2012 IN FILM

My favourite films released in the U.S. in 2012. Top 30 & many many honorables!  Also, my 2012 ballot at the Wandering Image; highlighting the year's best in film. 

Here's the countdown:






30.     EXTRATERRESTRIAL

.

29.  NEIGHBOURING SOUNDS

.

28.
ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA

.

27.                  ALPS

.

26.             KILLER JOE

.

25.               LINCOLN

.

24.    THE RAID: REDEMPTION

.

.

23.     THE PRUITT-IGOE MYTH

.

22.                 I WISH

.

21.              DREDD 3D

.

20.     THE KID WITH A BIKE

.

19.             WAR WITCH

.

18.      THE COLOR WHEEL

.

17.               SAMSARA

.

16.        THIS IS NOT A FILM

.

15.     OSLO, AUGUST 31ST

.

14.             ATTENBERG

.

13. HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE

.

12.                 BERNIE

.

11.                   TABU

.

10.     GOODBYE FIRST LOVE

.

9.        THE DEEP BLUE SEA

.

8.BEYOND THE BLACK RAINBOW

.

7.              THE MASTER

.

6.            NOT FADE AWAY

.

5.  IT'S SUCH A BEAUTIFUL DAY

.

-tie- 5.   CONSUMING SPIRITS

.

4.              IN THE FAMILY

.

3.        MOONRISE KINGDOM

.

2.                   LOOPER

.

1.             HOLY MOTORS

*****

ALSO ESSENTIAL. NOT RANKED.

(the other titles I loved of 2012 that could've placed)

TIM AND ERIC'S
BILLION DOLLAR MOVIE

.

THE PIRATES! BAND OF MISFITS

.

THE LOVED ONES

.

DJANGO UNCHAINED

.

GIRL WALK // ALL DAY

.

COSMOPOLIS

.

5 BROKEN CAMERAS

.

THE DAY HE ARRIVES

.

PARANORMAN

.

THE INNKEEPERS

.

CLOUD ATLAS

.

ACE ATTORNEY

PERFECT SENSE

.

ZERO DARK THIRTY

.

THE TURIN HORSE

.

SISTER

.

HAYWIRE

.

KILLING THEM SOFTLY

.

PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORY

.

THE LONELIEST PLANET

.

MISS BALA

.

LOCKOUT

[MS ONE: MAXIMUM SECURITY]

.

POLISSE

.

SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN

.

BARBARA

.

UNIVERSAL SOLDIER:

DAY OF RECKONING

.

BRAVE

.

THE INVISIBLE WAR

.

A BURNING HOT SUMMER

.

21 JUMP STREET

.

THE GREY

.

I'M CAROLYN PARKER

 .

THE WOMAN IN BLACK

.

HARA-KIRI: 

DEATH OF SAMURAI 3D

.

MAGIC MIKE

.

THE IMPOSTER

.

THIS MUST BE THE PLACE

.

RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION 3D

.

WANDERLUST

.

MIRROR MIRROR

.

SAVAGES

.

JOHN CARTER OF MARS

.

NEIL YOUNG JOURNEYS

.

AFTER THE 

TRIUMPH OF YOUR BIRTH 3D

CRAZY HORSE

.

AI WEIWEI: NEVER SORRY

.

CHRONICLE

.

THE COMEDY

KON-TIKI

.

THE SNOWTOWN MURDERS

.

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

.

DETENTION

.

KLOWN

.

THE FORGIVENESS OF BLOOD

.

SKYFALL

.

THE PACT

.

THE HOLE 3D

.

THE LADY

.

DARK SHADOWS

.

ANNA KARENINA

.

YOUR SISTER'S SISTER

TWIXT

KEEP THE LIGHTS ON

.

JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI

.

GOON

.

SACRIFICE

KILL LIST

.

BONES BRIGADE: 

AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY

.

SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS

.

HEADHUNTERS

.

DAMSELS IN DISTRESS

.

SLEEPLESS NIGHT

****

2012 

TOP 30 

1. HOLY MOTORS (Carax)
2. LOOPER (R.Johnson)
3. MOONRISE KINGDOM (Wes Anderson)
4. IN THE FAMILY (P.Wang)
5. SUCH A BEAUTIFUL DAY (Hertzfeldt)                         -tie- CONSUMING SPIRITS (C.Sullivan)
6. NOT FADE AWAY (D.Chase)
7. THE MASTER (P.T. Anderson)
8. BEYOND THE BLACK RAINBOW (P.Cosmatos)
9. THE DEEP BLUE SEA (Davies)
10. GOODBYE FIRST LOVE (Hansen-Løve)
11. TABU (Gomes)
12. BERNIE (Linklater)
13. HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE (France)
14. ATTENBERG (Athina Rachel Tsangari)
15. OSLO, AUGUST 31ST (J.Trier)
16. THIS IS NOT A FILM (Panahi)
17. SAMSARA (Fricke)
18. COLOR WHEEL (A.Ross Perry)
19. +REBELLE (Kim Nguyen)
20. KID WITH A BIKE (Dardennes)
21. DREDD 3D (P.Travis)
22. I WISH (Hirokazu Koreeda)
23. PRUITT-IGOE MYTH (Frederichs)
24. THE RAID: REDEMPTION (G.Evans)
25. LINCOLN (Spielberg)
26. KILLER JOE (Friedkin)
27. ALPS (Lanthimos)
28. ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA (BilgeCeylan)
29. NEIGHBORING SOUNDS (Mendonça Filho)
30. EXTRATERRESTRIAL (Vigalando)

RUNNER UP:

TIM & ERIC'S BILLION $ MOVIE (Heidecker), PIRATES! BAND OF MISFITS (Peter Lord), LOVED ONES (S.Byrne), DJANGO UNCHAINED (Tarantino), GIRL WALK // ALL DAY (Krupnick), COSMOPOLIS (Cronenberg), 5 BROKEN CAMERAS (Burnat), DAY HE ARRIVES (Sang-soo), PARANORMAN (Butler/Fell), THE INNKEEPERS (West), CLOUD ATLAS (Wachowskis,Tykwer), ACE ATTORNEY (Miike), PERFECT SENSE (Mackenzie), ZERO DARK THIRTY (Bigelow), TURIN HORSE (Tarr), SISTER (Ursula Meier), HAYWIRE (Soderbergh), KILLING THEM SOFTLY (Dominik), PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORY (McElwee), LONELIEST PLANET (Julia Loktev), MISS BALA (Naranjo), MS ONE: MAXIMUM SECURITY (James Mather), POLISSE (Maïwenn), SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN (Bendjelloul), BARBARA (Petzold), UNIVERSAL SOLDIER DAY OF RECKONING (Hyams), BRAVE (Brenda Chapman), INVISIBLE WAR (K.Dick), BURNING HOT SUMMER (Garrel), 21 JUMP STREET (Lord/Miller), THE GREY (Carnahan), I'M CAROLYN PARKER (Demme), WOMAN IN BLACK (J.Watkins), HARA-KIRI: DEATH OF SAMURAI (Miike), MAGIC MIKE (Soderbergh), THE IMPOSTER (Layton), THIS MUST BE THE PLACE (Sorrentino), RESIDENT EVIL RETRIBUTION (Paul W.S. Anderson), WANDERLUST (Wain), MIRROR MIRROR (Tarsem), SAVAGES (Stone), JOHN CARTER (Stanton), NEIL YOUNG JOURNEYS (Demme), AFTER THE TRIUMPH OF YOUR BIRTH (Jim Akin), CRAZY HORSE (Wiseman), AI WEIWEI: NEVER SORRY (Alison Klayman), CHRONICLE (Trank), THE COMEDY (Alverson), KON-TIKI (Rønning), SNOWTOWN MURDERS (Kurzel), DARK KNIGHT RISES (Nolan), DETENTION (Joseph Kahn), KLOWN (Nørgaard), FORGIVENESS OF BLOOD (Marston), SKYFALL (Mendes), THE PACT (N.McCarthy), THE HOLE 3D (Dante), THE LADY (Besson), DARK SHADOWS (Burton), ANNA KARENINA (J.Wright), YOUR SISTER'S SISTER (Lynn Shelton), TWIXT (Coppola). KEEP THE LIGHTS ON (Sachs), JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI (Gelb), GOON (Dowse), SACRIFICE (Kaige), KILL LIST (Wheatley), BONES BRIGADE AUTOBIOGRAPHY (Peralta), 7 PSYCHOPATHS (McDonagh), HEADHUNTERS (Tyldum), DAMSELS IN DISTRESS (Stillman), SLEEPLESS NIGHT (Jardin)

OVERSIMPLIFICATION 

                       OF HER BEAUTY (Nance) 2013 release

POLICEMAN (Lapid) 2014 release

LEVIATHAN (Paravel/Castaing-Taylor) 2013 release

PAVILION (Sutton) 2013 release

WRONG (Dupieux) 2013 release

(festival films I loved with no distribution for 2012 or set release)

BARBARA (Christian Petzold), ALMAYER'S FOLLY (Ackerman), LAS ACACIAS (Pablo Giorgelli), PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORY (McElwee), LAST RIDE (Glendyn Ivin), DOMAIN (Jimmy F. Nabi), FRANCINE (Brian M. Cassidy), GIRL MODEL (David Redmon, Ashley Sabin), BURN (Tom Putnam, Brenna Sanchez), TWO YEARS AT SEA (Ben Rivers), OKI'S MOVIE (Sang-soo), WEST OF MEMPHIS (Amy Berg), TOYS IN THE ATTIC (Barta), FAKE IT SO REAL (Robert Greene), GAYBY (Jonathan Lisecki), ONLY THE YOUNG (Elizabeth Mims), ON THE ROAD (Salles), WUTHERING HEIGHTS (Andrea Arnold), BONSAI (Cristian Jimenez), 5 BROKENS CAMERAS (Emad Burnat), BOOKER'S PLACE: MISSISSIPPI STORY (Raymond De Felitta), ELLES (Malgoska Szumowska), FOOTNOTE (Joseph Cedar), ART IS.. THE PERMANENT REVOLUTION (Manfred Kirchheimer), THE SHEIK & I (Zahedi), SACRIFICE (Kaige), SOUND OF NOISE (Ola Simonsson), THE DAY HE ARRIVES (Sang-soo), BALLAD OF GENESIS & LADY JAYE (Marie Losier), KON-TIKI (Rønning), THE AMBASSADOR (Brügger), A SIMPLE LIFE (Ann Hui), THE WISE KIDS (Stephen Cone), AMERICANO (M.Demy), STARLET (Sean Baker), NO (Larrain), SALT OF LIFE (Di Gregorio), UNFORGIVABLE (Téchiné), HEADSHOT (Pen-Ek Ratanaruang), WAR WITCH (Kim Nguyen), SHAKESPEARE HIGH (Alex Rotaru), WHORE'S GLORY (Glwaogger)

 (I want to hear what everybody's favorite films of 2012 were. Post them below)