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Movie Quote of the Day – Beasts of the Southern Wild, 2012 (dir. Benh Zeitlin)
Hushpuppy: Everybody loses the thing that made them. It’s even how it’s supposed to be in nature. The brave men stay and watch it happen, they don’t run.
Cinema Fanatic’s Favorite Fifteen Films of 2012
I really loved most of what I saw in 2011 (and actually my favorite film from 2011 I saw in 2012, but I will post more about that tomorrow). As for 2012, a lot of what I saw I felt kind of neutral about and a handful of films I downright hated (which is a rarity for me, really). I’m not sure what it was, but 2012 just didn’t live up to my expectations. That said, I did compile a list of fifteen films that I really loved. I wasn’t able to see Zero Dark Thirty or Amour before the end of the year, which I would have liked to have seen before compiling this list. Alas, they don’t open in San Francisco until after the new year. If you want to see all the 2012 releases I watched, you can do so here.
Beasts of the Southern Wild Leads Independent Spirit Award Nominations
BEST FEATURE (Award given to the Producer, Executive Producers are not awarded)
- Beasts of the Southern Wild
- Bernie
- Keep the Lights On
- Moonrise Kingdom
- Silver Linings Playbook
BEST DIRECTOR
- 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
BEST SCREENPLAY
- Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola – Moonrise Kingdom
- Zoe Kazan – Ruby Sparks
- Martin McDonagh – Seven Psychopaths
- David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook
- Ira Sachs – Keep the Lights On
BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to the director and producer)
- Fill the Void
- Gimme the Loot
- Safety Not Guaranteed
- Sound of My Voice
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
- Rama Burshtein – Fill the Void
- Derek Connolly – Safety Not Guaranteed
- Christopher Ford – Robot & Frank
- Rashida Jones & Will McCormack – Celeste and Jesse Forever
- Jonathan Lisecki – Gayby
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD (Given to the best feature made for under $500,000. Award given to the writer, director, and producer. Executive Producers are not awarded.)
- Breakfast with Curtis
- Middle of Nowhere
- Mosquita y Mari
- Starlet
- The Color Wheel
BEST FEMALE LEAD
- Linda Cardellini – Return
- Emayatzy Corinealdi – Middle of Nowhere
- Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook
- Quvenzhané Wallis – Beasts of the Southern Wild
- Mary Elizabeth Winstead – Smashed
BEST MALE LEAD
- Jack Black – Bernie
- Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook
- John Hawkes – The Sessions
- Thure Lindhardt – Keep the Lights On
- Matthew McConaughey – Killer Joe
- Wendell Pierce – Four
BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
- Rosemarie DeWitt – Your Sister’s Sister
- Ann Dowd – Compliance
- Helen Hunt – The Sessions
- Brit Marling – Sound of My Voice
- Lorraine Toussaint – Middle of Nowhere
BEST SUPPORTING MALE
- Matthew McConaughey – Magic Mike
- David Oyelowo – Middle of Nowhere
- Michael Péna – End of Watch
- Sam Rockwell – Seven Psychopaths
- Bruce Willis – Moonrise Kingdom
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
- Valley of Saints
- Here
- Beasts of the Southern Wild
- End of Watch
- Moonrise Kingdom
BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director and producer)
- How to Survive a Plague
- Marina Abramoviæ: The Artist is Present
- The Central Park Five
- The Invisible War
- The Waiting Room
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM (Award given to the director)
- Amour
- Once Upon A Time in Anatolia
- Rust And Bone
- Sister
- War Witch
16th ANNUAL PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD (honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources demonstrate the creativity, tenacity, and vision required to produce quality, independent films. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by Piaget.)
- Nobody Walks
- Prince Avalanche
- Stones in the Sun
19th ANNUAL SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD (recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.)
- Pincus
- Gimme the Loot
- Electrick Children
STELLA ARTOIS TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD (presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.)
- Leviathan
- The Waiting Room
- Only the Young
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD (Given to one film’s director, casting director, and its ensemble cast)
- Starlet
Crime Shorts, Silent Cinema and July 2012 in Films
I watched nearly 100 new-to-me films this month! That’s not a lot compared to my numbers last year, but this year that is just crazy talk. Mostly it was because of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival and the 50 films in the Warner Archive’s Crime Does Not Pay set. I worked a crazy amount of hours at the two movie theaters that now employ me (the Lumiere and the Clay, two of San Francisco’s greatest!) and worked a lot on my feature screenplay, as well as wrote a short that might actually get filmed. Speaking of which, my friend for whom I wrote the short, has a documentary making its way around the festivals right now that you should check out. It is called Dharavi Diary and it is fantastic. As always, my picks for the month as well as the whole list is after the cut.
the diary of a film history fanatic 