Our Top 10 lists of 2011

ksrymy
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Re: Our Top 10 lists of 2011

Post by ksrymy »

Reza wrote:
ksrymy wrote:Oh, the drawbacks of living in classless Kansas.
Hey..........Dorothy lives there !!!
And that comment is why I dread telling people where I'm from. :(
"Men get to be a mixture of the charming mannerisms of the women they have known." - F. Scott Fitzgerald
Reza
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Re: Our Top 10 lists of 2011

Post by Reza »

ksrymy wrote:Oh, the drawbacks of living in classless Kansas.
Hey..........Dorothy lives there !!!
koook160
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Re: Our Top 10 lists of 2011

Post by koook160 »

My top ten:

1. The Tree of Life
2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
3. Drive
4. The Descendants
5. Shame
6. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
7. Rango
8. The Guard
9. Win Win
10. The Debt
ksrymy
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Re: Our Top 10 lists of 2011

Post by ksrymy »

Once I can find The Artist somewhere online, I will make a post here.

Oh, the drawbacks of living in classless Kansas.
"Men get to be a mixture of the charming mannerisms of the women they have known." - F. Scott Fitzgerald
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rolotomasi99
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Re: Our Top 10 lists of 2011

Post by rolotomasi99 »

Here are my top ten. This list will change as I catch up on the films from this year I have yet to see.
I have posted before how I separate how much I enjoy a film from how well made it is.
My top ten list is made up of the films I enjoyed the most from this year, while my ratings below reflect the quality of this year's releases.

Top Ten Favorite Films
1. The Tree Of Life
2. Drive
3. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
4. Beginners
5. Rango
6. Take Shelter
7. Hugo
8. J. Edgar
9. Source Code
10. Hanna

Here are my ratings for all the films release in 2011 that I saw.
The scale is from 1 to 10, with 10 being best. Within each number the films are listed alphabetically.
These ratings are based on my overall opinion on the quality of the filmmaking (writing, acting, directing, etc).

-10-
(none)

-9-
Drive
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
The Tree Of Life

-8-
The Artist
Beginners
A Dangerous Method
Hugo
J. Edgar
Melancholia
Moneyball
Rango
Shame
Take Shelter
War Horse
We Need To Talk About Kevin
Win Win

-7-
Carnage
Contagion
The Conspirator
The Descendants
Hanna
The Ides Of March
The Iron Lady
Jane Eyre
Meek's Cutoff
Midnight In Paris
Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes
Source Code

-6-
50/50
The Adjustment Bureau
Attack The Block
Crazy, Stupid, Love
The Deathly Hallows
The Help
Kung Fu Panda 2
Our Idiot Brother
Super 8
Trollhunter
Tucker And Dale Vs. Evil
Water For Elephants

-5-
Cars 2
Friends With Benefits
Fright Night
Immortals
In Time
Insidious
Judas Kiss
Kaboom
Limitless
Thor
X-Men: First Class

-4-
Apollo 18
Breaking Dawn
Captain America
Cowboys And Aliens
The Green Hornet
Unknown
Vanishing on 7th Street

-3-
Battle: Los Angeles
Green Lantern
Fast Five
Pirates Of The Caribbean 4
Red Riding Hood
Scream 4
Sucker Punch
Your Highness

-2-
Priest
Transformers 3

-1-
(none)
Last edited by rolotomasi99 on Sun Feb 12, 2012 7:30 pm, edited 7 times in total.
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Re: Our Top 10 lists of 2011

Post by Big Magilla »

Reza wrote:
Big Magilla wrote:7. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Really? This is on your top 10 list?
On my top 10 DVD list, Yes. Pobably won't make my overall cut of the ten best films of the year but I liked it.

Maybe I don't see enough science ficiton films, but this one is head and shoulders above the ones I have seen from the recent past.
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Re: Our Top 10 lists of 2011

Post by Reza »

Big Magilla wrote:7. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Really? This is on your top 10 list?
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Re: Our Top 10 lists of 2011

Post by Big Magilla »

I'm not even close to doing this, but I have put together a list of the ten best films of the year already released on DVD/Blu ray for my next DVD Report on CinemaSight on Tuesday (the 27th) along with a list of First time DVD releases of classic films and another of Blu-ray upgrades.

NOT A TEN-BEST LIST OVERALL JUST THE TEN BEST 2011 U.S. THEATICAL RELEASES ALREADY ON DVD AS OF THIS 12/24/2011:

1. Of Gods and Men
2. In a Better World
3. Poetry
4. Win Win
5. Midnight in Paris
6. Margin Call
7. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
8. Certified Copy
9. Beautiful Boy
10. A Better Life

I'm working on the honorable mentions.
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Re: Our Top 10 lists of 2011

Post by nightwingnova »

No idea when The Iron Lady with Meryl Streep will open here - only scheduled for 4 theaters nationally on December 30. Coriolanus with Vanessa Redgrave opens in late January here.

My tops of the year (pending viewings of films not yet opened in my area):

Film
The Artist
Melancholia
Beginners
Hugo

Director
Michel Hazanvicius (The Artist)
Lars von Trier (Melancholia)
Martin Scorsese (Hugo)

Screenplay
Beginners
Melancholia

Actor
Brad Pitt (Moneyball)
Michael Fassbender (Shame)

Actress
Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)
Kirsten Dunst (Melancholia)

Featured Actor
Robert Forster (The Descendants)
Christopher Plummer (Priest)

Featured Actress
Berenice Bejo (The Artist)
Shailene Woodley (The Descendants)
Amara Miller (The Descendants)

Cinematography
Melancholia
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Sabin
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Re: Our Top 10 lists of 2011

Post by Sabin »

To be perfectly frank, the subtitles bugged me a little but it's not like that's the fault of the film itself. Considering how clearly everyone's emotions and intents were broadcasted, I didn't mind.

You saw that you need to catch up with Kiarostami, and let me say you and I both. I've seen two by Jafar Panahi, whom I enjoy quite a bit more than the Kiarostami I've seen shy of Certified Copy, which is my second favorite film of the year.

I don't know what to tell you, Reza. If this is your television... :)
"How's the despair?"
Reza
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Re: Our Top 10 lists of 2011

Post by Reza »

Sabin, I liked it but didn't find it to be such a revelation as you did and was amused reading the ecstatic reviews almost every Western critic has given the film. Maybe it's because the Islamic culture is very similar to ours in Pakistan and therefore it doesn't resonate as deeply as it does with all of you guys. It does seem real though as if it was about people living down my street, which is good but at the same time it is also way too familiar having seen such dramas on our local television ad nauseum. However, I really do need to see it again with proper subtitles as the copy I have did not do justice to the dialogue at all. Atrocious English translation throughout, which I think must have come out of Iran itself as the subtitles appear to have been written by someone not familiar with the English language.

This was my first Iranian film......still need to catch up on Kiarostami.
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Re: Our Top 10 lists of 2011

Post by bizarre »

I do like A Separation because of how it presents a universally accessible situation but gives it shades that are unique to Iran and in that way provide a window into, and a critique of, certain social systems there.

SPOILERS

It is the same with the director's previous feature, About Elly (which is also fantastic) - a deceit snowballs, a huge web of lies (and white lies) is created and is constantly on the edge of falling apart. What gives these films social weight and an added piquancy is that the reasons for these deceits are borne of risks and fears particular to Persian society - 'honour' and its resultant social mandates, legality and legal corruption, religious ideas of purity and impurity, etc. Often the direct risks of challenging these things, especially for women - I'd call Farhadi a feminist director from what I've seen - are left unspoken, but things such as Sepideh's reluctance to tell the truth to Ali-Reza were it to damage Elly's honour or endanger herself, or Nazieh's need to hide her visit to the gynaecologist, her employment or her doubts regarding the cause of her miscarriage to her husband and his creditors, create a unique tension with its roots in an almost exclusive sociocultural reality.

Even if you don't look at it in this way the film should still impress with its excellent editing, superior use of space, magnificent ensemble acting and the density of its thorny, multilayered writing.
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Re: Our Top 10 lists of 2011

Post by Sabin »

Do you not love it, Reza?

I can only speak for myself. What I love about A Separation is that it's pretty rare you find a film where everybody is in their own way right, where nobody is demonized, where everyone has a compelling argument. Where you watch a stretch of events and then are forced to go back over them in your mind while the characters do as well and form and reinterpret conclusions. I love the structure of the film. It starts with the divorce, life finds a new balance, and then everything is turned on its head, so it's a film that takes its time. It's a precise screenplay but it's also filmed in a deceptively strong way that you don't even realize.

It's also universal and specific at the same time. I suppose you could watch A Separation and just say that it's a very good piece of work and nothing spectacular if you feel like it, but I wasn't really prepared for it. To be perfectly honest, I do think it's now THE Iranian film for people who don't like Iranian films that much (or rather Taste of Cherry), but on the other hand it is quite good.
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Reza
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Re: Our Top 10 lists of 2011

Post by Reza »

Sabin wrote:
****
1. Nader and Simin, A Separation (Asghar Farhadi)
I'm curious, Sabin, what is it about The Separation that resonated so strongly with you..........and with critics all over the West?
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Re: Our Top 10 lists of 2011

Post by ksrymy »

bizarre wrote:Exploring the potential of stillness does not intrinsically bring down a film's quality... Ozu for example had no camera movement in any of his colour films. I haven't seen the film, maybe you have a point, but I refuse to believe that a still camera makes a film bad simply because it is a still camera?
Tokyo Story is one of my favorites but it was actually interesting and moving and whatnot. Meek's Cutoff is just ridiculous.
"Men get to be a mixture of the charming mannerisms of the women they have known." - F. Scott Fitzgerald
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