Best Movies of the year.... so far
 

Feel free to constantly change, re-order and add to your lists in this thread.



Pretty lackluster so far, but the best of 2011 so far-

Stake Land- terrific micro-indie vampire/zombie horror film that hits the right amount of tension and human commection

The Myth of the American Sleepover- wonderful debut of a great new talent that captures that hazy, awkward time of summer in our teenage years when hanging out seemed so momentous

Road To Nowhere- Monte Hellman's pandora's box of a film that remains elusive and sexy

Insidious- Goes pretty bat-shit crazy in the end and I loved every minute of it

Carancho- Pablo Trapero is a great talent- see his "Lion's Den" or "Crane World"- and this twisting crime film about ambulance chasing lawyers and doctors feels like early Tarantino or Scorsese with its elaborate tracking shots and explosive violence

I've not seen many of this year's releases but of those I have I'd say my faves have been Of Gods and Men, Insidious and Senna.

I keep meaning to see Stake Land

Senna? is that good? I normally don't bother with that kind of money-making biography thing but if you say it's good I'll see it.

I saw this last night and absolutely loved it:

http://www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com...lms/a-alegria/

Do not believe the articles, they didn't get it. It's kind of like a darker Uncle Boonmee.

I'm a big F1/Ayrton Senna fan so I loved it but it's hard to say how interesting it would be to anyone who isn't. It's very well done, though, and certainly didn't feel like a straight money-making biog.

I'll definitely look out for The Joy. It looks great.

I haven't seen a movie in theatres in awhile, and certainly not anything good. I've heard good things about "Attack the Block" and would really like to see that. Has anyone seen it?

i'm waiting till kung foo panda 2 comes out on dvd

I'm probably gonna be bashed for sayin this, but oh well. I loved thor and captain america. I'm a huge fan of marvel comics, and have been awaiting these movies for a long time. They weren't perfect, but I thought they were very well done. Sorry I don't have any other more insightful or artistic movie titles to contribute, but truth is, I've slacked on my movie duties as well as my sy/gossip duties. My bad.

I forgot about Thor. Absolutely loved it, even though I've generally not been a fan of a lot of the recent superhero adaptations.

Insiduous was terrible. Just awful. There was like a pretty good 40 mins in the first half that were just torn to shit by the completely idiotic second half. In fact, it being good at first actually makes the movie worse to me. So bad.

I liked Thor, X men and Captain America. Embarrassingly, I saw all three in theaters. Michael Fassbender as young Magneto was really quite good.

I've also quite liked "A Better Life", "Planet of the Apes", "Horrible Bosses", "Your Highness" (sorry it made me laugh), "Midnight in Paris", "Drive Angry", and "Martha Marcy May Marlene".

Very excited to see Drive tomorrow. Haven't seen "A Tree of Life" yet.

All and all the summer action flicks were of better quality than most years I would say.

I'm trying to even think of any 2011 movies I've seen. Probably none. It's very very rare that I go to the movies, I really just wait for DVD/netflix. But then again, yr saying Insidious was 2011?

Yes, "Insidious" was a 2011 film. It played Toronto and various film fests in late 2010 but wasn't released in American theaters until early spring 2011.

Big Trouble in Little China w/ capguns

Just got back from seeing this, now I can't say I've seen a ton of movies this year, but I loved this movie. Its really great, I'd say the best movie I've seen of this year.

re-organzing a bit since I've seen two spectacular films in the last week:


1. Drive (Refn)- the best nighttime LA crime film since "Heat"
2. Road To Nowhere (Hellman)
3. Contagion (Soderbergh)- ranks with some of his best work and the first hour is brilliant... cold, terrifying and mesmerizing
4. Stake Land (Mickle)
5. Myth of the American Sleepover (Mitchell)
6. Insidious (Wan)
7. Carancho (Trapero)

I'm still trying to understand what you liked so much about Insidious... ?

I'm gonna have to go with Scream 4.



Not only because I was an extra in a few scenes, or because it's the only new film I can think of that I even bothered seeing this year... but it is genuinely the best film Craven has done in over a decade, and possibly the most entertaining/clever flick in the entire Scream franchise.

OH GOD how did I forget this????? I LOVED Scream 4. Loved it. It was definitely my favorite since the first. And the first is one of my favorite movies of the 90's. So yeah. Amazing. Good call Joe.

yeah.

I'm typically not a fan of horror movies, but when I find one I like, it has a certain stillness and atmosphere to it. Ti West's "House of the Devil" is one. Alot of Kiyoshi Kurosawa, especially "Pulse". So there's my horror tendencies.

With "Insidious", I appreciated the stillness of the first half, punctuated by some chilling images (whatever that was standing quietly in the corner of the baby's room.... the demonic voice that is caught on the baby monitor etc). The first half got me invested in what was going on and establishes itself as an atmospheric, baroque ghost tale. The second half, as i said above, goes pretty bat shit crazy in this netherworld of nightmares and goes to some pretty disturbing places IMO. The whole thing worked for me. I was thrilled from beginning to end.

WELLL maybe the part where you said "I'm typically not a fan of horror movies" explains a bit to me. BUT if you picked up on the amazing atmosphere of House of the Devil, then we're thinking alike there.

I guess what happened was this. The first half of Insidious, we both saw this really good creepy well done movie. The second half I was like "OMG how did that fuck THAT up??????" but you actually enjoyed it. So if anything, we're just differing on our opinions of like 40 mins. Haha.

Insidious was good like you guys said the first half of it. The other was just bland, it was as if they did not know how to finish the story.

exactly what I felt. Like halfway thru Wan was like "y'know what? I'm gonna let a 4 year old finish writing this thing."

I think I've seen only one movie made this year, and I really liked it so it kinda fits in the category:

Aki Kaurismäki: Le Havre

Best Movies of the year so far
 

Im really sorry I didnt see this post for some reason. Happy New Year to you too I hope youll have a wonderful year and the best of everything, especially good health. Without that, the rest really doesnt matter, does it? Obviously the same goes for you Lorrayne - have a great one Hope everything goes according to plan.

enjoyed Midnight in Paris

Newly reorganized 10/14:


1. Drive
2. Road To Nowhere
3. Contagion
4. Stake Land
5. Myth of the American Sleepover
6. *The Ides of March (Clooney)- actor Clooney is quickly becoming a cerebral director with this political drama that uses classicism and strong acting
7. Insidious
8. *Buck (Mehill)- fantastic documentary about the real life horse whisperer- not only is the man himself a fascinating subject, but the 20 minute "talk" with a dangerous horse is spectacular
9. Carancho

Drive is my favorite at this point. Have a lot to catch up on. I enjoyed 50-50 but it was overhyped.

Newly re-organized 10/16. guess i should've waited a day so many great new films out there

1. Drive
2. Road To Nowhere
3. Contagion
4. Stake Land
*5. 50/50 (Levine)- for the first 30 minutes, the film upholds the Apatow brand of confronting adult themes with childish humor, then it morphs into something shattering and great
6. Myth of the American Sleepover
7. The Ides of March
8. Insidious
9. Buck
10. Carancho

Ok pretty much my final list for the year after 175+ films:


1. Drive (Refn)
2. Shame (McQueen)
3. Martha Marcy May Marlene (Durkin)
4. Take Shelter (Nichols)
5. Road To Nowhere (Hellman)
6. Contagion (Soderbergh)
7. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (Alfredson)
8. Stake Land (Mickle)
9. 50/50 (Levine)
10. Rapt (Belveaux)
11. The Ides of March (Clooney)
12. Myth of the American Sleepover (Mitchell)
13. Hugo (Scorsese)
14. Senna (Kapadia)
15. Insidious (Wan)
16. Buck (Meehl)
17. Carancho (Trapero)
18. The Robber (Heisenberg)

Jack and Jill

went to see Drive, I thought it was shiiiiiiittty. needed the services of a screenwriter. the 2 "actors" as well, Katie Holmes, esp. very very lame