Time seems to be really good at sneaking up on people, and for a lot of us here at Way Too Indie it was hard to believe that our little site has been running for five years (Happy Anniversary to us!). We weren’t sure on what the best way to celebrate our anniversary month could be, but then it suddenly hit us: Way Too Indie’s 5th anniversary just so happens to fall on the halfway point of the decade.

So we spent most of the last 2 months putting together our collective list of the best 50 films of the decade so far. After a lot of deliberating and discussing, we compiled this list of 50 films that came out between 2010 and 2014 (Note: we went by original release date, not US, meaning some films like Dogtooth and A Prophet couldn’t make the cut). These are the films we love, cherish, and will remember years and years from now. A lot has changed with film in the last 5 years, but the quality of the creative output only seems to keep getting better. Here’s to an amazing first half of the decade, and let’s hope the next five years lead to even bigger and better things.

Each day this week we will reveal ten films from our list of 50, so check back tomorrow for the next group of films.

Best 50 Movies Of The Decade So Far
(#50 – #41)

Argo

This 2012 political thriller won Ben Affleck the Oscar for Best Picture but that wouldn’t have guaranteed it a spot on this list. What really put it over the edge were a number of factors including the combined talents of Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, and John Goodman. My favorite moments of the movie were all of the ones with them in it. Though Argo has been criticized for taking some all too common Hollywood liberties with the truth, such as minimizing the role of the Canadian Embassy in the rescue, it’s success in revisiting a moment in our history whose details had only been made known to the public when the classified documents were published in 1997 made it a film worthy of note and attention for it’s portrayal of CIA exfiltration specialist Tony Mendez’s unconventional attempt to rescue members of the US Embassy in Iran taken hostage during the revolution. [Scarlet]

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Beasts of the Southern Wild’s biggest achievement is its ability to create a world that is both fantastical and grimly realistic. Benh Zeitlin’s Hurricane Katrina parable plays as a fantasy, but doesn’t wash away the serious realities facing the people in this environment. Enhancing the world-building is the community of actors (in many cases, non-actors) who feel authentic but are never looked down on. Honestly, I have nothing in common with these characters and don’t have any contact with the real-life versions of them, but I’m able to live in this world for 90 minutes. This community is strong, happy, unwilling to be changed or catered to. Some have complained that this approach feels like a grotesque travelogue for privileged outsiders to connect with the less fortunate, but I think that is a grave exaggeration. Perhaps I could see that a little more if there wasn’t as much soul in the work. Beside its wonderful magical realism, Beasts of the Southern Wild is grounded in the relationship between Hush Puppy and Wink, with powerful performances from Quvenzhané Wallis and Dwight Henry. [Aaron]

Toy Story 3

For all of its technological greatness, Pixar Animation’s first film, 1995’s Toy Story, was also a triumph in the story it told—a story embracing nostalgia (with ample pathos) and doing so without schmaltz or contrivance. After A Bug’s Life came 1999’s Toy Story 2, which is remarkable as both a glorious stand-alone tale (this time about commodifying nostalgia) and one of those rare better-than-the-original sequels. The studio’s next seven films would offer an embarrassment of creative and original riches: Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Ratatouille, WALL-E, and Up. But for their 11th film, the studio knew it had one more great tale to tell from the toy box, and Toy Story 3 turned out to be the best of the trilogy, continuing its path down nostalgia lane to…the lane’s end. It’s heartbreaking farewell to nostalgia—a farewell born of something as normal and natural as growing up, summoned forth the heaviest of tears in a collection of films rich with Kleenex-demanding moments. There’s now a Toy Story 4 in the works, and while my knee-jerk reaction is to scoff at the notion of another sequel, Pixar’s handling of Woody, Buzz, and friends has not let me down yet; in fact, it has only ever lifted me up. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have something in my eye. [Michael]

Winter’s Bone

Debra Granik had only directed one other film when her indie Winter’s Bone came out. Starring the yet-to-be national treasure Jennifer Lawrence, then relatively unknown, the film was a sleeper. The kind that had a general buzz, though no real commercial success, following its Sundance premiere and a Grand Jury Prize win. After all, a backcountry noir taking place in the bluish bleak Ozarks following a teenager looking for her missing father among her rather sinister meth-making family, was never going to be the family-fun hit of the summer. And while we’re grateful for this film catapulting J-Law into the serious film world (and earning a first Oscar nomination), what makes Winter’s Bone deserving of this list is that Granik created an enthralling mystery propelled by the immense talent of all its performers (though, definite shout out to John Hawkes and all his cigarette smoking). Up until its last shocking moments the film captivates. Most especially by Lawrence’s Ree Dolly, a feminist heroine holding her own among bumpkins, addicts, liars, and her own evil family. Watching a man endure what she faces would surely not have been as compelling. Winter’s Bone is a film of strength and artistry, a time-tested combination. [Ananda]

Leviathan

Harvard’s Sensory Ethnography Lab (official site) has been home to some seriously innovative and aesthetically astute moving images since 2007. It wasn’t until 2012, however, that whispers of this wondrous Lab began to resonate wider in the film world, when Lucien Castaing-Taylor (director of SEL, and professor of Visual Arts and Anthropology at Harvard) and Véréna Paravel got together and created something wholly extraterrestrial in feel. Leviathan is a documentary (though that term is used very loosely when labeling anything that comes out of SEL) that follows a fishing trawler in the dead of night, as it goes about its unceremonious business. With freewheeling cameras strapped to the boat, at times operated by fishermen, or seemingly capsized on the murky surface of the ocean, Leviathan tethers the audience to the experience of industrial fishing, and to the beasts and humans who all play a role in the cruel theatre of unrestrained nature. It’s a viewing experience unlike any other of the decade so far, and is the furthest one could get from conventional, mainstream, filmmaking. Unforgettable, transportive, and frantically cinematic, Leviathan breathes through celluloid, drowning our senses in saltwater and the glory of filmmaking. [Nik]

Amour

Michael Haneke’s Amour might be a slow-burner, but it packs one hell of a mean emotional punch. The film features two brilliant performances from Emmanuelle Riva and Jean-Louis Trintignant, who play an elderly couple madly in love with each other. The film defines what true love means, especially after the wife suffers from multiple strokes and the husband attends to her without feeling an ounce of burden. Haneke gambles by heavily implying how this will end from the opening scene, but his masterful presentation in this gorgeous foreign saga is anything but a wager. This may be Haneke’s most accessible film to date, earning the auteur the first Oscar nominations of his career. Amour is an emotionally charged love story that’s both inspirational and devastating, and if by the end you haven’t teared up at least once, you are a robot. [Dustin]

Oslo, August 31st

Joachim Trier’s Oslo, August 31st, while not at the top of this list, is certainly one of the most devastating films of the last five years. Taking place over a day in Oslo, the film follows Anders (Anders Danielsen Lie), a 34-year-old recovering addict trying to start his life over. Anders constantly teeters right on the edge of relapse, but the things driving him back to taking drugs are the sorts of universal issues films rarely address with this much potency. It’s about trying to move on from your mistakes when everything around you serves as a reminder of your past. It’s about seeing everyone you know leaving you behind as they figure their own lives out. It’s about spending every waking minute thinking about any life but your own. Oslo, August 31st is a film about failure, and one of the only films to deal with this topic in such a nuanced, sympathetic and realistic manner. [CJ]

Stray Dogs

Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang’s Stray Dogs is a cavernous picture about a family scraping through the world inch by inch, tearing themselves to the bone. Lee Kang-sheng plays a homeless man who feeds his two children by holding up advertisement placards at a busy intersection all day, rain or shine (and boy do we see it rain). He and his kids squat in a dank abandoned building by night, bathe in public restrooms, and are forced to scrounge for their dinner. There’s a woman involved, too, but it’s not clear who she is, exactly. Is she the mother? A guardian angel? What makes things even murkier is that she’s played by three separate actresses. Ming-liang has a proclivity for insanely long takes, ten minute-plus static shots that achieve a level of intimacy only found in the corner of cinema he’s dug out for himself. Stray Dogs has a few of them, and they’re astonishing (especially the film’s final shot, which crushes the heart harder with each passing second). What’s remarkable about the film is that it forces you to take a long, hard, unblinking look at the nightmare of abject poverty, an issue we’ve all been conditioned to walk away from. It’s a devastating experience, and a stunningly beautiful one, too. [Bernard]

The Babadook

Good horror movies scare you with the unreal. Great horror movies terrify with the real. Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook does both. The writer/director sets us up and wears us out with a very real, first-half study of a mother’s descent into parental madness. Amelia (Essie Davis) is a tired single mom with a thankless job, inconsiderate friends, a flatlined love life, and a hyper kid. She is also a woman whose husband was killed in a car accident six years prior while en route to deliver that kid, leaving an ever-present—and always discomforting—sense of resentment that a mother should never feel towards her child. And that child is a handful—always at full volume and always full speed, ranting and raving and railing against a monster that doesn’t exist. Yet. Then the unreal occurs and the monster manifests itself from one of the simplest joys of childhood and one of the great mother/child relationship conduits: a children’s book. No sooner does Amelia wither from tired to exhausted, she must dig deep to find indefatigable to save her son and herself. [Michael]

Moneyball

It’s rare for a sports drama to discover untouched terrain within its genre. Story after story following ragtag bunches forming bonds to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles have played out so often in movies that the entire sports genre is often discarded sight unseen. Moneyball proves the exception to this unstated rule by largely moving the action away from the baseball diamond and into the executive conference rooms. Tracking often-derided Oakland Athletics’ general manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) at the forefront of a burgeoning sports analytics movement, the sharp dialog in Aaron Sorkin’s script communicates the intricacies of “Moneyball” without becoming lost in a haze of batting percentages or average WAR scores. Moneyball makes the story of a sports executive engaging by illustrating the relationship dynamics Beane navigates between himself and members of his organization, as well as executives outside of the Oakland A’s. Seeing Beane negotiate, and attempt to influence the sports culture within his club makes a mostly unnoticed aspect of team sports appear just as vital as it is fascinating in the film. [Zachary]

See the rest of our Best Movies Of The Decade lists!

View Other Lists of this Feature:
Best 50 Movies Of The Decade So Far (#40 – #31)
Best 50 Movies Of The Decade So Far (#30 – #21)
Best 50 Movies Of The Decade So Far (#20 – #11)
Best 50 Movies Of The Decade So Far (#10 – #1)

This Sunday night everyone will know who the real 2015 Oscar winners are and that person who hasn’t watched a single nominated film this year will probably win your office pool. In our recent Oscar Winners Revisited columns, we’ve gone back to discuss who should have won back in 2011, and 2012. Now we revisit the 2013 Oscars and discuss why we think Best Picture should have gone to Silver Linings Playbook and not to Argo, as well as our picks in the other 5 major categories that year.

Best Supporting Actress

Who Won – Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Who Should’ve Won – Amy Adams, The Master

Amy Adams’ understated performance as the reserved but grounded wife in The Master seemed to have been overshadowed by the thunderous performances from leads Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix. But she had an essential role in shaping The Master into the brilliant and well-acted film that it became. After Adams walked away empty-handed three previous times at the Oscars (nominated for Junebug, Doubt, and The Fighter), I thought she’d finally receive the shiny gold trophy she deserves. Yet somehow Anne Hathaway received more votes from the Academy with her imperfect singing in the classic musical remake of Les Miserables. One day you will win Ms. Adams, one day. [Dustin]

Best Supporting Actor

Who Won – Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained
Who Should’ve Won – Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master

2013 felt like a real “anything goes” year for the Best Supporting Actor category. On one side, there was the trio of living legends Alan Arkin, Robert De Niro and Tommy Lee Jones all playing pivotal roles in films that won elsewhere in major categories. On the other were two men better known as character actors: Christoph Waltz and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Waltz picked up his second win in two nominations (both for Tarantino movies) despite some critics noting Leonardo DiCaprio’s superior performance in Django Unchained. All in all, the overlooked nominee in the bunch was Hoffman. Though we didn’t know it then, The Master would be Hoffman’s final Oscar nomination, his strongest collaboration with his friend, filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson. Playing Lancaster Dodd, the cultish leader of The Cause, Hoffman illustrates the charisma necessary to recruit a legion of followers while also depicting Dodd as a man, “a hopelessly inquisitive man.” It’s a staggeringly complex character made knowable through an honest, vulnerable performance. Lancaster Dodd exhibited Hoffman at his best: charming, empathetic, and exceedingly truthful. He deserved a win. [Zach]

Best Actress

Who Won – Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Who Should’ve Won – Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty

Nobody was surprised to hear Jennifer Lawrence’s name called for Best Actress in 2013. She was terrific in Silver Linings Playbook, a film that had Oscar wins written all over it, which made this victory feel like an easy lay-up despite the talented group of nominees that year. Emmanuelle Riva nearly broke us down to tears with Amour, Quvenzhané Wallis won our hearts in Beasts of the Southern Wild, and Naomi Watts left us emotionally stirred in The Impossible. But it was Jessica Chastain who shocked us with her bravery in an unapologetic portrayal of CIA agent in charge of tracking Osama bin Laden in Zero Dark Thirty. Unlike other Hollywood roles for women, Chastain got the chance to play an intelligent, uncompromising heroine, and she did it extremely well. This might have been one of the better years for lead actresses in recent memory, but Chastain’s electrifying performance stood above the rest—perhaps just a touch above Wallis and Lawrence. [Dustin]

Best Actor

Who Won – Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Who Should’ve Won – Joaquin Phoenix, The Master

With all due respect to the World’s Greatest Actor Daniel Day-Lewis, Joaquin Phoenix’s portrayal of Freddie Quell creates a character far beyond imitation. The enigmatic Quell is noticeably disturbed, speaking out of the side of his mouth and prone to sudden, violent outbursts. Phoenix is said to have used a rubber band to tie his teeth together on a side of his mouth to contribute to Quell’s odd speech pattern. But beyond his vocal choices, Quell is likely Phoenix’s most physical performance. The actor contorts himself, throwing his body into walls and at others with an animalistic quality. This type of performance could feel over-the-top in a lesser production but guided by Paul Thomas Anderson, Freddie Quell is both frightening and sympathetic. More than that, he’s simply unforgettable. [Zach]

Best Director

Who Won – Ang Lee, Life of Pi
Who Should’ve Won – Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Obviously nobody at the time knew that Ben Affleck‘s Argo would go on to win Best Picture, a strange thing since he wasn’t even nominated in this Best Director category. While people were scratching their heads trying to figure out why he and Kathryn Bigelow were snubbed, some were pleasantly surprised (myself included) to see Michael Haneke on the list for Amour (foreign films don’t often get recognized in this category), as well as first-time filmmaker Benh Zeitlin for Beasts of the Southern Wild. Though the race seemed to be between David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook) and Steven Spielberg (Lincoln), Ang Lee walked away with his second Best Director award. Remarkably, it was the new kid on the block, Zeitlin, who impressed me the most. He shot Beasts of the Southern Wild on location using mostly local actors, and created a poetic fairy tale most seasoned directors couldn’t produce. Even though he didn’t win, Zeitlin should have felt honored to be in such great company. [Dustin]

Best Picture

Who Won – Argo
Who Should’ve Won – Silver Linings Playbook

This is probably one of my least favorite years for Best Picture, a lot of brilliant films didn’t make the cut while a couple mediocre ones did (cough Les Miserables cough). But I’ll take Silver Linings Playbook over the wondrous Life of Pi, the heartbreaking Amour, and the endlessly moving Beasts of the Southern Wild. Silver Linings is one of the most charming movies of the decade and a delightful throwback to the zany screwball romantic comedies of the ‘30s and ‘40s, a better tribute than the previous years Best Picture winner The Artist. David O. Russell’s chaotic and jumpy style perfectly suits this story of a man suffering from bipolar disorder trying to correct his life amidst an unusual romance, a temperamental football-obsessed father, and any other type of everyday drama that can stand in the way of a positive and happy life. There’s a lightning-in-a-bottle feeling of success to Silver Linings Playbook which the uninspired mess of American Hustle only makes me appreciate more. [Ryan]

Just as many expected, Argo took home the top award of Best Picture at the 85th Academy Awards, despite Ben Affleck not receiving a Best Director nomination, something that has only happened four times in 85 years. It was a year for records as Daniel Day-Lewis winning Best Actor for his role in Lincoln means that he is now the only person to have won three Best Actor awards in Oscar history. Also, the first time since 1969 there was a tie for a category (both Skyfall and Zero Dark Thirty won for Best Sound Editing).

Even though Argo walked away with the top honors and two other awards (Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Editing), Life of Pi was the film that took home the most awards this year with four wins (Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Score and Best Visual Effects). And while Lincoln had 12 nominations, the film only ended up winning two awards (Best Actor and Best Production Design).

List of 2013 Oscar Winners:

(The winners are highlighted in bold red font)

Amour
Argo
Beasts Of The Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Misérables
Life Of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty

Michael Haneke – Amour
Benh Zeitlin – Beasts Of The Southern Wild
Ang Lee – Life Of Pi
Steven Spielberg – Lincoln
David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook

Denzel Washington – Flight
Hugh Jackman – Les Miserables
Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln
Joaquin Phoenix – The Master
Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook

Emmanuelle Riva – Amour
Quvenzhane Wallis – Beasts Of The Southern Wild
Naomi Watts – The Impossible
Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings PLaybook
Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty

Alan Arkin – Argo
Christoph Waltz – Django Unchained
Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln
Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master
Robert De Niro – Silver Linings Playbook

Anne Hathaway – Les Misérables
Sally Field – Lincoln
Amy Adams – The Master
Helen Hunt – The Sessions
Jacki Weaver – Silver Linings Playbook

Michael Haneke – Amour
Quentin Tarantino – Django Unchained
John Gatins – Flight
Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola – Moonrise Kingdom
Mark Boal – Zero Dark Thirty

Chris Terrio – Argo
Lucy Alibar, Benh Zeitlin – Beasts of the Southern Wild
David Magee – Life Of Pi
Tony Kushner – Lincoln
David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook

Amour
Kon-Tiki
No
A Royal Affair
War Witch

Seamus McGarvey – Anna Karenina
Robert Richardson – Django Unchained
Claudio Miranda – Life Of Pi
Janusz Kaminski – Lincoln
Roger Deakins – Skyfall

Brave
Frankenweenie
ParaNorman
The Pirates! Band Of Misfits
Wreck-It Ralph

5 Broken Cameras
The Gatekeepers
How To Survive A Plague
The Invisible War
Searching For Sugar Man

William Goldenberg – Argo
Tim Squyres – Life Of Pi
Michael Kahn – Lincoln
Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers – Silver Linings Playbook
William Goldenberg, Dylan Tichenor – Zero Dark Thirty

Dario Marianelli – Anna Karenina
Alexandre Desplat – Argo
Mychael Danna – Life Of Pi
John Williams – Lincoln
Thomas Newman – Skyfall

“Before My Time” – Chasing Ice
“Pi’s Lullaby” – Life Of Pi
“Suddenly” – Les Miserables
“Skyfall” – Skyfall
“Everybody Needs A Best Friend” – Ted

Anna Karenina
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les Misérables
Life Of Pi
Lincoln

Anna Karenina
Les Misérables
Lincoln
Mirror Mirror
Snow White and the Huntsman

Hitchcock
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les Misérables

Argo
Django Unchained
Life Of Pi
Skyfall
Zero Dark Thirty

Argo
Les Misérables
Life Of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Life Of Pi
Marvel’s The Avengers
Prometheus
Snow White And The Huntsman

Inocente
Kings Point
Mondays At Racine
Open Heart
Redemption

Adam And Dog
Fresh Guacamole
Head Over Heels
Maggie Simpson In The Longest Daycare
Paperman

Asad
Buzkashi Boys
Curfew
Death Of A Shadow
Henry

The Golden Globes Award show got off to a bit of a shaky start when the Teleprompters malfunctioned during Paul Rudd and Salma Hayek’s award presentation, leaving them in an awkward speechless moment. Despite a couple minor out of sync setbacks though, the awards giving out by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association went fairly well, thanks in part to the wonderful hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. A couple other highlights on the night were ex-president Bill Clinton appropriately presenting the film Lincoln and Jodie Foster gave a wonderful coming-out speech while accepting a lifetime achievement award.

There were some surprises at the Golden Globes, but because the HFPA voting size is approximately 1.5% of the voting size of the Academy, using the results here to predict the Oscars would not be highly advised.

The biggest surprise was when Argo picked up the Best Picture in drama and when Ben Affleck won Best Director for it, an award for which he was not Oscar nominated for. Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained also received some love from the Globes when it won Best Original Screenplay and the Supporting Actor award by Christoph Waltz.

Full list of 2013 Golden Globes award winners:

(Winners are highlighted in bold red font)

FILM

Best Motion Picture – Drama
Argo
Django Unchained
Life Of Pi
Lincoln
Zero Dark Thirty

Best Picture – Comedy/Musical
Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Les Miserables
Moonrise Kingdom
Salmon Fishing In The Yemen
Silver Linings Playbook

Best Director
Ben Affleck – Argo
Quentin Tarantino – Django Unchained
Ang Lee – Life Of Pi
Steven Spielberg – Lincoln
Kathryn Bigelow – Zero Dark Thirty

Best Actress – Drama
Rachel Weisz – The Deep Blue Sea
Helen Mirren – Hitchcock
Naomi Watts – The Impossible
Marion Cotillard – Rust And Bone
Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty

Best Actor – Drama
Richard Gere – Arbitrage
Denzel Washington – Flight
Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln
Joaquin Phoenix – The Master
John Hawkes – The Sessions

Best Actress – Comedy/Musical
Judi Dench – Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Meryl Streep – Hope Springs
Maggie Smith – Quartet
Emily Blunt – Salmon Fishing In The Yemen
Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook

Best Actor – Comedy/Musical
Jack Black – Bernie
Bill Murray – Hyde Park On Hudson
Hugh Jackman – Les Miserables
Ewan McGregor – Salmon Fishing In The Yemen
Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook

Best Supporting Actress
Anne Hathaway – Les Miserables
Sally Field – Lincoln
Amy Adams – The Master
Nicole Kidman – The Paperboy
Helen Hunt – The Sessions

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin – Argo
Christoph Waltz – Django Unchained
Leonardo DiCaprio – Django Unchained
Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln
Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master

Best Screenplay
Chris Terrio – Argo
Quentin Tarantino – Django Unchained
Tony Kushner – Lincoln
David O Russell – Silver Linings Playbook
Mark Boal – Zero Dark Thirty

Best Original Score
Alexandre Desplat – Argo
Dario Marianeli – Anna Karenina
Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimek, Reinhold Heil – Cloud Atlas
Mychael Danna – Life Of Pi
John Williams – Lincoln

Best Original Song
Keith Urban – For You (Act Of Valor)
Taylor Swift – Safe & Sound (The Hunger Games)
Hugh Jackman – Suddenly (Les Miserables)
Adele – Skyfall (Skyfall)
Jon Bon Jovi – Not Running Anymore – (Stand Up Guys)

Best Animated Feature Film
Brave
Frankenweenie
Hotel Transylvania
Rise Of The Guardians
Wreck-It Ralph

Best Foreign Film
Amour
The Intouchables
Kon-Tiki
A Royal Affair
Rust & Bone

TELEVISION

Best Television Series – Drama
Breaking Bad
Boardwalk Empire
Downton Abbey
Homeland
The Newsroom

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series – Drama
Connie Britton, Nashville
Glenn Close, Damages
Claire Danes, Homeland
Michelle Dockery, Downton Abbey
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series – Drama
Jeff Daniels, The Newsroom
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Damian Lewis, Homeland
Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad

Best Television Series – Comedy Or Musical
The Big Bang Theory
Episodes
Girls
Modern Family
Smash

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series – Comedy Or Musical
Zooey Deschanel, New Girl
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
Lena Dunham, Girls
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series – Comedy Or Musical
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Don Cheadle, House of Lies
Louis CK, Louie
Matt LeBlanc, Episodes
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory

Best Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made for Television
Game Change
The Girl
Hatfields & McCoys
The Hour
Political Animals

Best Performance by an Actress In A Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Nicole Kidman, Hemingway and Gelhorn
Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Asylum
Sienna Miller, The Girl
Julianne Moore, Game Change
Sigourney Weaver, Political Animals

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Kevin Costner, Hatfields & McCoys
Benedict Cumberbatch, Sherlock
Woody Harrelson, Game Change
Toby Jones, The Girl
Clive Owen, Hemingway and Gelhorn

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Hayden Panettiere, Nashville
Archie Panjabi, The Good Wife
Sarah Paulson, Game Change
Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey
Sofia Vergara, Modern Family

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Max Greenfield, New Girl
Ed Harris, Game Change
Danny Huston, Magic City
Mandy Patinkin, Homeland
Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family

The nominations for the 2013 Oscars were announced this morning with Lincoln brining in the most nominations with a whopping 12, including most of the main categories. Almost every year at the Academy Awards the showdown for Best Picture is normally between just two films, this year may be a little different. I have always thought Lincoln and Zero Dark Thirty are the two films considered to have the best chance at taking the top prize, but with Kathryn Bigelow not getting a nod for Best Director, that severely hurts Zero Dark Thirty’s chances of winning Best Picture.

There were a few surprise nominations this morning, most which were welcoming. First off, Beasts of the Southern Wild got a lot more support from the Academy than what some were predicting. The film walked away with a total of 4 nominations, includes ones for Best Picture and perhaps the most surprising, Best Director. You could say because Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild) got that nod, that it shut out Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty) for that final spot. Quvenzhane Wallis got a well-deserved nomination for Best Actress and although it is unlikely, she would be the youngest award winner if she ended up winning.

Some were worried that The Master would not end up getting any love from the Academy, but we can know breathe a sigh of relief as Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams were all thankfully nominated for acting awards. Amour got some love (pun intended) in more than just the Best Foreign Language category (where it is thought to be the front-runner in). The film also picked up nominations for Best Original Screenplay, Best Actress, Best Director and Best Picture.

The 85th Academy Awards will air February 24, 2013 at 5:30 p.m., PT/ 8:30 p.m., ET on ABC.

Full List of 2013 Oscar Nominations:

Amour
Argo
Beasts Of The Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Misérables
Life Of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty

Michael Haneke – Amour
Benh Zeitlin – Beasts Of The Southern Wild
Ang Lee – Life Of Pi
Steven Spielberg – Lincoln
David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook

Denzel Washington – Flight
Hugh Jackman – Les Miserables
Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln
Joaquin Phoenix – The Master
Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook

Emmanuelle Riva – Amour
Quvenzhane Wallis – Beasts Of The Southern Wild
Naomi Watts – The Impossible
Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings PLaybook
Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty

Alan Arkin – Argo
Christoph Waltz – Django Unchained
Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln
Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master
Robert De Niro – Silver Linings Playbook

Anne Hathaway – Les Misérables
Sally Field – Lincoln
Amy Adams – The Master
Helen Hunt – The Sessions
Jacki Weaver – Silver Linings Playbook

Michael Haneke – Amour
Quentin Tarantino – Django Unchained
John Gatins – Flight
Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola – Moonrise Kingdom
Mark Boal – Zero Dark Thirty

Chris Terrio – Argo
Lucy Alibar, Benh Zeitlin – Beasts of the Southern Wild
David Magee – Life Of Pi
Tony Kushner – Lincoln
David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook

Amour
Kon-Tiki
No
A Royal Affair
War Witch

Seamus McGarvey – Anna Karenina
Robert Richardson – Django Unchained
Claudio Miranda – Life Of Pi
Janusz Kaminski – Lincoln
Roger Deakins – Skyfall

Brave
Frankenweenie
ParaNorman
The Pirates! Band Of Misfits
Wreck-It Ralph

5 Broken Cameras
The Gatekeepers
How To Survive A Plague
The Invisible War
Searching For Sugar Man

William Goldenberg – Argo
Tim Squyres – Life Of Pi
Michael Kahn – Lincoln
Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers – Silver Linings Playbook
William Goldenberg, Dylan Tichenor – Zero Dark Thirty

Dario Marianelli – Anna Karenina
Alexandre Desplat – Argo
Mychael Danna – Life Of Pi
John Williams – Lincoln
Thomas Newman – Skyfall

“Before My Time” – Chasing Ice
“Pi’s Lullaby” – Life Of Pi
“Suddenly” – Les Miserables
“Skyfall” – Skyfall
“Everybody Needs A Best Friend” – Ted

Anna Karenina
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les Misérables
Life Of Pi
Lincoln

Anna Karenina
Les Misérables
Lincoln
Mirror Mirror
Snow White and the Huntsman

Hitchcock
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les Misérables

Argo
Django Unchained
Life Of Pi
Skyfall
Zero Dark Thirty

Argo
Les Misérables
Life Of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Life Of Pi
Marvel’s The Avengers
Prometheus
Snow White And The Huntsman

Inocente
Kings Point
Mondays At Racine
Open Heart
Redemption

Adam And Dog
Fresh Guacamole
Head Over Heels
Maggie Simpson In The Longest Daycare
Paperman

Asad
Buzkashi Boys
Curfew
Death Of A Shadow
Henry

Now look, I don’t have to tread familiar ground here (but I will for fun). Anyone who knows about awards season knows how much of a joke the Golden Globes are. The awards, which are selected by 90 or so people who make up the ‘Hollywood Foreign Press Association’ or HFPA, have very little significance. The studios pour out money shoving their stars around to HFPA parties, wining and dining the members in order to get some sort of recognition. This isn’t much of a secret since it’s so blatant. A quick Google search can show you how messed up the awards are, and it seems that with every year they’ve stopped bothering with trying to make themselves look somewhat prestigious.

There are definitely some shocking nominations here, but most of them are of the ‘Huh?!’ variety. Expectantly this comes from the Musical or Comedy category, where Salmon Fishing in the Yemen scored three nominations! Other odd surprises include Maggie Smith getting nominated for Quartet instead of Comedy/Musical Picture nominee The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and The Hobbit getting completely shut out.

As for the serious contenders, Lincoln and Les Misérables continue their race at the top with Zero Dark Thirty closing in fast. Lincoln scored the most nominations with 7 while Argo and Django Unchained got 5 a piece. Les Misérables, which was the presumed front-runner for the Musical/Comedy category, only got nods for Picture, Actor (Hugh Jackman) and Supporting Actress (Anne Hathaway). It could be a sign of that movie losing steam, but treating the Globes as a predictor of anything would be a grave mistake.

As for the pleasant surprises: Moonrise Kingdom scores a Best Picture nod, Life of Pi got some love (while it isn’t the best movie of the year it’s definitely one of the more unique films in the awards race), Django Unchained and Argo proving that they have staying power, Rachel Weisz, Richard Gere and Jack Black all getting acting nods and Cloud Atlas picking up a nomination for its excellent score. Read (or weep at) the nominations below. The awards show, which is more about watching celebs get drunk and hoping tabloid fodder happens, air on January 13th. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler will host.

The full list of 2013 Golden Globes nominations:

Best Motion Picture – Drama
Argo
Django Unchained
Life Of Pi
Lincoln
Zero Dark Thirty

Best Picture – Comedy/Musical
Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Les Miserables
Moonrise Kingdom
Salmon Fishing In The Yemen
Silver Linings Playbook

Best Director
Ben Affleck – Argo
Quentin Tarantino – Django Unchained
Ang Lee – Life Of Pi
Steven Spielberg – Lincoln
Kathryn Bigelow – Zero Dark Thirty

Best Actress – Drama
Rachel Weisz – The Deep Blue Sea
Helen Mirren – Hitchcock
Naomi Watts – The Impossible
Marion Cotillard – Rust And Bone
Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty

Best Actor – Drama
Richard Gere – Arbitrage
Denzel Washington – Flight
Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln
Joaquin Phoenix – The Master
John Hawkes – The Sessions

Best Actress – Comedy/Musical
Judi Dench – Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Meryl Streep – Hope Springs
Maggie Smith – Quartet
Emily Blunt – Salmon Fishing In The Yemen
Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook

Best Actor – Comedy/Musical
Jack Black – Bernie
Bill Murray – Hyde Park On Hudson
Hugh Jackman – Les Miserables
Ewan McGregor – Salmon Fishing In The Yemen
Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook

Best Supporting Actress
Anne Hathaway – Les Miserables
Sally Field – Lincoln
Amy Adams – The Master
Nicole Kidman – The Paperboy
Helen Hunt – The Sessions

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin – Argo
Christoph Waltz – Django Unchained
Leonardo DiCaprio – Django Unchained
Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln
Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master

Best Screenplay
Chris Terrio – Argo
Quentin Tarantino – Django Unchained
Tony Kushner – Lincoln
David O Russell – Silver Linings Playbook
Mark Boal – Zero Dark Thirty

Best Original Score
Alexandre Desplat – Argo
Dario Marianeli – Anna Karenina
Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimek, Reinhold Heil – Cloud Atlas
Mychael Danna – Life Of Pi
John Williams – Lincoln

Best Original Song
Keith Urban – For You (Act Of Valor)
Taylor Swift – Safe & Sound (The Hunger Games)
Hugh Jackman – Suddenly (Les Miserables)
Adele – Skyfall (Skyfall)
Jon Bon Jovi – Not Running Anymore – (Stand Up Guys)

Best Animated Feature Film
Brave
Frankenweenie
Hotel Transylvania
Rise Of The Guardians
Wreck-It Ralph

Best Foreign Film
Amour
The Intouchables
Kon-Tiki
A Royal Affair
Rust & Bone

Best Television Series – Drama
Breaking Bad
Boardwalk Empire
Downton Abbey
Homeland
The Newsroom

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series – Drama
Connie Britton, Nashville
Glenn Close, Damages
Claire Danes, Homeland
Michelle Dockery, Downton Abbey
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series – Drama
Jeff Daniels, The Newsroom
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Damian Lewis, Homeland
Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad

Best Television Series – Comedy Or Musical
The Big Bang Theory
Episodes
Girls
Modern Family
Smash

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series – Comedy Or Musical
Zooey Deschanel, New Girl
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
Lena Dunham, Girls
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series – Comedy Or Musical
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Don Cheadle, House of Lies
Louis CK, Louie
Matt LeBlanc, Episodes
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory

Best Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made for Television
Game Change
The Girl
Hatfields & McCoys
The Hour
Political Animals

Best Performance by an Actress In A Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Nicole Kidman, Hemingway and Gelhorn
Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Asylum
Sienna Miller, The Girl
Julianne Moore, Game Change
Sigourney Weaver, Political Animals

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Kevin Costner, Hatfields & McCoys
Benedict Cumberbatch, Sherlock
Woody Harrelson, Game Change
Toby Jones, The Girl
Clive Owen, Hemingway and Gelhorn

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Hayden Panettiere, Nashville
Archie Panjabi, The Good Wife
Sarah Paulson, Game Change
Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey
Sofia Vergara, Modern Family

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Max Greenfield, New Girl
Ed Harris, Game Change
Danny Huston, Magic City
Mandy Patinkin, Homeland
Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family

The members of the Screen Actors Guild have submitted their nominations to honor their fellow cohorts and the results were mostly predictable and safe. Leading the pack with four nominations each were, Lincoln and Silver Linings Playbook. Even though the guild does not have a “best picture” category, the “outstanding performance by a cast” can be a good indicator for contenders looking to win Best Picture at the Oscars in February.

There were two major surprises in the film category. The first one being the nod given to Nicole Kidman for her supporting role in the disdained The Paperboy. The other shocker was the lack of love for Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master, which recently picked up several acting nominations from the Critics Choice Awards. The only SAG nomination for The Master was given to Philip Seymour Hoffman. The two surprises may even be linked to one another; with Kidman somehow besting Amy Adams for the nomination in that category.

The full list of 2013 Golden Globes nominations:

Film

Outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture
Argo
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Les Misérables
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook

Outstanding performance by a male actor in a leading role
Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln
John Hawkes – The Sessions
Hugh Jackman – Les Misérables
Denzel Washington – Flight

Outstanding performance by a female actor in a leading role
Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty
Marion Cotillard – Rust and Bone
Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook
Helen Mirren – Hitchcock
Naomi Watts – The Impossible

Outstanding performance by a male actor in a supporting role
Alan Arkin – Argo
Javier Bardem – Skyfall
Robert De Niro – Silver Linings Playbook
Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master
Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln

Outstanding performance by a female actor in a supporting role
Sally Field – Lincoln
Anne Hathaway – Les Misérables
Helen Hunt – The Sessions
Nicole Kidman – The Paperboy
Maggie Smith – The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Television

Outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series
Boardwalk Empire
Breaking Bad
Downton Abbey
Homeland
Mad Men

Outstanding performance by an ensemble in a comedy series
30 Rock
The Big Bang Theory
Glee
Modern Family
Nurse Jackie
The Office

Outstanding performance by a male actor in a drama series
Steve Buscemi – Boardwalk Empire
Bryan Cranston – Breaking Bad
Jeff Daniels – The Newsroom
Jon Hamm – Mad Men
Damian Lewis – Homeland

Outstanding performance by a female actor in a drama series
Claire Danes – Homeland
Michelle Dockery – Downton Abbey
Jessica Lange – American Horror Story: Asylum
Julianna Margulies – The Good Wife
Maggie Smith – Downton Abbey

Outstanding performance by a male actor in a comedy series
Alec Baldwin – 30 Rock
Ty Burrell – Modern Family
Louis C.K. – Louie
Jim Parsons – The Big Bang Theory
Eric Stonestreet – Modern Family

Outstanding performance by a female actor in a comedy series
Edie Falco – Nurse Jackie
Tina Fey – 30 Rock
Amy Poehler – Parks and Recreation
Sofia Vergara – Modern Family
Betty White – Hot in Cleveland

Outstanding performance by a male actor in a television movie or miniseries
Kevin Costner – Hatfields & McCoys (History)
Woody Harrelson – Game Change (HBO)
Ed Harris – Game Change
Clive Owen –Hemingway & Gellhorn (HBO)
Bill Paxton – Hatfields & McCoys (History)

Outstanding performance by a female actor in a television movie or miniseries
Nicole Kidman – Hemingway & Gellhorn (HBO)
Julianne Moore – Game Change (HBO)
Charlotte Rampling – Restless (Sundance)
Sigourney Weaver – Political Animals (USA)
Alfre Woodard – Steel Magnolias (Lifetime)

Let’s face it, compared to 2011, this year was a relatively boring year for movies. While the year started out great with some fantastic films getting released after June the quantity of quality films dropped significantly. That’s not to say that there are not any great movies to be seen, but compared to 2011 where it was one great film released after another, this year has been very disappointing. Granted I have not seen a few films yet such as Zero Dark Thirty, Cloud Atlas, Lincoln, Skyfall, Django Unchained and The Hobbit. But even if all those movies were great I still don’t think it would’ve come close to last year.

I found that it was much easier this year to make a top ten list then last year. Where last year it took me maybe a week to decide what goes where, this year I probably spent a day overall on my list. Without further ado, here is my list of ten films which I felt were far and away the best of the year. Following my top ten list is my selection of honorable mentions; films I felt were oh so close to making my top ten but ultimately were not as good.

Blake Ginithan’s Top 10 Films of 2012

Honorable Mentions

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
Killer Joe
Cabin in the Woods
The Amazing Spider-Man
Cosmopolis

Ben Affleck’s Argo is a helluva thriller. One of the best Hollywood has released this year. I’ve personally disliked his other directing efforts, not because they were bad, I actually think they are very well made. Gone Baby Gone had me until it’s ridiculous ending and The Town is an engrossing crime melodrama that felt like a blue collar ode to Michael Mann’s much better film Heat. But here Affleck nails it. Everything about Argo is top notch. Roger Ebert has been saying that this is the film to beat for the Best Picture Oscar. While I’m not going to go all in on that bet it’s a safe bet that Argo will nab probably around 6-7 nominations come February.

Ben Affleck stars as Tony Mendez, a CIA agent whose job is to go into risky situations and rescue people. Mendez comes off as a company man. He gives his all to his job, so much so that his wife has left him with their young son. When we meet Mendez he is passed out on his bed after a night of boozing. His phone rings and he is called in to work on an emergency.

His boss played by Bryan Cranston updates him on the situation. The American embassy in Iran has been penetrated by an angry mob and hostages have been taken. But a handful of Americans have escaped and are hiding out at the home of the Canadian representative. The film opens with the embassy siege and Affleck gets his film off to a grueling start. The angry mob chants outside violently, loudly. Everyone inside can feel it coming and you can almost see their hearts beating out of their chests.

So now we have a problem. A few Americans are stuck in a house in the middle of a city with millions of people who would kill them if they were to be found. While a bunch of paper was shredded before everyone evacuated the embassy, the Revolutionary Guard (think the Iranian KGB, kinda) start forcing kids in sweat shops to put together the shredded paper to see information.

Now the Americans have to get out before their pictures are put back together and the RG find out that there are other people missing. You might be wondering why Iranians are mad enough to storm the American embassy. Let me explain. Iran was run by a guy who was not well liked around the globe (especially the U.S.), so they (the U.S.) took him out of power and installed a new leader. He was not well liked in Iran and they basically got rid of him. The ousted leader fled to the U.S. where he was granted asylum. The people of Iran demanded that he be returned so he could stand trial and ultimately be hanged. When their cries went unheard, they protested and eventually stormed the embassy.

The CIA has some emergency meetings on how to get the Americans out. Some of them are straight up laughable. One of them involves the hiding Americans to ride bikes over 300 miles to the Iraqi border. This idea is banking on the idea that they don’t get any flat tires or you know, like dying from exhaustion. Now let’s be honest. Mendez’s idea isn’t exactly great either. Wait, what’s his idea? Well I’m glad you asked. His idea is to make a fake science fiction film that has some exotic location shoots that would require an Iranian backdrop. Each of the hideaways would have a different job whether it’d be the director, screenwriter or camera man. Mendez flies in to Tehran gives them fake identities they are to learn in a day. There is a fantastic sequence where they are touring a crowded market for a location shoot.

Unfortunately, you just can’t fly into Iran with this idea and expect them to buy it. Mendez realizes that he needs some actual Hollywood filmmakers to bankroll this idea and promote this. So he flies off to Los Angeles to talk to filmmakers who would be interested. He happens to know a guy who does make up/fx work for films. He is played by John Goodman and let’s be honest here. This is John fucking Goodman we’re talking about. He is welcome in any movie as far as I’m concerned. He’s great here.

Goodman is essentially a link for Mendez to a producer needed to pass the word around town of this fake movie. That producer is played by Alan Arkin. Arkin is great in the film but seriously, he could do this film in his sleep. Regardless, he and Goodman have some terrific scenes that really let the audience breathe during the really tense sequences in the film. It was only a few years prior that Star Wars set the world aflame and with its success they think a new space epic would be a good film to sell to the Iranian government. After looking for hours they stumble upon the script. That film is Argo.

Argo succeeds for many reasons. First of all, it’s very well made. Affleck nails down the era whether it’d be the clothes, hairstyles and general feeling of the period. Even the old school Warner Brothers logo that the studio rocked in the 1970’s is used and to me that alone put me into the mood the film was trying to get across. Secondly, it’s very well-acted. Other than the aforementioned actors, Affleck casts veteran actors in other supporting roles and all of them are more than up to the challenge. Tate Donovan, Clea DuVall, Rory Cochrane and Christopher Denham are all terrific as four of the Americans hiding out for their lives. And last but not least, it’s just flat out terrific fun. Argo is a two hour film that flies by. While its main intention is to entertain it also sets out to inform. I went to the film with my mom who obviously knew about the Iranian hostage crisis that last 444 days, but had no idea about this little subplot that was taking place at the same time.

The final 45 minutes of Argo is intense. Affleck easily slides from one tense sequence to another, sprinkling in dashes of humor here and there. This is pure Hollywood entertainment we’re talking about. At moments you’ll want to stand up and cheer. After the film finished my mom looked at me and had to catch her breath while telling me she was glad she didn’t have a heart condition. Affleck seems like one of the genuine good guys in Hollywood. Here he has made his best film so far. It also happens to be one of the best mainstream offerings of the year.

This year will be my fifth time heading out for the Toronto International Film Festival (or TIFF for short). The festival, which takes place over 11 days throughout downtown Toronto, has become more influential after the last several years. Back in 2008 TIFF premiered Slumdog Millionaire which went on to dominate the major award shows. In 2010 TIFF premiered The King’s Speech which, like Slumdog Millionaire, went on to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Now TIFF is seen as the starting line for the Oscar race, with studios premiering their films hoping for a breakthrough hit.

Don’t get the impression that TIFF is just a collection of celebrities promoting their Oscar hopefuls. This year there are 289 feature films playing at the festival, with the bigger premieres (Argo, To The Wonder, Hyde Park on Hudson) taking up a small percentage of that number. Films from all over the world play every year, and whether you’re interested in a certain country, genre, venue, etc. you should be able to find a line-up of films that will cater to your interests.

The festival starts today, but I will not be attending until tomorrow. Cameron Bailey, the artistic director of the festival, has admitted that people tend to think the festival starts on the second day which is basically true. The festival has tried to combat that this year by selecting Rian Johnson’s Looper as its opening film, but Thursday only has a handful of screenings that are all sold out. While I wait to become a part of the madness, here are some general pieces of information about TIFF that I’ve learned over the years.

You are a slave to the schedule (AKA You can’t always get what you want) – There are plenty of films I would have loved to see this year at TIFF but timing and scheduling end up becoming my worst enemy. I plan on seeing more than half of our most anticipated films at TIFF, but the perfect world where I can watch them all simply doesn’t exist. Like Someone in Love conflicts with The Master and Cloud Atlas. To The Wonder conflicts with Berberian Sound Studio. Other films I would have loved seeing, like Pablo Larrain’s No, conflict with other screenings. While it’s unfortunate I have no reason to complain, I’m perfectly happy with my current line-up. The fact that I have to make these kinds of tortured decisions goes to show how much content TIFF really has. It’s better to have an embarrassment of riches than a shortage.

Emotion versus Logic – There’s a debate that usually goes on between TIFF-goers every year that can be summed up like this: Is it worth the extra money to see a popular film at TIFF, even if it comes out in theatres shortly after? The ‘Emotion’ side says yes. With the cast and crew attending, a Q&A, and an audience of hundreds of enthusiastic fans watching it certainly feels like it would be the ideal experience to watch a movie. The ‘Logic’ side doesn’t consider those factors worthy of the premium pricing, and that time at the festival is better spent checking out something that won’t get a major theatrical release. Personally I sway back and forth between both sides of the debate. The reason why I won’t be checking out Argo at TIFF is because it’ll be out in theatres shortly afterward, but seeing Cloud Atlas at TIFF appeals to me a ton even if it’ll be out in October. And this point brings me to…

See something different – A trip to TIFF or any other film festival wouldn’t be complete without stepping outside one’s comfort zone. Every year I make sure that I see one film I know little to nothing about. The greatest opportunity that TIFF brings to viewers is discovery. It’s no surprise that out of 289 films some of them will be duds, but there are plenty of hidden gems as well. There’s something exciting about discovering a great film no one else knows about, and in a lot of cases no one ever gets the chance to see these films again in theatres. Some people might see it as risky to spend their money on a film they don’t know about, but the reward would be something worth remembering for a long time.

Besides the Looper premiere today should be relatively quiet at the festival. Jason Reitman is hosting a table read of American Beauty, while Rust and Bone and On The Road will screen for North American audiences before Dredd 3D kicks off the festival’s Midnight Madness programme. It should hopefully be a nice start to another great year for TIFF.

Coming up tomorrow: I start my festival trip with one of the weirdest double features in my life, starting with Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers followed by Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master.

The staff at Way Too Indie narrows down the Top 10 films that we are most excited for at the Toronto International Film Festival this year. The task of narrowing a list down to only 10 is not an easy one considering that there will be over 300 films playing at the festival. Way Too Indie’s CJ Prince will be there to cover the festival and plans to review some of those that are listed below Listed below are Way Too Indie’s Top 10 Most Anticipated Films playing at Toronto International Film Festival 2012.

The Master (director Paul Thomas Anderson)

I think it is fair to say, even setting aside my complete biased opinion, that P.T. Anderson ranks up there among one of the most prominent American directors of today. That being said, it is easy to see why The Master, his follow up to 2007’s There Will Be Blood, is a highly anticipated film. At the helm as one of the lead characters is an Anderson veteran Philip Seymour Hoffman. Hoffman plays a charismatic intellectual who starts up a faith organization and recruits drifter Joaquin Phoenix. Just from the trailer one can see how berserk Phoenix’s character goes and if anyone is fit to play that role it is Joaquin Phoenix. The other reason The Master is getting a lot of attention is that it is being shown in 70mm widescreen format that is suppose to look drop-dead gorgeous. [Dustin]

Spring Breakers (director Harmony Korine)

No one ever thought that they’d hear the words ‘Selena Gomez in a Harmony Korine film’ in their life, but here we are. The director of films like Trash Humpers, Mister Lonely and this disturbing Black Keys music video, Korine would seem like the last person in the world to team up with stars from Disney and Glee (Vanessa Hudgens, Dianna Agron and Korine’s wife Rachel round out the rest of the female cast). The casting may sound like it came straight out of Hollywood but the plot, about a drug dealer (James Franco aping the look of rapper Riff Raff) who hires the four bikini-clad girls to be his hitmen after they rob a fast food restaurant, sounds bizarre enough to fit in with the rest of Korine’s films. Now, with all of the crazy set photos and news of Skrillex getting involved with the score, Spring Breakers sounds like Korine has managed to capture the zeitgeist. [CJ]

Cloud Atlas (directors Tom Tykwer & Wachowski brothers)

The Wachowskis, directors of the Matrix Trilogy and the underrated Speed Racer, team with Tom Tykwer, director of Run Lola Run and The Princess and the Warrior, team to make this centuries spanning film involving actors playing different roles over the course of those centuries. As soon as the film was announced for TIFF a stunning trailer set to M83’s ‘Outro’ was released. The film looks to be a shoo in for technical awards at next year’s Oscars. It is not known whether or not the film will be a mess, though we’ll have a clearer picture in a couple of weeks. [Blake]

To The Wonder (director Terrence Malick)

It has been rumored that To The Wonder is even more experimental than Terrence Malick’s last film, The Tree Of Life, which seems hard to believe but if true we could be in store for another Malick masterpiece. The film is being billed as a romantic drama about a man who is reconnected with a woman after his marriage falls apart. It will star Rachel McAdams, Ben Affleck and Javier Bardem. The only thing that has me a little worried is this will be the first time that Malick has ever released films in consecutive years. [Dustin]

Argo (director Ben Affleck)

The last time Ben Affleck came to TIFF it was for The Town, which went on to snag an Oscar nomination along with a surprisingly big haul of $92 million at the box office. Two years later, Affleck is hoping to repeat his success with Argo. Based on a true story, Argo follows a group of CIA operatives who go to Iran posing as documentary filmmakers in order to free six Americans trapped in the country. Unlike The Town, Affleck only takes on directing and acting duties this time (he doesn’t have a writing credit) but he’s assembled an impressive cast with names like John Goodman, Bryan Cranston, Victor Garber and Alan Arkin to name a few. It’s hard to tell if audiences will be interested enough in the story and 70s period setting, but Affleck has proven himself to be a strong enough director that Oscar buzz is building around the film. With a theatrical release right around the corner after its TIFF premiere, it won’t take long before we find out if Argo will be a serious contender in the awards race. [CJ]

Like Someone In Love (director Abbas Kiarostami)

Abbas Kiarostami last wowed audiences with his masterfully crafted Certified Copy starring the lovely French actress Juliette Binoche as a woman walking the Italian country side with a man she may or may not have a past with. Kiarostami’s new film is rumored to be a semi-sequel to Certified Copy. This film takes place in Tokyo and involves a relationship between a young woman and an old man. [Blake]

Room 237 (director Rodney Ascher)

After receiving both high praises and concerns over possible copyright issues, Room 237 made a splash at Sundance Film Festival this year. This documentary aims to explore theories about the hidden meaning in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. The three decade old film is still being studied by scholars and hardcore fans as well as debated which is what this documentary shows. Of course, this documentary will only appeal to people who enjoyed The Shinning but you can count me in as it is my all-time favorite horror film. [Dustin]

Leviathan (director George P. Cosmatos)

Directors Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Verena Paravel focus their cameras on the ocean in Leviathan, a new documentary about a fishing boat. Castaing-Taylor and Paravel spent two months aboard as the ship traveled around catching fish, but their goal wasn’t to do their own version of The Deadliest Catch. Sharing multiple GoPro cameras with the fishermen on board, footage was captured from the bowels of the ship to under the ocean. We talked about the incredible trailer on here earlier, and the film received rave reviews (along with many walkouts due to feelings of nausea) at its premiere in Locarno. Leviathan looks like a truly original experience that will take its toll on viewers mentally and physically, but hopefully it should be something no one will ever forget. [CJ]

Berberian Sound Studio (director Peter Strickland)

I have a soft spot for Italian horror films. This new film by Peter Strickland looks to go behind the scenes of these horror movies to see how they are made. The film looks to be about a British sound engineer (Toby Jones) who is hired by an Italian director to do the sound for his newest film. However, it seems that life soon begins to imitate art as his job starts to get deadly. The film looks to be a great throwback to the 70s filmmaking era, especially the Horror genre. This could be a sleeper hit in the making. [Blake]

Penance (director Kiyoshi Kurosawa)

Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa established himself early in the 2000s with the terrifying horror film Pulse. Since then he spent several years trying to re-capture his success at scaring people with films like Loft and Retribution but his output was uneven. In 2008 Kurosawa (no relation to legendary director Akira Kurosawa) changed gears with Tokyo Sonata, a drama about a family in crisis after the father is laid off. It was another masterpiece from Kurosawa, but he hasn’t made another film since then. Now, four years later, he makes up for his lost time with the 4.5 miniseries Penance. Taking place over 15 years, the miniseries follows a woman who tries to get vengeance for the unsolved murder of her daughter. Kurosawa’s filmography may be uneven, but he’s proven himself capable of making truly great films. Hopefully Penance will be the sign of a terrific comeback. [CJ]

The first wave of films for the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival were announced this morning and most people were very pleased with 62 films that will be making their premieres.

We have put together a list of the hottest trailers for films playing at TIFF 2012. Many of the films do not have a synopsis yet let alone a trailer but we will be updating this post as more information comes along. Keep in mind that the festival tends to have over 300 films so they will continue to make more announcements of additions to their lineup before it kicks off on September 6th.

Best trailers of TIFF 2012:

Argo (Director Ben Affleck)
Synopsis: As the Iranian revolution reaches a boiling point, a CIA ‘exfiltration’ specialist concocts a risky plan to free six Americans who have found shelter at the home of the Canadian ambassador.

The Sessions (Director Ben Lewin)
Synopsis: A man in an iron lung who wishes to lose his virginity contacts a professional sex surrogate with the help of his therapist and priest.

Dangerous Liaisons (Director Jin-ho Hur)
Synopsis: Zhang Ziyi (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) stars in director Hur Jin-ho’s lushly sensual adaptation of the classic French novel, which updates Choderlos de Laclos’ devilish tale of sex, seduction and scheming to 1930s Shanghai.

Hyde Park on Hudson (Director Roger Michell)
Synopsis: The story of the love affair between FDR and his distant cousin Margaret Stuckley, centered around the weekend in 1939 when the King and Queen of the United Kingdom visited upstate New York.

The lineup for the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival has been released (thanks to Variety) ahead of the official announcement from TIFF (which is suppose to be later this morning). The first set of films for this year’s lineup this morning is a doozy. Leading the pack as the opening film of the festival (which is also its world premiere) is Rian Johnson’s new Sci-Fi thriller Looper. Other films getting world premieres are Argo (Ben Affleck), Cloud Atlas (The Wachowskis & Tom Tykwer), The Silver Linings Playbook (David O. Russell) and A Place Beyond The Pines (Derek Cianfrance).

Perhaps the most welcoming news was that Terrence Malick’s To The Wonder would play although since it is not under the world premiere category we can assume it will play elsewhere first. Other notable films that will be making either an International or North American premiere are; The Company You Keep (Robert Redford), Anna Karenina (Joe Wright), and The Reluctant Fundamentalist (Mira Nair).

Below is the full list of the films announced so far. Expect plenty of more films announced over the coming weeks as TIFF usually showcases around 300+ annually. The festival runs September 6th through the 16th this year. This year C.J. Prince will be attending the festival and reporting back for Way Too Indie so stay tuned.

World Premieres:
Looper – (Rian Johnson) – (Opening Film)
Cloud Atlas – (The Wachowskis & Tom Tykwer)
Argo – (Ben Affleck)
The Silver Linings Playbook – (David O Russell)
Love, Marilyn – (Liz Garbus)
Free Angela And All Political Prisoners – (Shola Lynch)
The Place Beyond The Pines – (Derek Cianfrance)
Midnight’s Children – (Deepa Mehta)
Hyde Park On Hudson – (Roger Michell)
Great Expectations – (Mike Newell)
Inescapable – (Rubba Nadda)
Twice Born – (Sergio Castellitto)
English Vinglish – (Gauri Shinde)
The Perks Of Being A Wallflower – (Stephen Chbosky)
Thanks For Sharing – (Stuart Blumberg)
End Of Watch – (David Ayer)
Imogene – (Robert Puccini and Shari Springer Berman)
A Late Quartet – (Yaron Zilberman)
Much Ado About Nothing – (Joss Whedon)
Frances Ha – (Noah Baumbach)
The Time Being – (Nenad Cicin-Sain)
Writers – (Josh Boone)
At Any Price – (Ramin Bahrani)
Venus And Serena – (Maiken Baird)
Byzantium – (Neil Jordan)
Quartet – (Dustin Hoffman)
Ginger And Rosa – (Sally Potter)
A Liar’s Autobiography – (Ben Timlett, Bill JOnes, Jeff Simpson)
Foxfire – (Laurnet Cantet)
In The House – (Francois Ozon)
The Impossible – (JA Bayona)
Hannah Arendt – (Margarethe Von Trotta)
Mr. Pip – (Andrew Adamson)
Capital – (Costa-Gavras)
The Attack – (Ziad Doueriri)
Zaytoun – (Eran Riklis)
The Deep – (Baltasar Kormakur)
Dreams For Sale – (Nishikawa Miwa)
The Last Supper – (Lu Chuan)

International/North American Premieres:
To The Wonder – (Terrence Malick)
Anna Karenina – (Joe Wright)
The Reluctant Fundamentalist – (Mira Nair)
The Company You Keep – (Robert Redford)
Jayne Mansfield’s Car – (Billy Bob Thornton)
A Royal Affair – (Nikolai Arcel)
Dangerous Liasons – (Hur Ji-Ho)
Thermae Romae – (Hideki Takeuchi)
Caught IN THe Web – (Chen Kaige)
Dormant Beauty – (Marco Belloccchio)
Everybody Has A Plan – (Ana Piterbarg w/Viggo Mortensen)
Kon-Tiki – (Espen Sandberg
Reality – (Matteo Garrone)
A Few Hours Of Spring – (Stephan Brize)
The Hunt – (Thomas Vintenberg)
The Iceman – (Ariel Vromen)
Lore – (Cate Shortland)
No – (Pablo Larrain)
OUtrage Beyond – (Takeshi Kitano)
Rust And Bone – (Jacques Audiard)
The Sapphires – (Wayne Blair)
Tai Chi O – (Stephen Fung)

Canadian Premiere:
The Sessions – (Ben Lewis)