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According to my Listology Film Log, I've seen 358 feature films, 6 television films, 178 short films and 5 medium-length (31-59 mins) films as of today, which is more than any other year in memory for me.

10 of these have been 2012 films. Of those, only two have been positive experiences....

American Reunion is probably the best American Pie film of them all, coming out of a terrible opening stretch to resemble a kind of "Greatest Hits" package for the series, improved all the more by having more meaningful things to say than the previous efforts (not that there's anything necessarily new about it all). The other good film -- Resident Evil: Retribution -- is also the best film of its series. Paul W.S. Anderson's grasp of visuals and tempo impresses me more with each film. He's underrated by people who prefer verbosity to his type of kinetic excitement but that's their loss.

Anyway, overall, the best films I saw this year were:

1. Casualties of War (Brian De Palma, 1989) -- Has all the aspects you could want from a great war movie: emotional and moral complexity, classic acting, astonishing visuals and unflinching grimness. Confirmed Brian De Palma's place as one of my favourite filmmakers.

2. In a Lonely Place (Nicholas Ray, 1950) -- The perfect character drama and tragic romance, intensely directed by Nicholas Ray, whose Bigger Than Life is now top of my must-watch list.

3. JLG/JLG (Jean-Luc Godard, 1994) -- A unique, alternately sombre and comic autobiography from cinema's greatest poet. Everybody should see it.

4. Godzilla (Ishiro Honda, 1954) -- The ultimate monster movie.

5. Rope (Alfred Hitchcock, 1948) -- An brief but wonderfully ambitious exploration of the criminal mind, executed with the tensity and visual panache one hopes to find in any Hitchcock.

6. His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, 1940) -- Strings together so many zippy one-liners and quips with such great timing and effectiveness as to eclipse even most of the good comedies that come out nowadays. I'm only just beginning to discover Howard Hawks' work, and it's definitely impressive. Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell are sublime.

7. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Howard Hawks, 1953) -- An effortlessly subversive, fluid work of musical cinema headlined by Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell, whose performances pretty much match that of director Hawks. Again, he's one of the filmmakers whose movies I'm going to pursue more and more throughout 2013.

8. Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1968) -- Pauline Kael said it all. One of the landmarks of American movies.

9. Grand Illusion -- A masterclass of acting and staging, beautifully executed by Jean Renoir and one of the strongest ensembles I can recall. Emotionally and spiritually profound, too.

10. Show Me Love -- There are probably a few films I could have picked for the #10 spot, but debut films as brilliant as Lukas Moodysson's deserve all the positive notices they can get. Emotionally rich and humorous tale of young love, not so far away from the masterpiece that was Celine Sciamma's Water Lilies.

Bottom 10 (alphabetical order):
Blood Juice, Clawed: The Legend of Sasquatch, The Devil Inside, Ernest Scared Stupid, Flesh Eater, Flesh for the Beast, I Know How Many Runs You Scored Last Summer, 101 Reykjavik, Small Town Folk, Swimfan.

Side Note: 2012 was also the year I learned that everyone should read the Andrew Sarris book "The American Cinema." The best book about film that I've encountered so far.