It's been quite a year at the movies in 2011: We've seen 3D take over, childhood favorites return, major cities explode, franchises reboot, writers time-traveling, and existential indies ruminate on the nature of the universe. In other words, a lot like what we watched in 2010. But still, a few trends emerged, as new aliens attacked seemingly every other weekend, the hard-R comedy made a strong comeback and our shared nostalgia was exploited wherever and whenever possible.
Meanwhile, Hollywood gave us a steady stream of sensory assaults in various forms in 2011, from giant robots smashing buildings to Micheal Fassbender going full frontal. (Just be glad Shame director Steve McQueen didn't decide to join Micheal Bay on the growing 3D bandwagon.)
And while year-end "Best Of" lists have become as much of an annual December tradition as collectively pretending our movie tastes improve in the winter months, that's not stopping us from recapping the year in movies. So here's what we were watching in 2011. They may not all be Oscar contenders, but you weren't fooling anyone with your half-bakedTree of Life dissertation anyway.
Best "Foreign-Language" Film: Attack the Block
Okay, so this British sci-fi horror/comedy is technically in English, but its protagonists' heavy South London accents and unfamiliar slang had North American distributors considering tacking subtitles onto it before it crossed the pond. But despite the potential language barrier, this clever foreign import about an inner-city alien encounter had no trouble translating to audiences sick of a summer full of less-than-stellar domestic alien invasion thrillers.
Of course, it helped that the genre-twisting comedy about aliens touching down in a South London housing project owes a lot to Shaun of the Dead in both tone and style (no wonder, since it was produced by Edgar Wright). In it, a gang of wannabe teenage gangsters find themselves squaring off against a horde of interstellar ETs with glow-in-the-dark fangs, resulting in a movie that's fast-paced, subversively smart and, above all, a hell of a lot of fun. Who said foreign films had to be bleak - or in a different language?
Best R-Rated Comedy: Horrible Bosses
At the end of last year, it looked like The Hangover Part II had this category locked up, sight unseen. But then we finally saw it, and, well, the door was still wide open. But while there were no shortage of contenders, from The Change-Up to Bad Teacher, Horrible Bosses was by far the funniest - and raunchiest - of the foul-mouthed bunch.
Probably because this gleefully demented revenge fantasy about a trio of disgruntled employees and their dimwitted attempts to knock off their cartoonishly terrible bosses gave us more memorable lines than the rest of the summer's comedies combined. Credit the strong chemistry of its three leads, Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day, who made the mean-spirited wish fulfillment work where the summer's other hard-R comedies failed.
Best 3D Movie: Hugo
Yes, Hugo is a kid's movie, but it's a kid's movie from Martin Scorsese, and that alone makes it worth a spot on this list. Still, the director best known for mafia movies and crime dramas delivers a master class in 3D filmmaking with Hugo. Scorsese clearly did his homework for the film, packing the frame with objects to enhance the 3D effect, and the acclaimed director uses the modern technology to tell a story about early movie-making, drawing clear parallels between those original cinematic magic tricks and our current ones.
And after the glut of gimmicky cash-grab 3D had moviegoers' interest in the added dimension fading, Hugo shows the massive potential of the technology when it's placed in the right hands. Even James Cameron was blown away. Scorsese recently said he'd prefer to do all his movies from now on in 3D. After Hugo, sign us up. Let's just hope his next one features a more adult story.
Best Summer Movie: Rise of the Planet of the Apes
When it comes to summer movies, it's often a case of simply meeting low expectations (or providing an air-conditioned safe haven). Sometimes, though, the supposedly brainless blockbusters can surprise us -- and that was definitely the case with Rise of the Planet of the Apes. There's even been a grassroots For Your Consideration campaign for Andy Serkis, the Meryl Streep of motion-capture, for his role as the man behind the hyper-intelligent CGI chimp who started a revolution. Can you imagine anyone suggesting the same for a Transformer?
Sure, the second Planet of the Apes reboot in 10 years was yet another big-budget visual effects spectacle, but it also had a bit of added depth to go along with its promised apes vs. humans royal rumble. Which makes it a far cry from Michael Bay. Does that mean it deserves an Oscar? No. But when it comes to summer movies, Rise of the Planet of the Apes was way more intelligent than we expected.
Best Nostalgia Trip: The Artist
Forget The Muppets, The Smurfs, the steady stream of ‘80s reboots, or even J.J. Abrams' ode to Steven Spielberg, Super 8. In 2011, one film took the recent trend of nostalgia movies even further back in time: to the 1920s.
A throwback to the silent era, The Artist is a period piece that goes all the way. It doesn't just tell a story from a bygone time; it does so by mimicking it stylistically, too. Is making a black-and-white silent film in 2011 a little gimmicky? Definitely. But don't tell that to critics -- the crowd-pleasing cinematic novelty act has already been named Best Picture of the year by the New York Film Critics Circle and has the inside track in the Oscar race as well.
Best Doomsday Movie: Take Shelter
Rapture predictions dominated the news cycle this year, and while Harold Camping's warnings never came to fruition in real life, they certainly did in movie theaters, as the end of the world played out in all its various permutations in 2011. But whether it was alien attacks, worldwide pandemics or super-intelligent apes, none were as deeply unsettling as Take Shelter. In the film, Michael Shannon plays a man with a family history of schizophrenia and increasingly disconcerting visions of an end-times storm. Trying to hold onto his sanity while building out the tornado shelter in his backyard, the troubled young father repeatedly questions whether he needs to keep his family safe from a impending apocalypse -- or from his own impending breakdown.
The result is a deeply affecting and downright terrifying movie, even without any explosions or hungry cannibals. And between Shannon and 2011's breakout star Jessica Chastain, the acting alone makes Take Shelterone of the best (and most underrated) films of the year, no matter what the subject matter.
Best Sports Movie: Moneyball
That damn Aaron Sorkin did it again. He took another seemingly boring subject like sabermetrics and made it improbably compelling in his screenplay for MoneyBall, a fascinating inside-baseball look at the journey of the Oakland A's from small-market underdogs to unlikely contenders. And while the sports movie competition in 2011 was relatively weak,Moneyball still comes out on top, mostly because of the way it actively avoided the traditional formula, in which everything comes down to a feel-good final game.
Instead, the Social Network of baseball movies sought to reinvent the genre as much as Billy Beane did to reinvent the game, using its niche subject matter to challenge our expectations of what sports movies should be, while still showcasing an obvious love for the game. As a result, Moneyballis a baseball movie for the modern age - one that appeals as much to fantasy GMs and stat-geeks as the die-hards.
Best Oscar Bait: The Descendants
You know the drill: Every year, November and December roll around and your local movie theater gets invaded by an onslaught of films seemingly put together using an Oscar flow chart. With their prestige casts and "important" subject matter, Oscar bait is easy to spot but seldom delivers much more than an armful of statues. And while it may not star Meryl Streep, The Descendants is still a good bet to take home a prize or two this Oscar season, thanks to the award-winning pedigree of writer/director Alexander Payne and star George Clooney.
But while The Descendants may not be the best movie of the year, this well-made family drama about a struggling Hawaiian patriarch is worth seeing because in addition to being a guaranteed Oscar contender it's actually a good movie, too. Shocking, we know.
Best Bromance: 50/50
50/50 may have been marketed as a feel-good comedy, but don't let Seth Rogen fool you: Based on the real-life experiences of screenwriter Will Reiser, Joseph Gordon-Levitt's turn as a 20-something cancer patient isn't exactly laugh-a-minute. That's not to say 50/50 isn't funny - it definitely is - mainly because it's so honest about the entire journey, using humor to diffuse the tension of the serious subject matter.
And largely because it's never overly sentimental or cloying, Jonathan Levine's film makes for the most touching bromance of the year, a tearjerker for guys who wouldn't be caught dead watching one. And we don't care how "manly" you are: If you didn't get choked up at some point during 50/50, you should probably go get checked out by a doctor and make sure you still have a pulse.
Best Guy Movie: Drive
Let's see: a lone hero, car chases, shootouts, and bloody retribution… Drivemay star hipster idol Ryan Gosling, but by hitting all the usual guy movie checkpoints, this is one film on which hipsters and guys can agree.
Slick, hyper-stylized and punctuated by shocking bursts of gory ultra-violence set to an ‘80s-inspired soundtrack, Drive became an instant cult classic with its silent hero and retro styling. And featuring surprisingly badass performances from unlikely sources like Gosling and Albert Brooks, Nicolas Winding Refn's art-house action flick seems similarly destined to join an esteemed list of guy-movie classics. A thrilling and dark genre movie, Drive had us hooked from the very first scene.
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