Alternate Takes 01.14.12: Top 10 Movies of 2011

Posted by Shawn S. Lealos on 01.14.2012

From Thor and Drive to Harry Potter, Source Code, and more, 411's Shawn S. Lealos counts down his top 10 movies of 2011!



Welcome to Week 187 of Alternate Takes, my name is Shawn S. Lealos and you have entered my world.


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I was going to start my Avengers coverage this week but since everyone else is doing their "Best Of" movie lists, I figured I would throw mine out there too. I am a voting member of the Oklahoma Film Critics Circle and also took part in the voting here on 411mania. With that said, here is my list of my Top 10 favorite movies of 2011. This list is subjective, they are my favorite movies. If you don't agree, it doesn't make my choices wrong, just different than yours.

And I am sure some commenters won't even read this intro and start bashing me, but these are my favorite movies, not the "top critical movies" of the year. For those who don't read this and bash my choices ranking my favorite movies of the year, you are an idiot. Just because Tree of Life was amazing does not mean it is one of my ten favorite films of 2011.



10. MONEYBALL

I love sports movies and this is the case where the sports movie has little to do with the play on the field but more to do with the construction behind the scenes. Brad Pitt is Billy Beane, the man who works to keep the Oakland Athletics in contention despite having the smallest payroll in the majors. And, while there are some exciting sports moments, the best parts of this movie happen in offices and on phones and it still remains one of the most exciting movies of the year.

Moneyball uses the 2002 Oakland A's season as a backdrop to present audiences with one of the best sport's movies they will see this year. It has the highs and lows you expect from the genre and features a great script by Aaron Sorkin, who is working at the top of his game. It also features great performances by both Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill and, technically, is one of the best looking movies I have seen, and heard, this year. Don't expect a biopic here. If you want to see realistic baseball history, go watch Ken Burns' Baseball. With this movie, just expect an entertaining and exciting sports movie. It delivers on both counts.



9. SUPER 8

It is clear from watching Super 8 that J.J. Abrams had a strong admiration for the films of Steven Spielberg. If nothing else, this movie is a love letter to Close Encounters and E.T. with a lot of The Goonies thrown in for good measure. Honestly, this is one of the most fun movies you will see from 2011.

There is little here in the way of originality. An alien escapes from a military transport and goes on a rampage in a small town. The military comes in and quarantines the town "for their own safety" and it is up to a group of young kids to find the alien and rescue everyone. It sounds pretty generic but the story stays loose, the acting is good and everything is done for fun. Not everything has to be serious and this is a case where I left the theater with a big smile on my face.



8. THOR

I have liked all of Marvel Films recent releases, partially because I was a Marvel kid growing up and partially because they are all faithful to the comics with great writer, directors and actors working on the projects. However, I thought Thor was spectacular. While Iron Man remains a light-hearted adventure tale, Thor is more Shakespearian in nature and works perfectly thanks to its director, Kenneth Branagh.

Thor is a Shakespeare tale, through and through. The story owes a large debt to tales like "Hamlet" as the son of a King feels responsible for the death of his father, leaving the throne in the hands of another. However, this is more than just a loose tale of banishment. Tom Hiddleston is magnificent as Loki and contrasts perfectly with the heroic Chris Hemsworth as Thor. Both men carry this movie to a level not seen in previous comic book adaptations. Kenneth Branagh created a movie that stands tall above the superhero tales to come before and thematically sets his movie apart from its contemporaries.



7. DRIVE

Drive was a great movie but I don't think it was what I expected. Honestly, I left the theater trying to figure out if I liked it or not. Of course, I did, but it had that strange polarizing effect on me when I was thinking about the movie on the way home. The acting was great, especially the trio of Ryan Gosling, Bryan Cranston and Albert Brooks. However, the acting is not what made me love this movie.

I have been a huge fan of Nicolas Winding Refn since Bronson and I expected another over-the-top outing with this movie. Instead, I got a complex character piece with one of the slickest, most interesting openings of any movie I saw in 2011. Refn did not copy what made him famous in the past and instead built on it and proved he is one of the brightest new filmmakers working today. Drive was a great movie.



6. THE ARTIST

A lot of people won't give this movie a chance. There are a lot of people who will not watch a black and white, full screen, silent film, no matter how great it is. And this movie is great. It tells the story of a man, a silent era movie star, who finds himself falling out of favor when the talkies start gaining popularity. His story is paralleled with a young woman who becomes a star when the talkies kick off and shows his tragic fall.

The Artist is not for everyone. It is a black and white silent film about the silent film era coming to an end. However, it is important to go into the movie without any preconceived notions. Michel Hazanavicius created a film that will be a heavy favorite for Best Film honors at this year's Academy Awards and Jean Dujardin will surely be one of the names called as a nominee for Best Actor. It is a throwback film but it also holds up well with most movies made today.



5. THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo seemed destined to fail. For one thing, it was adapting a book that was already adapted two years ago. Sure, there are lots of people who refuse to watch foreign language films, but the fact is that the Swedish version was still pretty fresh in everyone's minds. Second, it was a very hard R-rated movie. That meant that families would not be attending the film during the holiday season it was released.

Forget about all that. David Fincher made his version its own movie and it is a great one. The mystery is not the best in the world but it is the acting and the character development that makes this movie so great. Rooney Mara turns in a great performance in the lead role and the entire movie rides on her quite capable shoulders. Yes, this movie is too violent at points but that does not detract from its brilliance. This is a great movie and Fincher, once again, fails to disappointment.



4. HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART II

Thank you Harry Potter for entertaining me for the last decade. And thank you Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II for allowing the movie to go out in style with one of the best films in the franchise. Fans who have followed the story received some great parting gifts in this last movie. Minor characters got to step up and deliver big scenes to give them their big farewell. We got giant action to finish off the series. And, most importantly, Alan Rickman got a chance to deliver an Oscar caliber performance in his final turn as the best character in the series.

There are a lot of people out there who refuse to give Harry Potter any credit because they are too cool to watch the movies or read the books. That is unfortunate for them because they are missing out on one of the best stories of our time. I never thought I would love it as much as I ended up loving it and I am happy I gave it a chance. The Harry Potter franchise concluded in 2011 and it went out with a bang.



3. TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is a unique movie. It is a spy movie that avoids the temptations to include fancy gadgets, fast cars and hot babes and instead pays more attention to the actual spying itself. Sure, it is not as exciting and fast paced as a Borne or Bond movie, but it is more intelligent than most of those efforts. This is a movie about spies in the real world, how they go about their business and what happens when one of their own betrays their country.

Gary Oldman turns in a masterful performance as George Smiley, one of the greatest heroes from author John Le Carre's spy novels. He is subdued but you never doubt him for one minute in the movie. He is joined by an amazing cast of supporting actors, led by the impressive Benedict Cumerbatch, who should use this as a breakout role. The movie is a slow burn, espionage thriller, avoiding over-the-top action and replacing it with intelligent storytelling, great characters and a wonderful pace. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is one of the best films of 2011 and Gary Oldman turned in one of the year's best performances.



2. HANNA

I have to admit that I liked Pride & Prejudice by Joe Wright. I thought it was a nice movie with some amazing camera work in it. He trumped the camera work in Atonement, although I liked the previous movie better. In 2011, Wright actually made a movie that was in a genre I liked. He re-teamed with Atonement actress Saoirse Ronan for the hit girl movie, Hanna. Unlike the last hit girl I saw in a movie, Hanna is not a potty mouthed bad ass. She is just a bad ass and can kill you without blinking.

I was shocked at the action in a movie by Joe Wright but should not have been because he proved to be a master director already. There is no reason someone as talented as him can't make other genre movies. It's amazing that, by the end of 2011, two movies I saw early on remain in my top two spots. Forget all the awards caliber movies, give me the story of a teenage girl killing government assassins all across Europe any day of the week.



1. SOURCE CODE

Moon was near the top of my ‘Best of' lists when it came out for good reason. Director Duncan Jones, the son of David Bowie, created something special and unique with little in the way of funds. His follow up was made with a lot more money but he kept his sensibilities about him and created a movie that is unlike anything I have seen before.

I have heard the movie called repetitive but that is not giving it the attention it deserves. Yes, the scenes play over and over but there are changes involved that allows the audience to play along as detective, trying to help piece together the mystery. Then, of course, there is the mystery underneath it all that plays out alongside the main storyline. This is a fast paced thriller but is intelligent and made me very happy when I saw it the first time. Repeated viewings have not diminished the film in my eyes and Source Code remains my favorite movie of 2011.


Most Disappointing Movies
1. Beastly
2. Insidious
3. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
4. The Green Hornet
5. The Hangover Part II

Best Actors
1. Gary Oldman, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
2. Alan Rickman, Harry Potter
3. Tom Hiddleston, Thor
4. Michael Fassbender, Shame
5. George Clooney, The Descendants

Best Actresses
1. Jessica Chastain, The Help
2. Saoirse Ronan, Hanna
3. Carey Mulligan, Shame
4. Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
5. Charlize Theron, Young Adult

Best Animated Movies
1. Arthur Christmas
2. Gnomeo and Juliet
3. Winnie the Pooh
4. Kung Fu Panda 2
5. Rango

Best Documentaries
1. Cave of Forgotten Dreams
2. Page One: Inside the New York Times
3. Buck
4. Talihina Sky: The Story of the Kings of Leon
5. The Interrupters

Best TV Shows
1. The Walking Dead
2. Once Upon a Time
3. How I Met Your Mother
4. The Big Bang Theory
5. Supernatural







Upcoming Releases

February 17, 2012 - Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

April 13, 2012 - Bullet to the Head - Bullet to the Head is an upcoming 2012 action film, directed by Walter Hill based upon Alexis Nolent's French graphic novel Du Plomb Dans La Tete. The film will star Sylvester Stallone, Sung Kang. Christian Slater, Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, and Kevin King Templeton are producing the film.

May 4, 2012 - The Avengers



May 25, 2012 - Men in Black III

July 03, 2012 - The Amazing Spider-Man



July 20, 2012 - The Dark Knight Rises



September 21, 2012 - Dredd - Dredd is directed by Pete Travis with a script by Alex Garland. The cast currently consists of Karl Urban as Judge Dredd and Olivia Thirlby as Judge Anderson. Dredd is due to be released on September 21, 2012 in 3-D.

2012 (date unknown) - Justice League: Doom



May 3, 2013 - Iron Man 3

June 14, 2013 - Superman: Man of Steel

June 28, 2013 - R.I.P.D. - R.I.P.D. is an upcoming action-comedy crime film set to be directed by Robert Schwentke, based on the comic book Rest In Peace Department by Peter M. Lenkov. The film will star Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges as Nick Walker and Bo, respectively.

July 26, 2013 - Thor 2

May 2, 2014 - The Amazing Spider-Man 2

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