FYI, Madagascar 3 sucked...and the Lorax was awesome.  The end.

Avengers could take #1 spot in almost the whole list.

I just want to point out that the title of this piece wasn't "Best of 2012 in Genre Movies"  Just movies.  So regardless of how you view the word genre as it pertains to this website, you can't really exlude any type of movie from this list.  That's probably why Rob included Les Mis as number one since he wasn't just considering Mania type genre films.  Cut the guy some slack. 

I missed quite a few films that I had wanted to see this year, but out of the 28 films of 2012 that I did see (19 in the theater and 9 once they were on tv) I narrowed down my top 5 to:

5. Skyfall

4. John Carter

3. Wreck it Ralph

2. Dark Knight Rises

1. Avengers

These would round out my Top 10:  The Hobbit, The Grey, Looper, Chronicle, and Jiro Dreams of Sushi

1. THE AVENGERS

2. THE HOBBIT

3. PROMETHEUS

4. SKYFALL

5. THE CABIN IN THE WOODS

HONORABLE MENTION: JOHN CARTER

I have to disagree about Noomi Rapace's character in Prometheus. I absolutely loved her and she made the film for me. Her and David were the two best character's in the film. I liked her more than Ripley because Ripley is a woman who looks physically capable. Dr. Shaw felt like more of an underdog due to her small stature and she also went through some pretty emotional stuff, yet somehow she pulled herself together. She turned out to be tougher than I thought and I was actually verbally cheering for her in the theater. I loved this film and recognize it has its flaws, but still enjoyed it heavily. I will not justify my love of this film to anyone so please don't pick an argument regarding the film's merits or flaws.

5. Hmmmmmmm ... I think Life of Pi but I haven't watched it yet

4. The Hobbit  

2. Skyfall/TDKR (tie)

1. Avengers

(spoilers for Hobbit)

Just watched The Hobbit - it was great .... perhaps I had lowered my expectations but it didnt seem long ... some cartoonish scenes but not too many ... great visuals, music, action, acting, etc ... i could follow most of it but there were still some head scratchers ... e.g. who was the evil dude who got killed and Gandalf found the black sword that was supposed to be buried in his tomb? .... is gollum a goblin? whats he doing sulking around in the deep caves?

Eddie;

Watch the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, that will explain Gollum (provided you aren't just trolling).  Most of what you are asking is explained in the first three movies.  I agree about the Hobbit, it was a solid fantasy movie, aside from the fact that dividing it into three movies is a blatant money grab.

 @vitieddie-to explain who the evil dude is would kind of be spoilerish. They believe him to be a dark wizard of some kind who has the ability to conjure the dead from the grave. They call him the Necromancer, basically a sorceror with control over the dead.

Have you not seen the Return of the King? Gollum was once similar to a Hobbit. That film explains who Gollum was before he transformed into his current state. He only looks that way because the ring drove him mad and stripped him of his humanity. Over years, he withered away into the creature we see before us in the films.

I bet he lives in the goblin caves because they are dark as he is not too fond of sunlight having lived in caves for quite some time. I'd also wager that goblins come walking around down there every once and while so he also uses them for food. There's also a nice lake in those caves filled with all kinds of sea crittters for Gollum to snack on. A lot of this is explained in the Lord of the Rings films.

Also, this film was meant to be a bit more cartoonish compared to the rest of the films. This takes place at a relatively peaceful time in Middle-Earth history so it has a different feel to it.

[spoilers]

@snew ... no not trolling but now that you mention it - yes i remember his origin being in the first trilogy ... damn i dont think i'll watch the first movies to catch up ... this current info is good enough for me to wait for the next film... and the gollum/baggins game in the caves was one of the highlights of the movie

@death ... i remember the part about the necromancer taking up residence in the abandoned castle ... then they started talking about the sword Gandalf found ... i thought the owner of the sword and the necromancer were separate stories/beings ... nevertheless the main story thread was easy to follow and was a strong first chapter, although not conclusive (e.g. i thot that one-arm bad guy would die to provide a climax at the end)

 I'm gonna make a prediction here - I'll bet the Azog (one-armed bad guy) storyline doesn't conclude until the Battle of Five Armies, where Thorin will finally defeat him, but not before Azog managed to mortally wound him.

 And vtiteddie - the owner of the sword that Gandalf acquired and the Necromancer are separate beings, but DEFINITELY connected in the same story...I would tell you more, but don't know how much spoilers you want.

Regardless of whether or not this specific list said it was a 2012 best of overall movie list, Mania is still a "genre" site and Les Meserables as well as other non - genre movies, TV and other related material has no place on it.