With the 2012 Academy Awards airing tomorrow, I’ve decided to compile a top ten list of my favorite movies of 2011, not necessarily who I think should win (HUGO), just the movies that I felt were the best in show and why. Before proceeding however, a few comments that I feel I need to state, since this is my soapbox and mine alone:

The Descendants was…ok. It was a *good* piece of movie-making but not worthy of being considered for the top honor of the year. Clooney did not deliver the performance of his career, and Payne did not come anywhere close to the work he did in say Sideways.
Ides of March was a much better film as well as a superior vehicle for Clooney.

Midnight in Paris was sweet and charming, but was not even close to Woody Allen’s best work, and as much as I love seeing him up for an Oscar or two, I do not feel that this film is deserving. Vicky Cristina Barcelona was a much better pieces of recent work, a film that was essentially overlooked by the Academy. I liked it; don’t get me wrong, but it is not on my top ten for the year.

Extremely Loud… Nominated for best picture? It should not be on any list for any award in any category. It’s amazing what tens of millions of dollars in billboard advertising will get you in Hollywood. It was a polished turd and nothing more. And that kid…I wanted to punch him in his celluloid face. I hated this movie…and the horse it rode in on.

Ok, so now on to the movies that I want all to see. Leave comments below if you disagree…or for that matter if you feel similarly.

#1 – Hugo

I feel that this is the film that was by far and away the best picture of 2011. Due to some of the most misguided marketing missteps in advance of the film’s release, I barely had any interest in seeing it, and I expect that due to that particular fumble, it will end up not winning the top prize at the Oscars this year…when I finally succumbed to see it, within the first few minutes I was completely engrossed. It was pure magic – on every level. Hugo is charming, whimsical, engaging, is perfectly cast and is, without question one of the most inspired films I’ve seen in a long time. The art direction and visual style is otherworldly and the world it portrays is a delight. It is not often that I will describe any movie as “perfect,” but this one nails it. Scorsese has managed to create another film for the ages, one that again will cement hims as one of the great cinematic geniuses of our time. He was clearly inspired making this film and his inspiration permeates every frame.

#2 – The Help

The best ensemble cast of the year is also one of the most heartbreaking and empowering films I’ve seen in a good while. There is an authenticity to The Help that makes the viewer feel like they’re watching a microcosm of history unfold, and it’s not a pretty history to watch. It’s easy to forget the level of prejudice and racism that was so deeply steeped in our culture only a half century ago, but The Help set in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960s helps to remind us that while we’ve come a long way, we still have a long way to go.

#3 – The Artist

The film that has completely won over the hearts and minds of the world this year is another delightful and charming piece of work so completely out of left field that it stands alone in its particular vision. While it is a black and white (almost) silent film, it does not really try to be a film anachronistically out of time. The cinematography and editing are basically modern and beautiful to watch, the characters completely engaging, and the film comes front-loaded with the cutest dog of this year’s batch of films. The music is perfectly set to the film (I expect The Artist will also win for best Original Score), but in the end, I felt that the story was still a little two-dimensional and simplistic. I will watch it again several times I am sure, but I imagine that it’s a film whose story will not hold up over time, thus not making it a timeless classic the way that I believe Hugo will be. I still think it’s one of the best movies of the year: It’s precious.

#4 – The Adventures of Tintin

The single biggest snub of the year continues to get me rankled when I think about it. I was the first person ready to hate this movie. I grew up with the books, and still have all my hardbound copies from when I was a tadpole, so when I first saw that an animated feature was being made, I was hopping mad. I KNEW they would make a travesty of one of my favorite touchstones from my youth. I am very pleased to report that I was wrong. The Adventures of Tintin was executed on every level by people who – it seems – had the same childhood love for the books and really really really wanted to “get it right.” And they did. Between Peter Jackson and Stephen Spielberg, The Adventures of Tintin was as true to the books as a mainstream blockbuster animated feature length film could be. I did not feel that their treatment of Tintin (the main character) was how I ever would have imagined him, but remarkably it was perfect for the film. Their treatment of Captain Haddock and Snowy were pitch-perfect, their inside references to other episodes and books were spot-on. The animation and art direction were nothing short of inspired. Thus me being rankled: I would not have only nominated it for best animated feature; I would have nominated it for best film as well.

#5 – Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I watched all three of the original Danish films and consider them just short of brilliant, so when I heard there was going to be a U.S. version (especially so on the heels of the success of the original trilogy), I was dubious. I have not read any of the books, but everybody who I know who have, said that the original moves were great adaptations…so like I said…I was dubious. When I heard that Fincher was going to direct, I began to adopt a different suspicion about the treatment he would deliver. I have loved many of Fincher’s movies (Zodiac, Se7en, The Game, Fight Club, The Social Network), and so I felt like he would undoubtedly be the best American director to pull it off. And pull it off he did.

We’ve come to expect Fincher’s movies to look GOOD. And his version of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo does, however there is a richness to the cinematogrpahy that almost feels more of a European treatment thatn your standard American fare. This is a good thing, considering that they wisely kept the film in Denmark as opposed to re-casting in in Pittsburgh or some other American city. The choice to use Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for the score was a good call as well. The music is heavy and powerful giving the movie an unnerving and slightly more industrial feel.

Last, Rooney Mara was a fantastic choice to play the Lisbeth character, and what ultimately made it work was the choice to not try to replicate the character as originally delivered by Noomi Rapace, but instead interpret the character as seemed fitting for a new director, a different actress and a different audience.

Whether you’ve seen the original or not, this is a great film full of good tension and release, one that leaves me in eager anticipation for the next two films in the series.

#6 – Rampart

In Rampart, Woody Harrelson pulls off one of the best performances on his career. Co-written by L.A. native son James Elroy, Rampart is – above all else – a dark and complex character study. The film follows a deeply flawed and troubled cop, Dave Brown whose life and career is not-so-gradually unraveling over the course of the film. It’s not until after the midpoint of the film however that we even start to think that Brown may not get through unscathed. There is a certain moral ambiguity to the film as we watch him engage in reprehensible behavior, and yet somehow accept it; His character is at once sordid and strangely charming, so within the context of the character, his actions somehow seem “normal.” I found this fascinating because what I experienced was not so much a moral ambiguity with the character as much as a moral ambiguity in myself. This film will not likely appeal to a mainstream audience, as it is a gritty and unsettling portrayal that only Elroy could fully pull off.

#7 – Hanna

This is one of those films that sadly got lost in the shuffle having been released early in the year, and that’s unfortunate, because I found it to one of the more compelling movies of the year, one that has already been largely forgotten. Saoirse Ronan plays a deadly 16 year old assassin, already a departure for your typical run-of-the-mill central character in a revenge thriller. The film opens in the Arctic where we learn that Hanna has spent her life being trained by her father as a human weapon: Essentially a Femme Nikita sort of character. As the movie kicks into high-gear, Hanna sets out to avenge her father against a CIA operative played by Cate Blanchett. You can figure what happens over the course of the film.

Having been raised in relative isolation from the world, Hanna is not normally socialized as you would expect with your typical teenager; as such her character is played with an interesting disassociation that gives an air of mystery, similar in some regards to Lisbeth Salander in either of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo films. This particular character choice makes for an interesting juxtopotion against the backdrop of a razor-sharp action thriller. I thought it was great.

Saoirse Ronan’s performance is solid and commanding, the film is immediately satisfying for revenge/action/thriller fans, but it stands out from many other films of this ilk, just as the Bourne movies have also done. This may not be as strong as the best film in that trilogy, but I have no problem recommending it wholeheartedly.

#8 – Moneyball
Brad Pitt is really good but he doesn’t deserve the win for best actor. Jonah Hill is really good but he doesn’t deserve the win for best supporting actor. I don’t really have any interest into the inner workings of baseball, but it doesn’t really matter. The individual pieces of the film are not what make it great, as the whole seems to add up to more than the sum of its parts. Moneyball is a good story, well told, nicely directed, and well-acted, but again, not because of the individual performances, but because of all the characters collectively. Like the team the film portrays, Moneyball is a small film, but one that explores themes of motivation and determination, and it leaves you feeling that with enough drive and perseverance, any of us could pull off the seemingly impossible. Moneyballdeserves to be nominated for its wonderfully adapted screenplay, and ended up one as of the more pleasant surprises of the year.

#9 – The Tree of Life
A visual masterpiece of cinematography and editing: Exactly what one would expect from Terrence Malick. The Tree of Life however is one of those films that feels almost self-congratulatory, as if it’s winking at you, fully aware of how breathtakingly beautiful it’s stream of consciousness flow and movement is. The story attempts to explore existential themes and is an introspection, seemingly questioning our whole reason for why we are on this earth…and it is interesting, but not compelling enough to stick with you over time or really make you think all too hard about any of these themes. Stylistically it is among the standout films of the year, but substantively, it sadly falls short. I’d still recommend seeing it, just don’t plan on getting an answer to the question “why am I here?”

#10 – Win Win

Tom McCarthy directs his third film, Win Win, and like his first two, The Station Agent and The Visitor, he delivers yet another thoughtful, interesting and entertaining film.

I hardly ever tire of Paul Giamatti whose performance in the under-appreciated Barney’s Version made my top ten list last year as well. In Win Win, Giamatti plays a struggling New Jersey lawyer (Mike) who coaches the high school wrestling team in his spare time, a task that he finds disheartening, considering that his players are generally pathetic.

In an ethically questionable move, but motivated by the monthly stipend that the job ultimately pays, Mike decides to take on the roll as a legal guardian for a teen who – as it turns out – was once a wrestler of formidable talent. While this synopsis sounds trite and predictable on the surface, the film is not: it is earnest, heartfelt and a deeply human portrayal of people doing what they have to do to get by in life, sometimes making decisions that are less than perfect. Giamatti’s character is flawed, and imperfect to say the least, but we feel for him and we root for him, as we do for the other characters as well.

This was another film that I thought for sure would register with the Academy voters, but by the time awards season rolled around, it seems that this little gem had all but disappeared from the collective conscience. Unfortunate since this is a sweet film, one that deserves to be seen if you missed it the first time around.

File under the discovery of cool and interesting cinematic obsucrities well worth passing along to others for their discovery and delight.

Marika Rökk was an Egypt-born Austrian-German singer, dancer and actress of Hungarian descent who became famous in German films most notably in Nazi Germany during World War II. She first gained prominance in Paris in the 1920s starring as a dancer at the Moulin Rouge with the “Hoffmann Girls.” In 1934 she moved to Germany where she became one of the most famous movie stars in Germany working for Universum Film AG (UFA). Her film career spanned from 1930 through to 1962, however she appeared in two subsequent films, one  in 1973 (Der letzte Walzer) and her final appearance in 1988 (Schloß Königswald ). Marika Rökk died in 2004 at the age of 90.

This clip is from the 1958 German musical film, Buhne Frei Fur Marika. In “Mir ist so langweilig,” Marika is an alien girl who steals a spaceship and heads for earth where she dances with snakes, elephants and African natives. Just another boring day in the life of a German alien girl. The sets and art direction are fantastic.

Wow…cool obscure little find: In 1970 Henry Chapier directed “Sex Power,”  a film with Jane Birkin and enlisted the talents of Vangelis to write the score (this was his very first film score after leaving Greece). It played the San Sebastian Film Festival where it won the Silver Shell Award and quickly slipped away into obscurity. The soundtrack however was the only one of Chapier’s films to ever get its score released.

Most of the dialogue is in English, and the feel of the film has a charmingly naive impressionistic, psychedelic bent.

“The Dark, Dark Hours” was first broadcast live from Hollywood on December 12, 1954 from the General Electric Theater series. It features both Ronald Reagan and James Dean before either of them were huge names in Hollywood.

John Meroney of the Atlantic describes how the footage was found:

“No one has seen this episode in the decades since; the kinescope has been locked away, until now. My friend Wayne Federman, a writer for NBC’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, unearthed the broadcast, condensing it from its original 23 minutes (without commercials) into the six-minute version you see [here].”

By now, many if not most of you have already been made aware of – if not have already read – the extensive February 16th article from Esquire entitled Roger Ebert: The Essential Man. A reference perhaps to Leonard Cohen’s “I’m Your Man,” the song that Ebert purportedly played repeatedly while in his hospital room after one of the many cancer surgeries that he’s had to endure since his first one in 2002, the article is a moving and bittersweet account of a man whose contribution to the world of film is immeasurable.

I first became aware of Roger Ebert in the late ‘70s, when he and Gene Siskel, his partner for over 20 years went into national syndication with their Sneak Previews show on PBS.

For me, their show was essential viewing, intelligent discussion about film, and not just the mainstream movies of the day, but also the obscure underground art-house films that could only be viewed in some of the larger cities across America. I was going to Berkeley high at the time, was a terribly shy teen, and spent a lot of my free time going to movies – usually by myself. We had the UC Theater, one of the early Landmark Theater screens, and they played a different double feature pretty much every night. I could be found there three or four nights (or days if on the weekend) during any given week. Each week however, I would always try to make sure that I was somewhere with a TV nearby when Sneak Previews aired. As much as was possible I would never miss a show.

Ebert’s commentary – his words – about film were an essential part of my filmic diet, a veritable classroom doled out in weekly portions, something to be relished. Regardless if I agreed or disagreed with either of the critics, their discourse would invariably spark the critic within me. Their weekly discussions about various films and their relative merit helped to make me a more critical thinker, and ultimately a more astute and critical viewer of film. Keep in mind this is a guy who won a Pulitzer Prize for his work as a film critic, back in 1975, years before he was on TV!

In 1981, I moved to Seattle. The following year Siskel and Ebert moved to network television, and extended their reach to mainstream audiences. I continued to watch Siskel and Ebert review and debate movies until Siskel’s death in 1999, and continued to tune in to Ebert and his new partner Richard Roper who was his co-host until 2006. My love for film never subsided, and throughout, Ebert was a constant voice, one that I did not always agree with, but one that would invariably give me some new perspective to consider. I thank him for that.

Now his battle with cancer has taken his ability to speak. His entire lower jaw has been removed: The bone that was once there is gone. He cannot eat or drink; he has no voice, no spoken voice anyway. As a writer however, he is more prolific than ever, and since 2008 (when in the midst of a particularly bad fight with cancer) Ebert has been chronicling his experiences and thoughts in a blog that has – as of the writing of the Esquire article – surpassed half a million words!

In the article, Ebert writes: “When I am writing, my problems become invisible and I am the same person I always was.” I read this, and I read it again. I am stunned. He is 67 years old. He has devoted his life to the things he’s loved the most, has honed his craft and continued to sharpen his creative self, and when dealt with a blow that would take the juice out of pretty much anybody I can think of, he finds the sweet nugget and savors the little thing that makes it special. His cancer is in a state of remission, and hopefully it will never return. I cannot imagine what it would be like to go through the ordeal that Roger Ebert has had to endure, but through it all it appears that he has managed to keep his focus, and somehow he has managed to find joy in the things that make his life rich.

This is not a lesson on film, but it is most certainly a powerful lesson in life.  As trite as it may sound, I think we can all do better to learn to let the petty shit go so that we can more fully appreciate the small things that make our lives rich. I will certainly do my best find inspiration in the sweet nuggets.

Read Ebert’s Response to the Esquire Article

See Ebert’s 323 (and counting) Greatest Movies of all Time (alphabetical)

Over this last weekend, I finally got around to seeing Avatar in 3D, and then yesterday the Oscar nominees came out. Unsurprisingly, Avatar was one of the picks for the most coveted of the Academy awards, the Best Picture. I understand why it was nominated, and I expect it may likely win. I also expect that Cameron may well win for best director as well. That said, I do not think it or he deserves the win. Avatar, which managed to win both awards at the Golden Globes, did not win either award at the Directors Guild (DGA), the awards event that gave the nod to The Hurt Locker, the film that deserves to win hands-down.

Sure, Avatar raked it in at the box office, already having earned the unbelievable sum of over 2 BILLION worldwide. Hurt Locker meanwhile earned only $12 million, a pittance by comparative standards.

Bottom-line: Cameron knows how to make big splashy mainstream Hollywood films that rake in big bucks. He is responsible for the Terminator franchise, one or two of the Alien movies, and another Oscar winner Titanic, a movie that I – in the minority –did not much care for. Cameron is Hollywood royalty. He spends boatloads money making grand epics and earns it back ten-fold…and the Academy loves grand epic films with high box office receipts…so who cares if the story isn’t there to back up the spectacle? This is not always the case, but it’s happened too often to overlook. Past cases-in-point: A Beautiful Mind, Gladiator, Braveheart, Forrest Gump, Dances With Wolves, and of course Titanic. Go ahead and call me a blowhard, but I think that these movies were all beautifully polished turds, albeit polished turds with impressive budgets.

Now don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed Avatar, I really did. I do not put in the category of a turd – not at all. I think that Cameron created a beautiful and remarkable world on Pandora. I appreciated the astonishing attention to all the production design, the visual effects, makeup, and the great attention paid to every last detail, but when you’ve got 4+ years and a reported $280 million to spend, I expect as much…and I was duly entertained. I do have issues however. First with the story. The Avatar concept was interesting, but was nothing even remotely original. If you haven’t seen it yet on Facebook or elsewhere, the now-classic comparison between Avatar and Disney’s Pocahontas pretty much nails it. Face it folks, it’s Technicolor fluff with guns and lots of big explosions. Another web phenomenon, but also a really strange and questionable choice, was that of using Papyrus as the font for the titles and subtitles. It was a very distracting disconnect, especially for those of us who have a deep fondness for font in design.

I found Cameron’s heavy-handed, hardly transparent and self-righteous political correctness with his obvious analogies to Native Americans (getting back to Pocahontas) and their “connection to all things living,” a people in touch with the natural energies of the world, manipulative. His obvious “green” messages about energy dependence vs. a purer Pantheist view of the world (which I in fact embrace) were smug and sanctimonious.

The piece that really surprised me however was how the films starts first with our common enemy, the evil hawk of a general, engaging in a non-provoked aggression against a lesser race for their natural energy supplies (sounds familiar, right?), which of course we rally against, feeling politically correct ourselves [look up The White Man’s Burden]. Our hero, a jarhead with the muddled sensibility of a blue-collar Jersey construction worker has apparently experienced a spiritual awakening of sorts, and comes back to save the day (as the natives are clearly incapable of saving themselves). A seemingly unintended message, we are left with a subtly patronizing act of noblesse oblige, wherein the (enlightened) white man has to come in and help the savages out. The subtext is one of superiority, that we must help those out that cannot help themselves, because they are inevitably inferior and ignorant.

Hurt Locker on the other hand, was powerful in the most visceral sense, in the deepest emotionally impacting sense. It is a film about real brutality, and is portrayed in such a way as to make you feel like a fly on the wall observer. It takes hard looks into the damaged psyche of soldiers in war, and should be included in the list of the great war movies along with Gallipoli, Paths of Glory, Full Metal Jacket, Platoon and The Deer Hunter. It is a beautiful film dealing with the stark and upsetting realities of war, and is an undeniable piece of modern-day classic cinema…and it deserves to win the best picture Oscar along with Katherine Bigelow for best director.

This battle between the Epic Goliath that is Avatar against the smaller, but ultimately more powerful Hurt Locker is of even greater and gossipier interest as Katherine Bigelow and James Cameron were once married. What’s more, it it’s entire 82 years of existence, The Academy has never given the best director award to a woman. Speaking of political correctness, giving the woman the award would be the “right thing to do,” but more than that, her work is simply more deserving. The 82nd Academy Awards airs on March 7th.