For the films of 2010, I posted a best and worst list for
all the films I had seen at that time [see: THE BEST AND WORST GENRE MOVIES OF2010]. This year I decided to wait until I had a chance to see almost all the
Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror films from 2011, which meant waiting to
watch the films I missed seeing at the theater and watching them on Blu-ray
video disc at home. I have finally
watched all the genre films I had planned on watching and have only not watched
those that I never intended to watch at all. I counted sixty genre films
released to theaters or direct to video/on demand last year. Of those, I
watched forty-three of them; eleven at the theater and thirty-two on Blu-ray video
disc at home. The remaining seventeen genre films that I did not see were for a
variety of reasons, but mostly because I knew I would not like them or just had
no interest in the subject matter.
I will not be breaking them down into sub-genre categories
as I did for the films of 2010, but instead I will just divide them up into
three separate categories based on quality: THE PARAMOUNT (films that I rated
from 100 to 85), THE PEDESTRIAN (films that I rated from 84 to 70) and THE
PUTRID (films that I rated from 69 to 50). By my grading system, which I incorporated
this year, a film can do no worse than a 50 – which I regard as a complete
failure. Whereas a film can do no better than a 100, which would be a perfect
film – something I doubt I will ever see. My grading system is dived into ten categories,
which I then assign a grade of 5 (poorest) to 10 (best) for each. The categories
are divided into two sub headings: Technical – which I use to intellectualize a
film purely on its merits based on technique and Visceral – which are my
emotional responses to a film based on its artistic merits. I break down the
Technical heading into five subheadings: Acting, Directing, Cinematography, Script
and Special Effects. I break down the Visceral heading into five subheadings:
Visual, Auditory, Intellectual, Emotional and Involvement. I’ve been using this
system for some time for my own purposes, because I find it keeps me from
reacting to a film too viscerally on initial viewings of films I really like,
and over-intellectualizing films on initial viewings that I don’t enjoy. I will
list the overall grade for each film and give a brief explanation of the films
that I have not reviewed previously on this blog.
THE PARAMOUNT
Super 8 – 96 SUPER 8 – 2011 – SUPER HUMANIST SCIENCE FICTION
Captain America: The First Avenger – 95 CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER – 2011 – A FIRST RATE ADVENTURE!
Cowboys and Aliens – 94 COWBOYS & ALIENS – 2011 – A SATISFYING WESTERN SCI-FI MÉLANGE
Sherlock Holmes: Game of Thrones – 93 SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS (2011)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 – 93
A very satisfying conclusion to a consistently
excellent fantasy series!
Midnight In Paris – 92
Difficult to rate as a fantasy
film – which it is – but a deeply rooted time-fixated film that pulls you in.
Attack the Block – 91 ATTACK THE BLOCK (2011) INNER CITY KIDS KICK OUTER SPACE ALIEN ASS!
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides – 89 PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES - 2011 - A VOYAGE WORTH TAKING!
Transformers: the Dark of the Moon – 89
The ultimate guiltily pleasure film that makes
the twelve-year-old in me jump up and shout, “Wicked cool!”
The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn – 89
Beautiful, yet sometimes disturbing, animation
that perfectly captures the magic of Hergé’s comics.
Sucker Punch – 88 SUCKER PUNCH – 2011 – OR SUCKER PUNCHED?
Fright Night – 88 FRIGHT NIGHT - 2011 - A FRIGHTFULLY FUN REMAKE!
Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol – 88
Just a great escapist adventure, shot in a fantastic
dizzying style!
Drive Angry – 87 DRIVE ANGRY – 2011 – TEN REASONS WHY DRIVE ANGRY IS WORTH A SPIN!
Source Code – 87
The premise is fascinating and the characters draw you in enough
not to question the logic too much.
The Darkest Hour – 86 THE DARKEST HOUR – 2011 – AN ESCAPIST ALIEN INVASION
X-Men: First Class – 86
A beautiful looking, well-acted take on the
first X-Men, but ultimately it stills feels a little too familiar.
Hugo – 86
An
amazing visual achievement that is somewhat hampered by a convoluted and sentimental
story.
Scream 4 – 85
I still think Wes Craven is one of the best
horror directors alive and this is his best film franchise. Scream still
works as a satire of the slasher and horror genre in general.
THE PEDESTRIAN
Battle Los Angeles – 84 BATTLE: LOS ANGELES - 2011 - SCIENCE FICTION AT WAR!
Phase 7 – 84 PHASE 7 (2011) A PERSONALIZED PANDEMIC PICTURE
The Green Lantern – 84
A wonderful visual presentation of space-operatic super-heroics marred
by underdeveloped characters.
The Adjustment Bureau – 83
An unrealistic premise that is well executed,
but is unfortunately still mostly a muddled mess.
Limitless – 83
An
interesting idea that is taken to an illogical and somewhat pedestrian
conclusion.
The Skin I Live In – 83
Gorgeous cinema photography hides the hideous misdeeds
of the main character, until the conclusion that I found too predictable.
Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World - 82 SPY KIDS: ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD IN 4D (2011)
Rise of the Planet of the Apes – 81 RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (2011) APES RISE TOO HIGH OVER HUMANS
I Am Number Four – 80
A fun film overall, but just lacking in any
real depth of character or emotion.
The Ward - 80
I love John Carpenter’s style of filmmaking,
but the story of this one just isn’t complex enough to carry a feature film;
plus the horror element felt forced at best.
Trollhunter – 79 Fantastic special effects, wonderfully added
to the handheld-footage cannot make up for a lack of interesting characters or
story; it also could have benefited from some more humor.
In Time – 77 IN TIME (2011) IS TOO TIMELESS
Super – 76
A very
disturbing take on super-heroics that pushes the boundaries of dark satire into
poor taste.
The Thing – 74 THE THING – 2011 – A PALE IMITATION OF THE REAL THING
Tucker and Dale vs. Evil – 73
A funny idea for a short subject film;
unfortunately the wonderful performances of the leads cannot carry it to a
feature-length film.
Real Steel - 71 REAL STEEL - 2011 - A REAL TIME STEALER
THE PUTRID
Insidious – 69
Vissualy stunning traditional effects cannot
make up for a silly premise and a horror film that lacks any true horror.
Piranha – 69
As
dumb as it looks and it doesn’t deliver enough guiltily giggles as it should
have.
Immortals – 69
A stunning
painting come to life. The story and characters are unfortunately uninteresting
and unimaginative.
Priest – 68
A fun
mess, that should have worked out a better story, but unfortunately spent more
effort on cool looking effects and fight scenes.
Conan the Barbarian – 68
This is not Howard’s Conan and actually makes
the pervious film look competent. What a waste of a great character and fantasy
setting.
The Green Hornet – 55
Whoever gave Seth Rogan the money to write and
star in this dumb-comedic twist on a classic pulp/radio character should have
their miniscule brains removed!
The following genre films from 2011 are ones that I may
eventually watch, but will most likely not enjoy anyway, but I’ll list them
here for completion sake: Suing the Devil, Paul, Final Destination 5, Detective
Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark and Creature.
These films I will not be watching under any circumstance: The Rite, Red Riding
Hood, Beastly, Your Highness, The Tree of Life, Another Earth, Dream House, The
Human Centipede II: Full Sequence, Contagion, Paranormal Activity 3 and The
Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1. If anyone can make a convincing argument
as to why I should see any of these films, leave your comments as to why and I’ll
at least listen.
Overall I think 2011 was a better year for entertaining
genre films, if not quality films. The quantity was also bigger, so that no
doubt helped push up the averages of quality. Let me know what you think of my
list – I’m sure many will shake their heads in disbelief at some of my marks
for some films – and I’ll be glad to discuss with you in a civil manner why you
think I’m right or wrong in my choices.
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