Movie of the Year 2011!!!!.

We have arrived at the end of the year, This year really flew by There was a total of  33 movies I had planned to see this year, I was able to view 23 of the 33 on my list which his about 70% not  bad ration in my option. When you see that many Films some will be bad some will be good some will be very good and some will be very bad, this post is for those that fall into the very good category. I will pick my top 5 films of the year and elaborate on each and decide which I though was the best of the best.

First I will list every movie I have seen this year that I gave an 8.0 or above to (sorted by highest rating to lowest)

A very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas- 8.0
Battle: LA- 8.1
Unknown- 8.2
Scream 4- 8.2
Immortals- 8.2
Fast Five- 8.3
Rise Of the planet of the Apes- 8.4
Super 8- 8.4
Contagion- 8.6
Hanna- 8.8


From these 10 films I will whittle it down to the top 5 regardless of the rating .

Here are the Nominees

Hanna

Contagion

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Scream 4

Super 8

Now that the five Nominees have been chosen it is time to discuss each film and give some brief thoughts on each  (I will list the films in the order I listed them above).




Hanna- Released April 8th, Starring- Saorise Ronan, Eric Bana and Cate Blanchett, Rating- 8.8/10

This film was a pleasant surprise going in I had no idea this would be my highest rated movie of  the year, The setting and the acting in this film is the reason that this film was so highly rated by me, Ronan, Bana and Blanchett all did great jobs in their roles and made the film flow together very well. If I could summarize this film I would say it is similar to the the "Jason Bourne films" but with a teenage female in the lead role, This was a great film and anyone interested in a movie with great acting and a solid plot with a good setting should check this out, Ms.Ronan has a bright future ahead and I expect great things if films of this quality continue for her, a criticism of this film would be the soundtrack it was very techno sounding and to me it got a little annoying in some parts but other than that not much to complain about.




Contagion- Released-September 9th, Starring- Laurence Fishburne, Matt Damon and Jude Law, Rating- 8.6/10

  

The plot for this movie insured that I was going to see it regardless of how it turned out, the cast also drew me in.  I was not disappointed in the slightest, The acting was top notch which I expected with this cast. The idea of this film had been done before but not exactly in this same way with a global virus pandemic which is highly possible of happening in today's world, which made the film all the more real. This was a very good film and I recommend it for anyone who wants to see how a global viral outbreak would effect the world and the steps that could be taken by the worlds leaders it is interesting to watch it unfold on the screen, There was not much wrong with this film but I will say at some points the film fills a little dry and can be a bit boring but with a film like this that is expected this is not a action film it is a drama and in that regard it did a great job.




Rise of the Planet Of The Apes, Released- August 5th, Starring-James Franc, Frieda Pinto and John Lithgow, Rating-8.4/10.

 

I saw the last "Planet of the apes" film in 2001 and to say it was a monstrosity is an understatement, I understand that it was directed by Tim Burton and he views directing in a different way than most directors but that film was just a little to different. I was not sure what to expect when I saw this film but what I did see was a great film that from the feedback I have been told from others was overlooked by most and anyone who has told me this, I do not hesitate to recommend the film to them as they are missing out on one of the best films of the year, the choice to use CG apes instead of real ones in my opinion was great choice WETA did an excellent job and should be nominated for an academy award for special effects, also Andy Serkis did an outstanding job as Cesar and should also be nominated in my opinion, this was a great film that has seemed to go under the radar, no sweat a sequel has already been planned and I cannot wait, a downside to this film for me was that I wished the apes talked as I felt it may have added more to the story but I also understood that this was the origin story and the apes had not yet developed speech yet, and let that slide and appreciated the film.




Scream 4- Released April 15th, Starring- Neve Campbell, David Arquette and Courtney Cox-Arquette, Rating-8.4/10

Horror films for me are graded on different scale, unless the film is not completely a horror film and in the case of the scream series I would say it fits the bill, while generally horror films the "Scream" films have certain amount of suspense and drama to them and that is why Scream 4 was rated so highly by me this year. While I do not agree with some of the deaths that occurred in the film that may hamper the chances of making a Scream 5, but that is not important to this film, in my opinion this was the best of the Scream series so far which is saying a lot especially when compared to the first two films. The big three Sidney, Dewey and Gale do great jobs and show why you do not mess with the original, The new cast did a great job in thier roles as well with special mention to Hayden Panettiere (never thought I would mention her in association with good acting) and Kiran Culkin they stood out most of the new cast, If you are a fan of the scream series and want to see some of your old favorites handle ghostface in a new era then you must see Screm 4, you wewill not be disappointed.




Super 8- Released June 8th, Starring- Elle Fanning, Amanda Michalka and Kyle Chandler, Rating- 8.4/10

If you are like me when you saw the trailer for this film you probably had no idea what to expect, the trailer left a lot to the imagination which I am sure was done intentionally, further down the line another trailer was released that displayed a little more of what was going on in the film. My expectations for this film were actually pretty high and that was due to the director both previous films that I had seen that where associated with J.J. Abrams (Cloverfield, Star Trek) were both good films in my opinion, and see that Steven Spielberg attached himself to this film also increased my anticipation for this film to a new level, I was not disappointed in the slightest, the film is part coming of age film and part monster film with sci fi and a little drama mixed in as well, The child cast did a great job with special mention to Elle Fanning if she continues with great roles such as this she will be right up there with her older sister Dakota in no time, my one gripe with this film is that the monster in the film I fel was a little tacked on they could have easily not included a monster at all and the film would have been even greater, it felt as if they just included it to have something to build up to and it fell a little flat in that regard, but this is a great film that I am sure a lot of people overlooked and that is unfortunate as they missed out on a great all around film.

Those are the five nominees and a little on what I have to say about each film.

I saw a lot of great films this year, it was hard to pick the final 5 but there must be a winner and that film is.

HANNA