General Discussion : Halfway point 2011

[SirStuckey]

1. Midnight in Paris
2. Super 8
3. Kung Fu Panda 2
4. Bridesmaids
5. X-Men: First Class
6. Conan O'Brien Can't Stop
7. Cedar Rapids
8. Paul
9. Rango
10. Thor

Movies I haven't seen that seem most likely to be Top 10: Hobo with a Shotgun, Hanna, The Adjustment Bureau, Source Code, Beginners, The Trip

A very mediocre year for me. Only the top 3 films so far could potentially get into the top 10s of other years. I don't even have many I'm really looking forward to.

[ShogunRua]

1. Midnight in Paris
2. Super 8
3. Kung Fu Panda 3
4. Bridesmaids
5. X-Men: First Class
6. Conan O'Brien Can't Stop
7. Cedar Rapids
8. Paul
9. Rango
10. Thor

If Midnight in Paris is the absolute best among that list, I think I can very calmly skip 2-10, heh...

[SirStuckey]

If Midnight in Paris is the absolute best among that list, I think I can very calmly skip 2-10, heh...

I am a huge Woody Allen fan if that makes any difference.

This is definitely a very netflixy year. You could wait until late 2011 or 2012 and then add all these movies to your Queue and you wouldn't feel like you blew it by not seeing it them in the theater.

[Stewball]

9*
The Way Back
The Eagle
The Adjustment Bureau
Limitless
Henry’s Crime
Midnight in Paris
The Tree of Life

8*
Win Win
Sucker Punch
Born to be Wild
Hesher

Sucker Punch was a sleeper that slipped in under the radar. Like the best animated movies are aimed at both children and adults, so here older teens (in us) and adults. There's an excellent sub-plot underlying the action/fx, dragons and other monsters, and both combine to create a highly stylish movie with an excellent use of music. I just re-watched it when the DVD came out last week and I liked it even better the second time. I think it's going to end up high on my re-watchable list.

I'm not a fan of either Woody Allen or Owen Wilson, but I loved Midnight in Paris.

The Tree of Life is about using the Old Testament, among other things, to expose organized religions' greatest flaw--that none of them over the centuries have been able to answer the question "Why?" The point is all laid out in the title, the opening quote from Job, the narration and the fantastic and innovative visuals.

Hesher is a trip and great vehicle for Joseph Gordon-Levett who is proving to be a major talent for me.

The blockbuster fare for the Summer so far, is turning out to be a wasteland for the most part with all the formulaic, sequelized action to the what were they thinking Larry Crowne. I could see it coming from miles away in the previews, but was still aghast at how far Pixar fell with Cars 2. I could save Hollywood a lot of money if they'd just take advantage of my consultation services for a modest fee. But then they'd have missed all that money with Transformers 3, 4, whatever.

[Anomaly1]

T10
The Tree of Life
T7
Super 8
T5
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
T4
Sucker Punch

Yup, that's it so far. Not much so far has been that appealing, and what I have missed can probably wait until video on demand. Looking at the release dates, the second half of the year look to have a more interesting collection of films than the first half.

[Scottathon]

I haven't seen any 2011 films yet, but here are ten that are probably my favourites seen this year so far.

Boyfriends and Girlfriends (1987, Eric Rohmer)
Remember the Night (1940, Mitchell Leisen)
Bob & Ted & Carol & Alice (1969, Paul Mazursky)
Late Spring (1949, Yasujiro Ozu)
Johnny Guitar (1954, Nicholas Ray)
Certified Copy (2010, Abbas Kiarostami)
The Wayward Cloud (2005, Tsai Ming-liang)
All That Heaven Allows (1955, Douglas Sirk)
Black Swan (2010, Darren Aronofsky)
El (1953, Luis Bunuel)

[Gregzilla]

By this time last year I had seen The Ghost Writer and Shutter Island. This year I've seen Midnight in Paris and The Tree of Life.

Liked Midnight in Paris (not an Allen fan), Kind of indifferent to The Tree of Life (Didn't really dig it all that much). So so far last year has been better.

By the end of this month I'll Probaby have seen Super 8. But by the end of July last year, I had seen Inception. Edge 2010.

[Stewball]

T4
Sucker Punch

[SirStuckey]

Sucker Punch was a sleeper that slipped in under the radar. Like the best animated movies are aimed at both children and adults, so here older teens (in us) and adults. There's an excellent sub-plot underlying the action/fx, dragons and other monsters, and both combine to create a highly stylish movie with an excellent use of music. I just re-watched it when the DVD came out last week and I liked it even better the second time. I think it's going to end up high on my re-watchable list.

I liked Sucker Punch, but it seems we are in the vast minority. It was the trendy movie to hate there for awhile.

[Stewball]

I liked Sucker Punch, but it seems we are in the vast minority. It was the trendy movie to hate there for awhile.

Yeah, I can't even lay it at the feet of poor marketing like I'm often able to do in such a case. I mean it wasn't great, but it was there and appropriate I thought. I'm still working on a patent for the black art of trends and herd mentality. I've got a couple of promising leads on initiating stampedes (to AND from) , and if that clicks, I'll be rolling in golden calves, and moving "tastes" in movies in the proper direction.