I always wish I could see more, especially current releases, but time and finances don't always allow it. This year was particularly busy for me so I got fewer in than I'd like, but still saw some great ones! For the first time making this note, I had a tough time choosing the worst of the year. And by that I mean there weren't that many that I could label that way. Most of the films I saw were really wonderful. I saw 74 films this year, which for me is pretty average.
2005: 69 (Dogville).
2006: 79 (Little Miss Sunshine).
2007: 87 (Ratatouille).
2008: 74 (WALL-E).
2009: 85 (Up in the Air).
2010: 75 (The Social Network / Toy Story 3)
2011: 74.
I also kept going with my big movie blog project -- although I had hoped to finish before the year was through, I got through 38 more (18 of which I'd seen) and decided not to rush the last few since they're all such classics. Only seven left to go!
When I got to making the top ten and choosing a favorite, one stood out among the top -- and I wonder if I'm cheating since it's the very last film I saw the whole year! But there were so many breathtaking moments, so many delightful performances, and so much to recommend in Michel Hazanavicius's The Artist that it had to be my favorite for the year. Plus, as my friend pointed out, it's "for everyone who loves to love movies about people who love movies." What's not to love? :)
My Top Ten of 2011
- The Artist (my favorite!)
- Beautiful Thing
- Before Sunset
- The Best Years of Our Lives
- Blue Valentine
- Bridesmaids
- The General
- The Help
- Rabbit Hole
- A Town Called Panic
- 2001: A Space Odyssey
- ¡Atame! (Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down!)
- Beginners
- Catfish
- The Descendants
- Double Indemnity
- Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Part II
- King Kong (1933)
- The Red Balloon
- Tangled
- Nicole Kidman and Dianne Wiest in Rabbit Hole
- Madeline Kahn in History of the World: Part I
- Emma Stone in Easy A (totally saves the movie)
- Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg in Antichrist
- Everyone but especially Harold Russell in The Best Years of Our Lives
- Sessue Hayakawa in The Bridge on the River Kwai
- James Franco in 127 Hours
- Bette Davis and Joan Crawford in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
- Martin Sheen in Apocalypse Now
- Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy in Before Sunset
- Christian Bale in The Fighter
- Everyone but especially Kristin Wiig and Melissa McCarthy in Bridesmaids
- Dianne Wiest in Bullets Over Broadway
- Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity
- Colin Firth in The King’s Speech
- Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
- Alan Rickman in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II
- Everyone but especially Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit
- Jane Darwell in The Grapes of Wrath
- Ryan Gosling (should have been Oscar nominated) and Michelle Williams in Blue Valentine
- Buster Keaton in The General
- Everyone in Beautiful Thing
- Everyone in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (really)
- Everyone but especially Lesley Manville in Another Year
- Antonio Banderas and Victoria Abril in ¡Atame!
- George Clooney, Judy Greer and Shailene Woodley in The Descendants
- Everyone in The Help… holy cow.
- Christopher Plummer in Beginners
- Everyone but especially Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bujo in The Artist
- “Girl from earlier!?” (Scott Pilgrim vs. The World)
- Choosing the escorts (History of the World: Part I)
- Pushing Tracy’s face (The Philadelphia Story)
- Intimacy in the cinema (Midnight Cowboy)
- “Chaos reigns.” (Antichrist)
- The bridge collapse (The Bridge on the River Kwai)
- Springtime for Hitler (The Producers)
- Arriving at Kurtz’s camp (Apocalypse Now)
- Pick nearly any line from Bridesmaids but I especially love Annie’s drunken rant on the plane
- “Don’t speak.” (Bullets Over Broadway)
- The train crash (Super 8)
- The battle for Hogwarts (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II)
- “Nobody baby but you and me” (Blue Valentine)
- Riding away absent-mindedly on the side rods of the train (The General)
- HAL’s destruction (2001: A Space Odyssey)
- Lanterns (Tangled)
- The sex scene (¡Atame!)
- “Eat. My. Shit.” (The Help)
- So many moments but absolutely the sound of the glass (The Artist)
- The Red Balloon
- The Best Years of Our Lives
- Before Sunset
- Double Indemnity
- Beautiful Thing
- 2001: A Space Odyssey
- The Descendants
- The Help
- The Artist
- Alice in Wonderland (dreadful from start to finish, and it won two Oscars!)
- Shane (redundant)
- Terms of Endearment (rubbed me the wrong way)
- Return to Oz (takes everything wonderful about that world and makes it charmless)
- And I tried to find a fifth to round it out, since I normally do, but that's actually all I can come up with. Maybe The Fog, but it was still enjoyable even if it was unoriginal. I did all right this year!
- Rabbit Hole
- Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
- Alice in Wonderland
- A Town Called Panic
- Shane
- History of the World: Part I
- The Philadelphia Story
- Easy A
- Animal Kingdom
- Midnight Cowboy
- Stagedoor
- King Kong (1933)
- Star Wars
- Elaine Stritch: At Liberty
- The Red Balloon
- Antichrist
- Sondheim: The Birthday Concert
- Catfish
- Patrik 1,5
- The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
- The Best Years of Our Lives
- The Bridge on the River Kwai
- Soapdish
- Terms of Endearment
- What's Up, Doc? (1972)
- The Producers (1968)
- 127 Hours
- Stepmom
- What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
- Wordplay
- The Maltese Falcon
- Before Sunset
- Apocalypse Now
- The Fighter
- Bridesmaids
- Bullets Over Broadway
- Beaches
- Double Indemnity
- A League of Their Own
- The King's Speech
- High Noon
- Super 8
- Splash
- Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
- True Grit (2010)
- The Grapes of Wrath
- Blue Valentine
- Chinatown
- Evening Primrose
- Life During Wartime
- Never Been Kissed
- L'Illusioniste
- Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
- On the Waterfront
- The General
- Return to Oz
- Beautiful Thing
- The Searchers
- 2001: A Space Odyssey
- Tangled
- The Fog (1980)
- City Lights
- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
- After Stonewall
- Inside Job
- Another Year
- A State of Mind
- The Navigator
- ¡Átame!
- The Descendants
- The Help
- Beginners
- The Artist
I bow down to this blog post...amazing as usual.
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