Michael Napoli's Top 10 of 2011
10. The Descendants- Showcases George Clooney with a fantastic script. The best ensemble cast of the year. Has its moments of humor and then can have truthful dramatic moments that hit home.
9. War Horse- Proves Spielberg is still a master of telling stories with raw emotions. Breathtaking cinematography. Spielberg pulls off the relatable personification of a horse and creates an epic.
8. Beginners- One of the more creative movies of the year. Christopher Plummer is fantastic. A real pleasant gem. Great moral, “anyone can restart their life again”.
7. Hugo- Scorsese combined the astonishing new 3-D technology and old setting. It is Scorsese’s crowning achievement. It’s up there as one of his best movies.
6. The Muppets- Jason Segel honors the Muppets and opens them up to a new audience. The music is fantastic. I cannot wait to see what will come next for these characters.
5. The Artist- Seeing The Artist is like stepping into a time portal. It captures the magic and grace of the silent period. Dujardin and Bejo are brilliant.
4. Moneyball- An unconvential sports movie with stand-out performances by Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill. A very smart movie, brilliantly written by Aaron Sorkin and Steve Zaillian.
3. 50/50- The funniest movie of the year.
2. Midnight in Paris- One of Woody Allens best films. A beautiful homage to art, love, and Paris.
1. Tree of Life- The most polarizing movie of the year is the most beautiful, innovate, and creative film of the year. Every shot is beautifully crafted. Nothing is put out on the front and it challenges the audience to find the meanings within. Terrence Malick proves that movies can be beyond story and it can become pure poetry.
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Daniel Bayley's Top 10 of 2011
10. Hugo: The 3-D gave me a headache but that’s one minor fault in this otherwise wonderful film about Scorsese’s personal fondness for the birth of cinema. A great family film by the wonderful collective imaginations of Scorsese’s production team. Asa Butterfield is heart-breaking.
9. Our Idiot Brother: The underrated comedy of the year. Paul Rudd gives the best performance of his career in a wonderfully endearing turn as Ned Rochlin.
8. Take Shelter: Michael Shannon gives one of the top best performances of the year and deserves Oscar consideration. There is a real evident control of suspense by writer/director Jeff Nichols.
7. The Descendants: The ensemble is strong, lead by George Clooney. It is nice to see Clooney break free of his usual “man in control” role into someone who is very relatable and flawed.
6. War Horse: I respect the hell out of this movie. Every shot is breathtakingly well –crafted. Not one of Spielberg’s best, but his use of light and shadow, as well as his balance of multiple storylines, shows he still is one of the best directors alive.
5. 50/50: The best comedy of the year. You’ll laugh; you’ll cry. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a very natural performer on-screen.
4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2: Ended one of the best film series’ of all time in historic fashion. Alan Rickman IS my choice for Best Supporting Actor of ’11.
3. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo: Rooney Mara takes on the iconic role of Lisbeth Salander and hits it right out of the park. Her relationship with Craig on-screen is handled very well. “Immigrant Song” covered by Trent Reznor and Karen O is my most listened to film song of the year. Another hit for Fincher.
2. Super 8: My favorite film of the summer. It takes all of the Spielbergian elements of summer classics we all enjoyed and fuses them together in a summer adventure starring a great cast of child-stars. Michael Giacchino's score is beautiful, especially in the end scenes.
1. The Artist: The best film of 2011. Jean Dujardin and Bernice Bejo are multi-talented stars I would love to keep seeing. After the initial 2 minutes when you realize you are watching a modern film that will have no sound, you realize you never really needed it as long as the story is well told and the talent on and off screen is as clear as it is in this film. It is so wonderfully lovable and pleasant. I applaud the heart of this film and wish everyone to see it.
Be sure to stay tuned for our Oscar nomination predictions next week after the Golden Globes air on January 15th on NBC. Also, here are some of the films we enjoyed that just missed the cut...
Napoli
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Win/Win
A Better Life
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Bayley
Ides of March
The Help
Drive
Source Code
Melancholia
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