Rating My 2012 in Movies
The old year has ended, friends, and as usual, I didn’t see as many new films as I would have hoped. But I did see several, and by way of discussion, I’d like to share that list with you. These are the movies from 2012 that I saw, ranked in order of preference. TV movies and Direct-To-DVD features are included. (NOTE: Order of PREFERENCE, not an objective measure of QUALITY. I may recognize, for instance, that Citizen Kane is a BETTER Orson Welles film than, say, The Muppet Movie, but I’d rather watch Kermit the Frog and company every time.
So, from my favorite 2012 film to the least:
1. The Dark Knight Rises
2. The Avengers
3. The Cabin in the Woods
4. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
5. Skyfall
6. Les Miserables
7. Django Unchained
8. Brave
9. The Hunger Games
10. Chronicle
11. Superman Vs. The Elite
12. Justice League: Doom
13. The Pirates! Band of Misfits
14. The Amazing Spider-Man
15. The Expendables 2
16. John Carter
17. Looper
18. Men in Black 3
19. Act of Valor
20. Prometheus
21. Red Tails
22. The Lorax
23. A Christmas Story 2
24. Finding Mrs. Claus
25. Silent House
26. Total Recall
27. Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter
28. Project X
29. The Woman in Black
30. Rock of Ages
Clearly, there are several films I wanted to see that I haven’t yet. Notable absences include Lincoln, Wreck-It-Ralph, Argo, and Life of Pi.
Posted on January 2, 2013, in Lists and tagged 2012, A Christmas Story, Aardman Animation, Abraham Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Act of Valor, Avengers, Batman, Brave, Christmas, Chronicle, Disney, Django Unchained, James Bond, John Carter, Justice League, Les Miserables, Looper, Men in Black, Pirates, Pixar, Project X, Prometheus, Red Tails, Rock of Ages, Silent House, Skyfall, Spider-Man, Superman, The Cabin in the Woods, The Dark Knight Rises, The Expendables, The Hobbit, The Hunger Games, The Lorax, The Woman in Black, Total Recall. Bookmark the permalink. 2 Comments.
Reel to Reel 
I’m curious to hear why you ranked The Dark Knight Rises over Avengers. Granted they are two drastically different movies – but I didn’t think TDKR was THAT good of a movie. Definitely solid. I thought there were some significant plot issues (mostly around Bruce Wayne abandoning The Batman) and pacing issues (the whole first half of the story.)
A fair question. I think it comes down to the fact that the Avengers — while a great movie — feels like the beginning of a grand experiment. Which is impressive, to be certain. But I’m more impressed when somebody sticks the landing. So many movie franchises stumble at the end — I would argue, in fact, that the Dark Knight trilogy is the first superhero franchise to actually put out three really good installments in a row. It’s not a perfect film, no, but I didn’t have any major problems with it either. Even the bit about Bruce walking away didn’t bother me. I wouldn’t accept that in the DC Universe, at all, but for this alternate interpretation of the character, I think it fits the universe that Christopher Nolan created.
I guess that’s what it boils down to. I’m more impressed by a good ending than a good beginning.