Best of Best Picture 2011
By Josh Spiegel
February 23, 2011
BoxOfficeProphets.com
The best movies immerse us in their worlds without even looking like they’re trying. I can’t relate to the world of ballet, but I don’t need to with the virtuoso directing from Darren Aronofsky, who whisks the audience into his feverish nightmare fantasy of New York. Natalie Portman is not just at her best here, but she’s believable in ways that weren’t comprehensible a few years ago. Nothing she’s done compares with Nina Sayers, the fragile young lead of Black Swan, who’s so desperate and obsessed with being the best that she never realizes what she’s doing to herself. Both times I’ve seen Black Swan, I’ve been sucked into the world of the film, into Nina’s mind, so quickly that I can’t even breathe. Just like Nina, Black Swan is perfect.
2) Inception
Movies like Inception do not get made. Sure, Christopher Nolan (who, as we can see from the Oscar nominations, produced and wrote this film, but clearly sucked at directing it, right?) got to make it because The Dark Knight was so successful. But even still, the amount of faith Warner Bros. put into the film and the man is impressive. The second half of this movie, in particular, is arguably the best any film could offer in 2010. When all of the characters begin to have their final, simultaneous kick out of the dream world, it’s so thrilling and rewarding. The pay-off here is truly incredible. The rest of the film is not as great as the second half, but it’s still an exciting ride every time I’ve seen it.
3) Toy Story 3
Knowing how a movie will end is one thing. Knowing how the good guys will make it to that ending is something else. We all know that Woody, Buzz and the gang will survive the events of Toy Story 3, but in the climactic scene at a landfill (I’d say spoiler alert, but if you haven’t seen Toy Story 3 yet, shame on you), my mind reverts to a childlike state, freaking out that one of my favorite characters is going to die. When Rex slipped first, I actually started to cry. I’m kind of getting emotional just thinking about it. Toy Story 3 is full of many joys and wonders, but it topped everything else Pixar has done by being so blatantly emotional in the best way possible. Pixar has not disappointed in a long time; they can be content knowing they’ve made the greatest film trilogy of all time.
4) The Social Network
For clarification, these four movies are my top four films of 2010, and they’re all very close to each other. There’s really nothing wrong with The Social Network, is there? The performances, the score, the direction, the script, the cinematography: it’s all top-notch. Watching the film again on Blu-ray reminds me not only of David Fincher’s technical prowess behind the camera, but of how prickly and realistic Jesse Eisenberg is as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. The film isn’t as emotional as the films above it, but listening to the performers work with Aaron Sorkin’s script is one of the great pleasures of seeing films in 2010.
5) True Grit
We now know what it looks like when Joel and Ethan Coen make a movie that’s not just meant to be for mass audiences, but is also good. They’d tried it before with Intolerable Cruelty and The Ladykillers, which are not...you know, good movies. True Grit is the most accessible film they’ve made, and is their most purely entertaining. Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, and Hailee Steinfeld are all well-cast here, but Steinfeld blows them away. At no point does her Mattie Ross seem precocious or obnoxious; she knows what she wants, she’s tenacious and obsessed, and she’ll not stop until she gets justice. Though it’s not as classic as other Coen films, True Grit is one of their best.
6) Winter’s Bone
I’m still not sure if what makes Winter’s Bone work so much is simply the performances from Jennifer Lawrence and John Hawkes (both up for Oscars), or the entire world of the film. I still lean towards the latter, but that’s enough to make this film one of the year’s best. Lawrence, whose previous work included being a regular on The Bill Engvall Show (yep, really), is a find here, a modern-day version of Mattie Ross, who has to be even tougher in the world of drug dealing and tough rednecks. Hawkes is even better, if only because he’s known for playing more meek characters, and is anything but here. Cross him at your discretion. Winter’s Bone is a simple yet effective modern noir, but sometimes, you don’t need to be big to be great.
7) 127 Hours
I would not have thought James Franco was the kind of actor I’d be fine watching, by himself, for two hours before seeing 127 Hours, but I was wrong. Franco is what makes 127 Hours so watchable, even as director Danny Boyle tries very hard to distract his audience from Franco’s impressive performance as a man stuck in a boulder. The story is so simple, but some of Boyle’s tricks just don’t work. Can someone explain to me why Lizzy Caplan is in all of one minute of this movie? (Note: I am aware of why, as it was discussed by Vulture, but that only makes it worse.) 127 Hours is a good movie, but without Franco, it’s very forgettable.
8) The King’s Speech
Sigh. You can see that I’ll be crying on Oscar night, because this is the presumed Best Picture winner. While Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush are very good in The King’s Speech, the story and its presentation seemed more at home on Masterpiece Theatre than on the big screen. I admire Rush’s dedication to get the film made, but with Tom Hooper behind the helm, the story is very flat and uninvolving. Plenty of people are in love with this movie, but I just don’t get it. Haven’t we seen this story before? And, what’s more, the stakes in the film are completely uninteresting to me. I wish I could tell you I liked this movie, but then, I wish a lot of things that just aren’t true.
9) The Fighter
Look, kids, the Academy nominated two cartoons in the Best Picture category! Aren’t they forward-thinking and...oh, sorry, The Fighter was a live-action movie. I wouldn’t have been able to guess it, though, with the outsized performances from Melissa Leo, Christian Bale, and others. While Bale and Leo do a fine job portraying two real-life people who are, if the stories are true, even crazier in real life, I was more impressed with Amy Adams, who plays tough very well here. Mark Wahlberg is the blandest of the performers here, bringing very little to the screen. David O. Russell does a good job of infusing energy into the story, but The Fighter was, in general, a limp fish.
10) The Kids Are All Right
Oh, I did not like The Kids Are All Right. I did not like it at all, folks. While the performers do a fine job — and this is coming from a guy who usually loathes Annette Bening and Julianne Moore — the story is absolutely idiotic. When — spoiler alert — Moore’s character, a lesbian who’s been in a committed relationship that’s been going a bit sour before the film begins, shacks up with Mark Ruffalo’s character, her children’s sperm donor, I knew it was supposed to happen. Why? Well, nothing else had happened, so why not this? But why does it actually happen? The motivations aren’t there, and the majority of the plot hinges on this tryst. Also, can we eliminate sing-alongs from every movie for the rest of time? Please?