8th Annual Moving Ranking (2012)

In the experience of watching movies… in my case, watching lots of movies, you sometimes come across a movie that you just didn’t expect to be what it was. In 2012, these special surprises often catch you off guard – you laughed more than expected; you were moved by a storyline you didn’t see coming; you didn’t realize such and such and actor could actually pull it off. Sometimes it’s just that you heard a lot about a movie and it didn’t pan out the way you expected. Or sometimes it’s a good surprise… you have a better experience than expected. That’s the case with my biggest surprise for 2012, #18 Magic Mike.

Alright, alright, alright… I know you are thinking: the stripper movie with Channing Tatum?! First of all, it was an unexpected screening. I needed to kill time on a business trip after a cancelled meeting and not having any other non-seen flicks at the cinema. But here’s the deal, when you strip potential silliness of the strippers plot device, the story was pretty good – it was about finding a way to do something that matters with your life (and no, it wasn’t the stripping. That’s what the character got away from). The film-maker took an obviously salacious subject matter and found a way to bring a little redemption into it. After all, when you start as a stripper, you don’t have anywhere to go but up, right? The other surprise is that the acting was pretty good. Channing Tatum portrays compelling characters. He seems pretty genuine. (Did you see The Eagle? Another Tatum movie in which he carried his scenes, despite some challenges with the film.)  Not to mention great turns by Matthew McConaughey and Olivia Munn too. For an accidental movie choice, it turned out to be pretty interesting. (And gave me some ideas for some new dance moves too!) 

1.     Moonrise Kingdom – I admit, the movies that I enjoy are not necessarily the critical darlings. I am often moved by the slice of life types of films, the ones that focus on just a little glimpse into an experience. That was the case with this little gem.

2.     The Avengers

3.     Lawless

4.     Zero Dark Thirty

5.     Dark Knight Rises

6.     Skyfall

7.     The Bourne Legacy

8.     End of Watch

9.     Argo

10.  Hunger Games

11.  Amazing Spiderman – loving Andrew Garfield as Spidey. Don’t care if it was a reboot. Still enjoyed it.

12.  Django Unchained – Samuel L. Jackson… wow!

13.  Beast of the Southern Wild

14.  The Hobbit – Liked it but definitely felt as if it needed the next two sequels to play right away. Was too much of a set-up not enough of a payoff on its own.

15.  Twilight: Breaking Dawn

16.  Safe House

17.  Looper – Big, big fan of Joseph Gordon Levitt, even if he was made up to look like Bruce Willis. Although the story was interesting, I thought it was a bit drawn out. Not enough impact throughout the movie to keep me engaged as much as I wanted to be.

18.  Magic Mike

19.  Pitch Perfect

20.  Flight

21.  Ted

22.  21 Jump Street – Even a purist like me could find humor in this remake.

23.  Snow White and the Huntsman

24.  Les Miserables – I dreamed a dream that there was some spoken dialogue.

25.  Man on a Ledge

26.  Mirror, Mirror

27.  The Vow

28.  Chronicle

29.  Prometheus

30.  Savages

31.  Step Up 4 - the dancing was great! Who needs a plot or solid acting?

32.  This Means War

33.  Project X

34.  The Campaign

35.  Jack Reacher

36.  Trouble with the Curve - Clint Eastwood seems to be very angry in all his recent films. Brotha needs a hug!

37.  Premium Rush

38.  Battleship

39.  The Odd Life of Timothy Green - could have been that I was tired, or on a long flight, but this Disney film brought a tear to my eyes

40.  Blue Like Jazz

41.  Act of Valor

42.  A Thousand Words

43.  Wrath of the Titans

44.  Expendables 2

45.  Total Recall - why?

46.  Celeste and Jesse Forever - the most depressing film of the year!

47.  Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

48.  American Reunion

49.  John Carter

50.  Men in Black 3

51.  Three Stooges