My top 10 favorite films of 2011.

With 2011 ending in 3 and a half hours, I have decided to post my top 10 favorite films of this year. 2011 was a good year. I had to leave some good films this year. Beginners, Rise of the Planet of the Apes...

10. The Help
09. The Ides of March
08. War Horse
07. Midnight in Paris
06. Drive
05. Moneyball
04. The Descendants
03. The Artist
02. Hugo
01. The Tree of Life

84th Oscars: Best Director Nominees

I'm addicted to checking the score for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Last I've read, it has a 49% on RT, and a 40 on Metacritic. In fact, it's on the brink of being "Generally unfavorable". What I really hope is that the Academy isn't too Daldry bias. Come January, I don't want to hear the film's name being announced. Scratch that, I wouldn't mind Max von Sydow being announced.

A real lock for the Best Director nomination is Michel Hazanavicus, for directing The Artist. I would say his biggest win is at NYFCC, and there are other groups that I am too lazy to name.

Besides him, there are two other big shots: Terrence Malick (I'm not bias,) and Martin Scorsese. I can easily profess that Scorsese is my favorite director, and debatably the greatest of all time. Already he has won the National Board of Review for Hugo and also been nominated for the Golden Globe.

Malick's nomination is nearly as divisive as his film itself. He won at Chicago and LAFCA, but missed at Golden Globes.

I would want to say that if critics were Oscar voters, The Social Network would have won last year, and Nicolas Winding Refn would be a nomination lock for this year. However, I don't see high prospects for Drive, or Refn himself. Bummer.

All in all, Daldry's luck has run out, Scorsese and Hazanavicus are locks, and Malick will probably make it. Alexander Payne needs to step up his game if he wants the nomination, and Woody Allen will duke it out with Spielberg for the last spot. Sounds fun.

The Artist (2011), 4/4 Stars

I love Charlie Chaplin films. Modern Times? One of the best of all time! The thing about Modern Times is that it's not a complete silent film- there's some sound. That's the same situation with Michel Hazanavicus' The Artist.

The Artist tells of George Valentin, a popular silent film star. One fan of his, Peppy Miller, accidentally becomes a big star when meeting him. Soon, Miller surpasses Valentin when she joins the sound wave.

Soon, Valentin hits a low. His butler is fired, and his wife dumps him and his stuff. Not only that, his wife tells him to see the movie Beauty Spot, the movie throwing Peppy into fame.

84th Oscars: Detroit Film Critics Winners

Sorry I can't cite the site, but here are the winners! (No italicization for the sake of time.)

BEST PICTURE
The Artist

BEST DIRECTOR
Michel Hazanavicus

BEST ACTOR
Michael Fassbender

BEST ACTRESS
Michelle Williams

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christopher Plummer

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Carey Mulligan

BEST ENSEMBLE
Carnage

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
Jessica Chastain

BEST SCREENPLAY
Moneyball

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Tabloid

84th Oscars: Dublin Film Critics Circle Winners

Thanks to AwardsDaily for this list. For the sake of time, I'm not going to italicize every film's title.

Best Picture
“Drive”

Best Director
Nicolas Winding Refn, “Drive"

Best Actor
Ryan Gosling, “Drive”

Best Actress
Jessica Chastain, “The Tree of Life”

Best Documentary
“Senna”

Best Foreign Language Film
“A Separation”

Best Irish Film
“The Guard”

Best Irish Documentary
“Knuckle”

International Breakthrough
Jessica Chastain, “The Help,” “Take Shelter” and “The Tree of Life”

Domestic Breakthrough
John Michael McDonagh, “The Guard”

I highly doubt Dublin is a big Oscar game changer, but it's a cool list.

The Descendants (2011), 3.5/4 Stars

First off, I have only seen Alexander Payne's Sideways, and I loved it. However, it was only recently since that time, much before I learned to love Alexander Payne.

The Descendants tells of George Clooney playing Matt King, a lawyer and heir to 25 acres of Hawaiian land. However, his wife has had a boating accident, and is in a coma. In one scene, King tells his cousin that he is "trying to keep his head above water". Distraught as he is, he has to take care of his two daughters, and he hardly knows their personality. Scottie, the 10 year old, is an offensive loudmouth who Matt cannot familiarize with. Alexandra, the 17 year old, does drugs and drinks while at private school.

The Reader (2008), 3/4 Stars

Note: Daldry's new Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close came out today, and Ralph Finnes has recently celebrated his birthday. This couldn't be a better time to recycle my review for The Reader. I wrote this review in November.


To say this film deserved the elusive Best Picture nomination, is incorrect. The Dark Knight was a better film in almost all respects. Alone, The Reader is a very good film. It's one of the few films I can truly describe as drama, alongside Atonement and The Pianist. The direction here by Stephen Daldry was also very good, and that anticipates me more for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

The story describes of a young boy, Michael. Coming home from school, he purges, but is assisted by Hanna. Diagnosed with scarlet fever, (I have "Scarlett Fever), he remains sick for three months. To thank Hanna, he brings her flowers, and catches her in the act of dressing. Hanna later asks Michael to bring him two buckets of coal. He comes home a mess, and Hanna bathes him. It ends with them, both seduced, having sex.

Together they have an affair. After reading to her, Hanna demands Michael to read first, than make love. Suddenly, Hanna leaves. Nine years later, Michael is a law student and Hanna is on trial for Nazi war crimes. And, Michael discovers a dark secret about Hanna, one that was in his face during their entire affair.

To say the acting was OK is an understatement. Winslet delivered a very sexual, unique, and powerful performance, while Finnes had a lesser, more subdued role. I'm happy Winslet won the Oscar for this, but she deserved much more for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. My main problem was with the kid, David Kross. His performance was too forced during quiet scenes, and too loud during quiet scenes. Perhaps he wasn't experienced enough. But if I were to pick a quality in the film as a coherent whole, it would be the music. The piano music is high, mighty, and adds wonderful atmosphere. I am amazed how well this film would go with Atonement, another WWII drama. It's too bad composer Nico Muhly wasn't nominated for his work on this film.

One of my main problems was the clunky time shifting. Though the beginning felt smooth with Nico Muhly's music, scenes from Kross to Finnes and back again were rugged and slurred the plot together. The film could've been much better if the time shifting narrative was more seamless or if the sequences were chronological.

All in all, I give this film a solid recommendation, but it's not without it's flaws.

3/4 Stars

84th Oscars: Best Picture Nominees

If you were to ask anyone who the Oscar front runner is, you'll hear The Artist, The Descendants, or even Moneyball. (Yes, I'm talking about Sasha Stone,). The fact that there is no real front runner is a delight, and makes the game a real guess.

I'm going to say there is about a 5% chance of Bridesmaids being nominated. I'm extending the margin just in case it happens. I would also put a 3% chance on J. Edgar, because... it's not that good. Drive would have a 15% chance, despite it's goodness.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Gee, I'm giving it a 50/50 chance. (The movie 50/50 is getting a 1% chance, even though it looks good,). One of my last articles, Extreme Loss and Incredible Crap? is unfairly titled, but EL&IC is losing chances with a now 65% tomato-meter. It's pretty much holding on by Daldry and Hanks. Horn's performance is too divisive.

Speaking of divisive, The Tree of Life (My favorite movie of 2011!). It's quite divisive, just read the RT reviews here. It has a 61% audience approval rating, but an 84% Critics Rank. Either way, I think with Daldry's loss, the year's best film will become a nominee. I'm giving it a 75% chance of being nominated.

On the note of 75, that's the RT score for The Help. It's probably the year's "Audience picks" nominee, one that parents at home probably saw. I'm not going to lie, but I actually liked it quite a bit. It's a good flair of comedy and drama, and I really want Viola Davis to win Best Actress. In fact, I think the performances keep the whole film afloat. They are hard to ignore, so... 90% chance of being nominated in my book.

Over Christmas Break, I want to see The Descendants and The Artist, the two real front runners. There was a third, War Horse, but it's losing chances. The Descendants, 99.9%. The Artist, 100% (My bet to win,). War Horse, 95%.

In fact, if you want to be nominated, be different. The Tree of Life and The Artist are probably the most different films out of the bunch. The former being more divisive.

The Darjeeling Limited (2007), 3/4 Stars

I'm really not that familiar with Wes Anderson. I saw his Fantastic Mr. Fox, which is another 3 star movie. Either way, I'm happy that the Criterion Collection recognizes Mr. Anderson's work, because I intend on seeing more works by him. (Rushmore).

On to the movie. The film is very good, but not great. I felt it tried too hard to be sad, to hard to be happy, and too hard to be dramatic. Once the three brothers (Adrien Brody, Jason Schwartzman, and Owen Wilson,) board the train, it's very hard to believe that an Oscar winner, Schwartzman, and Gil from Midnight in Paris are all brothers.

However, there's a scene when they all go to their dad's funeral. From that scene, there are some very visible similarities. It's easy to see why Wes would cast Adrien Brody within his regulars Wilson and Schwartzman.

From the trailers, I thought that this would be a comedy with some family drama, but not much else. Instead, there's real heart, and the comedy is a chuckle, not a hoot.

Most of all, I hope that this film has a high count on being revisited. As for now, I recommend the film, and The Criterion Collection.

3/4 Stars

Extreme Loss & Incredible Crap?

It's amazing how much the Academy LOVES Stephen Daldry. For the only three films he directed, he got three directing noms. No matter how perverse and Kate Winslet-y The Reader is, The Dark Knight was better.

If you look at his Tomato-meter scores, there are none below 90%, and they rapidly go down.

• Billy Elliot- 85%
• The Hours- 81%
• The Reader- 62%

There's no consistency on his scores, or how good his films are. I'm not saying the Tomato-meter will represent the film's quality, but if the decline is correct, we're looking at an Extreme Loss.

I actually saw some clips of the film on RT, and the kid has a weird rhythm to his voice- There's fluctuation, like he knows he's on camera.

Recently, RopeOfSilicon gave the film an A+. Than again, they have been predicting it to win Best Picture since September.

I hope I'm wrong about the film's scores, but if this keeps up, we have a clunker. (See J. Edgar).