2011 Year End Popcorn Jockey Report
2011 Box Office, you were a strange mistress. Or at least the most easily forgettable mistress on record. I mean, even Pixar made a completely forgettable film this year. I remember being excited this time last year, and now I barely remember what I was so excited for this summer.
So what went down in 2011?
Dreamworks actually made two movies better than Pixar. Marvel set up the Avengers home run next year with a double and a triple in one short summer session. Tucked away in another season of uninspired BigDumbLoud™ sequels, we had two directors wring something unexpected out of decades old, well-worn franchises. The guy who made museum movies with Ben Stiller stuffed Rocky Balboa into a Rock’Em Sock’Em Robot and somehow made the best “Boy And His Robot” movie since Iron Giant. And Baby Goose and the Sidewinder pulled the rug out from under every other movie this year.
A while back I summed up all of my movie visit tweets, and in the rear-view mirror of my couch and X-Box, I went back and adjusted some scores. You can check those out back here, while the back half of the year is marked below:
The Adventures of Tintin: 6/10 (originally 7/10)
- Imagine an Indiana Jones movie where Sallah is the hero instead of Indy. The definition of a “Boys & Their Toys” movie
Girl With The Dragon Tattoo: 9/10
- You cant replace the shock of seeing Noomi for the first time but everything else improved. Fincher + top notch actors put a different spin on a dark romance
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol: 9/10 (originally 8/10)
- Brad Bird + more Simon Pegg + relatable, appealing characters + IMAX = the best M:I to date
Sherlock Holmes: Game Of Shadows: 7/10 (originally 8/10)
- I’m a mark for everyone involved. Good fun, full of charm. Sherlock still seems more like a precog than a detective but RDJ’s charisma triumphs
The Muppets: 7/10 (originally 9/10)
- Not really a movie, better described as a “nostalgia bomb”. Childhood characters struggling for modern relevance, just terrifically shot. Tears flowing all around us. And another great Toy Story short!
Puss In Boots: 7/10
- The best Shrek anything ever. If you have to see something in 3D make sure it’s a Dreamworks flick.
Martha Marcy May Marlene: 8/10 (originally 7/10)
- Superbly shot – terrific use of ultra-shallow depth of field to isolate characters from each other. Who knew an Olsen sister could act?
Drive: 10/10 (originally 9/10)
- The less you know going in the better. Character-driven tension at it’s finest.
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So, we ended the year on a bit of a high note, which makes putting together a Top 10 Of 2011 that much more difficult. As always, it’s my best, not the best, or even what should win the Oscars. Moneyball, The Descendants, and Iron Lady are all at the top of many critics lists, but I don’t care much for baseball, George Clooney crying, or anything to do with Meryll Streep, so they aren’t on my list. They may be Oscar contenders but I just don’t relate.
And don’t get me started on The Help.
Here’s what I dug the most in 2011:
- - 01: Drive
- - 02: Rango
- - 03: Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
- - 04: Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
- - 05: Martha Marcy May Marlene
- - 06: Attack The Block
- - 07: Real Steel
- - 08: Kung Fu Panda 2
- - 09: Super 8
- - 10: Source Code
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I still haven’t seen Hugo, Super, 13 Assassins, Rio, Hesher, Tree Of Life, The Sleeping Beauty, The Devil’s Double, or The Guard, but I don’t suspect any of them will beat out Source Code for that last spot.
So that’s 2011. If anything was accomplished this year, it’s Brad Bird’s commercial success with Ghost Protocol giving him the keys to direct whatever he so desires. We’re better off for anything he chooses to give us.
