Every movie I saw in 2011
I watch a lot of movies. I go to movies in the theatre and watch a lot at home. I tracked every movie I watched. Some of them I don’t remember. Some of them are not worth mentioning. Occasionally, I get bored and start reading instead.

(T means I saw it in a theatre) *means I think that actor or actress deserves an Oscar nom.

Here’s what I watched
1. Cooking with Stella
2. And the Band played on
3. Grey Gardens (HBO)
4. Night of the Hunter
5. Please give
6. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- T
7. Modern Times-T
8. Blue Valentine-T
9. Red River (don’t really remember this)
10. Confessions of a dangerous mind (didn’t love this)
11. The King’s Speech-T
12. Fast, Cheap and out of control (Errol Morris documentary)
13. 8 Mile
14. Outbreak
15. Exit through the Gift Shop
16. This is Spinal Tap (rewatch, but I didn’t remember it)
17. Gimme Shelter
18. Incendies-T
19. City Island
20. Reel Injun
21. Floating Weeds
22. 45 RPM
23. True Grit (half- the original)
24. Let me in
25. Force of Nature (David Suzuki documentary_ I had read his bio, so I knew most of the info in this)
26. Burlesque
27. High Noon (don’t remember much of this)
28. Solaris (don’t remember this at all, which means I probably started reading)
29. Little Big Man (I love Dustin Hoffman)
30. 42nd Street
31. The Men who stare at Goats
32. Henry Poole is here
33. West Side Story (rewatch)
34. Jane Eyre (new version)-T
35. The Weight of Water
36. When you’re strange (if you are a Doors fan, you’ll know 98% of this)
37. The Wizard of OZ (rewatch)-T
38. Oceans (pretty good)
39. The Switch
40. Morning Glory
41. Water for Elephants-T
42. Somewhere
43. Dirt- the movie-T
44. Win win-T
45. I’ve loved you so long
46. Heathers (rewatch)
47. Thor (I fell asleep)-T
48. Bridesmaids-T
49. Trouble in Paradise (don’t remember this, must have started reading)
50. 500 Days of Summer (rewatch)
51. No strings attached
52. Queen of the Sun (documentary about bees)-T
53. Elephant
54. Pirates of the Caribbean on Stranger Tides-T
55. Woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown (I know I watched all of this, but barely remember it)
56. Ghost Dog way of the samurai
57. X-Men, first class-T
58. It’s kind of a funny story
59. Cyrus
60. Hugh Hefner, Activist and Rebel (documentary)
61. Ondine
62. Red Riding Hood
63. Super 8-T
64. Midnight in Paris-T
65. Love and other drugs
66. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2-T
67. The Lady Eve (I don’t remember this at all)
68. Barney’s Version
69. Project Nim
70. Full Metal Jacket (I will NOT love you long time)
71. The Way Back
72. Cowboys and Aliens
73. Soul Surfer
74. Captain America-T
75. Rise of the Planet of the Apes-T
76. One Day (hello Jim Sturgess)-T
77. Broadcast News
78. Trouble the Water
79. Across the Universe (rewatch- needed to watch Jim Sturgess)
80. The Future
81. Crazy, Stupid, Love-T
82. Woman in the Dunes
83. Limitless
84. Bye, bye birdie (I watched this, but don’t really remember it)
85. Lost years (documentary about overseas Chinese)
86. Bill and Ted’s excellent adventure (rewatch)-T
87. Battlefield Earth-T
88. Heavenly Creatures
89. Marriage of Maria Braun
90. 30 Days of Night
91. Howl
92. Watchmen (didn’t finish)
93. 50/50-T
94. Meet me in St. Louis (disliked)
95. Trucker
96. Ides of March-T
97. Attack the Block-T
98. In the heat of the night (rewatch)-T
99. A woman, a gun and a noodle shop
100. Horrible Bosses
101. Fright Night (original)
102. Rabbit Proof Fence
103. Anvil- Story of Anvil
104. Buck-T
105. Hanna
106. Documentary about horror maven Val Lewton – The Val Lewton story
107. J. Edgar-T
108. A Better Life
109. Martha Marcy May Marlene-T
110. Bad Teacher
111. The Muppets-T
112. Melancholia-T
113. The Rum Diary-T
114. Yentl
115. Elf
116. Like Crazy-T
117. The Descendants-T
118. Hugo-T
119. Beastly
120. My week with Marilyn-T
121. Friends with Benefits
122. Fright Night (remake)
123. Young Adult-T
124. Chloe
125. The Great Escape
126. Gia
127. Girl with a dragon tattoo (American version)-T
128. The Help
129. The Adjustment Bureau
130. Sherlock Holmes, Game of Shadows-T

Favourites released in 2011- (not in order)
1. Bridesmaids- This was funny and sad and I love it when the two are mixed together. It was great to see so many women on screen. I laughed out loud. I think this movie is really about female friendship and that was what it had going for it.
2. Midnight in Paris- I have to thank my friend Heather for encouraging me to see this movie. It wasn’t even on my radar until she told me what it was about. However, all she had to say was “Writer. Paris. Ernest Hemingway”. And I was sold. I thought this was one of the most charming movies that I saw in 2011. It was cute and funny and very literary.
3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2- The perfect sum up to the series. This was intense, perfectly pitched and wonderfully shot.
4. Attack the Block- This was the movie that Super 8 would have been if it had had more brains. (I actually really liked Super 8 and thought it was good) Attack the Block is the story of black kids living in the projects in London. They get attacked by aliens and have to defend themselves. Because they’re petty criminals (and black), they can’t call the police or get help and they have to rely on their own wits. They aren’t super heroes and don’t have expensive gadgets to help themselves fight aliens. This movie was really funny and fast. The action kicks in immediately. This is my sleeper hit and the one that I keep telling everyone to see. Great teenage actors and a thoughtful underlying commentary about race. I really wish more people would see this movie.
5. Project Nim- This documentary was about a really life animal experiment that happened in the 1970s. Chimpanzees were raised with humans and taught to communicate. The documentary is fascinating, and highly, highly disturbing, because we have really done a disservice to these animals. Follow this up with Rise of the Planet of the Apes and then read The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary (Andrew Westoll) and Kenneth Oppel’s “Half brother”.
6. 50/50- I loved this movie so much. It was the perfect balance of happy and sad, which is one of my favourite things, because life is happy and sad too. There’s always humour in darkness and often sadness in our happiest moments. I also love Joseph Gordon-Levitt and he was able to give a great performance as a very vulnerable young man who experiences cancer. There was a lot of truth to this movie and great supporting performances from Seth Rogen (although he’s in it a lot), Anna Kendrick and Anjelica Huston. One of my faves of the year (My only complaint- why couldn’t they just acknowledge this was shot in Vancouver. I can tell it’s Vancouver. I could see Vancouver landmarks. This bugs me. )
7. Buck- This is a documentary about a horse trainer named Buck Brannaman. Buck was abused as a child. He later started training horses by listening to them, and is known as the original Horse Whisperer. This was a beautiful and very moving story about people, horses, rehabilitation and working together. It takes place in some of the ranches of the United States, so it’s amazingly beautiful as well.
8. Hanna- I really enjoyed this movie. It had a good plot, was fast paced and I loved the humour and the way it was shot.
9. Martha Marcy May Marlene- One of the year’s most interesting movies. It’s the story of a young woman who escapes from a cult and who goes to stay with her sister. The movie, which features newcomer Elisabeth Olsen, alternates between what is happening to her in present day and what happens to her in the cult. It is a menacing and disturbing story, with brilliant acting. I also thought it was very unconventional and wasn’t what I was expecting.
10. The Descendants- I loved this movie, which was about a man struggling to build a relationship with his daughters after his wife falls into a coma. The Hawaii setting is great, and George Clooney’s performance is extremely nuanced. His relationship with the oldest daughter was one of the most interesting things about the movie to me. I thought this was a fantastic film.
11. Hugo- One of the most visually stunning movies that I saw this year. It starts slowly, but builds up. I loved the story and cried. I loved every character in this movie and thought it was brilliant. It’s the story of an orphan in a train station who discovers a secret. It’s also a love story to the movies.
12. The Muppets- I just loved this so much. I didn’t care about the plot. I just loved Amy Adams and Jason Segel and all the Muppets and they were corny and irreverent and there was dancing and singing. Yay! (I did tear up, and I did laugh)

Worst sex scene– Eight Mile
Movies that other people love that I didn’t – This is Spinal Tap, The Great Escape. Somewhere (Sofia Coppola’s most recent film starring Stephen Dorff and Elle Fanning. This was boring as hell), Full Metal Jacket, Crazy, Stupid Love, Elf, The King’s Speech (I liked it, but didn’t love it), The Help.

Worth seeing-
Reel Injun (documentary about First Nations on Film),
And the Band Played on (about discovering Aids in the 1980s),
HBO’s Grey Gardens,
Incendies,
Win Win,
X-Men First Class,
Barney’s Version,
Broadcast News,
Trouble the Water (a documentary about black people during Hurricane Katrina),
The Marriage of Maria Braun,
30 Days of Night (I really loved this, actually. I know I’m in the minority.)
Yentl
The Rum Diary
A Better Life
Gia
Fast, cheap and out of control
Gimme Shelter

Good, but sadly overlooked– Jane Eyre (with Michael Fassbender and Mia Don’t know how to spell her last name), Ondine (a mermaid movie starring Colin Farrell), Cyrus, Attack the Block, Trucker (a movie starring Michelle Monaghan as a neglectful mom, and Nathan Fillion as her lover) Trouble the Water.

Movies on DVD that I absolutely loved-
The Night of the Hunter- An old movie that inspired many horror classics. It’s about a preacher that chases down children. He has love tattooed on one hand and hate on the other. I watched this on my computer and jumped several times. It’s really scary.
Cyrus- This movie stars John C. Reilly, Marisa Tomei and Jonah Hill. John C. Reilly starts dating Marisa Tomei, who has a troublingly close relationship with her creepy son Jonah Hill, who really tries to break up the relationship. This was a funny and disturbing film, and in some ways it was really realistic.
Heavenly Creatures- This movie stars Melanie Lynskey and Kate Winslet in her first movie role. They are young Australians who strike up an intense friendship based on make-believe. They end up killing one of their mother’s (can’t remember whose), as she tries to separate them. This was based on a true story. One of the women involved in this case was the novelist Anne Perry, who appeared at the Surrey International Writers Conference this year. So it was really weird for me to read about various friends hanging out with Anne Perry at the writers’ conference.

Disappointing-
Let me in (the American remake of “Let the right one in”, one of the best vampire movies ever).
The Men who Stare at Goats (how could a movie with Ewan McGregor and George Clooney be so boring?),
It’s kind of a funny story (loved the book, disliked the movie)
Howl (about Allen Ginsberg)
A woman, a gun and a noodle shop (It turns out that I dislike the Coen brothers so much that I dislike them even in a Chinese remake. This is a Chinese remake of Blood Simple, redone by Zhang Yimou, one of my favourite Chinese directors)
J.Edgar- I thought the cast was great, but I actually fell asleep for a bit, because I didn’t care about the story.
Chloe (enough with the crazy lesbians, already)
My week with Marilyn (Michelle Williams owns this movie, and I didn’t care for much else about it)
The Help (I found this movie really badly edited and it glossed over the issues. At one point, I actually yelled “Oh, come on.” Mom and I were watching this at home. I yelled when it showed that Emma Stone had “Native Son” and “To Kill a mockingbird” on her bookshelf in her room. She was a young woman living in the South in the 1960s. Really? She was reading Native Son? As if! I also gagged when a black character was going on and on about fried chicken. Can you say racist stereotype?)
Cooking with Stella (can anyone say racist?)
Henry Poole is here
Water for Elephants

So bad it was good
Burlesque

Surprisingly better than I expected-
Morning Glory
Captain America
Pirates of the Caribbean (On Stranger Tides)
Cowboys and Aliens,
Soul Surfer (yeah, that Christian movie about the surfer who gets her arm bitten off by a shark. I loved it)
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Ides of March (you can enjoy this without knowing much about American politics)
Friends with Benefits
Fright Night (the remake)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Sherlock Holmes, Game of Shadows

Terrible or ridiculous-
No strings attached
Battlefield Earth (this was for Turkey Shoot, and was hilarious)
Beastly
The Watchmen (I turned it off and didn’t finish it)
The original Fright Night
8 Mile

Still stands up really well- The Wizard of Oz (one of my favourites),
Heathers
Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times
The Night of the Hunter
Broadcast News
Woman in the Dunes (a criterion movie about a place in Japan where sand keeps falling on the characters)
And the Band Played on
The Marriage of Maria Braun
In the Heat of the Night
Bill and Ted’s excellent adventure
Yentl
Fast, cheap and out of control
Little Big Man

Movie I liked that the critics hated-
Red Riding Hood ( all of the critics that hated it were male. This movie was made for a teenage girl. I really liked it. Make of this what you will)

Absolutely hated-
The Future (Miranda July’s movie)

Frustrated the crap out of me-
Like Crazy (I actually yelled when it finished)

Favourite male performances
The cop from Bridesmaids
-Joseph Gordon-Levitt in 50/50*
Ryan Gosling in everything I saw him in.*
John C. Reilly and Jonah Hill in Cyrus
Paul Giamatti in Barney’s Version
George Clooney in the Descendants*
Harrison Ford in Morning Glory
The kids in Super 8
The kids in Attack the Block
Armie Hammer in J. Edgar*
Jason Segel in everything I saw him in
Johnn y Depp in the Rum Diary
Giovanni Ribisi in the Rum Diary*
Eric Bana in Hanna
Ben Kingsley in Hugo
Asa Butterfield (the kid) in Hugo
Justin Timberlake in everything I saw him in
Patton Oswalt in Young Adult*
Jude Law in Sherlock Holmes
Robert Downey Jr in Sherlock Holmes
Colin Farrell in Fright Night (don’t date Colin Farrell)

Favourite female performances-
Elisabeth Olsen in “Martha Marcy May Marlene”*
The actress in Maria Braun
Chloe Moretz in both Let me in and Hugo
Drew Barrymore in Grey Gardens
Michelle Williams in Blue Valentine and My week with Marilyn *
Helena Bonham Carter in The King’s Speech
Rachel McAdams in Morning Glory
Everyone in Bridesmaids
Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey in Heavenly Creatures
Kirsten Dunst in Melancholia*
Barbra Streisand in Yentl
Saoirse Ronan in Hanna
Shailene Woodley (the daughter) in The Descendants*
Angela Jolie in Gia
Rooney Mara in the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo