Your favourite film of the year
This one’s easy. MYSTERIES OF LISBON, which towers above everything else I’ve seen this year.
Mysteries of LIsbon. No contest.
The Skin I live in.
Drive and Beginners.
So far a tie between Almodóvar’s The Skin I Live In and Von Trier’s Melancholia.
Wanderer said: “Okay, so I haven’t seen it, but Tangled? Come on, how good could it be, really?”
It’s really good. Really, really, really good. It was my #5 film of 2010.
So far (and it might change as I’ve yet to watch Alps, Faust, The Artist, Keyhole and The Kid With a Bike) the top candidate is Almodovar’s La piel que habito.
My current 5:
1. The Skin I Live In
2. The Turin Horse
3. Puzzle
4. Drive
5. Flamenco, Flamenco
The best films I saw this year were Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Hugo, Meek’s Cutoff, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Tree of Life, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, Certified Copy, Drive, The Adventures of Tintin, and Super 8 (in roughly that order).
To be fair, I still have a few more to see before it’s official (or as official is it can be), such as Shame, Melancholia, A Dangerous Method, and perhaps Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
There were plenty I wanted to see that I haven’t gotten to yet, but for me it would be Snowtown followed closely by Drive.
Based on U.S. release dates, my top 10 of 2011 so far is:
1. A Brighter Summer Day (okay, this is a bit of a cheat, but this 1991 film only got its first commercial release here this year)
2. Certified Copy
3. A Separation
4. The Tree of Life
5. Hugo
6. Shame
7. Film Socialisme
8. Tomboy
9. Source Code
10. Beginners
Runners-up: Pina, 13 Assassins, Melancholia
I haven’t seen The Turin Horse (which hasn’t gotten a U.S. release yet) or Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
Most overrated: Drive
Worst: Suckerpunch
Edge of Heaven was my favorite film of… 2007.
Best (by far): Hugo
Really liked: Drive, The Descendants, Tree of Life, The Artist, Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Liked: Moneyball, The Ides of March, Tin-Tin.
I also like Woody’s Midnight in Paris, but I don’t love it. I think it is serving as an introduction to “good Woody” for a lot of new young folks who don’t know his old stuff, which is fine, and even invited, but I don’t think it’s his best stuff.
I am hard pressed to choose a favourite film, though I will probably have something close to an idea about that by the year’s end.
At the moment, it’s a toss-up between several very different films: Rango, Midnight in Paris, Hugo, The Muppets, The Descendants, Beginners, Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol, The Hedgehog, Drive, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Skin I Live In and Electric Daisy Carnival Experience are frontrunners – with another cluster – comprising Moneyball. 50/50, Source code, super 8, Hanna, X-Men: First class, The ides of March and Deathly Hallows Part 2 – not all that far behind.
I’m dreading [and excited by] the prospect of compiling my annual Farourite Fifteen list…
On the other hand, I’ll be taking perverse pleasure in listing what I consider to be the worst films of the year. Right now, that list includes A Serbian Film [far and away the worst film of the year], Jack & Jill [quelle surprise], Green Lantern, The Hangover II, Conan, Priest, Battle Los Angeles, Skyline, Just Go With It again, what a surprise…], Bad Teacher and Like Crazy.
I’ve still got about a half dozen films to see before the end of the year, so both lists could change.
‘Young Adult’ was the single most transgressive film this year – not to mention the all around impeccable performances. Cody’s screenplay reads better than most literature – this is an allegory for the 21st century. Mavis is not an anti hero, but rather a heroine for our fucked up times. I haven’t felt such a flurry of dynamic emotions in one sitting than I did while watching Charlize Theron. If the academy had an iota of credibility or brains, they’d give her the damn thing without question. This movie isn’t a comedy – it s a Greek tragedy. Let’s not be indulgent hipster bitches by lying to ourselves about really liking ‘Tree of Life’ or some inaccessible art flick when we’re completely aware of how bored we are. ‘YA’ is a call to arms against every silly misstep we’ve taken as a species – ‘YA’ is our doom in the form of high art. Something’s got to give soon.
Well George, I’m eager to see Young Adult, so that’s an interesting review. I’ll have to see it sooner.
But for 2011, I’d say:
Bellflower
Moneyball (which i wasn’t expecting to like)
Shame
The Descendants
*and just for popcorn fun: Sherlock Holmes 2. I was entertained, that’s for sure.
Shame
McQueen makes films like I would make them.
It’s very graphic, but I thought the acting and directing were top notch.
melancholia:I haven’t liked any of the last six or seven films of Trier’s but this one knocked me out as a genious masterpiece
the guard: an instant cult classic
the ward:the return of John Carpenter is a totally rewarding experience
the trip:the best comedy of the decade and a movie to die for
Anyone of these four films could stand out as my favorite of the year. I also loved Midnight in Paris and a few more others but they didn’t make me jump in my seat with enthousiasm the way these four did!
Nostalgia for the Light, by Patricio Guzman
Cave of Forgotten Dreams, by Werner Herzog
more cinephiles need to acknowledge that this is the golden era of the documentary. most fiction doesn’t even come close.
Well, when I answered this question before, it was Hanna, but now that’s down to 3rd with Mill and the Cross being number 1 and Drive being 2
That’s funny that George thinks Charlize deserves the Oscar and that Tree of Life was boring. I thought her performance was mediocre at best and Young Adult was one of the few “awards-caliber” films that nearly put me to sleep.
On any given day I’d say either Attenberg, The Tree of Life or The Turin Horse.
All three are on my top seventeen.
one of my most slackened years at the cinema…
missed out on several releases this year, I would be catching up in the next month or so…
Rise of the Planet of Apes
Tree of Life
Drive
Crazy, Stupid Love
A Dangerous Method
Midnight in Paris
Melancholia
Shame
My Week with Marilyn
Contagion
Hanna
Le Havre
The Skin I Live In
Meek’s Cutoff
Cowboys and Aliens
Colombiana
Ides of Marsh
The Artist
Hugo
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
The Weekend
Once Upon A Time in Anatolia
A Separation
Senna
Film Socialisme
but these are top 3 from what I’ve seen…
The Turin Horse (I’ll be surprised if something ends up beating this in my list, no contest for now)
Mysteries of Lisbon
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
im gonna have to go with
TREE OF LIFE
I may think of others, but would definitely have to say PINA for now…
I saw Nader and Simin, a fine film, clever thriller/drama, would give it 5 out of 6, but it’s not a masterpiece. Same with Tree of Life, Melancholia. We need some new great directors. It’s a bit boring with Almodovar, the Dardennes, Haneke in every Cannes line up.
My favorite was “The Interrupters” by Steve James. Not enough people are talking about this film. It’s an effortlessly brilliant documentary and makes me want to go back and explore James’ entire career because I’ve probably been missing out on a lot.
After watching the general critical acclaim of The tree of life, I’ve decided to give it a second chance on dvd. Unfortunately, I didn’t change my mind; instead, I was left wondering how this film managed to win the admiration of so many people. In my view, it lacks any creative use of the cinematic language, being unbearably repetitive, without any dialectic between its beautiful pictures and without any sense of storytelling(I would go so far as to imply that there is no real script; and there are great movies that have been made without a script but I don’t believe this is the case here). Movie of the year? Just an experiment that failed, I would say. On the other hand, how can one consider this a failure after all the awards and the highest position in almost every list? Yet this is my final judgment.Two thumbs down for The tree of life!
Kevin Boon
The Guard by John Michael McDonough is my pick for best film, with special attention to Brendan Gleeson’s fabulous performance.