Sunday Top Ten: Top Ten of 2012

Thanks to all who emailed or posted in the comments their top ten lists. I read them with great interest. What fine tastes we all have! [back pat, back pat]

I never got into the habit of publishing an official top ten list when I started this blog. After putting so much work into my own awards each year, an additional list reiterating what I thought were the best films of the year seemed redundant. But I guess it's never too late to start. So here's a ranked, illustrated writeup of my ten favourite movies of the 2012.

Before getting into that, I have to highlight some honourable mentions:

There were some great documentaries this year, at the fore of which are The Queen of Versailles -- which humanizes the obscenely rich while shrewdly dismantling the American Dream -- and 5 Broken Cameras -- which brings a refreshingly personal touch to a complex political issue. 2012 was also a triumphant year for blockbuster franchises. Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises gives his influential trilogy the stirring conclusion it deserves, while Sam Mendes' Skyfall respectfully reinvigorates old-hat material with a classy new treatment. Sundance indies refound their mojo after a bit of an off year in 2011. Ben Lewin's The Sessions reveals intimacy that extends beyond the physical with an endearing sense of playfulness and heart. And finally, even though it's not a feature, no article on the best filmmaking achievements of 2012 would be complete without a big sloppy kiss to John Kahrs' superb animated short Paperman. This is probably my biggest cinematic crush of the year. Its groundbreaking innovations in hybrid animation combined with its hopelessly romantic story took my breath away, leaving an impression equal to any feature I saw over the last 365 days.

It. Is. Perfect.

Money shot! This is my favourite image I saw on screen in 2012

And now, the top ten...

My Award nominations: Supporting Actor

No clear frontrunner for me in this category this year. I'm not yet sure which of these five Supporting Actors I'll choose as the year's best:

My Award nominations: Adapted Screenplay

To be honest, there weren't as many formidable contenders for these spots as in other categories. The five you see here went pretty much unchallenged in my opinion, although The Avengers came awfully close, so here's a quick shout out to Joss Whedon and Zak Penn. Now, my actual nominees for Best Adapted Screenplay:

Writers Guild nominees

The WGA nominees need always be taken with a grain of salt. They're the most exclusively insular of the guilds, only qualifying guild signatories for their awards, so several Oscar-bound screenplays are deemed ineligible every year. So don't take the absence of Django Unchained, Amour, and Beasts of the Southern Wild as particularly bad omens for their chances with the Academy. They weren't in the running with this guild, along with several others.

For the ten screenplays that did make it, it's a solid crop all around.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Flight, Written by John Gatins
Looper, Written by Rian Johnson
The Master, Written by Paul Thomas Anderson
Moonrise Kingdom, Written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola
Zero Dark Thirty, Written by Mark Boal

With Amour and Django being ineligible, I'm thinking two of these will be left out of the Oscar race. I'm really crossing my fingers for Looper to eke it out, because despite a healthy showing of critics prizes so far, it just feels like an Oscar snubee in the making.

Review - The Perks of Being a Wallflower

The unbearably long gap between the November Oscar releases and the Christmas Oscar releases has driven me all the back to last September in the hunt for something decent to watch. My quarry: The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

Based on his own novel of the same name, Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower may appear to be nothing more than a fairly typical high school movie, and the reason for that appearance is because... well, it is. But just because something isn't remarkable or revelatory, that doesn't mean it can't still move and captivate. This particular youth-oriented drama is a graceful montage of a year-in-the-life, steeped in all the agony and ecstasy that one year can bring, but told with the utmost tenderness.