I'm Back/Top Film of 2011

I have once again been bitten by the blog bug (say that five times fast).  I'm hoping to have a few updates in the next few days, but first, I just wanted to share my top five films of 2011.  So, here we go.

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5) Midnight in Paris/The Artist

I know, I know, tying is such a cop-out, but I seriously cannot decide which of these I like better.  That being said, I'll just share a little about both.

Midnight in Paris is about a writer named Gil (Owen Wilson) who is madly in love with the idea of how Paris was in the 1920s.  His fiancee Inez (Rachel McAdams) does not share his infatuation for the city.  One night after dinner (and a little too much to drink), Gil decides to take a stroll down the Paris streets.  He ends up getting lost, so decides to wait for a taxi to drive by.  Once the clock strikes midnight, a car pulls up and people dressed in '20s attire invite him along for the ride.  When they reach their destination, Gil is in a state of disbelief.  He meets all of these famous people like Pablo Picasso, the Fitzgeralds, Ernest Hemingway and the list goes on and on.  Needless to say, Gil is in heaven.

This is the first great Woody Allen film I've seen since his work in the 80s and 90s.  The script is very well written and you can definitely tell it's Woody Allen work.  The cast did phenomenal.  I never thought I would say that about Owen Wilson, but I was very impressed with him.  Tom Hiddleston as F. Scott Fitzgerald was an amazing addition and I am looking forward to watching him in more films.  The best performance in my opinion was from relatively unknown Corey Stoll as Ernest Hemingway.  He was definitely the funniest character and I hope to see him in more films as well.  I'm glad to see Woody Allen back on his game and I was very excited when I saw all of the Oscar nominations this film got, here's hoping it'll take home a prize or two.

Speaking of the Oscars, The Artist is a top contender for Best Picture, and it has my pick for the big prize.  The Artist is a rather odd movie when compared to other films.  For one thing, it's black-and-white.  Oh, and it's silent.  Yes, a silent, black-and-white film produced in the 21st century.  And, this movie is about Hollywood transitioning from silent films to "talkies."  Pretty strange, right?

The Artist stars Jean Dujardin as silent film star George Valentin and Berenice Bejo as Peppy Miller, the actress who ushers in the era of talkies.  As Hollywood transitions from silent films to talkies, we see the downfall of George Valentin, who is against the transition and does not understand why the audience has fallen in love with talkies.  It is only through the young actress Peppy Miller (who owes her fame to George, who gave her a chance in the first place) that George can finally accept and embrace this transition.

This is my top choice for Best Picture.  When I first went into to see the film, I was a little weary since I had never seen a silent film.  After the first 10 minutes or so, it was like I'd been watching silent films my whole life.  The score was excellent, and definitely helped the film since there was no dialogue.  My favorite part of the film though was Jean Dujardin's performance.  I can definitely see him winning Best Actor this year.  To convey so much emotion without words almost seems impossible, but I could feel everything he felt, and I think that is what separates a good actor from a great actor.  If it weren't for George Clooney (his performance in The Descendants is also very good), I would say he's a lock, but Clooney is definitely an Academy favorite, so we shall see, but I'm pulling for Dujardin.

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4) Moneyball

Moneyball is about the Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) putting together a winning baseball team with the help of Yale economics graduate Peter Brand (Jonah Hill.  Yes, that Jonah Hill).  The A's team scouts are dismissive, and eventually hostile, when it comes to Beane's new method of putting his team together, but Beane continues to side with Brand and put his method to the test.  The team has a little trouble at the beginning of the season, but eventually go on to win 20 consecutive games.  It isn't until the first game of post-season that the A's lose a game to the Minnesota Twins.  Once Beane and Brand's system proves successful, Beane is offered the General Manager position with the Boston Red Sox for an unprecedented $12.5 million salary, which he ultimately turns down.

This film definitely surprised me.  I am not much of a baseball fan, and to make not just baseball, but the process of putting a team together, interesting seems like it would be very difficult, but writers Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin definitely pulled it off.  Oh, and an amazing performance by Brad Pitt doesn't hurt either.  I'm pulling for this to win Best Adapted Screenplay at the Oscars (it's based on the book "Moneyball" by Michael Lewis) and I think it has a very good chance.  Here's hoping.

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3) 50/50

Formerly titled "I'm With Cancer," 50/50 is about a 27-year-old journalist, Adam Lerner (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who discovers he has a rare type of cancer.  Throughout the film, Adam tries to convince his girlfriend Rachael (Bryce Dallas Howard), best friend Kyle (Seth Rogen), 24-year-old therapist Katherine (Anna Kendrick) and mother Diane (Anjelica Huston) that he is fine.  It isn't until the final act that you start to see Adam's nerves unravel, and he truly shows his fear and worry.

First off, let me say this: Joseph Gordon-Levitt can do no wrong.  Okay, just had to get that out of my system.  Directed by Jonathan Levine (The Wackness) and written by Will Reiser, who based the script on his real life (minor spoiler alert?), I was a little unsure about the film, mainly because I saw Seth Rogen in another "my friend has cancer" movie.  Now, I am a fan of the film "Funny People," I just didn't want to see another one.  Well, fret not, these two film are completely different.  This was one of the best scripts I have ever seen on screen.  It mixed humor and drama so seamlessly, I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry.  This film definitely got snubbed by the Oscars this year.  I was sure it would get a Best Original Screenplay nom, but the film "Margin Call," which is a very good film in its own right, took its spot.  I also felt confident Anjelica Huston would get a Best Supporting Actress nomination because she did absolutely phenomenal, but again, another snub.  Nonetheless, this was still a very well-written, well-directed, well-acted film and it was definitely a critic-favorite, just not an Academy-favorite.

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2) Warrior

MMA.  This is not something I ever talk about or ever watch.  I am not a fan.  That being said, Warrior is about two estranged brothers, ex-Marine Tommy Conlon (Tom Hardy) and high school physics teacher Brendan Conlon (Joel Edgerton), who end up entering the same MMA tournament.  Throw in a father (Nick Nolte), whom neither of the brothers like, and you've got some major family drama.  You see at the end of the film the power of love and the power of family bond, which is not something you see in a lot of films today.

This was another film I was unsure of when I saw the first trailer.  I figured there would be pretty entertaining fight scenes but not a whole lot to the story.  Boy, was I wrong.  I'm not even sure I would say the script was something amazing, but when your two leads are Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton, along with a powerful supporting performance by Nick Nolte, the story is bound to pick up.  I've been a fan of Tom Hardy since "Inception," and I'm excited to see what the future has in store for him.  Nick Nolte gave his best performance in years and I'm glad to see the Academy recognized that.  While he may not win (Christopher Plummer for "Beginners" is pretty much a lock), I'm still happy to see a nomination for Nolte.  If you're a guy and you have a brother, this film will hit you even harder than it hit me, or so I've been told.  I could believe that.

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1) Drive

Drive is about a man (Ryan Gosling) who's known only as Driver.  He does car stunts for films, but moonlights as a getaway driver for criminals.  Driver begins to form a relationship with his neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan) and her son Benicio.  When Irene's husband Standard Gabriel (Oscar Issac) returns home from prison, Driver finds him in the parking garage after being attacked by a couple of gangsters, who want him to do a job to repay money he owes them.  Once Standard informs Driver that the gangsters will come after Irene and Benicio next, he agrees to help Standard pull off the job.  To make a long story short, the job was a set-up, and now Driver has to deal with various gangsters and people after him who want to keep him quiet.

Whoa.  That was all I could say after I left the theater.  The film is definitely like a violent John Hughes film, which is something star Ryan Gosling says he has always wanted to see.  The way director Nicolas Winding Refn mixes the art house style and the violence of old exploitation films is mesmerizing.  I could not take my eyes off of the screen from the opening scene until the end credits.  Gosling's performance was incredible and powerful.  Albert Brooks, normally a comedic actor, as a villain is amazing.  It seemed like it would be quite a stretch for him, but if you didn't know better, you'd think he's been playing the villain for years.  I highly recommend this film.  Do not watch anything else until you watch this film.  Seriously.

This was the biggest Oscar snub of them all.  No Best Picture nom, no Actor or Supporting Actor noms for Ryan Gosling and Albert Brooks, respectively, no Screenplay nomination, nothing.  This film got robbed.

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And now, some honorable mentions.  I won't give a synopsis for any of these films, just check them out for yourselves.

The Descendants

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

The Muppets

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Margin Call

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I'll be back throughout the week updating you on my top five albums of 2011 as well as my Oscar picks for this year's ceremony.  Until then, cheese machine.