Best of 2011: A Recap

So, yeah...it took me way, way longer than I thought it would to get through my Top 10 list for 2011.  Those long reviews take a while to write, people.

Anyway, now it's done and I can move on to more pressing and timely posts.  But, before doing that, I thought I'd just recap the list so that people can look at a single post to remember my Top 10...er...Top 12.

1.  The Tree of Life
2.  Take Shelter
2.5. A Separation
3.  Hugo
4.  Drive
5.  Win Win
6.  Melancholia
7.  Rango
8.  Warrior
9.  Rise of the Planet of the Apes
10 (tie).  The Descendants
10 (tie).  The Artist

Best of 2011: #1 The Tree of Life

Anyone who's talked to me over the last nine months or so probably knew that The Tree of Life was going to be at the top of this list.  While I went back and forth on which movies should appear on the list and in what order, this one was never really in doubt.

That said, as I've gone through these blog posts, I've been looking forward to this particular review with equal parts dread and anticipation.  I saw this movie back in May, just a couple weeks after my son was born -- something that gave this movie added significance for me -- and I've been wanting to write about it ever since.  But, quite honestly, I haven't been able to figure out what I want to say. On a few occasions, I actually sat down to write blog posts about the movie only to give up after being unable to figure out how to begin.  In fact, now that I think about it, I haven't any in-depth conversations about this movie with anyone.  I recounted a few details and my general impressions to some friends in person and in email, but that's about it.

Long story short, I hope you'll bear with me if this seems a little convoluted and disjointed...because, at this point, I don't know where I'm going with this post.

Best of 2011: #2 Take Shelter

I hate starting a review by talking about a performance by one of the actors.  I don't know why.  Perhaps it's because focusing on the performance right out of the gate can imply that the rest of the film -- the story, the characters, the technical aspects -- is only so-so.  But, I'm fairly certain that I'm the only one who feels that way, so here I go...

In Take Shelter, Michael Shannon gives what is the best performance I saw in any 2011 film.  He is spellbinding.  Every move he makes and every line he utters pulls the audience in, conveying both the outer stoicism and the growing fear that's ever present underneath.

Best of 2011: #2 and 1/2 A Separation

Remember a while back when I said that I saw a movie that I just couldn't keep off my Top 10 list, even though I had already compiled it?   This is that movie.

Like I said, I was already about halfway through in unveiling my list when this little gem fell into my lap.  Okay, it didn't really fall into my lap, I had to go out and see it in the theater...paid a babysitter and everything.  Come to think of it, it was really cold outside that night too...

I couldn't just rewrite my list at that point, shift everything down a point.  That would just be too complicated.  So, instead, I'm just going to slip it into this cozy little spot -- right between Hugo and my original Number Two movie, which I hope to unveil some time soon.  Honestly, aren't you all getting annoyed at how long it's taken me to get through this stupid list?

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's talk about A Separation.  

Best of 2011: #3 Hugo

Most people I know that have either seen or heard about Hugo have come away wondering why on Earth Martin Scorsese decided to make this movie.  There are no gangsters in the movie, there's very little violence, and it has no good roles for Robert DeNiro or Leonardo DiCaprio.  But, when you realize that one of Scorsese's personal passions in the preservation of old movies, particularly silent films, it makes perfect sense.

At it's heart, Hugo is Martin Scorsese's love letter to the cinema.  It just takes a little while to get there.

Best of 2011: #4 Drive

There's a scene near the end of the end of Drive that perfectly captures the entire existential complexity of the story and characters as well as the exquisite style of the filmmaker.  This one scene will tell you everything you need to know about this movie.

If you've talked to anyone about this movie, you've probably heard about it already.  But, I should probably just say it...SPOILER ALERT.

Updates and Upheavals

Yeah...I'm as annoyed s you are that I haven't posted an entry to my Top 10 list in over week. I promise that I'll be getting the final four movies on the list out of the way in short order.

The reasons for the long delay are twofold. First and foremost, I wanted to see my Number Four movie again before writing about it. Second, I actually saw another movie that has thrown my list out of whack.

The list is done...complete. But, this new movie, though it was technically a 2011 release, wasn't playing nearby until very recently. Normally, I wouldn't care. My list is made and I need to finish writing about it. But, this is a Top Five level movie, folks. It needs to be on the list.

So, here's what I've decided to do: I'm going to continue to count-down my list and the new movie will be thrown in right before I drop my Number One as sort of an alternate...a sixth movie in my Top Five. Now, I know none of you care about this. But, these are the geeky things I think about.

 As you were...

Best of 2011: #5 Win Win

Remember what I said about Alexander Payne and his perfect, Pixar-like record?  That he was as reliable as Christopher Nolan?  Well, it's late at night, I'm tired, and I'm suffering from a minor case of writer's block.  Now, I'm wishing that I had saved that description to talk about Thomas McCarthy, the director of Win Win.

But, I don't want to plagiarize myself.  So...let me start over.

Best of 2011 #6 Melancholia

How does one explain such a strange movie? I suppose you start with the title.

The word "melancholia" is defined in the dictionary as "a mental condition and especially a manic-depressive condition characterized by extreme depression, bodily complaints, and often hallucinations and delusions."

In the movie Melancholia, the word is used in two separate contexts.  First, it describes the state of depression described above by Merriam-Webster.  :It is also the name of a planet on a collision course with Earth, threatening to obliterate the world and every living thing on it.

Yes, you read that correctly.  

Best of 2011: #7 Rango

This was a strange film. 

Let me try to describe it for those who haven't seen it.  Imagine that Coen Brothers took over Pixar, then watched a bunch of Clint Eastwood movies while eating some bad pizza and then wrote down the plot to the dreams they had that night.  The movie resulting from this hypothetical dream-script would likely resemble Rango.

Best of 2011 #8 Warrior

Gavin O'Connor's Warrior could be a case study in bad movie marketing.  Here is a movie with huge potential for mass appeal and box office.  Its story is timely and well told and it's about mixed martial arts, a sport rapidly growing in popularity.

Yet, it never found an audience.  It's perplexing.

Part of that could probably be blamed on the trailer, which all but gave away the ending before anyone got a chance to see it.  But, really, I don't think that's it.  The studio just didn't make a strong enough push to promote the movie, and that's a shame.  Instead of highlighting what should have been star-making performances by the two leads and awards-bait acting in a supporting role, the few of us that saw it can only beg our friends and family to rent it on DVD.

Best of 2011: #9 Rise of the Planet of the Apes

I remember when I first read that they were making Rise of the Planet of the Apes -- must have been just over a year ago.  I scoffed at the idea, as I'm sure most people did.  It seemed like the prequel that no one was asking for.  No one could have predicted that this was rich territory for anything other than a quick buck, particularly after the abysmal Tim Burton/Mark Wahlberg Apes movie from a few years back. 

Okay, I'm sure someone somewhere predicted that there was a good movie to be made here, because, here we are.  Still...

Best of 2011: #10 (tie) The Artist

I'll get this out of the way quickly.  The Artist is a silent film.  It has virtually no audible dialogue and, for 99 percent of the film, the only thing you hear is music.  It's also entirely in black and white.

I think a good chunk people will lose interest right there.

Best of 2011: #10 (tie) The Descendants

Alexander Payne is as reliable as Pixar and Christopher Nolan, but he's not quite as prolific and he works on a much smaller scale.  His track record as a writer-director is virtually flawless, with a filmography that includes Citizen Ruth, Election, About Schmidt, Sideways, and, in 2011, The Descendants.

The only unfortunate thing about Payne's work is that there's not enough of it.  Those five movies are the sum total of the features he's directed in his 15-year career.  His last movie before this one, Sideways, came out nearly eight years ago.  I have to admit, before the trailers for The Descendants started showing up online several months ago, I had kinda forgotten about him.

His movies tend to circulate around less-than-heroic figures, below-average Joes whose troubles are common and familiar and, more often than not, self-inflicted.  Most of his protagonists tend to middle-aged men -- or, in the case of About Schmidt, a older-than-middle-aged man -- who are coming to terms with the disappointing lives they've created for themselves.  While this is hardly a unique approach for modern cinematic storytelling, Payne's sincere affection for each of the schlubs he's created, even when they don't deserve it, is always refreshing.  It's easy to create a loser just to make fun of him.  But, that's not how Payne works.

The Descendants is a dramedy staring George Clooney as Matt King, a 40-something lawyer with a wife in a coma who is also a descendant of one of the first white land-owners in Hawaii.  As the story unfolds, King is forced to deal with the shortcomings of his relationships with his wife and two daughters as well as decide for his extended family whether to sell their last tract of land to a developer.  These two trials, while seemingly unrelated, become entangled in one another until, in the end, it becomes clear that they are, in fact, one in the same.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Best Movies of 2011: Honorable Mentions

In case you didn't notice, 2011 was an exceptionally good year for movies.  As usual, some of the best movies were hard to find.  But, surprisingly, there were many good, very good, even great big budget, multiplex-type movies released last year as well.

Now, contrary to what some people think, I'm not a film snob.  I'm not.  I enjoy bloated summer blockbusters and holiday family fare as much as anyone.  But, let's be honest, in recent years, studio tent-pole movies have just tended to get more and more ridiculous.  Fortunately, that wasn't the case in 2011...even the third Transformer's movie was pretty good.

We saw a handful for decent-to-good comic book/super hero movies: