Sunday, January 01, 2012

2011 in Review -- Movies

In 2011, I saw many more movies than I imagine the average person does in a year. Still, it was a downward trending year for me: 126 movies this year, compared to 162 in 2010. I got out to the theater just about as much, though -- 25 of those movies were on the big screen.

There are a handful of 2011 movies still on my "to see" list, and several of those are among the "award bait." But for the moment, here are my picks for the 10 best of the year. I've included links to the original reviews I wrote on them, though my letter grades might not line up in perfect order as I've listed the films here. (My mid-year discovery of Flickchart, combined with some time to further reflect on what I saw, made me retool my grading just a bit.)

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
2. Win Win
3. The Muppets
4. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
5. A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas
6. Horrible Bosses
6. Paul
7. Rango
8. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
10. The Green Hornet

As you can see, it's not the strongest list overall. I'd call the top 5 solid contenders, but the other 5 are just charitably occupying spots that really should become unavailable as soon as I see more movies.

I mean, come on, Green Hornet in the top 10? (Even if it is poised to get knocked off as soon as I see something else decent.) Note also that there's really nothing in the way of a serious drama on the list. (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, maybe?) Lots of comedies, a couple whiz-bang action movies... so I'm still waiting for the moving tearjerker that should wind up somewhere in my picks.

Any recommendations for helping to shape up this list?

1 comment:

Girard said...

I'm guessing you haven't seen Hugo. I've heard good things about this movie in terms of being the tearjerker/award bait.

Also, I heart flickchart. I still have some jockeying to do to set up my top 50 better ,but I have logged over 800 movies rated