2011 Round-Up

Annual Round-Up: 2011 Edition

I don’t get to see many movies in the theater.  Consequently, I don’t feel that I can write anything approaching a definitive “Best Of” list for 2011.  I can, however, share with you the best films among those I saw, big screen or small.  Here they are.

The Best:

#5.  Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol.  Fast-paced, funny, exotic, and exciting, Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol is everything a spy action-thriller should be.  Its superspies and supervillains are appropriately super, its action sequences are breathtakingly exciting, and the whole thing hangs together with a sense of adventure and fun that had my whole group smiling as we walked out the door.

#4.  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II.  The final episode of the Harry Potter series ties it all together.  The story twists often enough to keep us in suspense, the characters get the finales they deserve, and the entire franchise comes out as among the most successful long-form cinematic stories ever told. The Harry Potter films have had their ups and downs, but this one ends the series on a high note.

#3.  Hugo.  A film of technical audacity, Hugo succeeds from its first image, a swooping flyover of a near-fantastical version of Paris.  Its use of 3D technology is assured and masterful, and it tells a touching story while bathing us in aesthetic joy.  This is a delightful, wonderful film, and I can’t wait ‘til my children are old enough to see it for themselves.

#2.  13 Assassins.  Everything a movie should be, 13 Assassins is a perfect film.  It’s a “men on a mission” picture that deserves comparison with The Seven Samurai, with beautifully composed shots, thoughtful editing and sound design, well-realized characters, and gallons and gallons of Kensington Gore.

#1.  The Tree of Life.  Audacious, thoughtful, brilliant, and utterly moving, The Tree of Life is the most philosophically ambitious film I’ve seen since The Fountain.  Meant for big screens and bigger speakers,The Tree of Life is a quiet and introspective film about meditations on the meaning of life.  How does one reconcile “big screens and bigger speakers” with “quiet and introspective?”  Terrence Malick finds a way and in so doing draws his audience into his meditative place.  Of all the new releases we saw this year, this is the one that had my wife and me up talking well past midnight.  Bravo.

The Worst:

#1 and Only:  Transformers: Dark of the Moon.  I had a “Bottom 5 Worst Films” list ready to go.  On further consideration, however, numbers 2-5 were The Magnificent Ambersons compared to Transformers: Dark of the Moon.  This is a rock ‘em sock ‘em robot movie that put my three boys, all hepped up on Twizzlers and soda, to sleep.  I say again: this is a film about battlin’ bots that puts little boys to sleep.  So never mind that the characters are horrid, the story ridiculous, the action sequences incomprehensible, and the entire production put together by people who, apparently, actively hate us.  Transformers: Dark of the Moon is painfully, agonizingly, apocalyptically dull.  Not only is this the worst film I’ve seen this year, it’s the worst film I’ve seen since Transformers.  I’m glad I missed the second one.  I’ll be sure to miss the next.

Mission: Impossible 3

MI3 is the most enjoyable of the MISSION IMPOSSIBLE films. It has a coherent story, nifty locations, and actors who know when to play it straight and when to chew the scenery.

The story is your basic Maguffin chase, no apologies necessary. The film called the prize in question the "rabbit's foot," and it'll end the world or some such, but the prize itself remains largely irrelevant. That's fine - I just appreciated that, unlike with the first two films, I could follow who was doing what to whom and why.

As with any good spy thriller, the action jumps from city to city around the world, barely stopping for breath or exposition. Everything looks great, the cops never respond to extraordinary amounts of gunfire, and someone put the bridge that links the Florida Keys in the middle of Virginia. Oh, and lots of stuff blows up real good.

Finally, there's the cast. The filmmakers assembled an extraordinary group of actors for a bubble-gum movie: there's Maggie Q in black fatigues, Maggie Q in a red dress, and Maggie Q in a leather jacket. It's the perfect cast for nearly any movie, and it succeeds perfectly.

In short, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 3 is slick, succesful, big-budget entertainment. I understand that the movie didn't make much money in the theaters, mostly due to the shenanigans of some guy who isn't Maggie Q, but pay no attention to that extraneous stuff: grab a DVD copy, pop some popcorn, and enjoy.