Top Ten Films of 2011
This is the first year where I saw enough movies to say there are 60+ good films I like and would recommend. Obviously every year probably has that amount. This was a turning point year for me. 2012 will come and change me again, but 2011 has the push into infant cinephile.
The top ten worldwide box office has 9 of the 10 movies being sequels all the way to the second part of an eight part franchise. The only movie that wasn’t established off of a previous movie was The Smurfs. Which of course is its own thing.
I always bring this up because as I started this I noticed how the closer we get to now the more I see the most popular movies just reverting to the past and the most money making films are the ones that remind people of being a kid or are something we’ve already heard about but put a modern twist on. It bums me out to see the lack of new things. Taking creative people and forcing them to just keep remaking already established art in other mediums makes me sad. It’s not near the biggest problem or something that is inherently terrible. But I think it makes us worse as a human race and less interesting. I hope we can swing back towards more originality. Hollywood has an aversion to that type of thing, but I hope we let someone do it that isn’t just Christopher Nolan.
9.0 earthquake in Japan
2011 Super Outbreak of tornadoes (later on in the year was the F5 Joplin, MO tornado)
The Rock announces that Bin Laden has been killed before anyone else
Occupy Wall Street
Kim Jong-il dies
My top 25-11 ranked
25. Attack the Block (Directed by Joe Cornish)
24. The Cabin in the Woods (Directed by Drew Goddard) - Amazon Prime & Hulu
23. Moneyball (Directed by Bennett Miller)
22. Killer Joe (Directed by William Friedkin) - Hulu
21. Bernie (Directed by Richard Linklater)
20. A Separation (Directed by Asghar Farhadi)
19. 50/50 (Directed by Jonathan Levine)
18. The Ides of March (Directed by George Clooney) - Amazon Prime
17. The Sunset Limited (Directed by Tommy Lee Jones) - HBO
16. Take This Waltz (Directed by Sarah Polley)
15. Hugo (Directed by Martin Scorsese) - Netflix
14. Tree of Life (Directed by Terrence Malick) - HBO
13. Alps (Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos) - Criterion Channel
12. This Must Be the Place (Directed by Paolo Sorrentino)
11. Into the Abyss (Directed by Werner Herzog)
top ten
10. Margaret (Directed by Kenneth Lonergan)
One of those movies that to some will completely knock them out and leave them thinking they won’t see anything better for a long time. A pure masterpiece. To others, like me, it will be admired and make an impression on me but not leave me thinking that. I do see how they got there. Maybe if I had seen it in a theater in New York it would do that. But it is a 3 hour epic of morality and interconnecting lives. A really good movie that may not be that many people’s favorite but the few that hear its whistle will always hear it.
9. Warrior (Directed by Gavin O’Connor) - Amazon Prime & Hulu
This is a sturdy family drama with good performances and a thrilling and dramatic build up. But this belongs to Tom Hardy and Nick Nolte. These two wild men who have been through a lot in their lives bring that experience and darkness to a story of family. Anyone with family issues or wishes for reconciliation has a potential to be floored. It also is just a good movie. Without needing any thinking of it.
8. The Descendants (Directed by Alexander Payne) - HBO
This was my favorite movie of this year for a time back then but over time the sentimentality and manipulation doesn’t work for me as much. It was when I fell in love with Shailene as an actress and gained a new appreciation for Clooney. I watched a lot of it recently and find it so funny and it nails the family dynamics. It isn’t a great film but it is very good and still gets at me by the end and with it’s dark comedy.
7. Bridesmaids (Directed by Paul Feig) - HBO
A hilarious movie, but not one that is trying to get in every joke it can. There’s a real story here. There’s a good romance, friendship, and life movie in here. Any one of them could’ve held a movie and Wiig makes them all work. McCarthy’s star turn, Maya is underrated in this movie, and all the rest of the supporting cast is fantastic. I think it all works and Chris O’Dowd is perfect.
6. We Need to Talk About Kevin (Directed by Lynne Ramsay) - Amazon Prime & Hulu
The first hour of this, along with the Matrix, is one of the best first hours of a movie ever done. The whole movie is good but if it kept the level of that first 60 minutes I think this could be number one. Ramsay is one of the best directors to ever do it. Tilda Swinton is maybe the best actor, and John C. Reilly is a great overwhelmed try hard dad. It is an unsettling movie about the evil that can lurk inside something so innocent that isn’t your fault. But it will always feel like it was.
5. Melancholia (Directed by Lars von Trier) - Hulu
In the canon of best movies about depression ever made. Kirsten Dunst puts in career best work here. This movie only feels more true and honest as this year goes. I think it would feel much more relatable to anyone without depression after these last four years with those crooks in washington right! It has maybe the best ending in movie history also.
4. Drive (Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn) - Netflix
The 2010’s film bro canon got an incredible entry with this movie. It is odd, colorful, violent, and ultimately very romantic and sweet. This is Refn’s attempt at making a blockbuster movie. It is by far his most accessible film. He just had a distinct style and although he alienates so many every time he gets behind a camera, this one is why he is able to make things to this day and may always be able to do so. Gosling retreats into himself and puts in a stoic almost wordless performance. The supporting cast of Carey Mulligan, Oscar Isaac, Ron Perlman, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks, and Christina Hendricks make this a star studded fantastically well performed pop art piece. It’s exciting and strange. Scorpion jacket and all.
3. In the Family (Directed by Patrick Wang)
Patrick Wang stars in this and gives the best performance by a director in their own film I’ve ever seen. It could be an artistic documentary with the way it flows along and feels so natural. When it doesn’t it feels like it is supposed to be that way. The kid in it is one of the best kid actors I’ve ever seen. There are extremely long takes that are not showy or impressive visually. But they are emotionally and with real vigor for feeling. There are conversations and scenes in this I will cherish forever and I wish it was more widely available. I can’t recommend this highly enough. It could be my number one with more time.
2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Directed by David Fincher)
Seen by some as just a brutal dark long movie that is just a mystery. I see this as a dark cousin to Zodiac and Rooney Mara gives one of the best acting jobs in the last 10 years. Daniel Craig is a perfect straight man to her character. It is cold literally and tonally. I think it’s kinda funny too. The quickness of the pacing and montages of things we need to see and hear but don’t need to dwell on is so impressive. I wish Fincher would’ve gotten to make his franchise, but I’m so glad we got this one. Don’t be more afraid of being impolite than actual danger.
1. Take Shelter (Directed by Jeff Nichols)
The acting that made Michael Shannon an all timer for me. I already liked him and then this showed up and I was floored. I can feel his paranoia and panic and love. He covers so much in this movie and gives so much of himself to it. Jessica Chastain is perfect also. I miss when she just played normal people dealing with issues. She’s so good when she is allowed to be quiet. I can’t recommend this movie enough and now that most of my friends and I are growing up and starting families this will hit even harder.