2012 Village Voice Film Critics' Poll

Joaquin Phoenix excels in The Master.

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Back in 2008, reviewing McConaughey's performance in the limp adventure comedy Fool's Gold, I wrote that "there's something depressing about watching a 40-something refugee from a Jimmy Buffett concert spend two hours of screen time trying to get rich quick." In 2012, though, the actor was nothing short of exhilarating each and every time he appeared onscreen, and there is more to come in 2013, with the promise of a juicy supporting role in Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street and the lead in a longtime pet project, The Dallas Buyers Club, about a homophobic Texas electrician diagnosed with AIDS. That alone feels like a reason to believe in the future of movies.

View the 2012 Village Voice Film Poll results.