Cinema Crazed's Top 10 of 2011

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It was a lackluster year for the movies. The bad movies were just slightly abysmal, while the good movies failed to be great movies. We couldn’t find a single amazing movie out of the bunch in 2011, but we came close to finding ten really good movies, and ten really bad movies for the year. 2011 was just a lull for everything in pop culture and the media and you’d be hard pressed to find something excellent that stood out among the rest of the muck. 2011 had a varied year of films, but while we did find more than enough great movies to fill our top 10 we didn’t find a masterpiece until the end of the year, and even then we’re having a hard time using the M word. Nevertheless 2011 was a year for new experiences, unique films, and most importantly underdogs. The best films flopped and the worst films excelled at the box office. There were surprises, some neat twists and of course the box office was at its all time lowest. While Congress is working on that censorship thing with SOPA, we appreciate our time delivering these top ten lists for our readers.

Sure they may not be the most agreeable lists on the site, but they arouse conversation and we love to debate with our audience. What with the increasing demand from the indie world we weren’t able to cover all of the year’s films, but we tried to tackle all of our most promising and we compiled lists of 10 great films, and 10 really bad ones. And for the first time ever we compiled five indie films you should look out for. Of course we couldn’t catch many films in time due to our demands on the site (Warhorse, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Take Shelter, The Artist), but we have a nice little mélange of 2011’s banner films that we felt warranted mentioning. So by all means indulge in Cinema Crazed’s official Top 10 and Worst 10 of the year 2011!

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Swine (2012)

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Swine3_castThe Brothers Levitch’s “Swine” is a film that’s right up my alley. Told in three parts, “Swine” is a post apocalyptic steam punk Western that takes two warring groups of soldiers and pits them against each other in a wasteland void of human decency and nobility. This reminded me an awful lot of “Firefly” and in many respects it has that epic potential because “Swine” has a really good head on its shoulder with a creative vision that can make it a hit at festivals and garner an immense fan base. I sure as hell would follow this if it became a feature length film. In a world where all law has been abolished, there are two fronts on the battlefield.

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Green Lantern: Extended Cut (2011) [Blu-ray]

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i07x4wSIt’s a shame when a movie has such potential to be greater than the whole of its sum and fails to live up to it in the end. That’s the case with “Green Lantern,” a movie with great promise to be one hell of a space epic with fantastical elements and a killer weapon, and yet… when all is said and done, “Green Lantern” is just a rank mess, a blunder of script faults and horrible exposition that jumps from scene to scene and only manages to pick up once our hero Hal becomes the Green Lantern. And then when he becomes the Green Lantern it’s all the movie is about. He becomes the Green Lantern and…? Nothing else. “Green Lantern” has the promise to be so much more than it puts on the screen, but what it makes up for in action set pieces it lacks in severely uninteresting characters.

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Melancholia (2011)

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66265558Lars Von Trier’s examination of the apocalypse is a truly divine and ethereal cinematic experience that not only dares to explore the lasting effects of the end of the world, but also dwells on two states of mind concerning the end of the world. Like “On the Beach,” Von Trier examines the world putting on a show for itself in the wake of the apocalypse. In this version of the end of the world, Earth is destined to clash with an unknown planet from behind the sun. After centuries hidden, the planet tagged Melancholia by Earth’s denizens, has finally reached Earth’s orbit and is destined to smash in to our planet as the days progress.

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Tangled (2010)

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“Tangled” may not be from Pixar, but I’m of the opinion that it deserves as much love as a Pixar film from Disney does. Because as a film that hasn’t been animated from the famous sub-company, it’s surely a breathtaking absolutely imaginative fairy tale that conquers the Rapunzel and adds its own post-modern twist. Though I was initially horrified that this would be a simple “Shrek” clone, “Tangled” is very much in touch with Disney’s sensibilities. It’s more a fairy tale than a comedy and really plays on fate and destiny like traditional Disney tales than trying to hurl self aware comedy at us every single second the film plays. “Tangled” takes a rather boring story and adds a twist to it by offering up more in depth characters and plays on coincidence teaming together two lovelorn selfish individuals and giving them a reason to care for someone else outside of their own needs. That’s what “Tangled” is essentially about: two people who find something to care for beyond themselves and the tangled mess that occurs when they decide to compromise and help one another.

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Final Destination 5 (2011) (DVD/Blu-Ray/Digital)

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It pains me that we have to sit through the “Final Destination” films when it can be developed in to something with a rich mythos and an overreaching story arc that ties together various characters. Instead it trots out one death after the other and insultingly introduces a new plot element that is not only ridiculous but until now was never mentioned in a movie. Again “Final Destination” sets up a series of questions and never answers them. So I’m left asking why. And with no successful answers. Because the producers behind “Final Destination” don’t feel the need to turn this series in to a semi-intelligent franchise, they just want this to be the films with the outstanding deaths.

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Warrior (2011)

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warriorAt the end of the day when the dust settles, “Warrior” is going to be called a sports film. But deep down it’s a family film. It’s a man film about the male dynamic and the utterly fragile relationship between brothers that can be easily hampered by bad parenting. Most of all bad parenting by their father. “Warrior” is the big film of the year that will get many comparisons to 2010’s “The Fighter,” but in so many ways, Gavin O’Connor’s film is superior. Because while the previous film explored the all too common dynamic between mothers and sons, “Warrior” explores the father and son dichotomy, the fractured relationship that can blossom from years of alcoholism and disease.

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