2012 Top Tens: The First of the Lists

You can see the individual lists here or click on the individual critic name for their list.

Rank Last Chart Top Tens RocchiWatersOxtobyCorlissEdelsteinRickeyShoneHornadayD'AngeloLawson Votes Total
1 Zero Dark Thirty
 1 6 1 1 2 1 * 16 122.0
2 Amour
 4 3 1 3 4 1 10 4 * 16 118.0
3 Lincoln
 2 3 5 2 10 78.0
4 Argo
 2 7 * 10 66.5
4 Beasts of the Southern Wild
 6 6 2 4 * 10 66.5
6 Moonrise Kingdom
 3 * 8 59.0
7 Master, The
 7 45.5
8 Holy Motors
 2 1 6 43.5
9 Life of Pi
 3 6 7 4 26.0
10 Deep Blue Sea, The
 1 5 4 23.5
11 Silver Linings Playbook
 3 3 21.5
12 How to Survive a Plague
 5 7 * 5 19.5
13 Gatekeepers, The
 4 3 17.5
14 Imposter, The
 10 2 3 14.0
15 This is not a Film
 6 3 13.0
15 Rust and Bone
 3 2 13.0
17 Dark Knight Rises, The
 5 3 12.0
17 Sessions, The
 6 3 12.0
17 Middle of Nowhere
 5 5 2 12.0
20 Searching for Sugar Man
 2 11.5
21 Skyfall
 2 11.0
21 Magic Mike
 9 2 11.0
21 Django Unchained
 4 2 11.0
21 Margaret
 8 2 11.0
25 Looper
 10 * 4 10.5
25 Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
 2 10.5
Flight
 10 8 4 10.0
Anna Karenina
 4 9 2 9.0
Impossible, The
 10 2 9.0
Perks of Being a Wallflower
 7 2 9.0
Al Weiwei: Never Sorry
 7 8 2 7.0
Compliance
 8 7 2 7.0
Grey, The
 6 2 6.0
Frankenweenie
 9 2 4.0
Pitch Perfect
 9 2 4.0
Oslo, August 31st
 10 2 3.0
Invisible War, The
 10 2 3.0
Bernie
 2 2.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0

0 0.0
One Vote Wonders
Les Miserables
 1 10
Napoleon
 1 1 10
Paradise: Faith
 2 1 9
Perret in France and Algeria
 2 1 9
Paradise: Love
 3 1 8
Waiting Room, The
 3 1 8
Room 237
 1 7
Oki's Movie
 1 7
Monsieur Lazhar
 4 1 7
Footnote
 1 7
Last Time I Saw Macao
 4 1 7
Frances Ha
 5 1 6
Killer Joe
 5 1 6
Not Fade Away
 1 6
Petitfogger
 5 1 6
Amazing Spider-Man
 * 1 5.5
Cabin in the Woods, The
 * 1 5.5
Your Sister's Sister
 * 1 5.5
Ted
 1 5
To Rome with Love
 1 5
Eat Sleep Die
 6 1 5
It's the Earth Not the Moon
 6 1 5
You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet
 7 1 4
View from the Acropolis
 7 1 4
Take This Waltz
 7 1 4
Tabu
 1 4
Killing Them Softly
 1 4
Jeff, Who Lives at Home
 1 4
Elena
 1 4
Dark Horse
 7 1 4
Dragon
 8 1 3
Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present
 8 1 3
Leviathan
 8 1 3
Goodbye, First Love
 1 3
Dust Bowl, The
 1 3
Color Wheel
 1 3
August and After
 8 1 3
21 Jump Street
 1 3
Only the Young
 9 1 2
Sister
 9 1 2
West of Memphis
 1 2
Neighboring Sounds
 1 2
Lonliest Planet, The
 1 2
Beloved
 9 1 2
Kill List
 9 1 2
Here and There
 9 1 2
Lines of Wellington
 10 1 1
Damsels in Distress
 1 1
Safety Not Guaranteed
 10 1 1
Premium Rush
 1 1

Posted in Awards Update, Awards Watch, MCN Originals, Movie City News, The Top Tens | 11 Comments »

11 Responses to “2012 Top Tens: The First of the Lists”

  1. drake says:
    December 16, 2012 at 7:59 pm

    Hi,

    I just wanted to thank you for doing this every year. I look forward to reading this over every year and discussing it with my buddies. thank you!

  2. Djiggs says:
    December 16, 2012 at 8:43 pm

    Holy Motors is the movie that will stand the test of time as the greatest of 2012.

  3. Burl says:
    December 17, 2012 at 6:54 am

    Look forward to your excellent Top Tens List every year. And every year I hope for a “Printer Friendly” button to be added to the top. Just the columns for rank, title, votes and total. Maybe next year…

  4. fred says:
    December 17, 2012 at 9:56 am

    Man put some more Top 10 lists out, this has been the same list with the same critics for a week now.

  5. Eric M. Van says:
    December 18, 2012 at 6:54 am

    There is, and always has been, a fundamental flaw in the way you rank the films. There’s no critic in the world who thinks their #1 film is 10 times as good as their #10 film, but that’s how much credit you end up giving them. Given that there’s 150 or 200 films worth seeing in a given year, a film that’s #3 on a single critic’s list and passed over by everyone else has not received more support than a film that was ranked #10 by seven different critics, but it gets more points from you.

    I always pull your table into a spreadsheet and calculate 8 * votes + total, which gives a #1 vote twice as much credit as a #10 vote. That seems right to me, and I know I’ve seen others do the same. You should seriously think about renaming “Total” as “Points” and calculating a new “Total” in this fashion.

  6. Eric M. Van says:
    December 18, 2012 at 4:20 pm

    Through the 18th, 101 films have now been mentioned, and no one has listed The Avengers. Or, for that matter, Cloud Atlas, Seven Psychopaths, or (and this is perhaps a bigger surprise) End of Watch.

    Incidentally, David Denby clearly had Lincoln, Zero, and Beasts as 1 through 3 respectively. And though he included The Master in his writeup, he ended up calling it a failure, so it shouldn’t be in his list at all. That leaves 7 remaining films, which you can give 4 points each to.

  7. TheFigTree says:
    December 19, 2012 at 2:29 pm

    1. @Eric I agree completely that the point tally isn’t exactly right and I’d love to see how your version comes out. Any chance you could post the results on a blog or a list site (such as icheckmovies or listsofbests)? The current lists can be found on listsofbests if you search for MCN.

    2. Having used each year’s list to find great movies, I’ve found that every year has well over 10 movies that I love (I’d say between 25 and 35 for seriously interesting films). Therefore, I REALLY HOPE that film critics move towards TOP 20 lists instead, like Ebert did last year! If film critics see over 100 films a year, why wouldn’t they want to spend as much time talking about the ones they love.

    3. Thank you MCN for continuing to compile these lists. As a result, your website is as important to me as my other favorite, theyshootpictures.

  8. fred says:
    December 19, 2012 at 4:18 pm

    @Eric M. Van – I notiiced that with “The Avengers” inclusion on this stupid chart as well, where the hell is it. We both know it should end up being on quite a few best films list, i’ve already seen it on few best films lists, this site is just retarded man, it always has been.

  9. Bryan says:
    December 21, 2012 at 7:38 am

    For as many movies that wowed me this year, it seems like there were even more letdowns. This article does a good job of laying out where those films went wrong.

    Good read: http://ahorizontalmyth.wordpress.com/2012/12/20/year-in-letdowns-2012s-disappointing-films/

  10. Mark says:
    December 31, 2012 at 5:55 am

    Please, where is the updated chart? This is 10 days old, there have been dozens of lists released since then. Thanks.

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