watching movies from home while living abroad: a retrospective

There are a limitless number of ways to access recently released movies when living in Asia.  I try to stick to the ways I find most enjoyable: in a movie theater with an ice cold Coca-Cola and Chris.  Granted, it's also nice to buy the movies on DVD and watch them in the comfort of our little home in the tropics too.

Phnom Penh has a couple of movie theaters, two of which are of a familiar atmosphere for us Americans.  Cozy seats, overly strong air conditioner, popcorn.  Biggest difference is choosing your seat prior to the movie viewing, something I really enjoy.

There are also a number of cheap (and not so legitimate) ways to procure movies in Asia, but they are often terrible copies, and not something I seek out.

I'll admit I didn't put a priority on seeing many of the critically acclaimed movies that came out this year.  After perusing the list of movies that premiered this year, I have a little list that I look forward to watching in coming days.

However, Topher and I did see some pretty good movies this past year.  I'll hold off total judgement of the best movie to see in 2012 (hello, Anna Karenina just came out, Les Miserables and The Hobbit have yet to arrive!), but here are a few that I heartily enjoyed and hope you got to see in the comforts of your current home this year:

1. The Dark Knight Rises
2. Skyfall
3. The Avengers
4. The Hunger Games
5. 21 Jump Street

Looking at this list, it's pretty clear that only major blockbusters come to the theaters here, isn't it? 

I'd have to say, Batman (Dark Knight Rises) was the Marsh family most anticipated movie of 2012, and I'm pretty sure Chris would shun me for a month if I didn't list it as the must see movie of the year.  It was a good conclusion to the storyline, in my eyes, and as someone totally outside of the true fandom (I have never read a comic in my life), and someone who has loved dear Christian Bale since Newsies, I loved his Batman.

We just saw Skyfall this past week, and I, again, enjoyed it.  It inspired me to want to make a trek of watching every single Bond movie before Chris and I head home to America in nine months.

And honestly, Avengers and Hunger Games were just dang entertaining, no?

21 Jump Street was also one of the funnier movies we saw that came out this year.  It might help that I adore both of the main actors, and I loved the tongue-in-cheek humor of it all.

Mainly though, I'd love to hear what your favorites were: what should I see?  I've been meaning to see The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Safety Not Guaranteed and The Lorax but have yet to so.  Have you any thoughts on these, or others I definitely need to see in the coming months?