Best of 2012

Happy New Year Everybody! Time for my Movie Best-of and Worst-of 2012 Lists….
BEST PREVIOUSLY UNSEEN NATIONAL FILM REGISTRY FILM, RUNNER UP – Precious Images – A fantastic collage of great scenes from great movies.
BEST PREVIOUSLY UNSEEN NATIONAL FILM REGISTRY FILM – Days of Heaven – Malick’s best film: beautiful images and very little navel-gazing.
BEST NATIONAL FILM REGISTRY FILM SEEN IN 2012, RUNNER UP – Close Encounters of the Third Kind – Spielberg’s Americana blends wonder & fright
BEST NATIONAL FILM REGISTRY FILM SEEN IN 2012 – The Conversation – Better than The Godfather, this eerie thriller is Coppola’s masterpiece
BEST NON-NFR VINTAGE FILM SEEN IN 2012, RUNNER UP – Stalker – Andrei Tarkovsky’s minimalist SF tale is haunting yet fascinating
BEST NON-NFR VINTAGE FILM SEEN IN 2012 – Barry Lyndon – Stanley Kubrick’s highly underrated period piece is a spectacular piece of filmcraft
BEST UNRELEASED FILM SEEN IN 2012, RUNNER UP – Much Ado About Nothing – Joss Whedon’s playful modern adaptation of the Bard’s comedy
BEST UNRELEASED FILM SEEN IN 2012 – Sightseers – This wickedly funny dark dark dark comedy is a violently amusing road trip.
MOST OVERLOOKED 2012 FILM, RUNNER UP – Seeking a Friend for the End of the World – An apocalyptic romantic comedy, what’s not to like?
MOST OVERLOOKED 2012 FILM – Bernie – Jack Black gives a great (atypical) performance in this hidden gem, with authentic East Texas flavor
MOST DISAPPOINTING 2012 FILM, RUNNER UP – The Master – PT Anderson’s winning streak ends with this hit-and-miss (but mostly miss) drama
MOST DISAPPOINTING 2012 FILM – Prometheus – Might have been an amazing SF film without the constant shoehorning into the Alien franchise
WORST 2012 FILM, RUNNER UP – The Moth Diaries – This insipid and lifeless vampire story simply remains bland bland bland
WORST 2012 FILM – Killer Joe – This repugnant dark comedy tries desperately to be irreverently amusing, & utterly fails each and every time
BEST 2012 MOVIE TRAILER, RUNNER UP – Les Misérables – Perfectly merges emotional highs of I Dreamed A Dream with gritty, beautiful vistas
BEST 2012 MOVIE TRAILER – Cloud Atlas – An ambitious six minute masterpiece that in some ways is more satisfying than the actual film.
BEST 2012 HORROR FILM, RUNNER UP – Kill List – Humorous, gruesome, and deeply disturbing. What more do you want in a horror film?
BEST 2012 HORROR FILM – Cabin in the Woods – Tears apart & reconstructs the essence of a horror film; then those elevator doors open…
BEST 2012 COMEDY, RUNNER UP – Bernie – Darkly comic & peopled with humorously eccentric characters that feel plucked out of real life
BEST 2012 COMEDY – Silver Linings Playbook – An utterly winning romantic comedy. Excelsior!
BEST 2012 ACTION FILM, RUNNER UP – The Avengers – Whedon’s mix of humor & genre sensibilities make this romp more than the sum of its parts
BEST 2012 ACTION FILM – The Grey – Not just Liam Neeson punching wolves, it packs unexpected emotional depth and genuine thrills as well.
BEST 2012 ANIMATED FILM, RUNNER UP – ParaNorman – A stop motion zombie film for kids; inventive playful & with an unusually deep message
BEST 2012 ANIMATED FILM – Wreck-It Ralph – Not simply a Toy Story clone, this love letter to videogames of yore is also a blast to watch
BEST 2012 FOREIGN FILM, RUNNER UP – A Royal Affair – Fascinating romantic portrait of the 18th century doctor Johann Struensee
BEST 2012 FOREIGN FILM – Amour – A heartbreaking love story chronicles the painful decline of an ailing woman and her devoted husband
BEST 2012 SCENE, RUNNER UP – Prometheus never again reaches the heights of the simple sequence of Michael Fassbender roaming the corridors
BEST 2012 SCENE – Riddles in the Dark, The Hobbit – Two plus hours in, this masterful scene arrives and suddenly makes it all worthwhile
BEST 2012 SCREENPLAY, RUNNER UP – Looper – This original time travel tale is always two steps ahead, zigging where you think it would zag
BEST 2012 SCREENPLAY – The Perks of Being a Wallflower – Perks hits all the right notes with vibrant characters and crackling dialogue
BEST 2012 DOG IN FILM, RUNNER UP – Sparky in Frankenweenie – His Family Dog DNA perfectly encapsulates all that a dog should be
BEST 2012 DOG IN FILM – Bonny the Shih Tzu in Seven Psychopaths. The central figure in this dognapping tale is positively endearing. Paw!
BEST 2012 ACTRESS, RUNNER UP – Emmanuelle Riva, Amour – It is incredibly tragic to watch her joyous spark be slowly extinguished
BEST 2012 ACTRESS – Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables – She fully commits to the role and exposes every raw, emotional nerve in the process
BEST 2012 ACTOR, RUNNER UP – Tom Holland – Not since Christian Bale in Empire of the Sun has a child actor commanded the screen like this.
BEST 2012 ACTOR – Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln – No one will ever be able to think of Lincoln again without picturing him in this role.
BEST 2012 FILM, RUNNER UP – Anna Karenina – Bold and daring, this unconventional adaptation of Tolstoy’s novel is stunningly gorgeous.
BEST 2012 FILM – The Impossible – This moving & terrifyingly realistic disaster drama is a powerful tale of the triumph of the human spirit