Given the awesome onslaught of quality entertainment we had in 2012, with blockbusters and "prestige" movies alike delivering the goods, I decided that it was time to plunge head-first back into movies, starting with this blog we have here. But that wasn't all. I had to catch up on everything I missed in 2011, my worst movie-going year ever, and present what I'm sure I would've written then. So I joined Netflix by mail and began the quest to uncover that which passed me by. My findings? That this crop of movies here easily stacks up against its 2012 counterparts and might be even stronger. Several are instant contenders for my eventual All-Decade List in 2019, which I will expand to 20 films when the day arrives.
What's missing? For starters, there are no box-office juggernauts in the Top 10, although there's one in the Runners-Up slot. We didn't have a superior superhero movie or a James Bond movie in 2011 (we had to wait another year for Dark Night Rises and Skyfall). In fact, most of the movies on my list performed either modestly or poorly in multiplexes, and my top choice couldn't play in mainstream theaters at all.
Also absent are some of the Best Picture nominees and critically acclaimed flicks including Moneyball, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Melancholia, Midnight in Paris, and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Sorry, but while I liked all five of those movies (each gets a *** rating) and wouldn't mind watching them again, each had an element or two holding them back from greatness. And then there's Terrance Malick's The Tree of Life, a movie whose praise mystified me. "Pretentious" isn't a word I use often to describe a movie, but that one embodied it.
So let's get on with it, shall we? Step into the not-so-wayback machine.
Runners- Up: Hanna, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, The Help, Super 8, War Horse
Pixar and Disney usually bulldoze the field when it comes to animated movies, but Paramount Pictures gave us something just as good. The Academy certainly agreed when they awarded Rango with the Best Animated Film Oscar for 2011. This is a rare animated movie that, in spite of the PG rating, delivers a richer experience for adults than for kids. That's not to say that kids won't enjoy themselves, but the level of wit and sophistication in the dialogue is clearly pitched at older viewers. And as a bonus, the more of a Western fan you are, the more you'll laugh at this movies numerous, creative references to the classics. Johnny Depp and director Gore Verbinski made three Pirates of the Carribbean movies, and it's too bad Rango's box office intake wasn't enough to justify just one.
9. Warrior
Sports movies, with the exception of boxing movies, aren't traditional Top 10 material. But MMA has itself a standard-bearer with this one. Warrior may not look like much on the surface, but it delivers a powerful, moving family drama that's every bit as compelling as the action within the ring. Some of the sports cliches are still present, but director Gavin O'Conner has a good understanding of which to keep and which to throw out. And while everything comes down to a final bout, this a movie that illustrates something extremely rare; there is such a thing as emotional defeat even in a victory. Also, for an example of how Tom Hardy can dominate a role without the Bane mask, look no further.
I actually saw Drive in theaters during the calendar year of 2011, and when I embarked upon my catch-up quest, I thought this would be a shoo-in for the Top 5. That it slipped to No. 8 is indicative of just how strong that year was in film. This is a violent action thriller unlike any I have seen in a long time. It's steeped in style. Its soundtrack is mesmerizing. Its no-named hero (Ryan Gosling's best role of his career IMHO) is memorably cool and enigmatic. And its story constantly keeps us guessing. Drive is available through Netflix streaming, so if you enjoy this type of movie, you have no excuses not to spend a few hours with it.
A Martin Scorsese film in a Top 10 is no surprise, but a family film? The legendary director proved he could stretch beyond his comfort zone in a way few could have imagined. Much like Rango, it's one of those movies that the whole family can enjoy, but that older viewers will get more out of. What initially begins as a Dickensian tale (complete with the "orphan" element) circa Paris in the 1930s eventually develops into a magical view into early cinema's most glorious and troubling times. Hugo debuted to mediocre box-office totals, but reports of the 3D were so exemplary that I wish I had seen it for myself back in November of 2011. Whatever dimension you see it in, make sure you do. It's hard to imagine anyone not enjoying themselves.
Director Alexander Payne went seven years between his last movie, 2004's Sideways, and this one, which came oh-so-close to winning Best Picture before The Artist zoomed past it. Like many of Payne's movies, this boasts the twin strengths of a touching, human story (this one of a workaholic dad who discovers his wife's infidelity after she's fallen into a coma), and superlative acting all around. Clooney pours his heart and soul into every movie he's involved in, but it's Shailene Woodley (best known for Secret Life of the American Teenager) who steals the show as the Clooney character's estranged teenage daughter. Also, with it's breathtaking cinematography of Hawaii, it's worth wondering why that location isn't used more often for movies.
That's two for Clooney and Gosling. I'm sure the ladies appreciate my list. At any rate, Ides of March is a political thriller for our time. It centers on a democratic primary race and an ensuing scandal, but its message damning the game of politics is party-netural. The candidate in question (played by Clooney, who also directs) has a liberal-progressive campaign that will delight a lot of people on the surface, but as the story picks up steam like a boulder rolling downhill, we see just how dirty everyone involved is and how idealism has little place in this game. It's not that this is a "new" or "revolutionary" message, but it's one that few movies dare to shout. And that's why I love this one so much.
This movie only played in New York and Los Angeles during December 2011 (much like Zero Dark Thirty did in 2012), but since this is a "throwback" list, I'm putting it here. A Separation is remarkable, and it's one of the best foreign films I've seen in a long time. The layers here are astounding. This is a criticism of the role religion plays in Iran's legal system, an involving mystery, an examination of the destructive power of lies and miscommunication, and a courtroom drama all rolled into one. It also provides a highly useful portrait of modern-day Iran, which many Americans mistakenly have set in their minds as just another country on the brink of terror.
I'm pretty sure I'm in the minority among film-lover circles, but I feel this version of Steig Larson's novel is superior to the 2010 Swedish version. With David Fincher at the helm, he not only steeps the story in the gloomy, gothic darkness that it richly deserves, but makes the two main characters more layered than we've seen before. Lisbeth Salander (played by Rooney Mara in a spellbinding performance) is a more fascinating character here. She's sexy, lethal, and vulnerable all in the same film. Finally, while the central mystery thriller is compulsively watchable and immensely satisfying, the movie doesn't conclude with its resolution. The final few scenes reveal that The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is as much (if not more) about a fascinating, unconventional relationship as it is about girl power and solving mysteries. Come on Hollywood, please adapt the next two books!
So silent films, dominated by music and inter-titles, are all but dead and buried, right? Wrong, at least in this case. Michel Hazanavicius' The Artist won Best Picture at the Oscars for 2011 movies, and it's not hard to understand why. This is an endlessly enjoyable, sweeping tale of a byegone era and a love-letter to old-school movie-making. Some may dismiss the movie's style as gimmicky, but making this movie, set during the time of Hollywood's transition from silence to talkies, using traditional techniques would not have worked half as well. It's available on Netflix streaming, so if you're feeling the least bit adventurous, give The Artist a go and you'll probably fall in love with it like I did. And oh yeah, as a bonus, it also boasts the best movie dog of all time. There, I said it.
There's so much I could say about this film that a paragraph here couldn't possibly do it justice. This is an unflinching look at sex addiction unlike any that is ever likely to be made. Nearly every scene and every nuance of the main character's struggle remains crystal clear in my mind, something I can't say about many of the movies I caught up with from 2011. It boasts the single best display of acting from any 2011 movie in Michael Fassbender, who bares himself physically and psychologically for this role. There's nothing he won't do, and the Academy's utter negligence of him is, well, a shame to say the very least. Because of its NC-17 rating, many theaters refused to show Shame. That too is unfortunate because while this is an adult experience, it's unfair to dismiss a movie with that rating as just "porn." It would be utterly impossible to make a tale of a sex addict as true-to-life and compelling as this one without it. Shame is a phenomenal display of film-making and human drama, and it's 2011's best.
Great list, and a phenomenal year for film indeed. My top 10 definitely would've included SHAME if I had seen it by the time I released my 2011 list. I still need to check out your 4, 5, 9 and 10.
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