The category of Best Scene was in some ways the most competitive ever. Fifty-one different movie sequences were nominated. The difference between a 10th place selection and a 21st place honorary mention was a single ballot. Our staff found much to celebrate in 2012 cinema. In the end, however, one scene stood out in dominant fashion. I’m fairly confident you know the scene I mean.

Oh Loki, you poor demigod with daddy issues. As cliché as the phrase may be, it sucks to be you. One moment, you have the entire Manhattan area crushed under your heel, world domination only days away. Then, one rage monster arrives. Suddenly, you have a headache that no amount of aspirin will remedy. Big Pharma has no cure for the Hulk Smash Blues.

Yes, “Puny God!” is our staff’s choice as the Best Scene of the year. While there is some division about whether we laud the entire Manhattan showdown or just the exuberance demonstrated in the GIF above, everyone loves to watch Hulk Smash! To wit, almost every voter included this scene somewhere on their ballot. It also received more first places than any other nominee. In a year where only three candidates for Best Scene earned multiple first place votes, we find unity on only one issue. We all love watching Hulk thrash his enemy like a rag doll. As such, “Puny God!” is our choice for Best Scene of the year by a whopping 70% margin.

The selling point of Zero Dark Thirty was known the moment the movie was announced. At some point, Seal Team Six would maneuver into position and invade Osama bin Laden’s compound. In the master bedroom of these premises, the soldiers would corner the world’s worst human being and they would shoot him. We knew about this back then and yet Kathryn Bigelow’s purposeful direction still hypnotized us during the movie. The gripping few minutes as the Seals touch down under cover of blackest night are as captivating as anything in the modern era of cinema. Braying farm animals, neighboring soldiers and tearful children all heighten the tension as the soldiers search for their prey. The Raid of the bin Laden compound is masterful, and we proudly honor it as the second best scene of the year.

I know you think your job is tough, but Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon demonstrate that there are much worse professions. Imagine if you were a control room operator televising a twisted version of The Hunger Games wherein a bunch of sexy teens have to die and in a specific order to boot. Now consider how claustrophobic you would feel if you were miles beneath the surface when a System Purge occurred. You know the System Purge I mean. It’s the one that lets all of the apparently not mythological creatures out of their carefully crafted cells. It’s the System Purge that changes your life from a boring routine of coffee breaks and friendly game-based wagers into, well, death by Merman. When your blood is funneling out some fish creature’s blowhole, THAT is a bad day at work. The Cabin in the Woods is a great movie from start to finish but the harrowing moments when chaos overwhelms humanity stand above the rest. System Purge is our choice for third Best Scene of the year.

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