The films this year were kind of like the current field of Republican presidential candidates: some are entertaining, but there's no clear frontrunner, and there's more attention on the flashiest and least substantial than on the more thoughtful and genuine. In other words, too much emphasis on The Artist and Hugo and not enough on Margaret (my psersonal pick for best film of the year). The latter, abandoned by its studio but embraced by the critics, is kind of like the Jon Huntsman — or Tim Pawlenty — of 2011 movies. Some of the others on my list are getting more of a run for their money, but you have to look beyond the hype to see that this is an above average year in film.
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Related:
Review: Tetro, Review: Irene in Time, Review: The Slammin' Salmon, More 
- Review: Tetro
Francis Ford Coppola made one perfect picture, The Conversation , in 1974.
- Review: Irene in Time
Luckless in love, Irene (Tanna Frederick) wants to "find a guy like my daddy." Her father, she says (over and over and over), "was really magical." Truth be told, her absent dad doesn't seem like that great a guy.
- Review: The Slammin' Salmon
Here's how the shit version of Waiting likely came to be: the Broken Lizard boys (David Heffernan directs) thought the concept of a boxing-champ-turned-Miami-restaurateur was funny, and they wrote and shot a major motion picture without bothering to design a plot.
- Review: Invictus
Poetry, muses Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) in a reflective moment in Invictus , consists only of words, yet it can inspire perseverance and greatness beyond our own expectations of ourselves. Sport, similarly, consists of oversized, overpaid athletes pounding one another in simulated combat, but it's also a form of poetry.
- Review: Armored
In view of its credentials, Armored should be a lay-up.
- Review: Me and Orson Welles
With Orson Welles, it's all in the voice — which over the course of four decades could sell anything from a Martian invasion to Paul Masson wine.
- Review: Brothers
Operation Enduring Freedom seems to have replaced Vietnam as Hollywood's go-to military quagmire from which to dredge gut-wrenching meditations on the psychological carnage of war.
- Review: Avatar
For someone who's determined to reduce all experience to mechanical reproduction, James Cameron sure hates machines.
- Review: It's Complicated
It's complicated, and so are my feelings about Nancy Meyer's predictable and overlong boomer-bait rom-com.
- Review: The Young Victoria
Who knew Queen Victoria was such a babe?
- Review: Le Combat Dans L'Île
Alan Cavalier's sleek noir rescued from 1962 obscurity
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Features
, Movie Reviews, films, drive, More
, Movie Reviews, films, drive, year in review, Project Nim, 2011, lookback2011, A Dangerous Method, portlookback2011, provlookback2011, Less
