Several key 2011 films I didn't get to see in time for this list due to various circumstances and wish I had including such titles as "The Artist," "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," The Iron Lady," "Margaret," "My Week with Marilyn," "Take Shelter," "Weekend" and "Young Adult".
1. Drive
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2. Shame
Fascinating as much in people's differing reactions to it as to the film itself, Steve McQueen's tale of a thirty-something sex addict in New York City struggling to find an emotional connection leaves much of itself open to interpretation.
In an already strong year for performances from him, actor Michael Fassbender delivers his best and boldest work here - playing Brandon neither as a monster or a deviant, rather something of a man in arrested development - desperately wanting to change but unable to. The fact that you sympathise and even feel sorry for a guy who is handsome, well hung, successful and scoring a lot of sex is a feat in itself.
Some don't like icy tone, that for a film about sex it's oddly passionless and all too clean both aesthetically and conventionally (I love that approach though). Others don't like that the character ultimately doesn't grow or change despite attempts to - it's a realistic arc rather than a conventionally satisfying one.
Debates have run rampant that he's struggling with his sexuality or his and his sister's behaviour is a consequence of sexual abuse growing up. Both bits of speculation sound like weak attempts to rationalise behaviour which can rarely can be attributed to such an easy source and full credit goes to McQueen for not spelling out a definitive answer either way.
The only potential fly in the ointment I experienced is an odd undercurrent of moral disapproval both on McQueen's part and within the narrative itself such as the married boss character who thinks watching online porn is sick but is more than happy to commit infidelity. The themes and storyline are simplistic, but the larger issues it brings up are anything but. Maybe not as powerful as McQueen's first film "Hunger", but certainly more engaging and interesting.
3. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Deceptively slow and virtually impenetrable to those unfamiliar with the material, Tomas Alfredson's adaptation of John le Carre's Cold War espionage literary classic is a truly stellar piece of cinema that works on every level but the one that arguably matters most - commercially.
Much more akin to "The Ipcress File" than James Bond or Jason Bourne, there's no hand holding, no dumbing down, and no clear spelling out of le Carre's infamously stark and demanding prose. As a result it offers no real entry point to those unfamiliar with his style or incapable of patience.
For those who can keep up and/or are familiar with the story, Alfredson's film is a marvel - achieving pretty much everything the 1979 mini-series did in one-third the time. Shots which seem inconsequential at first come back into play in devastating ways later on, small gestures conveying volumes about character.
A few minor but effectively conveyed alterations have been made, but the film is generally better for them be it the sexuality change of Peter Guillam (Benedict Cumberbatch) to an office party scene which establishes several traits for numerous characters in one sitting. The attention to detail here is superb from the design touches recreating the period to the simple choices like not showing Karla or Ann's faces.
The performances, like the film itself, are understated yet brutally efficient and much more complex than they may at first appear. Gary Oldman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hardy, John Hurt, Mark Strong and the like all deliver top notch work. It's a film of subtlety that requires paying careful attention to the tiniest details because so much happens in the small gestures. As a result it has only a limited appeal, but those who appreciate it will get more and more out of each viewing.
4. Melancholia
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5. X-Men: First Class
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6. The Guard
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7. Moneyball
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8. Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol
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9. Jane Eyre
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10. The Adventures of Tintin
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11. The Descendants
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12. The Help
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13. The Devil's Double
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14. Beginners
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15. Rango
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16. The Skin I Live In
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17. Attack the Block
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18. Midnight in Paris
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OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS
Martin Scorsese's impeccably made and ambitious "Hugo" wears its heart on its sleeve, which is to its detriment at times. When the second half becomes an ode to early cinema and film preservation, it turns into a pretty wonderful little film. To get there however requires us to wade through fairly mundane and sometimes annoying kiddie fantasy tale made palatable by good actors, brilliant visuals and stellar set design and art direction.
While "Captain America: The First Avenger" was more polished and a commendable retro adventure in itself (let down by a cruddy ending), it didn't have either the rewatch value or fun for me that Kenneth Branagh's space opera meets campy action/comedy "Thor" had. It's a film that could've gone so wrong and surprisingly works in its own way - helped heavily by both Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston's brotherly performances and its embracing of ridiculous fantasy with both arms.
This year's indie breakthrough "Martha Marcy May Marlene" lacks the style of last year's "Winter's Bone" but is a stronger and more interesting story with Elizabeth Olsen giving a remarkable breakthrough performance.
A B-movie dressed in art house clothes, Lynne Ramsey's "We Need to Talk About Kevin" is anchored by a sterling performance by Tilda Swinton (arguably the best of the year). Imaginatively directed, Ramsey overplays her editing and red-themed self-aware symbolism so much it makes the overall work feel more amateur and show-offish than it should be. Dial it down next time dear.
On the other side of the coin, David Cronenberg delivered his almost too restrained "A Dangerous Method" which still slips a little bondage in for its fairly sober tale of the two fathers of modern psychology and the mad woman between them.
One of the few bright lights in the first half of the year was the Matthew McConaughey-led adaptation of Michael Connelly's "The Lincoln Lawyer", a legal/detective thriller up there with the best of the John Grisham film adaptations.
The strongest work from the Apatow camp to date, "Bridesmaids" still has all the usual problems (collegiate-level scatological humour, bloated runtime, slightly ridiculous setup, preachy morality) but they're less obvious and more digestible thanks to a strong cast and a genuinely sweet heart.
It's not jaw-droppingly good like "Oldboy", but the 'avenging cop sadistically toying with a serial killer' Korean thriller "I Saw the Devil" contains some really adventurous and unconventional filmmaking in an overall quite satisfying revenge flick.
The Ed Helms-led "Cedar Rapids" and Roman Polanski's "Carnage" are both great fun if ultimately inconsequential little films with the latter making me regret I hadn't seen the play first. Many will dismiss both but I got a real kick out of them.
David Fincher's "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" on the other hand made me wish I had seen it fresh as I'm so familiar with the book and Swedish film that by the time I got around to this more polished and procedural-toned take it fell a little flat.
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two" climaxes the epic series with a solid entry that doesn't stand on its own as well as the first part. Watched back-to-back the whole thing works much better and is a rousing send off for one of modern cinema's biggest cornerstones.
The fighting and performances are excellent (I even like Joel Edgerton's work here, a rarity) and it has one of the year's most satisfying endings, but the beautifully earnest "Warrior" struggles in its bloated first two acts and could've easily chopped a good thirty minutes out of its first hour.
James Wan's unofficial 'Poltergeist' remake "Insidious" may lack the original concept of "Saw" but is definitely his best work to date and certainly the best horror film of the year, made all the more astonishing by the fact it was made for essentially pennies.
The big surprise of the Summer was the sheer ridiculous fun of "Fast Five", a series that finally ditched the tedious 'Point Break' plot lines and street racing in favour of a mildly goofy Rio-set heist film with elaborate set pieces. One is almost ashamed to admit that the result is highly entertaining.
While the 'doors are teleporters' sci-fi shenanigans of "The Adjustment Bureau" are fun trivial distractions, it's the small scenes of chemistry between the leads that really linger in the memory.
In comparison, "Source Code" is far stronger in its sci-fi setup and a solid movie overall only let down by a silly mid-point twist and a ridiculous 'second ending' that destroys a lot of its good will. If you haven't seen it, turn it off at the fiery kiss - you'll thank me later.
One of the blockbusters I enjoyed but didn't fall head over heels for like others did was Rupert Wyatt's "Rise of the Planet of the Apes". A clever reboot of the property, it was a film that worked superbly when the apes were on screen. In fact WETA's masterful digital creations were so good they demonstrated just how weak the human performances and paper thin plotting were.
The best and worst talents of Steven Spielberg are on offer in "War Horse". Beautifully shot and scored with a solid cast (full kudos to the pouty Jeremy Irvine), it can't overcome the ultra thick coating of forced sentiment and script contrivances that rob it of any genuinely earned emotion. You will shed a tear but you'll also be fully aware said tear is being milked out of you.
Steven Soderbergh's "Contagion", George Clooney's "The Ides of March", Joe Wright's "Hanna" and Craig Gillespie's "Fright Night" are solid but notably flawed entertainments, all featuring good actors with underwritten parts in stories that ultimately don't add up to much. Yet each is so well done and slickly made it's hard not to enjoy the qualities that do work and each is worth a viewing.
…AND THE DISAPPOINTMENTS OF THE YEAR
While I was able to escape such notable bombs as "Red Riding Hood," "Sucker Punch," "Johnny English Reborn" and "Atlas Shrugged: Part One", I was still subjected to some letdowns this year - some outright bombs, more often films that had a lot of potential but were left wanting.
Julia Leigh attempts to channel the icy stylings of Kubrick with "Sleeping Beauty", but forgets about all the depth, sly satire and character in the process. What we have left is an example of art house cinema at its worst - self-important, self-serious, wilfully obtuse, and oddly amateur. Emily Browning spends most of the film getting dry humped by geriatrics, swallowing scientific instruments, or cuddling vague significant others.
Taylor Lautner tries to become a leading man in "Abduction" and while he hardly sets the screen alight, he's amongst the least of the problems with this John Singleton thriller which is so bad that several veteran award winners deliver what are easily their worst career performances. So inept on every level it's actually quite astonishing.
A decent true story of spelunkers fighting for survival mixed with James Cameron's 3D tech should've made for a strong thriller. Instead "Sanctum" is a painfully bad story of a father/son reunion in adversity lashed with amateur hour acting and horrible scripting. Samuel Coleridge's "Kubla Khan" is quoted so often one wonders if that's the only book the filmmakers read.
"The Resident"
As bad as everyone says it is, "Green Lantern" is easily the worst of the comic book adaptations this year and one of the worst of the past decade. Miscast on every level (aside from Mark Strong),
"The Hangover Part II"
"Dream House" "Conan the Barbarian" "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" "The Thing" "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" "Super 8" "Cowboys and Aliens"
