Makeup/Costumes: Best and Worst of 2012

''Avengers,'' ''Walking Dead,'' ''Cloud Atlas,'' ''Mad Men,'' and more highs and lows on screen
By Laura Hertzfeld and Solvej Schou
Updated December 03, 2012 at 05:00 AM EST

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BEST MOVIES: Hitchcock

Suzanne Tenner/Fox Searchlight Pictures

Alfred Hitchcock is more recognizable than most directors, thanks to his cameos in each of his films and his public persona. As a result, the filmmakers had to make Anthony Hopkins look perfect as the horror master in the new film about Hitchcock making his masterpiece Psycho. And they did. Hopkins is almost unrecognizable. Check out this video to see the transformation for yourself. —Laura Hertzfeld

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BEST TV: Mad Men

Ron Jaffe/AMC

With the show back from a long hiatus, always dapper Don Draper had some major style competition from his doe-eyed new wife. Megan was outfitted throughout season 5 in the sassiest mid 1960s block color A-line dresses costume designer Janie Bryant could whip up. Viva ''Zou Bisou Bisou!'' —Solvej Schou

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BEST MOVIES: Cloud Atlas

Reiner Bajo/Warner Bros.

Not one, but two costume designers and two makeup artists transformed Tom Hanks and Halle Berry into six different characters over six different eras and 500 years. Berry is totally unrecognizable as an old, wrinkled Korean man with a futuristic eye piece? Believe it. We did. —Solvej Schou

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BEST TV: The Walking Dead

Gene Page/AMC

The best of the best when it comes to makeup, with more bloody, skin-dripping zombies than you can shake a stick (or a sword) at. Any lover of both the show and the graphic novels could appreciate the third season's realistically gruesome prosthetics, thanks to special effects head turned co-executive producer Greg Nicotero. —Solvej Schou

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BEST TV: Nashville

Chris Hollo/ABC

Big hair, big bling, tons of eye shadow, and an array of cowboy boots in all the colors of the rainbow. Anyone who's been to the capital of country knows the show is getting it right. Who knows, maybe those acid-washed jeans really are coming back in style? —Laura Hertzfeld

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BEST MOVIES: Lincoln

David James/DreamWorks II/Disney

Longtime costume designer Joanna Johnston hit the history books to expertly dress Daniel Day-Lewis as a darkly suited Abraham Lincoln and Sally Field as his feisty, petticoat-wearing wife Mary Todd Lincoln. Field ''was a great trooper, putting on weight, wearing corsets,'' Johnston told EW. —Solvej Schou

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BEST TV: Arrow

Jack Rowand/The CW

If you got it, flaunt it. This was a case of less-is-more. Much, much more. —Laura Hertzfeld

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BEST MOVIES: Anna Karenina

Laurie Sparham/Focus Features

Silk, satin, taffeta, couture. Costume designer Jacqueline Durran clothed Keira Knightley as 19th century Russian bad gal Anna Karenina in the most lush kinds of dresses so that ''they work as a frame for her beauty,'' Durran told EW. The costumes are gorgeously ornate. —Solvej Schou

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BEST MOVIES: The Avengers

Marvel/Disney

You could say it's probably all CGI (minus the Black Widow's neoprene SCUBA-esque suit), but there's more to it than that. The Avengers accomplished an amazing feat by taking characters from movies completed by a variety of directors and with various roles throughout comic book history and gave the superheroes a look as they came together in the film. Do you even remember what the Hulk looked like in the Ang Lee version anymore? —Laura Hertzfeld

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BEST MOVIES: Moonrise Kingdom

Focus Features

If I could sepia-tone my life, I probably would. Moonrise Kingdom is like live-action Instagram — every element in perfect tone and color, every outfit in line with its surroundings. That said, I haven't seen anyone walking around in Boy Scout uniform ironically...yet. —Laura Hertzfeld

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WORST MOVIES: Looper

Alan Markfield/TriStar/Sony

Though one can credit the time travel thriller's makeup team for a good effort, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a younger version of hound dog-faced Bruce Willis? Despite prosthetic lips and a nose piece, the transformation just doesn't work — no matter the great acting or that same stern glint in JGL's eyes. —Solvej Schou

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WORST TV: The Talk goes no makeup

Cliff Lipson/CBS

Makeup artists get paid good money for a good reason. Whichever producer thought it was a good idea to let the ladies of The Talk go makeup-free for an episode should be sent back to TV school. Not that we don't think these gals can rock their natural look, but there's no human who can naturally stand up to HD without a good dose of foundation. Makeup makes people look good on TV — that's the point (for that matter, clothes do too and they did this episode in robes). Stick to the program, guys. —Laura Hertzfeld

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WORST MOVIES: Prometheus

Twentieth Century Fox

So much visual ambition in Ridley Scott's prequel, and yet...why are the giant chalky white muscle-bound ''engineers'' so CGI-ed instead of done more realistically using real people, camera angles, and spot-on makeup? There's no light in their eyes. Disappointing. —Solvej Schou

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WORST TV: Beauty and the Beast

Frank Ockenfels 3/The CW

He's supposed to look like a beast, not an angry model! Instead, lead Jay Ryan, covered in cracked makeup and wearing yellowing contact lenses, looks like a worn-out Brad Pitt after a knife fight. At least '80s Beauty and the Beast star Ron Perlman looked beast-like with a lion-like face full of prosthetics. —Solvej Schou

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WORST TV: Smash

Will Hart/NBC

No more scarves. Please, no more scarves. —Laura Hertzfeld

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