Part 1: http://travis-young.suite101.com/best-films-of-2011-part-1-a400047
5. Hesher
Hesher is a polarizing film...one that I couldn't wait to watch a second time. Joseph Gordon Levitt is Hesher; an unpredictable, long-haired fire starter. He's also a pool ruiner and an all around dick. But he comes into the life of a family in the midst of a tragic loss and helps. He never does what you expect when put into typical movie situations and although there isn't much depth to his madness, every time Hesher is on screen the movie is entertaining and fresh.
4. Take Shelter
There are two things that Michael Shannon does a lot in the first hour of Take Shelter: Staring into the ominous cloudy sky and talking at an almost mumble level. The pressure revs up in the latter part of the film and Shannon goes into what I like to call acting beast mode. I'm not saying he's only great when he finally loses it in public, but that scene gave me goose bumps. Then there's the pivotal scene with his family in the bunker he's built that officially solidified his much-talked about performance for me as one of this year's best.
There are a few minor things that done differently could have helped it be a stronger film. I think it should have ended two scenes earlier than it did. The ending we get works, but I think it will just confuse most people who focus on whether or not his hallucinations and nightmares are real. Its a fun way to look at the film, but ultimately this film is about Curtis and his illness. Most psychological films show a life-altering event causing a character to loser their mind. Or we meet someone who is clearly already off the deep end and maybe we learn about them through flashback. Take Shelter takes a different route and explores something truly terrifying: schizophrenia.
3. Moneyball
Moneyball is an emotionally moving, often humorous film. The screenplay is excellent and Brad Pitt lifts up the few scenes that don't work as well as the rest. Sports can be a great vessel for exposing society to important issues and although Moneyball at its core is very much a film about baseball, it's also a strong character drama. Billy Beane (Pitt) is a fantastic character and everything just ends up working so perfectly that its hard to believe it all actually happened. His team doesn't win in the end (real life spoilers, sorry), but the ultimate choice made by Beane is what the film truly relied on and it succeeds because it doesn't contradict its message.
2. Melancholia
Two years ago Roland Emmerich joyfully played with the destruction of humanity and called it 2012. Lars Von Trier's Melancholia also features the end of the world, but this time with a limo that can barely make it up a windy dirt road let alone help John Cusack escape a collapsing Los Angeles. Oh, it's also Von Trier so it's deliberately slow paced and the characters don't do a whole lot, but their actions are calculated and meaningful. A film less about the end of humanity and more about the anxieties and depression of life. It's the polar opposite of my #1, yet I connected with it almost as strongly. You won't walk away from this film with a smile, but I guarantee you won't soon forget it.
1. Midnight in Paris
Lovely, beautiful, funny...Woody Allen's best film.
Owen Wilson is so likeable, and Rachael McAdams is perfectly evil, and Woody Allen somehow makes Paris seem like an even more magical place. I loved this film. How could you not? It's so charming. A huge Woody Allen fan I am not, but his passion and love for the writers whom he admires and was inspired by comes across without distracting from the story of Gil (Wilson) a writer in a relationship that looks doomed for future unhappiness and divorce. At midnight, Gil finds himself returning to a street with a time-traveling car. It's at these moments that we meet 1920s Paris. Hemingway, Picasso, F. Scott Fitzgerald and the rest of the Lost Generation. Midnight in Paris celebrates both the past and living in the present. Its a celebration of life and the creative geniuses who've lived it. For the beauty of a city and the importance of being with someone who loves you for the right reasons.
Honorable Mentions: Drive, Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil, Insidious, Source Code, Project Nim.
5 Movies to Definitely Skip: I Am Number Four, Friends With Benefits, Win Win, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, HappyThankYouMorePlease.
Travis Young - I've always found film criticism to be like a fun competition. I love reading other reviews and having discussions on movies. The ability ...
