Eschewing the tradition of posting a year-end “best of” list before the year actually ends, I have instead opted to see as many films as possible to provide a semi-complete list of my favorites.  Either that, or I became lazy.

2011 was not a particularly good year for film.  2010 may have been generally mediocre, but yielded some truly great films such as Inception, The Social Network, True Grit, The King’s Speech, and Black Swan [thoughts here].  2011 lacks even a few great movies, at least of those I have seen.  Once again I have missed many of the year’s most lauded films, such as A Separation and some other arty/obscure/foreign films.  Suffice to say, of the widely-released studio or “independent” studio product of 2011, very little stands out as extraordinary.  There were a number of good films, and a few very good films.  But such a lack of quality content has made me a bit apathetic this awards season, and makes the completion of a “best of” list a bit silly and trite.  Nevertheless, here are some of the films that stood out to me in 2011, with a very personal choice in the number 1 spot.

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Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011): United States – directed by Brad Bird

Rated PG-13 by the MPAA – contains violence, some sexual innuendo, some language

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol represents Brad Bird’s first foray into the world of live-action feature films, but it is clear that the directing skills he learned from working on The Incredibles and Ratatouille translated perfectly into live-action. As a result, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol brings the franchise back to life in impressive and heart-stopping ways.

The story begins with agents Benji (Simon Pegg) and Jane (Paula Patton) breaking Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) out of a Russian prison. As soon as he’s free there is an assignment, should he choose to accept it. Immediately Ethan sets off with Jane and Benji to break into the Kremlin, but it appears to be a set-up. An explosion cripples the building and threatens to throw the world into war once again. The attack appears to be pegged on Ethan and his crew, and they are disavowed, though they are given an extra team member: Brandt (Jeremy Renner), an analyst whose past probably holds a few secrets.

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Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011): United Kingdom/France/Germany – directed by Tomas Alfredson

Rated R by the MPAA – contains some violence, a little language, fleeting nudity, some mature themes

The first third of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is enthralling, almost mesmerizing. It is gorgeously directed, beautifully filled with hazy smoke and dust, as if the period costumes were indeed 35 years old and emanating mustiness. The puzzle is confusing, and the pieces slowly become clear. It is a bit disappointing, then, that the film has trouble maintaining such an atmosphere, as the film continues and the pieces come almost all the way together. However, despite not finishing as strongly as it starts, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is still highly immersive, enjoyable, and beautiful.

The story concerns the “Circus,” or MI6, the British intelligence agency. It is the height of the Cold War, in the early 1970′s. The upper ranks of MI6 seem to have a bit of a problem on their hands. At the outset, the head of the agency, Control (John Hurt), sends an agent to Hungary in an attempt to uncover a mole placed at the head of the British agency. The mission goes awry, and a year later Control finds himself forced out of MI6, along with his second-in-command, George Smiley (Gary Oldman).

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Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011): United States – directed by Stephen Daldry

Rated PG-13 by the MPAA – contains mature themes, some language

The story of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close could fall into any number of traps. Shameless exploitation, melodramatic tripe, perhaps. It avoids many of these pratfalls, but only has a handful of great moments. The story will tug at the heartstrings for many, and perhaps infuriate just as many others, who will likely charge it with being overly manipulative. In truth, the film probably lies somewhere in between.

Oskar Schell (Thomas Horn) is a young boy who lives in New York. It is clear from the outset that his father has died in the September 11 terrorist attacks, but the exact circumstances only become clear as the intertwining story threads play out. Oskar is a special boy, very sharp in some areas but with bouts of anxiety,and irrational aversions to certain noises and circumstances. He claims that he was tested for Aspberger’s, but that the results were unclear. While his dad, Thomas (Tom Hanks) was alive, they played all manner of games together. Most frequently, though, his father would send Oskar on searches. He told stories of the “Sixth Borough,” which disappeared at some point in history.

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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011): United States – directed by David Fincher

Rated R by the MPAA – contains some language, violence, mature themes, sexual content, some nudity, rape

David Fincher has decided to tackle Steig Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy, or at least the first part, and, as expected, brings his considerable talent to the thriller. The result is indeed thrilling, and often dark and disturbing, as was the 2009 Swedish version [review here]. While Fincher’s effort is slightly longer than the first filmed version, it also seems clearer, cleaner, and slightly more effective.

The story is dense and convoluted. Journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) has just been exposed as a fraud, his story on a corporate CEO exposed as lies. He works for Millennium Magazine, a paper devoted to hard stories, but this situation has created rather a bit of trouble for him. His co-editor and lover, Erika (Robin Wright) is also concerned. Mikael is tired, and when a sudden call comes in with a rather bizarre job offer, he accepts, if for no other reason than to escape for a bit.

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The Adventures of Tintin (2011): United States – directed by Steven Spielberg

Rated PG by the MPAA – contains some action

As a young boy growing up in a third world Commonwealth country, I read a great deal of Tintin comics. Tintin and Asterix were my companions, and I preferred Tintin. The sense of adventure was intoxicating, and the characters clear and amusing. There have been many comic book movies appealing to a wide variety of fanboys, but now there is a movie specifically made for the fanboy in me. The Adventures of Tintin is the first film I’ve felt this way about; ecstatic, almost giddy, soaking in the absurdist adventure, the throwaway lines, a logo on a can of crab juice. Able to tell which lines were verbatim from the books, even if the story was vastly different. I have not been this happy while watching a film in a very long time, if ever. As a result, the following thoughts will be more subjective than I normally allow; please forgive my indulgence.

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The Artist (2011): France/Belgium – directed by Michel Hazanavicius

Rated PG-13 by the MPAA – contains some mature themes, I suppose; this is one of the worst ratings since J. Edgar

The Artist is a sweet film, one whose central technical device perfectly fits the story, time period and themes it presents. Initially it seems to be another All About Eve [review here], filmed in black and white and sepia tone, silent but for a musical score and a handful of Foley effects. But after about the first twenty minutes it clearly turns into a Sunset Blvd., with an extra act and fewer dead narrators.

The story begins in 1927, and George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) is a successful movie star. He’s suave, handsome, winsome, charming. He infuriates his co-star, Constance (Missi Pyle) after the premiere of their latest film, as he hogs the stage and the applause. His director/producter/executive Al Zimmer (John Goodman) looks on helplessly; Valentin carries the studio. And Kinescope is a major player in the movie industry.

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Hugo (2011): United States – directed by Martin Scorsese

Rated PG by the MPAA – contains some action and adventure, some mature themes

There is a lot to like about Hugo, particularly for film fans. It might seem at first glance a bit odd for Martin Scorsese, 3D and family entertainment to be joined together, but the combination eventually works; he has crafted one of the year’s better films, even if such a statement does not say much.

It took a while to warm up to Hugo, though; an opening shot through Paris and into a train station is stylish, but to the point that it looks entirely like CG. In fact, so much of 1930′s Paris looks fabricated inorganically that the first 30 or 40 minutes were a bit of a struggle. But then the various themes begin to run together, and it becomes clear that this is a effort of love on Scorsese’s part, a paean to the history of cinema. It may end up feeling like a PSA about film preservation, but if this is how a young generation becomes interested in the history of cinema, so be it.

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War Horse (2011): United States – directed by Steven Spielberg

Rated PG-13 by the MPAA – contains some war violence, mature themes

War Horse is a bit of a difficult film to process. On one hand it presents some great themes concerning humanity and war, as one would expect from director Steven Spielberg, and is filmed with great panache and an expensive-looking production. On the other hand, some of the scenes are rather poorly done, and it feels in many regards like a film from sixty years ago; the end scenes, and specific shots, directly recall Gone with the Wind, and the themes and characters are presented as basically and broadly as in Sergeant York [review here]. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but keeps the film oddly tied to a simpler era of filmmaking.

The story revolves around a horse named Joey, and it is key to remember that Joey is the central figure of the story. As a result, the film is highly episodic in nature, with primarily thematic threads holding together the disparate episodes. It is important to remember that Joey is the main character, for much of the film focuses on Albert (Jeremy Irvine), a young man in the English countryside. His father, Ted (Peter Mullan), was wounded in a previous war, and is now the town drunk. Nevertheless, Ted works hard on his farm, primarily with the help of Albert and Albert’s mother, Rose (Emily Watson).

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Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011): United States – directed by Sean Durkin

Rated R by the MPAA – contains some violence, nudity, sexual content, mature themes, some strong language

Martha Marcy May Marlene is a subtle, fascinating portrait of a tormented soul that is as conflicted and difficult to comprehend as its titular character(s).  To be clear, there is only one primary character: Martha (Elizabeth Olsen, in an impressive breakthrough role), but she has been so twisted and split as to have been renamed by an important character in her life.

The film opens in what is supposedly the present, but continues to flash forward and backward seamlessly, sometimes disconcertingly.  Pretty soon it becomes clear that Martha might not be all there.  Toward the beginning she is shown escaping some sort of farm.  She is scared, uncertain, and very confused.  Her sister Lucy (Sarah Paulson) picks her up and drives her to the house she shares with her husband Ted (Hugh Dancy) on a lake in Connecticut.  They don’t know how to help Martha, and it is not clear that Martha always knows that she needs help.

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