Steven D. Greydanus: Top 30 Films of 2012, as published by The National Catholic Register
[see also 2018]
- The Kid with a Bike — Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne
- Barbara — Christian Petzold
- Argo — Ben Affleck
- The Avengers — Joss Whedon
- The Secret World of Arrietty — Hiromasa Yonebayashi
- Lincoln — Steven Spielberg
- Damsels in Distress — Whit Stillman
- Planet of Snail — Yi Seung-jun
- I Wish — Hirokazu Kore-eda
- Anna Karenina — Joe Wright
10 Films that Stood Out
- Beasts of the Southern Wild — Benh Zeitlin
- Brave — Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman
- The Dark Knight Rises — Christopher Nolan
- Elena — Andrey Zvyagintsev
- Jiro Dreams of Sushi — David Gelb
- Les Misérables — Tom Hooper
- Moonrise Kingdom — Wes Anderson
- The Queen of Versailles — Lauren Greenfield
- Skyfall — Sam Mendes
- Zero Dark Thirty — Kathryn Bigelow
10 Runners-Up (in alphabetical order)
- Arbitrage — Nicholas Jarecki
- A Cat in Paris — Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gagnol
- First Position — Bess Kargman
- For Greater Glory — Dean Wright
- Frankenweenie — Tim Burton
- The Impossible — Juan Antonio Bayona
- Monsieur Lazhar — Philippe Falardeua
- The Pirates! Band of Misfits — Peter Lord and Jeff Newitt
- Ruby Sparks — Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris
- The Turin Horse — Béla Tarr