I thought 2012 was a pretty great year for movies, but what could possibly be even more exciting is 2013. Goddamn there looks like a ton of great stuff in store for this year. This isn't even all the movies I'm looking forward to, but I figured I had to cap a limit somewhere. These have no specific order to them, but here are the ones I'm the most enthusiastic about:

The Place Beyond the Pines

This one's already made the rounds around festivals and has had a pretty immense reaction so far. This is Derek Cianfrance's follow up to Blue Valentine, once again starring Ryan Gosling - and it's fair to stop right there. Sold.

Stoker

I've never disliked a Chan-wook Park film, and I've seen them all. This is his first english speaking film, and it looks terrifying. Nicole Kidman looks properly disturbing, Mia Wasikowska is always great, and Matthew Goode seems effectively creepy. SO excited. This one is currently in theaters, but not out by me yet.

Don Jon's Addiction

After a banner 2012 year, Joseph Gordon Levitt is looking to top it with his directorial debut. And dammit, I want this to be great. I only want him to succeed in every facet of life, that's how much I love JGL. I've also heard almost all positive things so far, so I feel good about it.

Before Midnight

So far this franchise has been producing one movie per decade, which I'm not sure has ever been done before - but how fucking cool is that? This same trio of people (Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, and Richard Linklater) reunite once every ten years and makes a great movie? I love the first two, Before Sunrise and Before Sunset - so I have nothing but high hopes for this one as well.

Only God Forgives

Once again, Ryan Gosling reuniting with a director whose partnership produced an impossibly tremendous film. This time it's Nicolas Winding Refn, and Drive was one of my favorite movies of the last few years. So yeah, more than a little excited for this one.

Trance

Hey, haven't heard from Danny Boyle in awhile - what's he been up to? This movie, I guess. Danny Boyle is one of the weirdest directors ever. Like I don't think he ever makes the same kind of movie twice - which leads to great things, but also to extreme inconsistency. But I choose to think of the Danny Boyle who did Trainspotting and 28 Days Later, and this movie kind of reminds me of a much lesser known movie he did called Shallow Grave. I remain cautiously optimistic about this one.

The Wolf of Wall Street

THIS SOUNDS AWESOME. A Scorcese/DiCaprio pairing is pretty much an unbeatable combination, and it just sounds like the sort of thing that both of these men would absolutely obliterate. In a good way.

The Great Gatsby

Hey again, Leo! Remember when I wrote about this one in my 2012 write-up? Sheesh.

Evil Dead

I never would have imagined I would be looking forward to an Evil Dead remake, but once I saw the trailer... I mean goddamn. It just looks absolutely horrifying. The original(s) are among the all-time best in the genre, but in a mainly campy way. This one looks truly terrifying in every way. Best part is the involvement of Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell, so it's comforting to know it's still in good hands.

Twelve Years a Slave

I know, I know. It's like, didn't we just have an epic slave movie last year? But guys, this one is directed by Steve McQueen (not that Steve McQueen), whose last movie Shame was, again, one of my favorites of the last few years. And you need to check the cast on this movie because it's absolutely off the charts loaded with amazing people.

Horns

This one I'm super excited for, mainly because I've read the book it's based on, and it was without question one of the best books I've read in years. This one is being directed by Alexandre Aja, who is tremendous. And in such an unexpectedly weird, yet somehow awesome bit of casting is Daniel Radcliffe. Kid seems determined on picking the weirdest roles imaginable post-Harry Potter, and I love this guy. Like JGL, I want nothing more than to see this kid succeed in whatever he does. Very high hopes for this one.

Her

A Spike Jonze movie starring Joaquin Phoenix? ABOUT. DAMN. TIME.

Spring Breakers

This can go either way. Actually, my god, this seems like it will go EVERY way, but I choose to believe it will be awesome. If I wasn't aware Harmony Korine is directing this, I doubt there's any way I would be interested - but he is, so I definitely am.

The Bling Ring

I'm not huge on Sofia Coppola. I want to be, ugh I really want to be, because I see what she's doing... and I want to support her, and girl power and everything - but I usually end up like "UGH STOP WHYYY would you do that???" I used to love The Virgin Suicides, but ultimately don't think it holds up, and words cannot express how much I hated Somewhere. But because of Lost in Translation, which I still think is a great movie - I will try and only go in this one with good intentions. Also my girl Emma Watson is starring, so let's see.

Oldboy

This one is here mainly on the basis of curiosity. Spike Lee remaking a famous Korean movie just sounds like a recipe for insane. This has been talked about for a long time, I'm talking long enough for me to remember Will Smith being attached to star in it. This seems like it will probably be a trainwreck, but I gotta know how it turns out.

Only Lovers Left Alive

This is a Jim Jarmusch hipster vampire movie starring Mia Wasikowska and Anton Yelchin. First off I was just not aware at all that Jarmusch still made movies, I'm not sure why I wasn't aware that he didn't, but there you go. Also what is with Wasikowska and Yelchin and vampire movies? Maybe they don't and I just think they do, but I feel like they're in a lot. Clearly there's a lot of confusion going on on my part.

Inside Llewyn Davis

This just looks fantastic. It looks like all the best things about Coen Brothers movies rolled into a super film. Nothing but excitement.

With the Oscars happening tonight, I figured now is the last possible time it's even the slightest bit acceptable to release a top ten list of 2012 movies. Considering the tremendous amount of movies that were only released the last couple weeks of the year, it took me a bit to catch an acceptable amount. From there, I also re-watched a lot of them while I tried finalizing this list. So here I am - close to 3 months after 2012 has ended, but I think I'm finally ready. Of course I didn't get to see EVERY movie that came out last year, but I did see more than a normal human being ever should. Also for what it's worth, I'm not saying these are the ten best made movies, but rather these are the ten I personally loved and related to the most.

10. Les Miserables

I almost didn't include this one on my list, because I guess I'm slightly embarrassed that I enjoyed this one nearly as much as I did. But I wouldn't be being true or honest with myself in any capacity if I didn't. The truth is this movie made me hysterically cry multiple times. I'm talking shameless, inconsolable tears. I've heard complaints about the singing, but honestly I think all that is bullshit - the raw emotion you get from every song magnified every song by like 8000x. I wouldn't call this movie completely perfect, but I definitely found myself continually thinking about it days after I'd watched the movie and I most definitely annoyed the shit out of my landlords for weeks performing my own emotionally charged renditions of the soundtrack.

9. The Master

PT Anderson is one of my all time favorite directors, so I was extremely excited to see this one. Boogie Nights and There Will Be Blood are pretty huge exampels of exactly what I look for in a movie. For starters, this was one of the most gorgeous movies of the year - just absolutely mesmerizing to look at it. But even more so were the performances. Philip Seymour Hoffman is amazing outstanding, but specifically Joaquin Phoenix gave what was my favorite performance of the year. It's really something that needs to be witnessed, and it's pretty unreal.

8. Paranorman

This was so surprising for me. I guess I'm always slightly biased towards animated movies, which is dumb. But this may be my favorite one ever. This movie had everything: gorgeous animation, I thought it was hysterical, had nice throwbacks to vintage horror, and was actually at times terrifying. I love movies that center on lonely characters, and this one was really sad and sweet. For reference, I saw this and Frankenweenie close to the same time - and thought Paranorman blew Frankenweenie out of the water.

7. Oslo, August 31

I put an active effort into watching more movies from different countries this year, and I'd say my favorite I stumbled upon was Oslo, August 31. I guess what made this movie so interesting to me was the tremendous amount of suspense and unease built around the main character. The movie follows one guy on this one day, and asks if relapse is really the issue, or if any of it is even worth it all? I've seen a lot of movies attempt this format and it's more often than not, a boring mess - this was just a wildly successful attempt. The Catcher in the Rye is my all-time favorite book, and I think I connected to this movie as much as I did because of how much Holden Caulfield I saw the central character.

6. The Cabin in the Woods

I absolutely love the horror genre. When done right, it's probably my favorite. But that's the thing - it's rarely ever done right. I'm incredibly picky with horror, so this movie was such a delight. It's not *really* a horror movie, but rather it deconstructs the genre with what originally feels like a dumb slasher movie, and then launches into this elaborate horror plot in which the end result decides the fate of the world. It's genius, and fantastic, and original. The last half hour is such an amazingly chaotic sequence - if you appreciate horror or even movies in general, it's definitely worth seeking out.

5. Seven Psychopaths

I'm not even sure what to say about this one - it was just such a thoroughly entertaining movie from start to finish. It's essentially fueled by tremendous performances from Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, and Christopher Walken - and it's truly impossible to tell who was best, they were all so incredible. Even Colin Farrell, it's hard playing the straight man against such big and bizarre characters, and he was great. This movie constantly skates the line between movie and reality, and pretty effortlessly at that. The format of this movie is incredibly easy to screw up, but taking the right chances in the right places made this one of the best of the year.

4. Looper

How absolutely amazing was the first half of this movie? I swear, if it had kept up the momentum that the first hour had - this probably would have been the best movie of the year. But it didn't, so it's not. I wasn't totally fond of the Emily Blunt half (that's not to say I didn't still enjoy it, I really did), and I also believe the movie used a couple different conflicting theories of time travel - but I'm not gonna get into all that. For now let's just talk about the good stuff, and there was a lot in this one. Such an original and amazing world, stunning visuals, and minimal CGI - which I was a huge fan of. JGL being Bruce Willis was fantastic. The sequences were outstanding and some were downright terrifying. All in all just an absolutely outstanding sci-fi movie.

3. The Perks of Being a Wallflower

This one came as a huge shock to me. It's so rare that a movie can properly articulate the way you feel as a teenager - when you're not really sure who you are or who you want to be or who you can even really relate to. How lonely and terrifying it can be. The author of the book also made this movie, and it's insanely obvious exactly how much thought he clearly put into how he wanted that transition to go. I thought the pacing on this movie was flawless, many big things could be explained in a 3 second shot. I hadn't really noticed this movie being mentioned practically at all in many year-end wrap-ups, and it kind of bothered me because it was absolutely fantastic. It made me laugh, cry, and feel infinite.

2. Django Unchained

Oh my god, I had a huge smile on my face from frame one. At this point I'm not sure I'll ever get tired of the Tarantino revenge sagas. This one was my favorite since the first Kill Bill, with such a tremendous cast and packed with so much action - it's incredible to not be bored at all during an almost three hour movie. The last couple years I've grown a huge fondness for spaghetti westerns, and this was such a fantastic nod to that genre. Just a thoroughly entertaining movie from start to finish.

1. Moonrise Kingdom

I have been anticipating this movie long before I even was aware of its existence. That being said, in my mind it had a tremendous amount to live up to and somehow managed to exceed my absurd expectations. In my opinion, this is Wes's best since The Royal Tenenbaums, which for me is a perfect movie. This one may very well be his masterpiece. It's as if he combined the greatest elements of all his films in one giant perfect superfilm. There's just something indescribable about these worlds Wes Anderson is able to create, there's really nothing else like them. There's such incredible detail to every facet and every person involved, and they always have a perfectly nostalgic soundtrack set to them. This movie was truly better than anything I could have imagined and was more than worth the wait.

A lot of movies were also absolutely fantastic and missed my list by only a small margin, some of these include but are not limited to:

Life of Pi
Holy Motors
Rust and Bone
Skyfall
The Dark Knight Rises
Dredd
Amour
Bernie
Killing Them Softly
Goon
Safety Not Guaranteed
Celeste and Jesse Forever
Argo
Pitch Perfect
21 Jump Street
Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie

In conclusion, I thought 2012 was an overall incredible year for movies. I'd love to hear your opinions on any of these, and also suggestions of some of your favorites I may have missed. I guess now we have nothing left to do watch the Oscars and be incredibly disappointed, same as every year!

Last month I had wisdom teeth surgery and, while bedridden, made the fantastic decision to watch the first season of The OC (otherwise known as one of the single greatest seasons of television known to mankind). Before I knew it, I was digging out those gigantic cinderblock-sized 7 disc box sets from my parents house and rewatching the entire series, many episodes of which I haven't seen in years. And let me tell you, what a roller coaster ride it was. Because for as many fantastic characters and moments the series had, it had SO many awful ones as well. I still loved it all, but right now let's talk about EVERYONE. From worst to best.

55. Oliver Trask

This one is a no-brainer. Oliver is probably the worst tv character of all time. A whiny, intolerable liar who manipulates girls into being his friend because he's so pathetic. And then when they obviously don't like him romantically because he's such a weasel, he fakes suicides and ruins everyone's lives.

54. Johnny Harper

If Oliver is the worst, Johnny is quite a close second. He's almost equally pathetic, but it's possibly less excusable because as far as I know, he wasn't even diagnosed with a mental illness. Oh boo hoo, you got hit by a car and now you have to put off surfing for a little bit? Be a man, dude. Even his death was the dumbest thing ever. I'm sad so I'm gonna get wasted and climb UP THIS CLIFF and then rant near the edge of it. Johnny, ugh, nobody misses you.

53. Lindsay Gardner

I had an awful lot of hate for Lindsay as well. She wasn't violently psychotic like the last two, but she was just terrible. She wasn't cute and she wasn't even NICE. There was literally no reason Ryan should like her, but of course he did? And she constantly picked her dad that clearly didn't like her and abandoned her multiple times over Ryan who was always there for her. What a bitch.

52. Charlotte Morgan

This character was just insufferable, and totally pointless to boot. She was a con artist meant to befriend Kirsten (while she was at her rehab clinic, no less) and then rip her off, but she wasn't even GOOD at being a con artist. And no match for Julie Cooper, let's be serious.

51. Dean Hess

This guy was just creepy. It's weird when any man specifically targets a teenage student to get them thrown out, it's even worse when it's for the teenage girl he's banging to help her get more popular. Ew.

50. Matt Ramsey

After Kirsten left the Newport Group, this young "self starter" came in and convinced Sandy to help him run the company. Not only was he unprofessional (and not even good at his job), he later turned on Sandy (the most inexcusable thing a person can do) and threatened to bring him down. Sandy of course ends up saving this unappreciative douche, and he gets off scot-free.

49. Rebecca Bloom

Nobody should ever interfere with Sandy and Kirsten's marriage. GET OUT OF HERE, REBECCA BLOOM. She basically sparked Kirsten's alcoholism and ruined everything.

48. Henry Griffin

He was like... this evil oil tycoon sort of character? I didn't pay that much attention to him or his storyline.

47. Veronica Townsend

What a horrifying woman.

46. Chili

This guy is SUCH a terrible friend, it's insane. Right after his best friend breaks his leg, he leaves because he doesn't want to deal with it. Constantly gives his friend terrible advice, and basically leads to his friend killing himself. And am I crazy, or did he not even seem that upset after he died?

45. Jess Sathers

She was randomly obsessed with Atwoods, and really pretty pathetic.

44. Renee Wheeler

Lindsay's dumb mom.

43. Rachel Hoffman

A young, attractive attorney that worked at the same firm as Sandy and obviously wanted to get with him. Back of the line, Rachel.

42. Heather

She was a huge bitch, mainly because I guess she's insecure? Always gave Marissa a hard time because boys like her more. She sort of seemed like she changed the last time we see her, but really, who cares.

41. Reed

She was involved with Seth and Zach's comic Atomic County, and though she was mainly just doing her job, she still sparked a lot of rivalry between Seth, Summer, and Zach - and that ain't cool.

40. Taryn

She was the random Newp-sie who was given the most dialogue throughout the series. She was dumb, but harmless mostly.

39. Holly

uhhh this is that girl that Luke was cheating on Marissa with. You know, the one that caused her to OD in Tijuana?

38. Frank Atwood

Ryan's once abusive-deadbeat, now not-so-bad (?) dad. I find him to be so incredibly boring, and why Julie would even consider picking him over Bullit is beyond me.

37. Dawn Atwood

Terrible mother on the one hand, on the other - her abandoning Ryan caused him to live with the Cohens, which was obviously the best thing that could have happened to him. Way to go, Dawn!

36. Carter Buckley

Listen, anybody that gets in the way of the Kirsten/Sandy union is unacceptable. On the other, when he's sad he gets really wasted and listens to the Pixies, so he can't be all bad.

35. Zach Stevens

I didn't hate Zach. He was a nuisance because he was part of a triangle that involved keeping Seth and Summer apart, but he was a good looking, mostly nice guy that was pretty dorky, occasionally funny, but a lot of times boring. And damn, he made out REALLY well from the triangle - he lost Summer to Seth, but ended up getting the comic, which let's be honest is not such a terrible deal.

34. Casey

She was an overall pointless character. The only girl on the show that actually liked Johnny, and when she noticed Johnny preferred Marissa, she quickly cheated on him with his enemy to soften the blow. You go girl.

33. Dr. Kim

What a nice principal.

32. Hailey Nichol

She was sort of a mess, but at least she kept it interesting.

31. Spencer Bullit

Part time tennis instructor, part time gigolo. Also he's the big wolf on campus.

30. DJ

Ohhhhh the yard guy. Even HE knew how pointless he was. He carefully bowed out after a couple episodes.

29. Lance

The porn guy. At first he's pretty terrible, but him and Julie end up bonding over Whitesnake and he's not such a bad guy after all.

28. Brad and Eric Ward

Luke's younger twin brothers. Often doing inappropriate things like shaving each other's chests.

27. Kevin Volchok

Has his moments but for the most part is kind of just an insecure scumbag. He killed Marissa and pretty much gets away with it until Ryan tracked him down. He ends up turning himself in, the guiltttt!

26. The Nana

The Nana!

25. Neil Roberts

Summer's dad. My god he looks like Alfred Molina. And he's randomly the nicest man of all time. He wants to leave Julie after her unresponsive fugue state goes on for months, and lets her and her daughter just HAVE his house while he leaves and goes to Seattle. What?

24. Sadie

I know she was put in as a plot device, but I really didn't mind Sadie. She was randomly perfect and drama-free, but Ryan just couldn't find a way to like her the way he liked Marissa.

23. Donnie

Ryan's co-worker for like a second. Randomly brings guns to Newport parties and ends up shooting Luke. Now you can catch him on the Vampire Diaries.

22. Carson Ward

Luke's gay dad.

21. Trey Atwood

My god, he was a mess. He literally can't help but ruin everything, it's almost not his fault. Remember that time he nearly murdered his brother, but then Marissa shot him, and they were all "mmm watcha sayyy"??

20. Caleb Nichol

What an intense man. He was an impeccable businessman, but was he really? He was broker than MC Hammer when he died.

19. Jimmy Cooper

An overall nice enough guy, but really pretty pathetic. The first time he left was understandable, but he soon got into debt AGAIN (with meaner people) and showed us he was a bigger failure than we originally thought. Come on, Jim. You disappointed me.

18. Theresa Diaz

Ryan's Marissa before Marissa. Except she's strong and independent and tells Ryan she lost her baby so he won't hang around when she can see he doesn't love her. I was really happy to see she ended up being really successful. Girl power.

17. Alex Kelly

Olivia Wilde! First she was Seth's girlfriend, and that was weird, then she was Marissa's, and that was kind of forced.

16. Pancakes!

15. Princess Sparkle

14. Luke Ward

"Welcome to The OC, bitch" - Luke was an insufferable douche at first, but randomly turned into a really cool guy. Get this dude at a Rooney show and he'll show you what's up.

13. Kirsten Cohen

I think it's safe to say we all love Kirsten, she took Ryan in and treats him completely equal to her own son. Her marriage to Sandy is like THE picture of marriage that everyone should strive for. But let's be real here, she's also a bit bland. Which is how she ends up behind Captain Oats.

12. Captain Oats

11. Che Cook

Summer's hippie BFF at Brown. Would arguably be higher on the list because it's Chris Pratt, but he did sell out Summer and get her kicked out of school. It worked out though because she got to spend the rest of the year out in Newport and got to keep Pancakes.

10. Anna Stern

I love Anna. She was the female Seth Cohen, only more confident and put together. At first it seems crazy that Seth would choose Summer over Anna, since Summer initially treated him so terribly and then was embarrassed to be seen with him... but later it becomes clear that he made the right decision. Anna's still awesome though.

9. Kaitlin Cooper

The mini Cooper! She has a lot of the same qualities of Julie, which makes her awesome. Also her relationship with Bullit is absolutely adorable.

8. Gordon Bullit

I forgot how awesome this guy is. He makes puns out of his name, has 12 sons named after cities in Texas, is an actual billionaire, and just an extremely down to earth and nice guy. He allowed Julie to string him along, because for some reason she liked Frank Atwood (barf), but I love that they show in the finale wrap-up that he stayed close to Julie and Kaitlin despite her having a son with Frank. What a cool guy.

7. Marissa Cooper

Alright here me out. I know Marissa is a pretty hated character from this show, but I've always had a soft spot for her. I've always seen her as this extremely tragic character, and for that I always wanted to root for her to succeed. Think about it though, basically every finale involved something devastating happening to her: season 1 summer finale? ODs in Tijuana. season 2 finale? shoots Trey. season 3 finale? dies. Girl can't get a break! In spite of myself, I always rooted for her and Ryan. I just did!

6. Taylor Townsend

I love Taylor. Initially she's introduced as this pathological go-getter, and well... that's what she is. But it eventually becomes endearing, and that's what you love about her. She has a french ex-husband, is an admitted stalker, and even on a terrorist watch list. She's legitimately insane, in the most adorable way possible.

5. Julie Cooper

Or Julie Cooper Nichol Cooper Roberts Bullit Atwood(?). That's every time she's been engaged anyway. Julie's the best. She's super manipulative and totally self aware to every major flaw she has. But she has a bigger heart than most people give her credit for. She's one of those characters that's insufferable when introduced, but over time becomes one of the best. Orange County wouldn't have been the same without her.

4. Summer Roberts

OK I really wrestled with numbers 4-2. Let's just say the margin between all of them is very slim, almost equal. Summer started off as a mindless Newport mean girl, and evolved into this hysterical, weird little character with such a big heart. Her relationship with Seth is of Sandy/Kirsten proportion, and next to theirs is the most stable couple throughout the series.

3. Seth Cohen

If I had made this list when I first watched the series, Seth would have been #1, no question. His neurosis and pop culture quips are a large part of what made the show so unforgettable. He basically made being a nerd cool. I also realized that Seth Cohen gave me so much new music to discover that I would have otherwise never heard of. As amazing a character as he is, Seth also had all these crazy flaws as well - like he would randomly ruin things for no reason. Like sailing off to Tahiti (but really going to Portland), and breaking up with Summer because he didn't get into Brown. These are horrible, irrational decisions - but it's part of what makes Seth Cohen so Cohen-y.

2. Ryan Atwood

I related to Ryan so much more this time around watching this series. And although the show is largely about a collection of people, it wouldn't be what it is without Ryan. What makes the show so interesting for me is often his story: the idea that if you took a smart, naturally good-natured kid out of a shitty situation and gave him a real shot - what could he really make out of himself? Sandy Cohen was willing to find out. My favorite moments in the series are watching Ryan become a permanent part of the Cohen family, watching him grow and change, and learn to deal with his first impulse which is usually to punch someone. He never squandered any of the opportunities the Cohens gave him, and in the end he adopts a "pay it forward" approach to any kid he notices may be in the same sort of situation he was in.

1. Sandy Cohen

This was no question in my mind. Sandy is the best tv dad of all time. First off, how many rich people would actually adopt a troubled 16 year old child? He can actually solve any and every problem and understands that people need to work through the bad to make the right decision for themselves. He loves bagels and lounge singing. He plays by his own rules, and always does the thing that's right instead of the thing that's easy. Sandy Cohen is a role model. Everyone else take notes.