I tried to make up for it in the final week of the year by seeing two new releases that I was particularly excited about and one that was very intriguing. That still leaves my total movies viewed in 2011 at 5, and I am quite confident that my list does not included only the best movies of the year, so I probably missed some really good ones.
While not a large enough sample to develop a best of list, my limited viewings do allow me to tell you about each movie I saw, so that is what I will do.
1. Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows - Part 2: I started reading the Harry Potter books somewhere between the releases of the 4th and 5th books and I've been a huge fan every since. Luckily, this franchise is also one of the few where the movies are as good as the books, and they follow very tightly to the plot and character details. So of course I had to see the final movie. The Deathly Hallows - Part 1, began building the story of the final magical armageddon, laying out the framework for what would eventual be the battle of all battles between good and evil. It was good, but a bit slow and thematic in places. Part 2 leaps form the starting gate like a spooked race horse and never looks back. Magic spells fly through the air, vast evil is unleashed, and beloved characters bite the dust left and right. It was everything it was suppose to be and nothing it shouldn't have been. Perfect ending to this very long adolescent tale.
2. Horrible Bosses: A comedy starring Jason Bateman, Jennifer Aniston, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis, Kevin Spacey, and Colin Farrell should have been a sure fire recipe for success. Somehow it missed. Don't get me wrong, this was a funny movie - just not as funny as it should have been which ended up making it slightly disappointing. Almost as if the producers/director knew this was the case they gave us a miraculous scene wherein Aniston harasses her assistant, Day. The scene alone is worth the price of admission.
3. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy: This year I read my first John le Carre spy novel (Our Kind of Traitor), so it was only fitting that I see this movie based on his first, and most praised book. Again the producers pile on the acting talent, but this time to amazing effect: Gary Oldman, John Hurt, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, and a wealth of wonderful European actors. This is not a typical American style spy story in the mold of the Mission Impossible or Bourne movies; it is a decidedly intellectual thriller based on fictionalized accounts of 1980's cold-war era espionage. The pace may seem pedantic to many, but the story is gripping and unfolds at it's own natural pace.
4. Sherlock Holmes - A Game of Shadows: Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law are back as the irascible and most famous of detectives. Set in the years prior to World War I, and following a plot about the collapse of international peace due to the actions of a crazed madman, this sequel picks up at full speed where the first movie left off. Everything about these movies is fun and they seem to only be getting better. I was glad to see the director retained the fascinating storytelling device of visual foreshadowing as Holmes thinks through his next moves to combat increasingly sticky situations. Fun, fun, fun.
5. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: David Fincher has got to be the best director working in movies today, no question. Following up last year's Oscar nominated The Social Network, Fincher again helmed one of the most anticipated movies of the year. Based on Stieg Larsson's book of the same name, this thriller is an unrelenting mind-bender. The acting is exceptional and will almost surely be recognized during awards season. Fincher and company hold so tightly to the book that scenes effectively leap from page to screen, sometimes in brutal and horrendous visuals that remind us why books are sometimes better vehicles to convey the most evil of stories. It is not always an easy movie to watch but it is without doubt the best movie I saw last year. If you've read the books, you have to see the move.
0 comments:
Post a Comment