Thursday, March 7, 2013

The Best of 2012, Part I: The 2012 Movie Awards


Better late than never.  I normally try and get out my year-end film awards and Top 10 of the year posts written before the Oscars, but this year it didn’t happen.  It’s actually kind of difficult to write these columns at the end of the year like real critics do, because I’m not a special person who gets screeners of films in advance of their release, and I don’t particularly like making these posts until I’ve had a chance to see as much as possible from the prior year.  So, I think a two-month buffer between the end of the year and my post is acceptable.

In this Part I of my look at 2012 in Film, I hand out my yearly Movie Awards, and in Part II I will unveil my Top 10 films of the year, so stay tuned for that.

Until then, enjoy my somewhat serious, somewhat not-so-serious movie awards.

Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Master
Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master



The Other Nominees:
Dwight Henry, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Matthew McConaughey, Killer Joe
Jason Clarke, Zero Dark Thirty
Javier Bardem, Skyfall



Movie I will Probably Watch More in my Lifetime than any other Movie this Year: Pitch Perfect



The “Hollywood can Pretend this Movie was Never Made, and I’ll Pretend I Didn’t Watch It” Award: American Reunion



The “Why? Oh Yeah, Truckloads of Cash.” Award: The Amazing Spiderman (But, seriously, why?)


Best Ensemble Cast: The Master



Ann Dowd in Compliance
Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Ann Dowd, Compliance



The Other Nominees:
Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Judi Dench, Skyfall
Kara Hayward, Moonrise Kingdom
Amy Adams, The Master



Actually a lot better than it had any right to be: The Grey

Most Underrated Movie of the Year: Goon



Most Overrated Movie of the Year: Zero Dark Thirty

Best Movie You Didn’t See This Year: Holy Motors



Best Movie Everyone Saw This Year: The Hunger Games (ended up on my year-end list at #20)



Best Cinematography: The Master (Mihai Malaimare Jr.)


Best Original Musical Score: Anna Karenina (Dario Marianelli)



Biggest Letdown: Prometheus

Biggest Surprise: Moonrise Kingdom



Worst Movie I Saw This Year: The Trouble With the Curve



The “Should be in Every Movie” Award: Javier Bardem



The “Shouldn’t be in Any Movie” Award: Aaron Johnson



Emmanuelle Riva in Amour
Best Actress in a Leading Role: Emmanuelle Riva, Amour



The Other Nominees:
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Keira Knightley, Anna Karenina
Rachel Weisz, The Deep Blue Sea



Best Adapted Screenplay: Lincoln (Tony Kushner)



Best Original Screenplay: Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola)



The “Tim Riggins Would be Very Disappointed with your Acting Career” Award: Taylor Kitsch, Battleship, John Carter and Savages



Breakout Director of the Year: Benh Zeitlen, Beasts of the Southern Wild



The “Please, Someone Put All of Them Out of Their Misery” Award: Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, and Helena Bonham Carter, Dark Shadows



The “Let’s Not Forget This Was an Actual Movie That Got Made” Award: What to Expect When You’re Expecting



The “We’re Still Pumping These Out, Huh?” Award: Madagascar #9, and Ice Age #15



The “Okay, It Wasn’t That Good” Award: Les Miserables



The “Yeah, It Was That Good” Award: 21 Jump Street



The “Let’s Never Forget that an Eddie Murphy Movie Actually Scored a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes” Award (I’m actually kind of impressed): A Thousand Words



Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln
Best Actor in a Leading Role: Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln



The Other Nominees: (Had 6 total nominees this year. because I can do what I want, that’s why.)
Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained (Hey Oscars, this is a leading performance!)

Denis Lavant, Holy Motors
Jean-Louis Trintignant, Amour
Jack Black, Bernie
Joaquin Phoenix, The Master

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