Tomorrow at midnight will mark the end of 2011 and the beginning of a new year. Now, if you're spending it at a NYE party in the French capital and you don't make a Woody Allen reference on the stroke of 12am (Midnight in Paris)...I digress.
2011 has been a strange year for films, ranging from the terrific to the terrible. I've managed to see my fair share of both of these but less so in the last few months of this year (due to entering the world of full-time work). However, before this I was seeing, on average, a movie a week at the cinema. Which myself and my film-loving friend referred to as 'Slacker Tuesdays'.
So here it is, my end-of-year, all singing, all dancing 'best films of 2011' list. Drumroll please...
1) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two: Slightly biased as I'm a huge fan but you can't deny that this wasn't a fantastic conclusion to an epic series. The 3D added nothing to it but who cares?! A fitting end.
2) X-Men: First Class: I knew from the moment I saw this first (class) trailer that X-Men wasn't going to be your standard comic-book adaptation. Fassbender is the coolest guy to grace our screens in recent years. Kevin Bacon made a great villain. The plot was engaging. I expected nothing less from the guy who brought us 'Kick-Ass'.
3) The Skin I Live In: Damn, this movie freaked me out! One of the best twists I've ever seen in a film (no spoilers). Banderas was fantastic. Almodovar delivers a film which is somewhere between a thriller, a romance and a horror. Don't like subtitled films? Trust me, you're missing out. Perfection.
4) 127 Hours: One of the best cinema experiences I've ever had. It felt like I was going through the journey with James Franco. Very clever direction and camera-work by Danny Boyle.
5) The Tree of Life: Completely polarised audiences (a few people walked out while I was watching it). Malick has a lot in common with Kubrick in that respect. You'll either love it or hate it. I loved it. A truly beautiful film.
6) The Fighter: A great plot but it's the acting that really sets this film apart. Bale at his finest. Fine supporting cast too. Should have won more at the Oscars.
7) Crazy, Stupid, Love: This film took me by surprise. Much more than a rom-com, it has elements of tragedy and genuine emotion. Gosling was fantastic. And yes, it's another movie where Julianne Moore cries.
8) True Grit: I had to watch this twice to fully appreciate it. The Coens play it straight but still add their own nuances to this remake of the John Wayne original. Jeff Bridges is the perfect Rooster Cogburn.
9) Source Code: David Bowie's son delivers a tense sci-fi thriller. Not quite as good as his debut 'Moon'. Still plenty of replay value.
10) Blue Valentine/Neds: Slightly cheating here as I have two more films worth mentioning. The former is an emotional rollercoaster with fantastic acting from leads Gosling and Williams. The latter is Scotland's answer to 'This is England' - just with a lot more violence and swearing. Really powerful stuff.
So there we have it. There have been a handful of films I haven't seen yet that I wanted to, so perhaps when I watch them, this list might change.
Actor of the year is Ryan Gosling. Worst films of the year were Transformers: Dark of the Moon (I almost walked out), Green Lantern (the comics are fantastic, just let Nolan direct the sequel) and Never Let Me Go (depressing and boring).
There were a lot of three-star comedies - 'Bad Teacher, Hangover Part 2, Inbetweeners, Cedar Rapids.
Biggest surprise of the year was 'Paranormal Activity 3'. Having only gone along because I had free press tickets, I found it to actually be quite unnerving in parts. The plot is daft, of course.
'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' remake was slightly disappointing - the original is much better. And 'The King's Speech' was decent but overrated (especially at the Oscars).
Now 2012 or what I've dubbed 'the year of unnecessary 3D re-releases' is shaping up to be very similar to 2011 in terms of films (both good and bad).
As mentioned, we have 3D releases of Titanic, Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace, Beauty and the Beast and Finding Nemo. My advice - save your money and just watch the originals as they were meant to be seen.
So here's my top anticipated films of 2012 (that I know about).
1) The Dark Knight Rises: Nolan. Batman. Bale. Bane. If this isn't film of the year, then something is wrong with the world.
2) The Hobbit: The prequel to one of the greatest trilogies of all time. No pressure then.
3) Shame: Did I mention that I think Fassbender is great? Here he plays a sex addict. Already won a bunch of awards.
4) J.Edgar: DiCaprio. Eastwood. Could be one of the greatest biopics of all time. Or it could be another 'Hereafter'...
5) Prometheus: It's not an Alien prequel, says Ridley Scott. Really? Because it sure looks like an Alien prequel. Hopefully it's a blockbuster with brains. Less 'Avatar', more 'Inception', please.
6) The Amazing Spider-Man: The trailer didn't blow me away and Garfield has only proven himself in supporting roles. Still, Marc '500 Days of Summer' Webb is directing. But do we need yet another reboot?
7) The Hunger Games: It looks great but I'm worried it could be a cash-cow like the Twilight movies. Lawrence was fantastic in 'Winter's Bone' - can she repeat that here?
8) Rock of Ages: Cruise as a rock star. Zeta-Jones singing. This will be the funniest film of the year.
9) Looper: I don't know too much about this. Willis and Gordon-Levitt are the leads. It's on this list because Rian Johnson directed 'Brick' and if it's anything like that, it will be the most original film of the year.
10) A Dangerous Method: Cronenberg. And a certain gentleman by the name of Fassbender. It looks good.
11) Young Adult: Hoping to disprove my friend's hypothesis that Charlize Theron has sex in every film she stars in. It's only bloody Jason Reitman's follow-up to 'Juno' and 'Up in the Air' (I loved both).
12) The Great Gatsby: ETA December 2012. DiCaprio and Luhrmann team up again for this classic tale. Remember how good 'Romeo & Juliet' was?
So there we have it. A very rough guide to films coming out next year.
I anticipate that 'The Avengers' will be the most overhyped film of the year. 'The Iron Lady' will dominate the Oscars but could be more of an actor's movie (like 'The King's Speech).
I've left out 'Warhorse' and the silent-movie 'The Artist as I'm not sure what to make of them. They've both received great reviews. Definitely two films I'm interested in seeing.
Oh and, in case you didn't know already, 2012 will belong to Michael Fassbender.
Happy New Year!
