Well its that magical time of the year, a time when we get together with friends, and family and create those moments that we hope will last a life time. Oh I'm not talking about Christmas I know not all of us like celebrating pagan holidays and I don't want to leave anyone out (courtesy of David Hollingsworth, who you can check out at
Punchline-Everytime.blogspot.com) I of course mean the end of the year movie list. I am sure all of you have gotten together with friends and family and complained or complimented the major award shows and who they do and don't mention every year. Me and my friends who probably watch way too many movies for are own good love to bitch and whine about what is and isn't getting recognition. Well I think I may be talking too much so lets get to the good stuff.
There are 8 movies I feel that deserve mention on this list and while I believe that there is a huge gap between 4 of the movies I want to give these other movies a proper mention.
You know if I am to be perfectly honest with you I can't really stand the X-Men movies, They are seemingly played more for the comic book fan then a movie goer and it really hurts the overall feel of the movie (see Green Lantern). However First Class much like Batman Begins before it finally gets the Characters right and no need to needlessly shoehorn Wolverine into the plot. Really sold by the performances of James McAvoy as Charles Xavier and Michael Fassbender as Erik Lennsher otherwise know as Magneto and hell even a good showing by Kevin Bacon. This is a good Sunday after dinner movie with enough action set up against the backdrop of the Cuban Missile Crisis giving both the film and comic nerd in me something to enjoy. 8/10
Much like the last movie I never got into the original Planet of the Apes series. No real reason why they just never did it for me, anyway this film took that idea and turned it into possibly the best summer movie of 2011. Much like how First Class is going to get you to somehow root for Magneto at the end, I found myself really rooting for Ceasar and his quest to be treated not like a pet but like the intelligent being that James Franco has turned him into. The action also isn't over the top its about as what you'd expect considering the situation and it features some wonderful shots of San Francisco. 8/10
The Muppet's humor will always be hit and miss with me, sometimes I will see Muppet Treasure Island and laugh for hours after the movies over and sometimes I will catch myself wishing I had chosen to watch a Jeff Dunham stand up special instead. That being said this movie will for me represent one of the few comedy movies that got it right this year. The jokes hit at the right time and honestly even the idea that the Muppet's are now down on there luck and forgotten really brings humor to the idea of a star looking for one last shot at the limelight. Jason Segal really brought his humor not only in his performance but in his writing. 8/10
5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2
Well every year there is one movie that everyone says thats the movie we want to see. This was that movie, as someone who has been a Potter fan for as long as I can remember this movie really needed to be something special. Thankfully for everyone it was a movie that really was enjoyable enough for me to watch it more then once. That being said my initial love for it may have died abit and for the most part it is really is for pure entertainment. However unlike some Michael Bay movies we could mention they didn't sacrifice story for the sake of entertainment. 9/10
4. Moneyball
First confession; I am a really big baseball fan, so much so I attend games on a regular bases. I guess you might say that means I can take some pain because of how painfully slow baseball is. I get so much joy out of the game though. Second confession; Until recently I have never been a huge Brad Pitt fan, I can't say he is a bad actor cause I'd be lying really I just can't think of too many of his movies that I really care for. Moneyball is the story of the Oakland Athletics team that through a radical system can finally compete with the big money teams. Based on a true story it is something that we can all relate to, we all see inequality in the system we live in, and its good to remind us that you don't always need the most of something (in this case money) to compete. 9/10
3. 50/50
It takes a great mind and a really funny man to take a movie about cancer and make it uplifting and dare I say funny. Thats just what happens though in this tale of a man stricken with cancer and how he comes to terms with it. I can tell you going in that I had my doubts and that this movie had the potential to fall flat on its face. People tell me that cancer is just one of those topics that you can't make funny. This movie shows us that we aren't talking about your everyday Adam Sandler slapstick movie where cancer will be magically wished away at the end. Their is a sense that maybe the cancer is too much for him and at the end when you see him finally break down you felt it too. I know for a fact I was starting to get emotional towards the end. Joseph Gordan-Levitt and Seth Rogan are a comedy dream team that you wouldn't have thought was a legitamite dream team. 10/10
2. Warrior
Another year another great combat sport movie that really keeps raising the bar. The Wrestler in 2008, The Fighter last year and now Warrior. Warrior is the story of two brothers in a MMA competition each for there own motivation. Tom Hardy's character an Iraq war veteran to give the money to a platoon mates widow. For Joel Edgerton's character he needs the money to save his house and really to save his family from living on the streets. Really though what made this movie for me was Nick Nolte as the two main characters father. As a person who has some father issues himself I can tell you that I really was hit hard by a lot of his scenes especially ones where you see that he is trying to repent for hs past mistakes. I will not spoil the ending but this movie keeps you invested till the credits roll. 10/10
1. Drive
The best movies every year is a movie for the most part I can pin point on the calander and tell you that it was going to be awesome. This year however I found a movie so amazing, so fantastic, so perfect that I am racking my brain trying to find a problem with it. If you hate subtlty then this movie wasn't going to be for you. Ryan Gosling who has arrived as a major player in hollywood showed us this year that he can play in the romanitc comedy, he can do a political thriller and now he can do a stoic bad ass and really thats what The Driver is. Albert Brooks as a villain was amazing not overly done and the romance was again subtle a word that I use a lot when describing this film. I feel that I can't really do this movie justice so I will let the other David (
http://philm-with-dzafra.blogspot.com/2011/12/this-years-fives.html) tell you about some of these movies and other great 2011 movies.
Next time we will talk about some of the bad movies of this closing year.
