Films of 2011

Well, I probably should have done this post sooner, but hey, I was recovering from Panto season and trying to avoid my inevitable ageing tomorrow. So... what did I see in 2011?

Well, back in January I started off with Love and Other Drugs, which seemed like fun but was quickly overshadowed by the powerful hitters of last year's Oscar season. 127 Hours, Black Swan and The King's Speech were all immensely powerful films. 127 Hours is probably one of the most visceral experiences I've ever had in a cinema, Black Swan was hideous and beautiful for exactly the same reasons and the King's Speech... well, it spoke for itself in terms we can't compete with. Then I saw the remake of the Mechanic. Yeah... that sucked.

February brought the fantastic True Grit to start off with, which was kind of the tail end of Oscar season, then I went to see Pointless being filmed and that was the first time I did a review on something that wasn't a movie (and was within licking distance of Alexander Armstrong). Then I saw Paul with my brother, Rabbit Hole at work and the truly abysmal Drive Angry to round out the month. In March I started out with Rango (fun), then the Adjustment Bureau (dull) and then... then there was IRONCLAD. The truest of MAN FILMS.

I also saw the US Military blandness that was Battle Los Angeles and then the extremely pretentious Biutiful. Sci-fi was continually let down in April by Source Code, but then Killing Bono proved to be both funny and informative. Sammy's Adventures: A Turtle's Tale was pretty rubbish, then Your Higness was... well, average. Then Thor. Thor was awesome. May began with Hanna and it was... it wasn't what it could have been. The schlock fest of Priest was good and tacky, then Attack the Block, which was surprisingly good.

June. Summer was in full swing and the blockbusters were rolling out. X-Men First Class was third class at best, then Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides takes up more space as a title than any film this long and dragging has a right to. Then Senna. Oh Senna. So July. First off there was the unspeakable filth of Michael Bay, is anyone surprised that there'll be a fourth one? Then there was Green Lantern. Or How To Learn Casting, as it should be called. A couple of French films followed, Potiche and the Princess of Montpensier.

Then there was a blockbuster to actually redeem all the blockbusters that actually sucked so far this year. You know what that? That was frickin' Captain America: First Avenger. When I was in Switzerland I had the privilige of being in the HR Giger Museum, displaying his weird and disturbing artwork. Next up was the hit-and-miss Super 8 and then the disappointing remake of Conan the Barbarian, which rounded out August. September began with Beginners and Poetry on the same day, neither of which were very easy to get on with.

Bobby Fischer against the World was a very interesting documentary and then I got to see a true and absolute classic on the big screen. Jurassic Park. I need say no more. Jane Eyre rounded out the month and that was an adaptation I was very happy to see. Another adaptation I was happy to see just after that in October was Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and it was brilliant. Then the Deep Blue Sea, give that one a miss, then I got to see another classic, Kind Hearts and Coronets, which was amazing.

I next saw the Smurfs (why did I do this?), then Beautiful Lies, which was a typically good French entry, I then returned to talk about a TV series with the suitably impressed The Fades. November began with We Need To Talk About Kevin (do I hear an Oscar nod?). The Ides of March followed, then with the Awakening just after. The Adventures of Tintin: Secrets of the Unicorn was not as bad as it should have been, then the Greatest Movie Ever Sold was an amusing look into movie advertising. And so finally December.

The awkward and painful adaptation of Wuthering Heights started us off, then the off-beat comedy We Have A Pope. Finally I spoke about Young James Herriot, a BBC show that I liked, but didn't utilise all of its potential. Then there was The Thing. And that was that. That was my year in reviews. So what do I walk about at the end of this year, what do I take away and who did I like the best and worst? Well then, guess it's time to talk about my top and bottom five movies of 2011 (although I'll count anything I reviewed).

So... the worst 5.
5 - Wuthering Heights
4 - Drive Angry
3 - Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides
2 - Green Lantern
1 - Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon

And the best 5...
5 - Captain America: First Avenger
4 - Jurassic Park (yeah, I know)
3 - The King's Speech
2 - 127 Hours
1 - Senna

I mean, was there any real doubt?

HUGO.

Kind of an odd one, but definately worth a watch. I did enjoy it, but I felt that the elements of the film were a bit mashed together. It starts as a semi-typical children story about a boy living in a clock in the middle of a busy Paris train station (all very fairy tale). He makes a friend and tries to rebuild a robot (?!) that his father had helped him find. Then he angers the local toy seller and becomes indentured to him.

Of course, the grumpy old toyseller becomes the main focus for the film, not our main Hugo anymore, because this toyseller (played brilliantly by Ben Kingsley) is in fact George Milies, an early French cinema pioneer and a real historical character. So that's where the confusion comes in, because it starts off as a boy living in a clock and then ends up as a biopic about a man that most people have never even heard of.

Don't get me wrong, I very much enjoyed this film, it was a little long for it's content, but I was impressed with how reverent the story was of it's focus, bringing the classic movies of Milies into the public knowledge once again. He was referred to as a 'Cinemagician' in his time and I certainly appreciate him getting some credit, seventy four years after his decline and death. Also, hats off to Sacha Baron Cohen for his part.

Not so sure about Chloe 'Hit Girl' Moretz, however, she wasn't so hot in this one.

Next up: Sherlock Holmes, A Game of Shadows.