My Favorite Movies of 2011

One of my favorite things to do is to go to the movies. I went to a shitload of movies this year and really enjoyed writing my little movie reviews after I got home. This year I only gave one movie a 10/10, which is my number one movie on the list. (Check it out below...) The five movies that I gave the lowest scores to were Sucker Punch, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, Breaking Dawn Part 1, The Rum Diary, and Your Highness. Anyways...here is my list of the 10 movies that I enjoyed the most in the year 2011.

10. The Muppets

This movie was totally cheesy, but I loved it anyway. I've always loved The Muppets and this movie just put me in a really good mood. When ever I leave the theater after seeing a movie that I really like I end up walking on sunshine all the way home, and that was definitely the case with this movie. It was made even better by having the always adorable Jason Segel. I was bummed that I didn't get to see this movie with my little sisters, but they probably already know all the words to Man or Muppet because that song was stuck in my head all through Christmas break so I was singing it all the time.



9. Like Crazy

This movie stars Anton Yelchin and Felicity Jones as two young people who try to make a long distance relationship work after the girl overstays her visa and is no longer allowed in the United States. This movie has lots of really cute and sweet parts, but also a lot of parts that are really sad. They have to deal with jealousy, breaking up and then missing eachother and getting back together and trying to lift the ban on her visa while they are both leading really separate lives in their different countries.



8. Fright Night

This movie really surprised me. I love the original Fright Night, so I was really curious about how they would update the movie (since the old one is VERY 80s). I think that Colin Farrell makes a very sexy vampire, and I liked the way they changed the character of Peter Vincent. He went from old school vampire hunter in the original to a Criss Angel-type magician in this one. I just think that this movie is really fun to watch.



7. Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil

This was definitely one of the funniest movies that I saw in 2011. It is about these two rednecks who this group of college students think are serial killers. In reality, they are just on vacation while the students accidentally kill themselves one by one. I just love it because you see so many movies like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre where this group of kids get murdered by random rednecks who live in the middle of nowhere, and this movie is a comment on those.



6. Young Adult

I absolutely love Charlize Theron and I think that she was amazing in this movie. She plays a YA novel writer who goes back to her hometown to try to get back together with her ex-boyfriend (who is married with a new baby). The best scenes in the movie were definitely the scenes with Theron and Patton Oswalt, who plays a guy she never really talked to in high school, but confides in about her mission to get her ex back.



5. Jane Eyre

I loved this book so I was super excited when I saw that this movie was coming out. I think that the casting for this movie was perfect and that Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender were both really great as Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester. In the book Mr. Rochester is described as unattractive, so casting Fassbender wasn't staying true to the novel, but I really don't care! Fassbender is soooo sexy as Mr. Rochester and he is definitely the best part of this movie.



4. Rise of the Planet of the Apes

I never thought that a CGI monkey would make me cry, but when Caesar draws his window on the wall it just got to me! Anyways, I always think that prequels are a rediculous idea, but Planet of the Apes was a good movie to make a prequel to since it takes place after so much has happened. It was really cool to see the beginning of how apes take over the Earth. While I love me some James Franco, the real star of this movie is Andy Serkis as Caesar. You see him become more and more human as the film progresses and (SPOILER ALERT!) when he finally talks it is NUTS! I just love how I can watch a whole movie of apes talking and think nothing of it, but when he shouted NO! I just went "WHHAAATTTTT!?!?!?!"


3. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

I know that a lot of people were really annoyed about an American movie version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, but I was always super excited. Although I love Noomi Rapace and thought that she was great as Lisbeth Salander, I just did not care at all for the Swedish films. I think that Daniel Craig was the perfect choice to play Blomkvist and that Rooney Mara did an amazing job as Lisbeth. It also has one of the coolest opening sequences ever! I really hope that David Fincher directs the movie versions of the next two books as well.



2. X-Men First Class

There were a shitload of superhero movies that came out in 2011, and X-Men First Class was by far my favorite! I thought that the casting was perfect for all of the characters with the exception of January Jones as Emma Frost (I'm sorry I just don't like her). The star of the movie was definitely Michael Fassbender as Magneto and I'm not just saying that because I love Michael Fassbender. Magneto is one of the more interesting X-Men characters and he is just a badass in this movie! I am bummed because I can't find a Youtube video of that scene where he kills those German guys in Argentina...Whatever...here is another cool scene. I loved the parts with Magneto and Mystique and am hoping that we see lots more of them in the sequel!


1. Bridesmaids

Fooking hilarious! I saw this movie in theaters with my mom and we were both laughing our asses off the entire time! I thought that the entire cast was brilliant, even the people with smaller parts. This is one of the funniest movies to come out in a long time. I laughed my ass off the first time I saw it, laughed my ass off again when I saw it at the movie theater in Coffman with a full crowd of people, and continue to laugh my ass off whenever I watch it on DVD. Love this movie!

My Review: Bridesmaids

This movie was funny as hell!!! I saw this last night with my mom, and we were both pretty much pissing ourselves over this movie. It has absolutely hilarious performances from Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, and Maya Rudolph as the bride to be. Rose Byrne is great as the antagonist to Wiig's protagonist, and is spending the whole movie trying to steal her best friend. There wasn't a single scene in this movie that didn't have me laughing my ass off or screaming out in disgust (while also laughing). I just love Kristen Wiig! I've always loved her on SNL, and she was hilarious in films like Knocked Up and Paul. It is awesome to see her get her own movie, and especially one as great as this. I also have to give props to Melissa McCarthy, who I have always loved as cheery Sookie St. James on Gilmore Girls, who gives an absolutely fearless performance here. Who knew the chef of the Dragonfly Inn was so hilarious? I also loved the scenes with Wiig and Chris O'Dowd who plays her love interest. I thought the two of them were just cute together. Jon Hamm was also great as her douchebag fuckbuddy. My one complaint is that I wish Ellie Kemper and Wendi McLendon-Covey had more scenes because they were both hilarious too in what scenes they had. Anyways, this is definitely a movie to see with all of your girlfriends, or just anybody and everybody. Kristen Wiig's penis impression alone is worth the press of admission. My rating: 10/10

My Review: Paul

I was originally going to see Insidious today, but I decided to go see Paul instead because it was its last day in the theater I go to. I am really glad that I did because I really enjoyed this movie. I loved Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, so figured this one would be good too and I was right. Paul is about two nerds who, after going to Comic Con, decide to take a road trip to all the UFO-related sights in the US. Along the way they meet Paul, and alien who is voiced by Seth Rogan. Paul is on the run from the government because they want to cut out his brain, and he needs Simon Pegg and Nick Frost to help him get back home. This movie has a great cast along with Pegg, Frost, and Rogan that includes Kristen Wiig, Sigourney Weaver, Jason Bateman, Bill Hader, and Blythe Danner. This movie is also hilarious! It has references to several sci fi classics like Star Wars ("boring conversation anyway..."), Aliens ("get away from her you bitch!"), E.T., Predator, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and The X-Files. Even if you're not a big sci fi fan, I still think that you will find this movie hilarious. There were only two other people in the theater besides me, and we were all laughing our asses off. While it is a little strange to hear Seth Rogan's deep voice coming out of that little alien, I think that Rogan does a great job with his voice work. Pegg, Frost, and Wiig are always really funny, and Weaver, Bateman, and Hader are also great as the antagonistic government agents.   
One thing that I thought was really cool in this movie was that it has some Daniel Clowes references. As you can see in the poster, Simon Pegg wears an Eightball t-shirt for a good portion of the film. Also, you see this comic book a few times in the film called Encounter Briefs. I've never heard of it before, but I recognized that it was Clowes' style of drawing. I guess it is a fictional series that Clowes made especially for the film to be used as a prop.

My rating: 8/10