Favorite Performances of 2011

Originally, I was going to title this Top Ten Performances, but frankly, I’d want to limit those to the Best and Worsts lists. Instead, these are just a bunch of performances from actors that I really enjoyed. You’ll notice once I post my Top Ten list that some of the names and titles listed below are seen in the that list.

Honestly, how could you not fall in Like Crazy love with Felicity. Such a cutie.

Felicity Jones, Like Crazy – For my money, no actress dazzled and captivated me more than the 89 minutes I spent on a Sunday morning watching Jones in Like Crazy. It was one of those performances where you watch an actress take the jump to the next level and I’m eagerly anticipate seeing what’s next for her. Well, we know three projects are confirmed to have her on board, two currently in post-production – Cheerful Weather for the Wedding (a British dramedy) and an untitled Drake Doremus drama co-starring Guy Pearce. The third project is The Invisible Woman, currently in pre-production and slated for a 2013 release with Ralph Fiennes directing.

Nick Nolte, Warrior – Over the years, Nolte’s career and personal life slowly devolved into a series of punch lines. His performance, from the opening bell (pardon the pun) all the way throughout Warrior is one of the unsung supporting performances of the year. Granted, he’s earned a SAG nomination for the performance and fingers are crossed that the Academy recognizes this fine performance.

The cast of 13 Assassins – I can’t single anybody in particular out here. Part of the awesomeness of this movie is due to the direction from Takashi Miike, but if he were to swap the 13 assassins in this movie with a bunch of K and J-pop idols, it just wouldn’t have the same effect. In fact, it’d probably turn into a barely watchable comedy. While Miike builds up the tension in the first hour of this movie, the success and yes, awesomeness of the final 40 minutes of this movie rest in the performances from the ensemble cast of assassins as all hell breaks loose.

The Rock smells a bl-la-la-la-lockbuster!

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Fast Five – Yes, The Rock. The mere prospect of seeing Vin Diesel and The Rock face off on the big screen was reason enough for me to plant my butt in a screening. This was the first movie of the year where I just kicked back and let the over-the-top balls to the wall action sequences take me for a ride. Fast Five is nowhere near perfect and you won’t see it on my Top Ten list, but with The Rock delivering punchlines with bad-ass vigor, this franchise got the shot in the arm it so desperately needed.

The cast of Margin Call – Like with 13 Assassins, Margin Call is a superb ensemble effort. Take the actors in this movie and swap them with a bunch of no-names and it may be a decent but unmemorable indie hit. But with Spacey, Baker, Quinto and Beatty in the lead and Jeremy Irons in a fine supporting role, this becomes one of those unsung movies of the year. Nobody in this movie, aside from Stanley Tucci, is likeable and your gut instinct will be to root against these guy and cheer as they wallow in the mess that they created, but at the same time, you’ll futilely want Spacey to succeed and make the right decision. Does he? I’m not going to spoil that for you. Go watch the movie.

Movie rednecks, gotta love 'em.

Tyler Labine and Alan Tudyk, Tucker and Dale vs. Evil – Horror movies tend to be carbon copies of one another. Grisly violence here, some nudity there, add in a gruesome climax and release the thing on DVD. What’s often lacking in horror movies is any personality. A majority of the characters are often these bland, boring objects waiting to be dispatched in some bloody sequence. While an occasional bloody kill sequence is fun to watch, this movie has the added bonus of excellent comedy, led by Labine and Tudyk. These are two guys, especially Labine, who you’ve seen in countless movies and TV shows, but may not know their names. Trust me when I say that Tucker and Dale is worth the time to watch. And if all else fails at least you have Katrina Bowden in her underwear.

Jason Segel and Amy Adams (and Fozzie and Animal), The Muppets – The feel-good movie of the year. Oozing with so much nostaligia and sweetness it would make a diabetic baby boomer go into shock. Segel did a masterful job in bringing the franchise back to life and Amy Adams returns to that sweet charming young lady we saw in Enchanted. Admittedly, I’m not the biggest Muppet fan out there, but I can say that I enjoyed this movie from start to finish with its catchy songs, Fozzie jokes and Animal.

Paul Giamatti, The Ides of March – Sure, Ryan Gosling and George Clooney do a great job and Philip Seymour Hoffman, Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood give great supporting performances, but for my money, the stand out was Giamatti. I always love it when he plays these characters that are on the edge, where one misguided comment could send him postal. I love the delivery of his dialogue, that menacing bark of a tone that he uses. I can say this much, I ‘m not looking forward to see him in Rock of Ages though. Oy.

Jake Gyllenhaal, Source Code – I kind of debated on this one. Was it that I liked the movie overall and the masterful editing or was it Gyllenhaal’s performance? Because if I’m going to give props to Gyllenhaal, I have to also give mini-props to Michelle Monaghan and Vera Farmiga for their supporting performances. In the end though, when you say Source Code, that image of Gyllenhaal trapped inside that metal sphere thing pops up in my mind. As well as the final scene where his mouth is moving. Yea, cryptic, but I can’t go into this performance without giving away a few spoilers.

Michael Shannon, Take Shelter – A simmer followed by a boil. I hated the ending of this movie, but everything leading up to it, spear-headed by Shannon’s fine performance, was a joy to watch. The ubiquitous Jessica Chastain dials in another fine performance as well, but frankly, she’s going to get her awards over the next couple of months. Shannon on the other hand has a good chance at being edged out by bigger names and bigger movies. Which is a shame really, because his performance in this movie makes it the must see indie that it is.

Accio pistol. Wait, wrong movie.

Michael Fassbender, X-Men: First Class, Shame – Overall, I wasn’t a fan of First Class. I know I’m in the minority as most people enjoyed that movie. I will say that the one thing I enjoyed about this movie (aside from watching Zoe Kravitz flirt with the camera in every damn scene) was Fassbender’s performance as Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto. So good and pinpoint wonderful to watch. Then, on the flip side, there’s Shame. I didn’t know what to make of Shame when I first went in to watch it. I knew that there was going to be lots of nudity and sex but the comparisons to Bernardo Bertolucci’s Last Tango in Paris had me somewhat uneasy. (I hated Tango) But that’s where Fassbender’s acting chops kick in and blend with Steve McQueen’s ambiently paced directing.

Johnny Depp, Rango - I could put Capt. Jack Sparrow in here but it isn’t 2003. Rango was a pleasant and refreshing surprise. Great humor and silly dialogue throughout, it could very easily land itself on my Top Ten list.

The Turtle from Turtle, The Incredible Journey – I’m a sucker for anything with a turtle in it. Honestly, that’s the only reason this movie is on this list. Don’t worry though, I’m not going to start a Harvey Weinstein-esque Oscar campaign for the turtle…. although the awards acceptance speech would be mercifully short. And awesome.

Top Ten Disappointments of 2011

I didn’t think I’d be posting back on here, but since I can’t post this kind of stuff on my Fandango blog feed, I’ve turned to this blog to get it out of my system. I’ll have the Top Ten list soon (a few more movies I need to catch up on) as well as Top Ten performances list. But enough of looking into the future, let’s get crackin’…

Every year is filled with them – movies that look amazing and great and, “Oh my gosh!! I can’t wait to see it!!” And then we plunk down out $15 (might be cheaper in your neck of the woods. Studios and theaters like to gouge us city folk) and settle in for two hours of cinematic bliss only to be awarded with a stale, boring and/or disappointing experience and that’s before the asshole sitting two rows in front of you starts fiddling with his smartphone.

As we head toward the end of the year, a flurry of lists are going to start appearing and before I unveil my Top Ten of 2011, I decided to unveil my Top Disappointments of the year. Put simply, these movies did not arrive as advertised and ultimately resulted in disappointment and me wishing I could get my money back.

X-Men: First Class – On paper, this sounds like a promising movie and I’m not taking anything away from Michael Fassbender, who played an excellent Erik Lehnsherr. The rest of the cast from January Jones’ cardboard acting to the presence of Havok, this movie is a mess. Interesting concept, but a misfire as far as I’m concerned.

Real Steel – I went in thinking I was going to be watching a kick-ass movie about robots beating the crap out of each other and Hugh Jackman punching out one-liners and romancing the ethereally beautiful Evangeline Lilly. Well, at least I got the Evangeline Lilly part. But I also got a boring cookie-cutter family story about an annoying punk kid and a less than likeable character in Jackman’s deadbeat father. But like I said, this is a cookie-cutter script rehashed by brilliant studio notes, so it all turns out well in the end. Out of all the movies listed here, this is the one that I was most hyped about and faced the biggest let-down.

No Strings Attached – Natalie Portman, in a comedy about friends who decide to escalate their friendship with empty a la carte sex. You would expect some kind of nudity in this, ratings board be damned! But more than the lack of skin is a story that starts off promising but ultimately becomes grating and annoying.

Hall Pass – The commercials made it look sooooo funny. That Jason Sudeikis, whatta character! Thankfully, I was subjected to only the disappointment of wasting a couple hours of my life watching this crap. The movie, especially the end, is a mess and fall apart faster than, well, me in front of Evangeline Lilly.

Sucker Punch – Five babes, including Jamie Chung and Vanessa Hudgens, badass CGI action sequences and those giant samurai robots things! F**k yes!! If I had known I was going to be subjected to a lazy two hour music video, I probably would have passed on this snooze-fest. On top of that, those giant badass samurai robot things are the first obstacle defeated! If I could, I would have virtually punched Zack Snyder in the nose right then and there.

J. Edgar – Leonardo digs into his bag of accents in this dry, bland story of J. Edgar Hoover. The story is all over the place, the pacing is really, REALLY dry and frankly, I hate to say this, but it’s time for Clint Eastwood to hang it up and enjoy his remaining years.

Drive – What I expected, judging from the trailers, commercials and clips – a pulsating, suspenseful action flick where Ryan Gosling goes around waxing bad guys with a hammer. What I got – about 50 minutes of stagnant, boring drama followed (finally) but bursts of action. On the plus side, at least Albert Brooks gives a great performance.

Miral – There’s only one reason I went to watch this movie – Freida Pinto. Still, I ended up really nauseous watching this and it has nothing to do with Freida. Rather, it’s the over-use of close-up shots combined with “shaky camera” that led to some serious motion sickness. I know one guy in the audience couldn’t stomach it and had to excuse himself midway through to upchuck his overpriced popcorn in the restroom. The things I will endure to watch Freida. I hope Black Gold isn’t like this movie.

Super – Rainn Wilson goes around whacking people on the head with a monkey wrench while Ellen Page slips into a skin tight superhero suit! Sweet! Um, so what’s up with the dark tentacle hentai anime sequence, the looooong stretches where nooothing happens and that incredibly uncomfortable seduction scene between Page and Wilson. This movie got compared to Kick-Ass, but I assure you, it’s nothing like that movie.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy – Critics love it. Most British people like it too. Me, I love it too, but only if I need something to put me to sleep. First the positive, the opening sequence is excellent, but then from there it’s chat chat chatty chat chat. From the trailers, I expected Gary Oldman to be some senior level Jason Bourne setting out to expose corruption within the government. Instead, it’s a two hour conversation between a bunch of well-known British actors that fails to draw me into the intrigue established by the opening scene. Tom Hardy is pretty good in it though.

So what did I learn this year? Well, don’t trust trailers for spy/action movies, avoid future films shot by Eric Gautier and I have an enduring fascination with seeing Evangeline Lilly and Freida Pinto on the big screen. OK, well, the last part I already knew.