2011 Films, Graded

109 Films.
Last updated 05/31/12 | Links go to related writings when applicable.
Ordered Alphabetically by Grade | # = Multiple Viewings |  * = not yet released in theaters

12 extras were screened but not released (in preference order) The Last Summer of La Boyita, SuperClásico, Copacabana, Dog Sweat, Aardvark, Stranger Things, Take Me Home, Domaine, Pig, Summer of Goliath, Whirligig, and The Wolf Knife

Do Not Miss Them

Cream of Crop

A
The Artist d. Michel Hazanavicius [REVIEW, top ten list] 2
A Separation d. Asghar Farhadi [REVIEW, top ten list] 2

A/A-  
Beginners  d. Mike Mills [REVIEW, top ten list] 2
Drive d. Nicolas Winding Refn [REVIEW,  top ten list] 3
Martha Marcy May Marlene d. Sean Durkin [REVIEW, top ten list] 2 
Poetry d. Lee Chang-dong [REVIEW,  top ten list]
Weekend d. Andrew Haigh [brief thoughts, INTERVIEW, top ten list] 2

A-/B+
Bridesmaids d. Paul Feig  [top ten list] 3
Certified Copy d. Abbas Kiarostami [7 word review, top ten list] 2 
Melancholia d. Lars von Trier 2 [ top ten list] 2
Moneyball d. Bennett Miller [REVIEW, top ten list] 2
Shame d. Steve McQueen [10 word review, a private party, honorable mentions] 2
Young Adult d. Jason Reitman  [honorable mentions] 2

Recommended with Enthusiasm

B+
The Future d. Miranda July
Heartbeats d. Xavier Dolan [REVIEW] 2
The Housemaid d. [10 word review,  honorable mentions] 2
Jane Eyre d. Cary Fukunaga [PODCAST] 2
Margaret d. Kenneth Lonergan
Midnight in Paris d. Woody Allen [PODCAST, honorable mentions] 2
Pariah d. Dee Rees [honorable mentions]
The Tree of Life d. Terrence Malick [thoughts , honorable mentions]
Tuesday After Christmas d. Radu Muntean [7 word review] 

B+/B
The Arbor d. Clio Barnard 2
Potiche d. François Ozon [10 word review] 
Project NIM d. James Marsh [capsule] 2
Rango d. Gore Verbinski [10 word review] 2
Rise of the Planet of the Apes d. Rupert Wyatt [10 word review]
The Skin I Live In d. Pedro Almodovar [Ode to Art Direction] 2
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives d. Apichatopong "Joe" Weerathesakul [REVIEW]

B
Attack the Block d. Joe Cornish
Captain America: The First Avenger d. Joe Johnston [REVIEW]
Crazy Stupid Love d. Ficarra and Requa [thoughts]
The Help d. Tate Taylor [REVIEW] 3
Higher Ground d. Vera Farmiga [Interview]
Pina d. Wim Wenders [10 word review]
Rampart d. Oren Moverman [REVIEW, Interview] 2

Recommended with Reservations

B/B-
50/50 d. [REVIEW]
Arthur Christmas d. Sarah Smith
Carnage d. Roman Polanski  [REVIEW]
Coriolanus d. Ralph Fiennes 
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close d. Stephen Daldry
The First Beautiful Thing [La Prima Cosa Bella] d. Paolo Virzi [brief thoughts]
Fright Night d. Craig Gillespie [REVIEW]
Hugo d. Martin Scorsese [brief note, the filmmakers] 3
The Ides of March d. George Clooney [10 word review]
Kinyarwanda d. Alrick Brown
Like Crazy d. Drake Doremus
Making the Boys d. Crayton Robery [brief thoughts]
Meek's Cutoff d. Kelly Reichard [7 word review,  PODCAST]
Of Gods and Men d. Xavier Beauvois [7 word review]
One Lucky Elephant d. Lisa Leeman [capsule]  
The Robber d. Benjamin Heisenberg [brief thoughts]
Submarine d. Richard Ayoade 
Take Shelter d. Jeff Nichols
Troll Hunter d. André Øvredal
Tyrannosaur d. Paddy Considine 
Warrior d. Gavin O'Connor [REVIEW]
Water for Elephants d. Francis Lawrence [REVIEW]
Win Win d. Thomas McCarthy

Toss up. Surely some of you will like these more and less than I did.

B-/C+
Anonymous d. Roland Emmerich
The Adventures of Tintin d. Steven Spielberg 
Beautiful Boy d. Shawn Ku
A Better Life d. Chris Weitz
A Dangerous Method d. David Cronenberg [thoughts] 
The Eagle d. Kevin McDonald [REVIEW]
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo d. David Fincher   
Glee: The 3D Concert Movie d. Kevin Tancharoen [REVIEW]
Hanna d. Joe Wright
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 d. David Yates [REVIEW]
Love Crime d. Alain Corneau
The Muppets d. James Bobin
My Week With Marilyn d. Simon Curtis [REVIEW]
No Strings Attached d. Ivan Reitman
Our Idiot Brother d. [REVIEW]
Sons of Tennessee Williams d. Tim Wolff [capsule] 
Source Code d. Duncan Jones [10 word review] 
Super 8 d. JJ Abrams [Thoughts]
Thor d. Kenneth Branagh [REVIEW]
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy d. Tomas Alfredson
Transformers Dark of the Moon d. Michael Bay [10 word review]
We Are What We Are d. Jorge Michel Grau [7 word review]
X-Men: First Class d. Matthew Vaughn [REVIEW]

Not recommended

C+/C
Albert Nobbs d. Rodrigo García
Arthur d. Jason Winer [review]
Contagion d. Steven Soderbergh
Curling d. Denis Côté 
The Descendants d. Alexander Payne 
Happy Happy d. Anne Sewitsky
Happythankyoumoreplease d. Josh Radnor [capsule]
War Horse d. Steven Spielberg 
We Need to Talk About Kevin d. Lynne Ramsay 

C/C-
The Adjustment Bureau d. George Nolfi
Meet Monica Velour d. Keith Bearden [10 word review]
W.E. d. Madonna

C-/D+
The Immortals d. Tarsem
The Iron Lady d. Phyllida Lloyd 
Kaboom d. Gregg Araki [thoughts]
Nénette d. Nicolas Philibert [capsule]
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides d. Rob Marshall [REVIEW]
Vidal Sassoon the Movie d. Craig Teper

Make it stop

D+/D
Green Lantern d. Martin Campbell [REVIEW]
J Edgar d. Clint Eastwood [REVIEW]
The Other Woman d. Don Roos [review w/ comic strip!]
Septien d. Michael Tully  [10 word review]

D/D-
Abduction d. John Singleton [Thoughts, Worst of Year]
Beastly d. Daniel Barnz [Worst of Year]
Cars 2 d. John Lasseter & Brad Lewis [10 word review, Worst of Year]
I Am Number Four d. D.J. Caruso [capsule]
The Last Ride d. Harry Thomason 

F

January 2011 Screening Log

This is probably ill-advised but I thought I'd record what I watched every day this year. Just as an experiment or a diary in list form.

1 Exit Through the Gift Shop (Banksy, 2010) B+
2 True Grit (Coen Bros, 2010) second viewing up a tick to "B"
Cyrus (Duplass Bros, 2010) second viewing B-
Solitary Man (Brian Koppelman & David Levien, 2010), partial viewing. Shut it off when Michael Douglas started an affair with an 18 year old and referred to Mary Louise Parker's body as "thick". Not for me. (I had no idea until I just typed this that the theme of the day was two. As in all films were watched on the second day of January, there were two second viewings and all three films were directed by duos.)
3 n/a
4 No Ordinary Family "No Ordinary Friends" C- I don't know why I watch this show. I couldn't tell you.
5 The Comeback "Valerie Does Another Classic Leno" B+ (I'm still on that Lisa Kudrow binge)
Modern Family "Slow Down Your Neighbors" A/A-
It just occurs to me that in a couple of seasons they're going to have to find a gifted Asian child actress to take over the role of "Lily". That's not going to be easy. This cast has no weak spots so the child will have to be hilarious.

6 n/a
7 cabaret show at The Duplex
8 The Princess Diaries (Garry Marshall, 2001). D+
First half with back turned (was computering). Julie Andrews and Anne Hathaway have such distinct voices. What was Marshall smoking while directing? Bizarre everything: camera work, acting, staging, blocking.
9 Tangled (Greno & Howard, 2010) 3rd *partial* viewing for this writeup.
Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, 1975) A-/B+
Unsettling/gorgeous. But reminded me most of inchoate Lynchian dread through a hazy Sofia Coppola so it must have been an influential film.
10 When We Leave (Feo Aladag) B
Germany's Oscar submission

11 Rabbit Hole, The Ghost Writer, A Prophet *partial 2nd and 3rd viewings* for these writeups
No Ordinary Family "No Ordinary Brother" D
12 Downton Abbey (Pt 1. PBS Miniseries) B
Modern Family "Our Children, Ourselves" A-/B+
(the bit about the 3D movie was priceless)
13,14 More partial 2nd and 3rd viewings for most of the top ten writeups.
14 BFCA (for live blogging)
15 For Colored Girls (Tyler Perry, 2010) A/C/F (sometimes all at once!)
A total schizo mess -- whose bright idea was it to keep flipping between the dynamic theatrical verse and banal dialogue you might hear on subpar TV? -- but a couple of A grade performances rescue it. I have to echo what Guy Lodge has been saying: someone get Macy Gray her own Precious level "Mary Jones" part. Let's see what she can do over 2 hours.

16 Golden Globes (for 5 hours of live blogging)
17 Golden Globes ...2nd viewing (I'm not ashamed!)
Downton Abbey (Pt 2 PBS Miniseries) B+
This is surprisingly involving -- The Lovely Laura Linney is presenting each episode. Anyone watching?
18 No Ordinary Family "No Ordinary Detention" D+
This show is so... WHY CAN'T I STOP WATCHING IT? It's hopelessly stoopid.
19-25 Wow, I am doing a TERRIBLE job keeping up this screening log, right? Usually around this time of year I take a break from moviegoing after the glut of Oscar and top ten list prep work and Oscar nominations fervor. Otherwise still watching all the same TV shows

Benjamin Thys & Eugene the Poogene in "Immortal"26 Immortal: The Gilgamesh Variations This is playing in Bushwick, Brooklyn until Sunday night if anyone wants to make last minute theater plans! 

I'll admit up front that I was a biased audience member as two friends of mine were involved behind the scenes (including Gabriel Shanks who you may remember from the blog ModFab) but I marvel at their talents. It's so creatively staged and cohesively executed despite being written by several different playwrights and having a few shocking shifts in tone as the Epic of Gilgamesh is retold. I wasn't familiar with most of the cast but the lead actor Eugene the Poogene (who plays the wild man of the forest Enkidu and Gilgamesh -- since that's a rotating part) was terrific in a disciplined highly physical performance.

Here's some rehearsal footage.

27 Caught up on TV viewing, Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock and Ru Paul's Drag Race. Sadly, regarding the latter, I wasn't grabbed by any of the queens. I need someone as cool as Raven but such people are hard to come by.
28-31 Lots of TV. Including catching up with Southland. I hate procedurals so I have no idea why this one appeals to me so much. Can't figure why.