Top Ten Films of 2011

This year, I didn’t get to see as many indies and non-mainstream films as I wanted, but, in general, this was a decent, if less than momentous year for film. If anything, the best films of the year were those that simply made me smile. My top ten for the year are, uniformly, crowd-pleasers with one or two notable exceptions. While none of the selections in this list are in any danger of changing the way audiences think, feel, or live, each selection managed to entertain and keep the doldrums of the day jobs and drudgery of daily duties at bay.

10. Hanna








Grade: A
Thanks to a confident, atmospheric visual palette from director Joe Wright and disgustingly lethal beatings courtesy of waifish Saoirse Ronan, Hanna delivered an indie take on the Bourne series that easily overtook the farce that was Sucker Punch in the Girl Power division.

9. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol









Grade: B
Tom Cruise continued to tempt death in this exciting entry that expanded the scope and ambition of the series far beyond the previous installments. Kudos to Brad Bird, in particular, for translating some of the old animation magic into his first live-action feature.

8. Real Steel









Grade: B
Easily dismissed as the Rock’em, Sock’em Robots: The Movie--which it is—this Rocky for the Transformers-set is far more entertaining and affecting than it had any right to be. Despite having a grumpy lead and a precocious kid, Real Steel proved its mettle (sorry) with solid robot-on-robot violence and an underdog narrative that rarely fails.

7. Warrior









Grade: A
In training to break the Dark Knight, the man who would be Bane (Tom Hardy), shows raw physical and emotional range in this Rocky for the MMA-set. Hardy’s performance is thankfully only one of the many highlights, as Joel Edgerton and Nick Nolte both shine as Hardy’s brother and father, respectively.

6. Fast Five









Grade: B+
Fast Five is a trade off: it relinquishes the negligible street cred—as if it ever had any—of focusing on underground street racing to become Toretto’s Seven, using any trick in the heist flick glossary to put on a show like no other Fast &Furious movie has before. It takes a moment to accept that a Fast & Furious movie can be guilt-free fun, let alone, good, but this one is both.

5. Hugo
G







Grade: A
Touching to a fault and submerged in a wonderfully luminous visual style, Hugo takes two well-worn narratives--the young orphan in search of a home and the idealistic youngster who
warms the heart of an old curmudgeon—and weaves them into a moving story that honors the early days of film while making at least 90% of the audience cry--almost.

4. Attack the Block









Grade: A
In the vein of Scott Pilgrim (which was directed by Block’s producer Edgar Wright), British import Attack the Block is a unique, underrated vision that never got the attention it deserved. More people probably saw this movie for free than any other flick this year. For those who did, they were treated to a topical twist on the alien invasion narrative that speaks to anybody who lives in a ‘ignored’ part of town.

3. Rango








Grade: A
Somehow, Johnny Depp and Gore Verbinski managed to roll up Spaghetti Westerns and Gonzo journalist adventures into a visually stunning and idiosyncratic take on Chinatown that was aimed at kids, but easily entertained all ages. Easily Johnny Depp’s best animated performance this year, with Captain Jack’s return in On Stranger Tides a slightly distant second.

2. Captain America









Grade: A
Easily the best superhero movie this year. Possibly the best Marvel movie since Blade II. Joe Johnston’s Captain America was a throwback to an era where heroes were uncomplicated and unashamedly earnest. Evoking memories of Johnston’s 90’s cult classic, The Rocketeer, Captain America, played ably by Chris Evans, showed audiences that heroes can be heroes without angst, armored suits, or ambiguity.

1. The Artist








Grade: A+
An all-around crowd pleaser fronted by two of the most winning leads of the year (Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo). Following the tale of a falling silent movie star and the rise of the spunky young starlet he’s fell in love with, The Artist is light-hearted but affecting and a wonderful experiment in the power of performances and visual over dialogue. Filmed in the manner of silent films that predated Hollywood’s golden era, The Artist may seem like it’s based around a gimmick, but rarely is a gimmick attached to such an entertaining and touching narrative.

Review - Hanna

Grade: A

The Good: A true example of girl power on film, replete with amazing, grounded action; stunning cinematography, a stylish, well-integrated score. All revealed through a filmmaker with enough confidence and patience to let the film unfold at its own pace.

The Bad: Plot is scant and hits many similar plot points from recent actioners like Kick Ass and the Bourne Trilogy; May be too slow and spare to accommodate viewers of modern action films

The Ugly: The way the poor souls who pursue Hanna are beaten.

Re: Girl Power
Dear Zack Snyder,

Please see Hanna. Immediately

P.S. Take notes. Copious notes.

Hanna is easily one of the most refreshing action films in recent memory. If the current glut of increasingly soulless cg-laden superhero and fantasy flicks has audiences glazed and longing for a film-going experience that deftly combines intense action, relatively realistic characters and something resembling heart, then Hanna is the rain after a long dry spell.

Like the little lost sister of Bourne Trilogy, Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) is the eponymous tale of a 16-year old girl raised by her father, Eastern European Counterintelligence agent Erik Heller (Eric Bana), to be, literally, the deadliest teen in the world. After years of living and training like a hunting, gathering warrior monk in the forests of the Arctic Circle, Hanna’s curiosity about the world beyond her training ground pushes her to flip the switch on a transponder, bringing the attention of the duplicitous and layered CIA handler Marissa Wiegler (Cate Blanchett). Once that switch is flipped, Hanna goes full steam to complete the one mission her father has been training her for all her life. Upon completion of her mission, Hanna must reunite with her father, trekking her way from the deserts of Morocco to the gloomy cities of Germany, Along the way, Hanna is pursued by vicious skinheads lead a fey hired killer (Tom Hollander), meets a curiously dysfunctional British family on holiday and learns just how beautiful and terrible the world can be.

Director Joe Wright has crafted a sublime piece of filmmaking with Hanna. He keeps the plot scant so as to allow the film to truly breathe. And breathe it does. Alwin H. Kucher delivers some gorgeous cinematography highlights the frigid isolation of the Artic; the dusty expanse of the Moroccan desert and the grim, gray industrial pallor of Berlin. Those scenes are enhanced by a stillness and patience that lets the audience absorb these environments with the same sense of awe and wonder that Hanna does. The quiet beauty of the cinematography extends to numerous scenes of Hanna silently interacting with world, as if she’s always processing new information and looking for ways to follow her father’s golden rule: adapt or die. Adding to the Hanna’s spectacular mood and visuals is an amazing score by the Chemical Brothers that is absolutely integral to the experience. Like Tron and the Social Network before it, Hanna’s score moves beyond the traditional orchestral ebbs and flows, opting for an eclectic mix that combines dance, video game and techno music to create a sound that seamlessly evokes the emotion, pacing and tone of the film’s both the action scenes and the quieter moments.

Keeping Hanna from existing solely as a reflective, artsy European-style film are some of the best action scenes since the Bourne Ultimatum. Hanna is such a proficient human weapon that it’s hard to not feel concerned for anyone foolish enough to attack her. If not for the fact that she is a waifish 16-year old, there’d be very few stakes in the film. Hanna’s father/trainer is no slouch himself, delivering a chain of lethal beatdowns in a number sequences, including one that resembles, and improves upon, the Neo vs. Agent Smiths rumble from the Matrix Reloaded. What makes the action so effective in Hanna is the sheer practicality and grounded nature of the physical encounters. No wirework or CGI is evident, only hard-earned blows and bumps that would make an audience question whether Wright used any stunt personnel.

With or without stunt performers, Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana and Cate Blanchett all do a phenomenal job of giving depth to characters that are normally little more than action figures. Academy Award nominated Ronan makes Hanna vulnerable without ever making the character appear physically or mentally weak. She plays Hanna with a sense of subdued curiosity that reveals just how deep her training has affected her, but that it hasn’t crushed her. For all she’s learned and become, Hanna always seems like a teen who is not as far from normal as circumstance has made her. Sure, she’s disconnected and lives primarily within her mind, but she’s not that different from the average 16-year-old. Hanna particularly comes alive when she crosses paths with the bawdy, vulgar Sophie (Jessica Barden) and her family, including her aloof mother (Olivia Williams) and eager-to-please father (Jason Flemying). Cate Blanchett chews scenery with style as Hanna’s desperate pursuer. Blanchett sports an slightly exaggerated southern accent as Wiegler that could land as more comical than true, but Blanchett’s ease with showing the layers of Weigler—from desperate and frazzled to cunning and treacherous, often within seconds—makes the character more than the run-of-the-mill CIA spook villain. Not to be outdone by the ladies, Eric Bana brings his trademark mix of earnest innocence and reluctant rage to the table as Hanna’s father/trainer. He gives the character a consistent calm that rarely belies the fury and violence that lies beneath. When he does unleash his skill with violent aplomb, audiences will not wonder why he was so feared by Blanchett’s Weigler.

As solid as the performances, the sound and the visuals of Hanna are, the film treads a lot of familiar ground, sharing a number of plot points with the aforementioned Bourne Trilogy. The scant plotting may not please viewers looking for twists and dense mythology in this age of winding, unnecessarily complicated mythologies. But, simplicity has and, never will, be a bad thing. Similarly, retreads of common plot machinations are only as weak as the creator’s imagination, or lack thereof. For the second year in a row, spring has brought a film with a functionally dysfunctional father-daughter/master-student dynamic at its core. Comparisons to Hit Girl and Big Daddy from last year’s Kick Ass are inevitable, but, for those folks who tired of Kick Ass’ teen comedy moments and wanted more of the Deadly Daddy Daughter Duo, this film delivers a near perfect example of what a film focused purely on Hit Girl and Big Daddy would look like.

Now, if only someone would get to work on the Hit-Girl/Hanna showdown we deserve…