Year In Review | Literary Musing’s Film Recommendation List for 2011

This is “Literary Musing’s Year In Review”, a retrospective look at 2011 with my recommendations for what I consumed as a consumer in 2011. For the introductory post, see here. To reemphasize the disclaimer: these aren’t “best-of” lists, as I haven’t played, read, or seen everything that came out this year. If I had, I wouldn’t have bothered to say this. These are recommendation posts, posts that, if anything, are designed to give readers a healthy mix of recommended entertainment of this year, while keeping respect to all the other works that I haven’t tried yet and the positives and negatives of those I have.

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Drive dir. Nicolas Winding Refn

(REVIEW)

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again; Drive is one of the best action films I have ever seen, mostly because it’s an action film that knows its own limitations and has a lot of soul and kinetic thrust. I could see this film deteriorating into a grind-house mess; everything about it reeks of Tarantino sadism, and the ultra-violence will definitely be off-putting to some, but Refn is such a commanding director that none of it falls apart or feels ridiculous. Everything he does adds to the feel of the film; it knows what it is, unlike most of the action films I’ve seen this year, and never strays from it. Every touch, from tight corner shots to the orange tint that glazes the screen to the soft retro 80′s beats that pulse from Cliff Martinez in the background add up to “…a beautifully produced action film that always has one foot to the floor and both hands firmly on the wheel.”

50/50 dir. Jonathan Levine

The director of 2008′s Wackness nails it in this movie, about a young man named Adam Lerner who is told he has cancer and tries to live life the way he wants to before he is expected to die. It sounds sad (and it is) but it’s the emotional, honest, and clever ways that the director lets his acting talent do their part that allowed this film to truly shine with light. Take for example, Lerner’s best friend (played by Seth Rogen) or his young inexperienced psychiatrist; they all deal with his cancer in different ways, whether it be Seth’s vulgar shoulder-punching humour trying to hide the scared feelings of possibly losing a best friend, or the subtle on-screen signs of Anna Kendrick’s character’s eating disorder from either low self esteem or nervous inexperience in talking to him about it, or the detritus strewn about her car that Adam later cleans up. These are real complex people with real complex problems, flaws, emotions, reactions, and thoughts, and I never stopped being convinced by the realness that made it all click. It’s simply lovely. Review forthcoming.

Contagion dir. Steven Soderborough

(REVIEW)

A chilling, icky film about a fatal disease outbreak that struggles to merge Crash-style perspectives of the virus into a cohesive whole and deliver the irony of a punchline turned into a sick accident as we trace the dots (somewhat literally) back to its source. With that being said, Contagion left a sour taste in my mouth for days and made me wash my hands twice as often. That is why, despite having things I didn’t like, this film burrowed a spot into this list like the contagious organism it was based on.

X-Men: First Class dir. Matthew Vaughn

From the director of Kick-Ass and Stardust (two films of one which I liked, one not so much) comes a film about the X-Men. “Blah,” I hear you say. “Who needs another superhero movie? Everybody’s doing them!” But then I say to you: “Well, what if I told you that Matthew Vaughan doesn’t give a shit about ‘official’ canon and throws it all out the door?”

You’re listening now, aren’t you? I thought you might be.

You see, X-Men: First Class doesn’t try to act like it’s part of anything (it shoots itself in the foot by having the origin story of these heroes set in the Cold War, in the time of Soviet Russia and nuclear strikes) and it doesn’t care about being all that serious even when it is at times, or neither does it try to fit in with the comics history before it ( you especially know that when Charles Xavier walks into a bar and Wolverine tells him to “fuck off”, who isn’t around until years later). It’s just a fun little movie with a fuzzy sense of awareness, humour, believable acting, and some well-done action sequences, one that I approve of for taking risks in an industry that doesn’t see a lot of it.

Game of Thrones dir. David Benioff, D.B. Weiss

The adaptation of one of the best fantasy series ever written has a comfortable home in HBO. It does some things that the book handles better (in spades) and it does some things better than the book (in spades); whatever the case may be, I think HBO is as mighty a hope A Song of Ice and Fire is ever going to get for critical success as a series. Review forthcoming.

Community dir. Dan Harmon

This NBC-produced show has come into it’s own with its quirky brand of “in house” jokes and its “pick-your-topic” episodic format, and it has really begun to grow on me in its own endearingly funny way.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 dir. David Yates

You know I just had to put this somewhere, didn’t you? It’s sad to see it go, especially something that had such a major influence on me when I was a kid, but I’m glad the last film did the ending as much justice as it did. Climatic and powerful, the final movie of the most successful young-adult book series about a boy wizard comes to a fitting close. It’s been great knowing you.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes dir. Rupert Wyatt

A modern revival of the classic space apes movie, now trying to be a movie purely about animals, through and through. I was surprised of how much I enjoyed this film, which I think was fostered around the actually solid plausibility of its premise (a working cure for Alzheimer’s gives birth to disturbingly lifelike, extremely intelligent chimps) and Andy Serkis, who holds everything together and performs mesmerizingly in motion capture as Ceaser, the main chimp. Everything is brought to a bittersweet conclusion while at the same making room for sequel possibilities. At this point, I’m happy with wherever it goes.

Breaking Bad dir. Vince Gilligan

In my quest for good drama television, I stumbled upon Breaking Bad upon the recommendations of friends, and gosh, I wonder why I didn’t find it sooner. An absolutely marvelous show with some of the best writing around, and this year’s season was, in my honest opinion, the show’s best yet. Review forthcoming.

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So, that was my year in visual entertainment. A tremendously good one, don’t ya think? And I still have much more to watch, with films like Martha Marcy May Marlene, The Artist, Hugo, and Another Earth. In conclusion, I ask you: what are your favourite films and television shows of this year?