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

Film Independent announced the nominations for the 28th annual Independent Spirit Awards this morning by Zoe Saldana and Anna Kendrick. Last year many of the award winners went on to win Oscars but I suspect that will be a little different this year. The winners will be announced at the 28th annual Film Independent Spirit Awards on February 23th and the broadcast will air at 10 p.m. ET/PT on IFC.

There were two films that tied for the most amount of nominations and those were Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom and David O. Russells’s Silver Linings Playbook with five total nominations. Both of the films will be competing for the top award of Best Feature.

It was a little shocking to see that the Sundance standout Beasts of the Southern Wild did not have quite as many nods but four is a healthy amount of nominations to receive. The film bypassed Best First Feature even though it is technically Benh Zeitlin’s first and step up to the bigger category Best Feature (rules prohibit a film from being in both). Beasts of the Southern Wild was ousted from the Best Screenplay category.

John Hawkes makes his third straight appearance in the nomination list with his role in The Sessions. This time he will move up to the Best Lead Male category against some pretty strong contenders. Hawkes was nominated for Best Supporting Male last year for Martha Marcy May Marlene and won the award in the previous year for Winter’s Bone. Matthew McConaughey will get two chances to win for two different films. He got a nod for Best Male Lead (for Killer Joe) and Best Supporting Male (for Magic Mike).

Perhaps the most interesting category this year belongs to the Best International Film section as there was quite a bit of potentials for it this year. Michael Haneke’s Amour made the cut, unsurprisingly, and will likely be the favorite to win (as well as for the Oscar). It was a bit of a surprise to not see Holy Motors in that list but seeing War Witch get a nod was lovely as it is definitely a film worth seeing. I didn’t expect to see Paradise: Love or Goodbye First Love on this list but it would have been if it were up to me.

Watch for our predictions for the 2013 Film Independent Spirit Awards post to come in the coming weeks.

Full List of 2013 Independent Spirit Award Nominations:

Beasts of the Southern Wild
Bernie
Keep The Lights On
Moonrise Kingdom
Silver Linings Playbook

Wes Anderson – Moonrise Kingdom
Julia Loktev – The Loneliest Planet
David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook
Ira Sachs – Keep The Lights On
Benh Zeitlin – Beasts of the Southern Wild

Fill The Void – Rama Burshtein
Gimme The Loot – Adam Leon
Safety Not Guaranteed – Colin Trevorrow
Sound of My Voice – Zal Batmanglij
The Perks Of Being A Wallflower – Stephen Chobsky

Jack Black – Bernie
Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook
John Hawkes – The Sessions
Thure Lindhart – Keep The Lights On
Matthew McConaughey – Killer Joe
Wendell Pierce – Four

Linda Cardellini – Return
Emayatzy Corinealdi – Middle of Nowhere
Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook
Quvenzhane Wallis – Beasts of the Southern Wild
Mary E. Winstead – Smashed

Matthew McConaughey – Magic Mike
David Oyelowo – Middle of Nowhere
Michael Pena – End of Watch
Sam Rockwell – Seven Psychopaths
Bruce Willis – Moonrise Kingdom

Rosemarie DeWitt – Your Sister’s Sister
Ann Dowd – Compliance
Helen Hunt – The Sessions
Brit Marling – Sound of My Voice
Lorraine Toussaint – Middle of Nowhere

Breakfast With Curtis – Laura Colella
Middle of Nowhere – Ava DuVernay
Mosquita y Mari – Aurora Guerrero
Starlet – Sean Baker
The Color Wheel – Alex Ross Perry

How To Survive A Plague – David France
Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present – Matthew Akers
The Central Park Five – Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, David McMahon
The Invisible War – Kirby Dick
The Waiting Room – Peter Nicks

Amour – Michael Haneke
Once Upon A Time In Anatolia – Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Rust and Bone – Jacques Audiard
Sister – Ursula Meier
War Witch – Kim Nguyen

Yoni Brook – Valley Of Saints
Lol Crawley – Here
Ben Richardson – Beasts of the Southern Wild
Roman Vasyanov – End of Watch
Robert Yeoman – Moonrise Kingdom

Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola – Moonrise Kingdom
Zoe Kazan – Ruby Sparks
Martin McDonagh – Seven Psychopaths
David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook
Ira Sachs and Mauricio Zacharias – Keep The Lights On

Rama Burshtein – Fill The Void
Derek Connolly – Safety Not Guaranteed
Christopher Ford – Robot & Frank
Jonathan Lisecki – Gayby
Rashida Jones and Will McCormack – Celeste and Jesse Forever

Starlet
Director: Sean Baker
Casting Director: Julia Kim
Ensemble Cast: Dree Hemingway, Besedka Johnson, Karren Karagulian, Stella Maeve, James Ranson

Alicia Van Couvering – Nobody Walks
Mynette Louie – Stones in the Sun
Derrick Tseng – Prince Avalanche

Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Verena Paravel – Leviathan
Peter Nicks – The Waiting Room
Jason Tippet and Elizabeth Mims – Only the Young

David Fenster – Pincus
Adam Leon – Gimme The Loot
Rebecca Thomas – Electrick Children

Never have I written so many notes for a film where so little happens than with Once Upon a Time in Anatolia. Mainly because I was struck over and over on how well shot the film is and how unique the experience felt. As I look at my notes right now, about 90% of them are on how strong the filmmaking is and how down-right beautiful it is for essentially its entire running time. Anatolia runs 153 minutes and it feels like it. It is a film that is never in a hurry to get anywhere.

Running at a slow and methodical pace, Anatolia moves like a turtle. But if we remember our fables, slow and steady wins the race. I have a feeling that most people will give up on the film after a half hour, but trust me, those who stick with it for its entire length will be rewarded immensely. It has many hidden surprises for the audience members that pay attention and see the film through.

Anatolia is bare bones in its plot but lush and sublime in its presentation. The film begins with three men drinking and watching TV. One of the men goes outside to check on his dog that is tied up. The film fades to black and when we come back we are in the Turkish countryside following a few cars as they cruise the road looking for a crime scene.

Out of the car steps a bunch of men. Some are cops, one of them a doctor, another a prosecutor and two of them are handcuffed. The two handcuffed men are two of the three men from the opening scene. So now we are curious. What exactly happened? Everything is explained throughout the two and a half hour plus run time. You just better be paying attention, because not everything is fully explained to you. Anatolia is a great show and tell game. The film shows you everything but tells you nothing. Part murder mystery, part road trip, part existentialistic discussion, Anatolia culls from all over to create an at times dream like trance.

I’ve pretty much described what happens for most of the runtime of the film, the discussion now moves to how freaking gorgeous and well shot the film is. We are talking about grade A cinematography here. Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan (who has a background in photography) works with his director of photography, Gokhan Tiryaki, to create shots that are utterly magical. Some of them would fit in well at the Louvre if you were to grab a screenshot of them.

One such shot involving an apple is a true work of art. The shot begins on an apple tree where the apple falls from. It hits the ground with a loud thud and rolls downhill into a small stream where it flows to its end where other apples sit. The shot lasts maybe a minute but is a stroke of genius. The entire shot is lit up by a car’s headlights. Its little things like this peppered throughout Anatolia that make the film so special.

What I loved about the film is that at times it just sits back and watches the characters interact with each other and their environment. It’s never in a hurry, which is nice. It lets the audience relax and get absorbed in the plot with high class filmmaking. There are multiple scenes where cops will take the accused off to a site to look for the body and the camera will stay back with two men waiting for them at the cars. The camera just stares at the back of their heads for 5 minutes as they talk about life and death. One might think this is boring, but it’s actually quite majestic.

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival last year, which is basically the second place trophy which was fully deserved (the winner was The Tree of Life). It’s a deeply rewarding film that doesn’t give in to genre expectations and at times allows itself to just simply exist. If not appreciated for the presentation of its story which can be tedious and difficult to follow at times, it should be recognized for its rich filmmaking that is truly something to behold.

Cannes Film Festival came to a close Sunday night and announced the winners of Palme d’Or, Grand Prix, Best Director and other high status awards. Kirsten Dunst won Best Actress in Lars von Trier’s film Melancholia and thanked the director after a very controversial comment he made about Nazi’s during a press conference that caused a lot of media attention last week. The top prize, Palme d’Or, went out to The Tree of Life directed by Terrence Malick which stars Brad Pitt and Sean Penn.

See the full list of nominations.

The Tree of Life, (director Terrence Malick)

The Kid with a Bike, (directors Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne)
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, (director Nuri Bilge Ceylan)

Nicolas Winding Refn, Drive

Joseph Cedar, Hearat Shulayim

Las Acacias, (director Pablo Gorgelli)

Polisse, (director Maiwenn)

Kirsten Dunst, Melancholia

Jean Dujarin, The Artist

Cross Country, (director Marina Viroda)

Arirang, (director Kim Ki-Duk)
Stopped on Track, (director Andreas Dresen)

Elena, (director Andrey Zvyaginstev)