From 'The Descendants' to 'Drive,' Dann sums up his favorite films of the year
The year 2011 gave us an unwanted remake (“Conan the Barbarian”), a remarkable reboot (“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”), a new low in PG-13-rated sleaze (“Sucker Punch”), a fizzled opportunity for Mel Gibson to start over (“The Beaver”) and a new standard for offensive foul matter (“The Human Centipede 2”).
2011 also proved that predominantly white American audiences will still flock to see a movie that aggrandizes white characters as savior figures over minorities, no matter how badly mangled the screenplay may be (“The Help”).
Still, the year gave us some extremely cool motion pictures that advanced the art form nicely and entertained a lot of people.
So, here are my top 11 English-language feature films for 2011. These aren't based on box office receipts (sorry, “Transformers 3”), but on the inventiveness, values and qualities they brought to the cinematic table.
1. “The Descendants” — Alexander “Sideways” Payne's comic family drama shows how forgiveness can help people — even estranged family members — reconnect and navigate through life's destructive minefields.
2. “Hugo” — Martin Scorsese's love letter to the beginnings of cinema, rendered in the most magnificently envisioned three-dimensional images I have ever witnessed. Don't wait around to watch this one on a small screen.
3. “Moneyball” — How many movies can transport us inside the brain of an Oakland A's baseball team manager (Brad Pitt) and allow to understand how he thinks? This one does, because of a great screenplay and Bennett Miller's superb direction.
4. “Drive” — I still say this extremely violent neo-noir thriller starring Ryan Gosling is a modern update of the classic western “Shane,” right down to its pessimistically blunted ending. Albert Brooks as a sadistic mob chief just taking care of business? Priceless.
5. “The Muppets” — OK, it's no Quentin Tarantino masterpiece. But it's still one of the year's best pieces of movie entertainment that breaks Jim Henson's creations out of their hibernation since Walt Disney bought out Sesame Street seven years ago.
6. “The Tree of Life” — Terrence Malick's art house journey from the beginning of the universe to 1950s Texas is a visual piece of poetry that owes nothing to Aristotilean rules of drama. A movie for daring souls willing to go beyond the mall movie world.
7. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” — She's the greatest female movie character of the 21st century so far. Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara) is an abused rebel with cause enough to wipe out most men in her world. A sleazy piece of pulp fiction given a grade-A execution by David Fincher.
8. “Midnight in Paris” — Woody Allen's wittiest, funniest, smartest, most fully realized comedy of the new millennium. Who would have guessed that Owen Wilson would make such a great Woody alter-ego?
9. “The Artist” — A gimmick film with a great gimmick. Michel Hazanavicius' black-and-white silent comedy pays loving tribute to Hollywood's silent era. At the same time, it plays with the format and winds up with a story that's remarkably sweet, sad and very funny.
10. “Shame” — Who wants to take a date to see an NC-17-rated drama all about sex addiction? I dunno, but director Steve McQueen pulls out all the stops to make this a bold, brutally frank, and empathetic examination of a man (brilliantly performed by Michael Fassbender) obsessed with pornography, prostitutes and one-night stands.
11. “Warrior” — Gavin O'Connor's remarkably dramatic, if not conventional, sports drama reinvented the boxing movie (as a mixed-martial arts match). The dialogue is Spartan and the action thrilling. It also features great performances, including supporting turns by Nick Nolte and Arlington Heights native Jennifer Morrison.