Best of 2011 So Far

So far this year I have Really LOVED:

Hanna

Source Code

I Saw The Devil

X-Men First Class

Ive been fond of:

Limitless

Summer Wars

Sucker Punch

Bedevilled

Insidious

The Man From Nowhere

Confessions

Mothers Day

Your Highness

The Green Hornet

I think that I will really like:

The Tree of Life

Captain America

Super 8

30 Minutes or Less

Rise of the planet of the apes (fingers crossed)

Troll Hunter

The Woman

Detention

Super

Hobo with a Shotgun

Contagion

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

50/50

Immortals

we will see,,,,,

Top 10 so far, roughly in order:

Loved:

1. Tree of Life

2. Attack the Block

3. Super

4. Trollhunter

Really Liked:

5. Source Code

6. Super 8

7. Conan Obrien Cant Stop

8. I Saw The Devil

Hey, they were kind of fun, but probably wont be on my list by the end of the year:

9. Fast Five

10. X-Men FC

A couple were probably released in 2010, but dammit, I'm counting them when I got to see them theatrically.  

I haven't seen enough movies this year to really justify the existence of a list but here ya go....

(in no particular order)

1. 13 Assassins
2. I Saw The Devil
3. Source Code
4. X-Men First Class
5. Fast Five
6. Super
7. Bridesmaids
8. Hanna
9. Super 8
10. Attack The Block

So far:

1.  Tree of Life

2.  Attack the Block

3.  Hanna

4.  The Trip

5.  Source Code

6.  X-Men: First Class

7.  Bridesmaids

8.  Super

9.  Fast Five

10.  Rango

50/50 (Jonathan Levine)
The Adventures Of Tintin (Steven Spielberg)

The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius)
Attack The Block (Joe Cornish)
Bridesmaids (Paul Feig)

Captain America: The First Avenger (Joe Johnston)
The Descendants (Alexander Payne)
Drive (Nicolas Winding Refn)
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (David Fincher)
Hanna (Joe Wright)
Horrible Bosses (Seth Gordon)
Hugo (Martin Scorsese)
Limitless (Neil Burger)
Midnight In Paris (Woody Allen)

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (Brad Bird)
Moneyball (Bennett Miller)
Rango (Gore Verbinski)
Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes (Rupert Wyatt)

The Skin I Live In (Pedro Almodóvar)
Source Code (Duncan Jones)
Super 8 (J.J. Abrams)

Thor (Kenneth Branagh)

War Horse (Steven Spielberg)
X-Men: First Class (Matthew Vaughn)
Young Adult (Jason Reitman)

My top 15, and these are taking into account official UK releases, as per Listal

1. The King’s Speech
2. Black Swan
3. Never Let Me Go
4. Black Dynamite
5. The Fighter
6. Loose Cannons
7. Oranges and Sunshine
8. Into Eternity
9. Thor
10. I Saw The Devil
11. X-Men: First Class
12. Green Hornet
13. The Way Back
14. The Adjustment Bureau
15. Paul

All of these are 8/10 or 9/10 movies so I could probably shuffle the list around a lot more.

These are the only films I've really liked so far:

1. CERTIFIED COPY

2. THE TREE OF LIFE

3. OF GODS AND MEN

4. MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

I haven't seen a whole bunch of films with strong reputations like Certified Copy, Meek's Cutoff, Hanna, and Rango, but of what I've seen:

1. Incendies

2. Tree of Life

3. Midnight in Paris

4. The Double Hour

And nothing else that I feel strongly positive about.

As of now...

Tree Of Life

Certified Copy

The Sleeping Beauty

Hobo With A Shotgun

Bellflower

Meek's Cutoff

Uncle Boonnmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

13 Assassins

Kaboom

Cold Weather

I've managed to work out a proper top ten now.

1. Tree of Life
2. Oranges and Sunshine
3. Meek's Cutoff
4. Never Let Me Go
5. I Saw The Devil
6. The Tree
7. Loose Cannons
8. The Way Back
9. X-Men: First Class
10. Point Blank

THE TREE OF LIFE and CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS were both terrific films from old pros.

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS - surprisingly good, considering how mediocre Woody Allen has been lately. Misses greatness because it's overstated, and Rachel McAdams has an obnoxious, one-note role.

GREEN LANTERN edges out THOR and CAPTAIN AMERICA for favorite summer superhero (I didn't even bother with the X-Men). Consistently entertaining, strong chemistry between the leads and Peter Sarsgaard's sympathetic villain. I wanted to love CAPTAIN AMERICA but the third act falls to pieces, and THOR is dreadfully dull.

Posted mine here.

A mix of schlock and class, high brow and low.

Ended up:

1. Tree of Life

2. Margaret

3. Certified Copy

4. Melancholia

5. The Last Circus

6. Bellflower

7. We Need To Talk About Kevin

8. Warrior

9. The Mill And The Cross

10. Hobo With A Shotgun

The Sleeping Beauty (the Breillat version) clearly must have fallen from memory, I remember it being quite great, it just didn't grab me by the end of the year.

A tough list to make, and I imagine it would be even harder if I had seen everything I wanted to.

1. Tree Of Life

2. Melancholia

3. Drive

4. Attack The Block

5. War Horse

6. The Adventures of Tintin

7. Contagion

8. Super

9. Trollhunter

10. Super 8

Honorable Mentions: MI:Ghost Protocol, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Hugo, I Saw the Devil, Source Code, 13 Assassins, The Reef

Guiltiest pleasure (aside from Super 8): Fast Five

Didn't get to see: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Shame, Warrior, A Dangerous Method, Bellflower, We Need To Talk About Kevin, Martha Marcy May Marlene, The Artist, Midnight in Paris, many others

1.  Attack the Block

2.  The Tree of Life

3.  Hanna

4.  Martha Marcy May Marlene

5.  Young Adult

6.  Melancholia

7.  Rise of the Planet of the Apes

8.  Drive

9.  War Horse

10.  Beginners

Runners-up:  Bridesmaids, 13 Assassins, Contagion, Tintin, 50/50 and Captain America

Notable Haven't Seens:   Certified Copy, The Help, Midnight in Paris, A Separation, Shame, We Need To Talk About Kevin

Absolute Worst of the Year:  Scream 4, Pirates 4, Your Highness, Conan the Barbarian

Twas a good year.

1. Certified Copy

2. The Tree of Life

3. The Future

4. Poetry

5. Take Shelter

6. Tomboy

7. Attack the Block

8. Weekend

9. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

10. Hugo
11. Beginners
12. Meek's Cutoff
13. Bellflower
14. A Dangerous Method
15. Uncle Bonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

16. Drive
17. The Arbor
18. 13 Assassins
19. Bridesmaids

20. Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Honorable Mentions : Todd Haynes' Mildred Pierce HBO miniseries (this would be in the top 5 if it counted as a feature film), Outrage, Young Adult, The Muppets, the first half of Melancholia, and even though it's something of a melodramatic disaster, The Skin I Live In

Most overrated movie: Shame.

Unfortunately Missed: Mysteries of Lisbon, A Separation, Tuesday, After Christmas (it's on Netflix Instant, so I should get on that), Nostalgia for the Light, Carnage and Margaret. 

 

The Interrupters is far and away my favorite of the year. I love that movie more than Princess Kate loves Bill Maher.

I haven't seen most of the arthouse releases of the year, so this is pretty inadequate compared to what I think a real survey of 2011 cinema should be -- this list, to me, reads as far too prestige-y. I intend to catch up on A Separation, Uncle Boonmee, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Certified Copy, Beginners, Meek's Cutoff, Bellflower, and Mysteries of Lisbon in the next couple weeks, so this list'll likely, hopefully, change after I've had a chance to do so (although I'd feel bad kicking any of these off, to tell the truth).

1. Melancholia

2. Martha Marcy May Marlene

3. Drive

4. Shame

5. War Horse

6. The Descendants

7. The Skin I Live In

8. The Tree of Life

9. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

10. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I haven't seen A Dangerous Method, The Artist, Carnage, or Young Adult, but those'll probably reach more theaters in the next few weeks so I'm not as impatient to check them out. I see Take Shelter, Another Earth, and Warrior as massively overrated, Hugo as mostly dull if solid, and Moneyball as unremarkable, so those aren't gonna make it.

The lack of Captain America in top ten lists is staggering and bewildering. Is it the source material? People just don't like the captain? As far as comic book movies go it was A number one with a capital A!

1) Captain America. If you're not choking up at the end with that coversation over the radio, you're an inhuman bastard. The supporting cast in this movie was knocking it out of the park.. Stanley Tucci, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving .. I mean the whole damn cast just nailed it! I've seen this over a hundred times and it never gets old.

2) Easy A. If you grew up on 80's teen movies... this is a great homage. I was amazed at how much I love this movie.. clever, witty and great performances all around. I'm loving Emma Stone. It's a shame a movie like this has to have Michael Cera or Joseph Gordin Levitt to catch any attention around here. This movie has heart and STANLEY TUCCI!

3) Moneyball. What can I say, I'm a sucker for movies based on history with great acting. Sometimes you just can't help but romanticize baseball. This movie has me more and more convinced that Brad Pitt is on a path to be this generations Robert Redford.

4) Hanna. I had no expectations walking into this but I loved it ever so much more when walking out.

5) Real Steel. Ok, I admit it. I have a huge man crush on Hugh Jackman and I am an apologist for anything he does. Australia? Best fucking movie about the outback since Crocodile DunDee. Robot Rocky kicked all sorts of ass and really surprised me at how much I really cared for these characters.

6) Stake Land. A great indy vampire film. I'd almost given up on vampire films.. especially after the shitty Priest but this movie really redeemed the genre. Absolute nobodies but the movie has heart and a premise that just makes you want to see more by the time it is over. I want to know more. That's how a movie should leave you, wanting more.

7) Kill the Irishman. SUCKER for history movies and I had no idea this was based on a real story until the end. This was a good year for ray stevenson.

8) Limitless.

8a) Margin Call

9) Rise of the Planet of the Apes. I think enough has been said about this

10) Attack the Block. Also enough said

My problem witih Drive is.. if you take out Ryan Gosling and about 3 minutes of Albert Brooks screen time... the movie falls apart. This to me is more of a great performance type movie and the story itself is lacking.

Movies that deserved to be punched in the dick for wasting my valuable time and money and the talent or concept on the screen.

Your Highness.

Super 8

Rango

The Immortals

Cowboys vs Aliens

30 minutes or less

Our Idiot Brother

The Ides of March

Easy A was a 2010 release.

I liked Captain America better than Thor and X-Men: First Class, but I'd hardly call it a good movie. The first half was promising, but the second half ground to a boring stand still. The action was unconvincing, the stakes felt surprisingly low and it lost the fun spirit it exploited early on. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parker 

Easy A was a 2010 release.

 

I liked Captain America better than Thor and X-Men: First Class, but I'd hardly call it a good movie. The first half was promising, but the second half ground to a boring stand still. The action was unconvincing, the stakes felt surprisingly low and it lost the fun spirit it exploited early on. 

I feel sort of annoyed by the whole thing, because it felt like it ruined the chances we will ever get that magneto film, which apparently would have been AMAZING

Little else in the film worked. Jennifer Lawrence cannot act, and all the other kids were anachronistic and dull, with really poorly concieved powers 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snaieke 

My problem witih Drive is.. if you take out Ryan Gosling and about 3 minutes of Albert Brooks screen time... the movie falls apart. This to me is more of a great performance type movie and the story itself is lacking.

 

You know what else falls apart? Captain America if you take out Chris Evans and Hugo Weaving. This is the oddest complaint to me. "This movie would suck if you took out the main character and the villain." Um...duh?

It is full of great performances (which, again, shouldn't be counted against it unless we're in bizarro world), but it's a lot more than that. More than any other movie I've seen this year, Drive felt like a unique directorial vision. You're right, the story isn't complex, but the telling of it is. It's consistently visually interesting, and the music just propels the film forward.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snaieke 

 Australia? Best fucking movie about the outback since Crocodile DunDee. 

 

This movie was filmed not far from where I live and I still haven't seen it.

My favourite film of the year was easily Drive, I was transfixed for the entire film, at the end I felt like I hadn't even blinked. Can't remember another time a movie made me feel like that last year.

My favourite movie viewing experience was definitely Thor, very fun film, my fave super hero film of the year. But the crowning moment was my eight year old standing up in the cinema and screaming, 'get your hammer first Thor!', when he was fighting the SHIELD guys.

1. Midnight in Paris - Head vs Heart decision for number one, and Heart wins this year. Fucking loved it, delightful, graceful, the most purely enjoyable film of Woody Allen's career since...Annie Hall? I know it has its detractors, but goddamn, did it ever work for me.

2. Drive - I can't wait to see this again. I think its going to age incredibly well.

3. 13 Assassins - A decent year for action movies, and this was the best one. Also, the first Miike film I'd recommend to friends.

4. Black Death - This is easily the most underrated film of the year, and I think a lot of people missed the stuff I found so artful in it. The way it plays with your allegiance, the sheer craft of the storytelling, and the terrific visual look for such a cheap film, and it all builds to the most artful anti-faith argument I've seen put forth. Sean Bean is tremendous, but the unknown lead Eddie Redmayne is even better, and he's probably going to be a huge star.

5. Attack the Block - What everyone else says. Much less cloying than I was kind of expecting. Just fun, very well handled.

6. Win Win - the kind of movie no one really makes anymore, aided immensely by an extremely well cast ensemble. I love the Bobby Canavale character, who's in many ways completely superfluous, and yet he fits perfectly in this fucked up little family. My favorite Todd McCarthy film to date.

7. War Horse - The absolute best version of this film possible, was kind of how it struck me. As someone who doesn't give a fuck about horses, I couldn't have been less excited for this, but Spielberg maybe does David Lean better than David Lean. It might be the best looking movie I've ever seen.

8. Young Adult - I'm still not sure if I think this movie is too lightweight or not. It's plenty dark, but I'm kind of surprised Mavis didn't drag everyone else down into her destructive hell with her. That said, it's a much stronger film than any of the comedies that didn't work for me all year, and Charlize Theron is pretty much my favorite actress in Hollywood.

9. Rise of the Planet of the Apes - I loved it in theaters, not least because I just love watching apes do human things, but subsequent viewing on Blu has confirmed that this is much more than a great mocap performance and the best effects money can buy. It's a really well directed movie, really well cut, and just about every single scene involving Caesar totally works. That part where he's checking the monkey's eyes after they've been gassed is one of my favorite shots of the year.

10. The Descendants - I love when movies nail the locale. Despite Clooney's voice over protests, Hawaii looks awesome in a lived in way here, and even though the darkness you usually see in Payne movie is replaced by a sort of numb resignation, it's a strangely warm and buoyant film. Really terrific.

Honorable Mentions:

Cedar Rapids, Insidious, Contagion, The Adventures of Tintin, Super, I Saw the Devil, Hobo With a Shotgun, Paul, and the movie I'll probably watch more than any other 2011 release, Thor.

Sadly Unseen By Me:

Melancholia, Martha Marcy May Marlene, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Movies I liked, but not as much as everyone else:

The Artist, Hanna, X Men: First Class, Bridesmaids, Captain America, Hugo, Warrior, The Muppets, Tree of Life

Best Performances of the Year:

Charlize Theron and Patton Oswalt in Young Adult, George Clooney in The Descendants, Chris Hemsworth in Thor, Brian Cranston in Drive, Andy Serkis in Rise of the Apes, John C Reilly in Cedar Rapids, Kristen Wiig in Bridesmaids, Rooney Mara in Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Worst:

1. Green Lantern

2. Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil - SO FUCKING SHITTY

3. The Beaver

4. Battle Los Angeles

5. Your Highness - biggest disappointment of the year for me. Danny McBride and David Gordon Green seemed to be on a roll. Fantasy movie/pot comedy seemed like an inspired combination. Instead, nothing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parker 

Easy A was a 2010 release.

 

I liked Captain America better than Thor and X-Men: First Class, but I'd hardly call it a good movie. The first half was promising, but the second half ground to a boring stand still. The action was unconvincing, the stakes felt surprisingly low and it lost the fun spirit it exploited early on. 

Does it count if I saw it in 2011? otherwise throw in Warrior instead... saw that today it was just amazing. I get the hype around that movie now.

As to the Captain, I find no part of that film boring. I will agree that the stakes felt low but that's kinda what you get when you know the future.. downside to the Marvel properties but the tale itself was outstanding. The set pieces, the costumes, the cast, the fx, the score.. all top notch. It makes me sad we'll never see that universe again.. I doubt captain America 2 will be anything remotely close to as good as this one. Perhaps in a year or two we can revisit 2011 and how well Captain America holds up.

Okay, so I still have a ton more films to watch before a final list can be drafted. But A Separation is clearly the best of the year. Such an incredible film and an amazingly compelling artistic achievement on every level. I mean, it makes the entire concept of characterization irrelevant -- these people are so real that they cease to be characters in a film. Amazing how so much depth and broad societal comment -- stuff not just contained to Iran -- can be found in such a simple (and yet frustratingly complex) story that boils down to just two families arguing over who's more right. It's almost like... I don't know. Shakespeare.

And on another note, Certified Copy is certainly the most intellectually rewarding movie of the year. There is just so much being said in that movie about the relationship between art and reality that it is staggering. It's a film critic's wet dream.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JMulder 

Okay, so I still have a ton more films to watch before a final list can be drafted. But A Separation is clearly the best of the year. Such an incredible film and an amazingly compelling artistic achievement on every level. I mean, it makes the entire concept of characterization irrelevant -- these people are so real that they cease to be characters in a film. Amazing how so much depth and broad societal comment -- stuff not just contained to Iran -- can be found in such a simple (and yet frustratingly complex) story that boils down to just two families arguing over who's more right. It's almost like... I don't know. Shakespeare.

 

And on another note, Certified Copy is certainly the most intellectually rewarding movie of the year. There is just so much being said in that movie about the relationship between art and reality that it is staggering. It's a film critic's wet dream.

Not just art and reality, but also human relationships and how they're constructed and how we all use language to create a "copy" of how we think we're supposed to act. The fascinating thing about Certified Copy to me is it asks the question "does life imitate art or does art imitate life" and answers it by saying "both" in a way that actually makes you feel okay about it all.

Also, Juliette Binoche is the most beautiful woman in global cinema. So there's that.

Here's what I've got, in reverse chronological order:

Hugo

Melancholia

Drive

The Names of Love

Attack the Block

13 Assassins

Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Source Code

Rango

Super

Also really liked Hanna, The Muppets, Adventures of Tintin, and Tucker & Dale vs. Evil.

And I'm certainly not sorry I saw Bridesmaids, X-Men First Class or Midnight In Paris but I felt they had script problems.