Best of 2011

Best films I saw in 2011 (not necessarily of films made in 2011). A quick glance through the year and these are the best of what I saw (not necessarily in order). Check them out.

Senna
Buck
50/50
Moneyball
Midnight in Paris
Source Code

2nd Tier
Higher Ground
RED
Beginners

The Big Fail
Unstoppable

See you next year.

Top 5 L.A. films

After watching The Kids are All Right, I began to think about my favorite films starring L.A. By starring, I mean that L.A. has to be a significant part of the film and not just a backdrop. And I will restrict my picks to films that are worth seeing (4 or 5 rating, out of 5 stars). Here are my top five right now, in no particular order...

Blade Runner
Speed
Collateral

10 Items or Less
What's Cooking

The first three utilize the physical space of L.A. while the last two expose the cultural space. If you haven't seen either of these later two, I highly recommend them.

Didn't quite make the cut, but deserve some mention...

Father of the Bride
Dogtown and Z-Boys
Crash

I have definitely left out many great L.A. films, but since these are in my long term memory I will trust that they are my Top 5 (for today).

Top 5 Films All-Time

This is a dangerous list to make because it is too easy to leave something off and then one is embarrassed to have left such a great movie off his list. And one usually has to define a category: best acting, best classic, best story, best characters, most engaging, most memorable, etc. But setting all of that aside, right now, today I would choose (in no particular order):

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Roman Holiday

Hero

Twelve Monkeys

Sliding Doors

There you have it. Maybe next year (or next month) the list will change. What are your Top-5?

Top 5 Summer Films

Labor Day has arrived and the summer is officially gone. Someone asked me the other day what the best films of the summer were and I realized that a running "Top 5" category would be fun. So here they are, with out any genre restrictions. Memorial Day to Labor Day 2009 (in no particular order):

Lorna's Silence
Hurt Locker
District 9
Moon
I Love You, Man

Also good films, but not able to break into the Top 5

Julie & Julia
My Son the Fanatic
Rudo y Cursi
Run Lola Run

And I just have to highlight a couple of smaller films that I saw before Memorial Day

Sugar
Irina Palm

So I guess this is really a Summer Top 10 list. Enjoy.

Best of 2008

My 'Best of...' list is based on movies I have seen this year, not on movies released this year. So some of these were rentals of old movies. I have included links to the films I reviewed. Feel free to disagree, or recommend something that I may have missed seeing.

First Tier
Elling
Chris and Don: A Love Story
Man on Wire
In Bruges
Juno
The Counterfeiters
Slumdog Millionaire

Second Tier
The Visitor
A Thousand Years of Good Prayers
Snowcake
Frozen River
The Dark Knight
Exiled
The Brick
Caramel


Worst Movie
Hands down, this goes to The Happening.