Top 10 List for 2011

Posted on December 28, 2011 at 6:02 pm

There were more sequels and remakes released in 2011 than ever before, but that wasn’t the only reason for feeling a sense of deja vu over the past 12 months. This year we had two films with almost identical plots about a couple who decide to to have a relationship that is just sex, no emotion. Spoiler alert: in both “Friends with Benefits” and “No Strings Attached” they end up falling in love. We had two films about sad little boys who lost their fathers trying to solve a mystery involving a key. Both were based on acclaimed novels and both were excellent: “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” and “Hugo.” We had two films about the parents of teenage boys who shot and killed students in their high schools. I preferred “Beautiful Boy” with Michael Sheen and Maria Bello but most of the critics liked “We Need to Talk About Kevin” with John C. Reilly and Tilda Swinton. And we had six films featuring superb and very different performances from an actress who was unknown in 2010, Jessica Chastain. Michael Fassbender, who made an impression as a British officer in Inglourious Basterds, had a stunning array of roles this year in “Jane Eyre,” “X-Men: First Class,” “Shame,” and “A Dangerous Method.”

But, as there are every year, there are movies so fresh and surprising that they seem to re-invent the very idea of movies. I begin each year looking forward to what’s ahead but most of all looking forward to knowing that 365 days later there will be people and images and dialog and ideas so vital and engaging I can hardly remember what it was like before I knew them. I would not have expected Woody Allen’s new movie to be surprisingly good or Pixar’s and Michel Gondry’s would be disappointing. It was good to know that Alexander Payne and Martin Scorsese can still be relied on. I had high hopes that were met or exceeded for films like “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” and “Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol.” For the first time, four master film-makers worked in 3D. Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Werner Herzog, and Wim Wenders showed us that a gifted filmmaker can make 3D into more than a stunt — they used it as another way to enhance the story. And if you had told me that my top 10 list this year would be led by movie that was not only black and white but silent, I would have looked around for a time machine.

Here’s my tribute to the best of 2011, all close to being tied for first place. And I’m already looking forward to being surprised by the movies in 2012.

1. “The Artist” While Hollywood was abandoning a century of film to move to digital filmmaking, French writer/director Michel Hazanavicius took us back to another time of technological change. It recalled themes in classic films “Singin’ in the Rain” and “A Star is Born” with such affection, charm, and heart that it left us asking why we ever thought sound and color were anything but superfluous.

2. “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” A boy who loses his father in 9/11 looks for answers in this touching story based on the book by Jonathan Safran Foer. Viola Davis and Max von Sydow are heartbreaking as two of the people he meets on his search.

3. “Hugo” Another fatherless boy and other search involving a key — Martin Scorsese’s first 3D movie and first movie for families is an immersive, rapturous valentine to the movies.

4. “Beginners” Christopher Plummer plays a man who comes out at age 72 and Ewan McGregor plays his son in this wry, wise story based on writer/director Mike Mills’ own life.

5. “Win Win” Tom McCarthy (“The Station Agent”) wrote and directed this story of a struggling lawyer who takes advantage of a client with dementia and ends up taking care of the client’s grandson, a gifted wrestler.

6. “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” The Chauvet cave has paintings of astonishing skill and beauty made by humans 30,000 years ago, but so fragile that the only way for us to see them now is in this 3D documentary from Werner Herzog.

7. “Super 8” Writer/director J.J. Abrams pays tribute to his mentor, producer Steven Spielberg, with the third film on my list that is a love letter to the movies. In the 1970’s, a group of middle schoolers make a zombie movie on Super 8 film and accidentally get footage of a mysterious train crash. While they wait for the film to be developed, they investigate.

8. “Margin Call” It all takes place on one tense night when an enormous Wall Street firm learns that it has massively underestimated its risk and then schemes to transfer that risk to their clients. An all-star cast led by Kevin Spacey and Jeremy Irons and a script by first-time director J.C. Chandor keeps this specific enough to be real and timely but the dynamics are universal.

9. “Moneyball” Brad Pitt is brilliant as Billy Beane, who turned around the Oakland A’s and transformed baseball by using the team’s scarce resources to buy wins, not players.

10. “The Adjustment Bureau”/”Source Code” We were lucky to have two smart and very romantic thrillers this year, with Matt Damon as a politician drawn to a dancer despite the best efforts of mysterious men in hats who “adjust” circumstances and Jake Gyllenhaal as a military officer sent back in time to catch a bomber.

Runners-up: “Tree of Life,” “The Descendants,” “The Help,” “50/50,” “The Muppets,” “The Other F Word,” “Into the Abyss,” “Rango,” “Drive,” “Cedar Rapids,” “Hanna,” “We Bought a Zoo,” “Jane Eyre,” “Midnight in Paris,” “Bridesmaids,” “Another Earth”

Coming soon….the top 10 family films of the year and my Hall of Shame. Stay tuned.

Now I Am Getting Excited About ‘Avatar 2’

Posted on December 22, 2011 at 3:57 pm

I just read something that made me very excited about James Cameron’s upcoming sequel to “Avatar.” The first one was a leap forward in technology of 3D and motion capture (now often called “performance capture” to emphasize the contribution of the actors). And now Cameron is making what I think of as an even bigger technological leap forward with the announcement that he is going to increase the frames-per-second (fps) rate. Ever since the movies went from silent to sound, the standard has been 24 fps. Interestingly, “The Artist,” this year’s silent, black-and-white release, was shot at a 22 fps rate, prevalent in the pre-sound era. The only reason film-making has been stuck at 24 fps is that all the cameras and projectors are set up that way. But increasing the fps makes the film images stunningly sharper, deeper, and richer. Cameron has said he will shot “Avatar 2” at 48 and possibly even 60 fps, and Peter Jackson is shooting “The Hobbit” at 48 fps. This is a much more significant improvement than 3D, especially post-production 3D, which has just been announced for “The Avengers.”

As home technology improves, with HD, bigger screens, and better sound, it is increasingly important for movie theaters to find ways to stay competitive. If these films, certain to be blockbusters, can inspire more theaters to install projectors capable of giving ticket-buyers the 48- and 60-fps experience, they will raise the standard for all movies going forward.

Spoiler Alert: What This Week’s Two Big Action Blockbusters Have In Common

Posted on December 15, 2011 at 5:37 pm

Just in time for the holidays, two huge Hollywood action films are arriving in theaters. One is set in Victorian times and one in present-day. But they have more in common than mysteries, chases, explosions, trains, and meaningless after-the-colon titles. They both star actors from the superb Swedish “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” series, just as the American remake with Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara is about to open next week. In “Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol” Michael Nyqvist plays a brilliant scientist after some nuclear launch codes. In “Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows,” Noomi Rapace plays a gypsy looking for her missing brother.

The movies have something else in common — a remarkable similarity in the aspirations of the villains. They may be a century apart but their outlook and their dastardly plans are very similar. I don’t think it’s a coincidence but I don’t think there was any copying involved. I think both are a reflection of current concerns about world affairs while general enough to be fun-scary, not scary-scary. When you see them, let me know what you think!

Lowe’s Public Relations Mess over “All-American Muslim”

Posted on December 12, 2011 at 11:31 am

“All-American Muslim” is a TLC reality show about five Muslim families in Dearborn, Michigan. According to TLC, “Each episode offers an intimate look at the customs and celebrations, misconceptions and conflicts these families face outside and within their own community.” The hardware and home improvement chain Lowe’s, one of the advertisers originally supporting the show, has cancelled its commercials because after the Florida Family Association complained, saying the program is “propaganda that riskily hides the Islamic agenda’s clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values.” They are urging all advertisers to drop their affiliation with the series.

My friend Christian Toto thoughtfully reviewed “All-American Muslim” for the conservative website Big Hollywood and did not find what the FFA charged:

At times, the show feels like an extended public relations video for hardworking Muslims to show their fellow citizens they have nothing to fear. But “All-American Muslim” is honest enough about some less flattering components of the Islamic faith to keep our respect. And watching an Irish-Catholic family merge peacefully with a Muslim clan reminds us our differences truly can make us stronger – no more how treacly that might sound.

What’s more, “Muslim” makes the case that American culture can have a positive effect on a religion which has festered in some repressive societies. The families of “All-American Muslim” have incorporated the best of their own religion with their American roots.

In responding to the shrill attack from a small group of activists to try to avoid controversy, Lowe’s has only made it worse. A state senator from California has called for them to apologize for what he calls “naked religious bigotry.” Music executive, social activist, founder of a center for inter-racial and interfaith harmony (and brother of a pastor) Russell Simmons has said, “this is the kind of hate that tears this country apart.”

Lowe’s response: “Individuals and groups have strong political and societal views on this topic, and this program became a lightning rod for many of those views,” the statement said. “As a result we did pull our advertising on this program. We believe it is best to respectfully defer to communities, individuals and groups to discuss and consider such issues of importance.”

As a Muslim poster wrote on Facebook, even Muslims who did not care for the show will watch it now. In attempting to silence the program, the FFA has only generated more interest and support for it. In attempting to appease one group of extremists, Lowe’s has infuriated a broader group and found itself better known at this moment for the controversy than for its products and services. A shame that all of this was generated from a television program intended to promote tolerance and understanding.

The TV Preferences of Republicans and Democrats

Posted on December 11, 2011 at 3:43 pm

Entertainment Weekly commissioned a study showing political differences in television-watching and they are so pronounced it provides some explanation of the increasing polarization and partisanship of our political conversations. In the early days of television, Marshall McLuhan famously called it the “Global Village.” With so few choices available to watch, we all saw the same programs and that created a common framework and vocabulary, whether it was “The Ed Sullivan Show” or “I Love Lucy. But the range of choices has led to such disparity in our sources of information and entertainment that television now separates us more than it brings us together. EW asked people who described themselves as “liberal Democrats” or “conservative Republicans” to list the television programs they liked and didn’t like, so the results are intentionally focused on the extremes, and the survey excluded news, sports, and music.

Are you surprised by any of these?

Liberal Democrats like “The Daily Show” and “Masterpiece” and generally picked comedies, highly verbal shows like “30 Rock,” “The Office,” “Modern Family” and “Saturday Night Live” more than the conservative Republicans. They don’t like “Dog the Bounty Hunter” and “Cops.”

Conservative Republicans like “Castle,” Jay Leno, and cable reality shows like “Swamp Loggers” (one of the liberal Democrats’ least favorites). They don’t like anti-hero shows like “Weeds” and “Dexter” and left-leaning political comedy shows like “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report.”

Encouragingly, if a little predictably, both sides like “The Middle.”

Less encouragingly, this data will be used to determine where political advertising dollars are spent, which promotes even less overlap in world view and understanding between the extremes on both sides.