Movies of 2011

[STiFU]

Inspired by the thievy movies thread I thought I'd open up a thread to recap movies of 2011. The last year we did this was 2009, so If you want, you can post movies of 2010 as well. So here goes...

 

Disclaimer: I also like mindless movies every now and then. Well actually, I prefer them most of the time, because I watch movies in order to relax and not to tax my mind. After all, I got enough shit going on in my head at work. Just so you know, what you have to expect from me...

 

Mindless Movies I liked

 

: This is a comedy horror which is absolutely hilarious. It's a satire of all those horror movies with rednecks murdering young teenagers. Only this time, the story is told from the view of the (actually innocent) rednecks.

 

Horrible Bosses: Comedy featuring Jennifer Aniston about a couple of guys trying to kill there bosses. Very funny when you watch it the first time. I don't recommend it for a second watching though.

 

: You must think I am a girl for posting this movie. It's a commedy featuring Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake. It's a really good one for a date or something like that and it's actually quite funny. I watched it on two dates (with separate women) and the outcome was good both times...

 

: The movie...meh! But the CGs are awesome! Never until now have the textures been so realistic in an animated movie. The first of its kind not looking like a cartoon!

 

Sucker Punsh: Veeeery mindless! Martial arts, shooting, action, ridiculous enemies, weird story and beautiful women paired with pretty good visuals and a soundtrack creating a decent atmosphere. It's not good, but it's fun when you have a couple of friends over and some beers.

 

Movies I liked that are more than just jokes and/or action

 

: A movie about a drug that enhances your brain-activity featuring Robert de Niro in a underpart. The shots/scenes often feature some very artistic cinematographic elements (intro and outro for example).

 

Unkown: A very cool thriller with Liam Neeson. I recommend to watch it without any prior knowledge about the plot of the movie. I was a little disappointed that I watched the trailer of it, because it would have been a lot more surprising and therefor more entertaining to watch the movie.

 

: Hanna is a little girl trained to be an assassin. Sounds a bit like the movie should go in the upper category, right? But well, it's actually a quite ok movie to watch.

 

I still have to watch Sherlock Holmes and Priest. The latter, because it looks so much like Thief.

[Glyph Seeker]

Rango was a surprise hit for me too. Came out of nowhere. Wouldn't call it mindless myself - I felt it was quite clever - just badly paced. Absolutely stunning character design. Imagine Pixar making characters not for children (with huge eyes etc.) but for adults.

 

===

 

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol was terribly silly but brought to life all the high camp gadget / hustle stuff that I rather enjoyed.

 

Contagion whilst an interesting concept was leaden and couldn't decide to what extent it was a drama or a mockumentary.

[Fidcal]

Well, Limitless was a great idea. It didn't quite work for me - probably because I like the idea of a 'superhero' with a brain rather than one who makes a bit of a mess of it. But I reserve judgement. I'll certainly watch it again so it's definitely that good.

 

Worst movie would be Transformers: Dark of the Moon. I was never keen even on the first Transformers and once the novelty has worn off this series just becomes for me a sequence of over-complex moving machine parts. Frankly I'd rather look at a working steam engine in a museum. To be honest I didn't truly watch Dark of the Moon. I was given an <ahem> copy because there is no way I'd pay to see this. Then I started skipping forward once they started talking about Apollo 11 landing on the other side of the moon. I finished up skipping forward like a stone over a lake. I reached the others shore but I never found anything that held my attention for more than 20 or 30 seconds.

 

The most anticipated movie for me was Deathly Hallows 2 but that's because I'm deeply involved with the fiction now. As ever, when I look forward to a movie I reduce my anticipation so I'm not disappointed. There were some naff moments (fireworks over Hogwarts and unnecessary complete rewrites to Neville's dramatic scene and final showdown. Why?) but overall this is definitely my favourite of 2011. Powerful scenes for me were Warwick Davies as Griphook at Shell Cottage; Kelly McDonald as the Ravenclaw's ghost; Ciarán Hinds as Aberforth Dumbledore; Ralph Fiennes, Alan Rickman are always good value of course but Helena Bonham Carter performing Emma Watson playing Bellatrix was the best 'bodyswap' performance I remember since Steve Martin performed Lily Tomlin playing Steve Martin in the courtroom scene in All of Me (1984.) I remember during that scene what a great performance by Lily Tomlin then I had to shake my head and remind myself its not her its Steve Martin playing her playing her character's impression of how a bloke behaves. Back in Hallows, Radcliffe and Watson were also good in places and the whole movie completed the series nicely (though I slightly favour Hallows 1 as my favourite of the lot.)

[PranQster]

Of the movies mentioned in the previous posts, I have only seen Unknown and Hanna.

I liked Unknown pretty well. I think it could have been better though. I can't exactly put my finger on it, but nothing in the movie came as a surprise to me. I never had any "oh... whoa!" moments.

Hanna... I really liked that one. I must say it is the strangest teen girl 'coming of age' movies I have ever seen. I really liked Cate Blanchett playing the 'bad guy'... damn it's nice to see her playing someone nasty for a change.

 

Movies I saw and thought they sucked balls:

Battle: Los Angeles - a really, really shitty U.S. Marine Corps recruitment video... nothing more.

Conan the Barbarian - sucked balls... big time. Arnold Schwarzenegger's acting in the first Conan movie looked like pure Oscar-material compared to this crap. Also, the original had great music, this one had crap. The first film had great visuals, this had crap. I felt sorry for Ron Perlman, because he was the best part of this shitty film.

 

Movies I liked a little:

Cedar Rapids - I laughed a bit, it was ok.

Super 8 - I liked the first half. The kids reminded me of a lot of Spielberg's early films. The second half... the sci-fi part... Meh! It was tolerable but not that great.

 

Liked pretty much or a lot:

Hanna - see above.

Unknown - see above.

Thor - great visuals. Nice to see the comic 'come to life'. I liked how the Rainbow Bridge is depicted as a wormhole. Was entertained.

X-Men First Class - That was cool. Was entertained.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes - I really enjoyed this one. Though I may be a bit biased because of scenes of redwood trees and the Golden Gate Bridge reminding me of home.

 

Still plan to see:

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

The Adventures of Tin Tin

The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo - have seen the Swedish movie(s) and thought they were awesome. Heard this one is well done too.

 

No plans to see any other 2011 films... nothing else piqued my interest.

 

2012:

The Hobbit!

... don't give a damn about any thing else

[Fidcal]

Oh yeah - I forgot about 'Apes'. I was not a big fan of the originals but I was pleasantly surprised with this one. Some nonsense of course but some good dramatic moments especially Draco, sorry - Dodge's face when

the ape speaks.

[Baddcog]

I gotta watch Tucker and Dave, that one looks pretty funny, watched half the trailer and stopped so I wouldn't ruin it, lol.

 

I liked Limitless and Unknown too. I watch quite a few movies to kick back, and they're only $1 at Red box so... But I never pay to get in the theatre.

They were decent but anymore I have to really like a movie to look forward to seeing it again.

 

@STiFU, Priest was decent, but other than maybe a few shots that had a 'thiefy ambieance' it's really nothing like Thief at all. Futuristic western vampire flick fits it better.

Iiked the first Sherlock Holmes quite a bit, looking forward to the 2nd.

 

I think I saw Contagion, must've been forgetable.

 

I also saw zombie apocolypse (B flick no doubt) which was fairly painful experience. How many times in a movie can you think 'they're not that stupid', oh, they are...

 

I agree with Pranqster on these: Battle: Los Angeles, Conan the Barbarian. But maybe I hated them more ,lol. I was hoping for more from Conan, the old ones were a bit cheesy but Arnold fit the part. The new guy was kind of a young swavay pranqster, not a big vicious meathead. They should've just got the Rock to do it (am I joking?)

 

Just watched Columbiana, Columbian girl sees her parent murdered by drug kingpin, decides to grow up and avenge them... Turns into instant ninja to escape them in the escape scene from fast and furious 12 (which was of course a cheesy and horrible movie). And the Cliche's just kept coming. I only rented it because I thought it would be a half serious and decent flick. But it really was just bad.

 

It's been a dismall year for anything medieval. I saw one or two that were OK, but quite a few that were horrible.

One called Black Death (I think) had the actor that kept trying to steal the ring from Frodo. They were on a holy quest to burn witches... That was decent, not great, not much architecture to look at, mostly in the wild/swampy village.

[PranQster]

I agree with Pranqster on these: Battle: Los Angeles, Conan the Barbarian. But maybe I hated them more ,lol. I was hoping for more from Conan, the old ones were a bit cheesy but Arnold fit the part. The new guy was kind of a young swavay pranqster, not a big vicious meathead. They should've just got the Rock to do it (am I joking?)

 

It's been a dismall year for anything medieval. I saw one or two that were OK, but quite a few that were horrible.

One called Black Death (I think) had the actor that kept trying to steal the ring from Frodo. They were on a holy quest to burn witches... That was decent, not great, not much architecture to look at, mostly in the wild/swampy village.

As far as the old Conan movies go, I only give credit to the very first one (1982), produced by Dino DeLaurentis and directed by John Milius. It had some mediocre acting, but it also had James Earl Jones, Max von Sydow and Mako to make up for it. That was paled by having beautiful on-location cinematography and an awesome musical score. As far as I'm concerned, Conan the Destroyer and Red Sonja* simply don't exist.

Also, watching it on DVD with commentaries turned on is rather amusing. Schwarzenegger and John Milius both sound completely baked (and probably were).

 

Black Death. I saw it and have mediocre feelings about it. I felt it could have had a lot more depth to it and just missed the mark. Poor Sean Bean keeps being typecast as a medieval warrior... though he did a great job as Boromir in LoTR and in Game of Thrones as Lord Eddard "Ned" Stark. He has some more modern characters in upcoming movies, but will be "The King" in the Snow White inspired movie "Mirror Mirror".

 

* From Wikipedia: "Schwarzenegger commented, "It's the worst film I have ever made." He joked, "Now, when my kids get out of line, they're sent to their room and forced to watch Red Sonja ten times. I never have too much trouble with them." "

Edited January 24, 2012 by PranQster

[Baddcog]

Bunraku,

 

Woody Harrelson, Ron Perlman, Demi Moore and a guy that was in Sin City. Futuristic Samuri thing going.

Funny enough it had a very Sin City animated style to it. I like Sin City more, but there was a similar feel.

The biggest differene visually is Sin City was basically black and white. This movie was pastel, and done with a "pop-up book' style.

 

OK movie, I may never watch it again but visually I think it's definitely worth a once through.

[RPGista]

Always loved Conan, but I must say I despise any movie on him (didnt even come close to the new one), other merchandising stuff (series, games, etc) and most of the comics material too - the original Conan was a brilliant and valiant guy, with a sharp IQ and perception, cold personality and an interesting code of conduct. This is what is patent in stories like Shadows in the Moolight, Queen of the Black Coast or Beyond the Black River (which are all some of my favourite old comics adaptations too). The comics went on (when they had used up all the original material) to portray him mostly as a big oaf that is careless and loves mayhem and is that typical cocky, unbeatable "barbarian" that is far from likeable. Some of the new comics are actually good in portraying him as he was created (not the previous series upon this recent movie was based, from Dark Horse, but the Conan the Cimmerian series, particularly the first few issues), but overall his image was never really captured beyond the "great warrior that roams around a cruel fantasy setting" on the cinema. I see him behaving a lot more like the warrior in Valhalla Rising, if anyone has seen that movie (very good).

 

I would say the best movies this year for me were The Tree of Life (amazing cinematograpghy), Melancholia (some brilliant moments), We have to talk about Kevin (mostly for Tilda Swinton, love that woman), True Grit and Black Swan (they are from 2010 but they only got here in the cinemas in 2011, so Im couting them, both are brilliant in different ways).

Edited January 24, 2012 by RPGista

[PranQster]

I see him behaving a lot more like the warrior in Valhalla Rising, if anyone has seen that movie (very good).

I love that film. I've only seen it once but thought it was brilliant. Though it doesn't claim it directly, it seems that the one-eyed warrior is an manifestation of Odin.

[STiFU]

I watched Warrior today and I was really supprised by it. At first I thought "oh noes, no standard fighting movie", but I haven't that engrossed in a movie for a really long time like I was with this one. I definitely recommend this one...