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5 Films I’m Looking Forward To From Cannes 2012

Someday I’ll actually go to Cannes but until then I’ll continue to watch from the sidelines and pick the handful of movies I’ll see when they’re eventually released. And honestly, most of the lineup usually ends up playing at the New York Film Festival in the fall.

1. Killing Them Softly Brad Pitt stars as a mob enforcer in this ensemble thriller from filmmaker Andrew Dominik (“The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”). More than just your standard genre fare, The Playlist says, “Brilliant and angry ‘Killing Them Softly’ is the anti-thriller for our times.”

2. Sightseers After “Kill List” pretty much blew my mind last year, I’ve been extremely curious as to what Brit helmer Ben Wheatley does next. Instead of following his cult chiller with another frightfest, he decided to make a dark comedy about a couple gone hitchhiking. The Playlist says, it’s “a pitch-black comedy made with skill, will and brains.”

3. Holy Motors Pegged by many as the best of the fest, this French WTF film follows a day in the life of a mysterious man riding in a limo, who stops to ‘become’ different characters along the way. Yeah, it sounds pretty out there but comparisons have been made to David Lynch’s masterpiece “Mulholland Drive” which definitely piques my interest. Just watch the trailer.

4. Lawless Tom Hardy and Shia Labeouf star as bootlegging brothers in this 1931 set western, which marks the third collaboration for writer/composer Nick Cave and director John Hillcoat (“The Proposition,” “The Road”). Ensemble cast includes Guy Pearce, Gary Oldman, Mia Wasikowska and Jessica Chastain and contains “violence coming in Hillcoat’s typically unsparing bursts throughout.”

5. On The Road Sam Riley (excellent in the Joy Division biopic “Control”), Garret Hedlund (the unfortunate “Tron: Legacy”), Kristen Stewart and Viggo Mortensen star in Walter Salles (“The Motorcycle Diaries”) long anticipated adaptation of the “un-filmable” novel by Jack Kerouac.

More: Rust & Bone, Cosmopolis, Antiviral, Amour, Mud.

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13 Films I Am Probably Definitely Going To See This Summer

Well, “The Avengers” is out today which must mean that Summer Movie Season is once again upon us. For the next 3 months multiplexes will be pummeled with all manner of potential blockbusters (with the occasional arthouse counterprogramming). While I’ve also seen a handful of Summer releases which I’d recommend including “The Avengers,” “Beasts Of The Southern Wild,” “The Loved Ones” and “Safety Not Guaranteed” there are still plenty of films left to go. Some I couldn’t be less interested in (“Battleship” “Men In Black 3” etc.), some I’m more curious about than anticipating and some I’m really, really looking forward to (see below!) Alright, May to August here we go!

1. The Dark Knight Rises (July 20) Christopher Nolan returns to finish his epic Bat-trilogy. I walked out of “The Dark Knight” thinking it was an impossible act to follow, but 4 years later I’m starting to think that if anyone can do it, Nolan can. Watch the trailer.

2. Prometheus (June 8) This quasi-prequel to “Alien” marks director Ridley Scott’s first foray into sci-fi in 30 years. It looks incredible but can it possibly live up to the trailer?

3. Moonrise Kingdom (May 25) Despite a decade of diminishing returns for the celebrated auteur I remain hopeful that his latest - a 60’s set tale featuring two 12 year old runaways - will mark a return to form. Wes Anderson, I just can’t quit you. Watch the trailer.

4. Brave (June 22) After punishing America last summer with a film whose name I dare not speak, Pixar look ready to apologize to us. I haven’t been blown away by the trailers but am still hoping that my blind faith in the studio will pay off with another classic.

5. The Amazing Spider-Man (July 3) It may seem too soon to push reset on the “Spider-Man” series but the 3rd entry was a “Batman & Robin”-level disaster that really called for it. Add Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone and some unexpected talent behind the camera and I’m definitely curious to see what they do with it. Watch the trailer.

6. ParaNorman (August 17) From the studio that brought you “Coraline” comes another dark and beautiful looking stop-motion tale. This one features a misunderstood boy who can speak to the dead. Watch the trailer, be convinced.

7. Snow White & The Huntsman (June 1) Though I’m not really interested in the whole fairy tale re-imaginings (started by Tim Burton’s odious “Alice In Wonderland”) I have to say I’ve been curious about this one since I saw some visuals last year at Comic-Con. Watch the trailer.

8. Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World (June 22) A dark comedy about the end of the world starring Steve Carell and Keira Knightley. Doesn’t that sound like something you would want to see? Watch the trailer.

9. Neighborhood Watch (July 27) Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill and “Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace“‘s Richard Ayoade in a Seth Rogen/Evan Goldberg scripted, Akiva Schaffer (Lonely Island) directed comedy about suburban dads who defend their neighborhood from aliens. Watch the trailer.

10. The Campaign Will Ferrell v. Zach Galifianakis as rival politicians. (August 10)

11. Ted (July 13) From the creator of “Family Guy.” But just watch the trailer.

12. The Dictator (May 16) The first trailer was very bad but the new one is much better!

13. Ruby Sparks (July 25) From the directors behind “Little Miss Sunshine” comes their long awaited sophomore feature which could be too precious or it could be cute.Watch the trailer.

Also: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (June 22), The Bourne Legacy (August 3), Dark Shadows (May 11), Magic Mike (June 29), Savages (July 6).

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My SXSW ‘12 Wrap-Up

After a killer lineup of films last year which included “Bridesmaids,” “Attack The Block,” “Kill List,” “Beginners” and “Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop” (all of which ended up on my Top 20), I decided I could no longer afford not to go to SXSW. So as promised, I trekked down to Texas for 4 days of film, beer and BBQ. I had such a great time in Austin - biblical rains notwithstanding - that I ended up skipping out on a handful of films I had planned to see just to meet up with friends and enjoy the city. (About half my active foursquare feed was in Austin last weekend, it was really pretty remarkable.) All in all, I saw 8 films and 3 episodes of a brilliant new HBO series, sat in on a few panels, interviewed the cast of “Killer Joe” and finally made my pilgrimage to the legendary Alamo Drafthouse. Barring horrific incident, I will definitely be back next year. Here, in descending order are my favorites from SXSW 2012.

1. Girls (dir: Lena Dunham) The aforementioned brilliant new HBO series about twentysomethings in NYC from “Tiny Furniture” writer/director/star Dunham and producer Judd Apatow shares more in common with Apatow’s “Freaks & Geeks” than it does with “Sex And The City.” I can’t wait for more. Read My Full Review | Read My Panel Recap

2. The Raid: Redemption (dir: Gareth Evans) Balls-to-the-wall action from Indonesia plays like an old school NES game and puts most modern action films to shame. Thrilling, spare, a perfect SXSW movie and probably my favorite film so far this year. Read My Full Review

3. Shut Up And Play The Hits (dir: Will Lovelace, Dylan Southern) Concert doc chronicles the final days of LCD Soundsystem & their epic last show at Madison Square Garden. If you’re not a fan before watching this, after witnessing their organ-rattling live set, you will be. God I miss them. Read My Full Review

4. Cabin In The Woods (dir: Drew Goddard) A smart, playful stab at horror films made by and for those that love them with a last act that is every horror nerd’s wet dream. A ton of fun, if not quite as transgressive as some critics might have you believe.Read My Full Review

5. Compliance (dir: Craig Zobel) Incredibly upsetting true-crime tale of manipulation and obedience at a fast food joint in Ohio. If it wasn’t true, I’d never believe it. Read My Full Review

6. 21 Jump Street (dir: Phil Lord, Chris Miller) Consistently hilarious and far better than a reboot of a 25 year old TV show has any right to be. Channing Tatum’s hilarious, scene-stealing peformance absolves him of any past cinematic sins. Read My Full Review

7. John Dies At The End (dir: Don Coscarelli) Horror/sci-fi/comedy about a psychedelic drug that enables the users to travel across dimensions is so confident in its utter weirdness, I’m almost inclined to think its my fault I could barely follow it. Possibly a midnight movie classic. Read My Full Review

8. Killer Joe (dir: William Friedkin) Southern fried noir with Matthew McConaughey as a sadistic cop cum contract killer. Mix of soap opera melodramatics and darker undertones plays like a Texas-set “Twin Peaks” if not quite as interesting. Read My Full Review | Read My Roundtable Interview

9. V/H/S (dir: David Bruckner, Glenn McQuaid, Radio Silence, Joe Swanberg, Ti West, Adam Wingard) Disappointing found footage anthology from 6 up-and-coming horror directors spotlights the limitations of the format with this mixed bag of spooky tales. Read My Full Review

10. Nature Calls (dir: Todd Rohal) Painfully unfunny boy scout comedy with Patton Oswalt and Johnny Knoxville as feuding brothers. Oswalt deserves better than this. Read My Full Review

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5 More Films I’m Looking Forward To from Sundance ‘12

I managed to catch 12 movies during my 4 days at Sundance but with hundreds of movies playing, it’s impossible not to end up missing out on some things. I think I did a pretty good job of seeing some of the most buzzed about films at the fest but didn’t have a chance to see everything I had planned on, including a few films that ended up getting squeezed out for time, sleep or scheduling conflicts. So here are 5 more films that played the fest that I’ll be looking forward to checking out hopefully in the near future.

1. John Dies At The End (dir: Don Coscarelli) Two college dropouts must try to stop the destruction of mankind from a psychedelic drug called “soy sauce” that lets its users travel across dimensions but may not come back the same, the latest from the director of “Phantasm” and “Bubba Ho-Tep” looks to top even his previous outings for sheer weirdness. And it garnered comparisons to one of my all-time favorites, “Big Trouble In Little China.” Please play at SXSW. Watch the trailer.

2. V/H/S (dir: David Bruckner, Glenn McQuaid, Radio Silence, Joe Swanberg, Ti West, Adam Wingard) Found footage anthology from new wave of indie horror directors of “The Signal,” “House of the Devil,” and the upcoming much buzzed about, “You’re Next” among others. Received raves from horror fans and infamously, someone had to be taken out of the the theatre and resuscitated during one of the screenings (though that may have just been the mountain air).

3. The Surrogate (dir: Ben Lewin) The biggest sale of the fest (to Fox Searchlight for $6 million) features recent Sundance star John Hawkes (“Winter’s Bone,” “Martha Marcy May Marlene”) as a man with iron lung who decides at age 38 to lose his virginity. Helen Hunt (where has she been?) plays his sex surrogate. While I didn’t hear anyone who was extremely enthusiastic about this film, everyone seemed to agree that it would be a player next awards season for the performances alone.

4. The First Time (dir: Jon Kasdan) Kasdan (son of Lawrence, writer of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “The Empire Strikes Back”) has written about the high school experience before both as a writer for “Freaks & Geeks” and “Dawson’s Creek” and seems to have brought that experience to his sophomore effort here about two teens falling in love for the first time. Word was pretty positive here too but one hopes he brings more of his ‘Freaks’ experience (instead of his ‘Creek’ experience) to the material.

5. Shut Up And Play The Hits (dir: Will Lovelace, Dylan Southern) Documentary about the final LCD Soundsystem shows at Madison Square Garden last year and their aftermath captures frontman James Murphy both onstage and off, while probing to discover exactly what it must be like to go out on top. Watch the trailer.

More: Compliance, For A Good Time Call…, Arbitrage, Shadow Dancer, Grabbers.

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My Sundance ‘12 Wrap-Up

For the second year I attended the Sundance Film Festival, packing 12 films into 4 very full days (+1 after the fact). With hundreds of films playing I made a decision to stick mostly to the U.S. Dramatic category (since that’s where most of last year’s breakouts came from (“Like Crazy,” “Martha Marcy May Marlene,” “Take Shelter”) with a few Premieres thrown in. All in all, I think I did pretty well, between my press pass and the @DorDotson method I was able to see everything I had the energy to show up for. I had a great and exhausting time, caught many of the fest’s most buzzed about films and got the chance to interview a few of the actors/filmmakers behind those efforts. Here, in descending order are my favorites from Sundance 2012.

1. Nobody Walks (dir: Ry Russo-Young) Peter (John Krasinski) and Julie (Rosemary DeWitt) are a Silverlake couple whose marriage is thrown into doubt by the arrival of 23 year old NY artist Martine (Olivia Thirlby). Ry Russo-Young directs this unexpectedly sensual, comic drama that takes a surprisingly mature view of relationships with a sharp script (co-written by Lena Dunham) and pulsing electronic score by Fall On Your Sword. Read My Full Review

2. Smashed (dir: James Ponsoldt) Heartbreaking and oddly hilarious portrait of alcoholism starring Mary-Elizabeth Winstead (in a career-changing performance) and Aaron Paul as a hard-partying married couple. It may sound like an afterschool special but it’s never preachy and perfectly played by an ensemble cast including Nick Offerman (yes, Ron Swanson), Megan Mullalley and Octavia Spencer. Read My Full Review

3. Beasts of the Southern Wild (dir: Benh Zietlin) The most acclaimed of the festival, the story features a 6 year old girl named Hushpuppy (an outstanding Quvenzhané Wallis) who lives in a post-apocalyptic wasteland called The Bathtub on the wrong side of the levee in New Orleans. Light on plotting but heavy on feeling, Benh Zeitlin’s impressive debut is the intersection between Terry Gilliam and Terry Malick. And the score made me cry. Read My Full Review

4. Simon Killer (dir: Antonio Campos) The latest from the Borderline films (“Martha Marcy May Marlene”) crew was one of the most divisive films of the fest. Simon (Brady Corbet) is a college grad who escapes to Paris after a breakup with his longtime girlfriend and while there begins a relationship with a prostitute named Victoria (Mati Diop). Featuring a great indie-dance soundtrack, it starts a little slow but blossoms into an engrossing (but dark) character study. Read My Full Review

5. Safety Not Guaranteed (dir: Colin Trevorrow) Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass and Jake M. Johnson star in this film treatment of the infamous classified ad“WANTED: Somebody to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. You’ll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. Safety not guaranteed. I have only done this once before.” Hilarious and unexpectedly sweet, of all the films I saw at Sundance this year, this was the one with the most commercial potential. Read My Full Review

6. Save The Date (dir: Michael Mohan) Smarter-than-your-average rom-com starring an indie dream team of Lizzy Caplan (“Party Down”), Alison Brie (“Community”), Martin Starr (“Freaks & Geeks”) and Mark Webber (“Scott Pilgrim vs. The World”). Featuring strong performances by Caplan and Brie as sisters, Light without being completely insubstantial, this is what more romantic comedies should aspire to be. Read My Full Review

7. Bachelorette (dir: Leslye Headland) Produced by Will Ferrell & Adam McKay’s Gary Sanchez Productions, Kirsten Dunst, Lizzy Caplan and Isla Fisher star as a trio of bridesmaids behaving badly during a coke and booze filled bachelorette party in this dark comedy. While the synopsis might read like “Bridesmaids” revisited, it’s a much darker film that even makes “The Hangover” trio look kinda like pussies. Read My Full Review

8. Liberal Arts (dir: Josh Radnor) Radnor (“How I Met Your Mother”) writes, directs and stars in his sophomore feature about a 35 year old college admissions counselor (Radnor) who takes a trip to visit his old alma mater only to fall for a 19 year old student (“Martha Marcy May Marlene” star Elizabeth Olsen). He attempts to keep their relationship platonic as he struggles with what it is to be a grown-up in this crowd pleasing comedy. Read My Full Review

9. Hello, I Must Be Going (dir: Todd Louiso) Amy Minsky (Melanie Lynskey) is recently divorced 35 year old who moves back in with her parents so she can put her life back together but finds herself reverting back into her teenaged self. Such a great vehicle for perennial supporting player Lynskey to get her role in the spotlight, she makes you want to overlook some of the films other flaws. Read My Full Review

10. For Ellen (dir: So Yong Kim) Paul Dano (“Little Miss Sunshine”) plays Joby, the struggling frontman of a hard rock band about to lose custody of his young daughter Ellen. Featuring finely tuned performances - including a supporting turn from an unrecognizable Jon Heder - and strangely funny moments, the film nonetheless fails to get into gear. Read My Full Review

11. Celeste & Jesse Forever (dir: Lee Toland Krieger) Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg star as Celeste and Jesse, inseparable former high school sweethearts now in their 30’s who have decided to get divorced. With a starry ensemble including Elijah Wood, Emma Roberts and Ari Graynor, this is a nonetheless disappointing effort from co-writer/star, (the extremely likable) Rashida Jones. Read My Full Review

12. Robot and Frank (dir: Jake Schreier) Set in the near future, Frank Langella stars as Frank a retired jewel thief living out his days in his upstate NY cottage whose son buys him a caretaker robot called simply, Robot (voiced by Peter Saarsgard). Initially resistant to this strange technology, Frank decides to stage a heist with Robot’s help. Liv Tyler and James Marsden co-star in this high concept, low key, heist/buddy film. Read My Full Review

13. The Comedy (dir: Rick Alverson) A supposed satire of aging hipsters starring Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim and LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy. A series of loosely connected skits featuring Heidecker as a trust fund kid now nearing his 40’s seemingly improvising non sequiturs through each scene. Only intermittently funny, the film was supposed to be a skewering the Williamsburg overgrown hipsters it’s depicting. Read My Full Review

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My 10 Worst Films of 2011

Whoops, I had actually forgotten I was writing this but this is the last of my 2011 wrapup pieces, promise. I think it’s a common misnomer that critics enjoy trashing bad movies. It can be painful to sit through a bad film so - with the exception of “Season of the Witch” which I saw during a Nic Cage-a-thon - it’s not something I would subject myself to intentionally. I skip most things that seem like a complete waste of time so you wont find “Jack & Jill” or “Chipwrecked” or “The Zookeeper” on my list because I haven’t seen them and have no plans to. Below are the films that, despite their best intentions, just did not work for me in 2011.

1. This Must Be The Place (Paolo Sorrentino)
A complete disaster. Sorrentino’s last film “Il Divo” was a crazy rock ‘n roll mashup of Fellini and Scorsese. I was excited for his follow-up, an English language film starring Sean Penn as a Robert Smith-type aging rock star who goes on a road trip across America to find an ex-Nazi war criminal who imprisoned his father. At the time I thought, “this is so crazy it just might work!” but now I know that it’s the synopsis for one of the worst movies of all time. This makes it’s U.S. premiere at Sundance in a few days so consider this a warning.

2. Cars 2 (John Lasseter, Brad Lewis)
Painful. This film is everything Pixar had previously stood against - cash grab sequels, cheap pop culture gags, nonstop action in place of character development - which makes it like a knife in the back from your best friend. It’s all the more upsetting to see Pixar head and co-director Lasseter continuing to defend the film instead of just admitting he made a mistake. Critics don’t have it out for you, John. We’re just not going to tell you that you’ve made a great film unless it’s true.

3. Sucker Punch (Zach Snyder)
A confession that may get me kicked out of the movie nerd community: I actually like Zach Snyder! At the very least he’s one of the most distinctive genre filmmakers working today and I have a soft spot for his “Dawn Of The Dead” remake, “300” and (most of) “Watchmen.” But “Sucker Punch” is a different story all together. Poorly written, ugly, and uninvolving, Snyder is totally lost and mostly incompetent without existing source material to guide him. There are no stakes, no consequences and nothing invested. It’s worse than bad, it’s boring.

4. The Green Lantern (Martin Campbell)
Marvel has had a real resurgence in the last decade but I’ve always been a DC kid at heart. So it’s unfortunate that both DC and Warner Bros. (who’ve done such a great job with the Batman franchise) had a bomb this big on their hands. It was definitely risky material: a cocky lead character, an otherworldly setting and yet another clunky love story but somehow Marvel made all those obstacles work with “Thor.” But “Green Lantern,” with its cartoonish CG, bad acting and an overstuffed plot was not so lucky.

5. I Saw The Devil (Jee-woon Kim)
I’d heard quite a bit of good buzz about this Korean revenge thriller before I went to see it this time last year. But my hopes dissapated almost instantly as I watched this relentlessly stupid film. As I said in my review, imagine the (perfect) ending of “Se7en” stretched out for 2 1/2 hours and you’re somewhere close to the tedium of “I Saw The Devil.” I’m convinced that people assume that because they’re reading subtitles the film is somehow smarter than it is because if this had been made in English it would have been laughed out of theatres.

6. Season of the Witch (Dominic Sena)
Okay, this is cheating a bit since I knew this would be horrible. January release? Silly action/horror plot about hunting down witches? Check. Nic Cage? Check. Yes, this was going to be bad. But unfortunately it was - with the exception of Stephen Graham’s hilarious New Yawk accent - pretty blandly bad. Cage was very subdued here which is not why you go to see a bad Nic Cage film. Thankfully “Drive Angry 3D” a month later was pretty awesome.

7. Scream 4 (Wes Craven)
I loved the “Scream” films when they were released. The first one still stands up as a genre classic even if the sequels are a product of diminishing returns. But this was something else entirely. Original cast members are dragged back and given nothing to do while the new castmembers are an even greater waste of space. I found myself squirming through the film, not because of the violence, but because I felt bad for everyone involved.

8. Circumstance (Maryam Keshavarz)
The first and worst film I saw at Sundance last year, this Iranian drama actually took home the Audience Award at the fest. Though I suspect that had more to do with the films sympathetic backstory (the filmmakers had to escape Iran to make the film) than the film itself, where story threads disappear, slo-mo happens all too frequently and the film really just runs out of steam. “Circumstance” was marketed as some kind of steamy lesbian drama which, probably would have been more interesting.

9. The Hangover: Part 2 (Todd Phillips)
Take the first film, Find And Replace “Vegas” with “Thailand” and Delete all the jokes. (Sorry Zach.)

10. Twixt (Francis Ford Coppola)
I was at the world premiere at TIFF and did my best to be fair in my review of the film because I do like everyone involved but it was an extremely amateurish production. How the same filmmaker who made “The Godfather,” “Apocalypse Now” and even “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” was responsible for this I will never know.

Dishonorable Mention: Fright Night, The Sitter, Take This Waltz, Detachment, Hobo With A Shotgun.

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My Top 10 Films of 2011

Most critics seem to be in agreement that 2011 was not an especially great year for film but there were nevertheless gems to be found if you did a little digging. I did a lot of digging last year, more than ever in fact, surpassing my previous benchmark (by about 30 films) by viewing a record 103 films in the theatre in 2011. And that’s not including about a half dozen of those which I saw more than once. Much of this is due to the fact that I took my first trips to the Sundance and Toronto Film Festivals, and began writing a bit more seriously about film at The Playlist on Indiewire, and consequently here. If you’re like me you have already read 1,000 other Top 10 lists - and you’ve read the films that won’t be appearing here - so let this be the last (and hopefully best). There’s always an instinct when you start reading other lists to start rearranging your own but I tried - this year more than ever - to go with my initial instincts and not be swayed by critical consensus. Here are my favorite films from 2011.

1. Drive (Nicolas Winding Refn)
The elements are all familar - a man with no name, a woman in trouble, a criminal kingpin, a femme fatale and a heist gone wrong - so how is it that “Drive” feels like nothing I’ve ever seen before? Director Nicolas Winding Refn fuses his gonzo arthouse sensibility onto a Hollywood genre film and the results are riveting. Despite a well traveled plot, I was on the edge of my seat for the entire film with no idea what was going to happen next. The opening establishes an expectation and then the rest of the film proceeds to dismantle that expectation, scene by scene. The opening getaway is thrilling in its quiet precision. Then comes the neon tinged opening credits with “Nightcall” synths blaring and you wonder if this is supposed to be for real. And then about thirty minutes or so into the film comes the first burst of violence - so strong and so unexpected you could see the hands going up all over the theatre - and you realize this is for real.

Then comes the strip club, the elevator, the chinese restaurant and you start to wonder why every movie isn’t this movie? And with your jaw still hanging open you start to get a little angry with other, lesser, filmmakers for being so lazy. Director Refn re-imagines the heist film as a neon noir fairy tale where anything can happen and no one is safe. You might have to go back as far as “Pulp Fiction” to find a filmmaker who fused pop music and images quite as effectively as Refn does here. But unlike Tarantino’s sprawling, verbose scripts, “Drive” is incredibly economic. Scenes that in lesser films would be full of exposition, here have been shaved down to the bone. You get everything you need without a wasted moment. I had such a strong, visceral reaction to the film I have a hard time relating to anyone who doesn’t love it. This was the best film of 2011.

2. The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius)
Despite taking home nearly every critics award, there has been quite a backlash building for “The Artist,” which I could understand if it wasn’t so damn good. Look, I was skeptical too. Snatched up by The Weinstein Co. just before it’s Cannes debut, this seemed like exactly the type of movie that usually gets on my nerves: an exercise in nostalgia aimed squarely at the older Oscar voters that make up the bulk of the Academy. (Otherwise known as Oscar Bait.) And on top of that, it had the added gimmick of being a silent film. At its NYFF premiere I skeptically spent the first few minutes resisting its charms, wondering what purpose other than novelty a silent film could serve in 2011. But within minutes all of that cynicism melted away and I thought, ‘Fuck that. I love this movie.’ I was utterly charmed by stars Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo, dazzled with the way Hazanvicius used the format as a storytelling device while playing with conventions and by the time the film ended I was incredibly moved. Wiping away a few tears I thought, ‘if this wins Best Picture, I’m totally okay with that.’ A great film.

3. Bridesmaids (Paul Feig)
In the six months since “Bridesmaids” became a massive box office hit, I’ve been thoroughly baffled by the conversations I’ve had with people about the film. If you thought it “wasn’t that funny” or that it was “just okay,” I don’t know what to tell you other than that you probably don’t deserve a comedy this good. Not every scene is designed for laughs and that’s what makes it brilliant. It’s a film with the confidence, nay balls, to let the audience breathe for a minute and watch star/co-writer Kristen Wiig make a cupcake. Why? Because it’s an important character beat. In any other studio comedy, this would have been the first thing to go. Thank producer Judd Apatow, screenwriters Wiig and Annie Mumolo and director Paul Feig for having the courage to go for humor and pathos, creating some of the most memorably awkward sequences (in a good way) since the U.K. “The Office.” Melissa McCarthy has been deservingly receiving praise for her performance but the entire cast shines here with Rose Byrne, Maya Rudolph and Wiig absolutely nailing every scene. I’ve seen the film four times now and I could watch it again right now. The best comedy of the year and one of the best films period.

4. Attack The Block (Joe Cornish)
Hype can be a killer. And after a raucous almost-legendary Midnight premiere at SXSW, was there any way “Attack The Block” could possibly be as good as it was supposed to be? Yes, it can. Dumped in the middle of summer with a non-existent marketing campaign, it’s already a cult classic in the making. Centering on a group of young teens in South London fighting off an alien invasion, there are nods to the 80s cinema of John Carpenter and Steven Spielberg but they feel lived in, genuine, as if they’d been absorbed naturally rather than studied. Like “Shaun of the Dead” or “District 9” before it, the film has a distinct voice - in this case first-time filmmaker Joe Cornish - and you can see his fingerprints all over the film. And Cornish has more on his mind than simply recapturing an era. He’s been inspired in equal part by his experiences growing up there and the issues of race and class that the film hints at make it a lot more substantial than your typical alien invasion flick. And that’s not even mentioning Thomas Townend’s ultra-saturated cinematography, the propulsive score by Basement Jaxx, wonderfully stylized creature design and the ending which is likely to raise your goosebumps as it did mine. Believe.

5. Young Adult(Jason Reitman)
Speaking of backlash, sometime around the time Diablo Cody collected her Oscar for “Juno” most of the world’s cinephiles collectively decided the screenwriter was a hack. Which is too bad for them because I suspect now they’re going to be eating those words. Hilarious, uncomfortable, sincere and devoid of the stylized dialogue she has long been criticized for, this is the film that should silence any and all of her detractors. Charlize Theron-in a brilliant, monster performance-stars as an author of young adult novels who returns to her hometown to win back her married high-school boyfriend. It’s an uncompromisingly ugly portrayal that movie stars do not give very often if ever, and she does it without prosthetics or distractions. I’ve liked each of director Jason Reitman’s previous films but felt they each received a bit more praise than they were perhaps deserving. Ironically “Young Adult” is his best film to date and it’s being completely ignored principally because he made a film where the lead character is unlikable. She’s not Meryl Streep in “The Devil Wears Prada,” instead resembling a female version of Noah Baumbach’s acidic (and underrated) “Greenberg,” another love-it-or-hate-it proposition dividing viewers who simply didn’t want to spend time with a prick. It’s their loss, the film is a career best for all involved.

6. Hanna (Joe Wright)
One of my earliest favorites this year, “Hanna” reminded me of a lost Danny Boyle film from the 90’s. Director Joe Wright (“Pride & Prejudice”), here making his first steps into the action milieu, is an outsider to the material just as Hanna is to the civilized world and the disparity proves galvanizing for the filmmaker. A preternaturally sharp Saoirse Ronan stars as the titular character, a young girl raised by her father (Eric Bana) in the woods and trained to be an expert killer until she is no longer content to live in seclusion. On the run, she’s hunted for as-yet unknown reasons by a CIA agent (Cate Blanchett) as she has her first experiences with civilized mankind. Puzzlingly, audiences and certain critics don’t seem to get that it’s a fairy tale. Yes, Blanchett is over-the-top but everything here is amplified. This is the same film that with a straight face introduces a suitcase with a giant blinking red button and sets the finale in an abandoned Hansel & Gretel house. So yeah, the film isn’t wholly concerned with approximating reality. And that’s okay because the reality of the film works and works wonderfully.

7. Shame (Steve McQueen)
Somehow I was late to the game on British artist-turned director Steve McQueen (no relation). I hadn’t seen his first film until a few weeks before his latest was set to unspool at the Toronto Film Festival. But in a way I’m glad it happened that way because the one-two punch “Hunger” and “Shame” - both with awe-inspiring performances by star Michael Fassbender - have convinced me McQueen is one of the most exciting new filmmakers working today. Fassbender gives arguably the single best performance this year as Brandon, a Manhattan advertising executive whose sex addiction begins to spiral out of control. Carey Mulligan is atypically cast as Cissy, his dramatic younger sister who comes to stay with him. Carefully framed with beautiful, precise, long takes McQueen doesn’t spell anything out for you but doesn’t drag things out either. As it builds to it’s “Requiem For A Dream”-esque climax, his filmmaking demonstrates such confidence you can see why stars like Brad Pitt are dying to work with him.

8. Like Crazy (Drake Doremus)
After similarly themed films like “(500) Days of Summer” and “Blue Valentine” became successful, I’m surprised that Drake Doremus’ Sundance darling didn’t find a bigger audience. Without the arch stylization of the former and exaggerated melodramatics in the later, “Like Crazy” may be the best of the bunch. On the surface, it’s simple. A boy and a girl fall in love in college and after graduation enter unwittingly into a long distance relationship. From there, things become complicated. But the way the story is told - full of perfectly realized moments, painful and true - as it skips forward in time dispensing with overused cheap dramatic moments like ‘will they or wont they’ and cutting right into the heart of the ‘it’s already done.’ Felicity Jones delivers a breakout performance in the film, whose only real flaw is Anton Yelchin. While he’s not bad in the role, he lacks the necessary charisma for making you fall for his character at the beginning of the film. But if you can suspend disbelief long enough to say “okay, they love each other,” you’ll be helpless to defend yourself from the remainder of the film where it takes your heart and rips it out. Initially my second favorite film at Sundance, “Like Crazy” actually jumped into first position after a second viewing in October rendered it even more impressive 10 months later.

9. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (David Fincher)
Upon seeing the original Swedish version of the international bestseller, I questioned, “How David Fincher will make anything interesting out of this I have no idea.” While still hampered by the whodunit source material, Fincher does everything in his power to turn the procedural potboiler into high art and very nearly succeeds. Keeping the momentum from “The Social Network,” this film retains key members of production (including DP Jeff Cronenweth, composers Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross and editors Kirk Baxter & Angus Wall) who are all firing on all cylinders here. The results are intoxicating. Fincher is aesthetically unsurpassed by almost anyone working today and ‘Dragon Tattoo’ is a visual and aural marvel. Rooney Mara is everything she needs to be to portray the iconic Lisbeth Salander: a complex, mesmerizing human character and Daniel Craig - who hasn’t really found a good role since becoming Bond - is a perfect fit as Blomkvist. If the film is not on the same level with the director’s best work (“Se7en,” “Fight Club,” “Zodiac”), it’s only because he’s set the bar so high.

10. Kill List (Ben Wheatley)
A former soldier is pressured by his wife and their grim financial situation to take the occasional job as a contract killer. Against his better judgement he takes on a job - the “kill list” in question containing several seemingly unrelated targets - even after red flags start being raised and things spiral out of control from there. To further describe what makes this film great would be to rob you of the pleasure of seeing it for yourself. Violent without being gratuitous, with turns you would never see coming from the outset, the easy rapport between leads Neil Maskell and Michael Smiley keeps the film alarmingly watchable even as the rug starts to get pulled out from under you and you’re not even quite sure what kind of film you’re watching. Suffice to say this British chiller is one of the most distinctive and indelible genre efforts I’ve seen in some time and I’ll likely be recommending it to friends for years to come. “Kill List” is available OnDemand starting today. Don’t miss it.

Runners Up.

11. Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop (Rodman Flender)
One of the most overlooked documentaries of the year. Directed by O’Brien’s Harvard classmate Flender, this warts-and-all tour doc gains unfettered access to the self deprecating late night host, revealing sometimes bitter though always hilarious dimensions to his enthusiastic onscreen persona. An illuminating (though not always flattering) portrait of the comedian.

12. Beginners (Mike Mills)
Graphic artist turned filmmaker Mills’ warm, semi-autobiographical account of his father coming out of the closet at 75 (played wonderfully here by Christopher Plummer) has divided critics sharply between those that found it too precious and those that fell head over heels for it. For me, the film has only grown in my estimation upon repeat viewings where the film’s heart-on-a-sleeve construction has really worked its charms.

13. George Harrison: Living In The Material World (Martin Scorsese)
I had the pleasure of seeing Scorsese’s epic 3 1/2 hour doc on the big screen during the NYFF and as many times as I’ve heard The Beatles story told in countless articles, books and other films, Scorsese along with editor David Tedeschi manage to make it feel exciting again. The audio mix for the soundtrack alone deserves an award.

14. Submarine (Richard Ayoade)
Initially my favorite film from Sundance ‘11, this underrated British coming-of-age film suffered from (unavoidable) comparisons to “Rushmore” But unlike many deadpan also-ran’s, Ayoade’s film has the style and heart to pull it off thanks in part to newcomers Craig Roberts and Yasmin Paige and the filmmaker’s varied influences. And it’s got a killer soundtrack.

15. Midnight In Paris (Woody Allen)
This comic fantasy casts Owen Wilson stars as Allen surrogate Gil, a frustrated screenwriter who idealizes Paris in the 20’s. The actor brings his laid back delivery to Allen’s usually high-strung dialogue and the contrast is unexpectedly brilliant. While not one of Allen’s great films, it was one of the best times I had watching a movie all year.

16. Corman’s World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel (Alex Stapleton)
B-movie king Roger Corman may be responsible for helping to launch the careers of countless Hollywood legends - from Martin Scorsese and Jack Nicholson to Jonathan Demme and Ron Howard - but has never really gotten his due until now. This lovingly crafted doc traces Corman’s 50+ year career on the outskirts of the industry with insightful interviews from his many protégés.

17. Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (David Yates)
Despite never having read the books, I’ve enjoyed my annual trips to Hogwarts over the last decade and though I never became a full Potter-phile, something became very clear during the terrific closing chapter of Warner Bros. unshakable franchise: I’m really going to miss these characters.

18. Miss Bala (Gerardo Naranjo)
A Mexican beauty pageant contestant gets kidnapped by a drug lord and forced to become a runner for his gang. It may sound dire but through Naranjo’s lense, it becomes the framework for a sparse first-person thriller. Shot in incredibly long fluid takes, Naranjo takes potentially bleak subject matter and turns it into invigorating cinema.

19. 50/50 (Jonathan Levine)
A cancer comedy is an extremely risky move so credit director Levine and screenwriter Will Reiser for nailing just the right mix of emotion and laughs with with this inspirational dramedy inspired by Reiser’s own battle with the disease. Features strong turns from an unsung Bryce Dallas Howard and Seth Rogen who shines by bringing his comic persona into a more dramatic film.

20. Super (James Gunn)
My pick for the Most Underrated Film of 2011, Gunn’s superhero satire is funny and weird and surprising in ways that can’t easily be summed up. Alright, fine: it’s like a darker, weirder “Kick-Ass” with Rainn Wilson from “The Office” as a depressive wannabe superhero and Ellen Page as his sexy sidekick.

Notable: Arthur Christmas, Being Elmo: A Puppeteers Journey, Captain America: The First Avenger, Friends With Kids, Horrible Bosses, The Ides Of March, Jane Eyre, Moneyball, Win Win, X-Men: First Class.

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My Most Anticipated Films of 2012

If 2011 was any indication, I am going to watch a lot of movies in 2012. And from the looks of it, this year has a potential to be an absolutely incredible year for cinema. It seems like nearly every one of my favorite directors has a film coming out in the next 12 months plus, like every year, there will be the surprises that come out of nowhere and become your new favorites. It’s always fun to look back a year later and wonder what the hell you were thinking putting “Cowboys & Aliens” and “Sucker Punch” on there? (In my defense I did have “Drive” at #11, before most people had ever heard of it, based on the cast alone, and that didn’t turn out too badly.) For now, each of the following films is an A+ until reality proves otherwise. It’s going to be a good year. Here are the films I’m most looking forward to in 2012.

1. Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson Project (a.k.a. The Master)
dir: Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood, Magnolia, Boogie Nights)
It’s been a nearly unendurable wait for my favorite filmmaker to produce a follow-up to his 2007 magnum opus “There Will Be Blood” (a.k.a. The Best Film Of The Decade) and the wait is almost over. Set just after WWII the film will reunite PTA once again with Philip Seymour Hoffman as the leader of a Scientology-type religion who takes in a drifter (Joaquin Phoenix) to be his right-hand man. It will also probably be the best movie of the year/decade/ever. Four years down, one to go. (Late 2012)

2. The Dark Knight Rises
dir: Christopher Nolan (Inception, The Dark Knight, Batman Begins)
After blowing minds with “Inception,” Nolan is back for the third and final film in his Bat-trilogy bringing along newcomers Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon Levitt and Marion Cotillard. I left the theatre after “The Dark Knight” saying, “That’s probably the best Batman film I’ll see during my lifetime,” thinking that not even Nolan would be able to top it. But nearly four years and one masterwork later, I’m starting to think he might just be able to pull it off. Watch the trailer. (July 20)

3. Django Unchained
dir: Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds, Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction)
Tarantino is back with his 5th consecutive revenge film(!), this time bringing retribution to the slavery-era South. Jamie Foxx stars as Django, a freed slave who teams up with a bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) to track down his wife (Kerry Washington) and liberate her from a sadistic plantation owner (Leonardo DiCaprio). They’ll be joined by Kurt Russell, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Samuel L. Jackson, Sacha Baron Cohen, RZA, Don Johnson, James Remar, cool music, violence and presumably countless references to other films. (Dec 25)

4. Moonrise Kingdom
dir: Wes Anderson (The Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Royal Tenenbaums, Rushmore)
Set in the 1960’s, Anderson’s first live action film in nearly five years centers on two pre-teens who fall in love and run away, turning their New England town upside down in the process. Starry cast includes newcomers Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Frances McDormand, Harvey Keitel and Tilda Swinton along with Anderson regulars Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman. As much as I’ve been disappointed by his last few features, I’m still holding out hope for this one. (May 25)

5. This Is Forty
dir: Judd Apatow (Funny People, Knocked Up, The 40 Year Old Virgin)
Though he’s only directed three features, he’s produced dozens and influenced countless more, making Apatow the king of modern comedy. His last film “Funny People” saw the filmmaker headed into darker, more dramatic territory while his latest is a spinoff of sorts, focusing on Paul Rudd and Lesley Mann’s married couple from “Knocked Up,” presumably dealing with a midlife crisis. They’ll be accompanied by Jason Segel, Chris O’Dowd, Melissa McCarthy, Albert Brooks and Megan Fox and hopefully the perfect mix of comedy/drama. (Dec 21)

6. Gravity
dir: Alfonso Cuarón (Children of Men, Y Tu Mamá También, Great Expectations)
Ever since Kubrick went into the beyond with “2001: A Space Odyssey,” he influenced a generation of directors do the same. The latest helmer to reach for the stars is Alfonso Cuaron, whose dizzying dystopian “Children of Men” six years ago put him in the upper echelon of filmmakers by fusing smart sci-fi and seamless effects. His latest stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney as stranded astronauts attempting to return to Earth and will reportedly be almost entirely CGI, 3D and feature a 20 minute opening shot. From any other filmmaker I’d be terrified, but from Cuaron I’m just excited. (Nov 21)

7. Prometheus
dir: Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator)
My second most anticipated sci-fi film next year is one that would’ve been unthinkable even just a few years ago. Scott - who has not done a science fiction film since “Blade Runner” 30 years ago - returns to the genre he helped shape with “Alien” for this quasi-prequel (which may or may not even involve aliens). Regardless, the film concerns a group of explorers - including Charlize Theron, Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender and Idris Elba - who discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth and possibly it’s end. Though the director has had a patchy decade, just try not to be excited when you watch the trailer. (June 8)

8. Frank or Francis
dir: Charlie Kaufman (Synechdoche New York, writer Adaptation, Being John Malkovich)
Kaufman may be one of the most distinctive screenwriters of the past decade but has been very quiet since stepping into the directors chair in 2008. That film may have stretched the limits of how weird it could get from the idiosyncratic scribe but things may be about to get even weirder. Steve Carell, Jack Black and Nicolas Cage star in some configuration as vain filmmaker, failed comedian and frustrated film critic in this musical (yes, you read that right), comedy. Kaufman’s audacious scripts walk a fine line between brilliant and bewildering but I’m hoping this ends up as the former. (Late 2012)

9. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
dir: Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings trilogy, King Kong, The Frighteners)
After having a rough go of it with “The Lovely Bones,” Jackson returns to Middle Earth to adapt the J.R.R. Tolkien book that started it all. After the ‘LOTR’ trilogy took in nearly 3 billion dollars at the box office and countless awards, you would think adapting the early adventures of Bilbo Baggins would have been a no brainer but it took quite a bit of wrangling both legal and creative on it’s way to the screen. Expectations are sky high for this film (eyerollingly split into two installments) but honestly I was a lot more excited about it before I watched the trailer. (Dec 14)

10. Inside Llewyn Davis
dir: The Coen Bros. (No Country For Old Men, The Big Lebowski, Fargo)
Now in the fourth decade of their careers, the brothers Coen are still going strong and though for me their recent films have been hit-and-miss, that doesn’t make me any less interested in their next project. Set in the Greenwich Village folk scene of the early 60’s, the film stars Oscar Isaac as the titular character, a folk singer who can’t seem to get it together. He’s supported by “Drive” co-star Carey Mulligan, F. Murray Abraham longtime Coen MVP John Goodman and (for the ladies) Justin Timberlake. (Late 2012)

10 Films Not On My Top 10

In any given year there are bound to be a few critical darlings that you don’t quite agree with, but seemingly never more than this year. So before posting My Favorite Films of 2011, I thought I should acknowledge some movies that won’t be making an appearance on my list. These films have been so critically adored - making appearances on virtually every Top 10 except, well, my own - that I feel like I have to address their absence. Yes, I’ve seen them and though they all had admirable qualities, in one way or another, all fell short for me. That’s not to say that these are the worst films by any means, (those are coming soon), I actually liked most of these but didn’t feel any quite deserved the praise heaped upon it. The following films have been ranked according to the disparity between the critical consensus and my own, or to put it simply, most to least overrated.

1. The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick)
The most ambitious studio release of the year is regrettably also the most overrated. For the most part, “The Tree of Life” is a brilliant act of misdirection: admire the stunning photography and sweeping ambition but try to ignore the overbearing New Age narration and overreaching finale. No film this year has received more praise while being so seemingly unloved by anyone. (Have you heard anyone ramble on about this film the same way they did about “Drive”? Or “The Muppets” even?) It’s like every critic and film snob collectively agreed to give it a pass simply because they felt obligated to. I know I’ve said it before but this is one case where the Emperor is no longer wearing any clothes.

2. Hugo (Martin Scorsese)
Look, I admired the 3D too and absolutely loved the George Melies section that has so many reviewers breathlessly declaring the film “a love letter to cinema.” But dear God, how could no one else acknowledge how lifeless and awkward the first hour of the film was? Or how dull Hugo himself was? As far as I can tell, the central character in this film has not been singled out by a single review as being anything resembling “interesting.” And those aren’t the kinds of things you can just overlook, no matter how much I love Scorsese or his storybook concoction of Paris.

3. The Descendants (Alexander Payne)
As a big fan of Payne’s work (“About Schmidt” is a personal favorite), it pains me to admit that this is his weakest film to date, which makes it absolutely mystifying that it’s receiving so much praise. Adapted from a novel by other screenwriters (then rewritten by Payne), the film is missing the bite of his earlier work, neither as funny or heartfelt as many would have you believe. Even Clooney has been better in Payne disciple Jason Reitman’s “Up In The Air.” The relaxed Hawaiian setting has had an effect on the film and not in a good way. This is what it looks like when a director shifts into neutral.

4. Martha Marcy May Marlene (Sean Durkin)
Having seen this at Sundance earlier this year, at the very birth of the buzz, I’ve spent nearly a year in the vocal minority for this film. This film suffers from Sundance Syndrome, it’s all atmopshere and no development. Flashback-present day-repeat without the central character (Elizabeth Olsen, deserving of the praise) ever doing anything proactive. Isn’t that what a protagonist is for? I began intrigued but left frustrated. Olsen and Durkin may be talents to watch but ‘Martha’ will likely be remembered more as a launching pad than a singular achievement.

5. A Separation (Asghar Farhadi)
Every film geek has a blind spot and I’m not sure anyone would be surprised to find out that World Cinema is definitely mine. That said, regardless of the country of origin there are certain things I look for in a film - to move me in some way, make me feel something for the characters, or at a base level, just entertain me - and “A Separation,” the leisurely paced Iranian melodrama, did not do those things. There are people out there who love this film and I absolutely cannot relate to those people.

6. Margaret (Kenneth Lonergan)
I get it, film critics. The film deserved better than its unceremonious dumping by Fox Searchlight a half decade after it was filmed. But let’s not get carried away here, folks. There are as many good scenes here as bad ones and adding another 30 minutes isn’t going to fix the film’s issues any more than pretending that this was one of the 10 best films to be released this year. (It isn’t.) While “Margaret” undoubtedly has its charms, its champions have gone more than a little overboard in extolling its virtues partially to prove their own influence.

7. Tinker Tailor Solider Spy (Tomas Alfredson)
As I said in my review, “never has a film I was so looking forward to made so little of an impression on me.” From the opening frames through the end credits, Alfredson’s admittedly gorgeous looking but hermetically sealed spy un-thriller never gave me a reason to care about what was going on. The cast is fantastic and cinematography is some of the finest I’ve seen all year but an emotional connection? Nothing. Confused I can deal with but excluded is a deal breaker.

8. Melancholia (Lars Von Trier)
I’ve never been a fan of Von Trier’s films, (to me he’s always seemed like a juvenile Michael Haneke), but I have to admit I did enjoy “Melancholia.” The audacious opening alone ranks as one of the cinematic highlights of the year which is, I suspect, in part why people have fallen for the film. While it was probably my favorite of the provocateur’s work to date, it’s lopsided and occasionally silly. The first half is exponentially more interesting than the second, though that too, contains its fair share of ridiculous moments. “Justine, I need that tagline!”

9. Take Shelter (Jeff Nichols)
Like Sundance brethren ‘Martha Marcy,’ “Take Shelter” is another case of a great premise with nowhere to go. Certain critics have complained about the ending which took away the film’s ambiguity but my problem was that it took so long to get there. With a two hour running time, the film is deadly repetitive, drawing out familiar scenes without illuminating or expanding what you already know. Essentially a mood piece (and that mood is very effective) it would have been much more successful had they trimmed 20 minutes and not given the audience (me) a chance to realize the filmmakers were treading water.

10. We Need To Talk About Kevin (Lynne Ramsay)
Impeccably shot and acted, this is the third film on this list (along with ‘Martha Marcy’ and “Take Shelter”) that is tediously repetitive. Though I liked ‘Kevin’ quite a bit, it’s one of those films you could check out after the first 15 minutes and tune back in during the last 5 without missing a single beat of essential character or story. Which, quite frankly, when it’s all over feels like a waste of my time. Unlike the frustrating ‘MMMM,’ the central character here at least tries to do something about her situation. I admire Ramsay’s style but wish she had pushed it further.

Stay tuned for my actual Top 10.

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My Top 10 Albums of 2011

As you get older, you get more set in your ways and it’s hard to keep up, seek out and absorb new music and much easier to just flip on Pandora (or the radio, if you’re 100), and just go with the flow. Keeping up with your favorites is easy but generally your favorites tend to disappoint just an album or two after they’re anointed with the distinction. Albums by The Strokes and Radiohead fell short this year which left room for some discoveries. The music I listened to most in 2011 was a mix of my favorite bands (Okkervil River, Handsome Furs), newer artists (Smith Westerns, Lykke Li), bands I’d already written off (Fountains of Wayne, Wilco) and a few artists that had been around for decades but had never clicked with me until now (PJ Harvey, Stephen Malkmus).

1. Okkervil River - I Am Very Far
Favorite Tracks: Piratess, Rider, Wake And Be Fine

2. PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
Favorite Tracks: Let England Shake, The Last Living Rose, The Words That Maketh Murder

3. Smith Westerns - Dye It Blonde
Favorite Tracks: Weekend, Imagine Pt. 3, Dye The World

4. Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes
Favorite Tracks: I Follow Rivers, Unrequited Love, Get Some

5. Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost
Favorite Tracks: My Ma, Vomit, Jamie Marie

6. Stephen Malkmus - Mirror Traffic
Favorite Tracks: Tigers, Stick Figures In Love, Long Hard Book

7. The Black Keys - El Camino
Favorite Tracks: Lonely Boy, Dead And Gone, Run Right Back

8. Fountains of Wayne - Sky Full of Holes
Favorite Tracks: The Summer Place, Someone’s Gonna Break Your Heart, Cemetery Guns

9. The Pains of Being Pure At Heart - Belong
Favorite Tracks: Belong, Heavens Gonna Happen Now, Heart In Your Heartbreak

10. Handsome Furs - Sound Kapital
Favorite Tracks: Memories Of The Future, Repatriated, No Feelings

Notable: Alex Turner, Beirut, Bon Iver, Cults, Drive Soundtrack,Fleet Foxes,Radiohead, The Strokes,TV On The Radio, Wilco.

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My NYFF ‘11 Wrap-Up

I’ve been attending the New York Film Festival since I moved to NYC in 2005 and have had a somewhat tumultuous (one-sided) relationship with it. Their lineup, culled mainly from Cannes, is usually light on American films and sometimes the inclusions (“Hereafter”? “The Tempest”?) are just as puzzling as the ommisions (No “There Will Be Blood”? No “Black Swan”?) But this year I have to give them credit, the lineup was damn good. I had seen quite a few films before the fest even started (Martha Marcy May Marlene, Corman’s World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel at Sundance, Shame, The Descendants, The Skin I Live In at TIFF and Melancholia in Paris) and still managed to see 8 films over the 2+ weeks of the festival. I have ranked them here from most to least favorite.

1. The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius) My favorite film of the fest is also one of my favorite films of the year. Charming, hilarious and surprisingly moving, this ode to silent film will be making a lot of noise during awards season. Read My Full Review

2. George Harrison: Living In A Material World (dir: Martin Scorsese) Scorsese’s epic 3 1/2 hour documentary about the life of George Harrison has all the punch of the directors fiction work and should more than satisfy any Beatles fanatic. Read My Full Review

3. Miss Bala (dir: Gerardo Naranjo) This sparse, gripping thriller about Mexican beauty pageant contestant who gets kidnapped by a drug cartel avoids cliches and utter bleakness by being thrilling cinematically. Read My Full Review

4. Hugo (dir: Martin Scorsese) Scorsese is still putting the finishing touches on this childhood fantasia but he may not be able to solve the films fundamental problem: it’s narratively leaden for the first hour until the actual story kicks in. Read My Full Review

5. Carnage (dir: Roman Polanski) Adaptation of the popular play has a great cast (Kate Winslet, Jodie Foster, John C. Reilly, Christoph Waltz) but is too stagey for film. Occasionally funny but mildly grating at times. Read My Full Review

6. A Dangerous Method (dir: David Cronenberg) Disappointingly tame pairing of great actors (Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender, Keira Knightley )+ director (David Cronenberg) in static material. Nicely shot but forgettable. Read My Full Review

7. My Week With Marilyn (dir: Simon Curtis) Made-for-TV movie about a 23 year old Brit who spent a few days with Monroe. Williams is miscast but does her best. All Oscar talk is completely puzzling. Read My Full Review

n/a. The Royal Tenenbaums (dir: Wes Anderson) The 10th Anniversary screening of one of my all time favorites isn’t really eligible to be ranked but was still one of the highlights of the fest. Read My Q&A Recap

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6 More Films I’m Looking Forward To from TIFF ‘11

I managed to catch 10 movies in my 4 days at TIFF but there were plenty more films to see as the festival rolled on for a full week after I left. These were the films that flew under the radar as the festival began but by it’s end had picked gained some of the greatest buzz. Leaving aside the films I already listed in my Fall Preview (“A Dangerous Method,” “The Artist,” “50/50,” etc.), here are 5 more films that played the fest that I wish I had gotten the the chance to check out.

1. Damsels In Distress (dir: Whit Stillman) Writer/director Stillman was a fixture in the ’90s indie scene with his 3 features, the talky upper crust comedies “Metropolitan,” “Barcelona” and “The Last Days Of Disco.” After a 13 year hiatus, (who does he think he is, Kubrick?), he returns with his latest, starring “Greenberg“‘s Greta Gerwig as the leader of a trio of girls who set out to revolutionize life at a grungy American University. And apparently there are musical numbers.

2. Wuthering Heights (dir: Andrea Arnold) I haven’t seen director Arnold’s breakthrough feature, “Fish Tank” yet but it’s only a Netflix stream away and probably something I’m going to remedy very soon. Her new film is yet another adaptation of Emily Brontë’s classic novel but promises to take an unconventional approach to the classic tale with the film drawing comparisons to the work of Terrence Malick. I was never a fan of costume dramas but group of them recently (“Pride & Prejudice,” “Bright Star,” “Jane Eyre”) have turned me around.

3. Jeff, Who Lives At Home (dir: Mark Duplass, Jay Duplass) Jason Segel and Ed Helms play brothers in the latest comedy from the Duplass brothers. The duo started out as mainstays in no-budget mumblecore movement but started inching towards the mainstream with last year’s Jonah Hill & John C. Reilly dark comedy “Cyrus.” It’s always interesting to see Segel and Helms away from their day jobs since both don’t seem to shy away from darker material.

4. The Awakening (dir: Nick Murphy) I’ll watch Rebecca Hall in just about anything and that will almost definitely include this 1920s set ghost story. The British actress stars as an author who is called to an English boarding school to investigate sightings of a phantom boy and it looks very good. Word from TIFF is that it’ll join “The Others,” “The Orphanage” as another upscale horror film worth getting creeped out over.

5. You’re Next (dir: Adam Wingard) Premiering during the Midnight Madness section of TIFF, this no holds barred indie is on the other end of the horror spectrum. Set at a family reunion that spirals into a night of terror when masked assailants show up and start murdering everyone, the film has drawn comparisons to “Scream” and “Shaun of the Dead” and Wingard looks to be a director to keep an eye on. With any luck FilmLinc will play this next month as part of their Scary Movies series.

6. Sleepless Night (dir: Frédéric Jardin) This French thriller came out of nowhere to earn raves at the fest, critics describing it as “Die Hard meets 24 by way of Taken.” The film involves a cop on a mad chase through Paris facing down corrupt cops and drug dealers to rescue his kidnapped son. It’s the sort of premise that seems primed for an American remake which is why I want to see the French version.

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My TIFF ‘11 Wrap-Up

Since I began this year with my first trip to Sundance I figured it would be only right to settle into Fall with my first trip to the Toronto International Film Festival. Unlike Sundance which is almost entirely unknown quantities, many of the films that premiere at TIFF have big marketing campaigns, movie stars and are just hoping to pickup some extra buzz here on the long road to the Oscars. Granted you can go off the beaten path if you want to as there are hundreds of films here from all around the world, many of which without US distribution, so there are always chances for a real discovery. I managed to see 10 films during my 4 days at the festival and have ranked them here from most to least favorite.

1. Shame (dir: Steve McQueen) Michael Fassbender (Magneto from “X-Men: First Class”) stars as Brandon, a 30-something sex addict in Manhattan in this powerful, dramatic, sure to be controversial character portrait. Read My Full Review

2. Friends With Kids (dir: Jennifer Westfeldt) Writer/director Westfeldt reunites half the cast of “Bridesmaids” (Jon Hamm, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Chris O’Dowd) along with Adam Scott and Megan Fox for this hilarious comedy about two 30-something friends who decide to have a baby. Read My Full Review

3. Moneyball (dir: Bennett Miller) Brad Pitt & Jonah Hill make a great comic team in this solidly entertaining behind-the-scenes baseball movie perfectly geared towards awards season. Read My Full Review

4. The Ides Of March (dir: George Clooney) This behind-the-scenes look at a political campaign is a perfect popcorn movie for adults with a terrific ensemble cast including Ryan Gosling, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Evan Rachel Wood, Marissa Tomei and director Clooney. Read My Full Review

5. The Descendants (dir: Alexander Payne) Payne is back with his first film in 7 years, a Hawaiian-set dramedy about a land baron (George Clooney) who must reconnect with his daughters after his wife suffers a boating accident. Read My Full Review

6. 360 (dir: Fernando Meirelles) “City Of God” director Meirelles directs this series of interweaving vignettes which take a look at lust and love all across the world, starring an international cast led by Jude Law, Rachel Weisz, Anthony Hopkins and Ben Foster. Read My Full Review

7. Restless (dir: Gus Van Sant) “Alice In Wonderland” actress Mia Wasikowska charms in this so-so emo romance which looks to merge the dark comedy of “Harold & Maude” with the tragedy of “Love Story.” Read My Full Review

8. The Skin I Live In (dir: Pedro Almodóvar) Antonio Banderas reunites with his mentor/director Almodóvar after 20 years in this dark, twisted tale of a plastic surgeon out for revenge. Read My Full Review

9. Take This Waltz (dir: Sarah Polley) The normally fantastic Michelle Williams is forced to play a caricature of a philanderer married to Seth Rogen’s honorable husband in this narratively challenged misfire. Read My Full Review

10. Twixt (dir: Francis Ford Coppola) Once masterful director hits rock bottom with this well meaning but completely amateur ghost story starring Val Kilmer as a second rate horror novelist uncovering a mystery in a small town. Read My Full Review

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Most Anticipated Fall Movies ‘11

September is almost here which means (amongst other things) that Summer Movie Season has ended and Fall Movie Season is about to begin. There will be a flood of new movies released between now and the end of the year, many of them Oscar hopefuls and though it seems like awards season just wrapped up, it’s about to begin again in full force starting with the Toronto Film Festival next week. This will be my first trip to TIFF and I will also be attending the New York Film Festival in October (as usual), so I’ll be checking out quite a few films a bit early. Here are the films that I’m most looking forward to for the remainder of 2011.

1. THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (Dec 21) Anyone who’s been in a theatre while this trailer played knows exactly why it’s at the top of this list. The propulsive, wordless teaser for David Fincher’s latest is all sound and fury and is nearly impossible to watch without getting the chills. While it doesn’t explain much of the story, about a journalist (Daniel Craig) aided by a goth punk computer hacker (Rooney Mara) in search of a missing woman, it’s hard to imagine anyone watching it without thinking, “I have to see this. Right. Away.”

2. TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY (Dec 9) From the director of the Swedish vampire coming-of-age tale (and one of the best horror films of the past decade) “Let The Right One In” comes this adaptation of the John Le Carre espionage thriller set during the Cold War with the most impressive British cast this side of a Harry Potter film including Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, John Hurt, Mark Strong and more. The trailers for the film have been all atmosphere and intrigue and that’s enough to get me to the theatre opening day.

3. THE MUPPETS (Nov 23) After Jim Henson passed away, the Muppets seemed to lose their magic for a decade or two, so credit “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” co-writers Jason Segel and Nicolas Stoller for reviving the excitement again around these characters. The excellent, witty trailers should have both kids and nostalgia-prone adults both eagerly anticipating this one. “Flight of the Conchords” director James Bobin rounds up a cast including Segel, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper and a ton of cameos but all you really need to know is that Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo and Animal will all be there, too.

4. THE DESCENDANTS (Nov 23) It’s been 7 years since writer/director Alexander Payne released his last film; only a year less time than it took him to release his first 4 films “Citizen Ruth,” “Election,” “About Schmidt” and “Sideways” which made him one of the most promising filmmakers to come out of the late 90s/early 00s. Well after a hiatus Payne is back with his latest dramedy with George Clooney as a man trying to reconnect with his two daughters after his wife suffers a boating accident. It’s also playing TIFF and NYFF so expect it to be a major awards contender.

5. WE BOUGHT A ZOO (Dec 23) Speaking of hiatuses, it’s also been 7 years since the world has seen a Cameron Crowe film. The writer/director behind classics like “Say Anything,” “Jerry Maguire” and “Almost Famous” hit a snag with his last effort “Elizabethtown,” which ironically was about a man dealing with a colossal failure in his career. His comeback effort is based on the bestselling non-fiction book about a father (Matt Damon) who moves his family to the countryside to re-open a struggling zoo. If this isn’t enough to get his career back on track, the notorious music fan also has the doc “Pearl Jam Twenty” out in September.