Top Ten of 2011

Here's my top ten. Hope you enjoy it.

One thing, I haven't seen everything this year, so in a month or two this list could change, but I'm confident that nothing will crack my top five.

10. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

Written by Josh Appelbaum, André Nemec

Directed by Brad Bird

Starring Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Paula Patton

I really like the Mission Impossible series, with the exception of part 2. Brad Bird makes his live action directorial debut and doesn’t disappoint. The action sequences were original and the increase of screentime for Pegg was a good decision. Breaking into the Kremlin and the skyscraper scene in Dubai were two of the best sequences of the year.

9. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2

Written by Steve Kloves

Directed by David Yates

Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint

By now I’m sure you know whether or not you’re a Harry Potter fan. I am, so it makes the top ten. David Yates has directed the last four HP movies, and I have to say his high water mark was his first try, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. However, he has done solid work in each film and I’m curious to see what he does next.

8. The Adventures of Tintin

Written by Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright, Joe Cornish (you’ll see his name later J)

Directed by Steve Spielberg

Starring Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig

When they announced Indiana Jones 4, this is the type of movie I was expecting. Instead, we got fucking aliens. This is the globe trotting, action adventure that I was hoping for. Tintin is what Indiana Jones should have been. It had great action sequences that could have only been done animated, and the banter between characters was funny and kept me entertained. And the 3D for this movie is the best since Avatar.

7. Bridesmaids

Written by Kristen Wiig, Annie Mumolo

Directed by Paul Feig

Starring Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy

I’m not a huge fan of Kristen Wiig on SNL, but I have liked her in the few movies she has been in. This was definitely a breakout movie for her, both as a writer and actress. Paul Feig, who has done some great TV work, does a great job balancing the raunchy humor with the more sentimental parts of the movie. Also, Melissa McCarthy steals every scene she is in.

6. The Descendants

Written by Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash

Directed by Alexander Payne

Starring George Clooney, Shailene Woodley

By now you should know what to expect from Alexander Payne. A middle-aged man that is having a midlife crisis would be a loose plot description of every movie he’s made. But he does it so well that I don’t really want him to make anything else. George Clooney gives an excellent performance, and Shailene Woodley is most definitely the breakout star of the year.

5. Super 8

Written and Directed by JJ Abrams

Starring Joel Courtney, Riley Griffiths, Elle Fanning, Kyle Chandler

JJ Abrams is one of my favorite directors whether it’s TV (Lost, Alias) or movies (Star Trek, Mission Impossible 3). When the trailer came out in the summer of 2010, this immediately became my must see movie of the year. A love letter to the Goonies-type movies of the 80’s that’s directed by JJ Abrams and produced by Steven Spielberg. What’s not to like? While Super 8 has some flaws and some incredibly corny scenes it was a lot of fun to watch.

4. X-Men: First Class

Written by Ashley Miller, Zack Stentz, Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn

Directed by Matthew Vaughn

Starring James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Kevin Bacon

A much needed step in the right direction for the X-Men franchise. Now with Bryan Singer back in a role as producer it can forget the abominations that were X-Men 3 and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I love alternate history movies, and this one doesn’t disappoint. Unlike Inglorious Basterds that rewrote history, X-Men takes a real event (Cuban missile crisis) and throws a big what if in there. Kevin Bacon plays an excellent villain as Sebastian Shaw that is trying to start a nuclear war. But the relationship between Charles Xavier, Magneto and Mystique is the highlight of the movie and my only complaint is that we didn’t get more time with them.

3. The Adjustment Bureau

Written and Directed by George Nolfi

Starring Matt Damon, Emily Blunt

Pretty much anything based on a Philip K Dick story will get me in the theater. However, I usually end up seeing Paycheck. But The Adjustment Bureau was probably the biggest surprise of the year to me. It was marketed as an Inception type of science fiction, but is a much more straightforward love story. Matt Damon and Emily Blunt have fantastic chemistry onscreen, and is what makes the movie a winner. This might be a little high on my list, but why regurgitate the same list over and over that you can read from all the critics?

2. Drive

Written by Hossein Amini

Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn

Starring Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Albert Brooks

Ryan Gosling gives the best performance of the year as Driver, a movie stunt driver who moonlights as a getaway driver. You’d expect a movie like this to have more chase scenes and car crashes, but there’s only a handful. I liked the relationship between Driver and Irene, but that is only to give him something to care about and adds weight to the decisions he makes later in the movie. What makes this movie so great though, is watching Gosling get his revenge against the mob guys that double crossed him. And what really puts this movie over the top is Albert Brooks as the villain Bernie Rose. Great performances by both Brooks and Gosling.

1. Attack the Block

Written and Directed by Joe Cornish

Starring John Boyega

I recommended this movie to everyone that I talked about movies with. It shows you don’t need Transformers budget to make an awesome sci-fi movie. I liked Super 8, but I would say this is a better Goonies type movie than Super 8. Joe Cornish has worked with Edgar Wright a lot in his professional career, and I see a bit of Shaun of the Dead in Attack the Block. So, hopefully he follows Wright’s career path and brings us more awesome movies.

Honorable Mentions

The Muppets – An excellent Muppet movie, but not quite top ten material.

The Ides of March – Interesting look at the relationship between politics and the media.

50/50 – A buddy flick about a guy who gets cancer. Funny and sweet, but it ends exactly how you think it will end.

30 Minutes or Less – The director and star of Zombieland make another great comedy.

Fright Night – If you do a remake, take a flawed movie from yesteryear and try to fix it. Fright Night is what a vampire movie should be. Not great, but lots of fun to watch.

The Debt – A fantastic cast, but incredibly slow moving. Could be the second half of a double feature with Munich.

Horrible Bosses – Second best comedy of the year. Great supporting performances by Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell.

Fast Five – Not a good movie by any means, but it has the best fight scene of the year(The Rock vs. Vin Diesel) that is in the realm of They Live(Roddy Piper vs. Keith David.) Also, the most destructive car chase since Bad Boys 2.

The Source Code – Saw this and The Adjustment Bureau around the same time. The performances by Damon and Blunt trump Gyllenhal and Monaghan.