Set on an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965, Moonrise Kingdom tells the story of two twelve-year-olds who fall in love, make a secret pact, and run away together into the wilderness. As the bumbling authority figures in their lives try desperately to find, a violent storm is brewing off-shore.

Ryan Gosling in Nicolas Winding Refn's "Drive"

It’s that time of year again when we intrepid critics whittle down the hundreds of titles we’ve seen over the last 365 days to the top 10 that made us gasp, chuckle, cringe, hope, feel and think the most. As seems to be the trend, Hollywood left us slim pickings, so the bulk of this list is made up of independent and foreign films, not out of snobbery, but, sadly, by necessity. Here are my picks, in alphabetical order, for the year’s 10 best:

A Separation
An incisive and penetrating portrait of the immovable tenets of reality. Asghar Farhadi unwraps the layers of family life in Tehran with the deftness and care of a master. No other film released this year connects with as much truth or treats its subject with as much keenness or soberness as “A Separation.”

The Artist
I love movies about movies. I also happen to love silent films. Michel Hazanavicius’s “The Artist” is both, and it’s the most fun I’ve had at the movies this year. Style over substance? Maybe. Melodramatic? Definitely. But that’s why I love it. Jean Dujardin’s charismatic performance as a silent screen hero struggling to find his place in the emerging world of the talkie may just be the best of the year.

John Boyega leads a street gang of alien-killers in "Attack the Block"

Attack the Block
“Attack the Block” is a movie made by film nerds fed up with the depressing banality of modern monster flicks. Set in the slums of South London, a gang of street hoodlums are the first to encounter the beginnings of an alien invasion, which they meet with a brilliant combination of youthful bravado and street-informed witticisms. And underlying it all are razor sharp barbs aimed squarely at the entrenched conservative sensibilities of England’s elite.

Certified Copy
Is a fake, a phony, a rip-off as inherently valuable as the original? Director Abbas Kiarostami leaves that up to us with a wonderfully realized imitation of life in “Certified Copy.” He leaves questions unanswered, ideas not fleshed out and relationships without resolve in this plodding, dialogue-heavy picture, which was more thrilling than Hollywood’s best high-budget action flicks this year.

Drive
Director Nicolas Winding Refn, known for other savagely macho films like “Bronson” (2008) and “Valhalla Rising” (2009) continues his reflection on male brutality with “Drive.” This time, his subject is a stone-cold, badass movie stunt driver played by Ryan Gosling. “Drive” is a quiet European arthouse-style movie, punctuated by the occasional outburst of extreme, bombastic violence. One of the most stylish, exhilarating and cinematic films of the year.

Martha Marcy May Marlene
John Hawkes was born to play a coldly menacing hillbilly capable of dehumanizing atrocity. His chilling presence combined with Elizabeth Olsen’s harrowing performance and Sean Durkin’s surprisingly controlled direction make this trying-to-find-your-place-in-society-after-escaping-from-a-cult movie the best directorial debut since Steve McQueen’s “Hunger” in 2008.

Bruce Greenwood as Meek in "Meek's Cutoff"

Meek’s Cutoff
Based on real events, “Meek’s Cutoff” takes us on a slow and tedious slog on the Oregon Trail in 1845. There is no horrific violence, no melodramatic Western cliches and no satisfying resolution. Instead, director Kelly Reichardt (“Wendy and Lucy”) gives us an understated, yet powerful vision of life on a wagon train. It may seem like nothing much happens, but every scene is encumbered by an unshakable sense of devastating uncertainty and creeping doom.

Melancholia
Director Lars von Trier isn’t known for his subtlety. He did direct the genital mutilation-fest “Antichrist” in 2009, after all. But “Melancholia,” a meditation on aloofness and depression in the face of catastrophe, is perhaps von Trier at is most restrained. Kirsten Dunst turns in one of the best performances of the year as a depressed and disinterested bride nonchalantly facing the literal apocalypse. It works, strangely, as a companion piece to Jonathan Demme’s “Rachel Getting Married” (2008) and Ingmar Bergman’s “Fanny and Alexander” (1982).

Michael Fassbender is a sex addict in "Shame"

Shame
“Hunger,” Steve McQueen’s 2008 directorial debut about IRA leader Bobby Sands’s hunger strike in a Northern Ireland prison, left me speechless. It was raw, unflinching, smart and devastating. His followup, “Shame,” though not quite as transcendent as his first effort, is nevertheless worthy of the same shower of adjectival praise. The same actor who played Bobby Sands in “Hunger,” Michael Fassbender, here plays a sex addict whose habit has crippling effects. It’s the “Requiem for a Dream” of sex addiction.

The Tree of Life
Perhaps the most divisive film of the year, Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life” tackles the biggest questions on the biggest scale. It combines some of cinema’s most ambitious and breathtaking cinematography with the intimacy of a small, struggling family in a small Texas town. Whether you think it’s pretentious drudgery or profound ecstasy, the one thing it’s not is ordinary.

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Also check out:
The 10 best films of 2010
The 10 best films of 2009
TMA’s 25 best film of the decade (2000-2009)
TMA’s 100 greatest movies of all time
TMA’s 25 greatest horror movies of all time
TMA’s 25 greatest sports movies of all time

The other three acting winners were Michael Fassbender winning Best Actor for his performance in “Shame”; Tilda Swinton’s work in “We Need to Talk About Kevin” won the award for Best Actress; and Christopher Plummer received the Best Supporting Actor prize for his work in “Beginners.”

The full list of winners of the 15th Annual Online Film Critics Society Awards:

Best Picture:
The Tree of Life

Best Animated Feature:
Rango

Best Director:
Terrence Malick – The Tree of Life

Best Lead Actor:
Michael Fassbender – Shame

Best Lead Actress:
Tilda Swinton – We Need to Talk About Kevin

Best Supporting Actor:
Christopher Plummer – Beginners

Best Supporting Actress:
Jessica Chastain – The Tree of Life

Best Original Screenplay:
Midnight in Paris

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Tinker Tailor Solider Spy

Best Editing:
The Tree of Life

Best Cinematography:
The Tree of Life

Best Film Not in the English Language:
A Separation

Best Documentary:
Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Special Awards (previously announced):
To Jessica Chastain, the breakout performer of the year
To Martin Scorsese in honor of his work and dedication to the pursuit of film preservation

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Founded in 1997, the Online Film Critics Society has been the key force in establishing and raising the standards for Internet-based film journalism. The OFCS membership consists of film reviewers, journalists and scholars based in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Latin America and the Asia/Pacific Rim region. For more information, visit the Online Film Critics Society at ofcs.org.

And the winners are…

Ronald Oliver of Stockton, CA
Barbara Davis of Greensboro, NC

Thanks to all who entered and to Focus Features for providing this fantastic prize!

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We are pleased to announce that The Moving Arts has teamed up with the folks at Focus Features in order to offer you the chance to win an awesome prize pack just in time for the release of the star-studded spy thriller “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” on Jan. 6, 2012.

ABOUT THE FILM
National Release Date: January 6, 2012
Studio: Focus Features
Starring: Gary Oldman, Benedict Cumberbatch, David Dencik, Colin Firth, Stephen Graham, Tom Hardy, Ciarán Hinds, John Hurt, Toby Jones, Mark Strong
Directed By: Tomas Alfredson (“Let the Right One In”)

SYNOPSIS
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is the long-awaited feature film version of John le Carré’s classic bestselling novel. The thriller is directed by Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In). The screenplay adaptation is by the writing team of Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan.

The time is 1973. The Cold War of the mid-20th Century continues to damage international relations. Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), a.k.a. MI6 and code-named the Circus, is striving to keep pace with other countries’ espionage efforts and to keep the U.K. secure. George Smiley (Gary Oldman), a career spy with razor-sharp senses is tasked with tracking down a mole, who government officials believe has been operating withing the highest levels of the SIS.

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PRIZES

Two (2) winners who will receive:

· $50 Fandango Gift Cards

· T-Shirt

· Voice Recorder Pen

· Post-it Note Cube

Prizing values: $83 per pack
Giveaway provided by Focus Features

HOW TO ENTER

Tell us what your favorite spy thriller of all time is, and why. Make your answer as specific and well-thought out as possible. You can leave your entry in the comments section below, on our Facebook page or send us a tweet with your answer.

Good luck!

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-Entry open to US residents only
-Only one (1) entry per person permitted
-Entries must be received by Jan. 6, 2012, 11:59 EST
-The Moving Arts is not liable for lost or stolen merchandise
-The Moving Arts reserves the right to award prizes at its discretion

Director: Peter Jackson
Writer: Walsh
Studio: Warner Bros Pictures
Cast: Andy Serkis, Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman
Release: December 19, 2012

Even though the autopsy report shows she had two dozen bruises on her body, including on her left cheek and arms, the actress’s death was ruled an accident. Lana Wood, Natalie’s sister, and actor Robert Wagner, the captain of the yacht on which Wood was last seen, asked the sheriff’s office to reopen the case last year. Homicide investigators are now revisiting the case after they were contacted by people who claimed they had “additional information” about the incident, the sheriff’s department said in a statement.

It is still unclear whether the sister and yacht captain are the parties responsible for persuading the sheriff’s department to reopen the case.

In addition to the bruises, questions have surrounded the case ever since the coroner ruled the drowning an accident. According to police reports, Wood was found floating a mile away from the yacht wearing a nightgown, socks, and a down jacket.

“My sister was not a swimmer and did not know how to swim, and she would never go to another boat or to shore dressed in a nightgown and socks,” said Lana Wood. “I just want the truth to come out, the real story.”

Dennis Davern, the former captain of the yacht Splendour has said he believes Wood’s death was a direct result of a fight she had with Wagner that night, a fight Wagner acknowledges occurred in his 2009 book “Pieces of My Heart.”

Police spoke to the owner of the yacht Rob Nelson Saturday. Details of the conversation have not been released.

The story centers on a slave-turned-bounty hunter (Foxx) who embarks on a rescue/revenge mission to free his wife from her sadistic slavedriver. Baron Cohen’s prospective role would be that of Scotty, a gambler who purchases Django’s wife to be his female companion.

Shooting is scheduled to begin in early 2012 with a US release planned for Dec. 25, 2012.

The Weinstein Co. will release “Django Unchained” domestically and Sony Pictures will release the pic overseas.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen star in "50/50"

Making a comedy about cancer is risky business. Making a comedy about a young, attractive person with cancer is self-sabotage. People don’t go to mainstream movies to be bummed out, or to be offended by the trivializing of something that should bum them out. Director Jonathan Levine (“The Wackness”) has a simple solution to this dilemma. He didn’t make a comedy — or a movie about cancer. Contrary to the marketing, “50/50″ isn’t a laugh-a-minute raunch-fest aimed at teens and 20-somethings; it’s a sweet, balanced drama for adults about the utility and power of friendship and family in the face of life’s cold, indifferent realities. Sometimes relationships don’t work. Sometimes dear friends and loved ones die for no reason. Sometimes young people get cancer. But these facts, immutable as they are, are not immune to the marginalizing power of context.

Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a 27-year-old public radio journalist in Seattle. His swanky pad houses his gorgeous artist girlfriend (Bryce Dallas Howard), his dapper wardrobe and all the hope and anticipation of a life that’s just getting going. But wait, what’s this lump on my back? Oh probably nothing. It really hurts though. Better get it checked out. How the fuck did I get spinal cancer? Or more accurately, how the fuck did I get spinal cancer? And so the battle begins.

“50/50″ could have easily been one of the worst films of the year. It tip-toes around so many potential pitfalls and clichés it’s a marvel it turned out as well as it did. Cancer movies are generally composed of a series of teary melodramatic scenes that serve only to teach the characters some pseudo-profundity and set up a sentimental payoff, usually in the form of a tortuous (for the audience) hospital bed death scene. That the screenplay was written by Seth Rogen’s real life friend, Will Reiser, who really had cancer is probably a major factor in making this movie feel so balanced, honest and non-manipulative. It never feels like there’s a lesson necessarily attached to the struggle, or that the filmmaker expects any specific emotional response from the audience. The fact that the principal character wrote the script makes it obvious he survives the cancer, but since the story isn’t driven by suspense, the effect is a positive one.

As good as the script is, it’s really the cast that pulls this thing together. Gordon-Levitt, after a stilted performance in “Inception,” is a welcome surprise. And though their scenes sometimes feel forced, the presence of fellow chemotherapy patients played by Philip Baker Hall and Matt Frewer, when it works, adds a pitch-perfect mix of levity and perspective. But, the real star of the show is Seth Rogen. His role as the goofy unflappable optimist with a heart of gold is the best of his career. It’s hard to imagine even the most ardent Rogen-haters won’t be won over by this, the most naturally likeable character I’ve seen all year.

The director of other style-over-substance masterpieces such as “Bronson” and “Valhalla Rising” makes a neo-noir arthouse action flick that has a lot more in common with “Yojimbo” than it does with “The Fast and the Furious.” In other words, if you’re a gearhead looking for high octane, macho machine porn, look elsewhere. Well, let’s not get carried away. There is enough savage violence to satiate the callow Tarantino fanboy (not that Tarantino’s work is defined by its loyalists), if he’s willing to sit through a more European, or Sofia Coppola-esque if you like, interpretation of the classic badass myth.

Ryan Gosling plays The Driver, a semi-modernized version of Clint Eastwood’s Man With No Name, a direct outgrowth from the films of Akira Kurosawa. The Driver is quiet, brooding, smart and brutally just. He’s so quiet, in fact, he could probably pass as autistic, though his smoothness with the ladies lessens the effect. During the day, he drives for the movies. During the night, he drives for anyone who’ll hire him — usually criminals looking for a getaway driver. The money is good, but, naturally, he’s in it for the thrill. After killing a few mob foot soldiers in the aftermath of the a job gone bad, The Driver finds himself in a pickle. His cold brutality, superhero abilities and underlying humanity are his only means of survival.

“Drive” is a strange little picture. It’s cheap, but looks fantastic. It’s drenched in 1980s nostalgia, but feels like a 1990s crime thriller. It’s trailer feels like a mechanical 2000s explosion-fest, but the film itself feels like a criticism of that trend. It feels heartless and amoral, but features touching moments of genuine humanity. In all it’s contradictions, derivations and conceits, it manages to find a nugget of originality, which Refn pinches, molds and polishes into a picture of cinematic vitality. Over the last decade, television, with original dramas like “Mad Men,” “The Sopranos,” “The Wire,” and “Breaking Bad,” has slowly been stealing cinema’s thunder. While the big screen seems unable to satisfy anyone other than fanboy teenagers these days, television has been telling the kind of serious, adult stories once only available in films. “Drive” proves that there are still some things you can only find in a darkened theater.

Johnny Depp will produce and likely star in Dr. Seuss biopic.

After starring as the Mad Hatter in “Alice in Wonderland,” Willy Wonka in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” and Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie in ”Finding Neverland,” it seems only logical for Johnny Depp to take on one of the most iconic figures in all of children’s literature — Dr. Seuss.

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THR reports that Depp will produce a live-action pic about the life of beloved author and illustrator Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel), with the option to star.

The project is already well into development at Illumination Entertainment and Infinitum Nihil, with Keith Bunin (HBO’s “In Treatment”) tapped to pen the screenplay and Universal Pictures on board to distribute.

Universal is no stranger to adapting Seuss’s material for the big screen, having produced “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (2000) and “The Cat in the Hat” (2003). Also, the studio, along with Illumination, is currently putting the finishing touches on an animated adaptation of Seuss’s “The Lorax,” which is slated for a wide theatrical release in March.

Geisel, born in 1904, spent his early years working as an illustrator for advertisements and comic strips, and then political cartoons during World War II. By the time he died of throat cancer in 1991, his books had sold more than 150 million copies worldwide.