LRA: Top Films of 2011

It’s that time of year again…where we take stock of all the films we saw for the year and weigh in on which ones were a waste of time and which ones were time well spent. And not like this needs repeating but I will do it anyway, this is a list comprised of films “I” felt were the best of what this past year had to offer us.

This was a big year for the independent film market and smaller studios in general. Looking back I think it is kind of remarkable that most of the films I saw this year that surprised me with their quality had no real major studio backing them. It wasn’t that the major studios put out bad films per say, a good number of my top films are from those studios, its that they didn’t give us anything we weren’t already expecting (Rise of the Planet of the Apes is the lone exception here). Almost every single movie I saw from an independent studio surprised me. Surprised me by their quality, uniqueness, originality and most of all their ability to constantly surpass my expectations for them. By far the one studio that stood tall amongst all the rest was Magnet, they delivered some of the best film experiences I had all year and proved that when done right digital distribution is a viable alternative to a mass theatrical release. Overall I thought this year ended up being much better than I imagined it would but once again I believe that is mostly in thanks to the smaller film studios and their willingness to produce, distribute or otherwise market most of what this year had to offer. Without further ado, here are my picks for the best films of 2011, as well as some honorable mentions, my biggest disappoints and my pick for worst film of the year…

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What I loved most about Hanna was how it wasn’t what I expected at all. Going in I was prepared for a hard hitting action/revenge fantasy and what I got was so much more than that. That’s not to say there isn’t any action in this unconventional tale of revenge because there is and plenty of it. Those well executed and impressive action sequences are punctuations for a movie that takes a well tread genre and infuses a healthy dose of characterization into it that is usually lacking in such films. We grow to care for Hanna not because of how bad ass she is (although that is certainly a factor) but because we get to see her grow. The bond we form with Hanna is in no small part to Saoirse Ronan who plays the part with just the right amount of naivety and self awareness to make you believe this girl who can snap a person’s neck at moments notice has no idea how to react when a boy moves in for a kiss.

After the revenge plot is in full swing we are given a lot of time to get to know Hanna who as it so happens also gets to know herself in the process. Her skills as an assassin are quickly contradicted by how she is unable to act like the normal teenage girl that she is. Her father taught her everything while they lived and hid in the forest, how to speak other languages, how to blend in, how to kill and how to survive in general but he never actually taught her how to live. Watching Hanna learn how to live whilst also fighting to survive was one of the most memorable cinematic journeys I had this year and something that I won’t soon forget.

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The best Indiana Jones movie since The Last Crusade and probably one of the best Spielberg films in almost a decade. Spielberg has made good movies over the past ten years but he hasn’t really made a movie that FELT like a true Spielberg experience in a very long time. The funny thing is that I thought I was going to get that with War Horse and instead I got it with Tintin. You would think adventure films would be a simple enough subject to get right but as time and many sub par imitators have proven it is not quite as easy as it looks. Its one of those things where you can’t exactly describe it or even determine what it is until you see it done right. Films such as the Mummy series and even the latest Indiana Jones movie were fun but they were just missing that very elusive something, that special thing that gets you excited by what you are seeing on the screen.

It is a combination of many factors but the ones that stand out the most to me are believable and likable characters, a sense of fun that pervades as those characters explore uncharted destinations that almost always lead to exciting chases and showdowns and Tintin provided that for me. Between the cutting edge 3D animation and an extremely entertaining adventure, The Adventures of Tintin exceeded just about all my expectations for it. If Spielberg and Lucas can’t deliver a proper Indiana Jones movie any more then I am glad we at least have Tintin and with a confirmed two more films in the series coming down the pipeline it looks as though this is only the beginning for the intrepid reporter and I couldn’t be happier.

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I have thoroughly enjoyed just about all the films in the series (minus the very lackluster second entry) but even with mostly positive feelings going in I was kind of floored by Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol, director Brad Bird’s first live action film. After a months worth of reflection I don’t think it was so much the amazing action sequences littered throughout the film (although they helped immensely) but more so that we finally got a Mission Impossible that featured a real team dynamic and that those team members were actually pretty darn cool and each contributed something unique to the group. Plus you can’t discount the Brad Bird touch, from all the little mishaps that occur for the team and the recurring little gags and bits of humor layered amongst all the action set pieces, his official stamp of awesomeness is all over the screen at any given moment.

This so happened to also be what I would consider to have the best use of the IMAX film experience to date. You don’t need fancy 3D and a bunch of visual effects to take full advantage of what the format offers. All you need is a filmmaker who knows what they are going for and the right material for the job. The Dubai action sequence that takes place at the mid point of the film would have been amazing even on a normal screen but seeing it on that ten story tall IMAX screen made it simply breathtaking to behold. No other film on this list or even on my past lists has had me so invigorated and tensed up as I was while watching Tom Cruise scale the largest building in the world (for real!) and eventually embark on a car chase during a crazy ass sand storm. Those thirty minutes are pure cinematic gold and worth the price of admission alone. The best part though is that the rest of the movie that goes with it is pretty darn entertaining as well.

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Director Duncan Jones is quickly proving to be one of the best Science-Fiction storytellers out there today. His previous film Moon was smart, thought provoking and insightful and also had one of Sam Rockwell’s best performances to date. With Source Code though he has traded the bleak and somber atmosphere of Moon for a much more mainstream feeling thriller scenario and somehow found a way of retaining all the humanity from his previous film. I was worried that the gimmick of reliving the same pocket of time over and over again would become stale very quickly but between Jake Gyllenhaal’s superb performance and some very good editing choices it never felt like I was seeing the same thing multiple times which isn’t as easy as one might think.

The clever and well executed premise aside, what really sold me on the whole affair was Duncan Jones dedication to telling what becomes a very personal story of a lone soldier discovering what happened to him and how he can possibly rectify the situation he finds himself in. The bomb threat storyline, while pertinent to holding everything together, is a distant and mostly unimportant aspect when compared to all the human elements at play. Captain Colter Stevens is the heart and soul of the film but even the secondary characters that occupy the train he must revisit every eight minutes get their moments to shine during the course of events as well as those running the actual source code operation. For a film dealing with all manner of complexities in its fiction it never once faltered as a true human drama which is a rare thing these days. Plus it was really nice to see Jake Gyllenhaal in an honest to goodness great film again.

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Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a film that for all intents and purposes should not have worked at all. Not only was it trying to erase the memory of the Tim Burton catastrophe but it was also begging for direct comparison to the 1968 Charlton Heston classic by acting as a prequel to that pivotal film. What ultimately saved it from being just another failed attempt at reviving the franchise was its main character, Caesar. All the human characters were fine but it was Caesar who stole the show. How we see him progress from a helpless young ape into the eventual leader of the ape rebellion was handled beautifully. By the end of the film I found myself rooting for the apes and hoping that all the humans (save for James Franco’s character) would just turn over and die (which if you stayed during the credits looked like might actually happen).

With the film relying so heavily upon Caesar’s shoulders though it comes as little surprise that the man behind the ape was none other than the master of mo-cap himself, Andy Serkis. His contributions to film over the past decade are immeasurable to me at this point and his performance as Caesar is nothing more than a stark reminder that he is one of the most talented actors working today. His talents go far beyond simple acting though, the man is a true artist with how he is able to convey so much by saying so little. I thoroughly enjoyed experiencing Caesar’s journey and I have Andy Serkis to thank for giving me a character so real that after a while I stopped thinking of him as a computer generated creature, instead I saw him as a real flesh and blood person that I really cared for by the time the film was over and that is a rare achievement in this day and age of middle of the road effects and characterizations.

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The Muppets is the feel good movie of the year. As cliche as that saying has become over the years it still doesn’t change the fact that The Muppets is the one singular film going experience I had this year that had me grinning stupidly for days after seeing it. There is just so much joy and happiness permeating every single moment that it becomes impossible to not get bit by the fun bug while watching it. Then you have the infectious musical numbers full of wit and in jokes and the extremely self aware nature of the film overall that just begs to be re-watched and enjoyed over and over again. There were no loose ends in the casting either, Jason Segel proved to be quite the talented showman by performing triple duty as actor, singer and writer while Amy Adams once again stole my heart and had me under her spell the second she appeared on screen.

Then you have the muppets themselves of whom I neglected really talking much about in my initial review of the film. I had heard that some people were turned off by the new voice of Kermit (he sounded fine to me) and that many people avoided the film due to what they believe (or had been told to believe) is a movie only for kids which is a damn shame. The muppets have been and always shall be entertainment for the entire family. I loved seeing Kermit and the gang back on the big screen, I love that the muppets are relevant again and I love this movie. The Muppets is the perfect family film and it is a crime that so few people saw it. Do yourself (and the muppets) a favor and see it as soon as possible, I guarantee it will brighten your day.