My Top Movies of 2011

I am a man of the people, and when the people make a request I listen and often ignore it and then just go about my day. But if it is a good request then I take it a little more seriously. A suggestion like what did you think were the best movies of the year. That is a hell of a question and actually took some time to think about. While the top movies are easy to pick deciding what to leave off and what to leave on got infuriating so I thought I would make a go of it. Since the Academy gave us nine nominations here are my Top Nine Movies of 2011

9) The Ides of March
Damn what an incredible cast. If it seems like this movie just snuck on you'd be mistaken. This was going to make the list no matter what I just needed to think where to place it. All the acting is incredible and Ryan Gosling is so clearly The Guy right now, and all he had to do was look across the room to find out what it’s like to be The Man and boom there's Clooney. The movie goes at an incredible pace and while it is a short movie it moves even faster. There were so many moving parts, and Clooney as the writer and director puts it all in there efficiently and has you gripped to the edge of your seat all with tons of nods to campaigns of the past.

8) Midnight in Paris
A lot of people had this a lot higher on their list, and to be named one of the best movies of the year by anyone is an accomplishment. This is on everyone's list. And it is Woody being Woody; you have to like his work to really like this one. And I actually really liked the casting of Owen Wilson as a gentile younger Woody. Some of the characters were great like Hemingway and Dali, but this was one of the few times I got annoyed with Marion Cotillard, she really took me out of the film which is odd being that she was one of the few French actresses in the movie. I don't know, it was great and I liked it but it didn't keep me hooked which is why it is lower on the list.

7) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II
Say what you will about the book or all the annoying people who read the book, or even worse the people who dress up for the movie. This was a good movie and deserved far more adulation than it got. It is clear J.K Rowling does not know how to write, but man she created a fantastic story with wonderful characters. And in the hands of David Yates who filmed the movie as darkly as the tone demanded the project played perfectly where so many others failed before him. And who would have guessed that Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson would grow into such fine actors, even if he was half in the bag during most of the shooting. These two young actors were able to stand out when there were people like Ralph Fiennes and Alan Rickman on set, that is impressive.

6) Bridesmaids
Maybe you saw it after everyone was telling you how funny it was and left this movie unimpressed by all the hype. You know how it got all that hype? By being fuckin hysterical. Kristin Wiig wrote a seriously funny movie and then gave all the best lines to someone else. Not that she wasn't brilliant in the lead role, but Melissa McCarthy stole this movie right out from under her. The story is sweet and doesn't dumb down the entire gender which so many movies in Hollywood do by assuming all they need in life is a good man. Plus poop jokes.

5) The Artist
This is just a feel good movie. Yes it is just a giant hand job to all that Hollywood is and all that it was, but whatever I'm down with it. And I personally love watching the rise of one lead to the fall of another. And while the love story doesn't stick with me so much I do remember falling in hook, line, and sinker when I was originally watching the movie. Plus the music is fantastic and I love the difference in acting styles from when they are on the screen to when they are out on the streets. Plus that dog, god I love simple pandering that a cute animal will bring to a movie

4) 50/50
How was this movie not nominated for anything at all?!?!?!? Seriously the screenplay is brilliant and heart wrenching without being too depressing. The characters are all amazing, but a special shout out to Bryce Dallas Howard for rocking the bitch character, oh and I loved the overbearing mother, oh and the music. God so much of this movie was so good I really need to watch it again. And that is all before mentioning just how great Joseph-Gordon Levitt has become as an actor. Or how fantastic Seth Rogan's character was and how well he portrayed him even though it’s not so much acting as it remembering as this ACTUALLY ALL HAPPENED. Will Reiser who wrote the script was diagnosed with cancer and Rogan convinced him to write a screenplay about it. He was going to make it a lot darker; luckily he didn't as the movie was super enjoyable, well as enjoyable as it can be with the subject being someone dying of cancer.

3) Warrior
I wanted to put this movie higher on the list but I just couldn't do it because the movie was so telegraphed but I don't care. This movie still sticks with me and it came out in frickin September, sometimes the lines and music will just pop in my head and I love to leave them there. That is the sign of a great movie, a movie that sticks with you. Nick Nolte is fantastic as the alcoholic father; a role I assume is easy for him to play. Gavin O'Connor who directed the movie also directed Miracle which has the same feel good-id-ness about it. Oh and Tom Hardy is bad-ass. I cannot wait for the new Batman movie

2) Moneyball
Maybe it is because I'm a sports fan that two of the top three movies are sports movies, or maybe it is because both movies are fantastic, probably the latter. Aaron Sorkin takes what is essentially an unfilmable book about sports statistics and makes it compelling to any viewer even if you are not into baseball. I originally thought only sports fans would enjoy this movie but after speaking with a lot of people I found it transcended sports and I love that. Brad Pitt is pitch perfect as Billy Beane and Jonah Hill is fantastic as his counterpart and has some of the best scenes in the movie. The movie moves fast and the dialogue is even quicker, without question Aaron Sorkin is one of the most talented men in Hollywood.

1) Drive
"You tell me where we start, where we're going, where we're going afterwards. I give you five minutes when we get there. Anything happens in that five minutes and I'm yours. No matter what. Anything a minute on either side of that and you're on your own. I don't sit in while you're running it down. I don't carry a gun. I drive." Ryan Gosling on the top and bottom of this list, obviously. He was so bad ass in this movie. He was perfect and I loved all the brilliant parts to this movie, from the retro fitting text to the nameless characters to Albert Brooks eating Chinese in an Italian restaurant. I loved it all, but here is the thing, I didn't love it at first. It took me a while, after seeing the movie I didn't really know what I just saw but then I thought about it and kept thinking about it and just how brilliant this movie was. Just ask The Artist, you don't need dialogue to make a character interesting and that is exactly what they do with the driver. And once the movie passes the half way point and the tone changes the movie becomes all the better. This is a movie that could be examined and picked apart by experts and they still may miss bits of brilliance from the movie. This is a movie that will be remembered years to come.

So that was my top 9 movies of the year. What did you think? What were your favorites? Let me know. And here is to 2012 being top notch for movies to look forward to this year. Enjoy it, I know I will.

Bridesmaids

Kristen Wiig has been a stand out in the Saturday Night Live cast for some time now, and for those of us unwilling to stay up late for a show that is erratic at best we may have been missing out. Her talent has been noticed by Emmy voters recently, but it was in 2007 that Judd Apatow cast her as the snarky E! executive. Since she has grown into quite the starlet and has put all her talents together and teamed up with executive producer Apatow to star and co-write, along with Annie Mumolo, in the new comedy Bridesmaids.

Many may be quick to compare this movie to The Hangover but for women, and that is just not the case. While it is about one gender group before a wedding, The Hangover formula is completely situational and bases itself of making each moment bigger than the one before it. And not to say there aren't some great gross out moments to this movie, the oddly out of place dress shopping scene comes to mind, but that is not what this movie relies on. This would also seem to imply that this is just a movie for women, definitely the impression I had before taking my seat. While the characters may connect more with the womenfolk in the audience the humor sprawls across the genders.

Bridesmaids takes a buddy movie and makes the moments feel genuine. Movies about female friends have typically been about two girlfriends going after the same thing, whether it is a man, a job, or prize. That doesn't appear to be the case in this movie as Maya Rudolph plays the bride to be Lillian, while Wigg plays lifelong best friend Annie. The strain in this case seems to come from the paths each character is taking, while Lily seems to be achieving the American dream, Annie is struggling with life. At one point she had it all: her own business, a boyfriend, but with the economy playing a role she just as quickly lost it. Now she is stuck at a job she hates, living with an odd brother sister tandem and the occasional late night fling with an awfully handsome man played wonderfully by Jon Hamm. Without looking too deeply into the situation this seems to be an examination of class and how success can affect relationships.

Adding to Annie's stress is the new BFF on the scene. Trophy wife Helen, played by the perfectly cast Rose Byrne, is seeking to steal all of Annie's thunder and usurp her as the Maid of Honor. She is the type of girl who probably never got rejected and always made sure she got her way. She is the type of girl that almost everyone in the audience will immediately dislike. If you don't you just may be that girl, and if that's the case, blow it out your ass. Lillian seems to be drifting towards this lifestyle and away from Annie, compounding Annie's frustration.

The scene stealer in this movie is Megan played by Melissa McCarthy who you may recognize from the CBS comedy Mike and Molly. When you are not watching Wigg it is hard to watch anyone but McCarthy. She nails all her one liners and all the physical comedy in the movie and without a doubt generates most of the belly laughs. She outshines the other two bridesmaids played by Wendi McLendon-Covey from Reno 911 and Ellie Kemper from The Office. Wigg allows all these previously mentioned actors to be and lets them affect her until she finally lashes out. It is when she falls furthest that we feel the strongest for her character.

This comedy tells a genuine story of how the success of others can affect you, and takes an honest examination of what competition between two friends can look like when you are not actually competing for the same thing. And having seen the way girlfriends act around each other and when apart, I can gather this may be more accurate than the laughs let on. Wigg is brilliant in this movie and while she does great putting toether strings of jokes that could have any audience laughing for 5 minutes straight, she can also play it a little sweeter and show off a softer side. There have been a lot of people complaining about the newest cast of SNL, which is always the case as whenever you are watching it is inevitable that you will think the previous cast was better. But this recent ensemble has delivered quite a few movie stars and Wigg will surely be the next one to shine. A-