My Top Ten Favorite Movies of 2011

(Image taken from: chemistryland.com)

Okay, while I still didn't see the four movies I was holding out for before I wrote this list (The Descendents, The Artist, Melancholia, and Take Shelter), I still saw an assload of movies and here were my favorites of the year. Maybe your favorites made the list, too. Check it out.

10. Horrible Bosses

Horrible Bosses was the kind of movie that was hilarious the first time, but not so much the second. Kind of like Borat. It doesn't hold up on repeated viewings, but for that first time I saw it, it was one of my favorite movies of the summer. Motherf**ker' Jones!



9. Rango

Rango was just too weird NOT to like. Any "kid's movie" that features a cameo of Raoul Duke from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas makes this list. No question.



8. Hugo

Hugo was the film I was most surprised with liking this year, which is strange, given that it had the Scorsese pedigree. Watching those trailers, though, I didn't know what to think. But after seeing it, it's one of the most beautiful films of the year. It's touching and also a history lesson on film. It's incredible. But it's also definitely NOT for kids. Not because it has anything their virgin ears couldn't handle, but because it takes a very adult approach in telling a children's story. Kids will be bored silly, but adults will dig it. See this film.



7. Cedar Rapids

Honestly the funniest movie of the year. In what other film do you have John C. Reilly being his regular goofy self, and Senator Clay Davis (Isiah Whitlock Jr.) pretending to be Omar from The Wire? A first class comedy with heart. I loved it.



6. 50/50

Wow. Looking back at this list, 2011 was seriously the year of comedies. But 50/50 was a different kind of comedy since it was the kind that could make you feel stronger after watching it. Joseph Gordon-Levitt bared the burden of carrying the emotional heft of this cancer tale by having the Big C, and Seth Rogen got to lighten it up by saying lines like, "He has type 4 Cancer." Type 4 Cancer...that still makes me laugh. A great, sad, and yet, triumphant film. It's little wonder so few people actually saw it. It was too good for most people.



5. X-Men: First Class

X-Men: First Class is the best Marvel movie ever made and only a step down from the greatness that is The Dark Knight. Nuff said.



4. The Muppets

I knew I was going to love the Muppet movie as how could I not? It's the Muppets. But I didn't think I would love it THIS much. It's just too good. My favorite part of it is actually not even the Muppets themselves, but Chris Cooper, who steals the show entirely. Maniacal laugh.



3. Drive

If this list was for the coolest picture of the year, Drive would be number one, no question. Its style was impeccable, its music was incredible, and the acting in it was just jaw-droppingly good. Plus, it had Bryan Cranston in it, so yeah, one of the best of the year. Love it.



2. War Horse

War Horse is incredibly mawkish and melodramatic, but it made me cry. Twice. I don't cry in movies. Ever. But War Horse made me do it. From the music, to the cinematography, to just everything about it, it's one of the most beautiful and touching films I've ever seen. It's also one of Spielberg's best.



1. The Tree of Life

My favorite film of the year (and inversely, my fiance's most hated film of the year) is probably one of the most polarizing films you'll ever see. You either love it to death, or you think it's one of the worst films you've ever seen. I pick the former. It's beautiful beyond measure and it captivated me to the very last frame. It's the only film I've ever seen where the plot was not as important as the visuals passing by. It's like a dream, a meandering, but focused, dream. The best film of the year, no question. Hell, one of the best films ever in my opinion. A masterpiece.

Review: Rango [Blu Ray]

(Image taken from cinemablend.com)

Rango, unbelievably, is a true, blue Western with all the tropes and quirks of the genre. So, how this was made into a movie (and a kids' one at that) is beyond me. But I’m glad it was, because Rango is a whole lot of fun.

The Movie: Four and a half stars out of five

How did Rango get made into a movie? I know it’s a Nickelodeon picture, and Nickelodeon has always been a network of the bizarre (Aaahh!!! Real Monsters) and the really bizarre (Ren and Stimpy). But those were TV programs intended for a very particular, hopped-up-on sugar audience. This, on the other hand, is an original, full-scale motion picture starring none other than the likes of Johnny Depp. I mean, after Pirates of the Caribbean, Hollywood must have really had a lot of faith in director Gore Verbinski to allow him the freedom to make something as weird and as wonderful as Rango. But I’m glad they did, because really, this could have been a total disaster if there had been any restraints or interventions put on its production.

Instead, we’re given an honest-to-God Western that doesn’t seem like a kids' movie at all, but yet, still does, which makes it all the more impressive. Johnny Depp stars as a pet chameleon that is stranded in the desert after a mishap involving his owner’s driving. That’s fine. But then, you know what happens? We get a cameo appearance by Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo straight out of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Seriously, it was only about 10 minutes into the film and they already had me totally enraptured. I mean, what kind of messed up, wonked out kids’ film has a Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas reference? This one does! And it’s not even the weirdest thing that happens in the entire movie, which is what really makes it so special and different from most animated films. You really don’t know where it’s going to go next. From the familiar, Western friendly town of Dirt, to Las Vegas itself, this movie travels all over the place, but it’s still cohesive and really funny at the same time. I had a blast.

Really, though, I think a major reason for that is because I love Westerns in general. From the way Rango walks to the way some of the movie’s long shots are done -- especially the ones at sunset, which are beautiful -- to the way the townspeople are so gullible if one just flashes a badge, it’s all classic Western material. So much so, that, again, I’m kind of fascinated by how this got to be such a popular film in the first place. Last I checked, Westerns weren’t entirely in -- though, the popularity of the Coen Bros.' True Grit remake might be a sign that America is digging them again.

If I have any real complaints with the film, it’s that there are just too many villains afoot. Yes, I like that it keeps the story moving, but Bill Nighy’s big bad, Rattlesnake Jake, comes a bit too late in the film. And the main villain, who is meant to be a surprise, is WAY too obvious. I would have liked to see another twist as this movie is just full of them. That would have been nice. Other than that, though, Rango is a close to perfect film (note, I didn’t say perfect KIDS' film, but perfect film in general). It’s entertaining, highly stimulating, and funny as all hell. Watch it. It’s definitely worth it.




The Disc: Five stars out of five

There are literally hours of special features on here. While the obligatory deleted scenes aren’t really that special -- and I’d swear some of these scenes are actually in the theatrical cut -- there’s also an all new ending that I actually prefer to the one in the movie, which is a rarity. There’s also a “Storyboard Mode,” where you can watch the entire picture with the storyboards at the bottom of the screen. It’s interesting to see just how important storyboarding really is, especially with animation.

There’s also a “Go Behind the Scenes with Cast and Crew” segment where we get to see just how much work went into the art of this film. Seriously, it’s astounding. “Meet the Real Creatures of Dirt” is a fascinating look at real desert animals that are in the film. It also features a very long shot of a disgusting centipede that’s thankfully not in the film, so people who fear centipedes -- like myself -- you’ve been warned. There’s also an “Interactive Trip to Dirt,” where you can click around the town from the movie and learn about the different shops and characters that populate it. It’s great.

While clicking around the special features, I also saw that it said that there’s director’s commentary on here, even though it doesn’t mention it on the back of the box. But try as I may, I couldn’t find it anywhere on either discs or on my computer, so I really don’t know what to tell you about that one. Other than that, though, the special features are stellar if you loved the movie. It’s a great package, and the picture from the Blu-Ray disc is magnificent. It’s worth every penny of your hard earned buck. Pick it up.


Rango [Blu-Ray] Details
Length: 107 min
Rated: PG
Distributor: Paramount Home Entertainment
Release Date: 2011-07-15
Starring: Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin, Alfred Molina, Bill Nighy, Harry Dean Stanton, Ray Winstone, Timothy Olyphant
Directed by: Gore Verbinski
Produced by: Gore Verbinski, Graham King, John B. Carls
Written by: John Logan

I Liked Rango Better Than the Oscar-Nominated, True Grit

Best picture nominee, True Grit disappointed me in a lot of ways. First off, it was advertised as some grisly, badass western with the Dude shooting people whilst drunk. It looked like a great horse opera. It looked like this:



Unfortunately, it wasn't that. It wasn't that at all. Remember that cool scene in the trailer where the guy was wearing a bear suit? Well, that scene sucked in the movie. Same with the scene where Matt Damon was talking about being a US Marshal. In the movie, he was a joke that was getting knocked around all over the place. I guess those who liked the movie were expecting a Coen Bros. film similar to Fargo in that it was as funny as it was serious. But I wasn't expecting that and I think a lot of others weren't expecting that either. They were expecting the dead seriousness of No Country For Old Men, and left the theater upset. I was definitely one of those people. True Grit was a total bore for me.

(Image taken from: brettkern.com)

But you know what surprisingly wasn't a total bore? Rango, which I'm now surprisingly in love with and think was an even better western than True Grit.

Now, before you start going on and on about how I'm an idiot and how Rango was merely paying tribute to all of the familiar western tropes, I just want to say that I know all that. I know Rango was just aping other westerns, and I don't care. What bothered me most about the story of True Grit is that it's not Rooster Cogburn's story, but rather, Mattie Ross'. Now, I don't know if the original movie's story is centered on her, too, since I know John Wayne was in that version, and John Wayne, who won an Oscar for the role, overshadows everybody else in all of his films. But I do know that if it was about Mattie Ross like the novel surely was, then I'm sure that that version sucked, too. And that's because Westerns, and I'm not trying to be a misogynist or anything like that, but Westerns are not meant to be about the women. They're meant to be about the men of the west and I think that's where Rango prevailed where True Grit faltered.

(Image taken from: rangotrailer.net)

















I actually never really even liked Westerns until I took a college class on them, and the professor taught me that for it to be a genuine Western, then it typically followed three things. One, it had to feature a hero who had to prove something, not only to himself but to the whole community. Two, the big bad typically had to come to the town and the hero had to step up and defeat them (Though, the great, The Searchers follows a slightly different path, which is actually more similar to True Grit than anything else that I can think of). And three, there had to be some technological advancement--in most cases, it was the locomotive--that threatened to end the seclusion of the west and thus, the end of the cowboy. It was meant to be a morose transition, one of a dying breed of man. This last feature wasn't in all Westerns, but it definitely increased the significance of whatever film it was in.

Take for example a masterpiece like, High Noon, which has all three of those factors invovled. It truly feels like a Western and it is, and also so much more (Many say that there are ties to it critiquing the Red Scare that was going on at the time).



And you know what? Rango followed all those steps, too, making it, for me at least, superior to True Grit. I didn't go into the theater expecting to see a Western, but I saw one, and it was great. Rango was the reluctant hero who made a name for himself, while the big, bad and uglies came to take him down. There's even the theme of advancement as Las Vegas shines heavily in the backdrop (See the movie to understand).

It may not have been the most by the books Western--there's a cameo by Raul Duke and Dr. Gonzo from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas in it--but it's definitely one of the more fun. So skip True Grit and watch Rango. That's really what's up.