THE BEST FILMS OF 2011

2011 has been a fantastic year for film. At the end of the year, I often look back at the movies I've seen and attempt (usually fairly easily) to rank them. However, this year, I had numerous difficulties in ranking the films of 2011, and that's for two reasons:

     1. I've seen 75 movies. 
     2. A lot of them were really, really good.

In the spirit of the great year in film, here are my honorable mentions that were all just on the cusp of cracking the top ten...in alphabetical order:

50/50
Another Earth
Attack the Block
Beginners
Bridesmaids
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Melancholia
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
Source Code


Also as a side note, here are the films I still have yet to see from 2011 that could possibly make its way onto this list in the future:

We Need to Talk About Kevin
Take Shelter
Bellflower
A Separation
The Skin I Live In
Margaret

Moving on to my top ten of 2011...

10. Certified Copy

Certified Copy came out of nowhere for me. On paper it sounds like the most simple story, but in execution, it is far from "simple". The film initially poses the question: In regards to art, if the copy of an original makes one feel the same emotional response, is its value truly lessened? After this question is posed, we see a man and a woman (seemingly strangers) go out for an entire day. As their day progresses, you as the audience start to question their own relationship and their own situation with one another. It's a film with no real answers, but it's one that left me with a lot of intriguing questions to ask myself. It feels like Before Sunrise had a baby with any Ingmar Bergman film. In a nutshell, it's so, so good. The final moments of the bells ringing are open-ended perfection.

9. Winnie the Pooh

Hands down the best animated film of the year. Winnie the Pooh is an instant classic. The film captures what being a kid truly feels like and is filled with laughs, inventive story telling, delightful characters, and wonderful songs. This is a film that I cannot wait to show my children in the future. Silly ol' bear.

8. The Artist

The Artist is truly a piece of art. A silent film made in 2011 that never feels like a gimmick. The directing, the performances, the cinematography, the score: it all works so beautifully. The use of a single  title card with a single word absolutely floored me. One of the best times I had at the movies this year. When the end credits hit, I couldn't help but cheer.

7. Meek's Cutoff

Meek's Cutoff is most certainly not a film for everyone. It's slow, there's very little dialogue, "not a lot happens", and it has an immensely open-ended conclusion. For me though, all of those reasons are what make Meek's Cutoff one of the best films of 2011. Michelle Williams and Bruce Greenwood provide stellar performances and Kelly Reichardt directs with such subtlety and grace. Reichardt realizes that you can tell more by saying nothing and it's a truly amazing feat. And just wait for the final scene. You're either going to hate it, or love it. For me, it was the latter.

6. Martha Marcy May Marlene

"I am a teacher and a leader." -Martha

Words I would use to describe Martha Marcy May Marlene: haunting, elegant, beautiful, creepy, stunning, magnificent, brilliant, horrific, and subtle. The way in which first time writer/director Sean Durkin tells this story truly puts the audience in the shoes of Martha as she wrestles with dealing with life after being a part of a cult. Every element of the story blends together so incredibly well. Elizabeth Olsen is fantastic and John Hawkes, as always, is phenomenal. The final moment of this film is one I haven't been able to shake from my mind and is still so very haunting.

5. The Future

The Future is the one film that came out in 2011 that truly spoke to me. The film dissects a relationship, provides an intimate character study and asks us why in this day in age, we all feel like our lives are coming to an end much faster than they actually are. With only two films under her belt, Miranda July is a brilliant filmmaker. In The Future she balances the serious with the surreal oh so very well. It's a film that may be a tad to bizarre for some (case in point: a cat is the narrator), but for me, it's insightful, intelligent, and an absolute marvel to behold. Miranda July: I want to give you a big ol' hug.

4. The Descendants

The Descendants is a film that I'm convinced only Alexander Payne could've made. The initial premise of a wife involved in a terrible accident and the husband who must bring his family together could have been incredibly "one note". Payne takes The Descendants in so many realistic directions that it truly allows you to feel for George Clooney's Matt and experience life with these characters against the beautiful backdrop of Hawaii. This film walks the fine line between drama and comedy and pulls every scene off so well. The final moment of this film of Matt and his two daughters watching March of the Penguins together on the couch is so beautiful, touching, and kind. It's a moment that is so understated and so simple that you just might miss it.

3. The Tree of Life

The Tree of Life is a gorgeous piece of filmmaking. Every moment, every scene, every frame of this film could be a beautiful painting you could hang on a wall. The film for me, worked on a visceral, emotional level that captivated me from frame one and by the end, left chills that went down my spine at the sight of a bird swooping down towards a bridge over water. Why did that moment give me chills? What does Malick's vision all mean? Is having fifteen minutes on the creation of life necessary? I don't know. But I do know that this film is a stunning piece of art that will go down in history as one of the greats. Bravo, Terrance Malick. Bravo.

2. Drive

"A real human being, and a real hero." -College featuring Electric Youth

Holy shit. Those were the words I uttered silently to myself as Drive cut to the end credits. In a different director's hands, Drive could've easily been just another action movie. In the hands of Nicolas Winding Refn, Drive is artful, thought provoking, utterly intense, and left me in awe. Ryan Gosling is perfect in the role of Driver as a quiet man who is perpetually on the verge of psychotic. It's a film I can see myself watching over and over and constantly finding new moments and new scenes to bask in their stunning glory. Oh, I almost forgot to mention: it's really, really, really fucking cool.

1. Shame

There are certain films out there that can completely shake you to the core. They can act as not only a brilliant piece of art but as a film that truly makes you feel as if you experienced everything on screen. Requiem for a Dream instantly comes to mind. When that film ended, my heart would not stop pounding and I felt borderline catatonic; in some sort of shock from what I just went through.

Steve McQueen's Shame is a film that left me emotionally exhausted by the time the final images of Michael Fassbender's Brandon were on screen. It's the most assured film I've seen in years: every shot, every acting nuance, every scene, every beat, and every choice was fully realized. It knew exactly what to do and how to do it. If a scene feels like it may go on for about ten seconds to long, there's a reason. If McQueen shoots an entire first date sequence in a single shot, there's a reason, If Fassbender appears as if he's dead in the opening moments of the film, there's definitely a reason. The moment McQueen cuts to Fassbender's face during the "New York, New York" scene at the nightclub: perfection.


Shame is an incredibly difficult film to watch, but for me, it's also the best film of 2011. Like Requiem for a Dream, it's not a film I enjoyed watching, but it's one I deeply admire for its painful honesty and utter brilliance. It knocked me out.

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS - Review

As fifth installments in any franchise goes, X-Men: First Class is some sort of gift, gracefully dropped from the heavens. As a stand-alone movie, it's still pretty good.

X-Men: First Class tells the story of how a young Professor X met a young Magneto (Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr respectively) back when they were just 30-somethings with amazing mutations. The story takes place in the 1960's amidst the back drop of the Cuban Missile Crisis and illustrates the origins of not only Professor X and Magneto but many other young adults who feel, as the film puts it, different. We've got Beast, Mystique, Darwin (such an appropriate name), Havok, Banshee, and Rose Byrne as a CIA agent who still follows these mutants around for reasons that escape me.

Of course, what would a superhero movie be without a few villains. Kevin Bacon plays Sebastian Shaw as the delightfully cruel man who forces a very young Erik to witness something no boy should ever have to see. There's the shimmering, sparkling, and sexy Emma Frost, played by Mad Men's January Jones, who seems to have a super power that a swift swing of an aluminum bat could take care of. You see, these mutants want to take over the world and use their power for evil. Charles Xavier wants to use his powers to help mankind. Now you're seeing the dilemma.

There are some astounding scenes in X-Men: First Class, especially towards the first half of the film. Director Matthew Vaughn, who brought us last year's Kick Ass, applies a simple camera shot change in an early scene involving the aforementioned Sebastian Sha, a young Erik Lehnsherr, and a room with a lot of metal that sent shivers down my spine. Another involving Michael Fassbender's never ending quest to track down Shaw and any Nazi who stands in his way at a bar in Argentina, seemed to successfully channel feelings I had during Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds and is simply divine (as is Fassbender).

Other scenes in the film feel like "standard fare" for a film trying to tackle so many issues. There's the montage of the future X-Men training before the big battle and learning how to hone their powers (complete with three-way split screens). There's the scene where all of the "kids" of the mutant group giggle and come up with nicknames for each other while showing off their super powers. Then, there's the whole Cuban Missile Crisis, CIA, what is right and what is wrong business.

The problem with X-Men First Class is that there's simply not enough time to tackle everything that it wants to say. It wants to be an origin movie. It wants to have some serious issues set against a 1960's political backdrop. It wants to tell you that you shouldn't have to hide who you truly are. It wants to be a huge character study between Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr. It wants to be a "smart superhero" film but still has "dumb superhero" lines like my personal favorite: Mutant and proud.

For all of this though, I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy the 132 minutes (well, maybe it should've been more like 100 minutes) of X-Men fun. It's a very entertaining summer blockbuster and is honestly far superior to other superhero fare of recent memory like Thor and Iron Man 2.
See it for Fassbender: what an amazing screen presence.

Final Rating: 3.5/5

Side note: Hey, movie trailers. Can you not give away every single bad-ass scene of a movie next time? I would've loved for the missiles firing at the beach, the submarine being lifted out of the water, Banshee flying across the water using sound waves, or the "peace was never an option" line to be a surprise. Just saying.

The Ten Best Albums of 2010

I realize that this website is in fact called "Films With Fenn" and yet, this is a top ten list of best ALBUMS of 2010. Deal with it.

10. Eminem - "Recovery"

Favorite Songs: 
"Cold Wind Blows", "Won't Back Down (feat. Pink)", and "No Love (feat. Lil Wayne)"
Favorite Lyrics: 
"Cold hearted from the day I Bogarted the game, my soul started to rot, fellow//
When I'm not even in my harshest you could still get roasted 'cuz Marsh is not mellow"


9. Bad Books - "Bad Books"

Favorite Songs:
"Meza, AZ", "Texas", and "Baby Shoes"
Favorite Lyrics:
"I am a towel that is soaked to the core
Heavier now than it's gotten before
And something inside of me needs more and more
Sooner than later, never no more"


8. Bo Burnham - "Words Words Words"

Favorite Songs:
"Words Words Words", "Art is Dead", and "What's Funny"
Favorite Lyrics:
"Entertainers like to seem complicated but we're not complicated I can explain it pretty easily
Have you ever been to a birthday party for children and one of the children won't stop screamin', 
'Cuz he's just a little attention attractor, when he grows up to be a comic or actor
He'll be rewarded for never maturing, for never understanding or learning
That every day can't be about him, there's other people you selfish asshole"


7. Born Ruffians - "Say It"

Favorite Songs:
"What To Say", "Come Back", and "Nova Leigh"
Favorite Lyrics:"I missed you in March, I missed you in November
I missed you on my birthday which I know you don't remember"


6. Hellogoodbye - "Would It Kill You?"

Favorite Songs:
"The Thoughts That Give Me The Creeps", "Betrayed By Bones", and "When We First Met"
Favorite Lyrics:
"Sometimes my mind could tell my heart that 'yes' is 'no'
Like sometimes I might wake up old and all alone
Oh no, what if I never knew your name?
Oh my God, the thought's insane
What if your love is not the same as it seems inside my brain?
What if you're not really in my sheets?
Oh, just the thought gives me the creeps"


5. Childish Gambino - "Culdesac"

Favorite Songs:
"Difference", "I Be On That", and "The Last"
Favorite Lyrics:
"Salad backstage, I just wanna eat alone,
Crowd at my shows more mixed than Rashida Jones,
Haters say I'm changing, but I haven't changed at all
Indie kids saying that I ruined all their favorite songs,
Hood niggas sayin' that I'm whiter than that Colgate,
Hating on my progress, I'm a long ways from 'Bro Rape'"
AND
"Bring your girl around and let me show her how her body work
She like me 'cuz my wallet's fat, it should wear a Hawaiian shirt"


4. Kanye West - "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy"

Favorite Songs:
"Dark Fantasy", "So Appalled", "Runaway"
Favorite Lyrics:
Too many to list but here's one:
"Look like a fat booty Celine Dion
Sex is on fire, I'm the king of Leona Lewis, beyond the truest
Hey teacher, teacher tell me how do you respond to students
And refresh the page and restart the memory
Respark the soul and rebuild the energy?
We stopped the ignorance, we killed the enemies
Sorry for the night demons that still visit me"


3. The Wonder Year - "The Upsides"

Favorite Songs:
"Logan Circle", "This Party Sucks", "All My Friends Are In Bar Bands"
Favorite Lyrics:
"Say, say you'll stay in with me today, say, say you'll stay
'Cuz you won't find me at the North Jersey club scene with the Girls Gone Wild B-Team
I don't need to pump my fists to look sweet"


2. Kate Nash - "My Best Friend Is You"

Favorite Songs:
"I Hate Seagulls" (possibly one of the greatest love songs I've ever heard), "Don't You Want To Share The Guilt?", "Kiss That Grrrl"
Favorite Lyrics:
"And I am fine 'cause you're with me and I'm in love with you
And I can't find the words to make it sound unique
But honestly, you make me strong 
I can't believe I found someone this kind
I hope we carry on 'cause you're so nice and I'm in love with you"


1. Vampire Weekend - "Contra"

Favorite Songs: 
"I Think Ur A Contra", "White Sky", "California English"
Favorite Lyrics:
"You wanted good schools and friends with pools
You're not a contra
You wanted rock'n'roll, complete control
Well, I don't know
Never pick sides, never choose between two
But I just wanted you, I just wanted you"

ENTER THE VOID - Review

Gaspar Noé's new film Enter the Void is something more than a movie; it's an experience. The film was originally 163 minutes long when screened at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and was then cut down to 137 minutes when released in the U.S. and runs at 24 frames per second. The film was distributed to American theaters, as well as theaters in the UK, without reel seven of nine. Noé describes the exclusion of the reel as not essential to understanding the film and describes the missing footage as "some astro-visions, an orgy scene with Linda and the Japanese girl, the scene where you see [Oscar] waking up at the morgue and he thinks he's alive but he's not, and then the camera goes down the plughole where she's tipping his ashes." So, what does this all mean? I don't know. But, I do know that Enter the Void is wild, inventive, original, slightly overindulgent, and incredibly effective.

The film opens with a two and a half minute credit sequence that flies by its audience with techno-beats and flashing lights that are done so intensely, the theater I saw it at actually warned people with epilepsy that they may have seizures. Enter the Void tells the story of Oscar, a twenty-something drug dealer living in Tokyo who gets shot by police in a public bathroom after a drug deal gone wrong. Being recently obsessed with the Tibetan Book of the Dead, Oscar spends the rest of the film (possibly) experiencing the same theories found in that very book. He relives memories from his past, floats over the city of Tokyo as if he were some sort of a lost soul, and visualizes the things that occur after his death. 

Through this sequence of events, Noé puts the movie together in a unique three act structure. The first act, before Oscar's death, is shown entirely through a point-of-view shot, complete with blinks and visions of what it would be like taking hallucinogens. After Oscar is shot, the film follows Oscar's mind and memories through sporadic, over-the-shoulder shots of Oscar as a youth and as an adult and allows the audience to truly gain the core plot of Oscar and his relationship with his sister, Linda. Finally, Noé showcases the events following Oscar's death through seamless, "flying", overhead shots of Tokyo that glide gracefully from building to building. 

If it sounds like I'm giving the entire movie away, I am not. Nothing could prepare you for what you see in Enter the Void. It's a film that is very much an "experience" and one that shook me to my core upon first viewing. I felt strange just being in my own body about thirty minutes after the words "THE VOID" appeared in black lettering on the screen. 

Enter the Void is not a film for everyone. It's a movie that defines "film as an art-form" in every sense of the word. Gaspar Noé has a vision throughout the entire movie but the question remains if its a vision an audience would actually want to sit through. For me, if a filmmaker can make their audience dwell on the film long after its end credits, cause an emotional response to the material, and have people taking on an intellectual level as to how or why the movie does what it does, it's truly achieved something.

Enter the Void is inventive, depressing, disturbing, compelling, and by the end, slightly profound. The film itself does go on for a bit too long and by the end of the film, you'd be hard pressed not to squirm in your seat waiting for the (very literal) climax of the movie. However, maybe that's the point of Enter the Void. Yes, some may say it's a little too long and yes, some may say Noé simply shocks his audience just to shock his audience by lingering on a crying child after a disturbing car accident or by displaying ten minute long, explicitly shot, sex scenes through a floating soul's perspective, but by the end, maybe that's the point. The film is emotionally, physically, and visually draining and by the conclusion, you feel as if you have taken an cyclical journey from life to death and death back to life. 

Enter the Void is a film that displays how truly dark, cold, and horrible the world could be, but simultaneously juxtaposes the screaming possibility of a future that life could provide. It's a film I won't be able to shake from my mind in quite sometime. 


-Aaron Fenn-
Final Rating: 4/5 

MACHETE - Review

It makes me sad to think that there are people out there who actually thought that Piranha 3D was the definition of campy, gory fun. To those people I say (1) rent Dead Alive and (2) go see Machete.

Robert Rodriguez's trailer-to-movie adaptation of Machete consists of a very simple plot. Machete, played by Danny Trejo, is an ex-Federalli who is promised $150,000 if he assassinates a racist governor (played with a brilliant fake accent by Robert DeNiro) at one of his political rallies. Trouble arises however when Machete is (go ahead, say it with me in that "bad Grindhouse voiceover") double-crossed and left for dead.  When Machete wakes up in the hospital, he does the only logical thing he could possibly think of: rip out a bad guy's large intestines, use it to swing down to the next floor, escape, and seek bloody, gory vengeance.

Machete is a film that knows exactly what it is: blood-soaked, violent, exploitive, hysterical, B-movie fun. Within the first five minutes the audience is treated to Machete implementing one of the most "make sure he's dead" ways of decapitating someone as well as a nude woman illustrating one of the most inventive places to hide a cell-phone (hint: it's in her vagina). The film is constantly pushing the R-rating and allowing the audience to sit back and enjoy the campy feel, tone, and even soundtrack throughout the entire movie.

The performances in the film are immensely satisfying as well with Danny Trejo (one of the only actors who actually looks like he may have murdered someone in real life) stealing the show with his tough-guy demeanor and hilarious one-liners. The ladies of Machete are also photographed in the best light possible and Rodriguez honestly makes Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez, and Lindsay Lohan sexier than I've ever seen any of them before.

Even though Machete delivers on its promise of ridiculous, over-the-top action sequences, the film slightly overstays its welcome and ends up having one too many scenes of, what I will call, dialogue that no one in the audience actually cares about. There are a few too many scenes that attempt to comment on immigration in the United States when those types of conversation should be saved for a different film.

The problems in Machete, however, are unbelievably minor and whether its watching Jessica Alba shouting an empowered speech about how "we didn't cross the border, the border crossed us!" or seeing Machete create a whip out of a hospital's scalpels on a key ring, Machete delivers on a bloody, amusing promise of a good time. And again, if you thought Piranha 3D was the definition of "B-movie done right", I implore you to see Machete to realize that that film was missing...then rent Dead Alive.


-Aaron Fenn-
Written on September 7, 2010
Final Rating: 3.5/5

TOY STORY 3 - Review

If I had to name the one thing consistently good in cinema within the last fifteen years, one word would come to mind: Pixar. Ever since their first feature film Toy Story the studio has cranked out not only hit after hit, but (dare I say) masterpiece after masterpiece. Even some of their "lesser" entries such as Cars are still better or just as good as almost any other animated film on the market. With Toy Story 3, Pixar has broken yet another barrier in the entire genre of film; they have created a third film in a trilogy that actually holds up to the masterful first two entries. Francis Ford Coppola can't even say he's done that, but I digress.

Toy Story 3 picks up eleven years from where the second film left off. Andy is now 17 and heading off to college. Like with most 17 year olds, Andy hasn't had much time for his toys in his high school years. Woody, Buzz, and the whole gang live inside of his toy box just waiting to be "played with" once again.

As Andy is packing up for college, he throws Woody in a box marked "college" and the rest of the toys in a bag meant for the attic. However, through one mishap or another, Andy's mother accidentally mistakes it for trash and attempts to leave it on the curb with the rest of the garbage. Through another series of mishaps, the toys end up breaking out with Sheriff Woody and end up at a children's day care known as Sunnyside. The catch? This day care is anything but "sunny".

Sunnyside Day Care turns out to be more like a prison with the cute, cuddly on the outside (incredibly villainous on the inside) Lots-O-Huggin' Bear running the show. Woody and his gang realize they have to do one thing: get back home to Andy. What ensues is a "prison film" of sorts and becomes one incredibly heartfelt, extremely funny, action-packed adventure that turns out to be one of the best films of the year.

Toy Story 3 starts off on the right foot. The opening sequence (which is a subtle throwback to the first film), involving Andy's imagination of Woody rescuing a train full of orphans from One-Eyed-Bart (aka Mr. Potato Head), is more thrilling, exciting, and completely engaging than almost any other action film I've seen this year.

The comedy in this third installment is also incredibly sharp and seems to be funnier than the previous two films. Moments involving Buzz Lightyear being reset into "Spanish mode" as well as a bit involving Mr. Potato Head using a tortilla to walk around without his plastic potato body are absolutely hysterical.

Finally, Toy Story 3 is not only incredibly emotional but much darker than the other two films as well. Being the final film in the franchise, it wants to say "goodbye" the right way, and indeed it does. Some of the greatest, most profound moments from any Pixar film has come from the story simply unfolding on screen without any dialogue being uttered. Wall-E and Up, anyone? By the end of Toy Story 3, an incredibly emotional scene involving the toys all joining hands had this particular critic on the verge of tears. One of the final scenes of the film involving a simple hesitant facial expression from Andy delivers more realism and genuine sadness than most films dare to achieve.

While Toy Story 3 is not necessarily a perfect film, with its lack of small character moments that the first two had as well as a slightly by-the-book first half, it still is one of the best films of the year and just as marvelous and stunning as its predecessors. It hurts to say goodbye, but Pixar knows just the right way to do it. Toy Story 3 fits perfectly as a bookend to a series of the greatest animated films ever made.

Goodbye, Woody. You're my favorite deputy.

Final Rating: 4.5/5
-Aaron Fenn-
Originally written on June 19, 2010

P.S. Pixar's new short "Night and Day" is absolutely brilliant.

THE A-TEAM - Review

Here are some adjectives that could be used to describe the newly adapted film version of The A-Team: big, loud, obnoxious, ridiculous, over-the-top, nonsensical, and downright absurd. To be honest, in the right hands, those adjectives could make for some pretty amazing, fun entertainment, but in the case of this particular movie, it all adds up to an action movie that panders to its own stupidity.

The A-Team's plot seems simple enough on the surface. The team headed by Cooper, Copley, "Rampage" Jackson, and Neeson are set-up, double crossed, and thrown in prison. They then proceed to break out of their jail cells and seek revenge on the man (or is it men?) who put them there.

In addition, the film also involves numerous baffling plot points involving some sort of plated currency in briefcases, lessons from Gandhi, and a romantic subplot between Bradley Cooper and Jessica Biel's characters that are all equally confusing.

In all honesty, The A-Team isn't that bad for the first thirty to forty minutes. It delivers on its promise of featuring ridiculous action sequences (my favorite involving the team flying a tank through the air by using the old physics adage, "every action has an equal and opposite reaction") and humorous dialogue mostly provided by District 9's Sharlto Copley.

However, The A-Team pulls off its most mind-boggling plan in the final act and actually attempts to have some sort of intelligent plot points and character development moments that fall completely flat. In a film that features a helicopter doing barrel rolls and Liam Neeson's Hannibal punching his way out of an incinerator, intelligence should be checked in at the door.

The final "plan" of the film involving a symbolic use of the magic trick with one ball and three cups attempts to be immensely clever, but ends up feeling like an old party trick that you wish was just kept in its box.

The A-Team is a big, loud, dumb action movie, and while those three words could be incredibly complimentary, the film ends up being an insult and crashes and burns in its attempts to be anything more than that cigar that Hannibal puffs on throughout the film; all smoke with very little fire.

Final Rating: 2/5

-Aaron Fenn-
Originally written on June 16, 2010