Best of 2011: Movies
Film: Drive
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks

2011 was the year of Ryan Gosling. He had the comedy hit, Crazy, Stupid, Love. which almost made this list, political drama The Ides of March, which I want to see, and this criminally Oscar-snubbed masterpiece. Drive tells the story of The Driver, who agrees to help his neighbour’s ex-con husband with one last job, so the family will be left in peace. However, when it all goes inevitably wrong, the Driver finds himself on a blood-fueled journey to take revenge on those that wronged him. First thing that got me, it was a far gorier movie than I expected. I normally don’t like gore, but that’s usually because it’s gore for gore’s sake. Drive’s gore had purpose. It was showing just how violent the Driver was becoming to his enemies and how protective he was becoming towards his neighbour. Performance-wise, I haven’t seen a better one than Gosling in this. Definitely the performance of the year, for me, with Albert Brooks’ as a close second. If you’re a crime fan, or a Gosling fan, you owe it to yourself to see this movie. Movie of the year.

Best of 2011: Movies
Film: Captain America: The First Avenger
Director: Joe Johnston
Starring: Chris Evans, Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan, Hugo Weaving 

Just to preface, there’ll be a fair amount of superhero movies on this list. Captain America, which I thought would be my favourite of the year, ended up third on my list of superhero movies, but more about those that came before it in later entries. Cap was a thrilling action movie, which charismatic performances, especially from Tommy Lee Jones and Chris Evans. The supporting cast was solid, from Dominic Cooper’s eccentric Howard Stark, to Hugo Weaving’s menacing Red Skull. The special effects, especially when Steve Rogers was a puny little runt were amazing, and the fight scenes kept me gripped all the way through. I was a little disappointed at the pivotal Bucky moment, as it didn’t quite follow the comics, but it wasn’t enough to take away from the movie. While this is my third favourite superhero movie of the year, it’s only by a miniscule amount that this didn’t come first. Any other year (except 2008, of course), it would’ve been number one.

Best of 2011: Movies
Film: 50/50
Director: Jonathan Levine
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Bryce Dallas Howard, Anna Kendrick 

50/50 wasn’t the funniest film of the year, by any stretch. In fact, the only times I do remember it being funny were mainly scenes with Seth Rogen in them. It was more of a feel-good/feel-extremely-bad drama. JGL shone as usual, further cementing himself as one of the best actors in our day and age. Seth Rogen dialed it back a bit, and produced probably the best performance of his career. Anna Kendrick brought her usual, quirky, adorable self, and Bryce Dallas Howard played the sympathetic bitch quite well. 50/50 was a movie that knew how to tug your heartstrings and how to punch you in the gut all at the same time, and that’s the reason it’s in my top ten.