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Top 11 films of 2011


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I've put this thread off b/c I've been trying to see as many of the "Oscar Bait" films as I could before making my own list. Looking back on the films I saw in 2011, pretty much all of the ones I enjoyed most were "summer" flicks. Not a lot of great drama or comedy this year, at least that I saw.

 

The notion of objectively ordering works of art seems bizarre to me.

- Roger Ebert

Yet he still put out a list of his top 20 films this year. So why not do your own. Now these are necessarily the best films I saw in 2011, but they are the best films I saw in 2011 that were released in 2011. Now that I've gotten that likely unecessary bit of clarification out of the way....

 

My Top 11 films of 2011*

11. Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows pt. 2

10. Super 8

09. Midnight In Paris

08. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

07. The Rise of the Planet of the Apes

06. Drive

05. Thor

04. Captain America

03. Hugo

02. War Horse

 

01. X-Men: First Class

I know it wasn't even some fanboys' favorite X-franchise film, let alone their favorite film of the year, but I can't help it, this film just impressed me on every level. Pacing, plot, charcterization, performances, and FX. What's even more impressive is how quickly the director got the script together and actually made the film. I'd love to see what this same team could do w/ a sequel w/ proper planning time and budget. I think Vaughn could be for the X-Men what Nolan was/is to Batman if given the chance.

 

 

Honorable Mentions:

 

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Moneyball

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Transformers 3

 

 

* Well reviewed films of 2011 that I've yet to see: A Dangerous Method, J. Edgar, Marthy Marcy May Marlene, Melancholia, Shame, The Artist, The Descendants, & The Tree of Life.

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I'd have to put Rise of the Apes at number 1. Andy Serkis is fucking awesome. Followed my First Class at a close 2nd.

 

I'll just put the rest that jump out at me in no order, cause if I remember it then I probably liked it.

 

Captain America

Kung Fu Panda 2

Red State

Tucker and Dale vs Evil (saw it in 2011 so it counts)

Thor

The Lion King (It counts too!)

I Saw The Devil

TrollHunter

The Perfect Host

 

 

Worst movies for me were Sucker Punch and Dylan Dog. DD was especially terrible.

 

HM's: Rango, African Cats, Sherlock Holmes.

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Every film I saw that was released in 2011:

 

Best:

Limitless

Paul

Source Code

Thor

X-Men: First Class (best movie of 2011)

Transformers 3

Captain America

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Sherlock Holmes 2

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

 

Worst:

The Dilemma

Battle for Los Angeles

Red Riding Hood

Dylan Dog: Dead of Night (couldn't even finish it)

Breaking Dawn part 1 (don't judge me)

 

Eh:

Season of the Witch

The Rite

I Am Number Four

Unknown

Bridesmaids

Green Lantern

Horrible Bosses (except for Charlie Day. Charlie Day was fantastic)

 

Honorable Mentions: (was probably a hair away from being in "Best")

Green Hornet

The Mechanic

The Eagle

The Adustment Bureau

Rango

Red State

Mars Needs Moms

Sucker Punch

Insidious

Arthur

Rio

Fast Five

The Hangover 2

Pirates 4

Super 8

HP and the Deathly Hallows 2

Immortals

The Adventures of Tin Tin

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Insidious - scared me to bits. The title was truly fitting. That, and it left me feeling very unsettled. That being said, I love non gory scary movies, so its one of my tops for the year.

 

In Time - was pretty freakin great too. I loved the end of the movie (I dont want to spoil it for anyone, but it has to do with the re-distribution of wealth). Im a huge supporter of the Occupu Movement, and a lot of those themes resonated throughout this film.

 

Hugo - is easily my second fave movie of all time now (right behind Amelie). Its a family film, but I think adults who love cinema will get the most out of it. I actually learned so much about the beautiful history of film, and there wasnt a dry eye in the whole theatre by the end of the movie.

 

...Im going to have to wait on the rest of my list though. I still havnt made my way through Epert's top movies of the year list yet, and honestly 95% of what I saw this year was simply average. Tons of let downs too.

 

Just in case any of ya'll havnt seen it yet, here is Epert's list:

 

http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2011/12/the_best_films_of_2011.html

 

 

 

 

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There wasn't shit this year. So saying the best of 2011 is kinda like saying the best inmate on death row. Movies I saw in 2011 that were decent

 

Shaolin

13 Assassins

Ip Man 2 (was fucking great)

Kung-Fu Panda 2 (not really the story, just enjoyed the animation)

Drive

Hobo with a Shotgun (I finished it which is more than I can say for films like Limitless and Thor)

 

I've got Melencholia sitting on my hard drive but I have yet to watch it. And I didn't watch X-Men First Class yet, didn't think it would be very good.

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Mars Needs Moms was surprisingly better than I thought it was gonna be. Trust me, I went into that with real low expectations and ended up having a lot of fun. Plus, the kid reminded me of Cathy's nephew, Dylan. It was pretty uncanny.

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Odd, I felt like i watched a ton of films that I liked this year, but not that many that really left much of an impression on me. Some of my picks are definitely from earlier in the year.

In no particular order, with mini reviews:

 

 

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall his Past Lives - Thai film that qualifies as a form of hypnosis. You will see relatives reincarnated as apes sit down to have dinner with their family, you will see old women do veyr strange things. Not for the feint of attention spans.

Attack the Block -Holy shit someone writes teenagers like they actually are. If my students were attacked by aliens it would be just like this (minus accents)

Certified Copy - French movie by great Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami about the psychological warfare between a couple on vacation (or an author and a fan pretending to be a couple, depending on how you look at it.) It plays out like a European Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf

The Skin I Live in - Almodovar's new movie! Antonio Bandaras as a psycho plastic surgeon! This should go without saying. Phenomenal.

Into the Abyss - Werner Herzog's new documentary about a murder in a small town and a man on death row. Reminds me of a mix betwene In Cold Blood annd some of Errol Morris' best stuff.

Winnie the Pooh - Hell fuck yeah. Hand drawn 2D awesomeness, very funny, and very classy.

Mission Impossible -Tom Cruise's crazyness aside, this had some of my favorite action sequences of the year in it. Go Brad bird, I hope he does more live action stuff.

Tin Tin - As much as I like Speilburg, Mo cap is lame and Peter Jackson has been off his rocker so I was pleasantly surprised when I had a lot of fun at this. Some of the action bits reminded me of Uncharted.

Meeks Cutoff - Oregon Trail the Movie as it was meant to be. Uncomfortable to watch, kinda slow, and very nice to look at.

Muppets - Surprised that the reaction to this one wasn't as rabid as I expected. Sure it's nostalgia, but it's done right. Its heart is in the right place, the music is pretty good, and it gave me exactly what wanted.

Midnight in Paris - Maybe I get overexcited when Woody Allen makes a good movie nowadays, but this was lots of fun.

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  • 2 weeks later...

* Well reviewed films of 2011 that I've yet to see: A Dangerous Method, J. Edgar, Marthy Marcy May Marlene, Melancholia, Shame, The Artist, The Descendants, & The Tree of Life.

I've seen The Artist, The Descendent's, and A Dangerous Method since posting my list. All three good films, but I think The Artist would be the only one I'd add to my list.

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