January 21, 2012
CinemaBeach Everything Else, Featured
When I look back at the year in cinema, I try to think about what really stood out. What films will resonate with me as time progresses? While numerous titles are already familiar to other lists, I am not prone to choosing a title just to seem educated. My list has a variety that includes pictures with sharp scripts, great set pieces, and four memorable performances by dogs. These are the films that I feel will stand the test of time and get me excited when the title sequence starts. These are the ten films that made me most excited to go to the theaters in 2011.
Super
While the Marvel Studio movies controlled the box office, it was director James Gunn’s superhero opus that walked away the winner with a large fraction of the budget. The dissection of caped heroes has never been more perverse or fun as watching Rainn Wilson assault people with a wrench. This is an achievement of proving that reading comics and acting on them will do little except crush your dreams.
Midnight in Paris
Director Woody Allen’s best work in recent years has been derived from his love of literature and foreign cities. What he manages to do here is combine the two into a love letter to Paris and the writers that inhabit its night life. He displays some of his sharpest humor and most fleshed out characters that reminds you why he’s one of the living greats.
Attack the Block
A stylized sci-fi horror movie that blends Basement Jaxx scores with British slang and creates the most entertaining 88 minutes of the year. Director Joe Cornish’s debut shows competence and pacing that chooses to challenge your expectations and reward you for sticking around.
50/50
No movie packed bigger emotional punches than this dramatic comedy that explored Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a young man with cancer. Writer Will Reiser’s honest look is so authentic and youthful that it manages to slip a few Predator references in without making it feel desperate. The real gem of this movie is Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who carries the movie through the good and bad moments with a sense of honesty and hope.
The Artist
While largely a love letter to cinema, it’s an ambitious story about finding your voice. Very few silent films get made nowadays, but it’s hard to imagine anyone doing a better dynamic than the whimsical score of Ludovic Bource, a human-like dog named Uggie, and actor Jean Dujardin, whose physicality is so top notch that without a single word can make you laugh or cry. It may not be in the leagues of Chaplin or Keaton, but to know this art form is still alive gives me hope that there’s still a market for it.
The Adventures of Tintin
It has been a disappointing year for animated movies until director Steven Spielberg finally unleashed this adaptation of the Herge comics. With assistance from composer John Williams and a dream list of British writers (Joe Cornish, Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright), he creates one of his most ambitious and fun movies in years. It may not be heavy on mystery, but it is a reminder that Spielberg can be transcendent without pandering to a single demographic.
Drive
This is quite possibly the most meditative, violent, nostalgic love letter to Los Angeles this year. By choosing to not be a high octane action movie, it instead succeeds at becoming a character study of one of the most ambiguous, desensitized characters of the year (Ryan Gosling). It wears the ambition on its sleeve and with director Nicolas Winding Refn’s pedigree for the less is more theory; it also comes across as the one movie about cars that even art house nuts can love.
Young Adult
It is likely that writer Diablo Cody made Charlize Theron’s character a doppelgänger for her career post-Juno. However, it is also Cody’s most mature and meta movie to date, delivering her traditional love of nostalgic pop culture references. With great performances, it manages to explore how growing up doesn’t mean maturing in hilarious and ambitious ways.
Hugo
While it is the lesser of the two cinema lover films this year, it doesn’t keep it from being one of the best period. Director Martin Scorsese’s dive into kid’s movies manages to bring his cinematic touches to a simple story while introducing children to the work of Georges Melies. With numerous call backs to films like Safety Last and A Trip to the Moon, this is the ultimate mesh of old and new cinema and a perfect gateway for any ambitious moviegoer.
Beginners
Based on experiences of director Mike Mills’ relationship with his dad, this is a humorous look into relationships and what it means to be open about it. With a brilliant performance by Christopher Plummer, this tale never loses its charm and instead packs every scene with plenty of heart.
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