In case you have missed out on any of the movies of the year gone by, here’s a quick guide to some of the movies released during 2011 that you’ve got to watch before the Mayans get the better of you.
To me 2011 was probably the best year at the movies after 1994 when we had movies like Shawshank Redemption, Leon: The Professional, Forrest Gump, Pulp Fiction, The Lion King, etc to name a few.
The year was even more significant to me as the Harry Potter series finally came to an end and the Twilight series is just one step away (still scratching my head trying to figure out why people watch stuff like that). I personally am more enthralled by realistic cinema.
Having said that, I’d like to begin with my personal favorite of the year - A Seperation, an Iranian movie, which deals with the dilemma a married couple is faced with, to either move to another country and live a “better” life or to stay and take care of an ailing parent who has Alzheimer’s disease and who can barely recognize them. It doesn’t end there; the wife wants a divorce if the husband chooses his ailing father over her and their child’s “brighter” future. The movie has a lot of sub plots and touches on a lot of key issues. It came as no surprise when it won the Oscar for the best foreign language film and I personally would like to believe that had the movie been made in English or had it been a silent film like The Artist, it would have swept all the major awards.
Another movie that really got me wanting for more was Warrior. I fail to understand why this movie was so under rated and only managed one Oscar nomination for Nick Nolte. To me the movie was more like Rocky, but only with much better acting and a better script.
The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo was another flick that I loved and am eagerly looking forward to the complete trilogy. David Fincher never really ceases to disappoint and Rooney Mara definitely deserved the best actress award for her staggeringly raw performance in the film, but wasn’t too surprised that the jury preferred to chose Meryl Streep again.
The Artist and Drive sums up my list of top 5 movies of the year. It was a really brave decision to make a silent film and in black and white in this age and expect people to watch it. People who have watched The Artist would agree that the dog (Uggie) deserved an award as well. The movie is a gem of a nostalgic trip.
Many said the year belonged to George, be it George Clooney for The Descendants and the Ides of March or Jean Dujardin who played the role of George Valentine in The Artist. But to me, this was Ryan Gosling’s year. He definitely deserved better for not one but three brilliant films, namely, Drive, The Ides of March and Crazy, Stupid, Love. Drive was simply the coolest and the quintessential guy movie of the year.
Some other movies that stood out during the year included 50-50, Moneyball, Bridesmaids and Horrible Bosses. Yet to watch Hugo, so can’t really comment on that. I’d really want to watch it not because of the number of Oscars it won, but simply because it is a Martin Scorsese film. I also need to catch up on Woody Allen’s – Midnight in Paris after having read so many good reviews about it.
Here’s hoping for more such stuff or even better in the years to come. Until then, do make sure you watch all of the movies mentioned above.
Dennis George.
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