9. Jane Eyre
This film was probably one that divided a lot of opinion. I believe there are many, who are still enamoured with Toby Stevens interpretation of Mr. Rochester, but I think Fassbender's performance is tailored more to a male audience. Fassbender, I felt, encapsulated Rochester's cold exterior, whilst giving us brief glimpses of his other side well. A lot of people's problem with this version, might be that there is little emotional attachment for the audience to grasp, but in my opinion this acts as a positive for the film. I think that this form of stoicism was used in a way to try and best capture, how the romance would have probably evolved during this period setting. The probelm for me with the film was more the screenplay, despite the length of the film, I felt that some of the slowness (and even the stoicism) didn't provide enough variance and episodes from the book. This seemed to be reflelcted in Mia Wasikowska performance who, whilst good, seemed to be too restrained, making Jane not seem to have much character development. I also didn't feel there was enough elaboration on the character Adele and her relationships with Rochester, Jane and even Mrs. Fairfax (Judi Dench). Still I thought it was a good adaptation, with a good score and had a nice understated ending to it, in fitting with the film as a whole.
A film starring Seth Rogen, wouldn't be my first choice when going to the pictures, but I was willing to give him another go in this comedy drama about dealing with his friend's (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) diagnosis of cancer. The film starts of very light-heartedly as we experience the everyday life of Levitt's character, who is a risk averse young man, who keeps fit, has a good job and beautiful girlfriend (Bryce Dallas Howard). His world suddenly comes crashing down when he is diagnosed with a rare debilitating cancer and is given a 50/50 chance of surviving. It really serves as a good film for the younger generation in showing the impact such an illness can have on one's life, as it mixes the serious moments with light hearted moments of comic relief. Levitt gives a very believable performance, as a young man who wants to keep his independance, and doesn't want to become another burden on his mum (Angelica Huston), who already has a job of looking after his senile father. It is genuinely touching as he keeps her at a distance, while trying to keep his independance. Ironically his independance is challenged before being diagnosed with his inability to drive (he always thought driving was dangerous). It is through this menial task that he learns who remain loyal to him, as his girlfriend soon becomes unreliable and is eventually found by his friend to be cheating on him.
Whilst Rogen's character does use Levitt's illness to his advantage with women, we eventually learn that Rogen is doing this to help keep his friend's spirits up. During his treatments he also befriends two other terminally ill patients, and you can feel his pain as they at least have lived longer fuller lives. He also begins growing closer to his therapist (Anna Kendrick) on a personal level, and though predictable, it serves as a nice sub-plot to the film. He eventaully resolves to let his parents in, and it becomes quite heavy, but in a moving way as he faces his fate.
I wouldn't be surprised to see this get some acting nominations as all give heart-warming portrayels of their respective characters. However, I think it is Rogen who comes out best in this, as he plays to his strengths in his role. I'm sure this will be many's film of 2011.
7. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Being a fan of the original Apes' films, espescially the ones with Ricardo Montalban, of which this film is loosely based on. I went into this with slight trepidation but a lot of anticipation. It didn't disappoint. It managed to keep what the best aspect of the originals in, whilst at the same time providing a completely different slant on it. James Franco plays a drug developer who is part of a team looking for an alzheimer's cure, of which his father (John Lithgow) is a sufferer. The experimental drug he is working on is tested on Apes, and after one causes havoc as a result of the treatment, they are all put down, save for a new-born chimp, which Franco duly adopts. The chimp (named Caeser) is raised like a child, Franco soon discovers that the primate is developer above average brain activity and operates like a high-level human. He soon enlists the help of a primatologist (Freida Pinto). As his father's condition worsens Franco uses the drug to help his father, which works for a couple of years, before his father's condition rapidly deteriorates. It is through his father's relapse, that Caeser (Andy Serkis) becomes protective and attacks members of the public, where he is captured and imprisoned in an Ape sanctuary. It is through his mistreatment here that he uses his intelligence to prove his superiority to fellow inmates and soon manages to inject them with the drug. With their new found intelligence the Apes soon revolt and cause havoc on San Francisco, where the Apes and Man are on a collision course that could change the planet's future forever.
The film really does welll to reboot a franchise, which had already been attempted wtih Burton's failed remake of Planet of the Apes. It manages to capture the sentiments of Escape and Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, but against a much more realistic backdrop. It is also a far more powerful film than it's predecessors, the moment when Caesar first speaks a good example. Easily one of the better action movies of the year.
6. Senna
If ever there was a documentary that could exude broad appeal to non-fans of it's subject matter it's this. Ayrton Senna is probably still the name most synonymous with Formula 1 worldwide. This documentary's use of all archival footage, only serves to further enhance the reputation of one of the world's most charasmatic sportsman. Though the footage is adrenaline-fuelled and highly entertaining, it's somewhat let down by it's black and white portrayel of Senna and his biggest rival Alain Prost. Even the most ardent Senna fan would have to admit that the film is at time unfair and unbalanced in it's treatment of Prost. Despite this it is still highly emotive as it leads the audience, through a series of quite remarkable feats from Senna's F1 career, to the ultimate conclusion of that fatal weekend at Imola. It's an absolute must for anyone who holds a passion for sports and it's competitors.
5. X-Men: First Class
After the awful X-men 3, it was time for a revamp, and this prequel that provides us with the backgrounds of Professor Xavier (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) was the perfect way to go. The film gives these familiar characters (including Mystique) much more depth and understanding than the previous installments do. As all strive to take on Kevin Bacon's evil mutant Sebastian Shaw, who Magneto has learnt was respnsible for his parents death in Nazi Germany, and is now behind the Cuban Missile Crisis. Professor Charles Xavier sets up an academy for fellow mutants to join in order to build a team to take down Shaw, some familiar in the X-men cannon and some new.
The film is written by Bryan Singer and directed by Michael Vaughn and this helps create the perfect blend on comic book action adventure. Nothing in this film seems superfluous, and it all formulates perfectly as we see the eventual split of the X-men to their respective sides. It's a very strong cast too, with Fassbender, who gives the stand out performance, that even makes Sir Ian McKellen look amateurish. The only problem for me was that I thought Nicholas Hoult was miscast as Beast. Other than that it really is up there with the best comic book adaptation and gives X2 more than a run for it's money.
4. Crazy, Stupid, Love.
This was probably the biggest suprise for me at the cinema for years. Admittedly I wasn't expecting much, as only a handful of original and entertaining rom-coms have come from Hollywood in the past 20 years. It was helped by the fact that it didn't fall for the falacy that being crude meant being funny, it remained intelligent throughout. I hadn't seen much of Ryan Gosling's work previously, but thought he was a great choice in the role of playboy-cum-mentor to Steve Carell's restrained, newly single Cal. The whole ensemble cast did a great job, and though it wasn't the laugh out loud comedy, many probably would have expected (wanted), it remained light, but funny throughout. I was also impressed by the directors', (who only previous work had been on Pixar projects), consumate ease in producing a solid rom-com. They were also not afraid to use slapstick in a modern comedy, that I thought was refreshing, and I felt it worked. There were also additional subplots involving Gosling and the always entertaining Emma Stone, and Carell's ex's relationship with Kevin Bacon's character. This gave the film additional scope in developing different complexities of romance and relationships. The only real let down was the slight lack of integrity at a couple of points in the movie, but overall it was a very enjoyable piece that I look forward to revisiting.
3. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
John Le Carre's novel was updated once again, this time Gary Oldman as Le Carre's protaganist George Smiley. Let The Right One In's Thomas Alfredson was given the opportunity to direct, and used a similar style and method to his previous work. He turned out to be the right choice as his low octane approach, as well as his good eye for nostalgia provided the perfect settings for this thriller. What I really enjoyed about this film is that it wasn't gimmicky, it didn't try to be politically correct and didn't try to appeal to the new wave of spy fans. It's complex plot still demanded the audiences attention and concentration. The performances too were captivating, like The Godfather it was hard to find any blemishes in the acting. Everyone gave a depth to their characters even with limited screen time, it was easy to see what was being presented to the audience. In this repressed environment, ultimately there was still a lot of underlying emotion and humanity in this organisation that gave them motive to their varying acts of betrayel. Oldman's restrained Smiley will no doubt earn him his first Oscar nomination (shocking I know). Whilst Cumberbatch, Hardy, Strong will all no doubt be recognised in some form. It will be interesting to see if there will be any revisiting of the Smiley character in film or even by Le Carre himself.
2. Midnight in Paris
I wouldn't call myself a Woody Allen fan, as I haven't seen nearly enough of his work, but what I have seen has always kept interested and entertained. Midnight in Paris is an absolute treat from the veteran director, as he seemingly puts a lot of personal interest and affection into this film about an engaged writer's (Owen Wilson) personal fascination with what he considers the golden age of Paris' creativity. Every night he travels back into the 1920's, the period for which he holds so much admiration, and meets some of his most inspirational heroes. He soon arrives at a party hosted by the Fitzgeralds, with music by Cole Porter and fellow guests such as a young Ernest Hemingway. It is wholly fantastical, endearing and charming, as Wilson's character grows closer to vintage Paris and further away from his modern day life and fiancee.
Another ensemble piece it contains everyone from Cathy Bates to France's first lady Carla Bruni, all of whom perform well. Marion Cotillard seems to get increasingly beautiful with each new film role, and it's easy to see why Wilson is attracted to her. Even Adrien Brody gives a great turn as Salvador Dali. Wilson himself was ideally cast as the wide eyed writer looking for some kind of resolve from his experiences, and was reminiscent of the younger Allen. Some of the philistine's out there may fail to fall in love with cast of characters, but even though I'm not a particular fan of any who featured, I could see why people are so passionate about them. It was a very enchanting cinematic experience and though short on runtime, it was very fulfilling.
1. We Need To Talk About Kevin
This was my first experience of a Lynne Ramsey film, and boy what an experience. I was aware before seeing this, that she had taken a long time out of film making before taking on this project. I'm guessing that with the books release in 2003, she must've really fallen in love with the idea of adapting it in to a film and used the time to perfect her adaptation. It really turns out to be one of the cleverest psychological thrillers in years. Ramsey uses a disjointed narrative to tell this story of a mother's (Tilda Swinton) anguish over the violent act carried out by her son (Ezra Miller). Whilst we only see this act in pieces, we re-live her son's upbringing through the eyes of Swinton, as she tries to establish where she went wrong, as well as seeing how she comes to terms with the aftermath of the act. This clever device allows the audience to take their own interpretation as to why it was presented this way. I for one think that Swinton tries to make herself look blameless and a allows herself to become a victim, whilst others may argue the questionable lack of discipline by the father (John C. Reilly) or that the child was always going to end up how he did. Of course this provokes further questions which are far more complex than can be transcribed here. The pacing also adds to the tension when Swinton is in one on one situations with her son, and the psychological elements are played out.
I've never really been a fan of Swinton's, but there's no denying the fact she's got talent, and she excels in this role. At times you really empathise with her, espescially as she deals with the victims of her sons act as well as being made a social outcast in her town. Of course where Ramsey is clever is giving small implications that Swinton's character isn't entirely blameless as the film develops. As for Ezra Miller and indeed Jasper Newell's performances as Kevin are trully chilling, enough to put even the most etheral being of parenting. Though the character is for the majority of the movie painted as pretty one-dimensional, save for a few glimpses of his softer side. I think, as earlier suggested, this is probably a part of the retrospective plot device used by Ramsey to make the viewer question what they're viewing.
In many ways it reminded we of Gus Van Sants's Elephant, but this manages to somehow go much further in dealing with the psychological aspect of violent teenagers and their background. With the amount of ambiguity, the film serves as a great tool in provoking thought on the questions of nurture and how much parents are accountable in acts of atrocities. There is no answer given in the film, instead it remains entirely open to differing suggestions and opinions. It isn't a film to be taken on face value, and if you don't do that, you will be richly rewarded by a riveting and absorbing experience.
My most anticipated films of 2012 are: Ridley Scott's Alien prequel Prometheus, Michael Fassbender in Shame, Spielberg's production of War Horse, the Sam Mendes installment of Bond's Skyfall and of course the conclusion to Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy The Dark Knight Rises.
