Top 10 Films of 2011

The year is 2011, and a lot has happened in the movie world. To help take you back in time, here's a look back at some of the film-related events that took place:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 becomes the year's highest-grossing film, earning over $1.32 billion at the worldwide box office.

The world loses the likes of Anne Francis, Pete Postlethwaite, Elizabeth Taylor, Sidney Lumet and Frances Bay.

I've been able to see 101 films released in 2011, and from those, I've compiled my own top ten list. As one can imagine, some great films had to be left off the final list. Here's a look at some of the movies (listed alphabetically) that just missed the cut:

Crazy, Stupid, Love.
The Descendants
The Help
The Ides of March
Warrior

But enough about the runners-up; here's the list you've been waiting to see! Counting down from number ten to number one, I've listed each film and have given the principal cast list as well as if and how fared at the Academy Awards. Also, I've listed the film's rank on my "Best Films of All-Time" list, if applicable. So without any further delay, here's my top ten movies of 2011!

*****

10. The Muppets
Rated: PG
Directed by: James Bobin
Starring: Jason Segel, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper, Rashida Jones
Academy Awards: 1 nomination
All-Time Ranking: 123
***
I remember watching some of the older Muppets films as a child, but it wasn't until I started to grow in my Disney fanaticism that I truly began to enjoy all the Muppets had to offer. So when a new Muppets film was announced and slated for release, I knew I had to see it as soon as I could. We're getting a story about reunions and about fighting to reclaim something once held dear in the past, and the film manages to bring back the magic of the old with the social issues of today. And, with dozens of familiar faces along the way, the film holds a true sentimentality that makes it easy to love.

*****

9. 50/50
Rated: R
Directed by: Jonathan Levine
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard, Anjelica Huston
All-Time Ranking: 88
***
As Joseph Gordon-Levitt slowly makes his way further into the limelight, I am pleased to see that the general public is learning something I've known for years: he's an absolutely brilliant actor. With a desirable acting range, Gordon-Levitt is starting to become a big-time Hollywood force, and 50/50 marks the next step on his path. He takes the dramatic comedy genre and runs with it, offering a slew of laughs with his comedy but also breaking our hearts with deep, emotional scenes that cut us to the core. While the rest of the cast fills out wonderfully, this is really Gordon-Levitt's film, and boy does he do a fantastic job.

*****

8. Carnage
Rated: R
Directed by: Roman Polanski
Starring: Jodie Foster, John C. Reilly, Christoph Waltz, Kate Winslet
All-Time Ranking: 87
***
I saw Carnage on a bit of a whim, having only heard little bits about it in the months leading up to its release. With a main cast of only four individuals, the film manages to create a legitimate amount of tension as it takes us through a roller coaster of emotions, all while remaining bitingly hilarious. Foster and Winslet are at the top of their games, and Waltz does well in his performance, too. Reilly is a little bit of an odd choice here, but he manages to at least keep up with the rest of the Academy Award-winning cast, so I suppose that says a lot. Polanski does a fine job directing, and although this film won't be for everyone, I personally thought it was the funnier movies I'd seen in recent years.

*****

7. The Tree of Life
Rated: PG-13
Directed by: Terrence Malick
Starring: Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain, Hunter McCracken, Sean Penn
Academy Awards: 3 nominations
***
It took me two viewings, but I finally found a way to garner a bit of respect for - and understanding of - this film. My first time through, all I could do was sit and scratch my head, wondering exactly what was going on. It took that second viewing to let the film sink into my head, and what I found was a beautiful piece about growing up with two drastically different forces driving you in different directions. We're getting parallel stories of the creation of life on Earth and the formation of a teenage boy being raised in the 1950s, and once it all comes together, there's something majestic and mysterious about this film that only heightens its beauty. This film probably stands the most chance to become a classic.

*****

6. Super 8
Rated: PG-13
Directed by: J.J. Abrams
Starring: Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning, Kyle Chandler, Noah Emmerich, Ron Eldard, Riley Griffiths
All-Time Ranking: 86
***
When I walked out of the movie theater after watching Super 8, all I could think was, "This is what movies are all about." Abrams thrust his audience back into a 1980s-type sci-fi adventure that hearkens quite a bit to E.T. more than anything else. However, he found a way to make Super 8 its own film, and although there are some holes and flaws here and there, it still manages to be something truly fantastic. Cemented by a strong cast, including an exceptional Elle Fanning, this movie manages to soar.

*****

5. Drive
Rated: R
Directed by: Nicolas Winding Refn
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Albert Brooks, Bryan Cranston, Ron Perlman, Oscar Isaac
Academy Awards: 1 nomination
All-Time Ranking: 83
***
It takes a little while for this movie to get to you, but once it finally grabs hold, it's not going to let go. It's effectively an action film, but it's an arthouse film as well, and the blend of the two is going to turn a lot of people away. It has action, but it's not action in the manner of these big budget, over-the-top adventures where everything blows up and shoot-outs last for ages. Instead, Drive is real-world and gritty and offers a believable story that's executed perfectly. Gosling is a revelation in the lead, and how he hasn't received more accolades for the performance is a travesty. The rest of the cast fills out nicely, with special mention of Brooks and Cranston who both steal every scene in which they appear.

*****

4. The Adventures of Tintin
Rated: PG
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Toby Jones
Academy Awards: 1 nomination
***
Since I saw and reviewed Tintin, I've been swaying back and forth as to whether it's really this good, but for the time being, it's going to stay in its number four slot. Spielberg takes his audience back into 1930s serial mode, so it's no wonder that this film feels like an animated incarnation of an Indiana Jones flick. We're getting a decent mystery from the screenplay, and the animation is so stellar that it's going to suck in you in from the start. At the very least, The Adventures of Tintin is a beautifully-crafted film that's going to wow you visually regardless of how you feel about the rest of the film.

*****

3. Rango
Rated: PG
Directed by: Gore Verbinski
Starring: Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin, Ned Beatty, Alfred Molina, Bill Nighy, Stephen Root, Harry Dean Stanton, Timothy Olyphant, Ray Winstone
Academy Awards: 1 nomination
All-Time Ranking: 66
***
I had been excited to see the first reunion of Gore Verbinski and Johnny Depp since 2007's Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, even if it going to be an animated film. The trailers made Rango look trippier than it actually was, but the final result of a film is something truly outstanding. I remember seeing a billboard for the film with the review, "Some kind of miracle," and I couldn't agree more. It brings a bit of twenty-first century ideology to the classic westerns of years past, mashing them together in a brilliant display of animation.

*****

2. The Artist
Rated: PG-13
Directed by: Michel Hazanavicius
Starring: Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, John Goodman, James Cromwell, Penelope Ann Miller, Missi Pyle
Academy Awards: 10 nominations
***
The Artist has been the awards darling over the past month, and it looks like it should fare well at this year's Academy Awards. Director Hazanavicius does well with the silent film, bringing the best out of his cast while maintaining the tone and feel of a silent film. Dujardin is simply fantastic as our lead, showing why silent film actors had such a difficult job of "acting" when they were not allowed to be heard. The Artist is a timely film, but can we already call it "timeless?" I think the jury's still a bit out on that one, but one thing's for sure: it's definitely a very strong film that's worthy of your attention.

*****

1. Hugo
Rated: PG
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Asa Butterfield, Chloë Grace Moretz, Ben Kingsley, Helen McCrory, Sacha Baron Cohen, Emily Blunt
Academy Awards: 11 nominations
All-Time Ranking: 27
***
If any film completely blew me out of the water in 2011, it was Hugo. The trailers purport a story of a boy who is trying to find his place in the world, all the while struggling to find someone who will love him and care for him. What the trailers don't tell you is that they only really give you the first half of the film. Right around the midway point, the storyline shifts from the boy and starts to focus on an old man named Georges Méliès, one of the grandfathers of cinema. We're then whisked through the man's life, showing a number of his former creations as he himself starts to re-live those past memories. One of the people following this page called Hugo "a love letter to cinema," and I couldn't agree more. This is a film that any cinephile absolutely needs to see. Simply beautiful.

Happy Birthday, Ben Kingsley!

Today, we're celebrating the 68th birthday of Academy Award-winning actor Ben Kingsley. He got his acting start in the mid-1960s, appearing in television shows and movies, but he didn't his theatrical feature-film debut until 1973's Fear Is the Key. It wasn't until 1982 that he made his second theatrical appearance, but his turn as the titular character in Gandhi nabbed him his single Oscar statuette and set his career into overdrive. He worked steadily throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, where he made early appearances in critically-acclaimed films like 1991's Bugsy (for which he scored his second Oscar nomination) and 1993's Schindler's List. Kingsley would add two more Oscar nominations: for his supporting role in 2001's Sexy Beast and his leading role in 2003's House of Sand and Fog. Most recently, audiences have seen Kingsley play cinematic legend Georges Méliès in 2011's Hugo, and they'll next be able to see him in a slew of 2012 films, including The Dictator, A Doll's House and A Common Man. And so, as a tribute to his acting legend, I've listed my five favorite Kingsley performances and have supplied videos where I could. Once again, happy birthday, Ben Kingsley!

5. Man in the Yellow Suit
Tuck Everlasting (2002)

*****

4. Georges Méliès
Hugo (2011)

*****

3. Itzhak Stern
Schindler's List (1993)


*****

2. Behrani
House of Sand and Fog (2003)


*****

1. Mahatma Gandhi
Gandhi (1982)

Movie Review: HUGO

HUGO

2011
PG


"I'd imagine the whole world was one big machine. Machines never come with extra parts, you know. They always come with the exact amount they need. So I figured, if the entire world was one big machine, I couldn't be an extra part. I had to be here for some reason."
-- Hugo Cabret

Hugo is a 2011 family film directed by Martin Scorsese that's based off the novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. The story follows a young boy named Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) who started living in a train station after being orphaned by his father's (Jude Law) death. His father left him a strange automaton that will supposedly write when it is working properly, and Hugo believes his father programmed the robotic creation to write him a message should he ever be able to fix it. He steals bits and pieces to fix the automaton from a toymaker (Ben Kingsley) in the station until the man catches him and takes away the notebook with the robot's schematics. In an attempt to retrieve the notebook, Hugo follows the man home and enlists the help of his goddaughter Isabelle (Chloë Grace Moretz), who is fascinated by Hugo's livelihood. In their attempt to find the notebook, the two start to realize that there is a deeper story behind the automaton that involves Isabelle's godfather, and they embark on an adventure to find the secrets that lay behind this automaton's mechanical creation.

When I first heard about Hugo, I was a tad bit perplexed as to how it was going to be created. Considering Martin Scorsese has made a career on creating some of the most famous gangster films that contain a slew of adult-only themes, I was fascinated to see how he might handle some more family-friendly fare. The film opened to fantastic reviews - it currently holds a 93% approval rating on Rottentomatoes.com - and has started to receive some high-profile nominations from upcoming awards ceremonies, so it was only a matter of time until I was able to give the film a viewing.

My first reaction to the film has to be one of utter amazement. While I had my doubts going into the film, every one of them was silenced about halfway through. At its base, Hugo is a movie about movies. The first half of the story shows our main characters trying to figure out the meaning behind this automaton, but when it finally yields some sort of message, the film takes a different direction entirely. It leads towards Kingsley's character, who turns out to be none other than Georges Méliès. For those of you cinephiles like myself, that name should easily ring a bell. One of the grandfathers of filmmaking, Méliès was the man who brought us hundreds of short films, most famously Le voyage dans la lune (A Trip to the Moon), in the early 20th century. Here's that aforementioned short film, which I'm sure many of you will recognize:

The swing in the story sparked a number of reactions from me, but most fascinating was the emotional reaction I had to the realization that Kingsley was portraying Méliès. Had I taken the time to look at the cast credits on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), I would have known this beforehand; because I had not, however, it came as quite the pleasant surprise. The inclusion of this material put an entirely different frame around the film. It went from being just a story about a boy trying to find his place in the world to a story of a boy trying to find his place in the world by bringing an old man a little bit of magic from his past. The context of the film shifts to the life of Méliès, which is followed rather religiously, portraying mostly fact rather than delving into Hollywood exaggeration. The look at early cinematic history was so strong and so beautifully-crafted that I couldn't help but tear up from time to time during the film. It's quite the emotional experience for a film fan like myself.

Let's not forget about the acting though, shall we? Our two young leads - Butterfield and Moretz - are simply fantastic as our central protagonists, and they play off one another well. I've been saying for a while that Moretz is going to be the next big thing on the Hollywood scene, and she's taking another huge step in that direction with her role here. Butterfield, of whom I had not heard prior to seeing this film, also managed to "wow" me with his portrayal of the titular character. Kingsley is at his finest, and although it's not the best role of his career, I'd argue it's easily in the top five. His character experiences the full spectrum of emotion, and Kingsley remains believable throughout it all. We're also getting some great supporting performances from the likes of Christopher Lee, Emily Mortimer and Helen McCrory, and be on the lookout for Ray Winstone in a cameo appearance. Law does well with his limited screentime, and we even get a fine, albeit a little too small, performance from Michael Stuhlbarg (of A Serious Man fame). My only real issue with the casting was that of Sacha Baron Cohen who seemed a little too over-the-top in his role. It works within the constructs of the film, but at times, he's just a little too much.

I'd also like to reference Howard Shore's fanciful score that truly sets the mood for the film. The film takes place in Paris, and Shore is able to create a score that both stands on its own but also brings a very Parisian feel. Despite the fact that we're located in Paris, we're only reminded of it on a few small occasions. The rest of the film takes place indoors - mostly inside the train station - so it's often difficult to remember exactly where we are. However, with Shore's score leading the way, it's impossible to forget our location and the importance it plays in the overall story of the film. Here's just a snippet of the soundtrack, for your listening pleasure:

Ultimately, Hugo is one of the best films I've seen this year, and it should stand as one of the greatest films I've had the privilege to see in my lifetime. Martin Scorsese has had a long and storied career, and he has given the world a slew of fantastic films to think about and talk about and enjoy over the years, but he just may have created his best film to date with this one. I know that's a rather tall order considering his personal filmography, but I'm going to go out on a limb and take the stance regardless of what anyone else happens to think. At its heart, Hugo is a brilliant film that's going to pander to cinephiles more than a casual fan, but there's still quite a bit to love for a viewer of any age.

I'd like to leave you with the critical consensus from Rottentomatoes.com, because I'm not sure I could possibly put it more eloquently:

Hugo is an extravagant, elegant fantasy with an innocence lacking in many modern kids' movies, and one that emanates an unabashed love for the magic of cinema.

If you love film and the magic it has created in the over one hundred years since its inception, then do yourself a favor and see Hugo as quickly as you possibly can.

Movie Review Summary
Grade: A
2 Thumbs Up