Ten Best Films of 2011

Michael The Moviegoer’s list of the Ten Best Films of 2011 :

Good movies are making a comeback despite the increased difficulty in financing them. But if we all support the good films at the box office, more will be made. 2011 has shown us a lot of promising new talent both in front of and behind the camera.

Of course, there are always those misfires that sank to the very bottom like “The Beaver,” “The Dilemma,” “Dream House” and “New Year’s Eve.” Those were so awful they should be avoided even as video rentals.

Here now is the list of my ten favorite films of 2011 starting with a few runner-ups…

15) THE WAY – Emilio Estevez directs his real-life father Martin Sheen as a man carrying his son’s ashes on a 400-mile sacred pilgrimage across the mountains of northern Spain. Sheen more than deserves his first-ever Oscar nomination for this rare leading role.

14) LAST NIGHT – Keira Knightley deserves to win the Razzie award for her ridiculously over-the-top performance in “A Dangerous Method”. But earlier this year Knightley shined in this fascinating relationship drama as a wife trying to resist the temptation of a returned ex-lover.

13) HANNA – Saoirse Ronan gives one of the year’s strongest performances by a leading actress as a world-class teenage assassin who gets chased all over the world by CIA agent Cate Blanchett. Ronan is reunited with her “Atonement” director Joe Wright for which she received an Oscar nomination.

12) DRIVE – By day Ryan Gosling is a stunt driver for the movies. At night he drives getaway cars for bank heists and pawn shop robberies. This is a smart, intelligent thrill ride from Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn. It includes one of the year’s best supporting actor performances from Albert Brooks as a bad guy!

11) THE IDES OF MARCH – George Clooney stars in and directs this timely political thriller about a Democratic presidential primary race in the all-important state of Ohio. The cast includes Ryan Gosling, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti. But surprisingly the strongest supporting performance here belongs to Evan Rachel Wood as the center of an illicit romantic triangle that threatens to bring down the entire campaign.

…And my top 10 favorite films of 2011 are:

10. WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN – Here’s a psychological drama of a seriously troubled and potentially dangerous young boy. It’s more frightening than any horror film you’re likely to see. Kevin is a real bad seed with no demonic or supernatural subtext. Tilda Swinton delivers a brave and shocking performance as Kevin’s disconnected mom. Directed by Lynne Ramsay with a lucid dreamlike non-linear narrative, as the puzzle pieces begin to take shape a horrifically violent conclusion comes into view and, like Kevin’s victims, you’re locked in its grip with nowhere to run.

9. THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU – There’s an old saying that goes “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.” In “The Adjustment Bureau” Matt Damon tries to alter his destiny when he falls in love with Emily Blunt against God’s plan. That’s the basis for this film adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s short story. It’s a fantasy/romance/thriller and possibly the first movie ever in which God is the bad guy! Damon and Blunt meet, fall in love, and, like Cinderella, are kept apart by the cosmic circles they run in that were never supposed to intersect.

8. 50/50 – This has become known as “that cancer comedy.” Joseph Gordon-Levitt is diagnosed with a malignant tumor in his spinal chord. His life-threatening illness is little more than an inconvenience to his unfaithful girlfriend played by Bryce Dallas Howard. His best friend, a foul-mouthed Seth Rogan, uses it as an opportunity to pick up girls. His mother (Anjelica Huston) becomes smothering and over-emotional. But it’s his relationship with his psychologist that is this movie’s sweet surprise. Anna Kendrick plays the therapist-in-training and Gordon-Levitt is only her third patient. Their scenes together are priceless.

7. TRUST – There’s a Friend behind the camera for this dark tale of statutory rape via the internet. David Schwimmer directs the year’s greatest breakout performance by Liana Liberato as a 14-year old girl who falls for a boy she meets in an online chat room for teens. When they finally hook-up in person she discovers he is actually a 35-year old man. Once the FBI gets involved the girl becomes further victimized in a way that sort of makes the original crime seem less important than the aftermath. Clive Owen and Catherine Keener turn in powerful performances as the girl’s parents. Those MPAA idiots gave the film an ‘R’ rating restricting it to teens under 17, the very people who should be required to view it.

6. ANOTHER EARTH – Starring and co-written by newcomer Brit Marling, this is a thought-provoking deeply human drama laced with elements of science fiction. Marling plays a girl consumed with guilt over a tragic car accident that destroys an innocent man’s family. When she gets out of prison she poses as a maid from a cleaning agency to help take care of the man who’s wife and young son she killed. At the same time, a second Earth appears in the sky. Possibly from a parallel universe, this mirror-like image of our planet crafts a theory that if Marling can travel there she might be able to re-live the day of the accident thereby altering the outcome. It’s a strange fantasy created to deal with grief over loss, but director Mike Cahill has turned it into a fascinating and very special film.

5. MY WEEK WITH MARILYN – Anyone who doesn’t believe Michelle Williams will be among the Oscar nominees this year hasn’t seen “My Week With Marilyn.” Williams plays Marilyn Monroe during the week she traveled to London to film “The Prince And The Showgirl” with Laurence Olivier. Colin Clark (played by Eddie Redmayne) works for Olivier and is put in charge of taking care of Marilyn. This film is adapted from Clark’s memoirs. Kenneth Branagh plays Olivier in another awards-worthy performance. The contrast between these two personalities is endlessly entertaining. Their film project was born out of their respective egos. Olivier, the serious actor who wants to be a movie star, and Monroe, the movie star trying to become a serious actress.

4. MARGIN CALL – A fascinating opportunity to be a fly on the wall of a Wall Street boardroom on the eve of the 2008 economic collapse, “Margin Call” is a perfectly-timed financial thriller which arrived in cinemas just as the Occupy Wall Street movement began. The terrific ensemble cast showcases Kevin Spacey and Jeremy Irons giving them their juciest roles in years. Demi Moore, Paul Bettany and Stanley Tucci are also among the cast members playing greedy executives at an unnamed investment banking firm which could easily be Lehman Brothers or Goldman Sachs. Watching these characters, who I like to call “investment prophets”, plot and scheme the financial crisis that will bring the U.S. economy to its knees, is as entertaining as it is frustrating.

3. THE ARTIST – No doubt you’ve already heard about this black-&-white silent movie that’s getting all the awards buzz this season. French filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius has crafted an authentic re-creation of 1920s Hollywood in both period and presentation. Lead actors Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo give two of the year’s most joyful performances. Even the dog, a Jack Russell Terrier, is being mentioned for awards recognition. John Goodman, James Cromwell and Malcolm McDowell also figure prominently in this marvelous film that will leave you with a great big smile on your face and a nostalgic feeling in your heart. Only quibble is that the film was actually shot in color and then computerized into black-&-white.

2. THE SKIN I LIVE IN – After it’s over, it will take you a while to process what you’ve just seen. Pedro Almodovar’s elaborate Frankenstein-like revenge fantasy stars Antonio Banderas as a brilliant yet mad plastic surgeon out to avenge the rape of his daughter. To avoid spoilers, I won’t get into any other details here. The beautiful Elena Anaya plays the subject of his experiments. The cinematography is awesome, making every frame look like a work of art. Almodovar pushes the envelope even further than any of his earlier films could have prepared us for. This is dangerous, naughty, sinful entertainment of the best kind. Prepare to be astonished!

… and the best movie of 2011 is…

1. MONEYBALL – This is an absolute homerun for star Brad Pitt who has finally delivered a performance that should win him an Oscar. Pitt plays Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland A’s baseball team, with passion, dedication and sensitivity. Living his life in defiance of opportunity, Beane is a character driven to win for his soul, not money. He was a real game-changer in the world of baseball when he implemented research and analysis into the process of selecting a winning team, opposing the old-school method of “gut instinct”. The smart script by Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian keeps everyone on their ‘A’-game especially cast members Philip Seymour Hoffman and Jonah Hill. This true story sort of feels like a real-life “Bad News Bears”. It’s director Bennett Miller’s long-awaited follow-up to 2005’s “Capote” in which he directed Philip Seymour Hoffman to an Oscar. With Pitt on deck to win this year, Miller could be facing the prospect of having directed back-to-back Oscar-winning performances.

Michael The Moviegoer