1. Drive
I don't want to fawn over Drive more than I already have - I practically wrote a goddamn research paper on it here last October - so I'll just say of course the Academy overlooked this film. It was far too innovative, too visionary, too ambitious and gory and polarizing and dynamic a movie for such a bureaucratic, squeamishly pandering organization to acknowledge. The Eberts and Travers' and yous and I's, of course, we know better. And if we're anything like the Driver, we should be content: simply knowing the truth and keeping on will be enough to cement Drive's standing among the greatest films.
...and a reeeaaaaaal heeero, reeeaaaaal huuuman being...
2. The Artist
What can I say about The Artist that hasn't been said - or seen - already? Every aspect of its production, from its direction to its cinematography to the impeccable acting of its players (even Uggie the dog!) fully utilizes and embraces the tenets of silent cinema, taking what could have been a flimsy gimmick and turning into something truly spellbinding. The heartwarming, inconspicuously profound wonder is a near perfect love letter to the black-and-white and silent films of yesteryear. Hell, it's a near perfect black-and-white and silent film. Double hell, it's a near perfect film, period. There's a reason it's widely predicted to sweep the Oscars. So what the triple hell are you waiting for, go see this movie now!
3. Take Shelter
Perhaps the most upsetting thing about 2011's film season is that Take Shelter, the Critics' Week Grand Prix winner at Cannes last May, failed to get the attention it so deserved. Despite receiving near-universal - and enthusiastic! - critical acclaim, a limited release killed its chances of gaining wider recognition. It's a damn shame, too, because Take Shelter is a heart-wrenching triumph of cinematic suspense. Much of its success lies in the brilliant vision of writer-director Jeff Nichols, and the technical precision with which he realizes it. What really drives the film, however, are the two powerhouse performances from Jessica Chastain and especially Michael Shannon (more deserving of the Oscar than any of the nominees), who together create an unforgettable, utterly flooring drama.
4. Midnight in Paris
Would it be blasphemy to call Midnight in Paris the best Woody Allen film since Manhattan, or even Annie Hall? Wearing it's fantastical, unabashedly sentimental heart on its sleeve, the movie revels in an enthusiastic abundance of charm, sweetness, wit and intelligence. More than a wet dream for American lit majors, a romance with Francophilia or a love letter to the Roaring Twenties, Midnight in Paris is a thoroughly satisfying meditation on the nature of art itself. It's a manifesto for here, for in the moment, and it thinks forward with a genuine optimism refreshingly uncharacteristic of Allen's work. Owen Wilson channels the neurotic film legend perfectly as Gil Pender, and the rest of the cast - among them figures as diverse as Hemingway (an amazing Corey Stoll) and Dalí - never disappoint.
5. Hugo
I wonder what the executives at Paramount were thinking when Martin Scorsese pitched directing a 3D family film. Did they expect him to make as delightful and exotic - and meta, of all things - a movie as Hugo turned out to be? Like its chief rival at this year's Oscars, Hugo is at once an affecting, heartwarming story, a tribute to the silent era and a testament to the importance of cinema in general. Scorsese imbues his unique genius into both the form and content of the film, creating a self-aware viewing experience we rarely see at the movies; "magical" is the best way I've heard it described. Boasting a remarkable cast and featuring exceptional use of today's film technology (CGI and 3D that actually serve a purpose!), Hugo is a treat that merits multiple viewings.
6. Moneyball
Simply put, Moneyball is a masterful piece of film-making: well-written, made with superb technical craftsmanship, and loaded with heartfelt acting (perhaps Brad Pitt's greatest showing ever). It's a pretty uninspiring inspirational story in the grand scheme of things - the A's lose the first game of postseason and the Red Sox win it all two years later, even without our protagonist as their GM - but it's not a movie about the big picture. Quite the contrary, it's a film where two freethinking visionaries refuse to surrender to - and indeed, defeat - an archaic system, one dominated by outdated, all-or-nothing dogmas such as that of the "big picture." Moneyball is all about the small victories: how they're often the most important ones, how they're often the biggest game-changers of all.
7. Shame
Like the emotion itself, Shame is a melancholy, chilling, bleak, brutal - at times even unbearable - film, with an awe-inspiring Michael Fassbender at its core. It is a truly beautiful movie about a world of unrelenting ugliness. Fassbender's performance is nothing short of brilliant: raw, riveting, wholly immersed. It's the most fully-realized character I've seen onscreen since that mad oilman declared he would drink our milkshakes back in '07. Fassbender's career has just started to rise (hurr durr), and for my money he's the single most talented film actor to come along in years. And of course there's the phenomenal Carey Mulligan, herself a rising star, who's tragic, haunting rendition of New York, New York will send shivers down your spine. It - and the entire film - will affect you to your very marrow.
8. The Adventures of Tintin
What makes Tintin such a resounding success - even more so than how it faithfully captures the essence of Hergé's timeless, beloved comics series - is that in it, for the first time ever, we find Stephen Spielberg truly and completely unconfined by the restraints of reality. Putting on those 3-D glasses as the movie starts takes you down the rabbit hole in a way Avatar could only scratch the surface of. The Adventures of Tintin is a syringe filled with the pure, distilled imagination of the most creative minds in blockbuster film-making (Spielberg! Jackson! Moffat! Wright! Cornish!) and it's begging you to shoot up. Either you can resist it or dive in head first and enjoy one hell of a ride - one that would even make the Vulture relive his inner child.
Also Andy Serkis is Captain Haddock. So yeah.
9. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Boasting easily the best ensemble cast of 2011 (The Help, eat your heart out), TTSS is an astounding adaptation of John le Carré's sweeping spy thriller. Each actor brings a powerhouse performance to his role; no one part overshadows the others. Oldman's subdued George Smiley is mesmerizing, conveying a world of thoughts, of plans and counter-plans and suspicions and suppressed emotions in the glint of a weary eye. It sets the tone for the muted world of Tinker Tailor: an engine of suspense ready to blow, a twisting spiral of paranoia that drives anything it can latch onto - audience included - into the abyss. Director Tomas Alfredson has stripped away all romanticism from the world of intrigue and espionage, leaving a bleak reality where the answers are hidden from us in plain sight.
10. The Tree of Life
Terrence Malick's experimental magnum opus should rightly be polarizing. To say The Tree of Life is difficult to grasp is like saying a 747 is fast. Perhaps it resorts to the occasional existential platitude or empty l'art pour l'art trapping. Perhaps it feels too damn long. But these faults are unavoidable in a film that addresses the puzzle of human nature head-on, that attempts to portray the entirety of all existence through the lens of a single family. This truly one-of-a-kind film never stops striving; the sheer ambition of Malick's creative vision, presented with the utmost technical and artistic mastery, secures The Tree of Life's place among cinema's finest. Even when this film fails, it succeeds. Like with 2001: A Space Odyssey, I think time will treat The Tree of Life favorably. Appropriate, isn't it?
Four outstanding films that made my first top 10 list sadly had to get the boot: Martha Marcy May Marlene, Melancholia, Super 8, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Other noteworthy movies from this year include 50/50, Attack the Block, Bridesmaids, Coriolanus, The Descendants (wildly overrated though it may be), Margin Call, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, The Muppets, and Win Win.
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