With a few notable exceptions, many of the films that I liked did not get nominated by the academy. That's okay. I know that my tastes aren't as mainstream as most, but just to give these films a little more exposure I made my own top 10 list.
The films represented here weren't necessarily my favorites, but they were among my favorites. Many people haven't seen them (as evidenced by their small box office numbers).
To make it easier on the reader I have also given preference to movies that are already available on DVD and (most) are available on Netflix Streaming for immediate viewing*.
Assuming you didn't just skip all of this and go right to the list, you can do so now.
Attack the Block
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Netflix Streaming: No
It appears that many more people saw the bigger budget alien hybrid movies Paul and Cowboys and Aliens than watched this little gem of a British film and that's a shame. It follows a group of street thugs and their former victim, turned cautious ally, as they battle an alien invasion in the hood. Few Hollywood alien flicks play with the traditional script as much as this film. Because it's "heroes" aren't very likable people, it leaves you constantly struggling over who to root for --the aliens or the thugs.
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Neflix Streaming: No
Many people saw Gosling in his other 2011 feature films: The Ides of March and the strangely punctuated Crazy, Stupid, Love (Busy year for the Gos-Gos!) but didn't make it out to see this fantastic, hyper-stylized 80s throwback. The film centers on a mysterious Hollywood stuntman who spends his evenings as a for-hire getaway driver. His life becomes complicate when he gets romantically involved with a woman in his building. It's an extremely violent movie (we're talking Scorsese-esque) with a fantastic, synth-y soundtrack. What's not to love? Plus, it was the target of not one, but two (ridiculous) lawsuits. So, you know, it has to be good.
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Netflix Streaming: No, but available on DVD
Martha Marcy May Marlene, or M4 as I like to call it, is about a young woman (played by the younger sister of the Olsen twins) who has escaped from a cult and is trying to make the transition back into everyday life. It's an extraordinary depiction of the psychological turmoil that she endures both during her time in the cult and afterward. Olsen's performance and the super creepy performance of John Hawkes (of Deadwood and Winter's Bone fame) as the cult leader make the movie. Its somewhat ambiguous ending, depending on your persuasion, could break it.
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Netflix Streaming: Yes
Found footage monster movies are all the rage these days. Unfortunately, the best that U.S. filmmakers have to offer in this niche genre is Cloverfield. Norwegian filmmakers, on the other hand, seem to know what the audience of a film like this craves. Troll Hunter follows a college film crew who chase a supposed bear poacher through Norway only to find out that the poacher is actually a beleaguered government agent who has dedicated his life to "Troll Control" and wants to finally show the world what he has been up to. For some reason movies like this are only good if they've been made in another country on a relatively small budget. Recently, Chris Columbus purchased the rights to a remake. Even though he's a solid choice to helm the movie given his past work (i.e., Gremlins), I have a feeling that the remake will be about half as fun as the original despite having four times the budget. So, you might as well check it out now. Even if the new one is of a similar quality, at least you can say you knew about it before it was cool.
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Netflix Streaming: Yes
The older I get the more I forget about how complicated and confusing life was when I was a teenager. My body matured faster than my mind and for me that asymmetry led to some awkward situations. Many films have tried to accurately portray this stage of life but few have come as close as The Myth of the American Sleepover. The film follows a large group of teenagers about to make the transition from teenagers to young adults. Most of the situations in the film highlight the longing they feel for childhood and their excitement about the next chapter of their lives. Unlike most teen coming-of-age stories, the film doesn't follow one or two main characters with a bunch of quirky supporting characters. Instead the film seems more like a Gus Van Sant movie. All the characters and their situations are given equal importance. The fact that all the actors are amateurs -- for many this is their first film -- adds to the intended effect, these kids could be anybody, making them that much easier to identify with.
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Netflix Streaming: Yes
I'll never tire of Samurai movies. Never. There's something about the genre that keeps me coming back. The story here is familiar. A sadistic leader is mistreating his people and threatening to plunge the countryside into war. A group of retired samurai set out on a quest to stop him. Something in the execution makes this film stand apart from similar titles. It could be the fight scenes which are elegant and bloody. It could be the sheer depravity of the villain displayed on screen early and often. It could be the devotion of the samurai to something greater than themselves. In the end it doesn't matter. It's just a great all-around film.
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Netflix Streaming: No
It's hard to believe that there were two movies this year with the joint features of a strong female lead performance and a plotline involving the appearance of another planet, but there were: Lars von Trier's Melancholia and the indie sci-fi flick Another Earth. I've not seen Melancholia but I can tell you that Another Earth is a pretty phenomenal film. It certainly has its faults. If you're interested in a film backed by firm science, look elsewhere. But then again, why are you watching science fiction? All great sci-fi represents a sort of layman philosophy. Another Earth is really just a well-made character drama that uses the science fiction element as a means of plumbing human emotion and the lengths people will go when deal with loss. Its has hints of other films, two that come to mind are Primer and Donnie Darko, and in places Another Earth is just as confusing as those films, but it poses a genuinely interesting hypothetical situation and makes you think about how you might behave if you were in the characters' shoes. And I think that is what the filmmakers intended.
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Netflix Streaming: No
This film slipped under the radar because it was released at the end of a relatively busy summer schedule. It's a shame, because although it isn't laugh out loud funny, it is a sweet movie with a positive message. I walked away from the movie thinking that Paul Rudd deserves more leading roles. In this film he takes a relatively simple character -- a guy who just wants to grow organic vegetables and hang out with his dog "Willie Nelson" -- and makes him into much more than he appears on paper. In the presence of Rudd, the movie boasts an incredible supporting cast of excellent female actors: Zooey Deschanel, Rashida Jones, Emily Mortimer, and Elizabeth Banks. In fact, the film's only sin might be that it can't provide enough screen time for its talent and that is a good problem to have.
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Netflix Streaming: Yes
On a recent trip home to Washington D.C. I had to stop in a small town in West Virginia to gas up my car. A customer exiting the gas station shouted "Where'd you coming from?" and I immediately got nervous. For some reason I instantly imagined this guy following me down the road and murdering me to the tune of "Dueling Banjos." Then I realized that my car was filthy because I had been driving through snow in the hills of Pennsylvania a few hours earlier. He was just being friendly and observant. Clearly, the movie Deliverance has seriously warped my perception of small town folk from the south. Tucker & Dale vs. Evil knows this stereotype well and used it to make an entertaining, and, at times, hilarious film. The story follows a couple of hillbillies with dreams of fixing up a cabin in the woods. They run across some teenagers who mistake them for bloodthirsty killers and in the course of trying to "Stop" Tucker and Dale the teenagers meet their demise in a series of unfortunate accidents. Admittedly the idea goes from outlandish to ridiculous rather quickly, but I admire the filmmakers' willingness to stick with the idea until the end.
Watch the Trailer
Netflix Streaming: No
I almost didn't put this one on the list because it's more of a good try than a good movie. It's a film that's ostensibly about two twenty-somethings who have watched Mad Max too many times and are preparing for the apocalypse (by building flame throwers and suping up a muscle car called "Medusa"). Their plans are interrupted, as most plans are, by one of the duo falling in love with a girl. Is it about love? An analogy for something? A commentary on men's latent aggressive and sexual fantasies? Maybe. I'm not sure. But it's pretty, it affected me, and I think it represents the beginning of a potentially great film career for the director, Evan Glodell.
*Netflix Streaming status was current at the time of this article's posting.
Great article :)
ReplyDeleteThanks! I agonized over the selections for quite a while. Also, I need to make one correction. Apparently M4 doesn't come out on DVD until this Tuesday.
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