Monthly Archives: December 2011
Cinema Fanatic’s Favorite Fifteen Films of 2011
While, for me, 2011 was not as a great a year in cinema as 2009 (many of the films I loved from that year I didn’t get to see until Jan of 2010, but still), I found myself loving more films this year than I did last year. In fact, you may notice that although I claim this is a list of fifteen films, it in fact contains sixteen films. There is one tie and I will explain my choice when I get to it. Last year before the year ended I managed to watch 53 new releases; this year I saw 57 (which is kind of pitifully low when you consider how many new-to-me films I saw this year; but that’s neither here nor there and you have to wait until tomorrow to read about that cinematic odyssey). I want to point out that my top five films have not changed since October, but the ten (eleven) that follow have been shifted and adjusted many, many times since then. Probably when I rewatch those films late on this list might still evolve some. I also want to mention that there were at least two films that I wanted to see before the end of the year that I was not able to see (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn); as always, there is no way to know whether those films would have even made the list had I seen them, but I wanted to point out that I’ve yet to see them so that comments of “where is ***?!” didn’t ensue. Okay, enough chatter, on to the list.
Movie Quote of the Day – 200 Cigarettes, 1999 (dir. Risa Bramon Garcia)
Lucy: You need to find somebody that likes you the way you are.
Kevin: And who would possibly like me the way I am?
Lucy: I have no idea.
Movie Quote of the Day – Mean Streets, 1973 (dir. Martin Scorsese)
Johnny Boy: Hey Mikey, you’re really something, you know that? What’s the matter? You too good for this ten dollars? You too good for it? It’s a good ten dollars. You know something, Mikey, you make me laugh, you know that? You know, I borrow money all over this neighborhood, left and right from everybody, I never pay them back. So, I can’t borrow no money from nobody no more, right? So who does that leave me to borrow money from but you? I borrow money from you, because you’re the only jerk-off around here who I can borrow money from without payin’ back, right? Right? You know, ’cause that’s what you are, that’s what I think of you: a jerk-off. You’re smiling, right, because you’re a jerk-off! You’re a fucking jerk-off. I’ll tell ‘ya something else, Mikey, [lights ten-dollar bill on fire] I fuck you right where you breath, because I don’t give two shits about you or nobody else.
“Hugo” Named Best Picture, Nicolas Winding Refn Best Director By Austin Film Critics
Best Film
Hugo, directed by Martin Scoresese
Best Foreign Language Film
I Saw the Devil, South Korea, directed by Jee-woon Kim
Best Director
Nicolas Winding Refn, Drive
Best Actor
Michael Shannon, Take Shelter
Best Actress
Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin
Best Supporting Actor
Albert Brooks, Drive
Best Supporting Actress
Jessica Chastain, Take Shelter
Best Original Screenplay
Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen
Best Adapted Screenplay
Drive, Hossein Amini
Best Cinematography
The Tree of Life, Emmanuel Lubezki
Best Original Score
Attack the Block, Steven Price
Best Documentary
Senna, directed by Asif Kapadia
Best Animated Feature
Rango, directed by Gore Verbinski
Robert R. “Bobby” McCurdy Memorial Breakthrough Artist Award
Jessica Chastain, Take Shelter/The Tree of Life/The Help/The Debt/Coriolanus/Texas Killing Fields
Best First Film
Attack the Block, directed by Joe Cornish
Austin Film Award
Take Shelter, directed by Jeff Nichols
Movie Quote of the Day – Norma Rae, 1979 (dir. Martin Ritt)
Norma Rae: I’m staying put! Right where I am! It’s gonna take you, and the police department, and the fire department, and the National Guard to get me outta here! I’m waitin’ for the sheriff to come and take me home! And I ain’t gonna budge till he gets here!
Movie Quote of the Day – Down With Love, 2003 (dir. Peyton Reed)
Catcher Block: You said she was a spinster.
Peter MacMannus: I’ve never used the word “spinster” in my life. Okay, once, when I told my mother it was technically incorrect to call her son a spinster.
Movie Quote of the Day – The Virgin Suicides, 1999 (dir. Sofia Coppola)
Doctor: What are you doing here, honey? You’re not even old enough to know how bad life gets.
Cecilia: Obviously, Doctor, you’ve never been a 13-year-old girl.
Movie Quote of the Day – The Bishop’s Wife, 1947 (dir. Henry Koster)
Dudley: The only people who grow old were born old to begin with.
“The Tree of Life” Leads 15th Annual Online Film Critics Society Awards Nominations
Best Picture:
The Artist
The Descendants
Drive
Hugo
The Tree of Life
Best Animated Feature:
The Adventures of Tintin
Arthur Christmas
Kung Fu Panda 2
Rango
Winnie the Pooh
Best Director:
Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
Terrence Malick – The Tree of Life
Nicolas Winding Refn – Drive
Martin Scorsese – Hugo
Lars von Trier – Melancholia
Best Lead Actor:
George Clooney – The Descendants
Jean Dujardin – The Artist
Michael Fassbender – Shame
Gary Oldman – Tinker Tailor Solider Spy
Michael Shannon – Take Shelter
Best Lead Actress:
Kirsten Dunst – Melancholia
Elizabeth Olsen – Martha Marcy May Marlene
Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady
Tilda Swinton – We Need to Talk About Kevin
Michelle Williams – My Week with Marilyn
Best Supporting Actor:
Albert Brooks – Drive
John Hawkes – Martha Marcy May Marlene
Nick Nolte – Warrior
Brad Pitt – The Tree of Life
Christopher Plummer – Beginners
Best Supporting Actress:
Jessica Chastain – The Tree of Life
Melissa McCarthy – Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer – Albert Nobbs
Carey Mulligan – Shame
Shailene Woodley – The Descendants
Best Original Screenplay:
Martha Marcy May Marlene
Midnight in Paris
A Separation
The Tree of Life
Win Win
Best Adapted Screenplay:
The Descendants
Drive
Moneyball
Tinker Tailor Solider Spy
We Need to Talk About Kevin
Best Editing:
Drive
Martha Marcy May Marlene
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
The Tree of Life
We Need to Talk About Kevin
Best Cinematography:
The Artist
Drive
Hugo
Melancholia
The Tree of Life
Best Film Not in the English Language:
13 Assassins
Certified Copy
A Separation
The Skin I Live In
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
Best Documentary:
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
The Interrupters
Into the Abyss
Project Nim
Tabloid
Special Awards
To Jessica Chastain, the breakout performer of the year
To Martin Scorsese in honor of his work and dedication to the pursuit of film preservation
Winners will be announced on Monday, January 2, 2012
[source]
Movie Quote of the Day – A Christmas Story, 1983 (dir. Bob Clark)
Ralphie: No! No! I want an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle!
Santa Claus: You’ll shoot your eye out, kid.
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