The Tradition Lives on Top Movies of 2011
In a way I enjoy livejournal over everything else in the blog world. What attracts me is how livejournal has resorted to this point as to those small community members that stay loyal and don't want to post a note on a facebook timeline. Tumblr and even Blogspot are too mainstream for me. I don't know. This is Anthony of 2011 speaking. Who knows? This maybe my last post ever. If it is well then I should let you guys know what my TOP TEN MOVIES ARE. But first the worst film of the year
Worst Movie of the Year
2004 - Z-Boys: Lords of Dogtown
2005 - Disney's Teacher's Pet
2006 - Date Movie
2007 - I Know Who Killed Me
2008 - The Beautiful Truth
2009 - FIRED UP!
2010 - Nightmare on Elm Street
2011 - Priest
This just sucked. To sum it up, this Priest is all bad ass and starts killing these evil people because they do evil. Cue in horrible dialog, story, action, scare moments and in a 3D element with a hefty price of admission and you are looking at one P.O.'ed customer. Scary thing is that I think they are making a sequel to this shitfest.
MOVIE OF THE YEAR
2002 - The Ring
2003 - Kill Bill vol. 1
2004 - Garden State
2005 - Sin City
2006 - Rocky Balboa
2007 - Sunshine
2008 - The Dark Knight
2009 - STAR TREK
2010 - Black Swan
and.... now my top ten
10. Horrible Bosses
Fuck ya'll. I liked this movie. I laughed out loud a couple times. I had some good times. Charlie Day being Charlie Kelly is always great. Aniston was looking sexy. Kevin Spacey being such a dick. It was a nice comedic version of “Strangers of a Train”. I say it deserves the 10 spot
9. Insidious
The feeling I get with this movie when reviewed on film and horror websites is that this movie is kind of saving the horror genre. Let's be honest, mainstream horror movies these days rely on the loud noises to scare audiences and some sort of terrible plot that is held together by a string and then ends in bullshit just so they can make shitty fucking sequels. Insidious didn't seem to rely on that. The opening intro was creepy as fuck. In fact the beginning credits was scarier than most films nowadays. As for the plot, here we go, some shit is scaring this family and we have to figure out why. I don't want to spoil anything but there is something in this film that is brilliant and smart that it makes you think why it took until 2011 to have this family do the smartest thing ever in taking on the paranormal. The ending became a little Micky Mouse-y but the rest was superb.
8. X-Men:First Class
SHOCKINGLY I was against this movie. Same old story, here is Hollywood milking another franchise. Side-stories, prequels...ughhhhhh. Stop. Thanks to Netflix, I checked it out. I popped it in my PS3, grabbed some sodas and took my cinematic journey into the origins of these mutants and when the journey was over I felt something on my face. Was it a tumor? No. Was it a whisker? No. It was a smile. This may have been the best film in the entire series (or a close 2nd to X2). I feel like prequels overall are a dud and this was one was pretty sweet. The love/hate relationship between Professor X and Magneto, the VERY hilarious cameo made by Wolverine, and the internal conflict with Mystique. It was very good and I plan on picking this up when WAL*MART has a deal.
7. Water for Elephants
With an early 2011 release, this film disappeared as the year went on which is a shame. Or at least I haven't heard anybody talk about since the first quarter. Though it had some disturbing animal brutality, the rest of the film was a pleasant romantic story set during a turn of the century traveling circus. Team Edward and Reese Witherspoon had great chemistry that I would even say could be a great comparison to the love story couples of the 30's and 40's.
6. Grave Encounters
Everyone has a movie that connects to them. People may not get it, but it's their movie no matter what. Grave Encounters is my movie. It's apart of the flavor of the month genre, Docu-Horror. Plot here is simple. Grave Encounters was the pioneer paranormal reality television show. The episode the audience is about to watch is their last episode ever. For you see, some real spooky stuff happens and the rest of the crew was never found. Only the footage. Why Did I love it? I love it because it was a wonderful parody to these ghost hunting shows. The tacky opening intro (including TV rating), “creepy” time lapse, the over cheese host, and many other wonderful jabs at these shows. I thought the story moved great, the spooks were creepy as all hell (DON'T SEE THE TRAILER!) and the character development. Let me take time to talk about about the character development. The cheesy host becoming this scarred shit, “I'm going to put on my tough face” persona was hilarious yet strangely strikes to the heart as you can see yourself as this guy who still has to wear his leader hat even though things don't make any sense in this alternate reality. You won't see this movie on any Starz movie channels. Netflix is your best bet. If you see if, click on view now. It's a good scare
5. Beginners
The trailer struck me as a new Garden State, and since I love me some Garden State I decided to check this out in theaters. The premise was that Ewan McGregor's character is basically BEGINNING his life over. His father comes out of the closet and his dying, while this whole time he is trying to fall in love. Visually and the storytelling related to me very well. I say this because in one scene he was told that his father had a tumor the size of a quarter. The lead then images if it's a quarter, 25 pennies, 2 dimes and a nickle...his mind races with all of these photos that represent the given topic. The key reason why this was not number 1 but instead mid-way in my list is the ending. I called it a mile away and it was lazy. Endings make or break film. Other than that, CHECK IT OUT!
4. Super
Almost a duplicate of the hit, “Kick-ASS”, this showcases a more darker, black comedy appeal. Plus I was very drunk while watching this. Anyway Rainn Wilson plays a guy who gets influenced to become a superhero partially based off checking out comics from his local comic book store. Ellen Page, a mere worker at said store, joins together with Wilson to take on all crime. Input a quirky funny catchphrase, “Shut up, Crime!”, and evil leader Kevin Bacon, and you got yourself some exciting moments. Just as the prior film I mentioned, the fight scenes are surprisingly graphic. For you see, Wilson's super hero's gimmick is that he walks around with a monkey wrench and...well...it's awesome. If you liked Kick-ASS, you should love this.
3. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
There was a lot of promotion for this U.S. Version of the film. Trent Reznor had done the score, Daniel Craig was in it and supposedly the female did one helluva job. Now i've seen the foreign version. It was really good except that I would of changed the ending of it. So I pay my $11.50 at the door and get ready for one of the most hyped films of the year. The opening credits hit and I'm watching a bizarre music video to the tune of a revamped and remade version of “Immigrant Song”. So already I'm like, “this is going to suck”. But no...it didn't. It captured me into the film. Not the song but the actual film itself. What happened to this girl? Why are people trying to kill Daniel Craig? I thought everyone liked him. I would even go far as to say I preferred this version better to it's international counterpart. My only dislike is the same with the other film (and I guess also with the book, though I never read it). See the film has a big storyline in that we are supposed to find out what happened to this girl many moons ago. What ends up happening is that Craig's character gets so deep into this rabbit hole that people are out to get him. Then it turns into this suspense/cerebral epic that spins off multiple side stories. You get so involved into those that you lose the main part of the whole story. So while those stories come to a close, you still have a half hour left for the real ending of our journey. It sounds like I'm putting this film down but the thrill ride is quite exciting and the post-cum is great as well but it's almost like you have to tell your brain to calm down and to focus on the mystery again. Besides that, some cool shots and the soundtrack really set the tone for this entire piece.
2. Midnight in Paris
All I kept hearing is how the trailer makes the film something it's not. Something about time traveling? What? Woody Allen making a sci-fi movie? With Owen Wilson? I'm being worked. So on Valentine's Day I went to my local RedBox with a free rental code in the back of my mind and rented it. I starred at this DVD and I was so not interested. It's going to be a gay love story with way too much dialog and I'm going to hate everyone. Oscars are dumb...blah blah blah. Eventually that day I got the courage to pop it in the DVD player and 90 minutes later I walked away a man who saw a brilliant use of cinema. This film portrays the city of Paris as the most romantically interesting place on the entire globe. Ever. The beauty of this is that Owen's journey through time is not made through a telephone booth, or a DeLorean, or any other over-the-top props, but rather uses a nonchalant approach. He's just hanging by some steps and come midnight a circa 1920's automobile rolls up and welcomes Owen's character to venture into the unknown. His excitement and delivery on meeting his idols is funny and comes off pure genuine. It's only after we get more into the film that we learn a very strong message that we shouldn't live in the past and try to relive the golden years but rather we can use to past to help us live in the present. Strongly recommend.
1. Drive
If you know me then you know that I love 1980's. The films, pop culture, music, AIDS, wardrobes, the '86 Mets, it was possibly the greatest decade ever in the history of humanity. This is what Drive was about. The kick ass new wave soundtrack, a bad ass group of thugs and a badder ass male lead. Fuck you with your Notebook Ryan Gosling Mr. Romance guy. This is how I like my Ryan Rosling. By day a stunt fucking driver! And by night he is a no nonsense, doing what's right type of guy. The Oscar snub angered many films and critics as this was IMO the best movie to come out of 2011 and it seems the case with others. This movie has blood and guts. This movie will make you think “what would I do in this situation?”. And this movie will make you run out and get yourself a pair of driving gloves. This is an action/suspense movie that will make you want more. Go out of your way to see it.
next top ten of the year in my life
Worst Movie of the Year
2004 - Z-Boys: Lords of Dogtown
2005 - Disney's Teacher's Pet
2006 - Date Movie
2007 - I Know Who Killed Me
2008 - The Beautiful Truth
2009 - FIRED UP!
2010 - Nightmare on Elm Street
2011 - Priest
This just sucked. To sum it up, this Priest is all bad ass and starts killing these evil people because they do evil. Cue in horrible dialog, story, action, scare moments and in a 3D element with a hefty price of admission and you are looking at one P.O.'ed customer. Scary thing is that I think they are making a sequel to this shitfest.
MOVIE OF THE YEAR
2002 - The Ring
2003 - Kill Bill vol. 1
2004 - Garden State
2005 - Sin City
2006 - Rocky Balboa
2007 - Sunshine
2008 - The Dark Knight
2009 - STAR TREK
2010 - Black Swan
and.... now my top ten
10. Horrible Bosses
Fuck ya'll. I liked this movie. I laughed out loud a couple times. I had some good times. Charlie Day being Charlie Kelly is always great. Aniston was looking sexy. Kevin Spacey being such a dick. It was a nice comedic version of “Strangers of a Train”. I say it deserves the 10 spot
9. Insidious
The feeling I get with this movie when reviewed on film and horror websites is that this movie is kind of saving the horror genre. Let's be honest, mainstream horror movies these days rely on the loud noises to scare audiences and some sort of terrible plot that is held together by a string and then ends in bullshit just so they can make shitty fucking sequels. Insidious didn't seem to rely on that. The opening intro was creepy as fuck. In fact the beginning credits was scarier than most films nowadays. As for the plot, here we go, some shit is scaring this family and we have to figure out why. I don't want to spoil anything but there is something in this film that is brilliant and smart that it makes you think why it took until 2011 to have this family do the smartest thing ever in taking on the paranormal. The ending became a little Micky Mouse-y but the rest was superb.
8. X-Men:First Class
SHOCKINGLY I was against this movie. Same old story, here is Hollywood milking another franchise. Side-stories, prequels...ughhhhhh. Stop. Thanks to Netflix, I checked it out. I popped it in my PS3, grabbed some sodas and took my cinematic journey into the origins of these mutants and when the journey was over I felt something on my face. Was it a tumor? No. Was it a whisker? No. It was a smile. This may have been the best film in the entire series (or a close 2nd to X2). I feel like prequels overall are a dud and this was one was pretty sweet. The love/hate relationship between Professor X and Magneto, the VERY hilarious cameo made by Wolverine, and the internal conflict with Mystique. It was very good and I plan on picking this up when WAL*MART has a deal.
7. Water for Elephants
With an early 2011 release, this film disappeared as the year went on which is a shame. Or at least I haven't heard anybody talk about since the first quarter. Though it had some disturbing animal brutality, the rest of the film was a pleasant romantic story set during a turn of the century traveling circus. Team Edward and Reese Witherspoon had great chemistry that I would even say could be a great comparison to the love story couples of the 30's and 40's.
6. Grave Encounters
Everyone has a movie that connects to them. People may not get it, but it's their movie no matter what. Grave Encounters is my movie. It's apart of the flavor of the month genre, Docu-Horror. Plot here is simple. Grave Encounters was the pioneer paranormal reality television show. The episode the audience is about to watch is their last episode ever. For you see, some real spooky stuff happens and the rest of the crew was never found. Only the footage. Why Did I love it? I love it because it was a wonderful parody to these ghost hunting shows. The tacky opening intro (including TV rating), “creepy” time lapse, the over cheese host, and many other wonderful jabs at these shows. I thought the story moved great, the spooks were creepy as all hell (DON'T SEE THE TRAILER!) and the character development. Let me take time to talk about about the character development. The cheesy host becoming this scarred shit, “I'm going to put on my tough face” persona was hilarious yet strangely strikes to the heart as you can see yourself as this guy who still has to wear his leader hat even though things don't make any sense in this alternate reality. You won't see this movie on any Starz movie channels. Netflix is your best bet. If you see if, click on view now. It's a good scare
5. Beginners
The trailer struck me as a new Garden State, and since I love me some Garden State I decided to check this out in theaters. The premise was that Ewan McGregor's character is basically BEGINNING his life over. His father comes out of the closet and his dying, while this whole time he is trying to fall in love. Visually and the storytelling related to me very well. I say this because in one scene he was told that his father had a tumor the size of a quarter. The lead then images if it's a quarter, 25 pennies, 2 dimes and a nickle...his mind races with all of these photos that represent the given topic. The key reason why this was not number 1 but instead mid-way in my list is the ending. I called it a mile away and it was lazy. Endings make or break film. Other than that, CHECK IT OUT!
4. Super
Almost a duplicate of the hit, “Kick-ASS”, this showcases a more darker, black comedy appeal. Plus I was very drunk while watching this. Anyway Rainn Wilson plays a guy who gets influenced to become a superhero partially based off checking out comics from his local comic book store. Ellen Page, a mere worker at said store, joins together with Wilson to take on all crime. Input a quirky funny catchphrase, “Shut up, Crime!”, and evil leader Kevin Bacon, and you got yourself some exciting moments. Just as the prior film I mentioned, the fight scenes are surprisingly graphic. For you see, Wilson's super hero's gimmick is that he walks around with a monkey wrench and...well...it's awesome. If you liked Kick-ASS, you should love this.
3. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
There was a lot of promotion for this U.S. Version of the film. Trent Reznor had done the score, Daniel Craig was in it and supposedly the female did one helluva job. Now i've seen the foreign version. It was really good except that I would of changed the ending of it. So I pay my $11.50 at the door and get ready for one of the most hyped films of the year. The opening credits hit and I'm watching a bizarre music video to the tune of a revamped and remade version of “Immigrant Song”. So already I'm like, “this is going to suck”. But no...it didn't. It captured me into the film. Not the song but the actual film itself. What happened to this girl? Why are people trying to kill Daniel Craig? I thought everyone liked him. I would even go far as to say I preferred this version better to it's international counterpart. My only dislike is the same with the other film (and I guess also with the book, though I never read it). See the film has a big storyline in that we are supposed to find out what happened to this girl many moons ago. What ends up happening is that Craig's character gets so deep into this rabbit hole that people are out to get him. Then it turns into this suspense/cerebral epic that spins off multiple side stories. You get so involved into those that you lose the main part of the whole story. So while those stories come to a close, you still have a half hour left for the real ending of our journey. It sounds like I'm putting this film down but the thrill ride is quite exciting and the post-cum is great as well but it's almost like you have to tell your brain to calm down and to focus on the mystery again. Besides that, some cool shots and the soundtrack really set the tone for this entire piece.
2. Midnight in Paris
All I kept hearing is how the trailer makes the film something it's not. Something about time traveling? What? Woody Allen making a sci-fi movie? With Owen Wilson? I'm being worked. So on Valentine's Day I went to my local RedBox with a free rental code in the back of my mind and rented it. I starred at this DVD and I was so not interested. It's going to be a gay love story with way too much dialog and I'm going to hate everyone. Oscars are dumb...blah blah blah. Eventually that day I got the courage to pop it in the DVD player and 90 minutes later I walked away a man who saw a brilliant use of cinema. This film portrays the city of Paris as the most romantically interesting place on the entire globe. Ever. The beauty of this is that Owen's journey through time is not made through a telephone booth, or a DeLorean, or any other over-the-top props, but rather uses a nonchalant approach. He's just hanging by some steps and come midnight a circa 1920's automobile rolls up and welcomes Owen's character to venture into the unknown. His excitement and delivery on meeting his idols is funny and comes off pure genuine. It's only after we get more into the film that we learn a very strong message that we shouldn't live in the past and try to relive the golden years but rather we can use to past to help us live in the present. Strongly recommend.
1. Drive
If you know me then you know that I love 1980's. The films, pop culture, music, AIDS, wardrobes, the '86 Mets, it was possibly the greatest decade ever in the history of humanity. This is what Drive was about. The kick ass new wave soundtrack, a bad ass group of thugs and a badder ass male lead. Fuck you with your Notebook Ryan Gosling Mr. Romance guy. This is how I like my Ryan Rosling. By day a stunt fucking driver! And by night he is a no nonsense, doing what's right type of guy. The Oscar snub angered many films and critics as this was IMO the best movie to come out of 2011 and it seems the case with others. This movie has blood and guts. This movie will make you think “what would I do in this situation?”. And this movie will make you run out and get yourself a pair of driving gloves. This is an action/suspense movie that will make you want more. Go out of your way to see it.
next top ten of the year in my life