Favorite Movies of 2011

[Marlow]

No more good ones, so here ya go:

10. Crazy, Stupid Love – best RomCom
9. Rango – Best (and quirkiest) Animated
8. Fast Five – Best chase scenes
7. Capt. America – best comic book flick
6. The Help – best supporting cast
5. Mission Impossible – best action
4. Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – best drama
3. Bridesmaids – best comedy
2. Sherlock Holmes – best sequel
1. Warrior – most engaging

What were yours?

War Horse (saw the preview weeks ago), doesn't make the Top 10, even though it is a very well-made movie (like Hugo). There's others, like The Artist, that are only in limited release, so I haven't seen it.

[jeremyp]

I'll post mine when I've seen a few more. You get to see previews so you have an advantage. Also there are many good movies I'm still waiting for Netflix to send to me. This year was, for me, one of the worst for actually "going to see" movies. The theaters are being sated with pop crap, many times 2x, adding 3D. "The Descendants" was the last good movie I remember seeing in quite a while.

[Daisy]

I've seen two new movies this year, so my list is a piece of cake.

[SQUACKEE]

Hey Marlow, a friend lent me Cowboys and Aliens, should I waste my time, is it a comedy or serious?

[Marlow]

Hey Marlow, a friend lent me Cowboys and Aliens, should I waste my time, is it a comedy or serious?

You'll laugh at how silly it is . . . unintentionally.

I've seen two new movies this year, so my list is a piece of cake.

I just counted my number of first-run theater movies for 2011: 107!
I probably paid for a quarter of them, but I don't buy no popcorn or soda no more! Bring my own M&Ms.
I can count on one hand how many I've seen via my TV or computer.

[kuha]

I just counted my number of first-run theater movies for 2011: 107!

And I've seen precisely 0 of the ones on your top 10! I did see "Hugo" recently and enjoyed it quite a bit...

[jeremyp]

Hey Marlow, a friend lent me Cowboys and Aliens, should I waste my time, is it a comedy or serious?

It's a bit of a giggle. Had this movie been made 20-30 years ago it would have been boffo, but today it just seems like re-hetaed CGI garbage.

[Marlow]

And I've seen precisely 0 of the ones on your top 10! I did see "Hugo" recently and enjoyed it quite a bit...

Well, if that's all you've seen, I would indeed think you'd enjoy it!!

[jeremyp]

I just counted my number of first-run theater movies for 2011: 107!
I probably paid for a quarter of them, but I don't buy no popcorn or soda no more! Bring my own M&Ms.
I can count on one hand how many I've seen via my TV or computer.

Just the opposite for me. 300+ movies via Netflix. Perhaps 30 at the movies. Honestly I don't know how you can sit through so much crap at the theaters. Chacun a son goute.

[Marlow]

I don't know how you can sit through so much crap at the theaters.

We do walk out of the really bad ones. Pulp Fiction was one. Borat another.
I think we walked out of one or two this year. There's a couple more we stay for, hoping it will miraculously get better. Rarely does.

[Conor Dary]

I don't know how you can sit through so much crap at the theaters.

We do walk out of the really bad ones. Pulp Fiction was one. Borat another.
I think we walked out of one or two this year. There's a couple more we stay for, hoping it will miraculously get better. Rarely does.

I liked Pulp Fiction though the best part is Dick Dale doing Miserlou at the beginning.

[kuha]

I liked Pulp Fiction though the best part is Dick Dale doing Miserlou at the beginning.

YES.

[dukehjsteve]

I liked Pulp Fiction though the best part is Dick Dale doing Miserlou at the beginning.

YES.

" Step aside, Butch...."

[Per Andersen]

I've only been twice to the movies this year, hardly go anymore it seems.

I did see "Midnight in Paris" and "Margin Call". Both excellent. Maybe I should have seen "Drive", "The Artist" and von Trier's last one, "Melancholia" ( I hear it's safe to see von Trier films again)

[lonewolf]

107!
I saw only The Help and Bridesmaids of Marlows top 10.. waiting on the The Dragon Girl to open here.

[jeremyp]

I don't know how you can sit through so much crap at the theaters.

We do walk out of the really bad ones. Pulp Fiction was one. Borat another.
I think we walked out of one or two this year. There's a couple more we stay for, hoping it will miraculously get better. Rarely does.

Are you talking about the "Pulp Fiction" that garnered a 9 out of 10 from half a million imdb viewers? The "Pulp Fiction" that garnered 46 awards? The "Pulp Fiction" that is ranked #5 all time by imdb voters?The "Pulp Fiction" that garnered a 94 metacritc score? OyVe!!! We could never go to the movies together we'd be throwing popcorn and coke on each other, and rolling in the aises locked in mortal comabet.

[Daisy]

Jeremyp, for a while now I have been avoiding the movies that Marlow loves and watching the ones he hates. Think of him as the anti-reviewer!

[Marlow]

Are you talking about the "Pulp Fiction" that garnered a 9 out of 10 from half a million imdb viewers? The "Pulp Fiction" that garnered 46 awards? The "Pulp Fiction" that is ranked #5 all time by imdb voters?The "Pulp Fiction" that garnered a 94 metacritc score? OyVe!!! We could never go to the movies together we'd be throwing popcorn and coke on each other, and rolling in the aises locked in mortal comabet.

I'm talking about the Pulp Fiction made by one the least talented directors of our generation: Quentin Tarantino. I am in excellent company in that opinion. Your mileage may (and I'm sure DOES) vary. To paraphrase a similar sentiment: I know shlock when I see it. I know the next statement just pisses people off when I say it, but my opinion is not totally without substance. I've been teaching Film Analysis for 21 years now. On the other hand, if you and others like QT and/or the films he's made, more power to you!! I rate the Dark Knight series as one of the best EVER made (LotR surpasses it), and I know lots of people here who HATE it. Oh well.

[jeremyp]

I know the next statement just pisses people off when I say it, but my opinion is not totally without substance. I've been teaching Film Analysis for 21 years now.

You are entitled to your opinion, even though it is a minority opinion, and I include viewers and critics. I am not a QT fan, but Pulp Fiction was his only really good film.

I rate the Dark Knight series as one of the best EVER made (LotR surpasses it), and I know lots of people here who HATE it. Oh well.

I didn't hate it but it's a genre that doesn't much interest me. That genre being popular youth fantasy. Analysing these films would be like analyzing comic books.

[jeremyp]

Jeremyp, for a while now I have been avoiding the movies that Marlow loves and watching the ones he hates. Think of him as the anti-reviewer!

Then you'll love "The Descendants." Dare I mention "The kids are all right" without causing Marlow a cardiac moment?

[Marlow]

Then you'll love "The Descendants." Dare I mention "The kids are all right" without causing Marlow a cardiac moment?

I'll see (saw) those and raise you a Thor and Transformers 3 !

[jeremyp]

Then you'll love "The Descendants." Dare I mention "The kids are all right" without causing Marlow a cardiac moment?

I'll see (saw) those and raise you a Thor and Transformers 3 !

My G-kids dragged me to Thor. Both (12 and 14) thought it sucked big time. Which reminds me of a story.

Thor mopes on Mt. Olympus. Zeus asks him why he looks so depressed. Thor says that he misses the companionship and love of a woman. Zeus tells Thor that he will fix the problem by sending Thor down to Earth.

Thor lands in the backyard of a single woman. The two immediately start making love and continue all weekend.

After the weekend Thor is back at Mt. Olympus with a big grin on his face. Zeus asks Thor the great woman's name, but Thor admits that he never asked.

Horrified at his rudeness, Zeus sends Thor back down to find out the woman's name. Arriving in the same backyard, Thor calls out to the woman, "I wanted to tell you I'm Thor."

She yells, "You're thor? I'm tho thor I can hardly pith or thpit!"

[Marlow]

Which reminds me of a story.
Thor mopes on Mt. Olympus. Zeus asks him . . .

Um . . . I hate to ruin a good joke, but I think you heard this wrong . . .

[Daisy]

Thor mopes on Mt. Olympus. Zeus asks him why he looks so depressed.

Shouldn't that be Odin?

edit: I see Marlow beat me to the pedantry

[Marlow]

Thor mopes on Mt. Olympus. Zeus asks him why he looks so depressed.

Shouldn't that be Odin?
edit: I see Marlow beat me to the pedantry

Odin on Mt. Olympus?! His GPS musta been busted!

[Daisy]

I thought it would be obvious they'd need relocating to Scandinavia. But hey, maybe they were on holiday?

[Marlow]

I thought it would be obvious they'd need relocating to Scandinavia. But hey, maybe they were on holiday?

The Norse culture celebrated the winter solstice like most other pagans did.

So, to recap:
One winter solstice holiday, Thor was moping around Asgard, when Odin came up to him and said . . .

[Daisy]

Thor was moping around Asgard

So I guess they were not into traveling back then? Now I think about it, a little more sun and he would not have been moping around.

So do all these gods get seasonal affective disorder when Sunna buggers off for her winter retreat in the southern hemisphere?

[Marlow]

So do all these gods get seasonal affective disorder when Sunna buggers off for her winter retreat in the southern hemisphere?

What do you think set off Ragnarok?

[Daisy]

What do you think set off Ragnarok?

You mean it's already happened? So why do we still have lightening?

I thought that was going to be the culmination of global warming?

[Marlow]

What do you think set off Ragnarok?

You mean it's already happened? So why do we still have lightening?

Lightening? You mean why did Michael Jackson's skin keep getting lighter? He says it was a skin disease, but I have my suspicions. Oh . . . lightning! That's because Henrik Hudson insists on his nine-pins parties. It's the light show that accompanies the thunder.

I thought that was going to be the culmination of global warming?

Oh, no, just the opposite. GW is the merely the end-game of the Ragnorak fires that still burn and now are affecting Earth. Eventually everything will be consumed by the fire that cannot be extinguished.

I gots all the answers, doncha know?!

[gh]

<<14. This isn't a personal message board. If you want to get into a 2-person debate—particularly when you are highjacking a thread—please take it off-line. >>

[26mi235]

I don't know how you can sit through so much crap at the theaters.

We do walk out of the really bad ones. Pulp Fiction was one. Borat another.
I think we walked out of one or two this year. There's a couple more we stay for, hoping it will miraculously get better. Rarely does.

Are you talking about the "Pulp Fiction" that garnered a 9 out of 10 from half a million imdb viewers? The "Pulp Fiction" that garnered 46 awards? The "Pulp Fiction" that is ranked #5 all time by imdb voters?The "Pulp Fiction" that garnered a 94 metacritc score? OyVe!!! We could never go to the movies together we'd be throwing popcorn and coke on each other, and rolling in the aises locked in mortal comabet.

I can never stand to watch more than a few minutes of this film, which I attempt from time to time because so many people seem to think it is good. I am not a movie critic but I would not turn over more than a couple of stars (out of 5, not 4) based on what I have managed to get through.

I much prefer "Stand By Me" which we just gave to our 9-year old who really likes the movie (under the understanding that he does not experiment with the language that the 13-year olds are trying out (or that come from Ace's gang).

[Per Andersen]

"Pulp Fiction"? The diner scene with the Mamie Van Doren stuff was not bad, but that was it.

However, it's a masterpiece compared to "Inglorious Basterds". Shockingly bad!. Just about the most annoying and stupid movie I've seen.

[dukehjsteve]

"Pulp Fiction"? The diner scene with the Mamie Van Doren stuff was not bad, but that was it.

However, it's a masterpiece compared to "Inglorious Basterds". Shockingly bad!. Just about the most annoying and stupid movie I've seen.

" Point the gun at me, Yolanda, point the gun at me !"...

Anyhow I agree totally about "Inglorous Basterds" Absolutely terrible. .