible).
– Anne Hathaway (Fantine) sings “I Dreamed a Dream” in one effortless take (Les Miserables).
– Mary Todd Lincoln (Sally Field) explains her importance to Thaddeus Stevens (Tommy Lee Jones) and others while in a White House receiving line (Lincoln).
– Chantel DuBois (voiced by Frances McDormand) rounds-up her troops by singing Edith Piaf (Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted).
– Madea (Tyler Perry) going through airport security (Madea’s Witness Protection).
– Lancaster Dodd (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) defending himself and The Cause to a critic (The Master).
– Younger Agent K (Josh Brolin) comforts a young boy who has no idea that his father was just killed or who he would become (Men in Black 3).
– Calvin (Paul Dano), in the movie’s final scene, meets a woman similar to his creation Ruby, but she isn’t (Ruby Sparks).
– M (Judi Dench) is testifying at a hearing and is finally allowed to speak. At the same time, Silva (Javier Bardem) is on his way to kill M, and Bond (Daniel Craig) may show-up a little too late (Skyfall).
– Whitney Houston’s solo number “His Eye Is On the Sparrow” (Sparkle).
– After an intense fighting sequence, there’s a shocking and surprisingly effective twist (The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2).
– Schoolteacher Nona (Viola Davis) admitting to her son something she did in the past that dramatically affected them both (Won’t Back Down).
– Navy S.E.A.L.s quietly storming the bin Laden compound (Zero Dark Thirty).
And there’s still a few days remaining in 2012, and a few more films to see, so I may have to add one or two to the final, official list.