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Jessica Kiang’s Favorite Films Of 2012

  • By Jessica Kiang
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  • January 4, 2013 1:56 PM
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  • 11 Comments
Features
Step into my limousine and let’s drive around in the dead of night trying to find the corpses of 2012’s best films, shall we? Our journey will take us to the cornfields of Kansas, to tiny New England islands and to an explosion in a restaurant in Tel Aviv. We will talk to murderers and movie directors, we will celebrate friendship in Barcelona and suffer despair in the Phillippine jungle; we will get punched in the supermarket and mourn Phil Coulson. And then, just as we are sipping Fernet Branca in an Italian café, mercifully the apocalypse will arrive from below and that will be that.
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More: Death Row, Once Upon A Time In Anatolia, Moonrise Kingdom, The Attack, The Hunt, A Gun In Each Hand, Looper, Cabin In The Woods, Best Of 2012, 2012: The Year In Review, Features, Side By Side, Holy Motors, Captive

My Favorite Films Of 2012 - Rodrigo Perez

  • By Rodrigo Perez
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  • January 4, 2013 1:03 PM
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  • 10 Comments
Features
Cinema. Our cathedral in the dark for watching the lives of others flashing on a screen in hopes of a resonant echo, self-recognition, escape, catharsis, trying to make sense of this crazy world. One sometimes has to question the beings who would rather spend their time with fictional people in an unreal story instead of the real flesh and blood thing. But in the dark, sometimes, together we transcend our stations, and for a fleeting two hours, if we’re lucky, can be transported to a place that’s moving, poignant, and maybe even magical.
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More: Best Of 2012, 2012: The Year In Review, Tabu, Take This Waltz, Zero Dark Thirty, Rust And Bone, Holy Motors, The Comedy

Drew Taylor's Top Ten Favorite Films of 2012

  • By Drew Taylor
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  • January 2, 2013 11:04 AM
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  • 8 Comments
Features
2012 was all about escape. Not only in terms of the big-budget movies that offered us escape from the increasingly ugly real world (how many superheroes or swoony vampires can we stomach?), but by the content of the more adult movies. Characters wanted an escape – from slavery, from a futuristic Korea, from time-travel gangsters, from a burdensome lover – and in these stories we were afforded tremendous freedom. They transported us, for sure, while reminding us of the very real hardships 2012 afforded us all. Below are my very favorite movies of the year, all of which I will be escaping to, again and again, for years to come.
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More: Zero Dark Thirty, Holy Motors, Django Unchained, Room 237, Magic Mike, Anna Karenina, Killing Them Softly, Cloud Atlas, Looper, Beasts Of The Southern Wild, Best Of 2012, 2012: The Year In Review

Gabe Toro's Ten Best Films Of 2012

  • By Gabe Toro
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  • December 28, 2012 9:56 AM
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  • 28 Comments
Features
A strong year, this 2012. Every genre had its share of riches, and we were spoiled by new films from Andersons Wes and Paul Thomas, further mythmaking from Quentin Tarantino and an inquisition into our currency from David Cronenberg. We saw the continued evolution of the careers of Jacques Audiard, Rian Johnson, Craig Zobel and Ira Sachs, while William Friedkin was revitalized, and, as if by accident, two more great films tumbled out of Steven Soderbergh’s pocket. By the time Steven Spielberg cranked out his finest film in almost two decades, we were awash in riches.
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More: Zero Dark Thirty, Alps, Killing Them Softly, The Master, Holy Motors, Wuthering Heights, Jafar Panahi, Moonrise Kingdom, Magic Mike, Amour, 2012: The Year In Review, Best Of 2012

'Holy Motors' Tops Film Comment's Top 50 Films Of 2012, 'The Master,' 'Moonrise Kingdom' & 'Amour' In Top 10

  • By Kevin Jagernauth
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  • December 14, 2012 4:16 PM
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  • 14 Comments
News
Another awards season week draws to a close, and another poll drops, this time from Film Comment. And a few cinephile favorites feature in the top ten of a fifty strong list.
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More: Best Of 2012, 2012: The Year In Review, Holy Motors, The Master, Amour, The Turin Horse, This Is Not A Film, The Kid With The Bike, Once Upon A Time In Anatolia, Zero Dark Thirty, Lincoln, Moonrise Kingdom

The Guardian Names 'The Master' The Best Film Of 2012, 'Ted' Is The Second Best

  • By Kevin Jagernauth
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  • December 13, 2012 6:24 PM
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  • 12 Comments
News
While the awards circuit hasn't been overly kind to Paul Thomas Anderson's "The Master," it seems to be from across the pond where it's getting the most love. The film topped the Sight & Sound poll for 2012, and now The Guardian has come out as well, naming it the best picture of the year. They in particular single out "[Joaquin] Phoenix's agonisingly intense and blazingly committed performance" as the big factor that pushed the movie to the top. And this is cool, but the rest of the top ten is perhaps even more fascinating.
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More: Best Of 2012, 2012: The Year In Review, The Master, Ted, Amour, Silver Linings Playbook, Holy Motors, This Is Not A Film, Once Upon A Time In Anatolia, Beasts Of The Southern Wild, Alps, The Queen of Versailles

The Best Movie Music Moments Of 2012

  • By The Playlist Staff
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  • December 10, 2012 3:05 PM
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  • 29 Comments
Features
When it first began, many, many years ago, The Playlist covered film in general, but with a particular focus on the places where movies intersected with music -- scores, soundtracks, music videos et al. And while our remit has grown over time, it's still something we take a particular interest in. After all, it's hard to think of major movies in which music doesn't play a key part, from a piece of score elevating a key sequence to a pop song that becomes inextricably linked with a film until the end of time.
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More: Features, Soundtrack, 2012: The Year In Review, Alps, This Is 40, Django Unchained, The Perks Of Being A Wallflower, Tabu, Pitch Perfect, Les Miserables, Take This Waltz, Rust And Bone, Skyfall, Shut Up And Play The Hits, The Master, Magic Mike, Beasts Of The Southern Wild, Holy Motors, Five-Year Engagement, Brooklyn Brothers Beat The Best, The Comedy, Anna Karenina, Best Of 2012

'Amour' & 'The Master' Top Winners At LA Film Critics Awards, 'Zero Dark Thirty' Takes Victory In Boston

  • By Oliver Lyttelton
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  • December 9, 2012 6:59 PM
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  • 4 Comments
Awards
"Zero Dark Thirty" might have cleaned up at many of the critics' awards so far (and continued to dominate year-end awards and lists over the weekend for the most part), but it's not been allowed to have a total sweep of the groups, thanks to the Los Angeles Film Critics. The LAFCAs were given out today (in fact, they're still going on, into hour six...), and the West Coast writers elected to give their top prize to Michael Haneke's "Amour."
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More: Awards, The Amazing Race, Amour, The Master, Zero Dark Thirty, Beasts Of The Southern Wild, Holy Motors

Paul Thomas Anderson's 'The Master' Tops Sight & Sound's Best Of 2012

  • By Kevin Jagernauth
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  • December 1, 2012 11:04 AM
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  • 52 Comments
News
It's December 1st, which means we're just weeks away from 2013, and critics will be compiling their 'Best of 2012' lists over the next few weeks. The Cahiers Du Cinema already got the ball rolling with their selection of the best films of the year, and now another venerated cinema magazine has unveiled their choices.
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More: Best Of 2012, The Master, Tabu, Amour, Holy Motors, Beasts Of The Southern Wild, Berberian Sound Studio, Moonrise Kingdom, Beyond The Hills, Cosmopolis, Once Upon A Time In Anatolia, This Is Not A Film

'Holy Motors' Tops Cahiers Du Cinema's Top 10 Of 2012; 'Cosmopolis,' 'Keep The Lights On' & More Make The Cut

  • By Kevin Jagernauth
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  • November 21, 2012 1:23 PM
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  • 17 Comments
News
Well, Thanksgiving has barely started and the first top ten list of 2012 has arrived from the snooty folks (kidding guys, we love you) at French movie bible Cahiers Du Cinema, and as usual, it's pretty...eclectic...
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More: Holy Motors, Cosmopolis, Twixt, 4:44 Last Day On Earth, In Another Country, Take Shelter, Tabu, Keep the Lights On, Best Of 2012

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