35 replies to this topic

[Overstreet]

The Playlist has just posted their "Best Films of 2011 ... So Far" list.

I'm pleased to see their enthusiasm for Tree of Life, Beginners, Meek's Cutoff, Jane Eyre, and Win Win... but I groaned when they included Hanna.

I quickly commented on the absence of Certified Copy, which they added in an update (with the qualification that they consider it a 2010 release).

P.S. Do we have a halftime thread going already?

Edited by Overstreet, 21 June 2011 - 12:14 PM.

[Brian D]

Overstreet, on 21 June 2011 - 12:13 PM, said:

The Playlist has just posted their "Best Films of 2011 ... So Far" list.

I'm pleased to see their enthusiasm for Tree of Life, Beginners, Meek's Cutoff, Jane Eyre, and Win Win... but I groaned when they included Hanna.

I quickly commented on the absence of Certified Copy, which they added in an update (with the qualification that they consider it a 2010 release).

P.S. Do we have a halftime thread going already?

Can Of Gods and Men qualify for 2011 in any way?

[Ryan H.]

I quite liked MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, which is the most pleasant, enjoyable time I've had at the movies this year. But I've only been to see three or four 2011 releases, I believe (four if you count CERTIFIED COPY).

Most of my moviegoing these days is spent seeing theatrical showings of older films, like SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS and A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE.

Edited by Ryan H., 22 June 2011 - 05:40 AM.

[Darren H]

Going by the New York Commercial Release rule, I've only seen fifteen 2011 releases but all but #15 are really good. I'd rank them:

Film Socialisme (Jean-Luc Godard)
Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami)
Meek's Cutoff (Kelly Reichardt)
Tuesday, After Christmas (Radu Muntean)
To Die Like a Man (João Pedro Rodrigues)
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
Tree of Life (Terrence Malick)
Nostalgia for the Light (Patricio Guzmán)
St. Nick (David Lowery)
Poetry (Lee Chang-dong)
A Useful Life (Federico Veiroj)
Incendies (Denis Villeneuve)
The Trip (Michael Winterbottom)
Le quattro volte (Michelangelo Frammartino)
Everything Strange and New (Frazer Bradshaw)

Edited by Darren H, 07 July 2011 - 07:03 AM.

[Nathaniel]

It's been half a year, so how about half a top ten list?

Shoah
On the Bowery
Certified Copy
Road to Nowhere
The Strange Case of Angelica

[Darrel Manson]

Top tier (in the order I saw them):
Of Gods and Men
Certified Copy
The Tree of Life
Tyrannosaur

2nd tier:
The Adjustment Bureau
Nostalgia for the Light
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Midnight in Paris
Incendies
Wish Me Away
The Guard
Higher Ground
Tabloid

Edited by Darrel Manson, 03 July 2011 - 05:21 PM.

[Ron Reed]

I've seen little this year, very few of which might be considered 2011 releases. I was enthused about In A Better World and especially Bill Cunningham New York. Found Super 8 kind of enjoyable. Hope to see the tree movie soon, and Woody's latest.

[Christian]

Jim Emerson

That's a trick link, by the way. You'll understand when you open it.

[Christian]

We're now at the beginning of fall. I don't know that this is a relevant marker for a year-so-far post, but I just saw a tweet about the lackluster quality of the big summer movies that made me think of this thread.

I wanted to add that, whatever the quality of the summer blockbusters, I think it's indisputable that, even before the big awards-season films arrive, 2011 has been a tremendous year at the movies. I doubt a single summer blockbuster will make my year-end Top 10 (I have a soft spot for "Fast Five," of all films, and for "Winnie the Pooh"), but several smaller releases have been great.

[Overstreet]

It's the end of September, and the beginning of the fourth quarter.

But I've learned enough to know that I won't have a serious top ten list until summer 2012, at least.

So far, here are my top ten in alphabetical order. (I'm guessing that maybe seven of these will be knocked off by new discoveries in the next few months.)

TEN FAVORITE 2011 FILMS AT THE 3/4 POINT (alphabetical order)

• Buck
  
• Contagion
  
• Drive
  
• Martha Marcy May Marlene
  
• Midnight in Paris
  
• Moneyball
  
• The Mill and the Cross
  
• The Tree of Life
  
• Win Win
  
• Winnie the Pooh

TEN FAVORITE FILMS I SAW IN 2011 THAT WERE ACTUALLY 2010 RELEASES (in order of preference)

• Certified Copy
  
• Of Gods and Men
  
• Another Year
  
• Meek's Cutoff
  
• Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
  
• Somewhere
  
• Beginners
  
• Carlos
  
• Cave of Forgotten Dreams
  
• L'Illusioniste

Edited by Overstreet, 28 November 2011 - 01:46 PM.

[Christian]

Overstreet, on 26 September 2011 - 02:50 PM, said:

TEN FAVORITE FILMS I SAW IN 2011 THAT WERE ACTUALLY 2010 RELEASES (in order of preference)
[list=1]
[*]Beginners

Are you sure about this? I thought I had heard several times that Christopher Plummer is a shoo-in for a nomination at the upcoming Oscars for his role in this film. That wouldn't be the case if it were released in 2010, would it?

[Overstreet]

It played the Toronto Film Festival in September 2010. IMDB identifies it as a 2010 release. I'm sure it qualifies for 2010 Oscars, but the way I'm rating films now, I'm calling it a '10 release.

Edited by Overstreet, 26 September 2011 - 03:06 PM.

[Peter T Chattaway]

Christian wrote:
: Are you sure about this? I thought I had heard several times that Christopher Plummer is a shoo-in for a nomination at the upcoming Oscars for his role in this film. That wouldn't be the case if it were released in 2010, would it?

Crash played the Toronto film festival in 2004, got a theatrical release in 2005, and won the Oscar at the 2006 ceremony. The Hurt Locker played the Toronto film festival in 2008, got a theatrical release in 2009, and won the Oscar at the 2010 ceremony.

Likewise, Beginners played the Toronto film festival in 2010 before getting a theatrical release in June 2011. So it's eligible for the awards that will be handed out at the 2012 ceremony.

[Anders]

Peter T Chattaway, on 27 September 2011 - 11:57 AM, said:

Christian wrote:
: Are you sure about this? I thought I had heard several times that Christopher Plummer is a shoo-in for a nomination at the upcoming Oscars for his role in this film. That wouldn't be the case if it were released in 2010, would it?

Crash played the Toronto film festival in 2004, got a theatrical release in 2005, and won the Oscar at the 2006 ceremony. The Hurt Locker played the Toronto film festival in 2008, got a theatrical release in 2009, and won the Oscar at the 2010 ceremony.

Likewise, Beginners played the Toronto film festival in 2010 before getting a theatrical release in June 2011. So it's eligible for the awards that will be handed out at the 2012 ceremony.

Exactly. However JO or others choose to decide the year of a release, Oscar eligibility is based simply on whether a film screened for a paying audience in a Los Angeles County theatre for at least seven consecutive days in a calendar year.

For myself, I'd go by the IMDb date for "official" release date, but, like the Oscars, I can be flexible in determining whether a film is eligible for my year end Top Ten. In the case of CERTIFIED COPY I wasn't at Cannes in 2010, nor did I have a chance to see it when it debuted in Canada at the Vancouver Film Festival in 2010, but it did play in the local art house in Waterloo, ON in May of this year, so I'll deem it eligible. I won't lose sleep over the fact that it's "officially" a 2010 release. I don't go back and revise past lists very often, so it's not a big deal. But if, in twenty years I were to write a list of the "Top Ten films of 2010" I'd probably place it there rather than in 2011. Make sense?

[Darren H]

Again, I go by Mike D'Angelo's running list of New York theatrical releases, mostly out of convenience (it's nice to have them all on a single page) and because so many friends on Twitter and elsewhere use it. Here's everything I've seen that qualifies by that standard. I'll try to catch up on another 20 or 30 films before the end of the year. Already, it's a strong top 10.

1. Film Socialisme (Jean-Luc Godard)
2. Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami)
3. Meek's Cutoff (Kelly Reichardt)
4. Tuesday, After Christmas (Radu Muntean)
5. To Die Like a Man (João Pedro Rodrigues)
6. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
7. Tree of Life (Terrence Malick)
8. The Sleeping Beauty (Catherine Breillat)
9. My Joy (Sergei Loznitsa)
10. Nostalgia for the Light (Patricio Guzmán)
11. St. Nick (David Lowery)
12. Poetry (Lee Chang-dong)
13. A Useful Life (Federico Veiroj)
14. La pivellina (Tizza Covi & Rainer Frimmel)
15. Incendies (Denis Villeneuve)
16. The Trip (Michael Winterbottom)
17. Le quattro volte (Michelangelo Frammartino)
18. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (David Yates)
19. Everything Strange and New (Frazer Bradshaw)

[M. Leary]

Wow, I didn't notice that St. Nick had a release this year.

I still have a few to catch up on, but these are contenders so far (in no order and according to the very handy universal poll-eligible list):

Certified Copy
Le Quattro Volte
The Arbor
Nostalgia for the Light
Of Gods and Men
Uncle Boonmee
Poetry
Silent Souls
Attack the Block
Film Socialisme
Submarine
Tree of Life
Tuesday, After Christmas
Putty Hill

Not eligible but deserves mention:
Mildred Pierce

[Ryan H.]

I still haven't seen a film this year that I loved. But I'm still waiting on a few of my more anticipated releases.

Here are the films that I've seen and liked, and will probably make-up the bottom half of any end-of-the-year top ten that I compile:

CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS
CERTIFIED COPY
CONTAGION
DRIVE
OF GODS AND MEN
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
PUBLIC SPEAKING
THE TREE OF LIFE
THE TRIP
THE WAY BACK

Here are the best non-2011 films that I've discovered in 2011 so far:

DEAD RINGERS
HOUR OF THE WOLF
THE MAGICIAN
SENSO
SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS

And here are the films I'm desperate to see and will hopefully manage to work their way into the top five spots of my end-of-year top 10:

THE ARTIST
CARNAGE
FAUST
MELANCHOLIA
THE MILL AND THE CROSS
MYSTERIES OF LISBON
TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY

Edited by Ryan H., 30 September 2011 - 08:56 AM.

[M. Leary]

What an incredible year of cinema this has been, and yet remains.

[Darrel Manson]

Additions from my last post:
Top Tier: The Mill and the Cross

2nd Tier: The Help and Warrior.

[Darren H]

Oooh, I forgot about Of Gods and Men. Probably not a Top 10 for me but another strong contender.