Favorite Films of 2011
Besides for 2011 being a year that I enabled myself to dive into the unending ocean of noise. I was also able to take in many more films of greater quality. I subjected myself to many more foreign films and non-hollywood blockbusters in an attempt to find what I thought was lacking from my film watching experiences of late. In the end, I immensely enjoyed my film watching experience this year. It really is quite extraordinary what films can do to your conscious (and probably sub-conscious) everyday activity. I have learned to appreciate the painstaking amount of time that creates art on film. Actors/Actresses, Location (Location, Location, Location), Soundtrack, and countless other large and small details must come together to make a film of significance. Anyways, here is a list of my favorite 10 films of the year. Check them out if you can.
2. Tyrannosaur (Paddy Considine)
Joseph (Peter Mullan) is an unemployed widower with a drinking problem, a man crippled by his own volatile temperament and furious anger. Hannah (Olivia Colman) is a Christian worker at a charity shop, a respectable woman who seems wholesome and happy. When circumstance brings the pair together, Hannah appears as Joseph’s guardian angel, tempering his fury and offering him warmth, kindness and acceptance. As their relationship develops, Hannah’s own secrets are revealed - her husband (Eddie Marsan) is violent and abusive - and Joseph emerges as her unlikely savior. With striking performances and a deeply felt story, actor-turned-writer/director Paddy Considine’s film is a stunning debut about the emergence of grace and redemption from the least likely of places. — (C) Strand Releasing
3. Win Win (Thomas McCarthy)
Paul Giamatti headlines writer/director Tom McCarthy’s comedy drama centering on a beleaguered attorney and part-time wrestling coach who schemes to keep his practice from going under by acting as the legal caretaker of an elderly client. Mike Flaherty (Giamatti) thinks he has discovered the perfect loophole to keep his practice in business. But his brilliant plan hits an unexpected hitch when his client’s troubled grandson shows up looking for a place to stay. With his home life in turmoil and both of his careers in jeopardy, Mike quickly realizes that he’ll have to get creative in order to find a way out of his current predicament. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
4. Moneyball (Bennett Miller)
Based on a true story, Moneyball is a movie for anybody who has ever dreamed of taking on the system. Brad Pitt stars as Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland A’s and the guy who assembles the team, who has an epiphany: all of baseball’s conventional wisdom is wrong. Forced to reinvent his team on a tight budget, Beane will have to outsmart the richer clubs. The onetime jock teams with Ivy League grad Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) in an unlikely partnership, recruiting bargain players that the scouts call flawed, but all of whom have an ability to get on base, score runs, and win games. It’s more than baseball, it’s a revolution - one that challenges old school traditions and puts Beane in the crosshairs of those who say he’s tearing out the heart and soul of the game. — (C) Sony Pictures
5. Tomboy (Celine Sciamma)
A French family with two daughters, 10-year-old Laure and 6-year-old Jeanne, moves to a new neighborhood during the summer holidays. With her Jean Seberg haircut and tomboy ways, Laure is immediately mistaken for a boy by the local kids and passes herself off as Michael. Filmmaker Céline Sciamma brings a light and charming touch to this drama of childhood gender confusion. Zoe Heran as Laure/Michael and Malonn Levanna as Jeanne are nothing less than brilliant. This is a relationship movie: relationships between children, and the even more complicated one between one’s heart and body. — (C) Rocket Releasing
6. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 (David Yates)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2, is the final adventure in the Harry Potter film series. The much-anticipated motion picture event is the second of two full-length parts. In the epic finale, the battle between the good and evil forces of the wizarding world escalates into an all-out war. The stakes have never been higher and no one is safe. But it is Harry Potter who may be called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice as he draws closer to the climactic showdown with Lord Voldemort. It all ends here. — (C) Warner Bros
7. The Trip (Michael Winterbottom)
Playing loose versions of themselves, Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon reprise their hilariously fictionalized roles from Tristam Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story and reunite with acclaimed director Michael Winterbottom for an acerbically witty, largely improvised ride through the English countryside. Tapped by The Observer to review fine restaurants throughout the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales, Steve finds himself without a traveling companion after his girlfriend decides not to go at the last minute. After being turned down by everyone else he knows, Steve extends an invitation to Rob, and together the pair attempt to navigate the winding back roads of rural England, impersonating popular celebrities such as Michael Caine, Woody Allen and Liam Neeson (among many others) and bickering along the way. — (C) IFC
8. Source Code (Duncan Jones)
When decorated soldier Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) wakes up in the body of an unknown man, he discovers he’s part of a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train. In an assignment unlike any he’s ever known, he learns he’s part of a government experiment called the Source Code, a program that enables him to cross over into another man’s identity in the last 8 minutes of his life. With a second, much larger target threatening to kill millions in downtown Chicago, Colter re-lives the incident over and over again, gathering clues each time, until he can solve the mystery of who is behind the bombs and prevent the next attack. — (C) Summit
9. The Ides of March (George Clooney)
The Ides of March takes place during the frantic last days before a heavily contested Ohio presidential primary, when an up-and-coming campaign press secretary (Ryan Gosling) finds himself involved in a political scandal that threatens to upend his candidate’s shot at the presidency. — (C) Sony Pictures
10. Love (William Eubank
A soldier, caught under the dark cloud of the Civil War, is given the opportunity to head West and witness an extraordinary discovery made by another Regiment. More than a century later, a lone Astronaut aboard the International Space Station becomes stranded in orbit when he loses all contact with Earth. Connection is what defines us as human beings, and it is through connections that we prove our existence. This simple concept is a small part of a much larger discovery made by both men. — (C) Official Site
*Notable films not included because I have not seen them as of now
- The Artist
- The Descendants
- Hugo
- Shame
(I will be holding off on writing any more of my best of lists until after Christmas. So until then, I hope you all have a very merry christmas and happy holiday season.)
