When Inception is getting “movie of the year” praise, and The Tourist, Alice In Wonderland and Burlesque are nominated for Golden Globes, you know its been a crap year for movies. In no particular order:
Black Swan – Darren Aronofsky and Natalie Portman at their best – beautiful, haunting and intriguing
Blue Valentine – I waited an anticipation for this film – and it was worth the wait. Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams are so good, you never want the movie to end. The script feels so real, you start to worry about your own relationship. Also, an excellent score by Grizzly Bear, and interesting art direction using the colour Blue.
The King’s Speech – a simple story, but a very well crafted film, great performances, art direction, cinematography, score, a lively script…and I love Colin Firth, just love him. And Pride and Prejudice‘s Jennifer Ehle and David Bamber have some small roles!
The Social Network- a solid script, tight editing and a great soundtrack made it an all round engaging and relevant film
Let Me In – an unnecessary remake, but a perfectly remade movie if this had to be done. Basically made for those who don’t want to read subtitles, and Chloe Moretz continues to impress
KickAss - my husband and I dressed up as Hit Girl and KickAss for Halloween, need I say more?
Paranormal Activity 2 – though not as scary as the first, a strong sequel that ties in well with the original
Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows – darker and scarier, this is the the best adaption so far, and being in two parts allows for much better pacing than previous installments.
Piranha 3-D – the most fun I’ve had at a movie in a while – kudos to Aja who knew exactly what type of movie he was making
The Town – A gritty, heist film from Ben Affleck – with Jeremy Renner being all hot and awesome
I Spit On Your Grave Unrated – an amazing remake, brutal and bold, a huge improvement over the original
Easy A – one of the best teen comedies since Mean Girls, Emma Stone shines through in a witty, charming performance
127 Hours – was very easy to become immersed in this one man’s adventure thanks to an amazing performance by James Franco. Great score and cinematography as well.
Winter’s Bone – ominous and atmospheric, a simple story of a young girl looking for her father is an intriguing mystery full of great characters and a superb performance by Jennifer Lawrence.
Biggest piece of crap/how did I get sucked into watching it:
Sex and The City 2. Yes I know, not surprising but it could have just been a fluff piece filled with pretty clothes, but instead it was a painful, maddening, beyond ridiculous piece of garbage, and a total shame that they destroyed what shallow remains were left of the lead characters. Please, the damn show is over, leave it alone.
Runner up: The Kids Are Alright. Apparently I’m the only one who thought this was a piece of junk. Where to start: Zero chemistry between the two leads (who I normally love), fake script, full of cliche stereotypes – didn’t feel or believe a word of it. The only good performances were the moments between Mark Ruffalo and Mia W. And the music was so cheesy as well. Comedy? Not in a good way.
Movies I still have to see:
Machete, The Fighter, True Grit, Biutiful, Frozen
Great list Paola – happy to see someone else recognize how beautiful LET ME IN actually was and not blather on about how much better the original is (which it is, but that doesn’t make LMI a bad film).
And count me as someone who’s antsy for BLUE VALENTINE, BIUTIFUL and RABBIT HOLE as well.
PS – If you’re interested, Lindsay and I did a podcast about our favorite movies of the year with another podcasting couple I know. It’s up on my blog now, but fair warning – at 85 minutes it’s a tad long (worth it though, if I do say so m’self!)
Just linked to this on The Matinee. Have a Happy New Year, eh?
Good as ‘Black Swan’ was, the best movie of 2011 is the heart-rending
Never Let Me Go.
Special low-budget masterpiece mention to Monsters.
Worst piece of poo – Tim Burton’s rewrite of Lewis Carroll springs to mind, but there were probably worse.