A.O. Scott: 25 Favorite Films of 2012, as published by The New York Times
[see also 2010s, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2011]
- Amour — Michael Haneke
- Lincoln — Steven Spielberg
- Beasts of the Southern Wild — Benh Zeitlin
- Footnote — Joseph Cedar
- The Master — Paul Thomas Anderson
- Zero Dark Thirty — Kathryn Bigelow
- Django Unchained — Quentin Tarantino
- Goodbye First Love — Mia Hansen-Løve
- Neighboring Sounds — Kleber Mendonça Filho
- The Grey — Joe Carnahan
- Argo — Ben Affleck
- Barbara — Christian Petzold
- Brave — Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman
- Consuming Spirits — Chris Sullivan
- The Deep Blue Sea — Terence Davies
- Moonrise Kingdom — Wes Anderson
- Pitch Perfect — Jason Moore
- Rust and Bone — Jacques Audiard
- Take This Waltz — Sarah Polley
- The Turin Horse — Béla Tarr & Agnes Hranitzky
Honorable Mention, Alphabetically
- The Gatekeepers — Dror Moreh
- The Queen of Versailles — Lauren Greenfield
- How to Survive a Plague: The Inside Story of How Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS — David France
- This is Not a Film — Jafar Panahi & Mojtaba Mirtahmasb
- The Central Park Five — Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, and David McMahon