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The cemetery shoot-out - Seven Psychopaths
It's hard to make a movie about movie violence without giving some examples.
His fantasies explode on screen in a gory, hilariously gratuitous graveyard shoot-out.
As it's all make-believe, McDonagh gets away with (multiple) murder.
"We just went crazy," he admits. "You couldn't be too big..."
Motion-capture sex - Holy Motors
Love it or "Eh?" it, there was nothing quite like Holy Motors in 2012. Well, apart from Cosmopolis (the whole limo/constant weird shit combo).
Levant lays down some Darth Maul moves, then simulates sex with a female co-star for a XXX mutant-dragon animation we'll guiltily admit we want to see more of.
No longer is The Lawnmower Man the benchmark for virtual sci-fi sex. Thank God.
The lab massacre - The Bourne Legacy
The Matt Damon-less Legacy was a disappointment to many.
Oh yes, Matt Damon.
Still, it had a handful of on-the-money set-pieces.
Prime example: the scene where brainwashed boffin Dr Foite (Zeljko Ivanek) goes on a lab-based shooting spree.
Suspenseful and horrible, it's an extended pulse-pumper that you only wish the rest of the film took its cue from.
"I see a lot of lawbreakers up in this house tonight..." - Magic Mike
Magic Mike? For us, it was all about Magic Matt.
He steals every scene he's in, but his showstopper is explaining the "What you can touch and not touch rule" to the audience.
"Can you touch this?" he asks, fondling himself in various areas. "No, no, no, no, no..." he drawls, finger wagging.
"The law says you cannot touch," he smirks. Pause. "But I see a lot of lawbreakers up in this house tonight..."
Magnetic.
The Cookie Monster / Elmo argument - The Five-Year Engagement
"Mommy, do Elmo voice!" asks Suzie's (Alison Brie) daughter. And so she does.
"Elmo thinks you should shit or get off the pot!" "Cookie not got everything handed to him on a fucking plate!"
Simple, spontaneous, silly and very, very funny. Alison Brie's verbal gymnastics deserve a gold medal.
Threesome - Shame
The (ahem) climax of Brandon’s (Michael Fassbender) descent into a netherworld of sexual addiction arrives when he finds himself in an animalistic threesome with two strangers.
The hunger on display is alarming, the desperation shocking.
One look at these grimacing faces and there’s no doubting it’s a thin line between pleasure and pain.
Fairground ride - Take This Waltz
Not since Tommy twirled Carrie around the dance floor has the giddy intoxication of the first flush of romance been so perfectly captured.
The Buggles’ ‘Video Killed The Radio Star’ blasts out as the machine spins and the neon bulbs flash against the blackness.
The world melts away and all that is left is the centre of the universe – Margot and Daniel, laughing, snuggling.
Then the ride grinds to a halt, the lights crash up and reality reasserts itself.
Love, it seems, is fleeting.
Whale show - Rust And Bone
Beautiful Stéphanie (Marion Cottilard) trains killer whales for a living.
It’s one of the most exciting, awe-inspiring scenes of the year, awash with beauty and power and… foreboding.
Masterly edited, an ominous charge throbs from every cut, the tension damn near unbearable.
And then, sure enough, things turn catastrophic…
The hotel room fight - Ted
One of the funniest running jokes in Family Guy sees Peter Griffin having a series of extended fist fights with a man dressed as a giant chicken.
And just when you thought it was going to end, it didn’t.
Dignam from The Departed being whipped on the ass by Teddy Ruxpin’s ruder cousin.
We didn’t realise how much we needed this moment in our lives until it was happening in front of us.
The trip - 21 Jump St
The spread of a new synthetic drug going by the street name of HFS is being investigated by undercover cops Morton Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Greg Jenko (Channing Tatum).
Things take a turn for the worse when they run into one of their teachers.
A teacher who suddenly starts to look a hell of a lot like a giant robot cat / talking ice cream.
The caesarian - Prometheus
Despite Sir Ridley’s protestations that Prometheus wasn’t an Alien prequel, it definitely, definitely was.
The scene was shocking, gruesome, and with an extra-terrestrial baby the end result, it couldn’t be more Alien if it featured a Sigourney Weaver cameo.
The closing getaway Argo
For sheer entertainment, it didn’t get much better than Affleck’s Argo this year.
We won’t spoil it for those who haven’t seen it, but when we first experienced it, the escalation of events was enough to make us wave our hands in front of our faces in a misguided attempt to make it stop.
Brilliantly acted, scripted and shot – take a bow, Ben.
The year-by-year montage - Looper
We knew the basic concept going into Looper .
What we didn’t expect was that we’d see those final years play out, in a glorious montage sequence that saw a seamless transition between Joseph Gordon Levitt’s Joe, to Bruce Willis’ version.
Stunning.
Joaquin Phoenix wrecks the prison cell - The Master
The Master splits audiences directly down the middle – with its apparently lackadaisical narrative frustrating as many as it mesmerises.
Two incredible performances, side-by-side; with Joaquin Phoenix’s animalistic Freddie Quell unleashing every ounce of anger, while his equal and opposite companion Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Lancaster Dodd calmly tries to reason with his captors.
The last time Phoenix smashed up a toilet, he was nominated for an Oscar. We expect the same to happen here.
The opening airjack - The Dark Knight Rises
Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises ’ opener is as jaw-dropping as anything in the trilogy.
Epic, weird, and completely compelling.
As villain intros go, it’s up there with the Joker’s bank robbery. But of course it is. In Nolan we trust.
