Wednesday, December 28, 2011

2011 At the Movies: The Best and Worst Films of the Year





2011 was an excellent movie year!

The beginning of the movie year may have started off on a bad note (the awful Season of the Witch being the first movie of '011) but as the months went on, some great movies came out (The Adjustment Bureau, Red Riding Hood, Bereavement).
As the summer arrived, a lot of cool films graced the silver screen(Captain America, Cowboys & Aliens, The Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Colombiana). 
And the fall season introduced a batch of wonderful movies (Drive, Straw Dogs, The Ides of March). 
Unlike the start the movie year, the end of it, ended with a bang, with some really extraordinary and provocative films (The Artist, Shame, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo).


Besides, the witch-less Season of the Witch, there thankfully weren't a lot of bad movies I had the displeasure of seeing. The French, Sleeping Beauty started off good but took a weird turn and ended so horribly abrupt, which is why it made it into the 'Worst' category.

Without any thought, the top film on my 'Best' list goes to the charming, romantic, ingenious, ode to Old Hollywood, silent and black & white- The Artist.
Second on the list is the indie The Perfect Host, a clever drama/borderline dark comedy about a dinner host who is perfectly demented.

Third, The Adjustment Bureau- a cool thought-provoking sci-fi romance about fate vs. freewill.
The mystery filled The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the American remake of the 2009 Swedish film, about the odd-paired tattooed hacker and journalist investigating the case of a missing girl, comes in next. 
And making the top five, is the brutal yet at times- beautiful, horror Bereavement, sequel to 2005's Malevolence, telling the story of a young boy kidnapped by a serial killer who is trained to follow in his footsteps.


Which other films completed my 'Best' list?

As well as categories: 
Best Performances, Worst Performances, Coolest, Original, Disappointing, Scariest, Funniest, Violent, Action-Packed, Romantic, Sexiest, Saddest, Controversial, Best Cast, Worst Cast, Overrated and Underrated?



Without further ado, I present:




Cinemanista's 
Best and Worst Films of 2011



BEST


The Artist
Trailer:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OK7pfLlsUQM





The Perfect Host

Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVqMrcakPg0 




The Adjustment Bureau
WORST:


Season of the Witch


Sleeping Beauty


 BEST PERFORMANCES:



The Artist
Whose Performance?
Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo
 as a silent movie star and an extra turned star.


The Devil's Double

Whose Performance?
Dominic Cooper
 as Latif Yahia, double for Uday Hussein and Uday Hussein.



 The Perfect Host

Whose Performance?
David Hyde Pierce
as a dinner host.



The Girl with the 
Dragon Tattoo
Whose Performance?
Rooney Mara
 as a troubled, hacker.


Drive
Whose Performance?
Ryan Gosling
as a movie stunt/getaway driver.


Shame
Whose Performance?
Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan
as brother and sister- a sex addict and a nightclub singer.



 The Ides of March
Whose Performance?
Ryan Gosling and George Clooney
as a campaign manager and a presidential candidate.


Trust
Whose Performance?
Liana Liberato 
as a girl who falls in love with the online predator who rapes her.


The Double
Whose Performance?
Richard Gere
  as a CIA agent.



WORST PERFORMANCES:



Season of the Witch
Whose Performance?

Nicholas Cage
as a knight.


New Year's Eve
Whose Performance?

The entire cast.



ORIGINAL:



The Artist

The Adjustment Bureau


Cowboys & Aliens


The Perfect Host


Bereavement


Super 8


COOLEST:



 Cowboys & Aliens


The Adjustment Bureau


The Girl with the 
Dragon Tattoo

Colombiana


Drive

Fast Five


The Rise of the
Planet of the Apes




Captain America



Thor


X-Men: 
First Class


Sanctum



Lord of the Dance 
3D


DISAPPOINTING:



Unknown


Battle: 
Los Angeles

The Hangover 2


New Year's Eve




SCARIEST:



The Thing

Final Destination 5

Bereavement

Scream 4



FUNNIEST:



Bridesmaids

Mr. Popper's Penguins

The Hangover 2

ACTION-PACKED:



Mission Impossible 4

Battle: 
Los Angeles

Colombiana



Fast Five


Cowboys & Aliens


The Rise of the
Planet of the Apes



The Mechanic



VIOLENT:



Bereavement

Straw Dogs


Scream 4


Final Destination 5



DRIVE


The Mechanic



ROMANTIC:



The Adjustment Bureau


The Artist


 Twilight: 
Breaking Dawn



The Ledge




SEXIEST:



Shame


SADDEST:
 

No One Killed Jessica



CONTROVERSIAL:


Shame



Trust


Devil's Double


The Girl with the 
Dragon Tattoo



BEST CAST:


 Cowboys & Aliens


New Year's Eve

Captain America


Thor



The Girl with the 
Dragon Tattoo

The Ides of March


Colombiana

The Mechanic


 Contagion

Fast Five


Scream 4

WORST CAST:


Season of the Witch

Sanctum


OVERRATED:


The Hangover 2

Mission Impossible 4


UNDERRATED:



The Perfect Host



The Ledge

The Double

The Devil's Double


Bereavement


Trust


The Lincoln Lawyer


Contagion



Here's to the upcoming 2012 movie year, being even better than 2011!






***

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