I started this all the way back in January but never finished it and so it has remained in my draft file since then. i don’t really have an intention of finishing it now, 2011 being so long ago, but hopefully in January next year I’ll have a little it more motivation to do a proper review of the year in movies.

Also, a couple of the films in my hadn’t seen yet group I have actually seen now (Midnight in Paris and Shame) and i thought they were both brilliant in completely different ways.

Movies in 2011

This time next year, perhaps a few days earlier, I intend on uploading some kind of post detailing my 12 favourite movies of the year. I’ve always wanted to so something of the sort and more often than not over my 28 years in this world I watch a shed load of movies over each 365 day period.

I told a friend of mine about this idea a few days ago, when I still intended to do the same thing for the year just past, and he told me he thought it was a great idea. He suggested, for 2011, I list my worst 20 movies and my best 11 of the year. I told him I though that was a great idea.Unfortunately we had this conversation in the car on the way North for a week of serious misbehaving and, up until now I had completely forgotten the idea.

Oh well, these things happen and, considering I didn’t watch nearly as many movies – good and bad – in 2011 as I would have liked, well maybe that’s for the best.

With all of that said I did see some films over the last 12 months and here is a brief rundown of what I thought of a few of them:

The one that almost felt like a great film but didn’t quite get there:

Moneyball

I liked this film but I didn’t love it. The writing was pretty sharp but maybe not quite as sharp as previous Sorkin stuff. The performances were a touch above average although nowhere near career best. The direction, particularly the pacing, was a little flat and I didn’t quite feel the highs and lows as I feel I should with a great film. I’d call this a classic 3 1/2 star film. Just good enough to get some awards nods but not to win anything.

The one that probably shouldn’t have worked but did:

Warrior

It’s funny, Warrior is another film I’d rate 3 1/2 out of 5 but the way I talk about it when compared to Moneyball, you would get the impression I enjoyed it a lot more. What I’ll say about Warrior is this, despite the cliches and formulaic storytelling it did have me hooked. Despite myself, I did care about the outcome and I’m going to give most of the credit to Joel Edgerton and Tom Hardy for this.

The one that people were always going to love or hate:

Drive

Drive was almost my favorite movie of the year. I loved the style more than anything else. Ryan Gosling is obviously extremely talented and very good looking and I’m pretty sure he can excel in any style film. Albert Brooks was perfect as the subdued psychopath and I again fell in love with Carey Mulligan. The early electro inspired soundtrack was the icing on the cake

The one that I thought didn’t get it’s due.

The Ides of March

My man Gosling again. This film didn’t deliver exactly what I expected but I found it gripping and relevant. I enjoyed the chemistry between Gosling and Evan Rachel-Wood the most and even though it focused more on personal politics and melodrama more than big picture politics, as I was expecting, I thought it was an entertaining and rewarding watch.

The one that was a lot better than everyone (me included) reasonably expected.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

How this one ended up being so good I have no idea. Maybe the lowered expectations helped – the last Planet of the Apes film was dire – or maybe it just benefited from a well judged, thought provoking script. James Franco was very good, as were Frieda Pinto and John Lithgow, but it was definitely Andy Serkis and the boys and girls of WETA Digital’s show and they got the performance capture stuff just right. Some good action sequences too.

The ones I didn’t see yet but have every intention of catching very soon:

Tree of Life; Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy; Midnight in Paris; Melancholia; Shame; Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.