2011 as a movie year

'twas all right.

I can't help but be underwhelmed by a year that didn't supply anything to my list of favourite films of all time. 2009 gave me The Princess and the Frog and 2010 introduced me to Scott Pilgrim. This year didn't really have a definite stand-out best film for my tastes.

As far as drama goes, Drive and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo were the best that I saw, representing the opposite virtues of minimalism and... blockbuster-ism.

In action, Tintin was the best. Captain America gets a honourable mention for managing to do well worldwide, while apparently North America couldn't care less for Tintin.

Even my more optimistic movienut friend was willing to admit that this was a poor year for comedy. Paul was the best that comes to mind, and though it's a pretty good film, the general level of humour was low. Midnight in Paris gets the honourable mention for Adrien Brody as Salvador Dalí, the best one-scene performance of the year by far.

Immortals was the shittiest film I saw. Transformers 3 was really bad too, but somehow I can't really get emotional about a Transformers movie being bad anymore at this point.

I don't really care that much for Oscars, myself, so no comments about my guesses or bets regarding the nominations and victories there.

Well, that's it for 2011. Let's see what 2012 has in store! Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, The Hobbit and Prometheus seem to hold a lot of promise.

PS. 13 Assassins was left unmentioned in this post because it saw its original Japanese release in 2010. If it was a 2011 movie, it'd be the best one.

Drive

Drive is a movie about the Driver (Ryan Gosling), a man without a name or a past. He works as a stuntman in Hollywood films, a mechanic in a garage and a getaway driver for mobsters and robbers. By coincidence, the Driver happens to befriend the girl next door and her young son, and is motivated to pull off a gig to help them out in a tight spot. One thing leads to another, and he finds himself in deep shit, being chased after by hitmen and gangsters aplenty.

I want to stress something out for you: This is not an action movie. There are chase scenes in cars, and gory executions outside them, but they are not the focus of the plot, and if you're only going in to see cars and violence, you'll be let down. In fact, I'd be willing to say that the second-biggest problem with the film is that it does many things well, but doesn't focus on any one aspect of itself well enough. It doesn't go "all the way" with the action, the drama, the crime plot or the characterisations, but feels like all the different subplots were intentionally left half-finished.

Here are the things that Drive has going for it: the Driver is a well-crafted enigma, whose true nature will be up to debate for years to come (my money's on him being autistic); the cinematography, directing and editing are top-notch, and manage to really imprint emotion into scenes and shots where almost nothing is happening; the setting somehow manages to be triumphantly eighties while actually setting place in the modern day; the driving and violence, while short-lived, is fantastically executed (no pun intended); and finally, the soundtrack is really good, though most of the music genres presented aren't really my bag.

Aside from the great main performance, the actors are kind of hit-and-miss. Carey Mulligan as the love interest is very underplayed and ordinary, which is kind of the point, but I don't think her character just has chemistry with the Driver because he's underplayed for completely different, better, reasons. Ron Perlman is the world's most bitter 59-year-old mobster, who's trying very hard to act like a twenty-something gangsta. It is glorious. Albert Brooks (who played the villain in The Simpsons Movie) is the straight-laced businessman gangster, who won't lose his cool until it's really effective to do so. I swear I've seen the exact same character somewhere, but I can't tell where...

To give my main criticism for Drive, I'm going to have to break my own rule and go into spoiler territory. Therefore, SLIGHT NON PLOT-RELATED SPOILER-ISH MATERIAL EXISTS BEYOND THIS SENTENCE. The film doesn't have a climax. It kind of slows down for the final twenty minutes, and then stops. End credits. There was no way to actually fit it into the plot, but I really could have used another chase scene somewhere in there...

SPOILERS END HERE.

I can't really give a definite "go see this" or "don't" about this movie. It depends so much on what you're in the mood for, and whether you can tolerate a little slower and more atmospheric moviemaking. If you can actually enjoy how a movie is shot and edited... this'll be a treat! It's the closest thing to a Grand Theft Auto: Vice City movie we'll ever see.