Top 5 Films of 2011

As the year draws to a close, its a time to look back and reflect on what I think are some of the best films of the year.

5) Bridesmaids

Kristen Wiig of Saturday Night Live fame co-wrote and leads this laugh-out-loud comedy on the virtues and insanity of planning a wedding. The film has a feminine surface with a raunchy layer proving that comedy is not always in the hands of men who know how to fluff it up (case in point, Hangover 2) as it gives the lazily drawn wedding films, like Bride Wars and 27 Dresses, a stiff middle finger with hilarity and earning a spot as one of the most surprising and funniest films of the year.

4) The Adventures of Tintin

Steven Spielberg gives just service by adapting Herge's classic comic books of the young journalist, his dog, Snowy, and the inebriated Captain Haddock uncovering the secrets of a lost treasure. The 3D animated adventure emphasizes Spielberg's staying power as one of the great blockbuster filmmakers and compensating for the loss of his last venture into adventure with the fourth Indiana Jones movie.

3) We Need to Talk About Kevin

Lynne Ramsey's third motion picture and one of her most praised films about the struggle and acceptance of evil in society as a mother (Tilda Swinton) attempts to move on after her son committs a school shooting. Swinton gives one of the best performances of the year, as well as Ezra Miller giving a chilling performance as Kevin. The Oscar is definitely in Swinton's favor for Best Actress.

2) The Tree of Life

Seeing a Terrence Malick film is like seeing a meteor shower; it happens very rarely and hits you when you least suspect it. Tree of Life focuses on the life of a family in 1950s Texas whilst segueing into a stunning look at the beginning of life and the cosmos that is as visually and aurally intoxicating as Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain give exceptional performances as the polarizing parents raising their three sons, while Sean Penn plays the older version of one of their sons reflecting on his troubled childhood. It may be overwhelming at first glance, but so is 8 1/2, Doctor Zhivago, and other masterpieces that have tested audiences and critics.

1) Hugo

Martin Scorsese takes a giant leap from the mean streets of gangsters and into the world of 3D with his adaptation of Brian Selznick's story of a young orphan (Asa Butterfield), who lives within the walls of a Paris train station, trying to complete a robot first developed by his demised father. Whilst building the robot, Hugo and his literary friend, Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz), try to discover the private life of Isabelle's guardian, Georges Melies (a stunning Ben Kingsley), and the legacy of films he had left behind. Scorsese's film is not just a step forward into the world of 3D filmmaking, but a history lesson for all ages on the birth of cinema and how the past should never be forgotten as the medium advances into new territory. It is this blend that makes Hugo one of the best films of the year.

Hugo

When the phrase, “kid movie” comes to mind, especially during the holiday season, it’s easy to groan at the perpetual fluff being unleashed in the theatres (Alvin and The Chipmunks, Arthur Christmas, etc.). However, when you notice that a kids’ movie is directed by Martin Scorsese, you think that he’s lost his mind. But with Hugo, Scorsese has created his first family-friendly and heart-warming film about the history of the movies.

Based on Brian Selznick’s award-winning book, Hugo tells the story of a French orphan (Asa Butterfield) living in the walls of a train station in Paris, circa 1931. When Hugo is not fixing the clocks in the station, he is trying to fix a machine his father (Jude Law) was working on before his untimely death. Fixing the mysterious device becomes difficult when Hugo encounters Papa Georges (Ben Kingsley), the bitter owner of a toy shop who catches Hugo stealing his tools and the cold-hearted Station Inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen) who arrests children without their parents to save them. Helping Hugo along the way is Georges surrogate daughter (Chloe Grace-Moretz), an adventure seeking girl who helps Hugo unlock the secrets of Georges’ descent into misery.

Asa Butterfield and Chloe Grace-Moretz give incredible performances as the bright-eyed wanderers venturing in and around the elaborate train station. Kingsley’s emotional performance as the passionate filmmaker-turned-miserable store owner Georges Melies adds to the roster of some of his best performances (Gandhi, Sexy Beast). Cohen adds the laughs to the film as the bumbling inspector, with his Borat mustache and high-brow antics toned down for the audience.

I’m not a huge fan of 3D movies. When I saw Toy Story 3, I couldn’t help but take my glasses off to enjoy the brightness of the film rather than the dim and tinted glow of the screen. However, it was still a good movie and I had that same attitude before I saw Hugo. However, within the first minute of the movie, I was stunned by visual designs of Dante Ferretti, the sharp lighting by Robert Richardson and slick camera work helmed by Scorsese. In essence, my preconceived notions of 3D films withered away during this 120 minute love note to cinema. Scorsese, the polestar of film preservation, manages to introduce to younger audiences the work of a bygone era (Griffith, Porter, the Lumiere Brothers) mixed with homages to Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton with state-of-the-art cameras. Despite the ebb and flow of films as an art form, Scorsese’s Hugo manages to create the perfect marriage of art and entertainment as he has successfully done for over 40 years.

Four out of Four Stars

We Need To Talk About Kevin

We Need To Talk About Kevin is one of the most chilling and haunting films of the year. Based on Lionel Shriver's novel, the non-linear tale focuses on Eva (Tilda Swinton), a grieving mother recollecting the life of her eldest son and his dissent into violence when he orchestrates a school shooting. Trying to move on with her life by working as a desk clerk, Eva fears being seen in public and bearing the label as the woman who brought another Charles Whitman into the world. Her home is smeared in red paint and she attempts to wash it off like a modern day Lady Macbeth.

Tilda Swinton gives a harrowing performance of a woman giving unconditional love and receiving internal pain. Her gripping performance leaves one wondering when she will reach her breaking point. One scene that stands out is when she is visited
by a pair of Jehovah’s Witnesses and she tells them that she is going to Hell. From first frame to last, Swinton gives an Oscar-worthy performance as a self-destructive woman, who tries to redeem herself in any way she can, even if it means visiting her son in prison.

Ezra Miller's performance as Kevin is phenomenal with his nuances of a young Hannibal Lecter in the guise of a self-destructive kid. Even as a baby, you sense a certain evil looming in the film as Eva pushes him in a Rosemary's Baby pram. Take the calmness of Woody Harrelson's serial killer in Natural Born Killers with the rhetoric of Charles Manson and you get one of the most frightening performances of the year. John C. Reilly takes a break from the comedic roles he's played in the past with his performance as Franklin, the naive and doting father who underestimates Eva's ever-growing concerns over their son.

Mixed with the deep-seeded philosophies of Foucault and the media saturation rhetoric of Octavio Paz, Lynne Ramsey directs a powerful adaptation of one of Britains' most controversial novels of recent memory. She has only made two films throughout her twelve-year career; the working-class drama Ratcatcher and Morvan Callar. Her third film is as equally gritty as Ratcatcher mixed with a harrowing melodrama in the style of Lars Von Trier. We Need To Talk About Kevin is a film that will leave you taking after the credits roll.

3 1/2 out of 4 stars