Over the last week critics have revealed their top ten films of 2012. They have shown a diversity of choices from very mainstream films to some very independent films, but there has been one film to accompany everyone's list: Zero Dark Thirty.
Zero Dark Thirty has now won two critics circles and is expected to win on Sunday at the Los Angeles Film Critics awards. The film made the top of the list of Entertainment Weekly's Lisa Schwarzbaum as well New York Magazine's. Schwarzbaum also included Oscar contenders Lincoln, The Master, Amour, Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild and Skyfall. Among the indie films she included The Gatekeepers, The Loneliest Planet and How to Survive a Plague. New York Magazine's list included Lincoln, Amour and The Gatekeepers. The critics also included Life of Pi, The Deep Blue Sea and How to Survive a Plague among others
Time Magazine's Richard Corliss named Amour as his number one film and Beats of the Southern Wild as his number two. Other films that comprised his list included Anna Karenina, The Drak Knight Rises, Life of Pi, and The Invisible War. Most shocking of all was the inclusion of Tim Burton's Frankenweenie.
Rolling Stones critic Peter Travers created one of the most interesting lists and probably the one to pay most attention to. In 2010 his top ten were identical to eventual Oscar nominees and last year, eight of his top ten films were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar. This year his number one film was The Master which was followed by Zero Dark Thirty, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Lincoln, Argo, Silver Linings Playbook, Les Miserables, Life of Pi and Moonrise Kingdom . This list looks like the most likely to resemble the Academy's this coming January when they announce the nominees. The only film on Travers' list that may not make the Oscars cut is The Dark Knight Rises. The film has lost some steam in the Oscars race.
The next critics awards will be on Sunday, December 9 when Boston and Los Angeles pick their top films of the year.
FULL LISTS TO DATE
Peter Travers-Rolling Stone
1. The Master
2. Zero Dark Thirty
3. Beasts of the Southern Wild
4. Lincoln
5. Argo
6. Silver Linings Playbook
7. Les Miserables
8. Life of Pi
9. Moonrise Kingdom
10. The Dark Knight Rises
Owen Gleiberman - Entertainment Weekly
1. Lincoln
2. Amour
3. Silver Linings Playbook
4. Room 237
5. Zero Dark Thirty
6. Perks of Being a Wallflower
7. Killing Them Softly
8. Argo
9. Flight
10. Bernie
Lisa Schwarzbaum-Entertainment Weekly
1. Zero Dark Thirty
2. Lincoln
3. The Master
4. Amour
5. Argo
6. The Gatekeepers
7. Beasts of the Southern Wild
8. Skyfall
9. The Loneliest Planet
10. How to Survive a Plague
Richard Corliss-Time
1. Amour
2. Beasts of the Southern Wild
3. Life of Pi
4. Anna Karenina
5. The Dark Knight Rises
6. Zero Dark Thirty
7. Dark Horse
8. Dragon
9. Frankenweenie
10. Invisible War