Best of 2011 - MVP's, Directors, Scenes

MVP's of 2011
10. Cosmo! - Okay, I just needed to include him somewhere because this Jack Russell from Beginners is just about the cutest dog of all time. He even talks via subtitles!
9. Judi Dench - Her performance in J. Edgar almost made everyone forget how awful the movie was. She also stole scenes as a sweet aging actress in My Week with Marilyn and a helpful maid in Jane Eyre.
8. Bryce Dallas Howard as a villain - Okay, villain is a strong word, but Bryce brought the super bitch as a super polite racist in The Help and a cheating girlfriend in 50/50.
7. The Dark Knight Rises trailer - If you haven't watched it yet, then stop reading this and go watch it now. No, seriously.
6. The Cast of Bridesmaids - Not only did these ladies make the most hilarious movie of the year, they also kept us laughing everywhere. Melissa McCarthy not only stole the movie, but also stole the Emmy's when she won Best Actress in a Comedy. She was part of the best moment of the Emmy's, when all the nominated actresses lined the stage as if they were competing in a beauty contest. Kristen Wiig kept us laughing all year on SNL. Rose Byrne turned up everywhere - including the excellent X-Men: First Class and the awful Insidious.
5. Child Actors - This year was a fantastic year for kid actors. Hunter McCracken held his own opposite Chastain and Brad Pitt in The Tree of Life. Chloe Grace Moretz and Asa Butterfield were phenomenal in Hugo. Then there was the entire, great, amazing cast of Super 8: Elle Fanning, Joel Courtney, Riley Griffiths, Ryan Lee and Zach Mills. Not to mention scene stealer Amara Miller from The Descendants.
4. Emma Stone - I love my Emma! She was adorable opposite Gosling in Crazy, Stupid, Love. She almost stole the show in Friends with Benefits. And she proved she was a bonafide box office sensation with The Help.
3. Ryan Gosling - He had the most ridiculously great second half of a year. First he showed off his crazy, stupid, sexy abs in Crazy, Stupid, Love. Then he broke up a street brawl in NYC. Then he turned violent and sexy in Drive before charming the pants off everyone in The Ides of March.
2. Jessica Chastain - Last year, I had no idea who the hell she was. This year alone she starred in The Debt, Take Shelter, Coriolanus, The Tree of Life, The Help, and Texas Killing Fields. Plus, she's all over my Top Ten Lists (coming next week!).
1. Michael Fassbender - Entertainment Weekly described him best: "Smoldering in Jane Eyre, X-Men: First Class, Shame, A Dangerous Method and our very elaborate fantasies." Really couldn't say it any better myself!


Best Scenes of 2011
10. Scream 4 - The Opening Sequence - I'm not trying to say Scream 4 is one of the best movies of the year or anything but the opening sequence (featuring Anna Paquin, Kristen Bell, Lucy Hale and more) is the most creative opening sequence in a series that does a hell of a good opener!
9. My Week With Marilyn - The Bedroom Scene - In which Michelle Williams manages to be sexy, vulnerable, insecure, seductive, funny, charming, and paranoid all at the exact same time. This scene alone should win her an Oscar.
8. Take Shelter - Michael Shannon Flips Out - Shannon's character is either going crazy or predicting the end of the world. All of the people in his small town think it's the former. So, when they stare at him accusingly and try to ostracize him at a fire hall dinner, he flips the hell out... and flips a table!
7. Bellflower - The Opening Sequence - Sure, you won't understand it at the time. It's a lot of very powerful images in reverse set to some haunting music. Eventually, you'll come back to all of those scenes and everything will make sense. But, the beginning of this super low budget, fantastic film sets an immediate tone that will stay with you for the entire film.
6. Drive - Elevator Scene - Ryan Gosling's strong and silent type finally kisses Carey Mulligan's sweet intentioned young mom in an elevator. However, there's a creepy gentleman in there with them and immediately after the sweet kiss, the movie turns suddenly and very seriously violent.
5. The Tree of Life - The Beginning of Time / Creation of Earth - Yes, there are dinosaurs. Yes, this minutes long segment may not seem like it fits in, except it totally does. Leave it to Terrence Malick to tie in the creation of the Earth with the very real small town life of a Texas family in the 50's. That's why he doesn't just make movies, he makes art.
4. Hugo - The Films of Georges Melies - Three quarters of the way through this great movie, we finally get to see those fantastical early movies that the toy maker made with his wife at this glass studio. And they are a love letter to old school cinema, creative and beautiful and awe-inspiring.
3. Bridesmaids - The Airplane Scene - I have seriously never laughed so hard during a movie in my ENTIRE life. Not just the funniest scene of the year, but probably of all time.
2. Take Shelter - Discussion About Opening the Storm Door - Or - Why Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain Should Win Oscars.
1. The Descendants - Alexandra Underwater - Shailene Woodley plays Alexandra King with such an ease that you almost forget she's acting. Her best moment is when she finds out her mom's coma is permanent. She's in the swimming pool and slowly sinks under the water. The camera follows her and catches her crying meltdown underwater. It's heart aching and unforgettable.


Best Directors of 2011
10. George Clooney for The Ides of March - Seriously, what can't this man do?
9. J.J. Abrams for Super 8 - He crafted the best coming of age movie of the year.
8. Alexander Payne for The Descendants - A great, funny, family tragedy.
7. Bennett Miller for Moneyball - A baseball movie with heart.
6. Mike Mills for Beginners - Could have been another cliche, but not in his hands.
5. Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris - His most creative and inspired movies in years.
4. David Fincher for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Proving, again, he's the most bad ass director in Hollywood.
3. Nicolas Winding Refn for Drive - For creating a future cult classic with style and substance.
2. Martin Scorsese for Hugo - For proving that he can make a kids movie and for making me think 3D isn't so terrible after all.
1. Terrence Malick for The Tree of Life - The movie may not be every one's cup of tea, but Malick is more than a director. He's an artist and he makes art we can watch at a movie theater.

Warrior (DVD)

Warrior is like if Shakespeare wrote a play about MMA. The film has got that level of drama and, even, to a certain extent, tragedy. What I thought would be a boring, trite, overly uplifting movie about fighting actually turned out to be a gritty, realistic, raw and emotional film about inner demons and family history and complicated brotherly relationships.
Tom Hardy stars as Tommy, a former Marine who just returned home to Pittsburgh. He finds himself a sudden internet sensation after he spares with a champion at the local gym and knocks him out cold in less than a minute. That is when he hears about the upcoming Sparta competition, a winner take all, $5 million cash prize MMA tournament that will pit the greatest middleweights against each other. Tommy used to be high school wrestling champ coached by his alcoholic and abusive father (Nick Nolte). So, despite a raging hatred for the way his father treated him and his mother (a relationship I can relate to far too well), Tommy reunites with his father merely as a trainer and not in any other way so he can get ready to win Sparta.
Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, Tommy's older brother Brendan (Joel Edgerton) has his own problems. He's a family man teacher who is struggling to keep his house. The bank is threatening to take it away from him, his wife and their two young daughters. So, Brendan tells his wife that he is getting a second job as a bouncer, but the former UFC fighter instead fights in parking lots for money. After an especially bloody fight that leaves his face mangled, he loses his teaching job and decides to get back into fighting full time. He reunites with an old trainer buddy and when the guy he was training for Sparta breaks his leg, Brendan finds himself on his way to the competition as well.
I won't ruin the ending, except to say that, obviously, the brothers (who have YEARS of baggage) face off in the final match for the big prize. The entire movie, like the last, brutal, heartbreaking fight, is a fantastic tour de force, an emotional journey to take with these two characters. It's not just an MMA fighting movie. Instead, it is a family drama that centers around that world, with years of heartache and pain slowly coming to the surface throughout the excellently written, directed and paced film.
Edgerton and Hardy are both fantastic as the brothers, with Hardy especially coming alive in his role as a misunderstood and mysterious ex-Marine. He is like a caged lion in the octagon, with so much rage and anger hidden deep under the surface. But Nolte is especially fantastic as the alcoholic father who has found Jesus and is desperately trying to make amends for all the terrible things he's done to his two sons, who know hate him and refuse to let him into their lives. He proves why he's been a star for decades. Overall, the film is so much better than expected, and one of the best of the year.
Grade: B+

Starting soon (tomorrow if I have the time, if not, Monday) - my annual Best (and worst) of the Year lists!

Young Adult

Young Adult works because, and possibly only because, of Charlize Theron. She's is devilishly hilarious as Mavis Gary, the meanest mean girl you could possibly imagine from high school. One of the other characters calls her a "psycho prom queen bitch" at one point and, boy, ain't that the truth! Mavis is the kind of girl you love to hate. In high school she was prettier than everyone and dated the hottest jocks. After graduation, it was no surprise that she quickly moved to the city and got married and became an author (not writer) of a wildly popular Young Adult franchise. Everyone in her small Minnesota hometown envied her. But... that big city she lives in is... Minneapolis. Her marriage failed (but the Tiramisu was good!). Now her book series has been canceled and she's struggling to finish the final entry. And to top it all off, her high school boyfriend sends her an email announcing the arrival of his brand new baby. This inspires Mavis to grab her puppy, get in her car and drive home for a "real estate venture." Of course, she just wants to steal Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson) away from his drummer / awesome wife (Elizabeth Reaser). So, while Mavis is doing generally despicable things, she is also forging an oddball friendship with the victim of a high school bullying gone way wrong, Matt (played perfectly with the right amounts of humor and heart by Patton Oswalt). Matt finds Mavis to be a generally bad person, but also can't help his attraction. At one point, he tells her, "Men like me were born to love women like you."
Mavis is not necessarily a terrible person, but she isn't likable either. She does a lot of really, really bad things, but ultimately, you feel sorry for her more than anything else. But Mavis is hysterically out of touch, living in her own little world. She is not a grown up, at all, still acting like a spoiled, little brat. There is one scene in which Mavis finally breaks down, but then another character talks some 'sense' into her. She is, indeed, a piece of work, as Matt says. (Her response? "You're a piece of s**t!"). And Theron nails this perfectly imperfect character. She breaths life into this awful person, the girl you were equally jealous of and wanted to be just like in high school. Her performance is one of the best of the year, possibly the best. She is remarkable in every single way, forging fearlessly through this murky, unlikeable character.
Oswalt is a joy to watch, as well. He plays Matt so well, that he might just ride Theron's coattails to an Oscar nomination himself. Wilson is great as the weathered remains of a one time jock. Reaser is gorgeous and glowing, although she surely looks plain next to Theron. The direction by Jason Reitman (who last directed the outstanding Up in the Air) is great. The script is written by Juno scribe Diablo Cody and, thankfully, it lacks the over the top feel of her debut. I loved Juno, but the script was not the thing I love about it. Here, Cody downplays the mile a minute, thinly veiled pop culture references and instead, writes a very real, funny, dark comedy.
Grade: B

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I don't know what I was expecting, to be honest. I read the book, by Steig Larson, and loved it. I saw the original Swedish version starring the incendiary Noomi Rapace, and loved it. Now, here comes the American version, directed by my very favorite director (David Fincher), starring a total badass as Lisbeth (Rooney Mara), and what? I was slightly disappointed but I can't exactly put my finger on why. The movie was absolutely great. The directing was great, the adaptation was great, the performances were great, the music was great. The movie will most likely make my Top Ten List of the year (it's currently in there, but there are still a few more movies to see). Again, I don't know what I was expecting, but somehow I was expecting more.
In case you have been living under a rock, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is about Mikael Bloomqvist (Daniel Craig), a disgraced Swedish journalist who gets hired by an aging billionaire (Christopher Plummer) to officially write his memoirs but unofficially investigate the mysterious disappearance of his favorite niece, Harriet, forty years earlier. You see, the entire deranged, crazy, awful, detestable Vanger family was together on their island for a yearly meeting. The only bridge onto the island was shut down due to an accident. Then Harriet disappeared and the only explanation was that someone on the island must have killed her and buried her body. So, Mikael must try to find something new within the forty year mystery that will help him finally catch the killer. Eventually he asks for a research assistant and they give him the bad ass, punk rock, leather wearing computer hacker who, unbeknownst to him, did his background check - Lisbeth Salander (Mara), who is arguably the greatest character in modern day literature (definitely the greatest female character, but character in general is debatable, I guess... though, not for me). The disgraced journalist and the anti-social ward of the state team up and delve into a mystery so much more complex than originally thought by anyone. And so you have one of the best murder mystery, female empowerment films of the last ten years or so.
So, then, why was I disappointed?
I still can't put my finger on it. Maybe my expectations were just way too high. Fincher is a film god and I guess I was expecting him to make some radical changes that I, as a Girl with the Dragon Tattoo purist, would still love. He did keep the ending from the book (which the Swedish version did not), which I loved. He did change a major plot point in the third act which I think made more sense anyway. Other than that, it was just another version of something that was already amazing. Fincher's film was much darker, maybe. The music was eerie and creepy and wonderful. The performances were top notch. Daniel Craig, who I was on the fence about, was a great complicated leading man. Christopher Plummer was perfect as the sweet old Henrik. Robin Wright, who seriously has never looked hotter, was great in a small role. Stellan Skarsgaard was fantastic - elegant and creepy - as Martin Vanger. But, Mara, of course, steals the show as Lisbeth. With her tattoos, piercings, bleached eye brows, and sometime Mohawk, she doesn't even have to say a word. She invokes so much with a mere look. She is perfect, almost as good as Rapace was. The movie suffers from the same things that the book and the Swedish version suffers from which is to say, that it's part of a trilogy so after the mystery wraps up, there is still a good twenty minutes to go and so it sort of feels anti-climactic in a way.
So, I guess I was expecting too much. I guess I built it up too much in my mind. I have been anticipating this movie for over a year. Still, it was great in just about every way. Maybe, with time, I will appreciate it a little bit more.
Grade: B+

My Week With Marilyn

Let's be honest, My Week with Marilyn is a good movie, not great or spectacular by any means. It keeps your attention, it's interesting in the kind of way that any story about fascinating people is interesting: it doesn't have to be any better than it is. But the bigger picture here is its star: Michelle Williams, who turns in the sort of fierce, star making performance that no wonder she has been getting nominated for every single award so far this season.
My Week with Marilyn is a story about the most famous actress of all time, Marilyn Monroe. But it is also a story about Colin Clark, a 23 year old boy from an overachieving family who dreams of becoming a filmmaker. So the movie, based on his memoir, follows the young man as he gets his very first job working on what looks to be a ghastly musical comedy eventually entitled The Prince and the Showgirl. He is the third assistant director, which is really just a gopher. However, the position puts him into the thick of the film. He is practically the assistant to the great Sir Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh), who is the star and director of the film. Colin's story chronicles the difficult relationship between Olivier and Monroe. Despite being married to Vivien Leigh (Julia Ormond), Olivier is at times jealous of her super stardom (he is a great actor who wants to be a superstar and she is a superstar who wants to be a great actor, madly in love with her, and short tempered with her difficulties.
Colin not only is privy to the inside track of the film, but also he becomes one of Marilyn's only friends during filming. The notorious actress hated to be alone and when her new husband of less than a month, Arthur Miller, leaves London, she clings to the young boy, who quickly falls in love with her, despite a budding romance with Emma Watson's Lucy, a wardrobe girl. And so, Colin gets to spend a week or so with Marilyn, and what follows is a sometime riveting, sometime frivolous look at young love, rejection, heartache, and of course, the portrait of a troubled and sad young woman.
The film itself is good at times, but lacking. It's inconsistent when it could have been something great. All the right pieces were in position, they just somehow weren't utilized properly. But the performances save the movie, for sure. Judi Dench, who seems to be everywhere this year, lighting up films that could definitely use it, is a hoot as the sweet natured actress who lends a helping hand to the scared Marilyn. Eddie Redmayne is sweet and charming as the young Colin Clark who falls in love despite everyone telling him not to and ends up getting his heart broken "a little." (Emma Watson's perfect response? "Good."). Kenneth Branagh is just fantastic as the mercurial Olivier, the greatest actor of his generation who both hated and loved Marilyn. But it's Michelle Williams, who I have long admired and is becoming a genuine favorite of mine, who is the crowning jewel here. She doesn't simply play Marilyn Monroe here. She becomes her. She so easily and simply transforms before our eyes into this sexy, charming, deeply trouble superstar, the icon who still endures all these years later. Her Monroe is all things at once: so simply turning from sexy and charming and flirtatious to scared and timid, paranoid and insecure. She's this sexy, sensual woman and also just a little girl who ultimately wants to be loved, not like the goddess she was but also like the normal girl she so desperately wanted to be. There is a fantastic scene between Marilyn and Colin in her bedroom where she tells him about her childhood and her plans to settle down and leave it all behind. She tells him that people want to love her as Marilyn Monroe but when they find out that not who she is they leave her and run away. It will break your heart, as does Williams' devastating beauty as the icon that you just can't take your eyes off of. Is an Oscar win in her near future? I think so.
Grade: B

Golden Globe Nominees

Best Picture - Drama
The Descendants
War Horse
The Ides of March
The Help
Moneyball
Hugo
Thoughts - Nice line up, I guess. My personal favorite of the year (so far, anyway) is Hugo and it's in there so yay!

Best Picture - Comedy
The Artist
50/50
Bridesmaids
My Week With Marilyn
Midnight in Paris
Thoughts - LOVED Midnight in Paris. So glad it's there. Also happy to see Bridesmaids and 50/50 which was definitely underrated.

Best Actor - Drama
George Clooney in The Descendants
Brad Pitt in Moneyball
Leonardo DiCaprio in J. Edgar
Ryan Gosling in The Ides of March
Michael Fassbender in Shame
Thoughts - This has got to be the hottest and best looking Best Actor line up ever, right???

Best Actress - Drama
Viola Davis in The Help
Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady
Tilda Swinton in We Need to Talk About Kevin
Rooney Mara in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Glenn Close in Albert Nobbs
Thoughts - Glad to see Rooney Mara get some love. So excited to see her take on Lisbeth.

Best Actor - Comedy
Jean Dujardin in The Artist
Brendan Gleeson in The Guard
Owen Wilson in Midnight in Paris
Joseph Gordon-Levitt in 50/50
Ryan Gosling in Crazy, Stupid, Love
Thoughts - YAY Joseph Gordon-Levitt!! Also, yay for Gosling being a double nominee during his best year ever. Too bad they left out his actual best performance of the year (in Drive, of course).

Best Actress - Comedy
Michelle Williams in My Week with Marilyn
Jodie Foster in Carnage
Kristen Wiig in Bridesmaids
Charlize Theron in Young Adult
Kate Winslet in Carnage
Thoughts - I love me some Michelle, Jodie, Charlize and Kate but I am TOTALLY pulling for Kristen Wiig!

Best Supporting Actor
Albert Brooks in Drive
Christopher Plummer in Beginners
Kenneth Branagh in My Week With Marilyn
Jonah Hill in Moneyball
Viggo Mortensen in A Dangerous Method
Thoughts - Glad Jonah is getting some love and although I didn't see A Dangerous Method, I am madly in love with Viggo so hopefully he will be there looking all sexy.

Best Supporting Actress
Berenice Bejo in The Artist
Octavia Spencer in The Help
Jessica Chastain in The Help
Janet McTeer in Albert Nobbs
Shailene Woodley in The Descedants
Thoughts - This category could have just been all Jessica Chastain, right? The Help, The Tree of Life, Take Shelter, etc.

Best Director
Martin Scorsese for Hugo
George Clooney for The Ides of March
Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist
Alexander Payne for The Descendants
Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris
Thoughts - My love for Marty vs. my love for Woody. What is a girl to do??

Random thoughts on TV nominees:
American Horror Story as a Best Drama nominee... really?
New Girl nominated for Best Comedy!
The best actor on television, Bryan Cranston, will hopefully win! (But no Kyle Chandler for Friday Night Lights).
Zooey's inevitable Best Actress in a Comedy win will be adorable and annoying, probably.

The Descendants & Beginners

The Descendants - I will fully admit this right now: I didn't like Sideways either. I guess "either" is a strong word. It leads you to assume that I didn't like The Descendants, which isn't entirely true. It's not that I didn't like it. It's just I sort of felt the same way about it as I do about every other Alexander Payne movie. It's good, solid story telling, acting and film making, but all terribly overrated. The Descendants follows Matt King (George Clooney - this is his best work ever, no joke), a Hawaiian lawyer who is dealing with selling his families pristine beach when his wife hits her head while boating and falls into a coma she may never come out of. To top it all off, he has two daughters: a 10 year old who sends nasty texts to her classmates and a 17 year old at a boarding school (a really, really superb Shailene Woodley) who is all kinds of messed up. Then, to make matters worse, he finds out his loyal and devoted wife was cheating on him and preparing to leave him for a real estate agent (a surprisingly well-rounded Matthew Lillard). So, Matt deals with his crazy daughters and traipsing around the islands to tell different friends and family members about his wife's condition. He meets with cousins of varying craziness to discuss proposals about selling the land. He deals with daughter Alex's annoying maybe-boyfriend (really, the only character that you want to punch in the face and guess what? Someone does!). Then he decides to track down his wife's lover, Brian Steer to confront him and maybe fight him, only to discover that he's a happy family man who never really loved Matt's wife the way she loved him. By this point in the film, if you're a little bored, don't fret, the fantastically underrated Judy Greer shows up to steal the whole goddamn movie (well, almost, Woodley is stupid good too). So, there you have The Descendants. It's great, sad story telling. The film making is amazing. There are two scenes in particular that are flawless: the spiral staircase scene and the scene where Alex begins to sob underwater which was my single favorite moment of the movie. The acting is surprisingly good all around. Clooney and Woodley will surely be nominated for Oscars for their complex, layered, flawless performances. Clooney is charming and flawed. He looks handsome and destroyed. Woodley is a revelation. I was a skeptic. I didn't think some teenybopper from some dumb ABC Family show could really be that good - but I will fully admit that I was wrong. She is so, so very good, just empathetic and full of sassy attitude, angry, depressed, sad, happy, sometimes all at the same time. Greer turns up around 3/4 through the film and all but steals it away from everyone else. But her role is so small, she probably won't get any nominations out of it. So, The Descendants is good, it's just not THAT good, the level of good that everyone is saying it is. It's slow moving. It's boring at times. It's too long (and that's coming from someone who LOVES long movies). Plus, there is way too much annoying voice over at the beginning. Still, The Descendants is worth checking out, because there is still a lot of good in there.
Grade: B

Beginners - Now here is a surprising little film. It all but came out of nowhere to tie with The Tree of Life to win Best Film at the recent Gotham Awards. I can't say I'm surprised. It's lovely, heartfelt little movie. It follows Oliver (Ewan McGregor, superb), an artist who is struggling with getting to know his dying father (Christopher Plummer, Oscar worthy) who, after being married for 44 years has come out of the closet as a gay man. Meanwhile, Oliver is also trying to take a page from his father as he attempts to start his life over and forge a relationship with a quirky, adorable French actress (Melanie Laurent). It's a simple, little story and could end up cliched in the hands of a lesser cast and filmmaker, but instead, Beginners is a different, original, funny, sad, heartwarming take on a tired genre. Writer and director Mike Mills is fantastic, adding humor and quirky little extras (a dog that talks via subtitles) to the film. McGregor, who has a lot of misses on his resume due to the crap he's been making for the past decade or so, is really, really great, as is the adorable Laurent. Their initial meeting is instantly classic. But, it's Plummer, who recently received his very first Oscar nomination at the age of 70something for The Last Station, who is mesmerizing to watch. Plummer is so good - alive even though is character is dying - that he should not only find himself nominated for a second Oscar, but also, probably winning.
Grade: B+