I saw a little over 80 films from 2011, and watched yet another just moments before putting this post together. But I think this Top 10 has been pretty steady for a while. Again, as we tend to say around these parts, this is my favorites list, not the best list. If I were to make a list of what I feel are the best films of 2011, then this would be a totally different list, most likely. As it is… this is my favorites, so… here we go.
10. Immortals
It doesn’t have the greatest story in the world, but it’s probably one of my most gorgeous movies of the year and has some of the best action, hands down. Even with the slow non-action scenes, this one has stuck with me since I saw it.
9. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
Um… pretty much ditto to what I just said. Minus the gorgeous part. I mean, it looks good and all, but… it’s no Immortals in that department.
8. Fast Five
Forget everyone who says this isn’t realistic and whatnot. Seriously? You saw a trailer for the fifth movie in the Fast and Furious series wherein two little race cars pull a megaton safe through a street and think “huh, I can’t wait to see the realistic stunts pulled off in this movie!”? It has fantastic action and fun characters and nothing that annoyed me (except the whole “fall a couple hundred feet into the water and come out without a scratch” bit. But that’s it).
7. I Saw the Devil
Brutal. Intense. Visceral. Outstanding. The performances were phenomenal. The story is solid (though, yes, it does drag a couple times). It’s a total recommendation for any fan of South Korean cinema, violent films, or revenge flicks.
6. Midnight in Paris
Maybe it’s the English nerd in me, but I found this movie to be fun, fascinating, charming, smart, clever, etc. The performances were solid. The story and moral, though obvious, is good. Everything just comes together so well.
5. Crazy Stupid Love
One of the shockers of the year for me. I was super surprised with this film. It has strong characters, a strong narrative, and a lot of heart. Not to mention the backyard scene is probably one of THE best scenes of the year.
4. Attack the Block
I think I watched this film two or three times in a row after I first bought it on an impulse (after the praise I heard). I wasn’t sure what I thought the first time, but after each successive viewing, I began liking it more and more. Any movie that can take you from hating your main characters in the first 5 minutes too rooting for them by the end is some pretty excellent writing and directing and acting.
3. Hesher
One of the most underrated and under-seen films of the year. I fell in love with this movie the first time I saw it, and I loved it the second time just as much. It works on so many levels.
2. Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil
One of the best horror/comedies in recent years. Very clever and fun. I just had a blast with this.
1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
If you know me, no more needs to be said. If you don’t know me… I’m not gonna explain anyway. Mostly because I’m lazy… but also because it could be kinda inferred from my first sentence.
[Remember, we here at Man, I Love Films don’t do definitive lists. We do our favorites and we want to hear yours. So, make sure and tell us about them in the comments section below.]
Andrew (8)
Wayne (8)
Josh (6)
John (5)
Lauren (5)
Steve (5)
Dave Enkosky (4)
Jessica (4)
Justin (4)
Dan Heaton (3)
Yaay for Harry Potter!! It really was an excellent film, even though I hate the epilogue.
Good list
I don’t mind the epilogue. I don’t love it by any means, but it doesn’t bring about any real positive or negative emotion. Except for the ending when the train is leaving and the music swells. I love that part.
Twitter: manilovefilms
January 26, 2012 11:03 am
You know how you think everyone hyped up the elevator scene in Drive too much for you? You may be right there, but you know what else? You’re doing the exact same thing with the FAMOUS backyard scene in Crazy, Stupid, Love. It was a good scene and all, but I don’t get your overwhelmingly orgasmatron for it. It was just a good scene in my book, no better than the Dirty Dancing/Karate Kid scene earlier or 12 other scenes from the movie. Unless you’re speaking specifically about the twist, which was one of the year’s best that I saw, but I think you’re going beyond that. Anyway, rant over.
Really wanna see 3 and 4.
LOL at your 180 when talking about Fast Five. “Those people who speak of unrealistic scenes? Forget them. Except this one scene…”
Really shocked not to see The Tree of Life or Melancholia on here. :\
Perhaps. The twist was part of it, yeah. But then all the chaos that ensues is hilarious and awesome. At least to me.
The 180 on Fast Five was on purpose. But seriously… I can believe a car is supped up to do that stuff… but in no reality can falling from that high leave you with zero injury.
The Tree of Life and Melancholia barely missed my list. They were right up there with Submarine and Beginners. (Oh snap!)
Twitter: fandangogroover
January 26, 2012 1:03 pm
I know it isn’t a popular opinion, but I hate Attack the Block. It is a hateful movie filled with nasty characters whose actions fall a long way short of redemption for their earlier discretions. This all could be forgiven if it fulfilled the objectives of a horror comedy, to be funny and/or scary.
Twitter: manilovefilms
January 26, 2012 3:58 pm
Interesting, Andy! This is the first strong anti-ATB opinion I’ve seen (from someone I know). Intriguing…
I have to disagree. The characters are flawed, but they aren’t malicious. They are victims of their surroundings. Most come from broken homes (particularly Moses). They live in a ghetto. They do what they have to do in order to survive. They didn’t LIKE robbing people. They’re terrified and shaking as they do it, and want as little brutality as possible.
They have to learn to grow up fast, and that’s before the aliens show up–then it’s them even more on their own. They turn into heroes (again, particularly Moses), saving the lives of others.
And while it isn’t a total laugh-out-loud comedy, I did find myself laughing or chuckling here and there. It helps if you understand what they’re saying, as well. The dialogue is sharp and full of references.
Maybe it’s because of where I live and where I work and what kind of people/kids I know. I found the movie to be pretty true to form and realistic in character (though Hi-Hatz was slightly over-the-top, there are people just like him).
To say this movie is hateful with nasty characters is, to me, far from the truth. I can see why you would say that, especially after just a sole viewing and if you stopped paying attention 30 minutes in. I feel the characters were brilliantly written and acted, showing adequate growth and garnering enough sympathies (mostly on a second viewing).
Twitter: fandangogroover
January 27, 2012 1:25 pm
Warning plot spoilers in this response. To clarify the actions of the protagonists I refer to is not the mugging of the nurse but rather the initial killing of the alien. The failure to find redemption is a comment on their actions. True they (particularly Moses) put their lives at risk to save others but they do this by killing other aliens. At no time do they try to return the body to the other aliens, their only instinct is to attack and kill. As for the mugging, they are kids who live at home with their parents and with the possible exception of Moses none of them have to fend for themselves, they steel out of choice not necessity. And I still stand by my assertion that it is neither funny nor scary.
Spoilers, as well. So what you’re saying is that you think these kids are reprehensible because they kill a monster that attacked them and then kill the other monsters that are killing off them and their friends? Even if they gave back the alien, it wouldn’t matter. The aliens are blind. They sense pheramones, which a select few were covered in (which they also didn’t discover until the end of the film). So you’re telling me that a bunch of aliens come down and start attacking and killing you and your friends, and your option would be to make friends instead of attack back/protect yourself? I don’t buy it, especially not when you’re in that immediate of danger.
Also, if you think stealing is not a necessity just because they live with a parent or guardian, you need to go to another part of town for a while. I deal with these types of kids and livlihoods every day, and I can assure you that sometimes (even if you live with parent/guardian), you have to do that kind of thing to survive. Is it right? No. But you gotta do what you gotta do to survive.
Twitter: agracru
January 27, 2012 1:51 pm
I’d disagree about stealing not being a necessity when they’re clearly under the thumb (some of them more than others) of Hi-Hatz, who’s ruthless and trigger-happy.
I understand the spirit of the critique about the aliens, and I actually agree that the behavior of the kids at the beginning– the way that they quite barbarically chase down and kill the creature– is also off-putting. But once they’ve done that, they have no recourse but to fight. The aliens are animal in nature; remember, the female attacks Moses first, so you could not only argue that their killing of the beast is justifiable (if their enthusiasm is still somewhat over the top), but also that they really had no other option. These are primal creatures; they’re evolved to be impossible to detect in the darkness, blind and only responsive to sounds and smells. Nothing about them suggests that Moses could reasonably expect to return the body of the female and live.
There’s also every indication that the creatures would have begun to attack the block even if Moses and co. hadn’t killed the female. They kill plenty of people who don’t come into contact with the female’s corpse. They’re not friendly at all. That combined with their animal intelligence doesn’t lend itself to treaties and compromise.
Twitter: fandangogroover
January 28, 2012 7:26 am
As a story of kids on the edge of gang culture, Kidulthood is a far better film. Here in England there are far more deprived areas than the one depicted in the film, but even in these there is nowhere you would describe as a ghetto. The welfare state prevents this to a large degree. To be in a gang is a social thing not something born out of necessity, the riots and looting last summer proved that. Gangs are a self perpetuating problem in that kids feel the need to be in a gang if they are surrounded by gangs. I believe that if the film makers wanted to make a movie showing a sympathetic and redemptive side to a demonised part of society they should not have made them an instrumental part in the initial problem. Although I accept your opinion that the aliens would probably have attacked regardless it doesn’t alter the fact that the kids are also aggressors, they make no peaceful gestures towards the aliens.
On a positive note, the film is well made considering the relatively low budget. I also thought the performances from John Boyega and Jodie Whittaker were very good.
I said my opinion on this movie wouldn’t be a popular one!
I agree with Andy. I seen “Attack The Block” at a 24 hour sci-fi marathon here in Columbus, Ohio, and I sat through the entire movie PISSED THE HELL OFF!!! “The characters aren’t malicious”?? THEY HELD A KNIFE TO A WOMANS’ throat! Then later, they broke into her house! I had NO SYMPATHY for these filthy, worthless gang members! I have seen gang members in real life, and they HAVE NO heart! Movies make them out to be “good guys”. THEY’RE NOT GOOD!!! THEY’RE EVIL! “They are victims of their surroundings. Most come from broken homes (particularly Moses). They live in a ghetto. They do what they have to do in order to survive.” Awww BOO FU#%IN’ HOO! Cry me a fu#$in river. These pieces of $(it knew EXACTLY what they were doing. They did what they had to do in order to survive? WRONG!! THERE IS ALWAYS choice! They just didn’t want to make the right choice. “They didn’t LIKE robbing people. They’re terrified and shaking as they do it, and want as little brutality as possible.” BULL$#%&!! They could have robbed ANY PERSON they wanted, but they picked a WHITE woman. If the woman were black, they wouldn’t have robbed her. That’s all I’m gonna say.
Twitter: agracru
September 20, 2012 12:00 pm
I don’t care if you’ve seen gang members in real life; people do commit crimes out of necessity and not out of malice in real life. And in fact, everything you quote by Nick is almost wholesale from the text– it’s not stuff he’s really reading into.
For example, they rob Sam because they didn’t think she was from their neighborhood. It has nothing to do with her skin color. They explicitly say that if they’d known she lived in their block, they would have left her alone. This kind of ties into the ideas of defending territory and social insularity and so on that come up in the film, too.
Twitter: agracru
January 27, 2012 7:27 am
While I think you’re way exaggerating the murky morality of the principals– I wouldn’t call them hateful– I think the fact that they’re not a Shaun or even a Derek is what helps make the film noteworthy. The archetypal hero in films of this category tends to be “good”; they might be flawed, but at the end of the day, they’re fairly upright. What we get here is antithetical to that trope. It’s refreshing. And it’s also ballsy. Forget the racial overtones in watching a group of mostly black teens mugging a white woman, Cornish is asking us to see a gang of crooks as the protagonists for his film. Ignoring racial and social implications, that’s still a tall order, even though they’re clearly not comfortable playing the role of the aggressors. They’re scared, too, scared of being the robbers and scared of the immovable Hi-Hatz.
I actually think that the kids “have to” learn to grow up before the aliens arrive, but if we take the aliens out of the film, they just wouldn’t. The aliens are the catalyst for these teens to stop acting like thugs. As a result, they begin to act like heroes– still scared, of course, but they’re far better people than they are in the film’s first scene nonetheless. There’s little reason to risk their lives as they do other than out of a sense of community and humanitarianism. So by the time the film ends, they really have earned their redemption. They’re making up for all of the wrongs they’ve done and protecting the people of the block because it’s the right thing to do.
Word.
Twitter: fandangogroover
January 27, 2012 1:26 pm
See the note above, it is in response to both you and Nick.
My writing partner keeps mentioning that I need to see Attack the Block and I Saw the Devil. This just reminded that I really need to do that.
You totally need to!
Very fun top 10 Nick
Not surprised to see HP Deathly Hallows Part 2 at the top, I really liked it myself. I also saw Tucker and Dale vs. Evil recently and it certainly one heck of a fun movie although it wouldn’t be in my top 10.
I can totally understand not putting it in a Top 10. But it’s just my kind of movie, and I value entertainment and cleverness more than art (though art does have its place, too).