MY TOP 12 FILMS OF 2011!

My Top 12 Favorite Films of the Year. Why have I chosen 12 films? The answer is simple: There are 12 months in a year. Thus, one great film for each month. The list is diverse; from Oscar Contenders to absolute nerd bait. But they are my choices and I stand by them. If they were chosen, it's because they lingered with me for a few days, or made me feel something. These are the films that resonated most for me--

12) THE DESCENDANTS

A film that shouldn't work on paper. It's set in a Hawaii but deals with a patient who is in such a severe coma, the main character struggles throughout the film about whether or not to pull the plug. George Clooney gives another effortless performance of a man who was so busy working that he never gave himself the time to be a father to his two young girls. When his wife has a freak accident, he must rise to the occasion and be a real father to his children. To complicate matters he finds out that his comatose wife has cheated on him. Basically this man who hid from life in the beautiful tranquility of Hawaii must now confront life (through the possible death of his wife) head on. It's a quiet, languorous film that is also surprisingly funny. Clooney has a great moment toward the end of the film when he could be a complete asshole to a very unkind character. But instead of blowing up and letting the person have it, he swallows the insults and keeps his dignity. In that moment, George Clooney the actor shines like we've never seen him before. He's a lock for a Best Actor nomination come Academy Award season. Side note: I saw the film a few months after going to Hawaii for the first time and this film perfectly captures the vibe of one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to in my life.

11) MISSION IMPOSSIBLE : GHOST PROTOCOL

Some say the Cruiser is back, I say fuck that, he never left. I'm a huge fan of Cruise. Always have been and always will be. I love this ever evolving series of action films. Every film has its own style. Its own rhythm. Cruise nails every damn stunt in the film. He oozes charisma, charm and swagger all at once. It has a straight forward plot that is propulsive and never lets up. The Dubai scaling the tallest building in the world sequence is a breathtaking moment that must be seen on IMAX to be believed and appreciated. This is the pure definition of a popcorn movie. The audience was gasping at the building sequence. And the sandstorm chase was epic. One of the best times I had at the movies this year. Brad Bird, in his live action debut, delivered big time. Give this man the next Batman reboot, stat!

10) SHAME

Director Steve McQueen knows how to make you squirm while watching what should be erotic. He makes sex icky and disturbing. Michael Fassbender (who will either be the next Bond or the next Batman) gives the best Male Performance of the year as a sex addict. This is the Requiem For A Dream of sex films. Unable to perform with girls he actually likes, he turns to hookers and whores. This only distances him from any real human connections. The only person Fassbender is close to, is his sister played by the damaged Carey Mulligan (who is in two of my favorite films this year). They seem to share a strange and complicated relationship with a hint of incest. Mulligan has a scene where she sings Sinatra's classic New York, New York at a bar. Watch Fassbender's face in the scene and tell me you're not seeing the birth of the next biggest movie star on the planet. A difficult film to watch that doesn't give us any easy answers. Fassbender and Mulligan are so damaged that at one point she tells him: "We're not bad people. We just come from a bad place." A sad, moving and daring film.

9) INSIDIOUS

The Writer/Director of SAW makes his best film. Insidious is hands down the scariest film I've seen in the past five years. If you were to take Poltergeist, Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist and put them in a blender you would get INSIDIOUS. The fact that it was shot for 1.5 million dollars and made 150 million at the box office is astounding. I love that it relies on old fashioned in-camera tricks for the most part. It's creepy and unsettling with top notch performances by Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne. See this with your loved one with all the lights closed. The less you know about the film the better. It may be the best haunted house film ever made.

8) THE TREE OF LIFE

Notorious recluse Terrence Malick delivers a powerful, moving picture and gives Brad Pitt his best role ever. Pitt is a successful man whose dreams of being a musician died long ago. He tries to teach his boys to be tough, smart and ambitious but his limited parental skill set does more harm than good. But he's not a bad man. This film will make you understand your parents better. There were no how-to manuals for child-rearing in the 50's. Parents did their best and relied on instincts, which often resulted in destructive decisions. Sean Penn plays the adult child of Pitt and the end result of such parenting. The film is about evolution, maturity and trying to reach a state of grace. Malick even shows us the evolution of humans in a beautiful sequence that takes us through the big bang and all the way to the dinosaurs. Scenes that linger in my mind... a velociraptor stumbles upon an injured baby dinosaur. Instead of eating it alive, the raptor shows mercy. In that moment, Malick shows us that creatures that appear to be monsters also have undercurrents of compassion and kindness. I can't say I understood the whole film but it did move me. A transporting and meditative film.

7) HANNA

Who would think that the director of Atonement had such awesome action chops? Hanna may be the second best action film of the year. Joe Wright takes a mundane concept -- a father teaches his daughter how to be the ultimate assassin, to basically adapt or die -- and infuses it with a fairy tale sensibility. Cate Blanchett is the Big Bad Wolf and Saiorse Ronan is little Red Riding Hood and the world around them is an evil forest. The score by the Chemical Brothers is awesome (whenever I hear Hanna's action theme I scream -- "Run little Piggy, run!" -- much to the annoyance of my Wife). And Eric Bana has the best hand-to-hand one-take fight I've seen since Oldboy. Hanna is constantly on the run throughout the film and she meets up with a sweet family who has a daughter that instantly takes a shining to Hanna. There is a hint of lesbianism between the two young girls but Wright keeps it classy. Hanna is a rarity: A great soulful action film.

6) LIMITLESS

This is the film that showed me Bradley Cooper is a movie star. After watching Limitless, I joked that this was the best film about cocaine ever made. Of course, the substance he uses in the film isn't yeyo but damn if it isn't a metaphor for it. Cooper plays a disheveled writer, whose career and life is in the shitter. A chance meeting with his ex-wife's brother-in-law provides him the opportunity to try a new superdrug that is purported to make you access your entire brain instead of the commonly-held belief that we only use 10%. And just like that he gets his life back; he writes his novel in a few days, he gets the girl of his dreams back, he's able to see patterns in the stock exchange but it all comes at a deadly price. It's a Faustian tale with a surprising ending. The fact, that it almost felt like a superhero origin story also put this film in my top 12 list. I'd also like to see a sequel. A film that surprised me at every turn. Limitless lived up to its name.

5) XMEN : FIRST CLASS

This is Marvel's Batman Begins. A complete reboot that improves and surpasses the original Xmen series. Taking the film into the swinging 60's during the Cuban Missile crises was a genius move. Matthew Vaughn has yet to make a film that I didn't like. He knows action and always gives us compelling characters that we love and root for. Case in point: Michael Fassbender (what a year he had with this and Shame). McFassy (as I like to call him) is basically James Bond with superpowers for the first hour of the film. In fact, I would watch a 2 hour Magneto the Nazi Hunter film anytime. Macavoy is great as a randy Professor X and the ending is heartbreaking. I wish they held back and kept Magneto and Charles friends for at least one more film. This might be the best XMEN film ever made.

4) HUGO

Firstly, you must see this film in 3D. Truly the best usage of 3D since AVATAR. Scorsese uses all the new cinematic tricks of the future to look back at cinema's past. A beautiful, painterly film that has a strong beating heart. Ben Kingsley's character is a heartbreaker and will surely garner him an Oscar Nomination for Best Supporting Actor. More than anything this film made me appreciate the filmmakers of the past whose innovations made a film like Hugo possible. This is a love letter to movies and the dreams they inspire in all of us.

3) THE HELP

I saw The Help a few days ago. I had zero expectations. Man, did this film take me by surprise! I can't remember the last time I was this moved by a film. I felt rage every ten minutes at the indignities the maids had to undergo. I wanted to reach into screen, through time itself and shake some sense into those southern Valley of the Dolls robots. The little girl in the film broke my heart. Viola Davis is a lock for an Oscar. In fact, I would be surprised if she doesn't win. Her words to the little white girl she took care of is something that I will in turn tell me daughter on a daily basis: "You are smart, you are kind, you are important." The Help made me tear up more than I'm willing to admit. If I was a betting man, The Help is this years Crash. It is the sleeping giant that might just take the big award come Oscar night.

2) RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

A film in which the main character is an ape who doesn't speak for almost the entire running time. This is basically a silent film. Apes is the biggest surprise of the year for me and was almost my number one film. This film should not have worked. The humans are secondary characters. Like the title, it's the Apes who rule the film. Andy Serkis deserves a nomination for his breakthrough role as Ceaser. John Lithgow as the father afflicted by Alzheimer's was fantastic. This film has so many special moments; when Franco abandons Ceaser at the Sanctuary, it's heartbreaking... Ceaser running through the red wood forests of San Francisco... Ceaser asking his master if he is a pet... Ceaser speaking for the first time, screaming "NO!" All wowza moments in a wowza film. I can't wait for the sequel. Ceaser is kind to humans but a war will erupt between the kind apes and the warrior apes... and I will be there opening day!

1) DRIVE

Motherfucking DRIVE. The only film I saw 3 times in a theatre this year. A film in which Ryan Gosling barely has 25 lines of dialogue but owns the screen like Steve Mcqueen used to in the 70's. A film that made me feel cooler than I actually am. A film that made me drive faster. A film that will put hair on your chest, even if you're a girl. A masterpiece on par with Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs. Forget THOR, Green Lantern or Captain America, DRIVE was the best superhero film of the year. The Driver sacrificed himself for a girl he knew he could never have. That's some noble shit. Nicholas Windig Refn is the next Christopher Nolan. A guy who understands genre and can give us memorable iconic characters. And the jacket... the iconic silver jacket with the gold scorpion on the back, that keeps getting bloodier and bloodier as the Driver gets into deeper and deeper chaos. The elevator sequence is my favorite of the year. It is the entire movie encapsulated in one scene: Tremendous beauty one moment and terrible graphic violence the next. The look on Carey Mulligan's face at the end of the elevator scene is heartbreaking. The Driver just saved her life but she will never see him the same way again. Not after that burst of insane violence. Bryan Cranston is tremendous as the constant screw-up and Albert Brooks will win the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. The way Brooks plays his character as a guy with a shady past who's trying to get out of the shade but has to revert to his old self to save his skin is sad... We feel sympathy for Brooks despite the fact he's a homicidal maniac. And the soundtrack by Cliff Martinez with the help of Kavinsky and others is pure heaven for an 80's boy. It's also in constant rotation in my car. If I were voting for the Best Film of the Year, DRIVE would get my vote. See. It. Now. You'll thank me later.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

HARRY POTTER & THE DEATHLY HALLOWS part 2: A classy ending to a classy franchise. This series could've been drivel but it wasn't. The kids grew up and it was sad to see them go.

TINTIN: Another great usage of 3D. The Bagghar one-take chase sequence is pure cinema and one of the best action scenes of the year.

HANGOVER 2: Don't care if it was a carbon copy of the original. I laughed my ass off and will follow these guys anywhere.

TROLL HUNTER: A great foreign film with convincing effects. Completely unexpected. A hell of a ride.

THOR: Surprisingly good with a great performance by Chris Hemsworth as the titular character.

FLOWERS OF WAR: Christian Bale is great in a film that told the story of 12 prostitutes in China during WWII who gave their lives to save a dozen children.

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO: Fincher has never made a bad film & he's not about to start now. Tattoo is the definitive version of the best-selling novel. Mara is captivating as a female Goth-Batman & the score by Trent Reznor is unsettling.

MONEYBALL: Frankly, the best film about baseball ever made. It's not about winning the big game. It's about putting together a great team using your brains and not your gut. Love how the jock (Brad Pitt) joins forces with the geek (Jonah Hill) to create a team that is made up of an island of misfit toys. Great script that rewards the value of intelligence.

DIE: A little film I wrote that deals with fate, chance and chaos.

Next year will be huge... a little film called THE DARK KNIGHT RISES is coming out. I wonder where it will sit on my top 12 list?

Happy New Year Everyone!!!

Your Friend,

D.

BATMAN & ME

Meeting Christian Bale aka Bruce Wayne aka The Godamn Batman was thrilling.

People are often confused by my Bat-obsession. They ask: What is it about Batman? It all comes down to formative childhood experiences. My earliest childhood memory is meeting Adam West and Burt Ward in full costume at an auto show when I was 3 years old. I remember everything about the encounter: The soft silky gloves Batman (West) wore when he shook my hand and the fact that Robin (Ward) wasn't wearing his gloves (I found this peculiar and somewhat upsetting). They were signing glossy photos of themselves. I was there with my Dad and his two younger brothers, my uncles. When it was my turn to meet the caped crusaders, Batman asked for my name. I told him Domenic. He quickly scrolled his signature and gave it back to me. My Dad and his uncle's laughed. At the time I didn't know why. A few years later when I learned to read, I realized he wrote From Batman to his friend DEREK. The Dark Knight Detective messed up my name. At least Robin got it right. I still have those glossy black and white signed photos. They are stored at my parents home. Next time I go down to Montreal I will bring them back to Los Angeles and show them to you. It's funny but all my early memories involve Batman in some way. I remember eating in front of the TV and seeing this vampire (how I knew what a vampire was, was entirely my mom's fault. She was a big horror film fan). He was a vampire but he was helping people and stopping crime. I soon realized he wasn't a vampire. He was a man. Just a regular guy who trained himself to perfection. Who studied hard. Who made himself into the pinnacle of physical and intellectual perfection. I was hooked. Yes, there was Superman and Spiderman but no one could hold a candle to Batman. Whatever Batman lacked in superpowers, he more than made up for it in resourcefulness and intelligence. I believe until this day that with enough prep time Batman could beat anyone. Prep time Batman could even beat Jesus.

So here we are all these years later and in the span of a week I get the privilege of meeting not only what I consider to be the best Batman but also the definitive Commissioner Gordon. Meeting Christian Bale and Gary Oldman, two actors who I've admired for years, was an awesome experience. Both were gracious, classy and elegant. I don't get star-struck easily but with Bale I was virtually speechless. I hope I didn't embarrass myself. That was a bucket list moment and perfect symmetry. I met the First Batman (at least for me) as a toddler and the best Batman (at least for me) as an adult.

Gary Oldman. Pure Class.

If meeting Batman and Gordon wasn't enough. A week later. Tonight, in fact, I saw the Prologue for THE DARK KNIGHT RISES. I don't think there's a more anticipated film in my lifetime. This is the last Batman Film for Bale and director Christopher Nolan. And they plan on going out with an epic. The prologue was jaw-dropping in every conceivable way. Bane is going to give little boys nightmares.

SPOILERS after the epic poster.

You were warned. Read no further if you don't want to know how THE DARK KNIGHT RISES begins...

It opens on the Harvey Dent memorial/funeral. Gordon speaking at a podium says: " Harvey Dent inspired me. Maybe someone else will inspire all of us. I believed in Harvey Dent."

We cut to a wheat field, as the camera fly's over it. We are inside an SUV with three hooded prisoners in the back. The prisoners are delivered to a waiting CIA military plane. The CIA are supposed to pick up one man -- Dr. Leonid Pavel. But instead have 3 extra prisoners who are said to be the accomplices of the masked Terrorist known as BANE. The CIA were not expecting the other prisoners but are excited to have Bane's associates. They are all loaded on the plane. In the plane, the hooded men are on the floor on their knees. The point man for the CIA opens the plane hatch and threatens to throw one of the hooded prisoners out of the plane unless he gives him info on Bane.

CIA guy yells:"Why does he wear the mask?!?" Nothing. No response. The CIA Agent pretends to shoot one of the hooded men. One of the burly hooded guys on his knees says: "He's probably wondering why would you shoot a man before throwing him out of a plane?" His voice sounds almost electric... mechanical.

CIA GUY: "At least you can talk? Who are you?"

BANE: "Who we are is not important. What matters is the plan. No one cared who I was until I put on the mask.""

They remove the hood and it's BANE! The CIA guy asks Bane "what would happen if I took off your mask?" Bane answers: "It would be extremely painful... for you."

CIA GUY says: "So what's the next step of your master plan?"

BANE: "Crash the plane... with no survivors."

The plane begins to shake and is overtaken by a much larger plane from above. The tribal music we heard in the original online trailer intensifies: De-shay! Bashara! (it's Bane's theme and it is very cult-like, more on this later).

Four swat-clad men fast-rope from the large plane to the military plane. They machine gun the windows blowing them out and killing some of the CIA agents inside. They attach ropes to the military plane. The large plane is now basically pulling the smaller military plane whose wings begin to bend, break and shatter. No more wings, the military plane hangs vertically like a huge cigar in the sky beneath the large plane. The four swat-clad men attach explosives to the top of the military plane and blow the tail off... creating an entrance.

Inside the plane, BANE breaks out of his restraints and is hurled around the bouncing plane. He's here for Doctor Pavel. He needs to know how much the doctor told the CIA about Bane's terrorist group. The 4 swat guys fast-rope into the dangling military plane. They carry a body bag. They unzip the body bag and attach an IV to the doctor's arm. A blood transfusion takes place (I have no idea why, I'm sure it will be explained later in the film). All the CIA agents are dead. The evil Swat guys are fast-roping out of the plane. One of the hooded men (Bane's accomplice) asks Bane if he is to be rescued. The tribal music stops. Eerie silence.

BANE tells him: "They expect one of us in the wreckage, brother."

Bane's follower looks at him with a believer's eyes. (It's here that I realized that Bane is a cult leader with devoted followers. Creepy.) The follower, his eyes blazing with devotion, a small smile on his face, says: "Have we started the fire?"

Bane attaches the doctor to himself, looks at his follower and says: "The Fire Rises." BOOM! The tribal music starts up again. More intense than ever.

The doctor attached to Bane is screaming with panic. Bane tells him: "Now's not the time for fear doctor. That comes later."

Bane presses a button and the entire military plane with passengers some alive, some dead -- slips out from beneath him. Bane with the doctor strapped to him, is being hauled by ropes through the air by the larger plane, as what's left of the military plane plummets downward to the ground... and my jaw was on the floor. It was a stunning scene that looked real. I didn't feel the CGI. Bane's voice was metallic and creepy. Not always clear but I'm sure they will clean that up in post. My first thought after watching the prologue was: James Bond just shit his pants. This was the best Bond opening in history.

There was a sizzle reel after the prologue that included a great shot of Catwoman in costume. A shot of Selina Kyle in an orange jail prisoner outfit. Bane fighting Batman at City Hall in the snow. Bane detonating a bomb. The Batwing chasing a camo-tumbler. Batman in an underground parking lot aiming his plasma rifle and the capper: Bane holding a shattered Batman cowl in what appears to be the Batcave. EPIC.

They gave us this collector's T-shirt at the screening. There was a BANE themed one with the word END on it. Didn't manage to get one of those.

Working in the film industry I've seen and done some pretty amazing things. I get to meet some awesome people. This past week has been a pretty amazing one and things are about to get even better... as we begin scouting on my next film in Spain...

More on that in another post.

Your Friend,

D.