Best of Best Picture 2011
By Tom Houseman
February 21, 2011
BoxOfficeProphets.com
So maybe it's not them, but me. I'm known for having movie tastes that run counter to the mainstream, and while my top ten list this year had some unconventional choices — such as foreign dark comedies Four Lions and Terribly Happy — it also included some movies that were embraced by critics, audiences, and the Academy. Of course, maybe it isn't me or them, but rather the film industry itself. A group of filmmakers just happened to make a handful of movies that pleased the Academy while simultaneously earning my appreciation. Before this year, the only Danny Boyle movie that did well at the Oscars was my least favorite film of his career, and the Coen brothers are very hit-and-miss both with me and the Academy, and rarely do they hit both me and them with the same film. This year was the exception.
Of course, having this many great movies nominated for Best Picture makes it much harder for me to rank the nominees from best to worst. The fact that there are five great Best Picture nominees, three genuinely good ones, one pretty good one, and one that was kind of okay, is remarkable considering that last year The Blind Side, as awful as it was, managed not to be the worst nominee of the year (that's right, I hated Avatar even more than The Blind Side). So ranking the 2011 Best Picture nominees was an arduous task, and when push came to shove, I called “uncle” and cheated:
1, 2, and 3: Black Swan, Inception, and The Social Network
I know, I know, it doesn't really count if I lump all three of them at the top, but you have to give me some credit here. When was the last time the studio system produced three such unique and superb films in the span of six months? All three films are essentially perfect, in that they are extremely ambitious, have a clear style and tone they are attempting to create, and are flawlessly executed. From writing to acting to cinematography to sound design to score, I would be hard-pressed to point out anything wrong with any of these films, and after that it's really just a matter of opinion. If you put a gun to my head and force me to put them in order, I would first suggest you question your priorities in life, and then put them in the order I listed above. Let's just say I did it because Natalie Portman is hotter than Leo Dicaprio, who is hotter than Jesse Eisenberg.
What I most love about this trio of films (sidenote: I still claim that the best film of the year is Exit Through the Gift Shop) is how differently the filmmakers approach the world of the film. In Inception, Nolan literally creates a world — several, in fact — and the purpose of the film is to envelope the audience in that world. This is done quite effectively, as you really feel like you are entering the dream world of whoever's head you happen to be in. Sorkin and Fincher take a very different approach, as The Social Network is the most story-centric of the three. The entire time I was watching it, I felt like I was being led, as if I was a donkey and Mark Zuckerberg a delicious carrot. Sorkin and Fincher were always a few steps ahead of me, and I was always excited to catch up. Black Swan, by contrast, glues you to your seat as it seems that Aronofsky and writers Heyman, Heinz and McLaughlin are attacking you. Black Swan is difficult to watch not just because of what we are seeing, but because of how viscerally and starkly it is shown to us. Even the sound design, which is at times deafening, adds to this effect.
So there you have it, three outstanding cinematic experiences, any of which I would be happy to see win the Oscar. Everything else is just a runner-up in my book, which is not to slight the other nominees, as some of them are very good. But none of them come close to achieving the level of these three.
4. 127 Hours
If I were to make a list of the most brilliant and visionary directors of the last decade, Danny Boyle would be second on the list only to Darren Aronofsky. Despite not being a writer, Boyle is truly an auteur in that he imprints all of his films with the same gorgeous and slick style. If you don't like his form of visual panache, you won't like Boyle (and I have friends who hate Boyle) but there is no denying that the man is a gifted story teller. 127 Hours has the smallest scope of any of his films, focusing almost entirely on a single character in a single location, and yet it is utterly gripping, a compelling and at times disturbing film. Boyle drives this film, but James Franco anchors it, giving a remarkable performance that is simultaneously full of fear and bravery. 127 Hours is, if nothing else, an unforgettable experience.
5. True Grit
I am not the biggest fan of the Coen brothers, and in fact their two most acclaimed films — Fargo and No Country for Old Men — are my two least favorite in their oeuvre. But this dark Western with comedic undertones was really something special. The performances are really what elevate this film, as this is the film Jeff Bridges should have won his Oscar for (can we flip so that Firth won last year for A Single Man and Bridges wins this year? Because that makes more sense) as a larger-than-life but still very human alcoholic gunslinger. The glint in his eyes — or should I say, his eye! — is full of menace, but also betrays the emotions he is wrestling inside. The fact that Hailee Steinfeld matches him in intensity scene for scene is astonishing, and she takes what could have been a one-note role and makes it one of the more memorable of the film.
6. The Fighter
There are two kinds of great sports films: the truly breathtaking, exceptional ones, like Raging Bull, The Wrestler, and Seabiscuit, and the ones that are thoroughly enjoyable and moving, but that you wouldn't classify as great. Rudy, Remember the Titans, Hoosiers and Miracle are classics in their own right, but only as sports films, and shouldn't be considered part of the pantheon of great cinema. The Fighter belongs in the upper echelon of that second category. It features some outstanding performances (Melissa Leo gives what is quite possibly the performance of the year) but otherwise is a standard drama with entertaining boxing scenes. Mark Wahlberg is at his most Mark Wahlbergy, Christian Bale is brilliant and creepily thin (his standard when he isn't Batman) and David O. Russell seems to have toned down the crazy, which is disappointing, as this his most ordinary, and least memorable film.
7. The King's Speech
If there was ever a film that was made on the backs of its actors, it was The King's Speech. The story is an interesting one, the script is pretty good, and Tom Hooper does a commendable (but not close to award worthy) job of pulling everything together and keeping the film from dragging too much, but... I mean, Colin Firth owns this movie. As in put the down payment on it and paid it off in installments owns it. Without his gripping, inspiring performance this movie isn't worth the scraps of celluloid left on the cutting room floor. Yes, it's pretty to look at, and Alexandre Desplat rattled off another beautiful score, but... Geoffrey Rush! And Colin Firth! Together! Being awesome!
8. Toy Story 3
It might be considered blasphemy to say this, especially on this site, but I'm not a big fan of Pixar. Beyond WALL-E and the original Toy Story, none of their films are great, and a couple of them are downright average. Toy Story 3 is thoroughly entertaining, with some memorable moments and really funny sequences, but it's nothing special. In fact, it feels very much like it is simply retreading the territory already traveled by the first two films in the series, just in a different setting. Considering that the next Pixar film is a sequel to the absolute worst movie in their canon, I'm starting to question if they are starting to run out of ideas. Is Toy Story 3 fun for the whole family? Absolutely. Is it one of the best pictures of the year? Not even close.
9. Winter's Bone
I'm never sure why some indie films are embraced by critics and the Academy while others are ignored. Who decided that Lost in Translation was Oscar worthy, while Sofia Coppola's vastly superior Somewhere was ignored (Editors Note: We suggested Tom include this line to deflect claims of sexism stemming from him placing both of the nominees directed by women at the bottom of his list)? Winter's Bone is a marginally interesting effort that never really taps into the potential of the story, and squanders great performances by Jennifer Lawrence and John Hawkes. The result is an eminently forgettable film, that is mostly remarkable for baffling me as to how it became this year's Sundance darling, especially considering how much better Blue Valentine and Four Lions were.
10. The Kids are All Right
Oh, right, that movie about the lesbians. Um... it was okay, I guess. I feel like when the best thing about your movie is a performance by the eternally bland Mia Wasikowska, you should know something is wrong. This movie was very lazily written. Much of the plot development felt forced, and few of the characters' actions were justified, especially those of the kids. All of the characters felt like types: the scatterbrained, flitting wife (Julianne Moore has never been less interesting), the domineering, neurotic matriarch (Annette Bening has never been more cloying), and the laid back, slightly awkward, emotionally stunted man (Mark Ruffalo, wasted in a terrible role). Other than a few marginally clever lines of dialogue, there is absolutely nothing to recommend about this movie. It's not terrible, but it's not great. It's just kind of... all right.