7. Zero Dark Thirty (A)
Kathryn Bigelow's followup to her Oscar-winning
The Hurt Locker is a superior film in pretty much all respects, in my opinion. In a sense I'd be almost as interested in the story of how this movie got made. To start off developing a movie about the Tora Bora operations, and then to completely switch gears midway through to cover Operation Neptune Spear, ferretting out the information necessary for that along the way, is a major feat on the part of Bigelow and her collaborator Mark Boal.
The movie shares a couple of minor castmembers (most notably Kyle Chandler) with
Argo, the year's other Oscar-nominated (and snubbed) CIA drama. This movie has a far more compelling lead character, despite having much less backstory -- Jessica Chastain delivers some of her best work. It was also fun seeing Chris Pratt in a dramatic role again (I first encountered him on
Everwood, before he became known to most for
Parks and Recreation).
Cinema: 3 (+1)
Home Video: 4
Computer: 0