Let me know if you'd like to read a draft of my mystery novel, WHO KILLED EMILY CROSS?
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Friday, January 6, 2012
2011 movie reviews
2011 was a really good year for movies. There were some good surprises for me and overall I enjoyed the movie going experience. There were a few movies, like DRIVE, that I didn’t get to see but wish I could have. I’ve also heard that DOLPHIN TALE was pretty good but it wasn’t on my radar.
In 2012 I’m looking forward to a lot of things. I’m a huge fan of THE HUNGER GAMES and my two favorite directors are back in their elements this year as Ridley Scott brings us PROMETHEUS and Christopher Nolan brings us THE DARK KNIGHT RISES. Daniel Craig returns to the part of 007 in SKYFALL and the year should get off to a rocking good start with RED TAILS. Until then, here’s my reviews of the movies I saw in 2011:
34. BAD TEACHER - had a funny concept and there were certainly a few funny moments, but overall the plot seemed put together with popsicle sticks and meandered quite a bit.
33. SOURCE CODE - a really enjoyable sci-fi movie, though I expected to like it as much as I liked MOON. That was not the case. However, the plot is interesting, the acting is fine. I just wish the shock-ending felt a little more shocking.
32. ATLAS SHRUGGED: PART I - the only reason this rates so low on my list is due to its budget. This is a good story and I wish that more money could have been poured into it. However, money aside, it’s still a haunting and fascinating tale about the dangers of socialism and the heroics of capitalism.
31. THOR - I enjoy comic book movies. Heck, Richard Donner’s SUPERMAN is in my top ten list of all-time favorite films. At no point was I really all that caught up and buying into this plot or these characters. There are some bright, funny moments early on and I thought I’d enjoy the whole thing. There’s a really good opening battle sequence. The problem was, this movie piqued too soon. It never got better than it did in the first 30 minutes, and that’s a shame. I also felt the villain was very weak and then I was disheartened to learn that we’ll be seeing the same villain in THE AVENGERS.
30. IMMORTALS - I should have liked this movie a lot more than I did. The entire film had a “been there, done that” feel to it. The dialogue and acting were flat, the plot was very predictable. On the bright side, there were some cool action moments. But ultimately, I just didn’t care about any of the characters.
29. WATER FOR ELEPHANTS - never read the book so I can’t really compare it. However, I really enjoyed this depression-era tale. I place most movies in 2 categories: entertaining or interesting. This movie wasn’t so much entertaining as it was interesting - seeing the behind-the-scenes on circus life and the labors of living on a train during this period in American history was quite enjoyable.
28. PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 - I think my friend Brian summed it up best when he said, “The more they explain, the less scary it is.” I thought the first PARANORMAL ACTIVITY movie was ingenious. And I’m glad that for something that is such a hokey little concept, all three movies kept amazing continuity with each other. Some of this movie was really good and creepy and reminded me of life back in the late 80’s and early 90’s. But the movie should have ended 15 minutes before it did because they basically explained everything and it came off as flat and uninteresting; almost a rip-off of the far-superior POLTERGEIST. Part of the fun of the original movie was the fact that they didn’t feel the need to explain everything and it left so much to your imagination. Well, my imagination is far scarier than anything you can put down on film. Now they’re going to make a PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 and I think that’s a huge mistake.
27. COWBOYS & ALIENS - perhaps the biggest disappointment of the year for me. I had a lot of faith in Jon Favreau to deliver a great movie. After all, the IRON MAN films are fantastically enjoyable. The blending of the two genres seemed like a neat concept. But the characters are so unlikeable and the plot never really comes together to form a strong narrative. Ford’s character has a few interesting moments. Craig’s character never does. The aliens in the film were just plain stupid.
26. THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU - an interesting sci-fi tale that explores the concept of destiny versus free-will. I really expected a twist ending but you never really get it with this one. I think the ending was very weak and that’s potentially what held this movie back from being something remarkable. If this movie had an awesome ending it probably would be in my to fifteen because the characters, dialogue and action were all interesting. But it felt like it sort of just “ended” without really having an ending.
25. RANGO - fantastic animation, interesting story, funny characters, great action sequences. This is probably one of the most underrated movies of the year, but it really is quite enjoyable.
24. GREEN LANTERN - it just wasn’t the best year for comic-book movies. This one was far more enjoyable than THOR, but it felt like something that was rushed forward to the finish line instead of a film that the capable director really took his time to get right. This could have been (should have been) more of a sweeping epic like SUPERMAN, instead of an IRON MAN-wannabe. Maybe I should have ranked RANGO a little higher?
23. CONAN THE BARBARIAN - If this movie had ended after the first fifteen minutes, it would be in my top 5 of the year. The story of young Conan was intriguing and I found myself wishing that the entire movie was about that little 12 year old adventurous kid. I enjoyed the rest of the movie but not nearly as much as those first 15 minutes. I’m not a fan of the Aaa-nuhld version from the 80’s. I like the short stories that the material is based on and I felt that this movie really captured those stories a lot closer than the governators versions. Still though, this could have been better.
22. ABDUCTION - I saw this movie because my wife likes Taylor “wolfman” Lautner’s muscles. The movie didn’t completely suck, therefore it exceeded my expectations. It plays sort of like a BOURNE IDENTITY for teenagers. It actually was somewhat enjoyable.
21. TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON - we got a TRANSFORMERS movie that didn’t suck? Wow! This is the best of the TRANSFORMERS movies, by far. It has a plot. It has a great, creative action sequence that dominates the entire last 45 minutes of the movie. It has a plot. It had a twist that I didn’t see coming. It has a plot.
20. BATTLE: LOS ANGELES - the SAVING PRIVATE RYAN of alien invasion movies, filled with interesting characters and a plot that was far more simpler than I expected, yet far better than I expected. Really, I didn’t know much about this going into it. I just figured it would be a bunch of military guys fighting aliens. But this movie is really about a rescue operation amidst an alien invasion. That is a simple idea and it’s executed beautifully. This, kind of like RANGO, is one of the most underrated movies of the year.
19. THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN - by far the best animated movie I’ve ever seen. Now, it’s not the best animated plot I’ve seen. The story started off slow and a little unfocused but once it got rolling it was quite enjoyable and engaging. It has the best pirate ship battle ever committed to film and the INDIANA JONES-like action sequences were fantastic. Besides ATLAS SHRUGGED and my #17 pick, this is the other movie I saw this year where I’d really like to see the next chapter in this series.
18. I AM NUMBER FOUR - I was really surprised by this movie. My wife and I are big fans of the tv show SMALLVILLE and this movie felt like a big screen version of that. I know, you’re thinking, there already is a big screen version of that and it was directed by Richard Donner back in the 70’s. So it makes sense that this movie was produced by the same team that does the tv show. This has been the #1 movie replayed over and over again in my house this year because every time it’s on Showtime, my wife has to watch it. I liked it a lot; filled with characters I liked, hokey villains, but a plot that made a lot of sense and alluded to a series of adventures to come.
17. DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: RODRICK RULES - my son is WIMPY KID fan and he’s turned me into a bit of one I guess. This was a really cute, funny and family-friendly movie. The kids that populate this story and the situations they find themselves in are easy to relate to. You find yourself really pulling for Greg Hefley (and the rest of the gang) to figure out this thing called “growing up” and to get it right. I’m looking forward to the next one in the series, which comes out in August.
16. THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (SWEDISH VERSION) - I watched both versions so that I could get a good comparison. And yes, I read this book series and loved it. This movie is good. Of course, it compromises elements of the book, but that’s normal. It’s violent, but I found the American version even more violent. In fact, I was kind of surprised that the Swedish version didn’t stick to details of the book more than it did. Overall, I enjoyed it, but thought that it felt a bit “procedural” in the way it presents the story. Soon I’ll watch the Swedish versions of the other two movies in the series.
15. SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS - completely enjoyable to watch. The characters are funny and entertaining and you find yourself just waiting to see what they’ll do (or hear what they’ll say) next. This, to me, was an improvement on the original, which was a good movie in its own right.
14. THE MUPPETS - ah, there’s no movie that I laughed at more all year long than this one. My kids had never seen anything related to the Muppets prior to this and they fell in love with it. Yes, we left the theater singing “Mah nah mah nah.” This is a family-friendly treat that took me back to 1978. In some ways, this is sort of a remake of the original (since it’s about Kermit getting a gang of Muppets together as they travel across the country on a mission). Having just re-watched the original again last night, I’ll say that this new movie is definitely the best in the series. If you haven’t done so yet, do yourself a favor and go to youtube and look up Muppet parody movie trailers. This will be fifteen minutes out of your day that you won’t regret.
13. HANNA - oh, HANNA, how I love thee. This is a great concept for an action movie (heck, even for a franchise). The score for the movie is terrible and that’s probably what knocked it out of my top ten. It needed to have a Michael Kamen-esque DIE HARD-style musical score but instead went the techno route. That being said, this is the only action movie I can remember that features a 13 year-old girl as the star and she’s able to kick butt with the best of them. The plot never went the way I thought it would go and I appreciated that a lot.
12. REAL STEEL - maybe the most surprising movie of the year for me. I loved, loved, loved this movie. When I first saw previews for it I thought it looked dorky. Come on, fighting robots? My kids wanted to see it so I took them. As it turned out, this was not a movie about fighting robots. It was a movie about a strained relationship between a father and a son (who just happen to be on the robot fighting circuit). This movie was creative in how it infused technology without ever drawing attention to itself. This movie is about a little boy connecting with his dad for the first time in his life, via a big, uncompromising dream.
11. X-MEN: FIRST CLASS - I think this movie actually surpassed X2 as my favorite X-MEN movie. The retro-60’s plot was inspired and had a great kinetic energy that zinged right along. The transformation of Magneto from “good guy” to “bad guy” is remarkable. The dynamics of the Professor X and Magneto relationship (best friends, mortal enemies) is every bit as great as it ever was. This movie leaves you thinking about the possibilities of how great the team of Professor X and Magneto might have been if one of them hadn’t of turned evil. I sort of had that “Don’t do it, Anakin” feeling while watching it. I know Magneto turned evil. Yet, there I was, hoping he’d come back to the “good side.” I also really enjoyed the explanation of how Charles Xavier became crippled.
10. COURAGEOUS - the best family movie I saw this year. This movie is hard to watch because it’s about the heart-breaking tale of a family who loses a daughter in a car wreck. How they deal with her death and how it changes their lives is inspiring. It’s the best feel-good movie of the year (despite the dark plot). This movie served to glorify God and that’s pretty awesome in and of itself. It’s also remarkable to note the fact that this movie was produced by a lot of non-professional movie makers. It’s populated with enjoyable characters, realistic situations, engaging dialogue and has a sense of purpose to it. WARNING: watch with plenty of tissue.
9. HUGO - this is a hard movie to explain. It’s several mysteries that intertwine. It’s the story of a boy who finds a mysterious robot. It’s the story of an old man who has been hurt so severely in his past that he refuses to acknowledge what his life used to be. It’s the story of the beauty and magic of cinema. It takes place in a train station in Paris. What more do you need?
8. MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL - I’m as shocked as you are that this movie rates this high. However, it had a really intriguing plot. There were some awesome sets and locations and some action sequences that were creative and mind-blowing. I loved the fact that it tied in with the previous MISSION IMPOSSIBLE movie in surprising layers. This was an awesome joyride of a movie.
7. THE DEBT - an outstanding drama. This was not a nail-biting, thriller like I’d hoped. But it was probably one of the best, most realistic spy stories I’ve ever seen. The concept of trapping three secret agents in an apartment with their captive was interesting enough. But then when the villain, who is tied up and has no hope of escape, begins his psychological twisting to turn the three agents against each other, the intensity feels palpable. Don’t miss this one.
6. THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (American version) - Even though this tells the same plot as the Swedish version, this feels like the more attractive twin. I really felt like this version captured the spirit of the book better than the Swedish version. This is by far and away the more artistic of the two. The direction, acting and plotting are all superb in this dark and violent tale. Yes, this compromised elements from the book. It’s interesting to see how the Swedish and American versions both took things out of the book but in a lot of instances, it was different things that they chose to leave out. However, it seemed like there were several things that both versions opted out of equally. This version made me feel like I wanted to start digging into the past to uncover some great mysterious secrets. Whereas the Swedish version felt procedural, this one felt inevitable.
5. CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER - I loved this movie. It captures World War II like I’ve never seen before. The plot brilliantly makes fun of Captain America. It doesn’t just give him superpowers and a superhero uniform and expect us to like him. No. It actually degrades him and makes him feel like a stupid little puppet. Captain America has to earn the right for us to want to pull for him and he eventually does. I wish that the love story for Cap was a little stronger because that would have made it really heartbreaking for the audience when he gets taken away from her forever. But overall, this had a good villain, a good plot, funny moments and interesting characters. This is one of the most well-made movies I saw all year.
4. MONEYBALL - Much like REAL STEEL, this was one of the most surprising movies I saw all year. It’s based on a true story and it’s as interesting as it is entertaining. Brad Pitt makes the character of Billy Beane into a guy that you pull for right from the beginning. It would be a mistake to call this a baseball movie. Sure, there’s plenty of background baseball going on. But this is first and foremost a story about a guy fighting for his job; a guy haunted by his own failings and a guy so desperate that he’s willing to radically think outside the box to achieve success. This movie was a diamond in the rough for me.
3. HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2 - I love the Harry Potter movies. I read all the books and loved these last 4 movies without any reservations. I know DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 1 took a drubbing from people that thought it was boring. I never thought it was boring. I thought it was the necessary moment needed of psychological isolation before the final storm. Up until DEATHLY HALLOWS, Harry seemed to always have help. But in parts 1 and 2 of this finale, he’s pretty much by himself and he’s been brought to the realization that if he wants to save all the people that he loves, he’ll have to sacrifice all. There’s a spiritual message in this movie that is nearly as powerful as the one in COURAGEOUS. This is an action-packed, at times gut-wrenching tale of coming-of-age and embracing destiny with a faith that no matter what happens, you know you did the right thing. That’s the kind of faith that only comes with maturity and that’s what the Harry Potter films have been about: a boy maturing to the point that he’s ready to overcome evil by taking the biggest leap of faith imaginable in order to save his loved ones. Goodbye, Harry. We will miss you.
2. RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES - along with REAL STEEL and MONEYBALL, this is the other surprise of the year for me. I’m not really a big fan of the other APES movies. When I saw previews for this one I thought: well, that looks interesting but I’m not going to pay to see it. But Brian Hale insisted that I and I’m glad I listened to his advice. This was a thoughtful, dark, interesting, sci-fi tale that grew in intensity as it went along. I never expected to care so much about the humans in the plot as I wound up caring, not to even mention Caesar and the other apes. It’s that classic warning, not to play God or else pay the consequences. But in this case, the main character wasn’t trying to play God for the fun of it, but for the sake of his dying father. This is a warning movie and I’m enjoying the message. The special effects are fantastic.
1. SUPER 8 - you can call it E.T. meets GOONIES meets CLOSE ENCOUNTERS meets half a dozen other movies. Much the same way THE MUPPETS took me back to the 70’s, this movie opens up the 70’s with safe nostalgia and invites you to crawl inside and escape reality for a long, long time. While watching it I kept feeling as if the filmmakers had transported back in time in order to make the movie. It’s a bittersweet tale of loss, coming-of-age, making movies, finding your place in life, falling in love for the first time, figuring out that bad things happen in life but you can still live. This movie is a love-letter put on film by JJ Abrams and addressed to George Lucas and Steven Spielberg and Richard Donner and Ridley Scott and George Romero. It features the best cast and best acting in any movie of 2011. The dialogue is genuine. Pieces of it feel like the captivating mystery of CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, begging you to seek out the alien that the government is hiding. Pieces of it feel like JURASSIC PARK, but instead of the kids being stalked by a t-rex in an overturned bus, they’re hunted by the alien. Pieces of it feel like THE GOONIES, because the cast is centered around ambitious kids who are growing up in a circle of close friends that share adventures with each other. Pieces of it of course feel like E.T. because of the focus on the main character feeling drawn to something greater than himself. I enjoyed the Michael Giacchino soundtrack (in fact, I own it) but I’m somewhat suspicious that this could have just as easily been a John Williams score. It feels like this movie was made in the late 70’s while Lucas and Spielberg were standing somewhere on the set, behind the cameras, tweaking the script here and there and planning adventures for these kids.
34. BAD TEACHER - had a funny concept and there were certainly a few funny moments, but overall the plot seemed put together with popsicle sticks and meandered quite a bit.
33. SOURCE CODE - a really enjoyable sci-fi movie, though I expected to like it as much as I liked MOON. That was not the case. However, the plot is interesting, the acting is fine. I just wish the shock-ending felt a little more shocking.
32. ATLAS SHRUGGED: PART I - the only reason this rates so low on my list is due to its budget. This is a good story and I wish that more money could have been poured into it. However, money aside, it’s still a haunting and fascinating tale about the dangers of socialism and the heroics of capitalism.
31. THOR - I enjoy comic book movies. Heck, Richard Donner’s SUPERMAN is in my top ten list of all-time favorite films. At no point was I really all that caught up and buying into this plot or these characters. There are some bright, funny moments early on and I thought I’d enjoy the whole thing. There’s a really good opening battle sequence. The problem was, this movie piqued too soon. It never got better than it did in the first 30 minutes, and that’s a shame. I also felt the villain was very weak and then I was disheartened to learn that we’ll be seeing the same villain in THE AVENGERS.
30. IMMORTALS - I should have liked this movie a lot more than I did. The entire film had a “been there, done that” feel to it. The dialogue and acting were flat, the plot was very predictable. On the bright side, there were some cool action moments. But ultimately, I just didn’t care about any of the characters.
29. WATER FOR ELEPHANTS - never read the book so I can’t really compare it. However, I really enjoyed this depression-era tale. I place most movies in 2 categories: entertaining or interesting. This movie wasn’t so much entertaining as it was interesting - seeing the behind-the-scenes on circus life and the labors of living on a train during this period in American history was quite enjoyable.
28. PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 - I think my friend Brian summed it up best when he said, “The more they explain, the less scary it is.” I thought the first PARANORMAL ACTIVITY movie was ingenious. And I’m glad that for something that is such a hokey little concept, all three movies kept amazing continuity with each other. Some of this movie was really good and creepy and reminded me of life back in the late 80’s and early 90’s. But the movie should have ended 15 minutes before it did because they basically explained everything and it came off as flat and uninteresting; almost a rip-off of the far-superior POLTERGEIST. Part of the fun of the original movie was the fact that they didn’t feel the need to explain everything and it left so much to your imagination. Well, my imagination is far scarier than anything you can put down on film. Now they’re going to make a PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 and I think that’s a huge mistake.
27. COWBOYS & ALIENS - perhaps the biggest disappointment of the year for me. I had a lot of faith in Jon Favreau to deliver a great movie. After all, the IRON MAN films are fantastically enjoyable. The blending of the two genres seemed like a neat concept. But the characters are so unlikeable and the plot never really comes together to form a strong narrative. Ford’s character has a few interesting moments. Craig’s character never does. The aliens in the film were just plain stupid.
26. THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU - an interesting sci-fi tale that explores the concept of destiny versus free-will. I really expected a twist ending but you never really get it with this one. I think the ending was very weak and that’s potentially what held this movie back from being something remarkable. If this movie had an awesome ending it probably would be in my to fifteen because the characters, dialogue and action were all interesting. But it felt like it sort of just “ended” without really having an ending.
25. RANGO - fantastic animation, interesting story, funny characters, great action sequences. This is probably one of the most underrated movies of the year, but it really is quite enjoyable.
24. GREEN LANTERN - it just wasn’t the best year for comic-book movies. This one was far more enjoyable than THOR, but it felt like something that was rushed forward to the finish line instead of a film that the capable director really took his time to get right. This could have been (should have been) more of a sweeping epic like SUPERMAN, instead of an IRON MAN-wannabe. Maybe I should have ranked RANGO a little higher?
23. CONAN THE BARBARIAN - If this movie had ended after the first fifteen minutes, it would be in my top 5 of the year. The story of young Conan was intriguing and I found myself wishing that the entire movie was about that little 12 year old adventurous kid. I enjoyed the rest of the movie but not nearly as much as those first 15 minutes. I’m not a fan of the Aaa-nuhld version from the 80’s. I like the short stories that the material is based on and I felt that this movie really captured those stories a lot closer than the governators versions. Still though, this could have been better.
22. ABDUCTION - I saw this movie because my wife likes Taylor “wolfman” Lautner’s muscles. The movie didn’t completely suck, therefore it exceeded my expectations. It plays sort of like a BOURNE IDENTITY for teenagers. It actually was somewhat enjoyable.
21. TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON - we got a TRANSFORMERS movie that didn’t suck? Wow! This is the best of the TRANSFORMERS movies, by far. It has a plot. It has a great, creative action sequence that dominates the entire last 45 minutes of the movie. It has a plot. It had a twist that I didn’t see coming. It has a plot.
20. BATTLE: LOS ANGELES - the SAVING PRIVATE RYAN of alien invasion movies, filled with interesting characters and a plot that was far more simpler than I expected, yet far better than I expected. Really, I didn’t know much about this going into it. I just figured it would be a bunch of military guys fighting aliens. But this movie is really about a rescue operation amidst an alien invasion. That is a simple idea and it’s executed beautifully. This, kind of like RANGO, is one of the most underrated movies of the year.
19. THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN - by far the best animated movie I’ve ever seen. Now, it’s not the best animated plot I’ve seen. The story started off slow and a little unfocused but once it got rolling it was quite enjoyable and engaging. It has the best pirate ship battle ever committed to film and the INDIANA JONES-like action sequences were fantastic. Besides ATLAS SHRUGGED and my #17 pick, this is the other movie I saw this year where I’d really like to see the next chapter in this series.
18. I AM NUMBER FOUR - I was really surprised by this movie. My wife and I are big fans of the tv show SMALLVILLE and this movie felt like a big screen version of that. I know, you’re thinking, there already is a big screen version of that and it was directed by Richard Donner back in the 70’s. So it makes sense that this movie was produced by the same team that does the tv show. This has been the #1 movie replayed over and over again in my house this year because every time it’s on Showtime, my wife has to watch it. I liked it a lot; filled with characters I liked, hokey villains, but a plot that made a lot of sense and alluded to a series of adventures to come.
17. DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: RODRICK RULES - my son is WIMPY KID fan and he’s turned me into a bit of one I guess. This was a really cute, funny and family-friendly movie. The kids that populate this story and the situations they find themselves in are easy to relate to. You find yourself really pulling for Greg Hefley (and the rest of the gang) to figure out this thing called “growing up” and to get it right. I’m looking forward to the next one in the series, which comes out in August.
16. THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (SWEDISH VERSION) - I watched both versions so that I could get a good comparison. And yes, I read this book series and loved it. This movie is good. Of course, it compromises elements of the book, but that’s normal. It’s violent, but I found the American version even more violent. In fact, I was kind of surprised that the Swedish version didn’t stick to details of the book more than it did. Overall, I enjoyed it, but thought that it felt a bit “procedural” in the way it presents the story. Soon I’ll watch the Swedish versions of the other two movies in the series.
15. SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS - completely enjoyable to watch. The characters are funny and entertaining and you find yourself just waiting to see what they’ll do (or hear what they’ll say) next. This, to me, was an improvement on the original, which was a good movie in its own right.
14. THE MUPPETS - ah, there’s no movie that I laughed at more all year long than this one. My kids had never seen anything related to the Muppets prior to this and they fell in love with it. Yes, we left the theater singing “Mah nah mah nah.” This is a family-friendly treat that took me back to 1978. In some ways, this is sort of a remake of the original (since it’s about Kermit getting a gang of Muppets together as they travel across the country on a mission). Having just re-watched the original again last night, I’ll say that this new movie is definitely the best in the series. If you haven’t done so yet, do yourself a favor and go to youtube and look up Muppet parody movie trailers. This will be fifteen minutes out of your day that you won’t regret.
13. HANNA - oh, HANNA, how I love thee. This is a great concept for an action movie (heck, even for a franchise). The score for the movie is terrible and that’s probably what knocked it out of my top ten. It needed to have a Michael Kamen-esque DIE HARD-style musical score but instead went the techno route. That being said, this is the only action movie I can remember that features a 13 year-old girl as the star and she’s able to kick butt with the best of them. The plot never went the way I thought it would go and I appreciated that a lot.
12. REAL STEEL - maybe the most surprising movie of the year for me. I loved, loved, loved this movie. When I first saw previews for it I thought it looked dorky. Come on, fighting robots? My kids wanted to see it so I took them. As it turned out, this was not a movie about fighting robots. It was a movie about a strained relationship between a father and a son (who just happen to be on the robot fighting circuit). This movie was creative in how it infused technology without ever drawing attention to itself. This movie is about a little boy connecting with his dad for the first time in his life, via a big, uncompromising dream.
11. X-MEN: FIRST CLASS - I think this movie actually surpassed X2 as my favorite X-MEN movie. The retro-60’s plot was inspired and had a great kinetic energy that zinged right along. The transformation of Magneto from “good guy” to “bad guy” is remarkable. The dynamics of the Professor X and Magneto relationship (best friends, mortal enemies) is every bit as great as it ever was. This movie leaves you thinking about the possibilities of how great the team of Professor X and Magneto might have been if one of them hadn’t of turned evil. I sort of had that “Don’t do it, Anakin” feeling while watching it. I know Magneto turned evil. Yet, there I was, hoping he’d come back to the “good side.” I also really enjoyed the explanation of how Charles Xavier became crippled.
10. COURAGEOUS - the best family movie I saw this year. This movie is hard to watch because it’s about the heart-breaking tale of a family who loses a daughter in a car wreck. How they deal with her death and how it changes their lives is inspiring. It’s the best feel-good movie of the year (despite the dark plot). This movie served to glorify God and that’s pretty awesome in and of itself. It’s also remarkable to note the fact that this movie was produced by a lot of non-professional movie makers. It’s populated with enjoyable characters, realistic situations, engaging dialogue and has a sense of purpose to it. WARNING: watch with plenty of tissue.
9. HUGO - this is a hard movie to explain. It’s several mysteries that intertwine. It’s the story of a boy who finds a mysterious robot. It’s the story of an old man who has been hurt so severely in his past that he refuses to acknowledge what his life used to be. It’s the story of the beauty and magic of cinema. It takes place in a train station in Paris. What more do you need?
8. MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL - I’m as shocked as you are that this movie rates this high. However, it had a really intriguing plot. There were some awesome sets and locations and some action sequences that were creative and mind-blowing. I loved the fact that it tied in with the previous MISSION IMPOSSIBLE movie in surprising layers. This was an awesome joyride of a movie.
7. THE DEBT - an outstanding drama. This was not a nail-biting, thriller like I’d hoped. But it was probably one of the best, most realistic spy stories I’ve ever seen. The concept of trapping three secret agents in an apartment with their captive was interesting enough. But then when the villain, who is tied up and has no hope of escape, begins his psychological twisting to turn the three agents against each other, the intensity feels palpable. Don’t miss this one.
6. THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (American version) - Even though this tells the same plot as the Swedish version, this feels like the more attractive twin. I really felt like this version captured the spirit of the book better than the Swedish version. This is by far and away the more artistic of the two. The direction, acting and plotting are all superb in this dark and violent tale. Yes, this compromised elements from the book. It’s interesting to see how the Swedish and American versions both took things out of the book but in a lot of instances, it was different things that they chose to leave out. However, it seemed like there were several things that both versions opted out of equally. This version made me feel like I wanted to start digging into the past to uncover some great mysterious secrets. Whereas the Swedish version felt procedural, this one felt inevitable.
5. CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER - I loved this movie. It captures World War II like I’ve never seen before. The plot brilliantly makes fun of Captain America. It doesn’t just give him superpowers and a superhero uniform and expect us to like him. No. It actually degrades him and makes him feel like a stupid little puppet. Captain America has to earn the right for us to want to pull for him and he eventually does. I wish that the love story for Cap was a little stronger because that would have made it really heartbreaking for the audience when he gets taken away from her forever. But overall, this had a good villain, a good plot, funny moments and interesting characters. This is one of the most well-made movies I saw all year.
4. MONEYBALL - Much like REAL STEEL, this was one of the most surprising movies I saw all year. It’s based on a true story and it’s as interesting as it is entertaining. Brad Pitt makes the character of Billy Beane into a guy that you pull for right from the beginning. It would be a mistake to call this a baseball movie. Sure, there’s plenty of background baseball going on. But this is first and foremost a story about a guy fighting for his job; a guy haunted by his own failings and a guy so desperate that he’s willing to radically think outside the box to achieve success. This movie was a diamond in the rough for me.
3. HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2 - I love the Harry Potter movies. I read all the books and loved these last 4 movies without any reservations. I know DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 1 took a drubbing from people that thought it was boring. I never thought it was boring. I thought it was the necessary moment needed of psychological isolation before the final storm. Up until DEATHLY HALLOWS, Harry seemed to always have help. But in parts 1 and 2 of this finale, he’s pretty much by himself and he’s been brought to the realization that if he wants to save all the people that he loves, he’ll have to sacrifice all. There’s a spiritual message in this movie that is nearly as powerful as the one in COURAGEOUS. This is an action-packed, at times gut-wrenching tale of coming-of-age and embracing destiny with a faith that no matter what happens, you know you did the right thing. That’s the kind of faith that only comes with maturity and that’s what the Harry Potter films have been about: a boy maturing to the point that he’s ready to overcome evil by taking the biggest leap of faith imaginable in order to save his loved ones. Goodbye, Harry. We will miss you.
2. RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES - along with REAL STEEL and MONEYBALL, this is the other surprise of the year for me. I’m not really a big fan of the other APES movies. When I saw previews for this one I thought: well, that looks interesting but I’m not going to pay to see it. But Brian Hale insisted that I and I’m glad I listened to his advice. This was a thoughtful, dark, interesting, sci-fi tale that grew in intensity as it went along. I never expected to care so much about the humans in the plot as I wound up caring, not to even mention Caesar and the other apes. It’s that classic warning, not to play God or else pay the consequences. But in this case, the main character wasn’t trying to play God for the fun of it, but for the sake of his dying father. This is a warning movie and I’m enjoying the message. The special effects are fantastic.
1. SUPER 8 - you can call it E.T. meets GOONIES meets CLOSE ENCOUNTERS meets half a dozen other movies. Much the same way THE MUPPETS took me back to the 70’s, this movie opens up the 70’s with safe nostalgia and invites you to crawl inside and escape reality for a long, long time. While watching it I kept feeling as if the filmmakers had transported back in time in order to make the movie. It’s a bittersweet tale of loss, coming-of-age, making movies, finding your place in life, falling in love for the first time, figuring out that bad things happen in life but you can still live. This movie is a love-letter put on film by JJ Abrams and addressed to George Lucas and Steven Spielberg and Richard Donner and Ridley Scott and George Romero. It features the best cast and best acting in any movie of 2011. The dialogue is genuine. Pieces of it feel like the captivating mystery of CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, begging you to seek out the alien that the government is hiding. Pieces of it feel like JURASSIC PARK, but instead of the kids being stalked by a t-rex in an overturned bus, they’re hunted by the alien. Pieces of it feel like THE GOONIES, because the cast is centered around ambitious kids who are growing up in a circle of close friends that share adventures with each other. Pieces of it of course feel like E.T. because of the focus on the main character feeling drawn to something greater than himself. I enjoyed the Michael Giacchino soundtrack (in fact, I own it) but I’m somewhat suspicious that this could have just as easily been a John Williams score. It feels like this movie was made in the late 70’s while Lucas and Spielberg were standing somewhere on the set, behind the cameras, tweaking the script here and there and planning adventures for these kids.
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