Here we go folks. The Best Directors of 2012. They lent their talent and vision to a project and it paid off in a big way. Under their direction, these films came out shining…
Click through to see who the MAJOR Award Nominees for Best Director of 2012 are!
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Paul Thomas Anderson
“The Master”
The Master is an enigmatic movie, a film to be puzzled over and deciphered. The fact that it leaves us wanting to delve deep and understand all of its underlying meanings is credit to the unmatched talents of director Paul Thomas Anderson. He crafts unparalleled characters and puts superior actors in position to succeed with them. He also integrates impressive shots that add visual heft to the film as well. One of the year’s most cerebral films.
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Kathryn Bigelow
“Zero Dark Thirty”
The taut, intense atmosphere that Bigelow creates in “Zero Dark Thirty” is all the more impressive considering that everyone in the world knows the ultimate outcome of the infamous “Pre-dawn raid”. Still, she builds a tense, gripping story featuring torture, interrogations, surveillance, tailing… every trick available in modern intelligence gathering. Bigelow also gets a fantastic performance out of Jessica Chastain. It all adds up to one of the most engrossing thrillers of the year.
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Ang Lee
“Life of Pi”
Lee has crafted one of the most visually impressive films of the year here. He also manages to create a fascinating tale which, for the most part, features one lone character, narration, and an animated tiger. Spiritual, exciting, and awe-inspiring, “Life of Pi” is a powerful and beautiful film that will leave you thinking about it even after you leave the theatre. Lee melds state of the art special effects and a moving story to yield great results.
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Quentin Tarantino
“Django Unchained”
Few directors put their personal stamp on their films the way that Quentin Tarantino does. He has a way of sampling from the past, creating the new, and setting it all to cool, perfectly timed music. The end result is always a film that is unmistakably his. “Django Unchained” is no exception. Hyper violent, loaded with controversial content, yet infused with his inimitable, confident style.
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Benh Zeitlin
“Beasts of the Southern Wild”
In his first feature film debut, Benh Zeitlin took two unknowns who had never acted before and made them look like accomplished thespians, directing one of them to an Academy Award nominated performance. He also crafted a beautiful, moving film about life and the power of the human spirit. It’s drawn an immense amount of acclaim and is worthy of all of it. Not bad for a rookie, huh?
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Well, what do you think?
Who’s really shaken up by the exclusion of Steven Spielberg? Anyone mad I snubbed Ben Affleck? Which of the directors above do YOU think is most worthy of the award?
Let us hear it!!
Fogs' Movie Reviews 
I’m mad that you snubbed Ben Affleck, he was the bomb in Phantoms yo!
LOL!!! 😀
Heh.
yeah, I’m not thrilled about Affleck’s exclusion here. But you still picked some good choices.
I know Beasts of the Southern Wild is getting tons of accolades, but is best director really one of the ones it needs? From what you wrote, it sounds like the award needs to be given more to the actors and the screenwriters instead.
#TeamArgo 😀
Naw. Have you seen “Southern Wild”? That’s a director’s movie, man. No doubt. And those actors were both rookies… neither of them had even been in a film… so… that speaks to good direction if you can take two newbies and make them look awesome.
Affleck was excellent, but I had to narrow it down between that and Zero Dark, seeing as they were both espionage thrillers… and I wasn’t bumping anybody else. LOL
Totally with you on PTA! Sad about Affleck not getting in, but it sounds like Zeitlin is worthy. I really have to see that film.
Yeah, that was a great movie. Super happy for him that he got an Oscar nom for it, he was totally deserving! Glad to hear you like “The Master”, I have a feeling that movie’s not for everyone…
This is a wonderful list. The only film on the list I didn’t love was Life of Pi, but it was undoubtably a fantasticly directed one. My problems were with the script, not Mr Lee. How could you not love the wise Ang Lee anyways?
On the subject of PTA, even after listening to his critiques, I still have no idea what about PTA’s work Tank doesn’t like. Mind Boggling. Same with Silver Linings Playbook which he cited as “Indie Filmmaking at its best” and then gave it a meh! Does that mean the best Indie films are meh? OK questions for him I guess. Haha. Great List here!
Yes. Please. LOL… I wouldn’t begin to know the answers to those questions, they baffle me too! 😀 LOL.
Personally, I think Anderson is brilliant, and “The Master” is no exception!
Sad to hear you didn’t connect with “Life of Pi”. I need to rewatch it in order to check a couple of things out, but all in all I thought it was pretty awesome…
Tarantino. I just love his mix of comedy, violence, angst, and WTF just happened why is everyone smiling at the blood?
LOL. That’s Tarantino for you alright! 😀 Don’t forget his song selections, either… How freaking funny (but perfect) was Jim Croce’s “I’ve Got a Name”? (Just one example, of course)
I practically busted out laughing!! 😀
This aint the Academy, Fogs. You’re allowed to include Whedon. His job on Avengers is nothing short of masterful.
Also Affleck, despite my person conflict about Argo, really rocked the jodhpurs.
And um… Spielberg? anyone? Spielberg? Bueller?
I’ll back you up on Bigelow and Lee though.
Damn straight this ain’t the Academy. Thus no Spielberg, and definitely no David O Russell (I really liked Silver Linings, but are they $%#&ing kidding me?).
Would it make you feel any better if I said I strongly considered Whedon? Honest. Mendes, too…
Glad to see you didnt include Whedon like the Academy didnt include Whedon especially in a bumper crop year of top flight directorial work. The only reason I pick Ang Lee over Tarantino is because Lee adapted the un-adaptable! Whereas Quentin did make a bold and brilliant film, he was still working within that familiar Tarantino ‘zone.’
Yes, but the “Tarantino Zone” is something most directors can only dream of! 🙂
I gave Whedon a lot of consideration, I really did. But at the end of the day, there were so many other factors at play with “The Avengers” that I had to pass him up.
Ang Lee made a great film, regardless of the source material. He really did some amazing, amazing things with that film…
I wanted Mendes, Sam Mendes who took a great franchise and made Skyfall the first Bond film to break over $1 billion. Since he’s not on the list, I’m going with Ang Lee.
Yeah! Bond gets screwed again!(What a Headline!)
“Yeah!”?
Lets remember where you are! I don’t want to start banning blasphemers today, but I will!!
Yeahhhhhh… I swear, I pondered that for days. There was so much else in play, working in that movie’s favor. It wound up being SUCH a tight field.
Seriously though, it pained me to cross him off the list. 😦
You’re forgiven.
Bigelow. This film might miss out because of all the oscars for “Hurt Locker”. When you think that not a single photo turned up from this mission(unheard of when revolutions are You-Tubed!), it didn’t matter that the outcome was known. Everyone wanted to see for themselves what happened. Tasteful, taut, killer suspense! ZDT, film of the year!
LOL. ZDT fan número uno, huh? I think I know who your opposite number is (Sati 😉 ). ZDT was excellent… She did a great job, there’s no doubt. You might be right, she might be getting the “Ah, she just got one” penalty…
Damn, Affleck got snubbed again?? 😀 Kudos to you for including PTA. Was really hoping he would get an Oscar nod, too.
I guess on the one hand I agree with the Academy, and on the other, I don’t. LOL.
PTA was mesmerizing from the chair with this movie. The performances he got, some of the shots he included… It was a fascinating film, there’s no doubt!
Paul Thomas Motherf-ing Anderson!
WOW! I would have NEVER thought you would have supported him here.
That is SHOCKING!! 😀
Good picks. My vote goes to PTA. I think he’s the strongest director of his generation and that The Master was the best directed film of the year.
He definitely makes substantive films, doesn’t he? The Master demanded some serious contemplation… 😀
You left off Affleck cause he’s a Red Sox fan.
So I am going with QT. I hope his next film is all about himself, portraying different ethnicity cowboys.
“You left off Affleck cause he’s a Red Sox fan.”
There may be a subconscious element of truth to that… LOL
And I think I’ve seen enough of QT in front of the camera 😮
I have to say that Lee adapting the unadaptable and making it work is what should push him over the edge. But I’m a Tarantino fan. Go figure. I hate slasher horror and blood for the sake of blood yet have no issue with it in a Tarantino film. He has an ability to take something seriously and be totally irreverent about it at the very same time that just makes things work. But Tarantino is doing Tarantino and Lee is doing art. So, for the sake of art, I’ll pick Ang Lee.
LOL. Ok. You kind of started there, went away and then came back to him, but Lee. Got it. 😀
Tarantino definitely has a way of making everything seem cool and entertaining, doesn’t he? Whether its just a dialogue scene or a total shoot out… He makes it seem bad ass!
So far, I need to go with Zeitlin but cant out rule the others till I see them. Zeitlin does a fine, fine job though.
Yeah he does, doesn’t he? Kind of scary that its his first feature film!
Haven’t seen Beasts or Pi.
The other three? Excellent choices.
Thanks PG, appreciate that.
I expect that you’ll enjoy both of those films when you see them…
Wait….where’s Chris Nolan?!? LOL
Haha! Heh. Hahaha!
>:/
That’s not going to actually make the smiley I want. But it should. LOL
I’m surprised that Spielberg and Affleck didn’t get nominated; but that’s riding on the reputations of their films alone, as I missed/haven’t had the opportunity to see them for myself yet.
I love seeing PTA being recognised here but I don’t know that he should win, having said that I’m torn up about who should so… It’s a difficult decision!
LOL. Well, dont fret over it. 🙂
Meanwhile, in the case of Spielberg at least, I think there is a lot of reputation/name involved. Lincoln was a great flick, but… I dont know if I was in awe of the directing or anything. I’m betting Daniel Day Lewis was pretty easy to “Coach” and the only times I noticed something happening from the directors chair onscreen, it was in a negative way unfortunately 😦 So….
Affleck, meanwhile, made a really really great thriller. But there just wasn’t room for him, you know?
Fair enough, and yeah I bet Daniel Day Lewis was easy to coach! 😀
Affleck and Hooper snubbing from the Fogster Academy as well!!! Boooo!!! Doesn’t matter, I’d give it to Bigelow regardless! She’s my #1 here!
Well, I do feel bad about not having room to include Affleck. If only I had space to nominate 10, you know?!!
Meanwhile, I would need a list of 50 to put Tom Hooper in here. I wasn’t a big fan of Les Mis aside from a few of the performances… and knowing how talented those performers are, I give Hooper little credit. 😦
No Affleck? This category is BS man, just BS.
Though I was completely taken by it, of your list Ang Lee deserves to win. He filmed the unfilmable, and, more importantly, made it watchable.