2011 in film.

Top ten box-office films of 2011:

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2
2. Transformers: Dark of the Moon
3. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
4. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1
5. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
6. Kung Fu Panda 2
7. Fast Five
8. The Hangover Part II
9. The Smurfs
10. Cars 2

What are your top three films for 2011? We will keep a running tally and eventually have some sort of bracket. For me it would be:

1. The Tree of Life
2. Girl Walk//All Day
3. The Turin Horse

What are some of the forgotten gems from the year? What is overrated? What did you discover at a young age and what did you discover later?

YEARS IN FILM • forum.chorus.fm

 

1. Drive
2. The Tree of Life
3. The Raid

4. Weekend
5. The Skin I Live In
6. Tyrannosaur
7. Kotoko
8. Oslo, August 31st
9. A Separation
10. Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Also love The Human Centipede 2, Hobo with a Shotgun, Shame, Tomboy, Silenced, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Alps, Bridesmaids, Crazy Stupid Love, The Inbetweeners Movie, Kill List, Pariah, Samsara, Guilty of Romance, Himizu and House of Tolerance.

 

I am really surprised that Take Shelter did not make it, a movie that is as strong a fourth pick as any could be. A Separation finds real empathy for all of its characters, The Loneliest Planet makes us question our own commitments, and The Color Wheel dares us to spend the length of a film with the most obnoxious people possible. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, Almayer's Folly, Alps, A Burning Hot Summer, and so many great European arthouse films. Lonergan's Margaret finally came out after years of internal fighting and it has a rawness of emotion that is so rare to see.

 

1. Margaret
2. The Tree of Life
3. Drive

HMs: The Raid, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Kill List, Contagion

 

1. Tree of Life
2. Margaret
3. Moneyball

Tree of Life is magic. Margaret is on Criterion Channel now so watch it. Moneyball is a personal one for me, it stands on its own but I’m also so curious about Soderbergh’s version that apparently had no baseball in it and was purely about stats and money.

Others receiving consideration were Fukunaga’s Jane Eyre, A Dangerous Method, I love Andrea Arnold’s Wuthering Heights.

I also made my Hollywood screen debut in the Hugh Jackman vehicle Real Steel, so hoping that has a strong showing in this year’s poll.

 

Oh yeah Take Shelter is great as well

 

Take Shelter
The Skin I Live In
A Separation

HM: Pariah, The Raid, Warrior, Attack the Block, 50/50, Source Code, You’re Next, Cabin in the Woods, Drive, The Descendants, The Grey, Moneyball

 

1. This is Not a Film
2. The Tree of Life
3. The Kid with a Bike

 

1. Take Shelter
2. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
3. Warrior

 

This is so encouraging.

 

1. Crazy, Stupid, Love
2. The Skin I Live In
3. Weekend

On the outside looking in are Jiro Dreams of Sushi, Moneyball, and 50/50. I really need to see The Tree of Life and rewatch Drive.

 

The lack of This is Not a Film is disappointing

 

1. Warrior
2. Crazy, Stupid, Love
3. Cabin in the Woods

Tree of Life is exceptional, but I never want to return to it.

 

drive was a movie thats immediate success I didn't particularly understand and thats ensuing legacy has been completely confounding

 

Am I misremembering something about Crazy Stupid Love? I don’t remember it very well, but I remember thinking it was a perfectly normal, average rom-com.

I’m not trashing it, just surprised to see it appear in multiple top 3’s.

 

I enjoy both of them a lot

 

An extremely stacked year and easily one of the hardest to choose three from a year than has several times that amount to choose from but regardless those three are -

1. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
2. Super 8
3. The Raid

Those are bold are other contenders for those three spots with the rest being ones I enjoy; X-Men: First Class, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, The Skin I Live In, The Guard, Hugo, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Attack the Block, Headhunters, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Rango, Fast Five, The Awakening, Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan, Source Code, Final Destination 5, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger.

 

1. A Separation
2. The Skin I Live In
3. Tyrannosaur

A Separation is the wonderful and complex Iranian film about a married couple. The film presents several moral dilemmas that escalate, without any easy answers, with everyone in the wrong to some degree, and yet with valid concerns.

The Skin I Live in is Almodovar's brilliant creepy and unhinged film about a mad scientist. By far the most horrifying thing that Almodovar has done, and has the good sense to put the "twist" in the film before the final third, so it can have fun with it for the rest of the film.

Tyrannosaur is the debut feature from actor Paddy Considine, and a proper grim British kitchen sink drama, about the traumatised and troubled Joseph, perfectly portrayed by Peter Mullan. Also has a heartbreaking Olivia Colman performance and a monstrous Eddie Marsan one.

Honourable mentions;

More good American films than usual this year. The Tree of Life, which will I probably don't like as much as most, is still far and above Malick's other work in the 2010s. The Cabin in the Woods is very funny, doing meta-comedy / horror better than most. Horrible Bosses is a funny mainstream comedy that takes IASIP-esque humour meeting broader mainstream comic stylings.

Take Shelter is an excellent apocalyptic drama, that also dives into the terrifying world of American medical insurance. Not sure if it's American exactly, but Shame is a compelling melodrama about addiction and pain. Carnage is Polanski's painful and awkward adaptation of a stage play that's a horrible experience to watch.

From Japan, I like Shinya Tsukamoto's chaotic and unhealthy Kotoko about mental illness. I Wish is Kore-Eda's family drama, that could easily be sentimental nonsense in another director's hands, but he keeps it grounded. Jiro Dreams of Sushi is a great documentary about sushi and obsession.

From HK, there's Johnnie To's explicitly capitalist Rom-Com, Don’t Go Breaking My Heart, as well as Ann Hui's sweet and sensitive A Simple Life.

 

I definitely thought it was one of the better romcoms I've seen. The comedy was just top notch for most of it, AND it had a twist that I didn't see coming. And the scene when that twist happens is hilarious.

1. Crazy Stupid Love
2. Bridesmaids
3. hmmmmm....I guess Captain America?

There aren't really a lot of movies I'm seeing on the list that really makes me go "oh wow yeah that one was great". Hall Pass was kinda funny, Horrible Bosses was funny, The Help was good, I liked Moneyball, Contagion was scary at the time and now obviously timely. I loved Scream 4, thought it was a great reboot/sequel.

 

Not a long list of movies I loved this year, but the overall quality is really high and you could easily swap in several of the honorable mentions.

1. The Tree of Life
2. Take Shelter
3. A Separation

Honorable mentions:

Margaret
Margin Call
Moneyball
Melancholia
Attack the Block
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Margin Call is a movie I didn't watch until this year, but was really impressed by. It's streaming for free (I think Peacock?) and I'd highly recommend it.

I'm not a big Von Trier guy, but Melancholia really stuck with me. I found it to be a unique and profound depiction of depression.

Attack the Block is such a fun movie. I need to rewatch that one, it's been a while.

 

1. Moneyball
2. Drive
3. The Raid

This year has the two worst movies I've ever seen - Human Centipede 2 and In Time.

 

1. Drive
2. Tree of Life
3. The Skin I live In

Drive; look at Ryan, listen to Kavinsky: 10

Great year for offbeat horrors, The Skin I live In, Kill list, Youré Next, Cabin in the Woods. All very fun. Actually don't think Kill List was supposed to be fun.

The Loneliest Planet was important for me in developing patience as a film viewer. I watched it on Tetra's recommendation and was very bored for the first half, didn't get what it was trying to say or why it was taking so long. After the event I understood that the time and patience gave weight to the meaning in the second as we slowly watched its effects unfold.

My holiday wardrobe is very Rango-esque, probably my most watched plane movie, gets me in my holiday vibe, little bit Fear and Loathing, little bit Fun and Lounging.

 

I don’t think Drive’s appeal is that hard to understand. It’s a moody, vibe-y, take on the crime driving movie like Mann’s Thief and Walter Hill’s The Driver. It’s not revolutionary but I enjoyed it the two times I watched it.

 

Speaking of worst movies, God Bless America came out that year. A really dreadful, hateful film, missing all of the charm of Goldthwait's previous film.

 

I'm among those who didn't love Drive, but the soundtrack is awesome.