It's the beginning of another new year, so it's time for my yearly review of the movies I've watched. I'm sticking with a similar format to the one I used for last year's 2010 review. All the films that scored 4.5 stars or more have been listed together, and my top ten decided from that list. Conversely, all the films that scored 2.5 stars or less have been listed together, and my 10 films not to waste your time on have been decided.
Films of the Year:
10. Kidulthood (4.5 stars)
9. The Land of Oblivion (4.5 stars)
8. Pieces of April (4.5 stars)
7. Mary and Max (4.5 stars)
6. We Need to talk about Kevin (4.5 stars)
5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (5 stars)
4. Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (5 stars)
3. Young Guns (5 stars)
2. Martha Marcy May Marlene (5 stars)
And my Film of the Year:
1. Twilight (5 stars)
If you've been reading my blog, you'll probably have guessed what was going to be number 1 this year. I'm totally aware that it's not going to be everybody's top choice, but I love this movie. You will notice that none of the other Twilight movies make it onto my top ten list however, and I think this is appropriate. I like all the movies, but I love the first one - it just has a quality to it that movies very rarely manage to tap into.
Unlike last year, I'm pretty happy with the movies that have made the top ten list. I don't feel as if anything significant has been ignored, or that I would particularly change my scores for any of the movies listed. The only thing I will say is that Kidulthood is at the bottom of this list because, although I loved it, I find it much harder to remember than all of the other movies listed.
A special mention has to go to Martha Marcy May Marlene as well, as it's the only movie in my top five that I've only seen once. It was that powerful. I'm also really pleased that it was one we saw at the Toronto International Film Festival - in fact, two TIFF movies have made it on to this list. The Land of Oblivion (at no.9) is also the other one - and In Darkness only just got nudged out of the listing as well.
However, one TIFF movie made it on to my Films not to waste your time on...
Film Not To Waste Your Time On:
10. The Hangover Part 2 (2.5 stars)
9. Somers Town (2 stars)
8. William and Kate (2 stars)
7. Novocaine (2 stars)
6. The Accidental Husband (2 stars)
5. Transformers (2 stars)
4. The Red Shoes (2 stars)
3. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1.5 stars)
2. Forgetting Sarah Marshall (1.5 stars)
And Worst Film of the Year goes to:
1. The Year of the Tiger (0 stars)
The good thing is that I've seen so few truly rubbish movies this year that I had to dive into my 2.5 star reviews to get a list of ten movies. There were quite a lot of "OK, not very memorable" 2.5 star movies, but The Hangover Part 2 has the dubious honour of being the one that made this list because, well, its The Hangover again - and not a lot else.
I know some of these choices will also be very controversial - I'm talking specifically about The Red Shows and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy here. I'm sorry, but I just did not get either of them. At all.
Worst Film of 2011 is probably one much fewer people are aware of as it's the film we saw at the Toronto International Film Festival that I was referring to above. As far as I'm aware it hasn't yet received a general release, which makes the viewing public a rather lucky bunch. It is just so boring - and managed, just like Synecdoche, New York (sorry film critics) to score 0 stars.
In summary:
Film of the Year 2011: Twilight
Worst Film of the Year 2011: The Year of the Tiger
Showing posts with label TIFF. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TIFF. Show all posts
In Darkness: Film #77 of Film 365
Sunday 11th September 2011
Director: Agnieszka Holland
Year: 2011
Stars: Robert Wieckiewicz, Benno Furmann, Agnieszka, Grochowska
Sadly, this was the last of our five Toronto International Film Festival movies. I could have stayed for another week. But there was more of Canada to see, and we could only afford so many film tickets!
The first exciting thing about In Darkness, for me, was that it was being screened in the Elgin Theatre - the last double decker theatre in the world. It's a truly stunning theatre, and whilst perhaps not really as good as a "proper" cinema for watching movies, it was entirely worth choosing to see a movie there for the environment and atmosphere.
Of course, it also helped that In Darkness is a really rather good movie. In it, Leopold Socha spends the Second World War helping Jews to survive by hiding them in the sewers in Lvov, Poland. At first I was a little concerned that the film might be overlong and drawn out. It did take a while for everybody to be fully characterised, but after 40 minutes or so I was thoroughly engaged in the story and not noticing the time at all. Give it a chance and your patience will be rewarded.
The best thing about In Darkness is that it doesn't treat any of the characters like martyrs. The Jews are normal people, and behave just like you or I would if forced into that situation. You and your family are most important, and you'll fight others for survival. It may not be how you'd like to behave in that circumstance, but I'm willing to admit it's probably how I would act. Even the hero doesn't start out as a hero - he does it all for his own financial gain. Obviously that changes, but nobody here is portrayed as Godlike - just normal people doing their best to deal with an awful situation.
In Darkness is a thoughtful, thought-provoking and (dare I say it) worthy movie, which I can only recommend.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Director: Agnieszka Holland
Year: 2011
Stars: Robert Wieckiewicz, Benno Furmann, Agnieszka, Grochowska
Sadly, this was the last of our five Toronto International Film Festival movies. I could have stayed for another week. But there was more of Canada to see, and we could only afford so many film tickets!
The first exciting thing about In Darkness, for me, was that it was being screened in the Elgin Theatre - the last double decker theatre in the world. It's a truly stunning theatre, and whilst perhaps not really as good as a "proper" cinema for watching movies, it was entirely worth choosing to see a movie there for the environment and atmosphere.
Of course, it also helped that In Darkness is a really rather good movie. In it, Leopold Socha spends the Second World War helping Jews to survive by hiding them in the sewers in Lvov, Poland. At first I was a little concerned that the film might be overlong and drawn out. It did take a while for everybody to be fully characterised, but after 40 minutes or so I was thoroughly engaged in the story and not noticing the time at all. Give it a chance and your patience will be rewarded.
The best thing about In Darkness is that it doesn't treat any of the characters like martyrs. The Jews are normal people, and behave just like you or I would if forced into that situation. You and your family are most important, and you'll fight others for survival. It may not be how you'd like to behave in that circumstance, but I'm willing to admit it's probably how I would act. Even the hero doesn't start out as a hero - he does it all for his own financial gain. Obviously that changes, but nobody here is portrayed as Godlike - just normal people doing their best to deal with an awful situation.
In Darkness is a thoughtful, thought-provoking and (dare I say it) worthy movie, which I can only recommend.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Martha Marcy May Marlene: Film #76 of Film 365
Sunday 11th September 2011
Director: Sean Durkin
Year: 2011
Stars: Elizabeth Olson, Sarah Paulson, John Hawkes, Hugh Dancy
Now this is more like it. Martha Marcy May Marlene was our fourth Toronto International Film Festival movie, and our first of two on the Sunday (our last day in Toronto before heading on to Montreal).
To say too much about the plot would ruin the movie, so I'll just say that Marcy May is the central character here, and at the beginning of the movie she moves in with her sister and her sister's partner. However, things are never simple and Marcy May turns out to be quite difficult to live with. There's a lot more to it than that, but certainly for me, the less I knew beforehand the better.
The other thing I have to mention is the ending. At first I wasn't sure whether I was really frustrated by it, or I could accept it. It clearly felt like the director had a reason for ending the movie that way (instead of the so-often lazy just not ending a story properly). The problem was, I really didn't understand what the reason was. Now this is perhaps the time I was most pleased I'd come to the film festival. The director was there during the screening, and answered questions from the audience. When asked why he had ended the movie the way he had, he had a really sound reason that made such perfect sense. I ended up liking the film more because of the ending, not less.
A brilliant effort on the part of the actors and the director, and a movie I'd happily recommend - and come and see again with you if you've got nobody to go with.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Director: Sean Durkin
Year: 2011
Stars: Elizabeth Olson, Sarah Paulson, John Hawkes, Hugh Dancy
Now this is more like it. Martha Marcy May Marlene was our fourth Toronto International Film Festival movie, and our first of two on the Sunday (our last day in Toronto before heading on to Montreal).
To say too much about the plot would ruin the movie, so I'll just say that Marcy May is the central character here, and at the beginning of the movie she moves in with her sister and her sister's partner. However, things are never simple and Marcy May turns out to be quite difficult to live with. There's a lot more to it than that, but certainly for me, the less I knew beforehand the better.
The other thing I have to mention is the ending. At first I wasn't sure whether I was really frustrated by it, or I could accept it. It clearly felt like the director had a reason for ending the movie that way (instead of the so-often lazy just not ending a story properly). The problem was, I really didn't understand what the reason was. Now this is perhaps the time I was most pleased I'd come to the film festival. The director was there during the screening, and answered questions from the audience. When asked why he had ended the movie the way he had, he had a really sound reason that made such perfect sense. I ended up liking the film more because of the ending, not less.
A brilliant effort on the part of the actors and the director, and a movie I'd happily recommend - and come and see again with you if you've got nobody to go with.
Rating: 5 out of 5
The Year of the Tiger: Film #75 of Film 365
Saturday 10th September 2011
Director: Sebastian Lelio
Year: 2011
Stars: Luis Dubo, Sergio Hernandez, Viviana Herrera
So, this was the third of our five Toronto International Film Festival movies, and our Saturday night movie. And it wasn't at all what I was expecting - it was much, much worse.
The film was billed as being about a man who survives the Chilean earthquake and ends up spending the year surviving with a tiger. Well, there was definitely a year - possibly ten. I could feel the minutes of my life ticking away as I watched this, wishing I was anywhere but here. I was on holiday, after all - that's meant to be fun! To say there was a tiger, however (let alone one that dominates the movie) is something of a stretch. There are perhaps two scenes with a tiger in, neither of which lasted more than a minute at best.
I can only apologise to the friend that we hadn't seen for ages, who came along to see this with us. To her, I'm so terribly sorry. This has to be the slowest, dullest movie I've seen in some time - peppered with the occasional shocking image that made you sit up and think "Oh! I've almost fallen asleep in a cinema! Better pay the movie some attention now then! Yawn..."
Rating: 0 out of 5
Director: Sebastian Lelio
Year: 2011
Stars: Luis Dubo, Sergio Hernandez, Viviana Herrera
So, this was the third of our five Toronto International Film Festival movies, and our Saturday night movie. And it wasn't at all what I was expecting - it was much, much worse.
The film was billed as being about a man who survives the Chilean earthquake and ends up spending the year surviving with a tiger. Well, there was definitely a year - possibly ten. I could feel the minutes of my life ticking away as I watched this, wishing I was anywhere but here. I was on holiday, after all - that's meant to be fun! To say there was a tiger, however (let alone one that dominates the movie) is something of a stretch. There are perhaps two scenes with a tiger in, neither of which lasted more than a minute at best.
I can only apologise to the friend that we hadn't seen for ages, who came along to see this with us. To her, I'm so terribly sorry. This has to be the slowest, dullest movie I've seen in some time - peppered with the occasional shocking image that made you sit up and think "Oh! I've almost fallen asleep in a cinema! Better pay the movie some attention now then! Yawn..."
Rating: 0 out of 5
A Monster in Paris: Film #74 of Film 365
Saturday 10th September 2011
Director: Bibo Bergeron
Year: 2011
Stars: Adam Goldberg, Catherine O'Hara, Danny Huston, Vanessa Paradis (voices)
This was the second of our five Toronto International Film Festival movies. It was a Saturday afternoon movie, and billed as a children's movie. I'm not sure I'd agreed with that - it didn't really feel like it was aimed at children.
A Monster in Paris is all about a monster that gets created when some perfumes accidentally get added together. He's huge and scary-looking, so everybody hates him. As with all good monsters though, it turns out he might not be as bad as everybody thinks...
The story here is actually fairly simplistic, but the music is beautiful. The animation is also pretty good, although the people I went with seemed to enjoy this more than me. I didn't really think the animation did Paris justice - but then, I'm not sure there's anything I think could do Paris justice, so maybe that's an unfair opinion to have. I had the songs running around in my head for hours afterwards though, and would happily watch it again just to listen to the singing.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Director: Bibo Bergeron
Year: 2011
Stars: Adam Goldberg, Catherine O'Hara, Danny Huston, Vanessa Paradis (voices)
This was the second of our five Toronto International Film Festival movies. It was a Saturday afternoon movie, and billed as a children's movie. I'm not sure I'd agreed with that - it didn't really feel like it was aimed at children.
A Monster in Paris is all about a monster that gets created when some perfumes accidentally get added together. He's huge and scary-looking, so everybody hates him. As with all good monsters though, it turns out he might not be as bad as everybody thinks...
The story here is actually fairly simplistic, but the music is beautiful. The animation is also pretty good, although the people I went with seemed to enjoy this more than me. I didn't really think the animation did Paris justice - but then, I'm not sure there's anything I think could do Paris justice, so maybe that's an unfair opinion to have. I had the songs running around in my head for hours afterwards though, and would happily watch it again just to listen to the singing.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
The Land of Oblivion: Film #73 of Film 365
Friday 9th September 2011
Director: Michale Boganim
Year: 2011
Stars: Olga Kurylenko, Andrjez Chrya, Vyacheslav Slanko, Ilya Iosifov, Sergei Strelnikov
So, we're finally on to official Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) movies. The Friday evening showing of The Land of Oblivion was the first of the five we watched.
The Land of Oblivion is a movie about the Chernobyl disaster - starting just before the disaster struck, and following the characters who suffered through it, whether they chose to stay or leave. The lynchpin of the movie is Anya (Kurylenko), who got married on the day of the disaster. She now works as a tourist guide, showing people around her now-abandoned town of Pripyat, which was very close to the nuclear power station. Whilst she desperately wants to leave the city, she also finds it impossible to pull herself away.
The Land of Oblivion is an incredibly insightful movie with lots of dilemmas and juxtapositions like this scattered throughout it. The decision to use a range of characters really helps you understand why these people feel the way they do about Pripyat - it might seem like odd behaviour at first, but by the end of the movie it's all starting to make sense. Of course, the director being there to answer questions at the end of the movie really helped, but I felt like what I had watched had already told me what she was trying to convey with her answers. For me, that can only be a good thing.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Director: Michale Boganim
Year: 2011
Stars: Olga Kurylenko, Andrjez Chrya, Vyacheslav Slanko, Ilya Iosifov, Sergei Strelnikov
So, we're finally on to official Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) movies. The Friday evening showing of The Land of Oblivion was the first of the five we watched.
The Land of Oblivion is a movie about the Chernobyl disaster - starting just before the disaster struck, and following the characters who suffered through it, whether they chose to stay or leave. The lynchpin of the movie is Anya (Kurylenko), who got married on the day of the disaster. She now works as a tourist guide, showing people around her now-abandoned town of Pripyat, which was very close to the nuclear power station. Whilst she desperately wants to leave the city, she also finds it impossible to pull herself away.
The Land of Oblivion is an incredibly insightful movie with lots of dilemmas and juxtapositions like this scattered throughout it. The decision to use a range of characters really helps you understand why these people feel the way they do about Pripyat - it might seem like odd behaviour at first, but by the end of the movie it's all starting to make sense. Of course, the director being there to answer questions at the end of the movie really helped, but I felt like what I had watched had already told me what she was trying to convey with her answers. For me, that can only be a good thing.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Red Riding Hood: Film #71 of Film 365
Thursday 8th September 2011
Director: Catherine Hardwicke
Year: 2011
Stars: Amanda Seyfried, Gary Oldman, Billy Burke, Shiloh Fernandez, Max Irons, Virgina Madsen, Julie Christie
Unlike most holidays, our trip to Canada involved lots of movies. This was primarily because we went to Toronto for the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), and what's a film festival without watching some movies? So there are a fair few movies for me to blog about over the next few days (weeks?), but my first holiday movie was actually one I watched on the plane.
I had wanted to see Red Riding Hood for a while, primarily because the trailer made it look, well, cool - and very stylised, which I tend to like. I had read a few less-than-positive reviews though, so started to watch it with a slight feeling of trepidation. Valerie (Seyfried) is a young girl who lives in a small village that is terrorised by a werewolf. The werewolf isn't the only problem- Valerie has also fallen in love with a woodcutter, but is engaged to somebody much richer.
At first I wasn't sure why this didn't quite work. There's a not-terribly bad story here, and it does indeed look quite stylish. The problem is, there's just not enough plot for an hour and a half movie. It probably would have made a great 45 minute TV episode, but it just felt like it dragged. An achievement for what is, after all, a pretty short movie!
Rating: 3 out of 5
Director: Catherine Hardwicke
Year: 2011
Stars: Amanda Seyfried, Gary Oldman, Billy Burke, Shiloh Fernandez, Max Irons, Virgina Madsen, Julie Christie
Unlike most holidays, our trip to Canada involved lots of movies. This was primarily because we went to Toronto for the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), and what's a film festival without watching some movies? So there are a fair few movies for me to blog about over the next few days (weeks?), but my first holiday movie was actually one I watched on the plane.
I had wanted to see Red Riding Hood for a while, primarily because the trailer made it look, well, cool - and very stylised, which I tend to like. I had read a few less-than-positive reviews though, so started to watch it with a slight feeling of trepidation. Valerie (Seyfried) is a young girl who lives in a small village that is terrorised by a werewolf. The werewolf isn't the only problem- Valerie has also fallen in love with a woodcutter, but is engaged to somebody much richer.
At first I wasn't sure why this didn't quite work. There's a not-terribly bad story here, and it does indeed look quite stylish. The problem is, there's just not enough plot for an hour and a half movie. It probably would have made a great 45 minute TV episode, but it just felt like it dragged. An achievement for what is, after all, a pretty short movie!
Rating: 3 out of 5
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