Even though there were quite a few movies I didn't like, there were even more I did. And most of them I was caught completely off guard by. In fact, only one or two films on my Top 10 were movies I had really been anticipating.
Below are my Top 10 favorite movies that were released in 2011. If there's some you haven't seen, I highly recommend you check them out!
10. The Artist
The Artist is set in the 20's and is about a silent film star who's pushed out of the industry with the introduction of talking films. I'm actually shocked this movie was released and even more shocked that it's been doing so well. It's a silent film AND it's in black and white, which in today's world means suicide for a movie if it wants to appeal to the masses. For this movie to work, it needed some great performances and an excellent story. And The Artist has both. The stars, Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo, are fantastic and The Artist really gets you to feel for the characters even without being able to hear them speak. Accomplishing more than most movies can do WITH sound, The Artist is definitely one of the best of the year and could very possibly win the Oscar for Best Picture. Plus there's a really cool dog in this movie.
9. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
I know I'm being slightly hypocritical here because I usually hate it when American filmmakers try to remake foreign movies because Americans couldn't possibly appreciate a movie in a different language. However with director David Fincher on board and Daniel Craig set to star, I was definitely intrigued. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is about a journalist and a computer hacker who work together to try and figure what happened to a girl who disappeared on a mysterious island forty years earlier. It's a remake of a Swedish film that was released only two years ago and is based on a popular book by Stieg Larsson. Daniel Craig is excellent as always, but the real star of the movie is Rooney Mara, who plays hacker Lisbeth Salander. The girl put her heart and soul into this movie and you can see that clearly by the performance she gives, which is definitely the best female performance of the year. She even went as far as really getting the various piercings and tattoos that you see in the movie. Now that's dedication to a role that even Daniel Day-Lewis would be proud of.
8. Attack the Block
It's a crime that Attack the Block wasn't widely released in the United States but a lot of the time some of the best films aren't. The plot is simple- a group of teenagers must defend their block in South London from a group of invading aliens. But as simple as the plot is, Attack the Block provided some of the best action in 2011. Set at a modest budget of $13 million (compared to Transformers: Dark of the Moon which had a $195 million budget), the producers and newcomer director Joe Cornish made the most of what they had available to them. The cast, which is also made up of nearly all first-time actors, is excellent and the creature design for the alien is really original and cool. Perhaps the best way to think of the film is if the British television series Skins get crossed with Independence Day. Now if that pitch doesn't make you want to check out this movie, then I don't know what will.
7. Moneyball
I really didn't think I'd like Moneyball. I'm not a huge baseball fan and I was afraid that not knowing a lot about baseball and the players involved would make this less interesting for me. That couldn't be further from the truth. Moneyball is based on the true story of Oakland A's manager Billy Beane and his attempt to put together a successful baseball team based on computer-generated analysis. It's written by the amazing Aaron Sorkin, who also happened to write the screenplay for my favorite movie of 2010, The Social Network. Brad Pitt is awesome in this movie as the slick Billy Beane. Jonah Hill really proves that he's much more than just a comedic actor with the role of Peter Brand, the man who created the computer analysis system. He's very good in this and his scenes with Brad Pitt in Billy Beane's office are some of the best in the film. The idea of having an underdog team made up of the players that no other team wants is nothing new but with Aaron Sorkin at the helm, Moneyball proved to be a really entertaining sports film.
6. Midnight In Paris
I like classic Woody Allen a lot but his recent films have been pretty disappointing to me. Midnight In Paris was a pleasant surprise though. It stars Owen Wilson as a man who travels to France with his fiancee only to find himself transported back to the 1920s every night at midnight. Some of the people he meets along his travels are Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, and Salvador Dali, among many others. Perhaps what I liked best about Midnight In Paris was that the story was really interesting. Although time travel has been done to death, this movie really isn't about that. It's about a man who really doesn't know who he is or what he wants to be doing. He uses his interactions with these brilliant writers, musicians, and painters from the 20's to explore who he truly is. Owen Wilson gives a performance that I didn't think he had in him and the supporting cast, including Marion Cotillard, really takes the film to the next level.
5. Win Win
Win Win truly came out of nowhere and I wish more people had seen it. It stars Paul Giamatti as a volunteer high school wrestling coach who finds himself taking care of the grandson of the elderly client he's double-crossed. It also features Alex Shaffer, a first-time actor and real wrestling champion from my home state of New Jersey. What makes Win Win so interesting is that the movie feels authentic. Besides using a real high school wrestler as its star, the movie is also filled with an emotional story and characters that feel real. You really become invested in these characters and feel for them when things begin to go wrong. It was written and directed by Thomas McCarthy, who you may recognize as Dr. Bob from Meet the Parents. It's a shame that Win Win was completely overlooked by the Academy, but I highly recommend that you check it out.
4. 50/50
Never before has a movie made me laugh so hard one minute and then almost make me cry the next. A lot of the people in the theater were even laughing and crying within the same scene! 50/50 is inspired by the true story of a man who suddenly discovers he has cancer and is about his struggles to overcome his disease. It's written by first-time writer Will Reiser, who based the screenplay on his own struggles with cancer. It doesn't get much more real than that. In addition to a fantastic script, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen give the performances of their lives. How JGL wasn't nominated for an Academy award is beyond me. As emotional as it is hilarious, 50/50 is a refreshing take on the traditional cancer movie. The characters in this movie and the real Will Reiser are truly inspirational.
3. The Help
Yeah, I don't care what anybody thinks, this movie was awesome. It's annoying that it's being viewed as a "chick flick" simply because it has an all-female cast, but the truth is, these ladies make up the best ensemble cast of the year. The Help is set during the civil rights movement of the 1960s and is about an author who attempts to write a book based on the experiences of African-American maids. The impressive cast includes Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Jessica Chastain. The fact that three of them have actually been nominated for an Academy award (Davis, Spencer, and Chastain) is incredible. It's nice to see great actresses finally getting really good roles that are usually reserved for Meryl Streep. The Help also contains my favorite scene from any movie this year as well as my favorite quote from this year. Trust me, you'll know it when you see it.
2. Bridesmaids
Holy crap this movie is funny. I used to think Kristen Wiig was pretty annoying on Saturday Night Live, but if she's capable of writing movies as funny as this one, I guess I really just didn't understand her full potential. I'm sure most of you have seen Bridesmaids but if you haven't, it's about a woman whose whole life is turned upside down when she's chosen as the maid of honor for her best friend's wedding. Similar to The Help, it features practically an all-female cast and they are funny as hell. Two stand-outs include Melissa McCarthy who plays the hilarious butch bridesmaid Megan and Rose Byrne (who is also awesome in the show Damages) as the "villain" Helen. Bridesmaids is getting a lot of attention lately due to it receiving two Oscar nominations- one for Best Original Screenplay and a Supporting Actress nomination for Melissa McCarthy. I wonder if Bridesmaids is the first Oscar nominated movie to feature a woman taking a dump in a sink. If you can sit through this movie without laughing, you are clearly a robot.
1. Hugo
It might be surprising for some that I have Hugo at number one, but I really enjoyed it. Directed by the great Martin Scorsese, Hugo is set in 1930s Paris and is about an orphan living in the walls of a train station who gets involved in a mystery involving his late father. It stars Asa Butterfield and Kick Ass' Chloe Grace Moretz, as well as Sir Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Emily Mortimer. I don't want to give anything away because the magic of the movie is in wondering what's going to happen, but what I really loved about the movie was the story. I was captivated by this orphan's quest to find out what his father left behind for him to find and was even more interested when the movie took a surprising turn. Hugo is basically Martin Scorsese's love letter to filmmaking and heavily features films from the early 1900s. The way screenwriter John Logan integrates these films into the main story is really interesting too. Also worth noting is how funny Sacha Baron Cohen is even when he's been given a much more serious role than Borat. The rumor is that he stayed in this character too during the entire time it took to film Hugo.
So there you go...my favorite movies from 2011! Do you agree/disagree with my picks? What were your favorite movies from 2011? Head down to the comments section below this post and let me know!
I'll be back next weekend with my guesses for who will be taking home Academy awards this year! Last year I was able to correctly guess 18 out of the major 24 categories. Let's see if I can do as well this year.
Jared
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