From Tom Cruise's rock god to Lady Mary and a Real Housewife under siege, these are the faces we don't want to ever go away.
Fat Amy: "Pitch Perfect"
In a miserable year for comedy, Rebel Wilson's performance as the demented a cappella ingenue was the 2012's funniest by a mile. Possessed with supernatural self-confidence that nothing can tarnish, Wilson's bizarre character is impossible to look away from and steals her every scene. It's this year's worthy successor for the Bridesmaids-inspired female comedy wave crown. —R.R.
Stacee Jaxx: "Rock of Ages"
Dead in the middle of what is by far the worst movie of this year, just when you have given up hope that this joyless slog through the '80s light-rock songbook will ever end, all of a sudden, the screen comes alive and jolts one to attention. Tom Cruise in his cameo as the film's rock god takes the character into such a deep place of demented narcissism combined with sheer animalistic charisma that he creates the most realistic depiction of a massive celebrity seen on screen in years. And that the performance came from Cruise right in the midst of his divorce debacle was a startling reminder of why he was such a potent star in the first place. Then the scene ends, Cruise's character disappears, and the reality sinks in that you are, in fact, still sitting in Rock of Ages. —R.R.
Alexis Bellino: "The Real Housewives of Orange County"
I am constantly thanking the Real Housewives franchise for teaching me about America. And it's hard to narrow down which of these dozens of women I enjoyed watching most in 2012. But I will focus on Alexis because she had a hell of a time on the Orange County edition, not realizing until it was too late that most of the season was going to be spent mocking her behind her back. During an "intervention" with her — I've put it in quotation marks because I'm fairly sure interventions are supposed to be for the good of the person — they all called the Jesus-and-money-loving Alexis "fake" and "pretentious." I can guarantee you they don't know what pretentious means; what they actually objected to was that she is ostentatious (it rhymes, sort of) and braggy. But what made Alexis my absolute favorite is that she allowed the cameras to film her nose job, and the doctor pulled a mucus plug the size of a toddler out of her sinuses. I've thought of it at least every 18 minutes since. INCREDIBLE. —K.A.
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