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30 December 2011
This article is a review of the movies of 2011. |
“But now I'm always in a new apartment or in another hotel somewhere,” Anna (Mélanie Laurent)
“How do you keep hold of friends? Or boyfriends?” Oliver (Ewan McGregor)
“Makes it very easy to end up alone. To leave people,” Anna
“You can stay in the same place and still find ways to leave people,” Oliver
(The Beginners)
The last 12 months have unearthed some real quality, especially compared to 2010. I saw 324 films at the cinema, slightly down on my personal record of 342, but I caught far more on DVD. This is my look at the wonderful world of movies in 2011…
WORST FILMS
Let’s get this over with first.
Those that nearly made it onto the list: Abduction, Cowboys and Aliens, Hall Pass, Horrible Bosses, Let the Bullets Fly, The Change-Up, The Dead, and Tomorrow When the War Began.
Here they are, the turkeys of 2011:
15. Priest
Properly crud, even by b-movie standards. A sci-fi horror action flick where Paul Bettany is some kind of ninja vampire hunter. Seriously poor.
14. Battle: Los Angeles
Alien invasion movies should be a no-brainer to entertain right? So ineptly directed and written.
13. The Thing
Both previous versions of The Thing are horror classics. This prequel, which morphs into a remake, never raises the pulse.
My full review is here: http://www.filmaluation.com/the-thing.html
12.You Instead
An excruciatingly cringey rom-com set at T in the Park music festival. There is anti-acting going on, where the worst acting is sucked into this movie.
My full review is here: http://www.filmaluation.com/you-instead.html
11. 3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy
A sadistic softcore porno making it into the worst of the year list? Who would’ve guessed? This got a cinema release!
My full review is here: http://www.filmaluation.com/3d-sex-and-zen-extreme-ecstasy.html
10. Green Lantern
A mega budget comic movie from the director of Casino Royale, and the studio who brought us The Dark Knight, had so much potential. What we got was breathtakingly mediocre.
9. A Dangerous Method
A picture directed by David Cronenberg (The Fly, A History of Violence, eXistenZ), written by Christopher Hampton (Dangerous Liaisons, Atonement), and starring Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender and Vincent Cassel, would not have surprised me to be an awards contender. Instead we got a simplistic and banal look at the birth of psychotherapy, with, it pains me to write, the worst performance of the year from Keira Knightley.
8. War Horse
Undramatic, misguided and the second dud of the year from Steven Spielberg. It’s not on this this list, but Tintin is bad too.
My full review is here: http://www.filmaluation.com/war-horse.html
7. Hereafter
After his remarkable run of Mystic River-Million Dollar Baby-Flags of Our Fathers-Letters from Iwo Jima-Changeling-Gran Torino, I didn’t think Clint Eastwood could put a foot wrong. However, after the ropey Invictus, he delivers a true dud. Not his fault, apart from choosing this script, it really is down to Peter Morgan’s woeful writing. It strives for profundity and just comes across as mawkish. Even a sixth sense gifted Matt Damon couldn’t resuscitate.
6. 360
Writer Peter Morgan’s second entry in this list. A film about sex and relationships starring Rachel Weisz, Jude Law, Anthony Hopkins that is jaw-droppingly devoid of anything interesting to say about humanity and society. City of God helmer Fernando Meirelles is starting to look like a one hit wonder after a trio of misfires (see also The Constant Gardener and Blindness).
“How do you keep hold of friends? Or boyfriends?” Oliver (Ewan McGregor)
“Makes it very easy to end up alone. To leave people,” Anna
“You can stay in the same place and still find ways to leave people,” Oliver
(The Beginners)
The last 12 months have unearthed some real quality, especially compared to 2010. I saw 324 films at the cinema, slightly down on my personal record of 342, but I caught far more on DVD. This is my look at the wonderful world of movies in 2011…
WORST FILMS
Let’s get this over with first.
Those that nearly made it onto the list: Abduction, Cowboys and Aliens, Hall Pass, Horrible Bosses, Let the Bullets Fly, The Change-Up, The Dead, and Tomorrow When the War Began.
Here they are, the turkeys of 2011:
15. Priest
Properly crud, even by b-movie standards. A sci-fi horror action flick where Paul Bettany is some kind of ninja vampire hunter. Seriously poor.
14. Battle: Los Angeles
Alien invasion movies should be a no-brainer to entertain right? So ineptly directed and written.
13. The Thing
Both previous versions of The Thing are horror classics. This prequel, which morphs into a remake, never raises the pulse.
My full review is here: http://www.filmaluation.com/the-thing.html
12.You Instead
An excruciatingly cringey rom-com set at T in the Park music festival. There is anti-acting going on, where the worst acting is sucked into this movie.
My full review is here: http://www.filmaluation.com/you-instead.html
11. 3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy
A sadistic softcore porno making it into the worst of the year list? Who would’ve guessed? This got a cinema release!
My full review is here: http://www.filmaluation.com/3d-sex-and-zen-extreme-ecstasy.html
10. Green Lantern
A mega budget comic movie from the director of Casino Royale, and the studio who brought us The Dark Knight, had so much potential. What we got was breathtakingly mediocre.
9. A Dangerous Method
A picture directed by David Cronenberg (The Fly, A History of Violence, eXistenZ), written by Christopher Hampton (Dangerous Liaisons, Atonement), and starring Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender and Vincent Cassel, would not have surprised me to be an awards contender. Instead we got a simplistic and banal look at the birth of psychotherapy, with, it pains me to write, the worst performance of the year from Keira Knightley.
8. War Horse
Undramatic, misguided and the second dud of the year from Steven Spielberg. It’s not on this this list, but Tintin is bad too.
My full review is here: http://www.filmaluation.com/war-horse.html
7. Hereafter
After his remarkable run of Mystic River-Million Dollar Baby-Flags of Our Fathers-Letters from Iwo Jima-Changeling-Gran Torino, I didn’t think Clint Eastwood could put a foot wrong. However, after the ropey Invictus, he delivers a true dud. Not his fault, apart from choosing this script, it really is down to Peter Morgan’s woeful writing. It strives for profundity and just comes across as mawkish. Even a sixth sense gifted Matt Damon couldn’t resuscitate.
6. 360
Writer Peter Morgan’s second entry in this list. A film about sex and relationships starring Rachel Weisz, Jude Law, Anthony Hopkins that is jaw-droppingly devoid of anything interesting to say about humanity and society. City of God helmer Fernando Meirelles is starting to look like a one hit wonder after a trio of misfires (see also The Constant Gardener and Blindness).
Green Lantern
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A Dangerous Method
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360
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5. W.E.
Madonna’s directorial debut was always going to be received with the knives out, but this might have just been just ho-hum had she not made some very odd creative choices, e.g. if you’re going to tell a story about Wallace Simpson, why create a dual narrative set in modern times that sheds no light on the main plot? Ambitious but a mess.
4. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Hollywood creative bankruptcy at its worst.
3. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1
Every inane moment dragged out to eternity, and every sentiment repeated and hammered home. If you think Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 was padded, wait till you get a load of this.
2. Real Steel
A film so dumb and illogical that it made Transformers seem like The Seventh Seal.
My full review is here: http://www.filmaluation.com/real-steel.html
1. Sucker Punch
The director of 300 and Watchman gives us an offensively sexist action spectacle masquerading as girl power. Did no-one re-read the script and scream what are you thinking?! Even the Imax couldn’t save this sh*t-sandwich.
W.E.
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Sucker Punch
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Ok that’s over with, now for something more celebratory!
THE FILMALUATION AWARDS
(In each category the following films are in alphabetical order.) I have limited the choices to a maximum of ten, which in virtually all cases was extremely difficult.
BEST FILM
A Separation
Elite Squad: The Enemy Within
Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai
Inside Job
Margaret
Miss Bala
Pina
Sing Your Song
Snowtown
The Tree of Life
BEST DIRECTOR
Asghar Farhadi – A Separation
Terrence Malick – The Tree of Life
Takashi Miike – Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai
Gerardo Naranjo - Miss Bala
David O. Russell – The Fighter
José Padilha - Elite Squad: The Enemy Within
Nicolas Winding Refn – Drive
Martin Scorsese - Hugo
Paolo Sorrentino - This Must Be the Place
Wim Wenders – Pina
BEST ACTING - MALE
Christian Bale – The Fighter
Jeff Bridges – True Grit
Dominic Cooper – The Devil’s Double
Jean-Pierre Darroussin – Early One Morning
Ralph Fiennes – Coriolanus
Daniel Henshall - Snowtown
Peyman Maadi – A Separation
Peter Mullan – Tyrannosaur
Sean Penn - This Must Be the Place
Michael Shannon – Take Shelter
BEST ACTING - FEMALE
Sareh Bayat – A Separation
MyAnna Buring – Kill List
Olivia Colman - Tyrannosaur
Greta Gerwig – Damsels in Distress
Rooney Mara – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Yasmin Paige – Submarine
Aggeliki Papoulia – Alps
Anna Paquin – Margaret
Naomi Watts – Mother and Child
Michelle Williams – My Week with Marilyn
SPECIAL ACTING AWARD FOR BEING TACITURN AND MESMERISING
Bérénice Bejo (The Artist)
Jean Dujardin (The Artist)
Kirsten Dunst (Melancholia)
Michael Fassbender (Shame)
John Goodman (The Artist)
Ryan Gosling (Drive)
Brit Marling (Another Earth)
Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)
Elizabeth Olsen (Martha Marcy May Marlene)
Brad Pitt (The Tree of Life)
BEST WRITING
A Separation - Asghar Farhadi
Beginners - Mike Mills
I Wish – Hirokazu Koreeda
Kill List - Ben Wheatley
Margaret – Kenneth Lonergan
Margin Call - J.C. Chandor
Midnight in Paris – Woody Allen
Submarine - Richard Ayoade
The Artist - Michel Hazanavicius
The Tree of Life - Terrence Malick
BEST ANIMATED FILM
Kung Fu Panda 2
Rango
Tangled
SPECIAL AWARDS
- Action-maestro status cemented: Brad Bird (for Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, along with: The Incredibles, Ratatouille and The Iron Giant)
- Perfect date movies:
Romantics Anonymous
The Artist
The Fairy
- Adding emotional complexity to the revenge genre: Red White & Blue
- Scariest film of 2011: Julia’s Eyes
- Most stunning credit sequence: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
A Separation
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Pina
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Kung Fu Panda 2
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There is sometimes a difference between what I consider to be the best, and those that are my favourite.
MY FAVOURITE FILMS OF 2011
Those that nearly made it onto the list: Kung Fu Panda 2; Midnight in Paris; Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol; Oslo, August 31st; Super 8; The Adjustment Bureau; The Yellow Sea; and Your Highness.
15. Tyrannosaur
Directorial debut of actor Paddy Considine, delivering an emotionally devastating look at violence within the home. Exceptional performances from Olivia Colman and Peter Mullan.
14. Super
Hilarious low-fi superhero movie, with a really dark ending.
My full review is here: http://www.filmaluation.com/super.html
13. Sing Your Song
So much cinema aspires to be “inspirational”, though so few end up being so. This documentary about singer, actor and activist Harry Belafonte delights, enrages and offers some hope in the tidal wave of injustice that can affect society.
12. Hanna
The director of Atonement and Pride and Prejudice creates an exciting and bone-crunching Bourne Identity-style thriller, where a teenage assassin (Saoirse Ronan), trained by her father (Eric Bana), is sent out into the world to kill a corrupt government agent (Cate Blanchett).
11. The Green Hornet
“Look at me. I got a name people can say. My name's Danny Clear. I deal with crystal meth. People call me Crystal Clear. It's easy. Check out my kick-ass hangout here. I got sh*t loads of glass everywhere. I got a see-through piano. Look at my boys. They're pimped out. We got Gucci, Armani, another Gucci, tailor-made. This is what you need to get to the top today. Not hard work. Not looking like Disco Santa Claus. You need charisma. You look like my Uncle Greg. Very nice guy, but, he's a dentist. Now consider this your retirement letter. Boom. It's over. See your way out,” Danny “Crystal” Clear (James Franco) to Chudnofsky (Christoph Waltz).
Another funny take on the superhero genre. Here Seth Rogen enlisted director Michel Gondry, making a hugely enjoyable and quirkily stylish kinetic romp.
10. Melancholia
Director Lars von Trier, though persona non grata, delivered a stunningly beautiful end of the world melodrama. The eclectic cast (Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland, Alexander Skarsgård, Charlotte Rampling) created a charisma vortex sucking you into proceedings.
9. Inside Job
A truly excellent documentary on the causes of the recent recession. Narrated by Matt Damon.
8. Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai
I’m not a fan of 3D, but wow wow wow! Along with Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, the cleverest and most fascinating use of the new tool. The composition of each shot is remarkable. The director of 13 Assassins has created a very different samurai pic. This is a timeless look at poverty. All drama until the climatic, and sole, action sequence leaves you speechless.
7. Animal Kingdom
A raw Australian family crime saga, both epic and intimate. Every character is distinctly etched, with menace and warmth deftly woven together.
My full review is here: http://www.filmaluation.com/animal-kingdom.html
6. Miss Bala
A brilliant year for the crime movie. There are four in my favourites, plus the gruellingly impressive Snowtown. Here, a masterclass in directing, with scene after scene unfolding a nightmarish analysis of the war on drugs from the perspective of a beauty queen contestant.
5. Beginners
Two for two from Mike Mills after Thumbsucker. Moving and very romantic, as Ewan McGregor’s Oliver responds to his father Hal (Christopher Plummer) coming out as gay, and a burgeoning romance with an actress Anna (Mélanie Laurent). Sensitive, waggish and at times melancholic. A film that makes you care about all the major players.
4. Nobody Else But You
This really has stayed with me since I caught it at the London Film Festival. It has an alluring mix of sexiness, humour, pathos and mystery. An author with writers’ block ends up in a small town on the Franco-Swiss border where the local beauty has died in unusual circumstances. The results of his investigation start to reveal an echo of Marilyn Monroe’s death.
3. Elite Squad: The Enemy Within
A symphony of rage at corruption within politics, the police and the media.
My full review is here: http://www.filmaluation.com/elite-squad-the-enemy-within.html
2. This Must Be the Place
Warmth permeates an uncommon story of a retired rock star, Cheyenne (Sean Penn), who goes on a road trip after his estranged father’s death. Incongruously with the affection on display, is that the purpose of the journey is to hunt a Nazi who wronged his parent. The plot may seem weird, and it is, but somehow all the disparate elements work. Ideas of identity, art, vengeance and atonement are explored on a soul-searching journey. Directed with rare panache by Paolo Sorrentino, the camerawork is some of the best of the year.
1. The Fighter
My full review: http://www.filmaluation.com/the-fighter.html
But also typed out here:
“I’m the one who’s fighting. Not you, not you, and not you.” Mickey Ward (Mark Wahlberg)
Opening in Lowell, Massachusetts 1993, Christian Bale’s Dicky is being interviewed by a documentary crew, and describes himself as a “squirrelly” fighter. Straight away I’m engaged. Bale is a brilliant actor, up there with Daniel Day-Lewis, and he’s decided to school us in his craft. Dicky is all ticks and bullet-train speed delivery of lines. The performance is squirrelly. A documentary within a feature based on a true story - loving the meta-levels already. Without giving away too much, there is a further level; and it’s just not clever-clever either (though it so is!), there’s a reason for a movie within a movie during parts of the film. Anyway, back to Bale, this is only the tip of the iceberg – he lets loose in a surge of energy that is maintained throughout. This is just as concentrated as you expect from him, but he channels it differently, hyped-up rather than brooding.
The camera crew and the audience follow Dicky and his brother Mickey (Wahlberg) during the credits. Dicky is a celebrity, “The pride of Lowell”. (The theme of pride permeates proceedings.) Dicky knocked down Sugar Ray Leonard in a fight in 1978. These brothers are boxers. Dicky talks of his comeback. Wahlberg plays Mickey as a more gentle soul, obviously having grown up in the shadow of his sibling. Wahlberg’s performance is a counter-weight to Bale’s. He can be impressive in the right hands: Boogie Nights (director P.T. Anderson), The Departed (Martin Scorsese) and I Heart Huckabees (David O. Russell).
This is Wahlberg’s third film with Russell. Remember how interestingly shot Three Kings was, an entertaining and intelligent heist-war film. The Fighter is expertly made, and feels different to other movies. The director has eschewed: the overtly metaphorical-ness(!!) of Raging Bull, the sentimentality of Rocky, the weighty history of Ali, the melodrama of Million Dollar Baby, and the grittiness of Girlfight. This is his beast. It is intimate and intense, getting right in there with the fights, whether they be of the family yelling variety or in the ring. There is a handheld feel to it but without the self-conscious jittery camera-work. Is this the best directed film of the last year? Probably. The actual boxing is wince inducing, even more than Rocky getting pummelled by Ivan Drago.
The Fighter is not just some testosterone-powered biopic. It‘s just as much about the women in Mickey’s life as it is about the fractious relationship with his brother. His mother, played with regal insidious bite by Melissa Leo, is a whirling dervish of defensiveness. Mickey’s sisters are like their mother’s pack, following her lead. They are hilarious and intimidating at the same time. She’s a great actress (Enchanted, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, Doubt), and here Amy Adams knocks one out of the park. Her Charlene is spiky, sassy intelligence, with her b.s. detector set to max. There are so many fantastic scenes. One of the early standouts is our introduction to Charlene. It’s in a bar where she works. It starts with Mickey and his step father (Jack McGee), focus moves to Mickey-Charlene, Dicky steps in, and then back to Mickey-Charlene. The rat-a-rat nature is something like out of a 1930s screw-ball comedy. ‘His Girl Fight-Day’. Geddit? No. I’ll move on. The scene is not about boxing, more like the Olympics, a relay race where the baton is fluidly passed from hand to hand. Oh yeah, the dialogue is electrifying.
The picture is all about juxtaposition. The juxtaposition of two or more people. The juxtaposition of ambitions. The juxtaposition of imagery – there is superb editing where archive footage of Dicky fighting is contrasted with his own recreation in a crack den. We’re not just watching a by-the-numbers “based-on-a-true-story” movie; this is an articulate and intelligent dissection of loyalty, past-glory (think Wonder Boys) and family. The Fighter is a moving and charisma-soaked mix of Cassavetes, Hawks and Kazan baked together into something different.
The score above says it all right? I came out of The Fighter, and I wanted to go straightaway back in again to re-watch it.
That’s it for this year peeps, roll on 2012!
Beginners
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Nobody Else But You
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Elite Squad: The Enemy Within
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This Must Be The Place
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The Fighter
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