I know it’s February, but I have been behind on my movie watching lately and needed to catch up so I can make as complete a Best and Worst list as I could for the films that came out in 2011. First up is my Best of 2011 list. I’m not listing these in any specific order...just a representation of my favorite films last year. This list was probably the easiest to compile, as there were so many awful movies released last year that finding the few good ones was like finding someone walking around a crowd in bright red shoes. So without further adieu...
1. Crazy, Stupid, Love
Every year, I find it harder and harder to find a good comedy (I’ve given up on the fact that finding a GREAT comedy is all but unheard of now) to add to my list, when there are crappy “comedies” like “The Hangover 2” and “30 Minutes Or Less” clouding the landscape. So imagine my surprise when this GREAT COMEDY materialized out of nowhere. And it wasn’t a remake! Great cast. Great performances. Nice little twist tying all of the stories together. One of the truly (few) smart comedies being made today...and I hope imitation of THIS ilk quickly follows suit.
2. The Descendants
Alexander Payne really can do no wrong. To pull these kinds of performances from B-list actors (Judy Greer) and C-list actors (Matthew Lillard) and make you like a typically boring ABC Family actress (Shailene Woodley)...and a great turn by George Clooney (not playing George Clooney for once) makes this one of the most wonderfully acted films of the year. And to evoke an equal amount of laughter AND tears out of the audience is to be commended. Why is this man not making more films, while we’re subjected to the subpar likes of Todd Phillips and Judd Apatow multiple times a year?
3. The Help
I know. I’m supposed to hate this movie, being African-American. But as I look at film for its story-telling, and not its “why are Black women playing maids?” I enjoyed the way this story was told from start to finish. Yeah, it’s about racism. That sucks, but it happened. (And let’s not forget, in the not so distant past, if a film with a mostly African-American cast came out, they were usually set “in the hood”...and people saw those films in droves, so let’s not get uppity on this subject, shall we?). It’s a story about finding one’s own voice and rising up in the face of adversity. It was hilarious when it was funny, poignant when it was sad, and can we just admit that this was the BEST cast of any film this year?
4. The Artist
A silent film. A story told with almost no dialogue. And it’s 2012. This film deserves every single award and platitude it gets. I got more out of this movie and these characters in 90 minutes with no dialogue than I got in other “loved” (aka over-rated films) like “The Social Network” and “Slumdog Millionaire”...and both were at or over two hours.
5. Margin Call
For those of you who know me, I care about current events about as much as I enjoy going to the dentist. So to find this movie in my top ten list will come as a surprise...but surprise me this movie did! Mixing a cast of veterans with a group of up-and-coming talent, plus race-against-the-clock story-telling, and told from the perspectives of what can arguably be called the biggest group of “gray area” characters to grace the screen made this one of the most enjoyable experiences of the year.
6. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
Rare is a sequel better than the original. Even rarer? A four-quel being the best movie in a franchise. Where to begin? The scene where Cruise is hanging off of the world’s tallest building? I was on the edge of my seat, my fist almost in my mouth, stifling my screams as those gloves began to give way and that rope wasn’t long enough. The code swapping sequence? The final fight? Tying together part three and four through the story of Ethan Hunt’s wife? The promise of a new cast and mythology? Best action movie of the year.
7. Super 8
This film is polarizing to the masses. People either loved it or hated it. I, obviously, am a part of the former group. A throwback to films I grew up watching as a child, it brought me back to the days where I could watch a movie without picking it apart scene-by-scene. The train crash sequence alone put this film in my top 10.
8. Shame
Where to begin? Other than the fact that Michael Fassbender repeatedly made millions of men wonder about the size of their own manhood, there’s a lot going on in this movie. A true film lover’s movie, this is one of those great cinematic masterpieces of character study that all writers and filmmakers should aspire towards. In the first 5 minutes of the movie, we’re treated to a slow build seduction that takes place on a subway train. No dialogue...just looks, glances, and smiles leading up to a surprise “chase scene” that could be placed in anyone’s Top 10 Chase Scenes Of All Time. This movie is THAT good.
9. Drive
Like watching an hour and half music video...of greatness. This movie is like the baby “The Artist” and “Shame” gave birth to. A DEFINITE film lover’s movie...told with sparse dialogue and almost nothing but pure chemistry to keep the movie going...this film was unjustly over looked by the Academy this year. And the fact that it looks like a retro flick sold it for me.
10. We Bought A Zoo
I was initially leery of this film. It had all the trappings to become an overly sentimental, melodramatic, “cry here, laugh there” kind of film. Imagine my pleasant surprise when I left this film thoroughly enjoyed. (It didn’t hurt that they used the cutest kid this side of Jerry Maguire.) Funny, poignant, and smart, this is one of the films that should have gotten nominated for an Oscar and inexplicably didn’t.
These runner up films were in contention, but were edged out by the above films:
Bridesmaids - Funny movie, great cast, but a bit too long.
Cedar Rapids - I’m a sucker for raunchy, indie comedy with morally ambiguous characters. This is definitely one of those.
Midnight In Paris - I didn’t love this film as much as everyone else did. But I did enjoy it, as I’m not normally a Woody Allen fan. (All time favorite: “Match Point”).
Page One: A Year Inside The New York Times - I usually avoid documentaries like the plague, as most don’t interest me. But this was a very compelling look inside one our dying art forms.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes - I didn’t think this was the second-coming of films that everyone else thought it was, but it was definitely enjoyable.
No comments:
Post a Comment