AltWeeklies Wire
The Best (So-So) Movies of 2011new
Five lists from five film critics, and a few quibbles ...
INDY Week |
Craig D. Lindsey, David Fellerath, Neil Morris, Nathan Gelgud and Laura Boyes |
12-21-2011 |
Movies
Tags: Best Movies of 2011
Charlize Theron Plays a Selfish Writer in Young Adultnew
This movie is about a stupid woman behaving very badly, and it's rebelliously free of redeeming values.
To the End of Hawaii with George Clooney in The Descendantsnew
Director Alexander Payne—who has married and divorced since Paul Giamatti sipped wine in his last film, Sideways—now presents a character who enjoys redemption only once his wife is brain-dead and on a ventilator.
To the end of the world with Lars von Trier in Melancholianew
Melancholia is a lingering, thorny, beautiful experience that makes our doomed planet and our fickle lives richer for the tiny amount of time we're here to appreciate them.
Werner Herzog's Riveting Death Row Docnew
Herzog's fervent fans surely rushed out to see Into the Abyss over the weekend, but for those who need coaxing, let me urge you to do the same in the limited time left for this title.
Pedro Almodovar's bizarre but bloodless The Skin I Live Innew
The Skin I Live In is a hyper-realized illustration of Almodovar's fondness for audience manipulation.
My Week with Marilyn's intellectual slovenlinessnew
Director Simon Curtis' film is not effective or well-made enough to make any lasting impressions, but that doesn't mean its sentiments are any less inartistic or offensive.
The Muppets keeps family entertainment realnew
The Muppets aren't just one-note characters. They're fully realized beings, perfectly able to convey emotions. Even monosyllabic drummer Animal is just a dude looking for some inner peace.
Tags: The Muppets
Scorsese's Hugo celebrates the joy and art of moviemakingnew
The brilliance of Hugo is that director Martin Scorsese appropriates the en vogue 3-D technology of today's movies to preserve and venerate pioneers of the medium.
Tags: Martin Scorsese, Hugo
Soul Survivor in Martha Marcy May Marlenenew
Elizabeth Olsen's performance throughout is somber and self-assured, a promising debut encouraged perhaps by her own efforts to escape the suffocating shadow—and cult of personality—of her older siblings.
The end of the world in Take Shelternew
Take Shelter is a valiant, worthy effort, but the film doesn't go far enough -- and doesn't succeed in escaping its influences.
Conspiracy Theater in Anonymousnew
Anonymous is a hoot for literate moviegoers, a treat for theater geeks, a rag on backstage egotists, and an alternate version of the Elizabethan Age. But I seriously doubt that it is history.
A Surprisingly Good Puss in Bootsnew
"Wait a minute, I'm being entertained by a movie about a damn talking, sword-fighting cat!"
The Story of a Painting in The Mill and the Crossnew
Lech Majewski's film revels in the earthy details of 16th-century Flemish life even as it employs up-to-the-minute CGI techniques to bring this wonderfully complex painting by Pieter Bruegel to life.
Telling the Wall Street Side in Margin Callnew
Anybody who goes into Margin Call hoping to see investment bankers raked over the coals will be disappointed.
