Top 10 Films of 2012

1. "Post Tenebras Lux" (Carlos Reygadas, Mexico)

2. "Searching For Sugar Man" (Malik Bendjelloul, Sweden)

3. "Les Adieux a la reine" (Benoit Jacquot, France)

4. "Django Unchained" (Quentin Tarantino, USA)

5. "Moonrise Kingdom" (Wes Anderson, USA)

6. "Zero Dark Thirty" (Kathryn Bigelow, USA)

7. "The Master" (Paul Thomas Anderson, USA)

8. "Silver Linings Playbook" (David O. Russell, USA)

9. "Damsels In Distress" (Whit Stillman, USA)

10. "Mirror Mirror" (Tarsem Singh, USA)

Other great films:

7 Days In Havana (Cuba)

80 milionow (Poland)

Act Of Valor

L'Affaire Dumont (Canada)

Amour (Austria)

The Angels' Share (UK)

Anna Karenina

Argo

The Artist And The Model

Asa Akira To The Limit

Atlas Shrugged Part II The Strike

Au galop (France)

The Avengers

Beasts Of The Southern Wild
Bernie

Beyond The Hills (Romania)

Big Love (Poland)

Brave

Camille redouble (France)

Chinese Zodiac (Hong Kong)

Cloud Atlas

Compliance

Cosmopolis (Canada)

Dans la maison (France)

The Dark Knight Rises

Ernest et Celestine (France)

Flight

Frankenweenie

The Gang Of Oss (Holland)

The Gardener (Iran)
The Gatekeepers (Israel)

The Hat Goes Wild (Canada)

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

The Hunt (Denmark)

Il n'y a pas de rapport sexuel (France)

The Impossible

Joven y alocada (Chile)

Kirikou et les hommes et les femmes (France)

Klip (Serbia)

Lesson Of The Evil (Japan)

Life Of Pi

Looper

Lore (Germany)

Love Is In The Air (Italy)

Magic Mike

Mauvaise fille (France)

Midnight's Children (India)

Les Miserables

Mort subite d'un homme-theatre (Canada)

My Daughter The Teenage Nudist (UK)

Naked Harbour (Finland)

On The Road

Over My Dead Body (Canada)

The Paperboy

Paradise Faith (Austria)

Paradise Love (Austria)

The Pirates Band Of Misfits (UK)

Le Prenom (France)

Rebelle (Canada)

Rise Of The Guardians 

Savages

Les Saveurs du palais (France)

Seven Psychopaths

Silent Hill: Revelation 3D (Canada)

Skyfall

Stand Up Guys

Starlet

Stories We Tell (Canada)

Ted

Thale (Norway)

To Rome With Love

Le Torrent (Canada)

Tout ce que tu possedes (Canada)

Traffickers (South Korea)

Urban Tale (Israel)

Virgem Margarida (Mozambique)

Wasteland

White Tiger (Russia)
Wreck-It Ralph

Top 10 Guilty Pleasures of 2012:

1. "La Fille de nulle part" (Jean-Claude Brisseau, France)

2. "Marfa Girl" (Larry Clark, USA)

3. Chroniques sexuelles d'une famille d'aujourd'hui (Pascal Arnold, Jean-Marc Barr, France)

4. "Paraisos artificiais" (Marcos Prado, Brazil)

5. "The Sessions" (Ben Lewin, Fox Searchlight)

6. "Hemel" (Sacha Polak, Holland)

7. "El Sexo de los angeles" (Xavier Villaverde, Spain)

8. "Augustine" (Alice Winocour, France)

9. "Louise Wimmer" (Cyril Mennegun, France)

10. "Call Girl" (Mikael Marcimain, Sweden)

Short Top 3:

1. "Curfew" (Shawn Christensen, USA)

2. "Death Of A Shadow" (Tom Van Avermaet. Belgium)

3. "Henry" (Yan England, Canada)

Other great shorts:

Acrobat (Canada)

Faillir (Canada)

Keep A Modest Head (Canada)

Sparkle

Top 3 Music Videos:

1. "Gangnam Style" (Cho Soo-Hyun, Psy, South Korea)

2. "Bad Girls" (Romain Gavras, M.I.A., France)

3. "Great Strings" (Seb Caudron, Holger, Brazil)

Other great music videos:

Beat It Tonight

It’s Easy To Lose Yourself
J'aime ta grand-mere (Canada)

Ride
Wide Awake

Top Commercial:

"L'Odyssée de Cartier" (Bruno Aveillan, Cartier)

Other great commercials:

The Journey

TV Top 5:

1. "The Walking Dead: Season 3" (AMC)

2. "Game Of Thrones: Season 2" (HBO)

3. "Breaking Bad: Season 5" (AMC)

4. "Mad Men: Season 5" (AMC)

5. "Downton Abbey: Season 3" (ITV)

6. "True Blood: Season 5" (HBO)

7. "Boardwalk Empire: Season 3" (HBO)

8. "Weeds: Season 8" (Showtime)

9. "Girls: Season 1" (HBO)

10. "The Girl's Guide To Depravity: Season 1" (Cinemax)

Cartoon Top 3:

1. "Paperman" (John Kahrs, Disney)

2. "Edmond était un âne" (Franck Dion, France)

3. "Eight-Minute Deadline" (Zina Papadopoulou, Petros Papadopoulos, Greece)

Other great cartoons:

Adam And Dog

Bydlo (Canada)

Fresh Guacamole
Head Over Heels (UK)
The Longest Daycare

Oh Willy (France)

Rabbit And Deer (Hungary)
Tangled Ever After

Weak films of 2012:

38 temoins (France)
5 Broken Cameras (Palestine)
Adieu Berthe (France)
L'Age atomique (France)
The Almost Man (Norway)
Alphée des étoiles (Canada)
Another Silence (Canada)
A perdre la raison (Belgium)
Apres la neige (Canada)
Arbitrage

Avant que mon cœur bascule (Canada)
Battleship
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Bestiaire (Canada)

Blancanieves (Spain)
Un Bouteille dans la mer (Israel)
The Boxing Girls Of Kabul (Canada)
Camion (Canada)
Chasing Ice

Cherchez Hortense (France)
Chimpanzee
China Heavyweight (Canada)

Cloclo (France)
Cold Call (Spain)
Collaborator (Canada)
Colombarium (Canada)
Comme des frères (France)
Dark Shadows

The Deep Blue Sea
Dérapages (Canada)

De rouille et d'os (France)
Dragon (Hong Kong)
L'Empire Bossé (Canada)

The Empty Home (Kyrgyzstan)
L'Enfant d'en haut (Switzerland)
Esimesac (Canada)
The Expendables 2

The Girl In The White Coat (Canada)

Goon (Canada)
La Grande Invasion (Canada)
Hannah Arendt
Hitchcock
Holy Motors (France)
Hors les murs (Belgium)
Hotel Transylvania
How To Survive A Plague
The Hunger Games
Ice Age 4 Continental Drift
Inch' Allah (Canada)
Indie Game: The Movie (Canada)
Into The Dark (Norway)
The Invisible War
It's Such A Beautiful Day
Jack Reacher
Kon-Tiki (Norway)
The Lady

Laurence Anyways (Canada)
Let The Daylight Into The Swamp (Canada)
Lincoln
Liv And Ingmar (Sweden)
Liverpool (Canada)
The Lorax
Mabul (Israel)
Magnifica presenza (Italy)
Mars et Avril (Canada)
Men In Black
Mes heros (France)

Mesnak (Canada)
Mince alors (France)
No (Chile)
La Nuit d'en face (Chile)
Omerta (Canada)
The Orheim Company (Norway)
Oslo August 31 (Norway)
ParaNorman
Les Pee Wee 3D (Canada)
Poklosie (Poland)

Populaire (France)
Prometheus
Quelques heures de printemps (France)
The Quiet Game (Sweden)
Reality (Italy)
Rengaine (France)
Roman Polanski A Film Memoir
Romeo Onze (Canada)
Room 237

A Royal Affair (Denmark) 
Ruby Sparks
Ruta de la luna (Panama)
Safe
Safe House
Safety Not Guaranteed
Salmon Fishing In The Yemen (UK)
The Secret World of Arrietty (Japan)
Shifting The Blame (Germany)
Still Mine (Canada)
Thérèse Desqueyroux (France)
Tres Marias (Costa Rica)
Underworld Awakening
The Vow
The World Before Her (India)

Weak shorts:

Anata o korosu (Canada)
Asad
Asparragos (Peru)
Attack Of The Brainsucker (Canada)
Avec Jeff, à moto (Canada)
Buzkashi Boys
Chef de meute (Canada)
Edwige (France)
Foxes (Ireland)
Frost (Canada)
The Fuse Or How I Burned Simon Bolivar (Canada)
Le Futur proche (Canada)
Grace (Australia)
Kings Point
Là où je suis (Canada)
Love (Canada)

Mondays At Racine
Name Of The Father (Holland)
Ne pas reculer (Canada)
One Minute (Russia)
La Peur au ventre (Canada)
Premiere neige (Canada)
Sur la plage (Switzerland)
Three Walls (Canada)
Throat Song (Canada)
Vous n'avez encore rien vu (France)

Weak cartoons:

Demoni (Bulgaria)
Flamingo Pride (Germany)
Le Grand ailleurs et le petit ici (Canada)
Joda (Canada)
Kaspar (Canada)
MacPherson (Canada)
Requiem For Romance (Canada)
Triptyque 2 (Canada)

Top Musical of 2012

"Les Miserables" (Tom Hooper, Universal)

Post Tenebras Lux (2012) *****

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) ****

Superb prequel to the "Lord Of The Rings" trilogy, with fabulous action scenes and breathtaking scenery.

Silver Linings Playbook (2012) ****

The Master (2012) ****

Zero Dark Thirty (2012) ****

Moonrise Kingdom (2012) ****

Django Unchained (2012) ****

Les Adieux a la reine (2012) ****

Le Prenom (2012) ****

Excellent French comedy/drama about a family supper that turns quite ugly. And hilarious.

Searching For Sugar Man (2012) ****

Fabulous documentary about fame.

Argo (2012) ***

 

Excellent thriller about the rescue of American diplomats in Iran in 1980.

Life Of Pi (2012) ***

Impressive adaptation of Yann Martel's magnificent novel.

Skyfall (2012) ***

Excellent James Bond movie with a memorable villain (Javier Bardem).

Frankenweenie (2012) ***

Excellent variation on the "Frankenstein" story, with a puppy dog brought back to life. Directed by Tim Burton.

Les Miserables (2012) ***

Superlative film adaptation of the legendary stage musical adapted from Victor Hugo's immortal novel.

Beasts Of The Southern Wild (2012) ***

Impressive film set in Louisiana bayou country.

The Angels' Share (2012) ***

Ken Loach in a lighter mode than usual.

Act Of Valor (2012) ***

Fine action film about Navy Seals, with actual soldiers playing all the roles.

Ted (2012) ***

Mirror Mirror (2012) ***

Very amusing parody of the Snow White tale, starring Julia Roberts. Nominated for an Oscar (best costumes).

Stand Up Guys (2012) ***

Looper (2012) ***

The Sessions (2012) ***

Savages (2012) ***

The Paperboy (2012) ***

The Impossible (2012) ***

Flight (2012) ***

Compliance (2012) ***

On The Road (2012) ***

Cloud Atlas (2012) ***

Anna Karenina (2012) ***

Marfa Girl (2012) ***

Magic Mike (2012) ***

Atlas Shrugged Part II The Strike (2012) ***

Second part of the adaptation of Ayn Rand's famous novel about the collapse of a collectivist society.

The Gardener (2012) ***

Starlet (2012) ***

Tout ce que tu possedes (2012) ***

Canadian drama about a young university teacher who refuses to accept a huge inheritance.

Rise Of The Guardians (2012) ***

Impressive action scenes in this entertaining animated film about Jack Frost, Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman, the Boogie Man and the Easter Bunny.

Wreck-It Ralph (2012) ***

Amusing cartoon feature about a computer game villain trying to become a hero.

Les Saveurs du palais (2012) ***

Catherine Frot plays a French president's cook.

To Rome With Love (2012) ***

Is it a film or a cream soufflé ?

The Avengers (2012) ***

Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, Captain America and many other superheros appear in this fine Hollywood action film.

The Gatekeepers (2012) ***

Fascinating Israel documentary about Shin Bet and its former leaders.

Ernest et Celestine (2012) ***

An excellent animated film from France.

Bernie (2012) ***

Truly inspired comedy based on a true story of a kind man killing a mean old woman. Jack Black gives the finest performance of his career.

Brave (2012) ***

“Brother Bear” with girls.

The Dark Knight Rises (2012) ***

Not nearly as impressive as "The Dark Knight", but still a superior "Batman" film. Its first half is a bit weak, but the impressive second half offers a surprising retelling of Dickens' "Tale Of Two Cities", complete with timely denounciations of the Occupy Wall Street mob, class warfare, and Solyndra bankrupcy. The film's unambiguous right-wing sympathies might surprise some Hollywood-bashers on the right, and might explain why in the aftermath of the Aurora massacre, the political controversies focused mainly on the issue of gun control, and largely spared the film itself (the rare condemnations of the film's violence coming mainly from leftist critics already offended by the film's politics).

Damsels In Distress (2012) ***

Another unique gem from Whit Stillman, a quirky comedy of manners about a bunch of delusional chicks in an Ivy League college volunteering at a local suicide prevention center.

Seven Psychopaths (2012) ***

White Tiger (2012) ***

Impressive tank battles in this Russian adaptation of "Moby Dick" with a white Koenig Tiger panzer tank instead of a white whale.