2014, What you should have Seen

2014, wow what a year in film. I think you could say there was a lot of quality films made and not a lot of junk, so much so that I've found it difficult to pick my Top 10 films of the year because everything I saw was generally pretty good so to pick the standouts is hard.

Top 10 films of 2014

1. Boyhood.  A truly unique film experience that was also moving and fun.  Filmed in small bites every year over 12 years, we see Mason grow from the age of 6 to 18. Great performances all round.

2. Predestination.  A mind bending noir, sci-fi, mystery, thriller with great production design by Brisbane twins The Spierig brothers.

3. Dallas Buyers Club.  Heartbreaking stuff from Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto as they brought to life the struggle of an outsider community for acceptance and appropriate healthcare.

4. The Raid 2.   I thought the first one was brutal - then I saw this one.  Absolutely top notch action sequences but not a replay of the first film, as this one introduces a nailbiting 'undercover in a crime family' angle.

5. Guardians of the Galaxy.  Who needs Star Wars?  I loved the humour, warmth, bright colours and space chases.

6. Captain America: The Winter Soldier.  I know, so many blockbusters in my list.  But this was a clever political thriller dressed up as a big blockbuster.  Thought provoking stuff for our times crossed with great visuals.

7. Her.  The most unique storyline of the year reminded us of the ups and downs of love.

8. Grand Budapest Hotel. Wes Anderson's most accessible movie to date?  Which doesn't say much as it's still quirky as all get out. A madcap comedy caper with a great ensemble cast.

9.  The Babadook.  A scary little movie on a taboo topic (mothering a difficult child) that didn't get the recognition it deserved in Australia, but has received huge international acclaim.  Stephen King declared his admiration! Great direction by Jennifer Kent and acting by Essie Davis plus a very spooky monster.

10. 22 Jump Street.  The funniest movie of the year for me (end credits are a must watch) joins the small club of sequels that are better than the first movie.

So close to making it: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, X-Men Days of Future Past, Sin City 2: A Dame to Kill For, Interstellar.

Worst/Most Disappointing
1. Sex Tape.  Just really bad and infrequently funny.
2. Lords of Salem. Straight to DVD nastiness from Rob Zombie.  Just pointless, not scary and depressing.  Waste of time.
3. Transcendence.  Nobody even tried with this one, what a waste of a half-decent idea.
3. The Rover - a very disappointing follow up for director David Michod.  It was actually a good film, but we just all expected so much after 'Animal Kingdom' and from such a great cast.  Give us a hero to cheer for!
4. Snowpiercer - I thought I was going to love this so much.  It had some good ideas but just didn't land the knockout punch.

Best Performances of the Year
1. Sarah Snook in Predestination - a star is born.  So brave. 
2. The cast of Boyhood - all gave highly naturalistic and convincing performances as a family over a 12 year period.
3.  Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto in Dallas Buyer's Club.  Opposite in views but both very touching.
4. Chiwetel Ejiofor and Lupita Nyong'o in 12 Years a Slave. Tragic dignity.
5. Essie Davis in The Babadook. Again very brave
6. Joaquin Phoenix in Her.  A superb one man show of vulnerability.

Best Movie Moments of 2014
1.  Quiksilver's exit from the prison in X-Men: Days of Future Past was the best scene in any film I saw last year.  Super fun. 
2. Starlord's impromptu dance-off with Ronan the Accuser in Guardians of the Galaxy was almost as good.
3. An attacker clinging to the door of a car in the Raid 2 being met with automatic weapon fire straight through the motorcycle helmet.  Bye!
4. The realisation of who the Unmarried Mother is going to meet when they go back in time. Woah!
5.  Jonah Hill's 'Walk of Shame', Ice Cube's buffet destruction and Channing Tatum's reaction to finding out Schmidt's date, all in 22 Jump Street.

B's Top 10
This year we had a few more in common than last year!

Interstellar
Her
Guardians of the Galaxy
Grand Budapest Hotel
Predestination
Dallas Buyers Club
Chef
Gone Girl
What we do in the shadows
Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Australian Box Office for 2014:
The top 10 for 2014 was no real surprise - it was either a sequel to already popular franchises, adaptations of books (Wolf of Wall Stret, Gone Girl, Hunger Games) or comics with one exception: The Lego Movie at #2.  Although to be fair, Lego also came with a built in fanbase from the toys.  But nobody really could have forseen how cool the movie would be. Guardians of the Galaxy was a risk that paid off, being one of Marvel's lesser known properties.

Sadly it was a bad year for box office for Australian movies even though there was a reasonable output.  The Rover, Predestination, The Babadook, Tracks, Felony, These Final Hours, Charlie's Country, The Little Death were all decent quality films that should have done some business but most barely made $500,000 in total box office.  Wolf Creek 2 at #62 and Tracks at #90 were the only ones to crack the top 100.

1	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1	Roadshow	$28,005,111	11/20
2	The Lego Movie	Roadshow	$27,757,563	4/3
3	The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies	WB	$26,295,611	12/26
4	Transformers: Age of Extinction	PPI	$24,862,352	6/26
5	How to Train Your Dragon 2	Fox	$24,827,367	6/19
6	Guardians of the Galaxy	Disney	$23,291,983	8/7
7	The Wolf of Wall Street	Roadshow	$21,883,506	1/23
8	Gone Girl	Fox	$21,750,665	10/2
9	X-Men: Days of Future Past	Fox	$21,121,336	5/22
10	22 Jump Street	Sony	$21,000,729	6/19

I would love to hear your favourite movies and moments of 2014.  Please share your comments below (you can use Anonymous if you don't have a Google account).

2013 - Year in Review

What a big year for movies 2013 was.  Some of the biggest box office returns of all time were achieved and the number of films released in 3D increased again, but not only that, there were a large number of quality films released.  It has been very tough doing my 2013 best/worst list, because there were a lot of what I would say are 4 star films, and not a lot of terrible movies.
 
Movie of the Year: Sharknado
 
Just kidding!  While Sharknado was an extremely entertaining movie, being one of the most hilarious things you can watch for continuity and cheesy dialogue, it wasn't actually good.
 
Here are my real Top 10 Movies seen in 2013:

1. Gravity 3D. The most cinematic film of the year.
2. This is the End.  Hands down best comedy, I wanted to watch it again that night! Will be extremely quotable after repeat watches.
3. Pacific Rim 3D.  Giant robots vs giant monsters. That is all.
4. Mystery Road. Beautifully filmed, powerhouse Aussie film.
5. Django Unchained. Brutal, funny, Christoph Waltz.
6. The Square. Essential eye opening documentary about the power of protest.  Now up for an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature.
7. World War Z.  The most tense film of the year. Yep more than Gravity.  I repeat: not a zombie movie.
8. Iron Man 3. A blockbuster with dialogue and humour equally as good as the action.  Best twist of the year!  There's a reason this has moved to the 5th highest grossing film ever (not adjusted for inflation).
9. The Way Way Back. Gentle funny coming of age with a difference.
10. Only Lovers Left Alive.  A sexy mood piece of incredible style and a totally different take on the vampire genre.
11. Kon-Tiki.  A true story of an incredible adventure, told grippingly.

OK I have had to make it 11.  Sorry! I could not decide between those last 2 spots!

Most Disappointing/Worst
1. Hyde Park on Hudson. Distasteful topic and strange humour, lifted somewhat by the King and Queen of England.
2. Kick Ass 2.  Take the best thing about the first movie (Hit Girl swearing and killing people) and drastically cut that back and focus on other characters.  Darker is not always better!
3. Man of Steel.  Was going pretty well, if a little serious, until Zack Snyder just took the ending way over the top in destruction and darkness.  Supes saves earth but kills thousands of people in the meantime?
4. We're the Millers.  A comedy that was rarely funny but often predictable.
5. Lords of Salem.  For some reason Rob Zombie has gone from making weird, smart horror movies to making senseless, dull, stupid ending movies that are barely scary.

Great Acting
These were the standout performances for me this year:

• Jennifer Lawrence in American Hustle
• Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook
• Liam James in The Way Way Back
• Sam Rockwell in the Way Way Back
• Steve Carell in the Way Way Back
• Aaron Pedersen in every scene of Mystery Road
• Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained
• Tom Hiddleston in Only Lovers left Alive and Thor: The Dark World
• Surat Sharma as Pi in Life of Pi
• Naomi Watts went through the wringer on The Impossible

Worst Acting
Everyone in Pacific Rim, especially the "Australians".  Although to be fair it's probably the script and not entirely the actors' fault.

Favourite moment:
As per last year, my favourite film moments appeared in Marvel films.  The first is the reveal of the twist in Iron Man 3 and the second was Kat Dennings' exclamation of "Hey it's miaow miaow" in Thor: the Dark World (an in joke from the first film where she can't pronounce Mjolnir, Thor's hammer).

If you agree or disagree with these lists, please let me know - I love to hear what others think.  You can leave a comment below with your name or Anonymous if you prefer.

Australian Box Office Top 20
All stats below are courtesy of Box Office Mojo website
Interesting stats I've picked out of the Box Office list:

• Tom Cruise's 2 movies can't get higher than #31 and #32.  Poor Tom is not the box office draw he used to be.
• The Hobbit did incredibly well at #8 given it was only out for 5 days in the year.
• Dr Who made #99 for a 'one day only' movie!
• There were some unexpected monetary flops - Lone Ranger only hit #30, Pacific Rim #42 (beaten by Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa at #35!!!), Will Smith's vanity project After Earth #68, One Direction vanity doco #81, Kick-Ass 2 #93, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone #85.
• Movie version of Stephanie Myer's adult novel The Host did not benefit from the Twilight fanbase - it only got to #88.
• It was not a good year for comedies that in previous years would have hit big - films from Jim Carrey, Steve Carrell, Vince Vaughan, Melissa McCarthy were not as funny as the trailers indicated and audiences stayed away. Anchorman 2 excepted which hit #23 off a week and a half of box office in 2013.
• Kid flicks, sequels, franchises and book conversions were the only real way to make money.  Gravity at #12, Django Unchained at #13, Now you See Me #16 and The Heat #22 were the highest ranked original concepts.

Rank	Movie Title	Distributor	Gross	Release
1	Iron Man 3	Disney	$36,164,486	4/25
2	The Hunger Games: Catching Fire	Roadshow	$33,559,179	11/21
3	Despicable Me 2	UPI	$32,712,318	6/20
4	Life of Pi	Fox	$28,420,882	1/3
5	The Great Gatsby (2013)	Roadshow	$25,282,416	5/30
6	Fast & Furious 6	UPI	$24,693,368	6/6
7	The Croods	Fox	$23,752,747	3/28
8	The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug	WB	$23,059,265	12/26
9	Man of Steel	WB	$22,342,258	6/27
10	Monsters University	Disney	$21,747,029	6/20
11	Thor: The Dark World	Disney	$20,494,942	10/31
12	The Hangover Part III	WB	$19,150,236	5/23
13	Gravity	WB	$18,787,616	10/3
14	Django Unchained	Sony	$16,521,964	1/24
15	World War Z	PPI	$16,421,768	6/20
16	Now You See Me	E1	$16,163,376	8/8
17	Oz The Great and Powerful	Disney	$15,877,141	3/7
18	Star Trek Into Darkness	PPI	$14,866,428	5/9
19	The Wolverine	Fox	$14,391,290	7/25
20	Silver Linings Playbook	Roadshow	$14,272,799	1/31

Full list is here: http://www.boxofficemojo.com/intl/australia/yearly/

Global Box Office 2013
The world box office was very similar to Australia.  Interestingly the charts are dominated by movies released recently and not the big US summer tentpole movies.  Congratulations to Baz Luhrman for getting The Great Gatsby at #20 worldwide!  Several movies were much more popular overseas than in America (the domestic column) with Pacific Rim being a clear standout - obviously the Asian audience boosted this a lot after barely making $100million in the US.

Rank	Title (click to view)	Studio* FilterA24 BV CBS FD Focus Fox FoxS LG/S LGF ORF Par. RAtt. RCR Rela. SGem Sony SPC TriS Uni. W/Dim. WB WB (NL) Wein. ALL	Worldwide	Domestic / %		Overseas / %
1	Iron Man 3	BV	$1,215.4	$409.0	33.7%	$806.4	66.3%
2	Despicable Me 2	Uni.	$921.2	$368.0	39.9%	$553.2	60.1%
3	The Hunger Games: Catching Fire	LGF	$832.8	$409.4	49.2%	$423.4	50.8%
4	Fast & Furious 6	Uni.	$788.7	$238.7	30.3%	$550.0	69.7%
5	The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug	WB	$761.2	$234.2	30.8%	$527.0	69.2%
6	Monsters University	BV	$743.6	$268.5	36.1%	$475.1	63.9%
7	Gravity	WB	$670.3	$255.8	38.2%	$414.5	61.8%
8	Man of Steel	WB	$668.0	$291.0	43.6%	$377.0	56.4%
9	Frozen	BV	$644.7	$302.6	46.9%	$342.1	53.1%
10	Thor: The Dark World	BV	$630.6	$203.6	32.3%	$427.0	67.7%
11	The Croods	Fox	$587.2	$187.2	31.9%	$400.0	68.1%
12	World War Z	Par.	$540.0	$202.4	37.5%	$337.6	62.5%
13	Oz The Great and Powerful	BV	$493.3	$234.9	47.6%	$258.4	52.4%
14	Star Trek Into Darkness	Par.	$467.4	$228.8	49.0%	$238.6	51.0%
15	The Wolverine	Fox	$414.8	$132.6	32.0%	$282.3	68.0%
16	Pacific Rim	WB	$411.0	$101.8	24.8%	$309.2	75.2%
17	G.I. Joe: Retaliation	Par.	$375.7	$122.5	32.6%	$253.2	67.4%
18	The Hangover Part III	WB	$362.0	$112.2	31.0%	$249.8	69.0%
19	Now You See Me	LG/S	$351.7	$117.7	33.5%	$234.0	66.5%
20	The Great Gatsby (2013)	WB	$351.0	$144.8	41.3%	$206.2	58.7%

2012 in Movies - A Review

I enjoyed the comments on last year's review of the year before so here for your debating pleasure is my review of 2012.  Please share your favourite movies seen this year as well.

My Top 10 Movies

1. God Bless America (apologies most of you won't have had a chance to see this Film Festival movie but I've got a copy on order from the US so I can share with my local buddies) - an angry little movie about what is so wrong with society and a rather extreme way of dealing with it but gosh it fulfils a few little fantasies that have crossed my mind!

2. The Avengers - a monster mash beautifully orchestrated by Joss Whedon to have heart and soul to go with the big bangs.  Quick, someone give Iron Man and Hulk a buddy movie!

3. The Dark Knight Rises - thrillingly satisfying ending to an increasingly bleak trilogy that truly explored what is is to be a 'hero'.

4. Hugo - a beautiful film about the power of the movies and friendship.  Scorsese at full power and fantastic visual effects and 3D.

5. The Adventures of Tintin - huge fun to kick off the year, I haven't forgotten it a year later.  The chase scenes!

6. The Artist - hugely deserving of the Best Film Oscar this year, it had the X factor of being a silent film that still conveyed so much emotion.

7. The Raid - one good cop's struggle to take down an apartment building full of baddies - supremely well choreographed close fight scenes made a second watch on Blu-Ray still thrilling and wince-worthy.

8. Looper - vaguely sci-fi plot wrapped around an intelligent near future thriller with great performances from Bruce Willis and Joe Gordon-Levitt, my man of the year.

9. Moonrise Kingdom - an antidote to cynicism, sadness and sarcasm, just a pure delight and wise words on love and life.

10. Argo - high suspense in a nail biting thriller that also skewered Hollywood and taught us some possibly slightly exaggerated history.

Very close to getting in the Top 10 were Frankenweenie 3D, 50/50 (seen on DVD so no review), Sinister (scariest film in years but seen at the Film Festival), Pirates: Band of Misfits (Aardman kicking ass again), The Cabin in the Woods, Skyfall.

B's Top 10 (bit different than mine)

The Dark Knight Rises

Prometheus

Sinister

The Avengers

Hugo

Moonrise Kingdom

Looper

Cabin in the Woods

That's my Boy

The Rum Diary

Least Favourite Movies of 2012
Not awful but didn't live up to my expectations or I didn't walk out going 'Yeah!:

1. Prometheus
2. Dark Shadows
3. The Campaign
4. That's my Boy
5. The Dictator
6. Kath and Kimderella

Most Surprising Movie Moments of 2012

• Magic Mike not sucking as a movie, even though with Steven Soderbergh at the helm this should not have been expected
• Prometheus sucking (Empire magazine agrees with me even if nobody else does) - huge gaps in logic, stupid dialogue, a fairly pointless outcome, and too much 'spirituality' talk derailed the good suspense
• A silent film being made and achieving moderate box office success, then winning the Best Picture Oscar along with Best Actor and Best Director.
• Girl with the Dragon Tattoo came out simply 'meh' neither better nor worse than the original and largely pointless
• Channing Tatum's hitherto unknown comedic skills, displayed in 21 Jump Street
• Remakes of earlier films didn't rake in the big bucks this year (looking at you Total Recall)
• An oddball animated kids' film about Dracula preventing his daughter from dating a human (Hotel Transylvania) did far better for Adam Sandler than his latest live action 'comedy' "That's my Boy" which by comparison to his earlier films was a fairly large flop for him.  Have the one-two punch of crap films "Jack and Jill" and "Grown Ups" taken the sheen off Sandler comedies?

Best Scene of the Year:
The Hulk dealing with Loki.  No, wait.  The Hulk taking out some frustration with Thor.  No, wait.  The Hulk buddying up to Tony Stark.  Hmmmm, can't decide.  Let's just say "the Hulk" in Avengers.

Scariest Movie:
Sinister.  One of the scariest films I've ever seen.  Someone walked out! I wanted to but I also didn't want to.  I love being scared.
Best Performances of the Year

1. Joel Murray as fed up Frank in God Bless America.
2. Joseph Gordon-Levitt in everything he was in this year!  Huge star in the making in my view but he was solid in The Dark Knight Rises, amazing as a young version of Bruce Willis in Looper and touching as young cancer sufferer Adam in 50/50.
3. Tom Hardy as the elder Bondurant brother in Lawless - a masterclass in 'presence'.  Not bad as Bane either!
4. Berenice Bejo as Peppy Miller in the Artist.  Living up to her character's name.
5. Jean du Jardin as George Valentin in the Artist.  Old school Hollywood charm.
6. Charlize Theron as pure evil Mavis in Young Adult - A plus for acting 'ugly' again although this time it was personality only.  A powerhouse as Queen Ravenna in Snow White and the Huntsman as well.
7. Liam Neeson as Ottway in The Grey - grizzled, gruff and going down with a fight!
8. Iko Uwais as Rama in The Raid - when you've got something to fight for, you are unstoppable!  Amazing skills.
9. Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker and Emma Stone as Gwen Stacey in The Amazing Spiderman.  Cutest couple by a long shot, both perfect for the roles and fantastic chemistry which spilled over into real life.
10. Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle in The Dark Knight Rises - deliciously catty, tough but vulnerable and all in the tightest suit this side of Michelle Pfeiffer.  Cool goggles!

......and the worst: everyone in Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn Part 2 and newcomer Cody Horn in Magic Mike.

Top 10 Australian Box Office
Sequels and franchises ruled again this year.  Props to grey-vote winning The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel for hitting the Top 10 with an original story and no franchise power.  Highest ranking Australian film of the year was The Sapphires in 22nd place, well ahead of Kath and Kimderella at 52 and A Few Best Men at 59.

1. The Avengers ($54 million,outgrossing Harry Potter finale last year)
2. The Dark Knight Rises ($44 million)
3. Skyfall ($39 million, and still on release so getting bigger all the time!)
4. Ted ($35 million)
5. The Hunger Games ($31 million)
6. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 ($28 million)
7. Ice Age Continental Drift ($28 million)
8. Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted ($25 million)
9. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel ($21 million)
10. Sherlock Holmes 2: A Game of Shadows ($20 million)

The full list of all 244 films released during 2012 can be found here http://boxofficemojo.com/intl/australia/yearly/?yr=2012&sort=gross&order=DESC&pagenum=1&p=.htm

Wish I'd seen: The Woman in Black, The Sapphires, Margin Call, Seven Psychopaths, Paranormal Activity 4, The Master, Chronicle, The Lady, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Margaret, Dredd.

US Box Office
The Avengers wiped the floor this year with highest box office by far and highest opening weekend ever ($207 million!) and it was the same story as Australia with sequels, prequels and franchise entries.

1. The Avengers ($623 million)
2. The Dark Knight Rises ($448 million)
3. The Hunger Games ($408 million)
4. Skyfall ($294 million)
5. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 ($287 million)
6. The Amazing Spiderman ($262 million)
7. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey ($251 million)
8. Brave ($237 million)
9. Ted ($218 million)
10. Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted ($216 million)

My Predictions for 2013
1. Fantasy themed films with built in audiences from beloved book series or prior movies will gain the biggest box office for the year - led by "Oz - the Great and Powerful", "Hunger Games: Catching Fire", "Beautiful Creatures", "The Host", "The Mortal Instruments", "Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters" and "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug".

2. We will be loving the return of Arnold Schwarzenegger to full movie roles (see The Last Stand).

3. Seth MacFarlane will rock the Oscars hosting gig, restoring it to a must-watch event.

4. Comic book heroes will again dominate our cinemas.  No sign of this juggernaut ending anytime soon as "Man of Steel" goes up against "Thor: The Dark World", "Iron Man 3" and "The Wolverine". 

5. Movies based on the "Classic novels with a twist" genre will continue to tank critically and commercially.  Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter failed to excite anyone this year, so why they've made Hansel and Gretel: Witchhunters and Jack the Giant Killer I don't know.  I loved Pride and Prejudice and Zombies the book, so leave it the hell alone Hollywood!

6. Warm Bodies will out-do World War Z as the zombie film of the year.

7. "Anchorman: The Legend Continues" will withstand being the most anticipated sequel of the year and deliver.  Man I hope this one comes true.

8. Sequels will continue to be made for anything that is deemed a successful movie, but most of this year's batch are likely to produce diminishing returns through redundancy (Hangover 3, Kick Ass 2 - the original movies were perfect as they were and do not need sequels), coming way too late after the last (Sin City: A Dame to Kill for, Riddick), being too far down the line to get audiences interested anymore (Paranormal Activity 5, Fast and the Furious 6), or just completely unwanted (The Smurfs 2, Scary Movie 5) . "The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug", "Star Trek: Into Darkness" and "Anchorman 2" not included.

9. We will see a 50 Shades of Grey movie, it will be a huge hit but 75% of the female audience will be disappointed with the actor chosen to play Christian.  No way of testing this prediction of course....

10. The re-release of movies to the cinema in 3D versions will not make as much moolah for the studios as they are probably hoping.  The Star Wars, Titanic, Lion King and Finding Nemo versions haven't done too well so far, so just stop now and leave it for home theater.  Everyone's got a 3d TV now don't they?

Lists, Lists, Lists! 2011 in Review

Welcome to my review of 2011!  Please add your comments to tell me what you loved last year as well.

10 Best Movies of 2011
Hmmm this is harder than I thought it would be to narrow down to 10.  In relation to my goal of seeing more movies, I definitely achieved that one.  Seeing more movies in the hope of seeing more good ones? Tick. I enjoyed most things I saw last year.  I've seen 21 of Empire's Top 50 of 2011 as well.  Here are my best 10 movies:

1. Super 8
2. Source Code
3. Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Part 2 3D
4. The Guard
5. Hanna
6. Captain America: The First Avenger 3D
7. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
8. Paul
9. Comic-con Episode IV - A Fan's  Hope
10. Horrible Bosses - funniest movie this year.  Unfortunately for Bridesmaids, which was also good and very funny, it just didn't stand up to repeat viewing - for some reason I did not find it anywhere near as funny the first time.  I think there was a surprise factor in Bridesmaids that won't be there in Horrible Bosses.

Another 10 great movies that surprised me this year:
1. Tucker & Dale vs Evil - funniest and cleverest horror movie of the year.
2. Fright Night 3D - best use of 3D, smart and sexy.
3. Limitless - better than it looked and clever visuals.
4. Medianeras - an Argentinian film from the film festival. Hope it comes out here.
5. Drive - slow burning gritty moodpiece.
6. Cyrus - John C Reilly as a sad sack battling with his new girlfriend's weird son played by Jonah Hill.
7. X-Men - we were prepared for badness after Wolverine but this was actually great.
8. Everything Must Go - Will Ferrell gives another strong dramatic performance in an undervalued movie.
9. Thor - better than expected origin movie.
10. Never Let me Go - strongly acted and intriguing premise.

There was some great acting this year:

10 Best Performances of 2011


Ryan Gosling as Driver in Drive (with a best supporting actor nom for his abs in Crazy Stupid Love)
Kirsten Dunst as Justine in Melancholia
Mel Gibson as Walt in The Beaver
Koko the dog in Red Dog
Natalie Portman as Nina in Black Swan
Brad Pitt as Billy Beane in Moneyball
Andy Serkis as Ceasar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Saoirse Ronan title role in Hanna
Brendan Gleeson as Gerry in The Guard
James Franco as Aron Ralston in 127 Hours

It was definitely the year of Ryan Gosling - 3 big performances in Drive, Crazy, Stupid Love and The Ides of March (which rated well and is making a lot of Top 10 lists but I didn't see it yet) plus voted the US People Magazine Sexiest Man of the Year which I probably can't disagree with after he made us all swoon in the bedroom scene of CSL.

I think it was also a year for Michael Fassbender (Magneto in X-Men prequel but also several other performances) and we will no doubt see more of him in 2012.

I was going to do the "Worst Movies" as well but I really didn't see anything I didn't like last year.  I must have chosen my movies to see really well.  So the best I can do for you is this:

The 5 Most Disappointing/Overrated Movies of 2011:
Yes, thank you very much if you were going to comment, two of these movies were on my 'Most Anticipated for 2011' list I made in a post earlier this year.  Where did it all go wrong? Scripting or acting issues mainly, or just too much overhyping and promotion on things that were just average.


1. Sucker Punch
2. Friends with Benefits
3. Your Highness
4. Bad Teacher
5. Arthur

Biggest mystery of the year
How did the movie "In Time" (no hype, starring Justin Timberlake, poorly reviewed) last at the cinema for 2 months when other quality movies came and went within two weeks?

Highest Grossing Movies of 2011 
Sequels ruled this year, some possibly undeservingly (I still refuse to watch Breaking Dawn Part 1 as it will be the most boring film ever despite the fact I liked the book series).  If it wasn't a sequel, it was probably a superhero.  Congratulations to a couple of smaller original movies which managed to make the cut against sequel-itis and franchising power.  Yes I'm talking about you Kristen Wiig who wrote and starred in a totally original movie that was also a surprise hit.

Australia
1. Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Part 2 ($51.3m)
2. Transformers: Dark of the Moon ($38.8m)
3. The Hangover Part 2 ($35.3m)
4. Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides ($29m)
5. Bridesmaids ($28.8m)
6. Twilight Breaking Dawn: Part 1 ($27.2m)
7. Fast Five ($26.7m)
8. Tangled ($22.5m)
9. Cars 2 ($20.8m)
10. Red Dog ($20.6m)

Full list of top 100 for Australia here http://boxofficemojo.com/intl/australia/yearly/?yr=2004&p=.htm

United States
1. Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Part 2 ($381,000,000)
2. Transformers: Dark of the Moon ($352m)
3. Twilight Breaking Dawn: Part 1 ($266m)
4. The Hangover Part 2 ($254m)
5. Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides ($241m)
6. Fast Five ($210m)
7. Cars 2 ($191m)
8. Thor ($181m)
9. Rise of the Planet of the Apes ($177m)
10. Captain America: The First Avenger ($177m)
11. The Help ($169m)
12. Bridesmaids ($160m)
13. Kung Fu Panda 2 ($165m)
14. X-Men: First Class ($146m)
15. Rio ($144m)

Movies I Wish I'd Seen in 2011 but will have to catch up later:


1. Submarine
2. Snowtown
3. Hobo with a Shotgun
4. True Grit
5. Winter's Bone
6. Attack the Block

So there you have it.  I look forward to hearing your own best/worst movies.