Cinema in 2011

This is about the movies I watched or made in 2011. Not just movies released in 2011.

Partially influenced by the designer Nicholas Feltron's annual report series, but I will limit this cinema only.

I watched a total of 96 movies in 2011. That may seem a lot to some people, but I watch little television. If every movie was 2 hours long, that would be 192 total hours of media or 8 days of total movies in the last year.

According to Neilesen, the average person watches more than 34 hours of television per week, or more than 73 days of TV per year.

The movie release by year ranged from the early 1940's up to 2011, with the most watched release year 2010, followed by 2011 (obviously catching up on those releases from 2010 last year). There was also a spike of movies in the late 80's and early 90's.

There were three forms of media consumption, DVDs (including Blu-Ray), the cinema (movie theater), and one airplane ride (which is a special level of hell for cinema lovers).

Looking at genres, apparently I have passed into old age with drama and documentary contributing to more than half of the genres watched. Thriller, comedy, animated, sci-fi, horror, action, etc., contribute the rest.

Movies made:
Shorts: 3
48 Hour Projects: 2
Doc Challenge: 1
Directed: 2

I contributed to 3 shorts, all timed contests, 2 for the 48 hour, 1 for the Doc challenge. None are available online yet. All were frustrating due to all of the issues that crop up during timed contests.

Longer forms: 2
Doc in progress: 1
Shot and edited clip of haunted house walkthrough: 1

The doc is taking a long time due to unforeseen circumstances. The walkthrough was a collaborative projects intended for fans.

Machinima made: 0
Machinima festivals attended: 1

Not happy about the first, but the Machinima Expo was excellent as always.

That's the raw numbers.

I obviously cannot talk about the 'best' of 2011 as any sort of comprehensive review, as I only watched 19 movies released in 2011, however, I can talk about my favorites.

Best undiscovered country:

Certified Copy - Abbas Kiarostami - I talked about this in March.

Also:

Ivan The Terrible Part 1 Sergei Eisenstein
Ivan The Terrible Part 2 Sergei Eisenstein
Terri Azazel Jacbos

A Screaming Man Mahamat-Saleh Haroun


Best reach for the stars award that nails it:

Tree of Life - Terrence Malick - I talked about this in August.

Also:

Uncle Boonme who Can Recall His Past Lives Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Best reach for the stars award that misses:

Melancholia - Lars von Trier - discussed with a number of movies in November.

Best I want my money back award (with caveats):

A Man Called Sarge Stuart Gillard

Troll John Carl Buechler
Troll 2 Claudio Fragasso

The last two are required for Best Worst Movie below.


Best animated:


Rango - Gore Verbinski - discussed in March.

Also:

The Illusionist Sylvain Chomet - Feb.

Best video I watched that is not listed:

The External World - David O'Reilly - Feb.

A short animated film, truly bizarre.

Best Documentary:

Reurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles - Jon Foy - July.

I missed almost all of the nominees and big names in documentary this year, but this mystery was a fascinating journey.

Also:

Crumb: Doc Terry Zwigoff
Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child Tamra Davis
TheCave of Forgotten Dreams Werner Herzog
Beats, rhymes & life: the travels of a tribe called quest Michael Rapaport
Confessions of a Superhero Matthew Ogens
Deep Water Louise Osmond and Jerry Rothwell
American Movie Chris Smith
Gasland Josh Fox

Anvil: The Story of Anvil Sacha Gervasi

Best Worst Movie Michael Stephenson

The last requires viewing Troll and Troll2 which are above.

Doc I walked out of:

Nostalgia for the Light - Patricio Guzman

Just became irritated and left.

Happy, happy, joy, joy:

4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days Cristian Mungui
Jonestown: The Life and Death of People's Temple Stanley Nelson
Incendies Denis Villeneuve

Movie I watched, that was disturbing, and that I cannot get out of my mind and hope I never see again

A Film Unfinished Yael Hersonski

Also:

Dogtooth Giorgos Lanthimos
The Skin I Live In Pedro Almodovar - Nov

Movies that disgusted me:

I Saw The Devil Jee-woon Kim

Funny:

Potiche Francois Ozon

Enjoyed:

Meek's Cutoff Kelly Reichardt - May
Moon Duncan Jones
The King's Speech Tom Hooper
Le Havre Aki Kaurismaski
The Apartment Billy Wilder
Midnight in Paris Woody Allen
My Winnipeg Guy Maddin
Paths of Glory Stanley Kubric
Brideflight Ben Sombogaart
A Scanner Darkly Richard Linklater
Prince of Darkness John Carpenter

Taxi Driver Martin Scorsese
Hunt for Red October John McTiernan

Goldfinger Guy Hamilton
Kill Bill Vol 1 Quentin Tarantino

Kill Bill Vol 2 Quentin Tarantino
Moon Duncan Jones
Apollo 13 Ron Howard
Predator John McTiernan
Saboteur Alfred Hitchcock
Like Crazy Drake Doremus


The special Nicholas Winding Refn award:




Bronson Nicolas Winding Refn - Sept.
Valhalla Rising Nicolas Winding Refn - Sept.
I'm the Angel of Death: Pusher III Nicolas Winding Refn

But NOT for Drive

Horror (comedy?):

Dead Snow Tommy Wirkola - Nov
Shaun of the Dead Edgar Wright

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil Eli Craig - Nov
Bruce Campbell vs. The Army of Darkness Sam Raimi - Nov


Several best of 2011 and/or nominee lists here:


http://www.thedocumentaryblog.com/index.php/2011/12/27/the-documentary-blogs-top-20-films-of-2011/
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2011/12/the_best_documentaries_of_2011_1.html
http://www.pbs.org/pov/blog/2011/12/documentary-year-in-review-countdown-10-life-in-a-day-a-documentary-culled-from-80000-filmmakers-premieres-online/

The POV Blog has better design skills than me


The Best Documentaries of 2011 from POV.


http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31749_162-57359896-10391698/download-scripts-of-award-contenders/
http://scriptshadow.blogspot.com/2011/12/article-10-best-scripts-i-read-this.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Scriptshadow+%28ScriptShadow%29
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/movies/awardsseason/overlooked-movies-of-2011.html?_r=2
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2011/12/bridesmaids-wiig-lars-von-trier-nazi-year-review-movies-2011.html
http://mubi.com/notebook/posts/the-best-movie-posters-of-2011?utm_source=digest&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digest37
http://6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/29/the-top-10-top-10-lists-of-2011/

All Movies Watched in 2011:

Eyes Wide Shut
Paths of Glory
Killers Kiss
Crumb: Doc
The Way Back
4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days
My Winnipeg
Jonestown: The Life and Death of People's Temple
Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child
Brideflight
The Illusionist
Baraka
A Man Called Sarge
Shaun of the Dead
Close Encounters
Lessons of Darkness
The Red Shoes
Who killed the electric car
Ivan The Terrible Part 1
Ivan The Terrible Part 2
The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons
A Scanner Darkly
Rango
Terri
I Saw The Devil
Uncle Boonme who Can Recall His Past Lives
Fata Morgana
Nostalgia for the Light
Certified Copy
Incendies
Paprika
Potiche
The Creators
The Robber
3
Scientology: The Truth About a Lie
Paranoid Park
A Screaming Man
Meek's Cutoff
Major Rockstar
TheCave of Forgotten Dreams
Point Blank
Prince of Darkness
Taxi Driver
Beats, rhymes & life: the travels of a tribe called quest
Reurrect Dead: The mystery of the Toynbee tiles
Dragon Slayer
Life in  Day
Hunt for Red October
Goldfinger
The Tree of Life
A town called Panic
Spike and Mike's Twisted Animation
Dogtooth
Kill Bill Vol 1
Kill Bill Vol 2
Moon
Apollo 13
The King's Speech
The Hangover
500 Days of Summer
Bronson
Predator
Valhalla Rising
Cloverfield
Old Joy
I'm the Angel of Death: Pusher III
KungFuPanda
Midnight in Paris
Drive
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
Contagion
The Ides of March
Tucker and Dale vs. Evil
Melancholia
Dead Snow
Air Guitar Nation
Saboteur
Like Crazy
Confessions of a Superhero
Somos Buzos
Bruce Campbell vs. The Army of Darkness
Deep Water
A Film Unfinished
The Skin I Live In
Le Havre
American Movie
The Producers
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Margin Call
The Apartment
Troll
Troll 2
Best Worst Movie
Gasland
Anvil: The Story of Anvil


I covered best of 2010 here.