Favourite films of of the year (2016)?

Yes, we have to limit the selection to the films that were distributed in Norway in 2012. Which means that films like THE MASTER and DJANGO: UNCHAINED will be eligible for THIS year's list!

Thanks for your list, Bob. Will check it out asap.

I didn't really see many either, from the looks of things. But these were the best for me.

1. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy -- I didn't think this one would have to sustain me for a whole year, but thankfully, it is that good. Tomas Alfredson shot up my list of interesting filmmakers with this one.
2. Moonrise Kingdom (in particular the first hour) -- a delight
3. Mad Men Season 5 -- because it's a cinematic show, rich in characterisation and style. If they'd stapled it together and called it a film, it would be here, so it might as well be here.
4. The Grey -- I expected something very different from this tone poem for dying men. And this year, being pleasantly surprised by a film was as good as being overwhelmed in other years.
5. Martha Marcy May Marlene -- Haunting and elusive.
6. The Hobbit -- Very entertaining. Flabby to say the least, but good natured enough that it didn't matter for me.

Special mention. The first ten minutes of Shame. A perfect short film depicting a life. The rest of the film is strong, save the last 6 minutes or so (which undo some good work), but it was that opening that made such an impression on me.

Also a special mention. Beasts of the Southern Wild -- I'm not sure it quite got to me the way it did for everyone else, but so lovely to see a fresh film movement emerging out of the wreckage of New Orleans. There's some magic here, for sure, and a passion for real faces that is refreshing.

Older movies provided some of the most memorable moviegoing experiences. Bernardo Bertolucci's Before the revolution was a dizzying eye opener. Spider's strategem also impressive. Film style was so free and open then. Tarkovsky's Stalker was as powerful as ever. Mark Cousins' documentary The Story of Film provided 15 hours worth of reflection on the best cinema had to offer, and remains the most worthwhile time I've invested this year in a film. The documentary on Clouzot's L'enfer was another eye opener, and the two most enjoyable older things I caught up with this year were Winterbottom's The Trip tv series (Coogan and Brydon), and Scott Pilgrim versus the World. (What a breath of fresh air that was.)

And the worst?

Cosmopolis (David Cronenberg), Damsels in Distress (Whit Stilman) and I'm inclined to add Careless Love as a distant third (John Duigan). And I'm not being harsh on what they were aiming for here -- this is pure execution. All gave the impression of being pretty ordinary filmmakers when stripped of the big budget apparatus that traditionally gilds their work.

Most of everything else was vanilla for me. Whether it be Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, Ridley Scott, Ben Affleck or the bizarrely praised Rian Johnston. It feels like I'm getting tougher on movies these days, but there's a part of me that whispers -- 'no, it's not just you'.

Of the vanilla though, I enjoyed The Amazing Spiderman, The Bourne Legacy, Mission Impossible 4 and -- on technical virtues alone (since the script was very weak) -- Skyfall. The latter is one of the better lensed films of the year.

I still haven't seen Faust, To the Wonder, The Master, Amour, or some of the Oscar bait (Lincoln, Life of Pi). I'm hoping there's gems to be found.

I don't think I was quite up with BEASTS either, but I liked the way a realist aesthetic met the fantastical content. I can't hit the people on the head who made that film for next to no money at all -- it's too inventive, even if I'm not quite sympathetic to the storytelling. (And the lead performance is a gem too.) To me it's more remarkable than say, something as well-heeled and resourced as the first film on your list.

And when it comes to 'weird', I doff my hat to you. For I can think of noone who more thoughtfully embraces dumb films for what virtues they do have than your good self. And yes, that is some kind of compliment.

It's a world full of people, that's for sure. I wouldn't have bothered going into as much detail in anyone else's thread.

Based on my feelings though, you may want to check out COSMOPOLIS and DAMSELS IN DISTRESS. Chances are you'll like them!

Skyfall. It had a few mis-steps but it was about as good as a Bond fan could have hoped for. Even the score turned out to be a whole lot better than expected.

DAMSELS is already on my list; I'll be seeing it soon. I really enjoyed the other 'intelligent' high school film of the year, THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER. As for COSMOPOLIS, I've avoided it for a long time. I've heard it's VERY talkative and removed from Cronenberg's previous style (which I often can find fascinating). Still, I guess I have to find out for my own at some point.

This is what I came up with for a group of friends doing Oscar predictions. There are all in ranked order, so #1 is the winner, etc.

BEST PICTURE

1. LIFE OF PI
2. CLOUD ATLAS
3. DJANGO UNCHAINED
4. LES MISERABLES
5. ARGO
6. THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
7. SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
8. THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER
9. FRIENDS WITH KIDS
10. LINCOLN

BEST DIRECTOR

1. QUENTIN TARANTINO, Django Unchained
2. ANG LEE, Life of Pi
3. TOM TYKWER, ANDY WACHOWSKI and LANA WACHOWSKI, Cloud Atlas
4. BEN AFFLECK, Argo
5. TOM HOOPER, Les Miserables

BEST ACTOR (DRAMA)

1. DANIEL DAY LEWIS, Lincoln
2. HUGH JACKMAN, Les Miserables
3. JOAQUIN PHOENIX, The Master
4. DENZEL WASHINGTON, Flight
5. JAMIE FOXX, Django Unchained

BEST ACTRESS (DRAMA)

1. NAOMI WATTS, The Impossible
2. JESSICA CHASTAIN, Zero Dark Thirty
3. JENNIFER LAWRENCE, Silver Linings Playbook
4. HELEN MIRREN, Hitchcock
5. KEIRA KNIGHTLEY, Anna Karenina

BEST ACTOR (COMEDY)

1. ADAM SCOTT, Friends With Kids
2. WILL FERRELL, Casa De Mi Padre
3. EWAN McGREGOR, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
4. JASON SEGAL, Jeff Who Lives At Home
5. JACK BLACK, Bernie

BEST ACTRESS (COMEDY)

1. JENNIFER WESTFELDT, Friends With Kids
2. EMILY BLUNT, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
3. LESLIE MANN, This is 40
4. EMILY BLUNT, The Five-Year Engagement
5. JENNIFER ANISTON, Wanderlust

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1. CHRISTOPH WALTZ, Django Unchained
2. LEONARDO DI CAPRIO, Django Unchained
3. PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN, The Master
4. TOMMY LEE JONES, Lincoln
5. EDDIE REDMAYNE, Les Miserables

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1. ANNE HATHAWAY, Les Miserables
2. AMY ADAMS, The Master
3. KELLY REILLY, Flight
4. SALLY FIELD, Lincoln
5. OLIVIA COLMAN, Hyde Park on Hudson

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1. DJANGO UNCHAINED, Quentin Tarantino
2. FRIENDS WITH KIDS, Jennifer Westfeldt
3. TED, Seth MacFarlane, Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild
4. ROBOT & FRANK, Christopher D. Ford
5. LOOPER, Rian Johnson

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1. LIFE OF PI, David Magee
2. CLOUD ATLAS, Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski
3. ARGO, Chris Terrio
4. SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK, David O. Russell
5. THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER, Stephen Chbosky

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

1. LIFE OF PI, Claudio Miranda
2. DJANGO UNCHAINED, Robert Richardson
3. LES MISERABLES, Danny Cohen
4. CLOUD ATLAS, John Toll and Frank Griebe
5. SKYFALL, Roger Deakins

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

1. CLOUD ATLAS, Hugh Bateup and Uli Hanisch
2. DJANGO UNCHAINED, J. Michael Riva
3. LES MISERABLES, Eve Stewart
4. PROMETHEUS, Arthur Max
5. THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY, Dan Hannah

BEST EDITING

1. SKYFALL, Stuart Baird
2. CLOUD ATLAS, Alexander Berner
3. THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, Lee Smith
4. ARGO, William Goldenberg
5. PROMETHEUS, Pietro Scalia

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

1. ANNA KARENINA, Jacqueline Durran
2. SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN, Colleen Atwood
3. LES MISERABLES, Paco Delgado
4. CLOUD ATLAS, Kym Barrett and Pierre Yves-Gaurad
5. DJANGO UNCHAINED, Sharen Davis

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

1. JOHN CARTER
2. LIFE OF PI
3. THE AVENGERS
4. CLOUD ATLAS
5. THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

BEST SCORE

**to be revealed**

BEST SONG

1. “Casa De Mi Padre” from CASA DE MI PADRE, Andrew Feltenstein and John Nau
2. “Niemandsland” from WIR WOLLTEN AUFS MEER, Nic Raine and Poppy Alice
3. “Everybody Needs A Best Friend” from TED, Seth McFarlane, Norah Jones and Walter Murphy
4. “Ancora Qui” from DJANGO UNCHAINED, Ennio Morricone and Elisa Toffoli
5. “Skyfall” from SKYFALL, Adele Atkins and Paul Epworth

JON’S TEN MOST ENJOYABLE GUILTY PLEASURES (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER)

1. THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
2. THE AVENGERS
3. CASA DE MI PADRE
4. THE FIVE-YEAR ENGAGEMENT
5. THE EXPENDABLES 2
6. JACK REACHER
7. JOHN CARTER
8. SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN
9. SKYFALL
10. TED

This is based on having seen the following 73 films in theaters this year: 21 Jump Street; A Thousand Words; Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter; Act of Valor; Alex Cross; The Amazing Spider-Man; American Reunion; Anna Karenina; Argo; The Avengers; Bernie; The Bourne Legacy; Casa De Mi Padre; Chimpanzee; Chronicle; Cloud Atlas; The Dark Knight Rises; Dark Shadows; Django Unchained; The Expendables 2; The Five-Year Engagement; Flight; For Greater Glory; Friends with Kids; Haywire; Hitchcock; The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey; Hotel Transylvania; The Hunger Games; Hyde Park on Hudson; The Impossible; Jack Reacher; Jeff, Who Lives at Home; John Carter; Journey 2: The Mysterious Island; Killer Joe; Lawless; Les Miserables; Life of Pi; Lincoln; Lockout; Looper; Man on a Ledge; The Master; Men in Black 3; Moonrise Kingdom; The Oranges; The Perks of Being a Wallflower; The Pirates! Band of Misfits; Prometheus; The Raven; Robot & Frank; Rock of Ages; Safe House; Safety Not Guaranteed; Salmon Fishing in the Yemen; Seeking a Friend for the End of the World; Silver Linings Playbook; Sinister; Skyfall; Snow White and the Huntsman; Taken 2; Ted; This Is 40; This Means War; Total Recall; Trouble with the Curve; The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2; The Watch; W.E.; Wanderlust; The Woman in Black; and Zero Dark Thirty.

A note to say that I haven’t seen some of the major Oscar-bait films like Amour, Arbitrage, Beasts of the Southern Wild, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Compliance, The Paperboy, Promised Land, Rust & Bone, The Sessions, and Seven Psychopaths, or some of the bigger box-office stuff like Brave, Madagascar 3, The Lorax, Wreck-It Ralph, Ice Age Continental Drift, The Vow, Magic Mike, Think Like a Man, Rise of the Guardians or The Campaign, so none of those films feature in any of my nominations.

Actually I forgot one of the few truly great films I saw this year. MARGIN CALL.

Dialogue line of the year: "Treat me as though you would a child, or a golden retriever."

Another year, another list of favourites. Here are mine:

http://montages.no/2014/01/thor-joachims-topp-20-2013/

Nice to see LORE popping up. I thought that dealt quite well with the subject despite its Australian origin.

He, he....yeah, the Norwegian version of the title isn't quite as dramatic as THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG.

Btw, I love how Google translates what we call 'the corner of shame' as 'chamber hook'!

Sure, I'll give it a go. Here's my top 10 (which sadly enough is also every single new movie I've seen in 2013):

1. Gravity
2. Star Trek Into Darkness
3. Man of Steel
4. Iron Man 3
5. Elysium
6. Kick-Ass 2
7. Oblivion
8. Escape Plan
9. Pacific Rim
10. G.I. Joe 2

Haven't seen "The Hobbit - The Desolation of Smaug" yet, but I'm sure it will be a top 3 contender

If you look at it from a musical point of view, then I've only bought the soundtracks to 3 of those movies: Star Trek Into Darkness, Iron Man 3 and Man of Steel (but I've been streaming most of the others).

My little list in no particular order ...

* Gravity
* World War Z
* Captain Phillips
* Thor: The Dark World
* Kick-Ass 2
* You're Next
* Star Trek Into Darkness
* Mama
* Gangster Squad
* Evil Dead

Blockbusters are fine. Plenty on my list too. I need a little bit of both, as it were. Curious to hear franz' list this year, though. We both seem to enjoy films that aren't always the biggest American productions.