 Much like Kris Tapley over at In Contention does his list of the 10 best shots of each year, I like to do something similar as well here at The Awards Circuit. The wrinkle for me is that I go with the best/most memorable scenes of the year. It’s also kind of a tie in/companion piece with my article on what films from 2011 will stand the test of time. I couldn’t limit it to just 10, so I included 5 of the 15 runners-up and came up with 15 different scenes that were my personal favorites. 8 of my 10 favorite films of 2011 are on the final cut of the list (all wound up in the piece though when you factor in the honorable mentions), but overall I think these are going to be widely considered some of the best scenes of the year. Of course, I’m eager to read what you all have to say/view as the best of the year as well, so we’ll get to that at the end. For now, let’s get on with it and talk about the best scenes from 2011!
Read more on Which Scenes from 2011 will you remember?…
Categories: Article Tags: Another Earth, Bellflower, Best of the year, Bridesmaids, Crazy Stupid Love, Drive, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Hugo, Like Crazy, lists, Margaret, Midnight in Paris, Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol, Moneyball, random, Red State, Shame, Super 8, the artist, The Beaver, The Descendants, the girl with the dragon tattoo, The Ides of March, The Muppets, The Tree of Life, Warrior, We Bought a Zoo
 An ambitious indie flick with lots of potential, ‘Another Earth’ is only partially able to capitalize on that potential, making for a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, it’s got a great jumping off point for a really interesting film, but on the other hand it makes that secondary to a romance story that you’ve seen before, and done better as well. You do see a wonderful performance by star and co-writer Brit Marling (who’s going to be big very soon) to go along with typically solid work by William Mapother, but it’s in support of a movie that should be better than it is. Co writer/director Mike Cahill has talent, but he just hasn’t completely harnessed it yet.
Read more on Another Earth (**½)…
The Big Boys
By Robert Hamer
And so the summer flies by, and we Oscar prognosticators can steel ourselves for the “real” contenders to roll out over the fall and winter months. But as we look forward to how this season shapes up, what can we take from this year’s summer slate? What interesting events happened the last three months as far as the big, massive blockbusters go?
One trend that is not unusual or noteworthy is the number of sequels and remakes that hit us in that time. It does amaze me how seemingly every August some pundit will declare “The Summer of Sequels” or some such nonsense as if franchise pictures haven’t plagued the multiplexes at this time every year for the past decade. True, seven of the ten highest-grossing films of the year domestically were part of franchises (nine of you count The Avengers preludes), but that’s commonplace in this era of shareholder cinema. Read more on Sayonara, Summer!…
Categories: Article Tags: Another Earth, Attack The Block, Beautiful Boy, Beginners, Bellflower, Bridesmaids, Captain America: The First Avenger, Cars 2, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, collaborative article, Crazy Stupid Love, Everything Must Go, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2, Hesher, Independent Spirit Awards, Mel Gibson, Midnight in Paris, Oscar hopefuls, Passion Play, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Project Nim, Sarah's Key, Senna, Submarine, Super 8, Sympathy for Delicious, Terri, The Beaver, The Future, The Guard, The Help, The Tree of Life, Thor, Transformers: Dark of the Moon
What will the summer bring?
Ah, summer. The season when school is out, sun tan is in, and cinephiles like us can look forward to massive studio-produced blockbusters that rake in the big bucks. These movies don’t usually have a strong presence during the awards season, but that’s slowly changing with the recent expansion of the Best Picture nominees to ten (spurred in part by the snubbing of a big-budget superhero film, I might add) and more ambitious treatments of what we used to call “summer flicks.” So what major releases for the months of May to August could be seen again at the Oscars, or *gasp* might actually be great movies?
In previous years, the easy answer to that question was almost always Pixar. They have earned by far more Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature than any other studio, and since the expansion to ten have produced two consecutive Best Picture nominees. So you would think that once again they’re a sure bet to dominate – both financially and critically – the summer slate of family entertainment…unless of course we’re talking about a sequel to their worst film yet. For reasons unknown to me, the illustrious studio has decided that their upcoming films should include a sequel to Cars and, for 2013, a prequel to Monsters, Inc., despite neither film being that good in the first place. But maybe I’m being presumptuous. After all, both of the Toy Story sequels were outstanding and I don’t even know what Cars 2 is about. Let’s check the official synopsis… Read more on The Summer and the Oscars…
Categories: Article Tags: Another Earth, Beginners, Bellflower, Bridesmaids, Captain America: The First Avenger, Cars 2, Conan the Barbarian, Cowboys and Aliens, Green Lantern, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2, Higher Ground, One Day, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Project Nim, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Super 8, Tabloid, The Beaver, The Future, The Guard, The Hangover: Part II, The Tree of Life, Thor, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, upcoming films, Winnie the Pooh, X-Men: First Class
This Comic-Con weekend marks the last comic book superhero film of 2011, and the second commitment-free sex comedy of the summer:
 Continuing Marvel Studios’ attempt to build up to The Avengers, Captain America: The First Avenger stars Chris Evans as Steve Rogers, a brave but puny young man who is selected for the U.S. Army’s super soldier program. Armed with newfound physical strength and his trademark shield, Captain America battles the evil Nazi commander Red Skull over a mysterious artifact. The reviews for this film are decent, but not enough for me to break my ban on superhero films; although critics are mostly relieved to find a genuinely wholesome, nostalgic superhero epic, many also claim that the film is a rather generic, obligatory set-up for The Avengers (God! Think of all the wasted time and effort if THAT film ends up being a failure!). The big problem for our star-spangled hero is Harry Potter, as the latter film shows no significant signs of slowing down its box office dominance and will probably barely hold on to the top spot this weekend. Still, this should bring in about $50-60 million in its opening weekend.
Also opening this weekend, a hotshot actor and the actress from Black Swan star in a comedy about two people who decide to add casual sex to their friendship, but can’t anticipate the complications that ensue. I am of course referring to No Strings Attached Friends With Benefits. Ahem…I am obviously not the first or the smartest critic to notice that the two films have basically the same premise, so how does this latter one distinguish itself? Why, you get the Marine Corps to help out! Yep, it appears as though Kunis and Timberlake’s little stunt of going to the Marine Corps Ball has boosted the visibility of this otherwise non-entity of a film, and has given nice publicity from those who may want to opt out of sci-fi/fantasy spectacles. $17-22 million by Sunday. Read more on Weekend Openings (July 22-24)…
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Much like Kris Tapley over at In Contention does his list of the 10 best shots of each year, I like to do something similar as well here at The Awards Circuit. The wrinkle for me is that I go with the best/most memorable scenes of the year. It’s also kind of a tie in/companion piece with my article on what films from 2011 will stand the test of time. I couldn’t limit it to just 10, so I included 5 of the 15 runners-up and came up with 15 different scenes that were my personal favorites. 8 of my 10 favorite films of 2011 are on the final cut of the list (all wound up in the piece though when you factor in the honorable mentions), but overall I think these are going to be widely considered some of the best scenes of the year. Of course, I’m eager to read what you all have to say/view as the best of the year as well, so we’ll get to that at the end. For now, let’s get on with it and talk about the best scenes from 2011!
