1. Hunger/Sult/Svält (1966) - Henning Carlsen
2. Italian for Beginners/Italiensk for Begyndere (2000) - Lone Scherfig
3. The Art of Crying/Kunsten at Græde i Kor (2006) - Peter Schønau Fog
4. Only God Forgives (2013) - Nicolas Winding Refn
5. Love Is All You Need/Den Skaldede Frisør (2012) - Susanne Bier
6. The Great Day on the Beach/Den Store Badedag (1991) - Stellan Olsson
7. The Mysterious X/Det Hemmelighedsfulde X/Orders Under Seal/Sealed Orders (1914) - Benjamin Christensen
8. Benny's Bathtub/Bennys Badekar (1971) - Jannik Hastrup, Flemming Quist Møller
9. The Boss of It All/Direktøren for Det Hele (2006) - Lars Von Trier
10. Qivitoq (1956) - Erik Balling
Other Danish masterpieces reviewed by Film Excess to date (in alphabetical order):
Burma VJ/Burma VJ: Reporter i et Lukket Land/Burma VJ: Reporting From a Closed Country (2008, documentary) - Anders Østergaard
Zentropa/Europe (1991) - Lars Von Trier
Other great Danish movies reviewed by Film Excess to date (in alphabetical order):
A Hijacking/Kapringen (2012) - Tobias Lindholm
A Royal Affair/En Kongelig Affære (2012) - Nikolaj Arcel
A Soap/En Soap (2006) - Pernille Fischer Christensen
A War/Krigen (2015) - Tobias Lindholm
A World Not Ours (2012, documentary) - Mahdi Fleifel
Armadillo (2010, documentary) - Janus Metz
The Boy Who Wanted to Be a Bear/Drengen Der Ville Gøre det Umulige/The Boy Who Wanted to Do the Impossible (2002) - Jannik Hastrup
Dogville (2003) - Lars Von Trier
The Early Years: Erik Nietzsche Part 1/De Unge År: Erik Nietzsche Sagaen Del 1 (2007) - Jacob Thuesen
Family (2001, documentary) - Phie Ambo, Sami Saif
The Five Obstructions/De Fem Benspænd (2003, documentary) - Jørgen Leth, Lars Von Trier
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo/Män Som Hatar Kvinnor (2009) - Niels Arden Oplev
Klown/Klovn: The Movie (2010) - Mikkel Nørgaard
Nothing's All Bad/Smukke Mennesker (2010) - Mikkel Munch-Fals
R/R: Hit First, Hit Hardest (2010) - Tobias Lindholm, Michael Noer
Speed Walking/Kapgang (2014) - Niels Arden Oplev
What's Wrong with This Picture?/Tid til Forandring (2004) - Lotte Svendsen
Other good, recommendable Danish movies reviewed by Film Excess to date (in alphabetical order):
A Funny Man/Dirch (2011) - Martin Zandvliet
A Stranger Knocks/En Fremmed Banker På (1959) - Johan Jacobsen
Antichrist (2009) - Lars Von Trier
Allegro (2005) - Christoffer Boe
Applause (2009) - Martin Zandvliet
Bleeder (1999) - Nicolas Winding Refn
Boy/Dreng (2011) - Peter Gantzler
Brotherhood/Broderskab (2009) - Nicolo Donato
Brothers/Brødre (2004) - Susanne Bier
Camping (2009) - Jacob Bitsch
Cecilie (2007) - Hans Fabian Wullenweber
Daisy Diamond (2007) - Simon Staho
Dancer in the Dark (2000) - Lars Von Trier
Danmark (1935, documentary) - Poul Henningsen
Epidemic (1987) - Lars Von Trier
Fighter (2007) - Natascha Arthy
Flame & Citron/Flammen og Citronen (2008) - Ole Christian Madsen
The Hunt/Jagten (2012) - Thomas Vinterberg
In a Better World/Hævnen (2010) - Susanne Bier
In Real Life/Det Andet Liv (2014) - Jonas Elmer
The Incredible Story of the Giant Pear/Den Utrolige Historie om den Kæmpestore Pære (2017) - Amalie Næsby Fick, Jørgen Lerdam and Philip Einstein Lipski
Klown Forever/Klovn Forever (2015) - Mikkel Nørgaard
Long Story Short/Lang Historie Kort (2015) - May el-Toukhy
Melancholia (2011) - Lars Von Trier
Northwest/Nordvest (2013) - Michael Noer
The Salvation (2014) - Kristian Levring
Shake It All About/En Kort En Lang/Shake It (2001) - Hella Joof
Sorrow and Joy/Sorg og Glæde (2013) - Nils Malmros
Stolen Spring/Det Forsømte Forår (1993) - Peter Schrøder
Submarino (2010) - Thomas Vinterberg
Teddy Bear/10 Timer til Paradis (2012) - Mads Matthiesen
Terribly Happy/Frygtelig Lykkelig (2008) - Henrik Ruben Genz
Truth about Men/Sandheden om Mænd (2010) - Nikolaj Arcel
We Shall Overcome/Drømmen (2006) - Niels Arden Oplev
Mediocre, poor and/or failed Danish movies reviewed by Film Excess to date (in alphabetical order):
A Family/En Familie (2010) - Pernille Fischer Christensen
A Fortunate Man/Lykke-Per (2018) - Bille August
Accused/Anklaget (2005) - Jacob Thuesen
All for One/Alle for Én (2011) - Rasmus Heide
Chop Chop/Fukssvansen (2001) - Niels Arden Oplev
The Element of Crime/Forbrydelsens Element (1984) - Lars Von Trier
The Elite/Eliten (2015) - Thomas Daneskov
The House that Jack Built (2018) - Lars Von Trier
The Keeper of Lost Causes/Kvinden i Buret (2013) - Mikkel Nørgaard
Memories of My Melancholy Whores/Memoria de Mis Putas Tristes (2011) - Henning Carlsen
Open Hearts/Elsker Dig for Evigt (2002) - Susanne Bier
This Life/Hvidsten Gruppen (2012) - Anne-Grethe Bjarup Riis
Ticket to Romance/En Enkelt til Korsør (2008) - Gert Fredholm
Danish turkey movies reviewed by Film Excess to date (in alphabetical order):
AFR (2007) - Morten Hartz Kapler
How to Get Rid of the Others/Hvordan Vi Slipper Af med de Andre (2007) - Anders Rønnow Klarlund
Take the Trash/Blå Mænd (2008) - Rasmus Heide
[79 titles in total]
Previous Top 10 lists:
The best action movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
The best adapted movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
The best adventure movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
The best big flop movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
The best B/W movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
The best true story movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
The best big hit movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
The best biopic movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Best 'box office success' movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Best car chases in movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Top 10: Best comedies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Top 10: Best cop movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Top 10: Best crime movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Top 10: Best debut movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
What do you think of the list?
Which Danish movies would be on yours?
What worthwhile Danish movies are missing?
Top 10: The Best of the Year
1. The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky + Best Adaptation of the Year + Best Pennsylvania Movie of the Year + Best Youth Movie of the Year
2. Mad Men - season 5 - Matthew Weiner (creator)
3. Flight - Robert Zemeckis + Best Drama of the Year
4. Beasts of the Southern Wild - Benh Zeitlin + Best Louisiana Movie of the Year + Best Debut Movie of the Year
5. Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, documentary - Alison Klayman
6. Life of Pi - Ang Lee + Best Animal Movie of the Year
7. Love Is All You Need/Den Skaldede Frisør - Susanne Bier + Best Danish Movie of the Year
8. Hope Springs - David Frankel
9. The Sessions - Ben Lewin
10. The Impossible/Lo Imposible - J.A. Bayona + Best Spanish Movie of the Year + Best Disaster Movie of the Year
Other great movies of 2012 (in alphabetical order)
A Hijacking/Kapringen - Tobias Lindholm
A Royal Affair/En Kongelig Affære - Nikolaj Arcel + Best Period Movie of the Year
A World Not Ours - Mahdi Fleifel
The Act of Killing/Jagal - Joshua Oppenheimer, Christine Cynn and Anonymous
Amour - Michael Haneke + Best French Movie of the Year
Argo - Ben Affleck
Brave - Mark Andrews, Steve Purcell and Brenda Chapman + Best Family Movie of the Year
Django Unchained - Quentin Tarantino + Best Western of the Year
Frances Ha - Noah Baumbach + Best New York Movie of the Year + Best Poster of the Year
Hyde Park on Hudson - Roger Michell
Keep the Lights On - Ira Sachs + Best LGBT Movie of the Year
Kon-Tiki - Espen Sandberg and Joachim Rønning + Best Norwegian Movie of the Year + Best Adventure Movie of the Year
Lincoln - Steven Spielberg + Best Historical Movie of the Year + Best Big Hit Movie of the Year + Best Biopic of the Year
Looper - Rian Johnson
Men in Black 3 - Barry Sonnenfeld + Best Science Fiction Movie of the Year
Moonrise Kingdom - Wes Anderson
Mud - Jeff Nichols + Best Mississippi Movie of the Year
The Place Beyond the Pines - Derek Cianfrance + Best Crime Movie of the Year
Skyfall - Sam Mendes + Best Action Movie of the Year + Best Blockbuster of the Year
Wadjda - Haifaa Al-Mansour + First Saudi-Arabian Film in History
Zero Dark Thirty - Kathryn Bigelow + Best War Movie of the Year
Recommendable, good movies of 2012 (in alphabetical order)
21 Jump Street - Phil Lord and Christopher Miller
The Avengers/Avengers Assemble - Joss Whedon
Casa de Mi Padre - Matt Piedmont + Silliest Movie of the Year
The Dark Knight Rises - Christopher Nolan + Best Superhero Movie of the Year
Dark Shadows - Tim Burton
The Devil Inside - William Brent Bell + Best Horror Film of the Year
Get the Gringo/How I Spent My Summer Vacation - Adrian Grünberg + Best Comeback of the Year (Mel Gibson)
Here Comes the Boom - Frank Coraci
The Hunger Games - Gary Ross
The Hunt/Jagten - Thomas Vinterberg
The Imposter - Bart Layton
Iron Sky - Timo Vuorensola + Craziest Movie of the Year
Jack Reacher - Christopher McQuarrie
Magic Mike - Steven Soderbergh + Best Dance Movie of the Year
Maniac - Franck Khalfoun + Wildest Movie of the Year
No - Pablo Larraín + Best Chilean Movie of the Year
On the Road - Walter Salles + Best Road Movie of the Year
The Paperboy - Lee Daniels + Strangest Movie of the Year
Prometheus - Ridley Scott
Red Flag - Alex Karpovsky + Best Independent Movie of the Year + Worst Distribution of the Year
Rust and Bone/De Rouille et d'Os - Jacques Audiard
Searching for Sugar Man, documentary - Malik Bendjelloul
Silver Linings Playbook - David O. Russell
Sinister - Scott Derrickson + Best Mega-Hit of the Year
Spring Breakers - Harmony Korine + Best Miami Movie of the Year
Ted - Seth MacFarlane
Teddy Bear/10 Timer til Paradis - Mads Matthiesen
Wanderlust - David Wain + Best Comedy of the Year + Best Satire of the Year
Bottom 10: The Worst of the Year
1. Wrath of the Titans - Jonathan Liebesman
2. Bachelorette - Leslye Headland
3. John Carter - Andrew Stanton + Most Expensive Flop of the Year
4. Aftershock - Nicholás Lopez + Most Tasteless Movie of the Year
5. To Rome With Love - Woody Allen
6. Cosmopolis - David Cronenberg
7. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter - Timur Bekmambetov + Stupidest Movie of the Year
8. The Bourne Legacy - Tony Gilroy
9. The Lords of Salem - Rob Zombie + Most Sinister Movie of the Year
10. Battleship - Peter Berg
Other failed, mediocre or poor movies of 2012 (in alphabetical order):
The Amazing Spiderman
American Reunion/American Pie: Reunion
Antiviral - Brandon Cronenberg
Big Miracle
The Cabin in the Woods
Chernobyl Diaries - Bradley Parker
The Expendables 2
Girl Most Likely/Imogene + Worst Poster of the Year:
Hamilton: In the Interest of the Nation/Hamilton: I Nationens Intresse - Katrine Windfeld
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
The Iceman
John Dies at the End
Laurence Anyways
My Brother the Devil
Painless/Insensibles - Juan Carlos Medina
Piranha 3DD
The Possession
Promised Land
Revenge for Jolly!
Ruby Sparks
Taken 2
This Life/Hvidsten Gruppen
V/H/S
The Woman in Black
Wreck-It Ralph
[92 titles in total]
Notes
The 5th update of the 2012 film lists increases the amount of reviewed with 2 new titles.
2012 was a great year in movies. The top 10 includes no less than 9 masterpieces, - which is sensational for any year. And the best film of the year, Stephen Chobosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a youth romance dramedy keeper that should live on for decades to come.
The 5th season of Matthew Weiner's spectacular New York-set period drama Mad Men follows it; Robert Zemeckis' Flight is the resounding character study of the year and the best film about alcoholism for a long while; Benh Zeitlin's girl-centered Hurricane Katrina drama Beasts of the Southern Wild conquers one's heart; Alison Klayman's spectacular Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry documentary is the 5th best of the year, Ang Lee's Life of Pi raises the spirit and wows you continuously with its wild, oceanic adventure; Susanne Bier's Love Is All You Need is a charming, funny, moving romcom; Dave Frankel's Hope Springs brought us some favorite actors in an extremely delicate marriage counseling dramedy; Ben Lewin's The Sessions was a surprise sex dramedy smash; and finally, J. A. Bayona's The Impossible
is technically stunning, as well as stunning due to its actors'
performances; the 2004 tsunami couldn't have gotten a 'better' film.
On the worst of 2012 list, Jonathan Liebesman's wholly uninspired, mechanical Wrath of the Titans is the worst, a majorly uninspired and uninspiring clonker. Leslye Headland's unfunny crude comedy Bachelorette is #2, and Andrew Stanton's John Carter takes bronze in 'turkeystry'. It is followed by Nicholás Lopez's tasteless earthquake horror Aftershock, Woody Allen's awful To Rome With Love, David Cronenberg's dull, talky Cosmopolis, Timur Bekmambetov's preposterous Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Tony Gilroy's nonsensical chase sequel actioner The Bourne Legacy, new entry Rob Zombie's wife-starring satanical horror The Lords of Salem and finally Peter Berg's flop Battleship (the second on the list starring Taylor Kitsch.) Juan Carlos Medina's uncompelling child torture movie Insensibles gets pushed out of the Bottom 10 this year.
In other news, Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy came to a thrilling if somewhat cluttered end, Daniel Craig continued his Bond-employment with the great Skyfall; Steven Spielberg triumphed with great biopic and the update's other new entry Lincoln; Spider-Man got an unnecessary reboot, and America went nuts over Silver Linings Playbook and their new best friend, actress Jennifer Lawrence,
who won an Oscar for her work in the film before four other, way more
deserving actresses. - She also launched the popular, good Hunger Games franchise in '12. Marvel and Joss Whedon struck box office gold with their first Avengers movie. The second Expendables movie was a big disappointment, and Peter Jackson's first Hobbit movie was also something of an exercise to sit through.
Noah Baumbach made a true gem with B/W dramedy Frances Ha, Ira Sachs' brought forth a commendably difficult and deep-felt film of love and drug addiction, Keep the Lights On, and Saudi-Arabia fostered its first feature ever (!), Haifaa Al-Mansour's terrific Wadjda.
Master filmmakers who made some lesser-quality films in 2012 include Xavier Dolan with Laurence Anyways and Gus Van Sant with Promised Land.
On the 2013 Oscars:
At the 2013 Oscars, the Academy threw most of their love onto Ben Affleck's admittedly great Argo and Steven Spielberg's also fine Lincoln, but also admired Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained, his biggest hit yet. The night's biggest winner, however, with 4 statuettes, was Ang Lee's Life of Pi. Seth MacFarlane, high on Ted's succes, hosted the awards and was about as devoid of class as could be expected, - not a great choice for hosting the event.
Argo won Best Picture, Adapted Screenplay and Editing, bringing director-star Affleck back to the top of the Hollywood pinnacle.
Daniel Day-Lewis won Best Actor for Lincoln, and Christoph Waltz won Best Supporting Actor for Django Unchained. Jennifer Lawrence won Best Actress for Silver Linings Playbook, and Anne Hathaway won Best Supporting Actress for Les Misérables, - a win she has later said she felt she did not deserve.
Ang Lee won Best Director, and Life of Pi also won for Best Cinematography (Claudio Miranda), Visual Effects and Best Score (Mychael Danna).
Tarantino won Best Original Screenplay for Django; the new Les Mis also took awards for sound mixing, sound editing (shared with Skyfall) and hair and make-up. Anna Karenina won Best Costumes. Best Song became Adele's Bond song Skyfall. Lincoln also won for its production design.
Best Animated Short was Paperman; Live-Action Short was Curfew; Documentary Short was Inocente.
Best Documentary; Searching for Sugarman, and Best Foreign Film; Amour. Best Animated Feature; the great Brave.
Dignitary awards went to D. A. Pennebaker, George Stevens Jr., Hal Needham, Bill Taylor and Jeffrey Katzenberg.
IMDb's user-generated Top 10 of the most popular 2012 titles:
1. The Hunger Games
2. The Dark Knight Rises
3. Django Unchained
4. The Perks of Being a Wallflower
5. Prometheus
6. Dark Shadows
7. Les Misérables
8. The Avengers
9. The Twilight Sage: Breaking Dawn - Part 2
10. Snow White and the Huntsman
2012 Cannes Film Festival:
Nanni Moretti acted as President of the Jury, and Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom opened the festival. The festival's poster featured Marilyn Monroe as an homage to mark the 50th anniversary of her death.
The main prize, the Palme d'Or, was won by Michael Haneke for his great Amour, his second win of the coveted prize following his tough The White Ribbon (2009). The Jury Grand Prize went to Matteo Garrone's Reality, and Ken Loach's The Angels' Share won the Jury Prize. Michel Franco's After Lucia won the Un Certain Regard section. Taisia Igumentseva's The Road To won the Cinéfoundation award, L. Rezan Yesilbas' Silent won the short film prize. Pablo Larraín's No won the Directors' Fortnight award. Other awards went to Cristian Mungiu's Beyond the Hills, Mads Mikkelsen in The Hunt, Cristina Flutur and Cosmina Stratan in Beyond the Hills and Carlos Reygados for his Post Tenebras Lux, among many others.
The 22 films in the main competition in 2012 were:
After
the Battle, The Angels' Share, Beyond the Hills, Cosmopolis, Holy
Motors, The Hunt, In Another Country, In the Fog, Killing Them Softly,
Lawless, Like Someone in Love, Love, Moonrise Kingdom, Mud, On the Road,
The Paperboy, Paradise: Love, Post Tenebras Lux, Reality, Rust and
Bone, The Taste of Money, You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet
Biggest flops of the year:
[The
loss is based solely on the cost and box office earnings for the films.
Marketing costs and additional revenue (home video, TV rights and other
auxiliary profits) are not taken into account]
1. John Carter - 136.36 mil. $ range
2. Battleship - 87.8 mil. $ range
3. Dark Shadows - 51.8 mil. $ range
4. Wrath of the Titans - 27.92 mil. $ range
5. Wanderlust - 25.48 mil. $ range
6. Big Miracle - 25.12 mil. $ range
7. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter - 22.44 mil. $ range
8. On the Road - 21.52 mil. $ range
9. Cosmopolis - 18.1 mil. $ range
10. Get the Gringo - 17.72 mil. $ range
Combined losses: 434.26 mil. $ range
Biggest hits of the year:
[The
gain is based solely on the cost and box office earnings for the films.
Marketing costs and additional revenue (home video, TV rights and other
auxiliary profits) are not taken into account]
1. The Avengers - 384.68 mil. $ range
2. Skyfall - 243.44 mil. $ range
3. The Hunger Games - 199.72 mil. $ range
4. The Dark Knight Rises - 170 mil. $ range
5. Ted - 168.72 mil. $ range
6. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - 150.9 mil. $ range
7. Life of Pi - 123.6 mil. $ range
8. Taken 2 - 106.44 mil. $ range
9. Silver Linings Playbook - 73.56 mil. $ range
10. The Amazing Spider-Man - 70.88 mil. $ range
Combined profits: 1,691.94 mil. $ range
2012 movies still on the watch-list:
The Twilight Saga:
Breaking Dawn - Part 2, Stuck in Love, Les
Misérables, The Vow, Lawless, Seeking a Friend For the End of the World, The Motel Life, The Last Sentence/Dom over Død Mand, Sexual Tension: Volatile, Pitch Perfect, Frankenweenie, In the House/Dans la Maison, Anna Karenina, Beyond Outrage, At Any Prize, ParaNorman, Craigslist Joe, The Gatekeepers, Like Someone in Love, The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!, War Witch, How to Survive a Plague, Excision, The Invisible War, Simon Killer, Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present, Quartet, Ernest & Celestine, A Late Quartet, Middle of Nowhere, [REC] 3: Genesis, Underworld: Awakening, End of Watch, The Five-Year Engagement, Savages, Ill Manors, The Mountain, The Lorax, Safety Not Guaranteed, Me and You, Wolf Children, Dark Blood, It's Such a Beautiful Day, Lore, Hannah Arendt, Paulie, Reality, After Lucia, Silent, Beyond the Hills, Post Teneras ux, After the Battle, In Another Country, In the Fog, Killing Them Softly, The Taste of Money, You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet
Previous annual lists:
2016 in films - according to Film Excess
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2014 in films - according to Film Excess
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2012 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2012 in films - according to Film Excess
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2011 in films - according to Film Excess
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Do you agree with Film Excess' 2012 lists?
What films would comprise your lists of 2012 movies?
What interesting movies are missing on the watch-list?
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