Picks of 2012

Holy Motors (Monsieur Merde Cemetery Scene)

(Leos Carax, 2012)

Hard to believe the London Olympics, KONY and Carly Rae Jepsen's Call Me Maybe were a decade ago. In the world of cinema, it was the time when the MCU concluded its Phase One of global domination (although I never realised it at the time) and made me wish the Mayans' doomsday prediction had come true. Here are my film highlights from the year:

Room 237 (Rodney Ascher)

Compliance (Craig Zobel)

Cosmopolis (David Cronenberg)

Aftershock (Nicolás López)

Django Unchained (Quentin Tarantino)

No One Lives (Ryuhei Kitamura)

 The Divide (Xavier Gens)

The Woman in Black (James Watkins)

Dredd (Pete Travis & Alex Garland)

Holy Motors (Leos Carax)

Kiss of the Damned (Xen Cassavetes)

Searching for Sugar Man (Malik Bendjelloul)

Sightseers (Ben Wheatley)

Berberian Sound Studio (Peter Strickland)

Rust and Bone (Jacques Audiard)

Lovely Molly (Eduardo Sánchez)

The Bay (Barry Levinson)

Maniac (Franck Khalfoun)

Excision (Richard Bates Jr.)

American Mary (Jen Soska & Sylvia Soska)

[REC]³ Genesis (Paco Plaza)

Why couldn't Quentin Tarantino cast Michael K. Williams (r.i.p.) as his titular hero, Django? I've always believed he would have been far more suitable for the role than Jamie Foxx. You know he would have owned it, instead of being outshone by the rest of his supporting cast. Enjoyed the film regardless, but how incredible would it have been with Omar Little in Candyland?