In this, the final Saturday of 2012, it’s time to extract five topics from a year’s worth of Top 5‘s for our second annual “End of the Year Edition”. Given that this is a year-end list that exists on the Internet, I’m fully prepared for obligatory statements regarding my choices and how they prove my own ineptitude. That said, in an attempt to preempt such backlash, I’d like to welcome any and all readers to respectfully disagree with me in the comments section. Let’s keep it classy and enjoy a highlight reel of some of the best 2012 had to offer after the jump.

A few casting notices:

• Benicio del Toro is in final negotiations to play Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar in Paradise Lost, which is not exactly a Pablo Escobar biopic.
• Scoot McNairy booked two roles.  He will star opposite Michael Fassbender in Frank, and joins Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson in The Rover.
• The full cast list for Reach Me features Tom Berenger, Kevin Connolly, Thomas Jane, Sylvester Stallone, Kyra Sedgwick, Kelsey Grammer, Nelly, Terry Crews, Ryan Kwanten, and more.

Details on each project after the jump.

Some major veteran casting announcements to announce today:

• Kim Basinger (L.A. Confidential) will join the Grudge Match between Sylvester Stallone and Robert De Niro in the Peter Segal-directed picture.
• Thomas Jane (The Punisher), Nick Nolte (Warrior) and Jeremy Irons (Die Hard: With a Vengeance) have joined the indie Western thriller, A Magnificent Death, to be directed by Jane.

Hit the jump for more on both pictures. 

Anything that I write this week will ultimately prove miniscule and severely unimportant in the wake of the Aurora, CO tragedy. While it’s an unfortunate truth that lives are senselessly lost every day for reasons that defy any and all logic, the fact that this particular incident took place in an atmosphere so many us of cherish and during an event that was so genuinely anticipated has made this all too familiar story one that really hits home. All of this said, I’ll refrain from pretending to know or understand the first thing about what the victims of the shooting are going through. Instead, I’ll just offer my sincerest condolences to all those involved.

In an impossible segue, this week’s Top 5 is headlined by The Dark Knight Rises while also shining our weekly spotlight on The Punisher‘s new short film Dirty Laundry, the first poster and new trailer for Paul Thomas Anderson‘s The Master, Joss Whedon taking out a giant one-eyed monster in the 5-year-old inspired short film Scary Smash, and an ode to our nearly infinite supply of Comic-Con 2012 coverage. A link and brief recap for each rests after the jump.

Thomas Jane put together one of the most fun surprises of Comic-Con.  Jane recruited director Phil Joanou to make a new short based on The Punisher—titled Dirty Laundry—on the down-low and screened it at the panel for his RAW Studios.  That was in a small room, so few actually saw the short.  But Jane and Co. posted Dirty Laundry online for all to see, and you can now watch it after the jump. Ron Perlman also makes an appearance in the short scripted by Chad St. John and produced by Adi Shankar.  Check out our recap of the panel here.

Do you know the difference between justice and punishment?  Thomas Jane does and he proved it to the relatively small audience gathered at a Comic-Con panel for RAW Studios.  In an intimate setting in a small convention room that wasn’t titled Ballroom 20 or Hall H, Jane ran the show for the independent studio presentation.  Their projects included a Bad Planet videogame adaptation of their comic series with gaming company Red Fly Studio (check out the awesome early footage on their Kickstarter page), a short conceptual film for a Western they’re producing called A Magnificent Death from a Shattered Hand and, to the delight of Punisher fans in the audience, a fantastic short film featuring Jane as the Marvel anti-hero.  That was awesome enough, but a special guest star also joined the presentation: Ron Perlman, who recently proved how great a human being he is, had a small cameo in the film.  Hit the jump for a recap of the Punisher short film featuring Jane and Perlman.

When last we reported on Running Scared-director Wayne Kramer’s Pawn Shop Chronicles, the picture had attached Paul Walker to star with Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst set to direct.  That’s old news.  What’s current is the casting of Elijah Wood, Matt Dillon, Brendan Fraser and Vincent D’Onofrio in the dark comedy.  The plot seems pretty much the same, which involves a local pawn shop in a small Southern town that is a link between a man searching for his kidnapped wife, two white-supremacist meth addicts and a down-on-his-luck Elvis impersonator.  Production on the Adam Minarovich screenplay is underway in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  Hit the jump for more casting news on Pawn Shop Chronicles.

As we reported a few months back, writer/director Frank Darabont cushioned his ousting from AMC’s The Walking Dead by swiftly landing a gig with TNT to helm their period drama L.A. Noir. The project is based on the book L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America’s Most Seductive City which focuses on the decades-long conflict between Los Angeles police chief William Parker and mobster / former boxer Mickey Cohen.

Darabont already succeeded in pulling several exited cast members from his former series to his new project (to avoid spoilers for anyone behind on their viewing, names will be revealed after the jump). Now, Darabont is in talks with Thomas Jane (Hung), whose HBO series was recently cancelled after three seasons, to play mobster Bugsy Siegel.  For more on the project, hit the jump.

The first time I met Thomas Jane, he was swaggering barefoot through a hall at Comic-Con, answering questions for an hour after the midnight screening of his film, Give ‘Em Hell, Malone.  During our first interview, last year at the Saturn Awards, he told Joel Silver and Sylvester Stallone to go shoot themselves before lamenting some of the lesser films he has been a part of and promising to only make projects he wanted to make from now on.  “If someone’s gonna screw it up, it should be me,” said Jane.

But it doesn’t look like he’s screwing anything up just yet.  Yesterday afternoon, I got on the phone with Jane (The Punisher, Hung) and his Raw Studio’s compatriot, Tim Bradstreet (Eisner Award-winning cover artist for, Hellblazer) to discuss their company’s new digital distribution deal with Comixology and their premiere release, a graphic novel adaptation of Jane’s directorial debut, Dark Country.   During our exclusive interview, the pair discussed the future of digital comic books and how it relates to David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest, Jane’s next directorial effort, The Magnificent Death, why boutique companies have an edge on the majors, a proposed Alien Pig Farm movie that has David Gordon Green attached, Vampire: The Masquerade, a whole slew of upcoming comic books, the importance of patience, and much, much more.   Hit the jump for our exclusive interview and some art from the duo’s upcoming projects.

Social media is ubiquitous in this day and age, which allows us to stay connected more easily than ever before while making privacy a thing of the past. In the remake of a 2008 French film of the same name, LOL looks at how social media impacts adolescence in this coming-of-age film.  Starring Miley Cyrus and Demi Moore as a daughter and mother on separate sides of a technology gap, the crux of the story falls on Moore’s character “accidentally” reading her daughter’s racy journal.   LOL also stars Ashley Greene, Thomas Jane and Douglas Booth and will open in limited release on May 4th.  Hit the jump to see the images.

As we prepare for Liam Neeson to show us a man’s man’s surivival tale with next weekend’s The Grey, casting is underway on a survival film of a different color. James Marsden, Thomas Jane, and Billy Bob Thornton are set to star in the thriller Red Machine. Marsden and Jane play two estranged brothers who reunite on a camping trip with their girlfriends.  Once out in the wild, however, “things go horribly awry when they are attacked and relentlessly stalked by a horrifying grizzly bear—the Red Machine.” Considering the logline and cast, I initially figured the film would be more along the lines of a comedic farce, but then I learned that Saw V helmer David Hackl is onboard to direct. Now I think we can safely expect lots and lots of bear carnage.

Variety reports that Thornton will play a legendary bear expert and hunter in the film, with a script by J.R. Reher. The three leads are fine actors, and I’m incredibly intrigued to see what Thornton’s take on a grizzly bear expert looks like. Hackl stressed that he’s interested in examining “the thrill of very real fear,” and cites the realistic nature of the pic. No word on how the “realistic” blood count is expected to compare to the Saw franchise.

We’re happy to debut an exclusive TV spot for the drama I Melt With You today. The film tells the story of four lifelong friends (Thomas Jane, Rob Lowe, Jeremy Piven, and Christian McKay) who gather for their annual get-together in Big Sur, only to be confronted by the current state of their lives darkened by a promise from their past. This spot is much more commercial than the incredibly dark trailers and promos we’ve seen before, but I’m still intrigued by the project. The cast is great, and it looks to be a pretty compelling drama.

Hit the jump to watch the TV spot. I Melt With You will be available on Magnolia On-Demand November 4th, followed by its theatrical release on December 9th.

The red band trailer for the drama I Melt With You has gone online. The film centers on four lifelong friends (Thomas Jane, Rob Lowe, Jeremy Piven, and Christian McKay) that gather for their annual get-together in Big Sur, only to be confronted by their own shortcomings in life and a past secret. The trailer is rather strange. It almost seems a bit like St. Elmo’s Fire meets Requiem for a Dream. It features lots of drugs and close-ups and music, then there’s that secret. I don’t know what it is, but for some reason I need to know. The performances look intense, with some non-Ari shouting from Piven, so expect plenty of drama. I’m a bit biased here, given my heterosexual man-crush on Lowe, but it looks like a weird little flick and my interest is piqued.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer. Directed by Mark Pellington, the film will be available on Magnolia On-Demand on November 4th, followed by a theatrical release on December 9th.

In just over a month, the third season of Hung will premiere on October 2nd, and now we finally have our first look at what’s in store for Ray (Thomas Jane) and Tanya (Jane Adams). It’s clear that there’s going to be quite a battle for male escort supremacy as this teaser trailer introduces us to Jason (Stephen Arnell), Lenore’s (Rebecca Creskoff) newest meat on the market. This should make for some interesting developments on HBO’s risque series, but I’ll let you decide for yourself after checking out the new teaser after the jump.

Click over to EW see the teaser trailer for the third season of Hung.

We’re now in the sixth week of the “Top 5″ feature and I’m glad to report that it’s becoming popular enough that it looks as if I’m going to get to keep my job. Briefly, I’d like to thank the Academy (that doesn’t know I exist), my agent (that I don’t have), family and friends (luckily I have those), and the readers for making me a little less disposable than I was six weeks ago. Now, onto the important stuff.

In this week’s installment, you can find our exclusive Saturn Awards interview with Thomas Jane, a hilariously bizarre trailer for the 1990 Captain America film, our report from the Alamo Drafthouse’s Party Down marathon, Neil Gaiman talking American Gods on a book appearance celebrating the release of its 10th anniversary special hardcover edition, and our inaugural hosting of the For Your Consideration weekly video and audio podcast. Hit the jump for brief recaps and links to each.