Greetings:
Well, here sit I with only two days left in this year. 2011 was not the best of years and it was not the worst of years (my apologies to Mr. Dickens). I lost my job mid-way through the year and was fortunate enough to obtain another rather quickly; but the after-effect of losing a job where I had spent the last 12 years of my work-a-day life shook me to the core and left me feeling....insecure.
During those days of heightened stress and uncertainty, I often found my way to the local cinema and forgot my tribulations, at least for a few hours, in the cloistered darkness of the movie house surrounded by strangers.
This year brought a banquet of digitally rendered goodies for our eyes to feast upon; some were great, some near-great and all too many were just ok. Here are a few of my film favs for 2011:
1) Thor - Marvel studios continues to impress as they release one after another fine super-hero movie. Thor was the one film I worried about as it was so different, with its Norse Gods fantasy milieu, from Iron Man, the X-Men, the Hulk and Spiderman. But it worked and it easily found its place with the above-mentioned catalog of derring-doers.
2) The Hangover Part 2 - The original Hangover was an almost inspired near-perfect comedy of errors building upon errors with a sideways dash of "Memento" thrown in as we followed the hapless trio and along with them uncovered the mysteries of their lost time. The second installment in this franchise is almost a carbon-copy of the first with a location change, a severed finger and a monkey tossed into the mix. More of the same is sometimes a good thing (e.g. The James Bond series) but one wishes that the producers of this entry had opted for more originality, a slightly smarter screenplay and a little less sound and fury. I read that a third Hangover film is on the drawing board....one can only hope that it goes beyond mimicking first and finds a way to once more capture that lightning in a bottle which made the first a comedy gem.
3) Fast Five - Prior to this film's release I had only viewed the first entry in this series. I found the first film to be standard action fare with fast cars, fast women and men whose testosterone levels were off the scale. So, I went to this film not expecting much and only really wanting to see how well they made use of the Rio de Janeiro location. I was surprised and pleased at how good the film was...and I thought it was a stroke of genius to re-tool the series away from car versus car and "Quien es mas Macho" posturing to a caper film a la "The Italian Job". If this series continues in this new-found vein, then I am on-board for the ride....hehe.
4) Captain America - This is the second of three Marvel films to make my 2011 hit list; but it is hands down the best of them. I have always been a big Captain America fan but I was worried that his 1940s patriotic zeal would be something that the current American movie-going public would find quaint at best and lame at worst. Thankfully, I was wrong to be so worried. Americans flocked to see this adventure of the "First Avenger" and with the film's success, Marvel has completed its cinematic build-up to next year's "The Avengers" movie. You can bet I will be there on opening day!
5) X-Men: First Class: The X-Men series had somehow lost its way after a great start several years back; but with this newest entry which reboots the franchise, the X-Men are back on top. I love the retro take on the group with origin stories for most of the better known characters. This film was very well acted and had special effects to rival its predecessors and anything on screen at the time of its release. I am hoping that the same cast can be brought back together for any sequels that may follow.
6) Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows - This second entry in the Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law series is a most worthy follow-up to the very fine and unexpectedly successful first entry. The chemistry between Downey and Law is far more natural and the action is ratcheted up five or ten notches from the first film. I am a long-time and dedicated fan of Sherlock Holmes and I wanted not to like this re-imagining of the World's First Consulting Detective....but darn if they didn't win me over...and this film continues that winning trend in spades!
7) Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol - I have long since dismissed Tom Cruise for all of his antics and inappropriate utterances but I have to, at times, forget how much he irritates me and try to enjoy a film that he happens to be in. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol makes it easy to forget (if not forgive) Mr. Cruise's personality quirks and verbal missteps because it is a great action movie bolstered by an exceptionally fine cast and a fairly decent (though not very original) plot. This film will likely reaffirm Mr. Cruise's box-office bankability and will no doubt breathe life back into a series that was losing steam.
8) The Help - Great book, super movie, incredible performances and will likely clean up in all of the upcoming award shows. Sorry about the pun...I couldn't Help myself.
9) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - I have read all of the books in this superb series and they are brilliantly crafted with a heroine who has captured the imagination of millions of readers. The Swedes produced their own version of this film back in 2009 and it was splendid, now we Americans have come in with our own big-budget version of the book and it, too, is very good. The character of Lizbeth Salander as portrayed first by Noomi Rapace (you can see her in the above-mentioned Sherlock Holmes film) and now by Rooney Mara is one that will long live in your memory. I highly recommend this film and expect it to pick a major award here and there over the next few months.
Well there you have my film list for 2011, I couldn't come up with ten movies....maybe I didn't get out enough...but what the hell...next year I will list 11.
Happy New Years to You and Yours!
George B.
