I now present you with a list of my favorite movies from 2011. I do not believe that most of these films will win any awards, but I enjoyed them the most of all the things I saw this year. They were the movies that stuck in my head the most and made me want to watch them again as soon as I walked out of the theater. You may disagree, and that is fine, and I would invite you to share your favorite movies with me in the comments section below.
So now without further ado and in no particular order.....
Limitless I am a little Bradley Cooper-biased, but I actually really enjoyed this movie a lot. I especially liked that it was not presented as a science fiction movie but more as an exploration of the human mind. You think more about the moral implications of what it would mean to take a drug like NZT. How would it change the way you interact with other people and how you live your life. This movie was engaging and highly entertaining.
Bridesmaids This was the funniest movie I have seen in a really long time. I have been in six weddings, none were quite this hilarious, but I can definitely relate to many of the situations with which these ladies had to deal. The entire cast was great as an ensemble and even better in their individual roles. Each women adds a different level of hilarity throughout the entire movie. Also, I have said it before and I will say it again, I expect puppies to be given as favors at every bridal shower I go to from now on.
The holiday weekend threw me off my posting schedule a little bit last week and I apologize for that. Not that any of you actually really care, but I will try my best not to let it happen again :o)
And now onto business...
X-Men: First Class was very well done and highly entertaining. The story was interesting and was well-acted. It was over two hours long, but at no point did I feel like it dragged at all.
The movie begins by showing us where Erik Lehnsherr and Charles Xavier grew up and how those individual circumstances affected why they eventually end up on opposite sides of the mutant war. It gives us an idea of where William Stryker started and an interesting "history" of the Cold War. We are introduced to several new mutants and the first Cerebro device. We also find out how Charles ends up in a wheelchair.
Erik: Peace was never an option ------------------------------
Opening this weekend is X-Men: First Class. This joins X-Men, X2, X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine as the prequel to the franchise.
In this, we find Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr as young men just discovering their mutant powers and looking for others of their kind. We see what events set these men on the path that leads them to where they are in the first X-Men movie. We see their friendship and what ultimately but them on opposite sides of the mutant war.
America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past. It reminds us of all that once was good and it could be again." -------------------------------
The Olympics are over and I have no more Curling to watch, so I guess I should get back to my movies :o)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine was good but I was not blown away by it. I think I am just over the X-Men movies. Enough is enough. There were lots of plot twists, but i was not really shocked by any of them. It was kinda like, "Okay that make sense that he was being deceived, I am not surprised" :o) The action sequences were cool, I just think if they are going to keep making these movies, they need to be better. Let's hope that Ryan Reynold's Deadpool does just that.
Rachel Getting Married has been sitting on top of my blu-ray player for about a month and a half now. My mom saw it in the theater and said it was pretty depressing, so I just have not been in the mood to watch it yet.
I have also been really bad about watching all my Oscar movies, so I tried to cram a lot in this week. Thank you Bryn Mawr Film Institute for playing all the nominated films that I had not yet seen!
A Single Man was a beautiful movie. Colin Firth was amazing. He played a man, dealing with the sudden death of his partner of sixteen years and, not really knowing how to live without him. When it started, I thought it was going to be way too artsy for my taste, but I loved it. It was sad without being depressing and it was very visually pleasing. Nicholas Hoult was also excellent. I did not even recognize him at first until I got home and checked imdb.com to discover he was the little boy from About A Boy all grown up. This is definitely a movie that everyone should see.
Crazy Heart was good, but not amazing. I thought Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal were excellent, but they are both good actors, so that was not a surprise. Maybe my expectations were too high? Jeff Bridges has been getting all this Oscar buzz that I guess I just expected to be totally blown away by his performance, and I was not. He is a good singer, but this just felt like a country version of The Dude to me. I thought Jeremy Renner and Colin Firth were much more impressive in The Hurt Locker and A Single Man respectively.
I could not get through District 9. It was weird and I just could not get into it. I only watched about forty-five minutes of it, maybe it got better, I guess I will never know.
Unfortunately, I did not have a chance to see An Education. It is a bit of a long shot for any Oscars and I just did not have the time to get to the theater again this week. It did get really good reviews though, so I plan to see it next week :o)
To sum up my Oscar prep this year, of the ten Best Picture nominees, I recommend seeing the following (in no particular order): Avatar, The Hurt Locker, The Blind Side, A Single Man, Precious and Up In The Air. And I will give you my winner predictions soon, probably Sunday afternoon. I am having my annual Oscar Party and I do not want to give my friends any tips :o)
In non-movie-related news, Spring Training is officially underway, which makes me ridiculously happy! It also means that the Phillies road to the 2010 World Series is underway. You can even follow Jayson Werth's Beard on twitter! So, to put you in the baseball spirit, and since I just watched this movie on TV, I leave you with Tom Hanks...
Limitless
