Best of 2012

Here is my much-delayed list of best films and performers for 2012. It took a while, but I managed to find 10 films worthy of a Top 10. Except for a few films, the crop of 2012 will be quickly forgotten.

Films

  1 Silver Linings Playbook
  2 Argo
  3 Moonrise Kingdom
  4 Lincoln
  5 Bernie
  6 Arbitrage
  7 Zero Dark Thirty
  8 The Perks of Being a Wallflower
  9 Robot & Frank
10 Ted

11 Skyfall
12 Django Unchained
13 Flight
14 The Impossible
15 To Rome With Love
16 The Grey
17 Prometheus
18 The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
19 The Hunger Games
20 The Master

 

 Directors
 1  Ben Affleck, Argo
 2  Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
 3  David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
 4  Wes Anderson, Moonrise Kingdom
 5  Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty

 
  Actors
  1  Daniel Day-Lewis,  Lincoln
  2  Richard Gere,  Arbitrage
  3  Denzel Washington, Flight
  4  Frank Langella,  Robot & Frank
  5  Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook

  Actresses
  1  Jennifer Lawrence,  Silver Linings Playbook
  2  Naomi Watts,  The Impossible
  3  Shirley MacLaine,  Bernie
  4  Jessica Chastain,  Zero Dark Thirty
  5  Kara Hayward,  Moonrise Kingdom

  Supporting Actors
  1  Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook
  2  Alan Arkin, Argo
  3  Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
  4  Tom Wilkinson,
      The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
  5  John Goodman,  Argo

  Supporting Actresses
  1  Judi Dench, Skyfall
  2  Brit Marling,  Arbitrage
  3  Jacki Weaver,  Silver Linings Playbook
  4  Anne Hathaway,  Les Misérables
  5  Emily Blunt,  Looper
 
  Screenwriters
  1  David O. Russell,  Silver Linings Playbook
  2  Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola,
      Moonrise Kingdom
  3  Chris Terrio,  Argo
  4  Tony Kushner,  Lincoln
  5  Nicholas Jarecki,  Arbitrage

  Cinematography
  1  Janusz Kaminski,  Lincoln
  2  Claudio Miranda,  Life of Pi
  3  Oscar Faura, The Impossible
  4  Danny Cohen,  Les Misérables
  5  Robert Richardson, Django Unchained

 

  Foreign-Language Films
  1  Amour  (Austria)
  2  Headhunters  (Norway)
  3  The Well-Digger’s Daughter (France)
  4  Detective Dee and the Mystery of
      the Phantom Flame (China)
  5  Footnote  (Israel)