BigEvil84 at 04:21 PM Jan 19

sLaShEr84 at 05:45 PM Jan 19

THe first pic was nice.

JenGirl824 at 08:45 PM Jan 20

i not sure if this makes me like elmo more, or hate him more considering who the boobs are attached to.

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2011 Movie Journal Part 5 (The Top 10 Films of 2011)

#10.Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Never in a million years would I have predicted that a Planet of the Apes prequel starring James Franco would be one of my top 10 films of the year. But the writing for this film made it so grounded and engaging that I completely forgot that monkeys were about to start talking and riding around on horses with nets. It was fucking incredible. And lets be honest, Franco is nothing but a figure head to list on the poster. The real star of this film is Caesar and the astounding CG work to bring him to life. After about a decade of bitching about terribly CGI effects, it looks like Hollywood has finally utilized them to their full potential in creating my favorite character of the year. And Tin Tin looked fucking amazing too.

8/10

#9.Melancholia

How do you follow up Willem Dafoe cumming blood? Get Kirsten Dunst to give the best performance of the year in what could possibly be one of the most depressing films ever made (about depression). Right when the film kicks off and you're taken into these sweeping slow motion shots you feel like you're watching Lars Von Trier paint his masterpiece. And if only the film's latter half didn't take quite so long to conclude, this would have probably been my favorite film of the year. I don't care what you say about this guy, he's one of the finest artists working today and this film is proof of that.

8/10

#8.Hesher

Much like The Road back in 2009, I'd been waiting a while to catch this flick. And much like The Road, I think my expectations had grown to high for them ever to be fully fufilled. But Joseph Gordon-Levitt's fantastic performance as the title character nearly accomplished that. Add Natalie Portman (who in my opinion, gives her second best performance of her career behind Black Swan) and an off the wall story about the chaotic and destructive nature of life and you've got yourself one damn fine film.

8/10

#7.Mission Impossible 4

Mission Impossible 4 brings back everything you didn't know you missed from the first film and throws the energy through the roof. The gadgets, the IMF cover ups, the incredibly suspenseful stunts and action sequences...this film has it all. I will say that I didn't really care for them continuing the storyline with Ethan's wife. I don't care about his relationships in the slightest (in my opinion its what dragged down the 2nd and 3rd film) so why bother? He's an awesome super spy, get him a new girl every movie like Bond for all I care.

8/10

#6.The Tree of Life

I have to give it to Malick for his effort in making a commercially acceptable 2001 type film here. There hasn't been a film this ground-breaking conceptually in quite some time and I feel like he ALMOST pulls it off. But the ending with Penn meeting everyone in his life at the end on this "heaven" beach just kind of tainted the whole experience. The look at mercy v.s. discipline in Penn's life growing up was the highlight of the film for me, as was Brad Pitt's performance as the somewhat harsh father figure. It's an incredibly ambitious, if somewhat flawed, experiment in filmmaking that should be celebrated for moving outside traditional methods rather than be condemned like it seems to be.

8.5/10

#5.50/50

I think this is the film where Seth Rogen officially over stayed his welcome with me. The rest of the film is outstanding and other than Rogen's stoner character this film may have also been may film of the year. The depressing look at the inevitable end we all must face and trying to find hope in such grim circumstances is done very well. Jonathan Levine continues to impress me with each outing and I can't wait to see what he tackles next.

8.5/10

#4.Drive

While I didn't see this as the cinematic revolutionary that most seemed to, I did see it as one of the most stylish and fun action films of the year. Great performances all around and a soundtrack that I've listened through more times than any other album from the year. The plot was fairly simple but effective in this all out style over substance revenge flick of a heist gone bad. If there were any themes to take away from this year in movies, it was either the year of the self-empowered woman (Hanna, Sucker Punch, Young Adult, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Bridesmaids) or it was the year of Ryan Gosling. Take your pick.

8.5/10

#3.Bridesmaids

Another film I had really no intention of seeing, Bridesmaids not only surpassed my expectations on a comedic level but on a writing level as well. The script was the thing that stuck out with me most in a surprisingly thoughtful and emotional film. Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph both deliver incredible performances in a breakout film that hopefully will lead to much more moving comedies like this one.

8.5/10

#2.Super 8

With Spielberg honoring his roots in Tin Tin and Scorsese honoring his in Hugo, Super 8 was by far the most successful homage to inspiration. JJ Abrams captured Spielberg's technique so well that without the CGI monster, you could easily slip this film in between Close Encounters and E.T. unnoticed. And man is there a renaissance of talented young actors in Hollywood, or what? You need no more evidence than to look at this young group, which feels like its on the level of Stand By Me or the Goonies. Yeah, THAT good. And while the retro Spielberg-ian style is awesome, the story is even better. A fantastic exercise in filmmaking that entertains on every level with every audience.

8.5/10

#1.We Need to Talk About Kevin

If you're on the fence about becoming a parent, DO NOT WATCH THIS FILM. Just kidding. Kind of. Anyways, I had no idea what this film was about going in so the build up and pay caught me off guard completely. The tension building between Tilda Swinton and her son is so unbearable at times you start to wonder if this is all really happening or if she's gone crazy. But the way everything culminates in the last 40 minutes or so ends the story perfectly. I can't recall being so captivated by a film that only really involves two characters and their relationship with one another throughout the entire duration of the film. It's a dark, disturbing film which may cause you to question where you point the blame in tragedies like this.

9/10

Mood: Angry

TheChanges23 at 01:56 PM Jan 19

Very Awesome Placement here...Kevin may not make my top list but I will definitely check it out...if not for this being one of the reasons...

2011 Movie Journal Part 4 (The Runners Up)

Captain America: The First Avenger

I'll be honest, the build up to this Avengers movie has me kind of sick of super hero movies. Captain America wasn't bad (in my opinion it was Marvel's best offering this year) but its still not great. There's plenty of awesome battle scenes and the Cap's origin story is interesting enough, but I really don't see myself ever needing to watch this again. The ending was pretty sweet though

7.5/10

Fright Night

An incredibly rare occurrence of a horror remake almost living up to the original, Fright Night takes everything that made the original successful and just modernizes it. Which in some cases works, but in others felt a little off. Colin Ferrel was the fucking man and I found Anton Yelchin to be a much better lead than William Ragsdale was in the original.

8/10

Insidious

For a guy who started his career with the shock and awe gore of Saw, James Wan's Insidious may be one of the non-gory PG-13 horror films I've ever seen. A fantastic possession story that's to the point and eerie as hell. A glimpse of hope in what's become a dying genre these days, an ORIGINAL (non-remake, non-sequel) horror film.

8/10

The Descendants

I was probably more excited than most about Alexander Payne's return to the directing chair after his long hiatus following Sideways, but I'd be lying to you if I said that The Descendants wasn't his weakest offering. Election, About Schmidt, and Sideways are all incredibly well written and thought out films but The Descendants lacked his pitch black sense of humor to keep the pace of the film going. Instead it dragged along quite a bit. Clooney and Woodley give outstanding performances and the plot starts out decent enough, it just drags a bit too much for my tastes. Hopefully all the award consideration gets him to keep making movies more consistently because this dude is incredible.

8/10

Hanna

A slick, sci-fi action film pumping some of the coolest movie music of the year (courtesy of the Chemical Brothers), Hanna is an in your face action hero. Think of it as a Hit Girl movie directed by the Wachowski Brothers. But it actually includes a fucking wicked storyline (as opposed to most Wachowski Brothers films).

8/10

Hugo

This feels like Scorsese's love letter to the pioneers of filmmaking and broadens his already wide range of abilities even further. Sacha Baron Cohen gives a fantastic supporting performance, as does Ben Kingsely. But the lead actors, Asa Butterfield and Chloe Grace Moretz, are absolutely breath taking. Where most kids these days are looking up to self involved tweens like Miley Cyrus, iCarly, and Victorious; Hugo gives kids much more constructive and creative role models. Not to mention relatable, because they are caked in make up spouting one liners every four seconds.

8/10

Source Code

Is Jake Gyllenhaal ever going to be the breakout action star that his agents seem determined to make him? If he can't do it in this time travel thriller about a terrorist attack on a train, I'm not sure its going to happen. Not a slam on Gyllenhaal, just saying how underrated and under appreciated this movie was. Sure its not Moon, but its still one of the best action films of the year.

8/10

Crazy, Stupid Love

Much like Knocked Up, Crazy Stupid Love is the romantic comedy for both genders. It tackles relationships from almost every angle in a fresh and funny way. From Steve Carrell to Ryan Gosling to Emma Stone; there's got to be a character you can relate to in there somewhere. Even if its the obsessive little kid. If this is the formula for the romantic comedy moving forward, I'm all for it. Just stop making those stupid Valentine's Day/New Year's Eve piles of shit already.

8/10

Moneyball

Moneyball felt like it wanted to be The Social Network soooooo bad. And while the story was incredibly well written and the direction was top notch, there just wasn't enough here for me to sink my teeth into. The A's didn't really do anything after that winning streak, so who cares? Why not make this a fictional story where something more eventful takes place in the end? Brad Pitt and Phillip Seymour Hoffman gave award worthy performances but I feel like the film could have done a little more.

8/10

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

With all the controversy circling the rape scenes in this film and its graphic content, I think I went in expecting a much heavier story. If you take out all the sexual content, this is really just kind of David Fincher's Silence of the Lambs. But Fincher flexes so much here of why he's one of the best in the business and Rooney Mara's performance is reason enough to watch this film. And I'm not just saying that because she's naked for about 45% of it. While it's a great detective story, I guess I just expected it to have a little broader scope considering Fincher's past work. But I guess I'll catalogue this with Panic Room and Zodiac rather than Fight Club and Seven.

8/10

Green Hornet

I'm probably the only person in the world that loved this film enough to put it right outside of my top 10 for the year. But who cares. Watching the Michel Gondry work behind the camera is like taking a trip back to your childhood and just examining all the crazy imaginative (if sometimes bizarre and immature) thoughts you had in your head. With the Green Hornet I feel like he's been given life sized action figures and a 3-D shooting capability to make the funnest superhero movie possible and that's exactly what he did. I will say the the ending soured it a bit for me, but other than that, this movie was the action-comedy of the year.

8/10

Mood: Angry

leesemarie at 12:54 PM Jan 19

Insidious- you nailed it, exactly. A horror movie that wasn't a sequel or a reboot? Sign me up

JohnLocke2342 at 01:00 PM Jan 19

While we disagree about the beginning of Cap (I thought it was one of the strongest of the Marvel origin stories) I liked it as much as you did.. it was flawed and fun but never reached any type of memorable greatness.

Also felt the same about Moneyball in the sense that it felt sort of empty at times and fell just short of being something special. Great performances though... nice read man.

horrorfan23 at 01:07 PM Jan 19

Insidious was probably the only worthwhile theatrical horror movie of last year.