Nosferatu Pix 2011

I’ve been distracted from completing a year-end movie analysis since 2011. There have been too many non-movie-related challenges.  In addition, 2011 seemed like an awful year for movies. Part of the problem was that 2011 featured too many major successful films that didn’t look the slightest bit interesting to me (“Hugo”, “The Artist”, etc.). I’ve started to second guess myself because every year (not just 2011) I am frustrated by the overall poor quality of films, then years later I discover my tendency to undervalue or completely miss top drawer films.

However, I just looked over the films of 2010 and found that they were every bit as crappy as I remembered. I do feel like 2011 really was an awful year for movies. At least 2010 had  “The King’s Speech”, “True Grit” and “Winter’s Bone”. Yet 2011 had “Tinker Tailor Soildier Spy” which was as good as, if not better than, any of those.

I can’t manage distinguishing between Ordinary Time and Oscar Obeisance Time for 2011 since almost nothing enjoyable came out. You might remember that Ordinary Time is between January and September, the time when run-of-the-mill movies come out, those without much hope of winning any Academy Awards. Oscar Obeisance Time is between October and December. Movies are released during Oscar Obeisance period as it is hoped that they may have the potential to earn more money by winning Academy Awards.

Typically I like to note five favorite Ordinary Time films and five favorite Oscar Obeisance Time films. 

There’s so little to report, let’s cut to the chase. The major purpose of this is to recommend movies that would be entertaining and worthwhile for video night. Now that I'm looking at this, six really good movies is a pretty good number. I don't know what's normal anymore.

FAVORITE FILMS:  

“Bridesmaids”

“Drive”

“The Help”

“The Rum Diary”

“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”

“Young Adult”

BETTER THAN A GRANOLA BAR, NOT AS GOOD AS PIZZA:

“Everything Must Go”

“Ironclad”

“Midnight in Paris”

“Win, Win” 

FAVORITE PERFORMANCES:

Jessica Chastain (“The Help”)

Melissa McCarthy (“Bridesmaids”)

Octavia Spencer (“The Help”)

Charlize Theron “Young Adult”

Kristen Wiig (“Bridesmaids”)

Johnny Depp “The Rum Diary”

Michael Fassbender (“X-Men: First Class”)

John Hurt “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”

Gary Oldman “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”

Patton Oswalt “Young Adult”

Justin Timberlake (“Bad Teacher”)

FAVORITE MOMENTS (Ordinary Time):

On the Airplane (“Bridesmaids”)

Food Poisoning (“Bridesmaids”) 

The Bifröst portal (“Thor”)

The Destoyer’s death ray (“Thor”)

Gary Oldman and John Hurt’s last scene together (“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”)

Charlize Theron and Patton Oswalt’s last scene together (“Young Adult”)

WORST DISAPPOINTMENTS:

“Barney’s Version”

“The Beaver”

“Crazy, Stupid, Love.”

“The Descendants”

“The Iron Lady”

ACTIVE DIRECTORS (neutral fun facts):

Kenneth Branagh “Thor” (Also directed “Henry V”)

David Cronenberg “A Dangerous Method” (also directed “The Fly”, “Dead Ringers”)

David Fincher “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” (also directed “Alien 3”, “Seven” and “Fight Club”)

Alexander Payne “The Descendants” (also directed “Sideways”)

Nicolas Winding Refn “Drive” (also directed “Valhalla Rising” 2009 Viking movie)

Bruce Robinson “The Rum Diaries” (also directed “Withnail & I”)

Films that probably deserve for me to watch them but I haven’t gotten around to it:

“The Artist”

“Cave of Forgotten Dreams”

“Moneyball”

“Margin Call”

“The Tree of Life”