Blog Archives
Movie Quote of the Day – Take Shelter, 2011 (dir. Jeff Nichols)
Curtis: God damn it! You think I’m crazy? Huh? Is that what he told you? Well, listen up! There is a storm coming like nothing you have ever seen! And not a one of you is prepared for it! You think I’m crazy? Hey, I’m talking to you, Russell! Huh? Lewis! You think I’m a thief? Sleep well in your beds. Because if this thing comes true, there ain’t gonna be any more.
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.
“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
San Diego Film Critics Like “The Artist,” Michael Shannon
BEST FILM
THE ARTIST
DRIVE
HUGO
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
THE TREE OF LIFE
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
LE QUATTRO VOLTE
A SOMEWHAT GENTLE MAN
HAPPY HAPPY
OF GODS AND MEN
THE DOUBLE HOUR
BEST DIRECTOR
Nicolas Winding Refn, DRIVE
Martin Scorsese, HUGO
Michel Hazanavicius, THE ARTIST
Terrence Malick, THE TREE OF LIFE
Woody Allen, MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
BEST ACTRESS
Brit Marling, ANOTHER EARTH
Elizabeth Olsen, MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE
Michelle Williams, MY WEEK WITH MARILYN
Tilda Swinton, WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN
Viola Davis, THE HELP
BEST ACTOR
Michael Shannon, TAKE SHELTER
Brad Pitt, MONEYBALL
Brendan Gleeson, THE GUARD
George Clooney, THE DESCENDANTS
Jean Dujardin, THE ARTIST
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Shailene Woodley, THE DESCENDANTS
Bérénice Bejo, THE ARTIST
Carey Mulligan, SHAME
Jessica Chastain, THE HELP
Mélanie Laurent, BEGINNERS
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Nick Nolte, WARRIOR
Albert Brooks, DRIVE
Andy Serkis, RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
Christopher Plummer, BEGINNERS
Max von Sydow, EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Woody Allen, MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
Michel Hazanavicius, THE ARTIST
Mike Mills, BEGINNERS
Thomas McCarthy, WIN WIN
Will Reiser, 50/50
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, MONEYBALL
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, THE DESCENDANTS
Hossein Amini, DRIVE
John Logan, HUGO
Steve Kloves, HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2
BEST DOCUMENTARY
PROJECT NIM
BUCK
CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS
INTO THE ABYSS
PAGE ONE: INSIDE THE NEW YORK TIMES
BEST ANIMATED FILM
ARTHUR CHRISTMAS
HAPPY FEET TWO
KUNG FU PANDA 2
RANGO
WINNIE THE POOH
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Emmanuel Lubezki, THE TREE OF LIFE
Adam Stone, TAKE SHELTER
Guillaume Schiffman, THE ARTIST
Newton Thomas Sigel, DRIVE
Robert Richardson, HUGO
BEST EDITING
Oliver Bugge Coutté, BEGINNERS
Anne-Sophie Bion & Michel Hazanavicius, THE ARTIST
Hank Corwin, Jay Rabinowitz, Daniel Rezende, Billy Weber, & Mark Yoshikawa, THE TREE OF LIFE
Mat Newman, DRIVE
Thelma Schoonmaker, HUGO
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Dante Ferretti, HUGO
Anne Seibel, MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
Jack Fisk, THE TREE OF LIFE
Laurence Bennett, THE ARTIST
Stuart Craig, HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2
BEST SCORE
Alexandre Desplat, HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2
Alexandre Desplat, EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE
Alexandre Desplat, THE TREE OF LIFE
Howard Shore, HUGO
Ludovic Bource, THE ARTIST
BEST ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2
CARNAGE
MARGIN CALL
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
THE HELP
BODY OF WORK FOR 2011
Jessica Chastain
KYLE COUNTS AWARD
Lee Ann Kim, San Diego Asian Film Foundation
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Shorts, Documentaries and Horror, Oh My! October 2011 in Film
This was a great month of films for me. I saw all kinds of fantastic films, including several 2011 releases (and one 2011 release that was just awful). As usual, I also saw several really great classics on the big screen at the Castro (Brighton Rock, The Third Man, Dinner At 8, Libeled Lady, the Moroder version of Metropolis, The Red Shoes and Black Narcissus). I also went to the Roxie theater for the first time this month. This Saturday Midnites for Maniacs did a triple feature of Laura, the Twin Peaks pilot and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. I did an interview with Jesse Hawthorne Ficks, who runs Midnites for Maniacs, over at YAM Magazine. You might notice I also watched a lot of short films this month. This was mostly due to a class I am taking that requires us to watch three to five shorts a week outside of class and then often we watch one or two in class. I really recommend you watch Validation if you’ve got about 17 minutes to spare. It is fantastic. As always, full list of films after the cut.
the diary of a film history fanatic 