As much as I’ve always been a fan of movies, I have normally not been one to create lists at the end of the year. Only since I started this blog in the spring of 2010 have I decided to organize my thoughts in such a fashion. And you know what? It’s frustrating, but also kind of fun. However, last year making a “Best of 2010” list was pretty easy. For my money, there was a clear number one (The Social Network) and the rest just kind of fell into place. This year, however, was a freaking nightmare. While none of 2011’s resonated with me on the level of Social Network, by and large the average quality of film was pretty darn high. Let’s face it: once you get past the first few great films of last year it gets pretty flimsy. This year was pretty darn stacked, even if many of the great movies were slightly off the beaten path. Of my Top 10, only one can be described as a box office smash.
However, if you looked past the surface you were bound to find strong filmmaking in just about every corner. Some of them are challenging pieces of work, but all will provide ample reward for the patient viewer. Others are formulaic crowd-pleasers, but even those were done incredibly well this year. 2011 was a year when the filmmaking bar was raised substantially, and as a result making the list below was… difficult. I’m rather comfortable with the top four, but you could arrange my numbers 5-15 in just about any order and you wouldn’t get a whole lot of complaining out of me. However, after removing a layer of skin I was able to come up with an order that I don’t entirely hate. At least right now. When I look back at this list in a couple days I will undoubtedly be furious with myself.
Anyway, let’s now move on to my list of the best films of the year. First you will see my top 10, then eleven additional films that I quite enjoyed.
It should be noted that just because I gave one movie an ‘A’ and another an ‘A-’ doesn’t mean the former will be ranked higher than the latter. You’ll see that below.
This list is subject to change based on any future viewing.
10.
50/50
For all that it does well, 50/50 is a movie that hasn’t gotten as much credit as it should. Here is a film that tries to juggle the respective tones of an R-rated comedy and a tear-jerking cancer drama, and it's quite a feat that it does so this effectively. Joseph Gordon-Levitt gives a great and startlingly relatable performance as Adam, a seemingly normal 27-year-old that happens to have a particularly nasty case of cancer. From then on, he just tries to live his life day by day. He stays cooped up at home, goes to chemo with Philip Baker Hall, hangs out with Seth Rogen, and has his relationship with Bryce Dallas Howard slowly crumble under all the stress. There’s a whole lot of formula once we reach the third act, but 50/50 director Jonathan Levine makes sure that every last tear is earned through good old-fashioned character development and great performances. It’s unfortunate that this one seems to have faded into the background.
(Review)
9.
War Horse
Steven Spielberg’s brazenly sentimental War Horse is an undoubtedly manipulative film, but there are few other directors in this world that could pull it off so well. Heck, there may not be another director who could have pulled it off at all. Spielberg is so brilliant at telling stories through the use of stunning imagery, and War Horse is just further proof that he can take even the cheesiest of material and make it sing. This film is more ambitious than its “a boy and its horse” story might suggest; it attempts to paint an expansive portrait of World War I from the point of view of those who had no desire to wind up in the middle of the combat. One of these points of view comes from, yes, the horse. As gooey as the film is, War Horse provides some of the bleakest moments in the Spielberg filmography, including a few battle scenes that recapture the glory of Saving Private Ryan. Yet even that is ignoring the film’s true brilliance: it takes an obvious and worn-out message (war is bad) and finds new ways to express it to the audience.
(Review)
8.
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
The most amazing part of Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is not that it’s as perfect a blockbuster as I’ve seen in quite some time. No, that’s just a part of it. The most amazing thing is that this was the live-action feature debut for director Brad Bird, who in the past has only made animated films. In those films (The Iron Giant, The Incredibles and Ratatouille) Bird showed an incredible knack for action, but translating that to actual people in the actual real world (you know, with gravity) is a whole other beast. Not only does he prove up to the task; he excels in ways that few other directors could match. Ghost Protocol deserves to be on this list for the second act alone, which features not only a jaw-dropping sequence on the Burj Khalifa in Dubai but also follows it up with a brilliant chase scene through a sandstorm. This film does everything a great action film is supposed to, and it makes everyone else look like they’re slacking off.
(Review)
7.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
A chilly tale of Cold War espionage, Tomas Alfredson’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is an immersive film experience that implants you in its hypnotic no-nonsense world from minute one and is captivating straight through to the end. This film doesn’t overdo it on the emotion, nor is it necessarily all that interesting on a story level. However, on a moment-by-moment basis, it is an incredibly enthralling experience. Alfredson’s deliberate direction fits the material well, and it all revolves around Gary Oldman’s understated but magnetic performance as George Smiley. Not much is pretty about the world of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy—the weather is mostly cloudy and the rooms are dimly-lit and filled with cigarette smoke—but it’s the little details like the subtle yet period-appropriate costume design that give the film its impact.
(Review)
6.
Young Adult
Charlize Theron completely owns Young Adult, the second collaboration between director Jason Reitman and writer Diablo Cody. She plays Mavis Gary, a... wait for it... young adult writer who is so obsessed with her high school glory days that she returns to her hometown with the intention of winning back her old boyfriend (Patrick Wilson). One slight wrinkle: He’s married and father to a newborn child. Needless to say, things don’t go as planned, and it’s a fascinating train wreck to watch unfold. Theron’s character is undoubtedly repulsive, but that should not take away from the film. On the contrary: Young Adult is supposed to be a character study of a messed-up woman, and Reitman effortlessly translates it into compelling cinema. Also great is comedian Patton Oswalt as the hobbled audience surrogate. He’s the only one that calls out Theron on her madness, even if he remains strangely captivated by her behavior.
(Review)
5.
Certified Copy
Those who dislike solving puzzles would be best served to skip Abbas Kiarostami’s Certified Copy, a baffling yet beautiful film about two people who meet for a conversation in Tuscany before things take a few strange turns. And that’s putting it lightly. These two people are played by Juliette Binoche and William Shimell; the former an antiques dealer and the latter an author who specializes in art. When the conversation begins, they appear to be strangers and everything appears perfectly friendly. Then it seems like there may be more to it. Or maybe not. That’s up to the viewer to decide, and Certified Copy is certainly a tough nut to crack. It’s a film that answers no questions and asks hundreds more, yet it never becomes overwhelming. Viewers of Certified Copy have a lot on their plate, but it’s a rewarding emotional experience just as much as it’s a challenging one.
(Review)
4.
Attack the Block
Upon first viewing of Attack the Block, you may be fooled. You may think it’s little more than a brisk thrill ride with no real ultimate purpose. Well, even if you do think that, you have to admit that it does that surprisingly well. However, Joe Cornish’s directorial debut has a lot more going on upstairs than many will likely give it credit for, and it’s not until subsequent viewings do you get the full picture. Beyond its awesomeness on the surface, Attack the Block is also a story about how people tend to live in their own personal bubbles, and how they may react violently when faced with an outside threat. The obvious threat in this film is the alien invasion; cheap looking aliens, albeit, but it’s a welcome antidote to the generic CGI monsters that we see in most movies these days. This is an incredibly assured film that works on just about every level, and it’s exciting to think what else Cornish will have to offer in the future.
(Review)
3.
Drive
Those who doubt Ryan Gosling’s toughness have not seen Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive; a hypnotic genre exercise that plays the audience like a fiddle from long, ponderous shot to long, ponderous shot. Then, the violence comes, and it hits like a punch to the gut. There’s no mistaking this for brilliant screenwriting—this one is all style, little substance—but Winding Refn’s direction is so effortlessly brilliant that the film not only becomes good but downright transcendent. This is never clearer than during the infamous elevator scene, which takes a horrific act of brutality and makes it one of the most romantic gestures of the year. Gosling’s performance as The Driver evokes the many famous “Man With No Name” types seen in countless Westerns, but the man who steals the show is Albert Brooks as the film’s chief villainous gangster. For die-hard film buffs, Drive has got it all.
(Review)
2.
The Tree of Life
The most ambitious film of this or any year is Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life, which tells an autobiographical tale of childhood in Waco, Texas and attempts to connect that to the entire history of the universe. We’ve all wondered what the meaning of life was, and now Malick has made a movie that attempts to answer that question. At the very least, he explores it very thoroughly. Sure, not everything hits, but when you’re making a movie like this absolute perfection is impossible. Heck, there isn’t another filmmaker on Earth who would dare attempt to pull off a film as ambitious as this. Malick deserves credit for even making this movie, but that he was able to create so many unforgettable sequences that explore the beginning of the universe, life and the afterlife is something that astounds me. It all comes together in a moving climax that is unusual but also strangely reassuring. We may not know exactly what the point of it all is, but at least we’re all taking this journey together.
(Review)
1.
Martha Marcy May Marlene
In a year of staggering directorial debuts, none knocked me over quite like Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene, a just-about-perfect film that features Elizabeth Olsen giving the best performance of the year. When the film begins, Olsen escapes from a cult run by John Hawkes, but when she winds up taking refuge at her sister's lake house the paranoia starts to catch up with her. She has trouble transitioning back into regular society, she behaves strangely in general, and then she begins to suspect that members of her cult may still be coming to take her back. Or worse. Sitting through Martha Marcy May Marlene is a squirm-inducing experience in the best possible way, as the tension slowly grows and grows until the point when we’re watching every corner of the screen to see if her fears are justified. Yet, at the same time, perhaps everything’s fine. That is one possibility that Olsen can’t bring herself to accept. After seeing the brilliant final shot, the audience may not be able to accept it either.
(Review)
Important Note on A Separation:
The Rest of the Best (Films considered for the top 10 that didn’t quite make it.)
11) Thomas McCarthy’s Win Win was a low-key but wonderful movie that features some of the year’s most fleshed-out characters.
12) A unique documentary about the life and legacy of British playwright Andrea Dunbar, The Arbor provides some unforgettable moments in its illustration of lower-class life.
13) Brit Marling is wonderful in Another Earth, a film that takes a sci-fi concept and uses it in service of a heartbreaking character drama.
14) Meek’s Cutoff is a haunting western that follows a small group of settlers as they wander through the desert and come to the realization that they may be lost.
15) Martin Scorsese’s Hugo has the look and feel of a children’s movie, but in reality it is a charming and moving story about the power of the movies.
16) The comedy Cedar Rapids has some of the year’s funniest moments, including a wonderfully raunchy performance from John C. Reilly.
17) Brad Pitt’s performance completely owns the baseball drama Moneyball, and it helps that he’s got some solid material from Aaron Sorkin and Steve Zaillian to work with.
18) The Muppets admittedly coasts quite a bit on nostalgia, but it’s no less than a blast to see these characters return to the screen once more.
19) There was no shortage of superhero movies this year, but none were better than Captain America: The First Avenger; a rousing adventure that, at its best, evokes the pure fun of Raiders of the Lost Ark. It’s not nearly as good, but still.
20) There’s no doubt that Warrior plays entirely by the rules of the underdog sports movie formula, but when it’s as well-performed and directed as this it’s hard to complain.
21) J.J. Abrams’ Spielberg homage Super 8 can’t quite stick the landing, but the first two acts are so wall-to-wall great that I choose to remember the good parts as opposed to the bad.
Notable Films I Haven’t Yet Seen
Carnage
The Interrupters
Margaret
The Skin I Live In
Take Shelter
Terri
We Need to Talk About Kevin
Thanks for reading, all! Now, let’s move forward to 2012, the year of our Emmerichian demise!
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