My Top 10 and Bottom 5 of 2011

This year I did not get to see all the movies I wanted to towards the end. There was just no way I could catch up after only seeing 1 movie a month starting October. This school year was just rough, and on top of that working 5 days a week starting Christmas break did not help either. I did get to see the ones important to me, for the most part, and the ones I have left on my list probably were not going to reach my top 10 anyway (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Tintin, A Dangerous Method, My Week with Marilyn, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, War Horse, Carnage, Iron Lady, The Descendents, The Artist and many more).
I'm saddened that this happened, for it has not in a while. I am utterly behind, and it's depressing. But I will end up seeing these movies eventually, and there's no doubt in my mind that most of them will be good. It's kind of funny, I was the most excited for Spielberg to come back this year to the directing world, yet I didn't make any time to see his 2 movies. Life's funny.

But without further ado, my Top 10 :)

10. Fright Night

Here we go, this spot took a lot of thinking. I could have chosen a Korean revenge (Enemy at the Dead End) or a creative romantic Japanese flick (Kimi ni Todoke) or a crazy fun-to-sing-along musical (The Muppets) or the super hero film with the most impressive trailer (X-Men First Class). Why may you ask did I chose Fright Night then? The fact is, this movie pretty much summed up my favorite class this year in school. It is by far the most wonderful horror remake of this decade that strayed enough from the first, but still did little homages as well. I really liked it. I have to admit, though, X-Men was a really close 11.

9. The Help

The most pleasant movie of the year had to make my list. I really liked this movie. It was so well acted and so well done. This movie impressed me a lot because I didn't expect it to be that great. It was a nice feel good movie.

8. 50/50

I really liked this movie, and when I saw it I immediately thought it was going to be my favorite of the year, but as I let it settle in my mind, I found it not as great as the others I saw, and possibly not as fantabulous as I originally first thought it was. The more I thought about the acting overall the less I found it outstanding. Great movie though, fantastic writing.

7. Hugo

The movie about movies :). This one was so touching and beautiful to watch. That, and I needed more than 1 kids movie on my list this year, because I feel this year had better children's movies all around than adult movies (statistically speaking). So magical, so well acted, and so well done.

6. Super 8

My nostalgia got the best of me with Super 8, and I instantly fell in love with it the moment I saw the trailer for it during Iron Man 2. There was no stopping it, I knew from the start it was going to be a favorite and it did not fail to impress. Loved this movie.

5. Rise of the Planet of the Apes

The trailer was great, the movie was even better. I still stand by Andy Serkis getting a best actor nod for his role as the monkey. He's totally brought back monster-movie acting and has made into a pure art form. He's one of the greatest actors of this age. He's been a gollum, a hobbit, a big and smaller monkey. This movie as had one of the greatest moments I've seen all year (Caesar being able to talk much?!). I LOVED IT.

4. Rango

I knew this movie was a love affair the instant I chose to watch it during every usher break earlier this year. I laugh every time, and it's definitely the best Johnny Depp movie to grace the big screen this year. Not only that, but the animation is gorgeous. I'm so glad that someone aside from Pixar and Dreamworks can make an excellent CGI movie. Nickelodeon may have marked themselves as a real competitor this year.

3. Midnight in Paris

This has got to be the best script all year. It was amazingly creative, and if it doesn't win best original screenplay, I will be mortified. I'm still ashamed I missed the first 5 or so minutes of this movie. I cry, I cry. Oh well, this will just convince me I need to buy it on blu-ray yet!

2. Midnight FM

Ah, Korean revenge thrillers. You know just how to make me swoon and sigh (and gasp!). This movie is insanely good, and I cannot stress how much you should watch it eventually. Last year it was I Saw the Devil. Oh man. I just wanna move to Korea and make movies now please. They are beyond perfect. Incredible. This would have been my favorite of the year if it wasn't for one little film...

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

OH MY GOD. The past few years I have withheld Harry Potter films from my lists, but no more shall I repress my love. Harry Potter is my favorite story of all time, and the movies are so well acted and well directed and well shot, I just cannot help myself. I saw this movie a good amount in theaters, and then I bought it on blu-ray and I have successfully cried EVERY TIME. These movies bring the books to life for me, and this one being so close to the films made me just wanna bow down to the Davids (Heyman and Yates). They brought my childhood to life, and they did it so well. I don't know how to thank them more. Behind LOTR, the Harry Potter films are definitely the best films out there. Disagree all you want, but there are 8 HP movies and all of them were good, if not great, if not excellent, if not perfect. The conclusion deserves more recognition than people are giving it. It is the greatest achievement in film. Ever.

A Little Treat: Bottom 5

5. Dream House

4. Apollo 18

3. Immortals

2. The Hangover Part II

1. Red Riding Hood

The Help

The Help -- 4/5

To be honest, nothing about this movie really screamed interesting to me. I usually skip out on films like this, because they really feel generated towards a certain older female audience. It doesn't really help either that the poster has this awful yellow that is unappealing to the eye. Actually, the only reason I was remotely interested in this movie is because I remember my madre reading the book a while back, and if she read it and liked it maybe it's good. I honestly never saw a trailer for this movie because the movies I go out and see wouldn't be advertising this one to their audience.

Well, after good reviews and this movie being at the top of the box office, I decided to switch it over from the "maybe I'll go see it if I have time" list to the "I want to see this pretty soon" list. It had Emma Stone in it at least, and she's been in the spotlight as of late. So I found someone who was interested in it too, and that's when I found myself in a theater watching this movie rather than Final Destination 5 (which I still want to see).

Oh gosh, the trailers leading up to this movie were dreadful, and if I hadn't read raving reviews about this movie, I would have been very much skeptical about the movie I was about to see. The trailers were so bad -- each one I had never heard of and there was a reason for it. It was torture. But finally the movie started and things were starting to look up.

First and foremost, this movie had some spectacular acting. Emma Stone really showed off what she can do outside teen-type roles, but other than her everyone else was spectacular too. Who knew Bryce Dallas Howard of Twilight fame could really act? I honestly wouldn't have bet on it. But all the actresses are solid, and it is so much more than a girly movie (referring to its dominant female cast). I also wouldn't be surprised if there was a best actress nomination in store for Viola Davis who plays Aibileen Clark. So there's one reason for seeing this movie if you think it's honestly not your thing.

And it's not just the actresses that make this movie work. It's a really great story, that brought a little tear to my eye at the end. It's funny, it's heart-warming, it's sad. It doesn't stay at one note the whole time. The movie has a depth to its story that's historical, but it doesn't stop you from thinking about racism that still exists. Not everyone's crying the whole time, but everyone isn't giggling uncontrollably either. Even the shallow characters appear to have some depth to them in the end, which is something I really enjoyed viewing.

Watching the movie makes me wish I had just stolen the book from my mom's bookshelf and read it, but sadly I never did. Maybe someday I will get around to it, because the movie has convinced me it is probably a great book (because all books are better than the movie).