Year-End Lists

A hand-curated, browsable index of notable year-end lists. Follow the link for each list to see essential commentary from its author, at the source.
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Highlights

2012
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Slant: 25 Best Films of 2012

14 December 2012

Slant Magazine: 25 Best Films of 2012

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2011]

  1. This is Not a Film
    Jafar Panahi & Mojtaba Mirtahmasb
  2. Holy Motors
    Leos Carax
  3. The Deep Blue Sea
    Terence Davies
  4. The Kid with a Bike
    Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne
  5. The Master
    Paul Thomas Anderson
  6. Tabu
    Miguel Gomes
  7. Oslo, August 31st
    Joachim Trier
  8. Zero Dark Thirty
    Kathryn Bigelow
  9. The Turin Horse
    Béla Tarr & Agnes Hranitzky
  10. Moonrise Kingdom
    Wes Anderson
  11. Neighboring Sounds
    Kleber Mendonça Filho
  12. The Color Wheel
    Alex Ross Perry
  13. Cosmopolis
    David Cronenberg
  14. The Day He Arrives
    Hong Sang-soo
  15. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
    Nuri Bilge Ceylan
  16. Lincoln
    Steven Spielberg
  17. How to Survive a Plague: The Inside Story of How Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS
    David France
  18. Killer Joe
    William Friedkin
  19. Girl Walk // All Day
    Jacob Krupnick
  20. Beasts of the Southern Wild
    Benh Zeitlin
  21. The Comedy
    Rick Alverson
  22. Almayer’s Folly
    Chantal Akerman
  23. Attenberg
    Athina Rachel Tsangari
  24. Barbara
    Christian Petzold
  25. Magic Mike
    Steven Soderbergh

IndieWire: Eric Kohn: 10 Best Movies of 2012

13 December 2012

Holy Motors - Leos Carax

Eric Kohn: 10 Best Movies of 2012, as published by IndieWire

[see also 2023 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014]

  1. Holy Motors
    Leos Carax
  2. Zero Dark Thirty
    Kathryn Bigelow
  3. The Master
    Paul Thomas Anderson
  4. This is Not a Film
    Jafar Panahi & Mojtaba Mirtahmasb
  5. Amour
    Michael Haneke
  6. Your Sister’s Sister
    Lynn Shelton
  7. Tabu
    Miguel Gomes
  8. The Loneliest Planet
    Julia Loktev
  9. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
    Nuri Bilge Ceylan
  10. Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning
    John Hyams

Artforum: J Hoberman: 12 Best Films of 2012

12 December 2012

J Hoberman: 12 Best Films of 2012, as published by Artforum

[see also 2021 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2011]

  1. Werner Schroeter retrospective at MOMA
  2. Almayer’s Folly
    Chantal Akerman
  3. Tabu
    Miguel Gomes
  4. Il Cinema Ritrovato XVI (annual festival in Bologna)
  5. Oskar Fischinger: Space Light Art, Whitney Museum exhibition
  6. Lonesome DVD (1928)
    Paul Fejos
  7. Beyond the Hills
    Cristian Mungiu
  8. Leviathan
    Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel
  9. The Master
    Paul Thomas Anderson
  10. Moonrise Kingdom
    Wes Anderson
  11. Beasts of the Southern Wild
    Benh Zeitlin
  12. Clint Eastwood on YouTube

New Yorker: Richard Brody: 27 Best Movies of 2012

11 December 2012

Holy Motors - Leos Carax

Richard Brody: 27 Best Movies of 2012, as published by The New Yorker

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2011]

  1. Holy Motors
    Leos Carax
  2. Moonrise Kingdom
    Wes Anderson
  3. The Master
    Paul Thomas Anderson
  4. Oki’s Movie
    Hong Sang-soo
  5. This is Not a Film
    Jafar Panahi & Mojtaba Mirtahmasb
  6. To Rome with Love
    Woody Allen
  7. Tabu
    Miguel Gomes
  8. The Color Wheel
    Alex Ross Perry
  9. The Deep Blue Sea
    Terence Davies
  10. Damsels in Distress
    Whit Stillman
  11. We Have a Pope
    Nanni Moretti
  12. This Is 40
    Judd Apatow
  13. Red Hook Summer
    Spike Lee
  14. Magic Mike
    Steven Soderbergh
  15. Fake It So Real
    Robert Greene
  16. Brenie
    Richard Linklater
  17. Chronicle
    Josh Trank
  18. Haywire
    Steven Soderbergh
  19. The Comedy
    Rick Alverson
  20. Bad Fever
    Dustin Guy Defa
  21. The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye
    Marie Losier
  22. The Day He Arrives
    Hong Sang-soo
  23. In Another Country
    Hong Sang-soo
  24. Green
    Sophia Takal
  25. Almayer’s Folly
    Chantal Akerman
  26. The Kid with a Bike
    Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne
  27. Jeff, Who Lives at Home
    Jay and Mark Duplass

David Ehrlich: 25 Best Films of 2012

09 December 2012

Holy Motors - Leos Carax

David Ehrlich: 25 Best Films of 2012 (presented visually at Movies.com)

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2011]

  1. Holy Motors
    Leos Carax
  2. Like Someone in Love
    Abbas Kiarostami
  3. Amour
    Michael Haneke
  4. Zero Dark Thirty
    Kathryn Bigelow
  5. Django Unchained
    Quentin Tarantino
  6. The Master
    Paul Thomas Anderson
  7. Something in the Air
    Olivier Assayas
  8. The Comedy
    Rick Alverson
  9. Anna Karenina
    Joe Wright
  10. Girl Walk // All Day
    Jacob Krupnick
  11. Alps
    Yorgos Lanthimos
  12. Wuthering Heights
    Andrea Arnold
  13. Goodbye First Love
    Mia Hansen-Løve
  14. The Cabin in the Woods
    Drew Goddard
  15. Cloud Atlas
    Lana & Andy Wachowski and Tom Tykwer
  16. Skyfall
    Sam Mendes
  17. The Deep Blue Sea
    Terence Davies
  18. Tabu
    Miguel Gomes
  19. Oslo, August 31st
    Joachim Trier
  20. Moonrise Kingdom
    Wes Anderson
  21. Shut Up and Play the Hits
    Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace
  22. The Avengers
    Joss Whedon
  23. Policeman
    Nadav Lapid
  24. Cosmopolis
    David Cronenberg
  25. Sound of Noise
    Ola Simonsson and Johannes Stjärne Nilsson

Atlantic Wire: 10 Best Movies of 2012

09 December 2012

Atlantic Wire: 10 Best Movies of 2012 (alphabetical)

Entertainment Weekly: Lisa Schwarzbaum: 10 Best Movies of 2012

09 December 2012

Zero Dark Thirty - Kathryn Bigelow

Lisa Schwarzbaum: 10 Best Movies of 2012, as published by Entertainment Weekly

[see also 2015]

  1. Zero Dark Thirty
    Kathryn Bigelow
  2. Lincoln
    Steven Spielberg
  3. The Master
    Paul Thomas Anderson
  4. Amour
    Michael Haneke
  5. Argo
    Ben Affleck
  6. The Gatekeepers
    Dror Moreh
  7. Beasts of the Southern Wild
    Benh Zeitlin
  8. Skyfall
    Sam Mendes
  9. The Loneliest Planet
    Julia Loktev
  10. How to Survive a Plague: The Inside Story of How Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS
    David France

Entertainment Weekly: Owen Gleiberman: 10 Best Movies of 2012

09 December 2012

Owen Gleiberman: 10 Best Movies of 2012, as published by Entertainment Weekly

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017]

  1. Lincoln
    Steven Spielberg
  2. Amour
    Michael Haneke
  3. Silver Linings Playbook
    David O. Russell
  4. Room 237
    Rodney Ascher
  5. Zero Dark Thirty
    Kathryn Bigelow
  6. The Perks of Being a Wallflower
    Stephen Chbosky
  7. Killing Them Softly
    Andrew Dominik
  8. Argo
    Ben Affleck
  9. Flight
    Robert Zemeckis
  10. Bernie
    Richard Linklater

Tom Shone: 10 Best Films of 2012

09 December 2012

Amour - Michael Haneke

Tom Shone (of The Economist: Intelligent Life magazine and The Guardian): 10 Best Films of 2012

  1. Amour
    Michael Haneke
  2. Zero Dark Thirty
    Kathryn Bigelow
  3. Silver Linings Playbook
    David O. Russell
  4. Beasts of the Southern Wild
    Benh Zeitlin
  5. Lincoln
    Steven Spielberg
  6. The Grey
    Joe Carnahan
  7. Life of Pi
    Ang Lee
  8. Flight
    Robert Zemeckis
  9. Magic Mike
    Steven Soderbergh
  10. Django Unchained
    Quentin Tarantino

Sight & Sound Poll: Top 11 Films of 2012

09 December 2012

The Master - Paul Thomas Anderson

Sight & Sound Poll: Top 11 Films of 2012 (a poll of over 90 critics, published by Sight & Sound Magazine)

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2011]

  1. The Master
    Paul Thomas Anderson
  2. Tabu
    Miguel Gomes
  3. Amour
    Michael Haneke
  4. Holy Motors
    Leos Carax
  5. Beasts of the Southern Wild
    Benh Zeitlin
  6. Berberian Sound Studio
    Peter Strickland
  7. Moonrise Kingdom
    Wes Anderson
  8. Beyond the Hills
    Cristian Mungiu
  9. Cosmopolis
    David Cronenberg
  10. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
    Nuri Bilge Ceylan
  11. This is Not a Film
    Jafar Panahi & Mojtaba Mirtahmasb

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Year-end lists are fingerprints; aggregate statistics are smudges. Therefore, I make no tallies.