Film Year In Review--2011
Time for my annual film wrap-up. Maybe I was just in a bad mood, but I thought 2011 was a weak year--even the stuff I liked I didn't like that much. Which is why I was so surprised when a lot of critics called it a great year. I don't see all the films they see, but I saw enough of the top-ranked titles to realize we have a difference of opinion.
For instance, I thought one film that won a lot of awards, The Descendants, was on the dull side. An even more crtically-esteemed movie, The Artist, I found as generic as its title. (It's so beloved that I'm afraid to attack it right up front, since people might stop reading.)
Still, there were some decent movies here and there--enough to make a top ten, anyway. But before we get to that, let me quickly go over how this works. I only discuss feature films released in theatres (or first made widely available in theatres) in 2011. No TV, no shorts. I'll give some awards, note some trends, categorize the films I saw and then list my top ten. But don't rush to the bottom, plenty of good stuff on the way.
And whether or not you agree with me--in fact, especially if you don't--feel free to leave a comment.
AWARDS:
Actor Of The Year: 2011 was unusual in that a lot of stars did decent work in more than one film. For example, George Clooney (The Descendants, Ides Of March), Ryan Gosling (Crazy Stupid Love, Drive, Ides Of March), Emma Stone (Crazy Stupid Love, The Help), Brad Pitt (The Tree Of Life, Moneyball) and Michael Fassbender (Jane Eyre, X-Men: First Class, A Dangerous Method). But for actor of the year it wasn't even close: Jessica Chastain. From her work in The Tree Of Life--where she manages to be ethereal and earthy at the same time—to her more comic turn in The Help, to other accents, styles and genres in Take Shelter and The Debt, she showed amazing depth and range last year. I look forward to catching her in three film from 2011 I missed, Coriolanus, Wild Salome and Texas Killing Fields.
Most Pointless Remake: Arthur. The original worked because of the jokes and, to some extent, the cast, two things that can't be recaptured. It certainly didn't work because of its hoary plot, which is the one thing they kept.
Worst Title: Martha Marcy May Marlene. It's long, impossible to remember and means nothing.
Most Generic Title: The Dilemma. As has been noted, this could be the title to any film.
Most Descriptive Title: We Bought A Zoo. No doubt about it, they did.
Most Generic Title: The Dilemma. As has been noted, this could be the title to any film.
Most Descriptive Title: We Bought A Zoo. No doubt about it, they did.
Most Optimistic Title: Atlas Shrugged: Part 1
Most Ominous Title: Atlas Shrugged: Part 1
Most Impressive Shot: In The Green Hornet two people meet and then the frame turns into a split screen. They go their separate ways and we follow both in a continuous shot, and they continue to meet more people and split the screen more. I have no idea how it's done, except it has something to do with computers. Runner-up: Jake Gyllenhaal jumping from a moving train in Source Code–sure looked real. Second runner-up: A lengthy action sequence involving numerous characters and settings done in one shot in The Adventures Of Tintin which would be impossible in a live action film.
Worst Sequel: The Iron Lady. Nothing like Iron Man.
Best Ending: Tie: Red State, nice anticlimax. Martha Marcy May Marlene, nicely understated (though I wish the rest of the film were a bit more lively).
Worst Sequel: The Iron Lady. Nothing like Iron Man.
Best Ending: Tie: Red State, nice anticlimax. Martha Marcy May Marlene, nicely understated (though I wish the rest of the film were a bit more lively).
Worst Ending: The epilogue to Harry Potter—so after a whole bunch of books and movies leading up to a huge showdown, essentially nothing's changed. It was all a big waste of time. Runner-up: Tree Of Life, where Malick tries to pull it all together cosmically, but it doesn't work.
Most Politically Correct: In Captain America, the Cap works with a multi-ethnic team to fight Hitler. I can almost buy an African-American in the group, but I think there might have been a Japanese guy in there, too.
Best End Credits: Super 8—the film the kids shot is more entertaining than the film they're in.
Most Politically Correct: In Captain America, the Cap works with a multi-ethnic team to fight Hitler. I can almost buy an African-American in the group, but I think there might have been a Japanese guy in there, too.
Best End Credits: Super 8—the film the kids shot is more entertaining than the film they're in.
Best Final Shot: Melancholia, which shows what it would look like if Earth smashed into another planet. Quite beautiful, actually. (And not a plot spoiler since the ending is revealed in the prologue.)
You Me And Dupree Award For A Film That While Nominally A Hollywood Comedy Is Actually A Surrealist Masterpiece, Where Plot Points Are Introduced And Dropped For No Reason, Where Dialogue Is Unrelated To The Action, And Where Characters Do Things That Bear No Resemblance To How Humans Act: Larry Crowne
Best Old-fashioned Crowd-pleaser: The Help
Best Old-fashioned Crowd-pleaser: The Help
Best Movie With A Dinosaur In It: The Tree Of Life
Most Pointlessly Convoluted Plot: Sucker Punch. It's about a young woman put into a mental institution who's about to get an ugly procedure (because this worked so well in Return To Oz). She imagines a brothel with the same characters as the asylum, and from which she plans an escape. But that's only the beginning. When she performs her brothel dance routines for the customers, she hears the music and imagines complex action scenarios that symbolically stand for what's going on in the dance at the brothel, which already symbolically stands for what's happening in the asylum. A long way to go for very little result.
Most Pointlessly Convoluted Plot: Sucker Punch. It's about a young woman put into a mental institution who's about to get an ugly procedure (because this worked so well in Return To Oz). She imagines a brothel with the same characters as the asylum, and from which she plans an escape. But that's only the beginning. When she performs her brothel dance routines for the customers, she hears the music and imagines complex action scenarios that symbolically stand for what's going on in the dance at the brothel, which already symbolically stands for what's happening in the asylum. A long way to go for very little result.
Creepiest: The Skin I Live In, though Martha Marcy May Marlene is almost as creepy without going gothic.
Film That Goes On The Longest After It's Over Award: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Runner-up: Source Code. It has an obvous endpoint but it wasn't happy enough so they kept on going.
Best Musical Number: "Star Spangled Man" from Captain America, a patriotic rouser presented with more than a little modern-day cynicism.
Worst Set Award: Thor's town that pops up out of nowhere in the middle of the desert, and only exists to be destroyed.
Contempt For The Audience Award: Hangover 2, a beat-by-beat remake with nothing new to offer except less humor. And characters who were once sweet guys stuck in a tough situation become hateful jerks.
Film That Goes On The Longest After It's Over Award: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Runner-up: Source Code. It has an obvous endpoint but it wasn't happy enough so they kept on going.
Best Musical Number: "Star Spangled Man" from Captain America, a patriotic rouser presented with more than a little modern-day cynicism.
Worst Set Award: Thor's town that pops up out of nowhere in the middle of the desert, and only exists to be destroyed.
Top Anachronism: Nothing takes you out of a film faster than a modern expression in a period piece. Sherlock Holmes was a treasure trove, but the winner comes from X-Men: First Class, set in 1962. Villain Kevin Bacon sees a large ship coming to capture him and shouts “Now it's a party!”
Least Deserving Performance Guaranteed To Win An Oscar: Christopher Plummer in Beginners.
Most Painfully Predictable Plot Point: The Descendants. George Clooney has a choice: sell some beautiful Hawaiian coastal property to developers so his overprivileged relatives can continue to be layabouts, or nobly turn down the money to keep Hawaii pristine. Hmm. What will he do?
Clint Eastwood Award For Most Boring Movie goes to...Clint Eastwood for J. Edgar (aka “Johnny and Clyde").
Comeback Of The Year (Though He's Never Been Away): Amazingly, Woody Allen had his biggest-grossing film ever with Midnight In Paris. It's charming, but still shows what a shoddy filmmaker he's become. The scenes set in the present often seems to be going through the motions so we can get to the scenes in the past. And even those scenes, while entertaining, are often slack (and cover territory Allen's done years before in his writing and stand-up).
TRENDS AND OBSERVATIONS:
Comeback Of The Year (Though He's Never Been Away): Amazingly, Woody Allen had his biggest-grossing film ever with Midnight In Paris. It's charming, but still shows what a shoddy filmmaker he's become. The scenes set in the present often seems to be going through the motions so we can get to the scenes in the past. And even those scenes, while entertaining, are often slack (and cover territory Allen's done years before in his writing and stand-up).
TRENDS AND OBSERVATIONS:
Don't quit your night job (prime time TV beauties with less than impressive performances on the big screen): Dianna Agron (I Am Number Four), Olivia Wilde (Cowboys & Aliens, The Change-Up, In Time), January Jones (Unknown, X-Men: First Class)
Decent premise that falls apart: Cowboys & Aliens, Super 8, Hanna, Limitless, In Time
Counting On The Movies: I Am Number Four, Fast Five, Super 8, 13 Assassins, 30 Minutes Or Less, 50/50
Colorful Language: The Green Hornet, Green Lantern, Red Riding Hood, Red State
The Name Game: Paul, Hanna, Terri, Arthur, Hugo, Buck, Jack And Jill
Colorful Language: The Green Hornet, Green Lantern, Red Riding Hood, Red State
The Name Game: Paul, Hanna, Terri, Arthur, Hugo, Buck, Jack And Jill
Impressionists: J. Edgar, The Iron Lady, My Week With Marilyn, Midnight In Paris
Trend of the year: R-rated comedies are strong, with Hangover 2, Bridesmaids, Horrible Bosses and Bad Teacher all grossing over 100 million.
No Animation Celebration: Almost every year at least one animated feature makes my top ten list, but nothing came close in 2011. All the major titles were fair to bad: Rango, Rio, Kung Fu Panda 2, even Pixar's entry Cars 2.
Nothing is funnier than a woman with uncontrollable defecation: Bridesmaids, Jack And Jill, Hall Pass
Which is worse?: In Green Hornet, there's a very uncomfortable scene where Seth Rogen talks about how old Cameron Diaz is. In Bad Teacher, everyone ignores how old Cameron Diaz is.
People from the Midwest are simple folk: Cedar Rapids, Young Adult, 30 Minutes Or Less
People from the Midwest are simple folk: Cedar Rapids, Young Adult, 30 Minutes Or Less
Gentiles make the best-looking Jews: Sam Worthington and Jessica Chastain in The Debt, Vigo Mortensen and Keira Knightley in A Dangerous Method, Rosamund Pike in Barney's Version
Don't stand in the middle of the road now that they've perfected CGI: The Hedgehog, The Debt
Watching people die of a wasting disease is your best entertainment: Contagion, 50/50, Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes
You never know when an old white guy will break out into a rap: The Muppets, Jack And Jill
You never know when an old white guy will break out into a rap: The Muppets, Jack And Jill
Jason Statham should read scripts first, not just watch the original: The Mechanic, Killer Elite
It's Like, Cosmic, Man: Tree Of Life, Melancholia, Another Earth, Take Shelter
The End Of The World As We Know It or Apocalypse Now: Melancholia, Take Shelter, Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes.
Them Cults Is Dangerous: Red State, Martha Marcy May Marlene
Them Religious People Is Crazy: The Ledge, Red State
Rich People Suck: Tower Heist, Margin Call, In Time, The Descendants
Rich People Are Wonderful: Atlas Shrugged: Part 1 (very rare we even get one in this category)
I Liked This Movie Better When They Called It Kick-Ass: Super
Movies About Movies: Hugo, The Artist, Super 8, My Week With Marilyn
Unexpectedly Violent: Drive, Super
Double Trouble: Adam Sandler usually only bothers us with one film a year, but this time around he gives us two dogs, Just Go With It and Jack And Jill. Meanwhile, Ryan Reynolds strikes out big with two poorly-received films, Green Lantern and The Change-Up.
Bryce Dallas Howard—What a bitch!: The actress plays two meanies, very convincingly, in The Help and 50/50. She better watch out or she might get typecast.
Rankings:
Good: Source Code, Blank City, Jane Eyre, Cameraman: The Life And Work Of Jack Cardiff, Everything Must Go, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Help, Littlerock, Contagion, Hugo, My Week With Marilyn, Corman's World: Exploits Of A Hollywood Rebel, Buck, X-Men: First Class, Conan O'Brien Can't Stop, Attack The Block, The Skin I Live In
Bad: Season Of The Witch, The Green Hornet, The Dilemma, The Mechanic, Super, Tron Legacy, Atlas Shrugged: Part 1, Fast Five, Water For Elephants, Hop, The Hangover 2, Beginners, Super 8, Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Rio, Cars 2, Larry Crowne, Page One: Inside The New York Times, Kung Fu Panda 2, Cowboys & Aliens, Puncture, The Ides Of March, Toast, The Women On The Sixth Floor, Tower Heist, Killer Elite, In Time, Real Steel, The Artist, Young Adult, Barney's Version, Jumping The Broom, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Rite, The Ledge, Puss In Boots, A Dangerous Method, War Horse, Pariah, Red Riding Hood, The Eagle, Sucker Punch, The Iron Lady, Arthur
Ugly: Just Go With It, Rango, Green Lantern, The Change-Up, J. Edgar, Jack And Jill
Half And Half: Melancholia (brilliance mixed with boredom)
Disappointments (films I had reason to expect I'd like much more than I did): Cedar Rapids, Hall Pass, Bridesmaids, The People Vs. George Lucas, 13 Assassins, Terri, Take Shelter, Le Havre, The Muppets
Okay: Unknown, Adjustment Bureau, Take Me Home Tonight, Limitless, I Am Number Four, The Lincoln Lawyer, Paul, Battle: Los Angeles, Hanna, Thor, The Robber, Midnight In Paris, The Trip, Bad Teacher, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, Part 2, Horrible Bosses, 30 Minutes Or Less, Red State, Sholem Aleichem: Laughing In The Darkness, The Hedgehog, The Debt, The Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, Drive, Moneyball, 50/50, Margin Call, A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, The Descendants, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Gnomeo And Juliet, The Sitter, Charles & Ray Eames: The Architect And The Painter, The Adventures of Tintin, Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows, Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, We Bought A Zoo
TOP TEN (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER):
Bill Cunningham New York
Nothing beats an interesting character. There was another documentary in 2011 about The New York Times, but it tried to do too much and was a mess. This one tells you about someone you may not know much about, but is worth knowing.
Crazy, Stupid, Love
Decent farce is hard to find. This one was sweet and funny and even a little edgy.
The Guard
A comedy-action film that breathes some life into the police genre, with a major assist from Brendan Gleeson.
Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol
We had to wait till December for the best action film of the year.
Sarah's Key
At first I thought not another film about Jews during WWII, but it turned out to be something quite different.
A Separation
Domestic squabbles in Iran. What's fascinating is both how similar it is to and how different it is from America.
Submarine
The British show that the coming of age genre is not dead.
Tabloid
I had no interest in a rehashing of some trashy scandal from the 70s, but this turned out to be a fascinating character study of a very strange woman with a very peculiar story (though it does trail off a bit at the end). It's also fun to see Errol Morris let his hair down a little.
The Tree Of Life
Certainly no film like it this year, or maybe any year. At its best--which it is for most of the time--it's an impressionistic tale of growing up in the suburbs of Texas in the 1950s, but it captures something a lot bigger. I also sort of liked the cosmic detour (placing the story in a much wider context). Unfortunately, all the Sean Penn stuff in the present doesn't play, but even with that, it's an amazing work.
Win Win
Another winner from Thomas McCarthy, who makes films about average people in tricky but realistic situations. I like that they hired a real wrestler to play the kid.
Rankings:
Good: Source Code, Blank City, Jane Eyre, Cameraman: The Life And Work Of Jack Cardiff, Everything Must Go, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Help, Littlerock, Contagion, Hugo, My Week With Marilyn, Corman's World: Exploits Of A Hollywood Rebel, Buck, X-Men: First Class, Conan O'Brien Can't Stop, Attack The Block, The Skin I Live In
Bad: Season Of The Witch, The Green Hornet, The Dilemma, The Mechanic, Super, Tron Legacy, Atlas Shrugged: Part 1, Fast Five, Water For Elephants, Hop, The Hangover 2, Beginners, Super 8, Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Rio, Cars 2, Larry Crowne, Page One: Inside The New York Times, Kung Fu Panda 2, Cowboys & Aliens, Puncture, The Ides Of March, Toast, The Women On The Sixth Floor, Tower Heist, Killer Elite, In Time, Real Steel, The Artist, Young Adult, Barney's Version, Jumping The Broom, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Rite, The Ledge, Puss In Boots, A Dangerous Method, War Horse, Pariah, Red Riding Hood, The Eagle, Sucker Punch, The Iron Lady, Arthur
Ugly: Just Go With It, Rango, Green Lantern, The Change-Up, J. Edgar, Jack And Jill
Half And Half: Melancholia (brilliance mixed with boredom)
Disappointments (films I had reason to expect I'd like much more than I did): Cedar Rapids, Hall Pass, Bridesmaids, The People Vs. George Lucas, 13 Assassins, Terri, Take Shelter, Le Havre, The Muppets
Okay: Unknown, Adjustment Bureau, Take Me Home Tonight, Limitless, I Am Number Four, The Lincoln Lawyer, Paul, Battle: Los Angeles, Hanna, Thor, The Robber, Midnight In Paris, The Trip, Bad Teacher, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, Part 2, Horrible Bosses, 30 Minutes Or Less, Red State, Sholem Aleichem: Laughing In The Darkness, The Hedgehog, The Debt, The Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, Drive, Moneyball, 50/50, Margin Call, A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, The Descendants, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Gnomeo And Juliet, The Sitter, Charles & Ray Eames: The Architect And The Painter, The Adventures of Tintin, Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows, Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, We Bought A Zoo
TOP TEN (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER):
Bill Cunningham New York
Nothing beats an interesting character. There was another documentary in 2011 about The New York Times, but it tried to do too much and was a mess. This one tells you about someone you may not know much about, but is worth knowing.
Crazy, Stupid, Love
Decent farce is hard to find. This one was sweet and funny and even a little edgy.
The Guard
A comedy-action film that breathes some life into the police genre, with a major assist from Brendan Gleeson.
Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol
We had to wait till December for the best action film of the year.
Sarah's Key
At first I thought not another film about Jews during WWII, but it turned out to be something quite different.
A Separation
Domestic squabbles in Iran. What's fascinating is both how similar it is to and how different it is from America.
Submarine
The British show that the coming of age genre is not dead.
Tabloid
I had no interest in a rehashing of some trashy scandal from the 70s, but this turned out to be a fascinating character study of a very strange woman with a very peculiar story (though it does trail off a bit at the end). It's also fun to see Errol Morris let his hair down a little.
The Tree Of Life
Certainly no film like it this year, or maybe any year. At its best--which it is for most of the time--it's an impressionistic tale of growing up in the suburbs of Texas in the 1950s, but it captures something a lot bigger. I also sort of liked the cosmic detour (placing the story in a much wider context). Unfortunately, all the Sean Penn stuff in the present doesn't play, but even with that, it's an amazing work.
Win Win
Another winner from Thomas McCarthy, who makes films about average people in tricky but realistic situations. I like that they hired a real wrestler to play the kid.
posted by LAGuy @ 12:03 AM
10 Comments:
I liked The Sitter better when they called it Adventures In Babysitting.
How does Thor get an "OK" and green Lantern get an "Ugly" I'd rate them both forgettable superhero pics
Natalie Portman's cuteness is about all I remember about Thor
I would agree this year was a bad year in animation. Rio, Rango, Happy Feet II, Cars II all seemed uninspired. I did like "Puss in Boots," which I thought avoided the needlessly convoluted plots and excess of characters we saw in the last two Shrek films. It's best point was there was no Shrek. I laughed quite a bit, and was a sucker for the very cute cats and gosling.
I have not seen Tintin yet, but your okay rating gives me hope.
P.S. The Guard was my favorite comedy of the year, but Midnight in Paris was a close second. Maybe I was felling nostalgic, because I thought it had a feel of Woddy Allen's classic works, and I enjoyed revisiting that feeling. He didn't break any new ground for himself, but was that so bad?
Dragon Tattoo was one of the better films that I saw last year and Rooney Mara deserves some sort of acting award. I had read the book but watching the movie with my son was disturbing (X rated)
Seth Rogen just drives me nuts. 50/50 had some good moments but this guy is absolutely unable to get beyond his comedic schtick
The Guard was my favorite film of last year - great work by all, including of course Don Cheadle
Ewan McGregor was wonderful in Beginners - unbelievably kind - althuogh the dog gets the best actor nod from me.
Moneyball showed that maybe Seth Rogen can't help but do Schtick, but Jonah Hill can act. I wonder if he'll be as good in 2012 now that he's lost weight?
Thor had serious flaws, but some of the stuff on Earth wasn't bad. Nothing in Green Lantern really worked.
It was hard for me to get excited about Dragon Tattoo since I saw The Swedish version in 2010, and that had the exact same plot, so the mystery held no mystery for me.
Glad to see all this love for The Guard. I'm surprised any saw it.
Your clip from Melancholia is beautiful, but totally unrealistic. The tidal forces would rip the earth and the other planet to pieces before they actually touched each other.
I intended to watch Harry Potter 7B on the big screen, but I had no free time last semester, and finally watched it on video. The epilogue was actually toned down in its awfulness from the epilogue in the book! The movie epilogue could -- just barely -- be interpreted to suggest that the Gryffindor vs Slytherin enmity and the pro-pureblood vs muggle-loving enmity have faded away a little, but in the book they clearly have not.
Captain America was definitely PC in parts. But including a mixed-race team was not its invention; Simon & Kirby actually did this with several of their Nazi-fighting comic book teams during the War. In fact, one of the S&K teams had a German in it -- "I'm a German, but I hate the Nazis too!" Outside of comic books I think that was almost an unknown.
Sherlock Holmes not only had tons of verbal anachronisms, but even showed the black-red-gold German flag at one point. It's amazing that such incompetence is possible when a movie has a budget greater than those of some small nation-states.
I may have seen only three movies (in theaters) in 2011, which puts me near the opposite end of the bell curve from you. But of the ones I did see, I would rank Unknown much higher than Captain America.
Nothing ever changes is a very British concept, sort of like "There'll Always Be An England". So I'm not surprised to find it in the Harry Potter books.
In the original Clockwork Orange novel, the final chapter has Alex grows up and becomes another regular adult with adult responsibilites. Needless to say, Stanley Kubrick would have none of that when he made the movie.
I think this is the first year that I've actually seen more than one movie on your Top Ten list (Crazy Stupid Love, MI-IV and Win Win). And I must have missed The Guard when it played Vermont or I would have seen it also.
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