Did you actually get through that last part? Well, glad you made it! Here's part 2:

July

"You're better off calling the Ghostbusters, love."

Rapt: Not much to say about this obscure French film. Basically, the first and last half hours are interesting explorations of the effects of a kidnapping, but the middle hour is a god awfully boring procedural drama. Made me pine for CSI... 2.5/5

Horrible Bosses: Easily the funniest film of the year. The trio of Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day worked amazingly together, though Day was the biggest stand out by far due to his boundless energy. The three bosses as played by Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston and Colin Farrell are each uniquely hilarious, with a few of them even serving as well done plot points. The film is so continuously hilarious that I missed jokes in between my laughter. It's THAT funny. 4.5/5

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2: The biggest franchise of my youth is over. I can still remember being 11 and watching Sorcerer's Stonein a theater, enchanted by the literal magic on display. Since then, the Potter films have had ups and downs, but never seemed bad and with this two part finale the series ended with a bang. A few characters may have gotten gypped out of the reverence they deserved in death, but all of the major ones felt like they got a sense of closure. The progression of leads Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint as actors shows in spades here, as they managed to match up to the supreme talents of actors around them like Ralph Fiennes, Alan Rickman, John Hurt, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Gambon and countless others in this sprawling cast. David Yates' direction once again stays faithful to JK Rowling's work, but feels authentically grand on its own, particularly during the epic battle for Hogwarts. So, a huge franchise ends, but we'll still be inspired by it and pass it on to the next generations. 4.5/5

Winnie the Pooh: The tubby little buddy all stuffed with fluff is back, bitches! This was a really charming effort from Disney, taking the franchise back to its simplistic origins and emphasizing the hand drawn charm of Pooh and the Hundred Acre Wood. The voice cast fills the classic roles so well, some of the songs are memorable and the animation is simplistic but brings these characters to life with such clever & subtle gestures. This really made me feel like I was four again. 4/5

Captain America: The First Avenger: This guy threw his shield and hit right on target. While not quite as cool as Thor, this is another fine entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film really managed to combine that slick Marvel charm with a genuine sense of 1940s charm, mostly thanks to the stellar leading performance from Chris Evans (as well as supporting performances from Haley Atwell, Hugo Weaving, Dominic Cooper & Tommy Lee Jones) and director Joe Johnston's attention to detail in terms of the 1940s sensibilities. 4/5

The Devil's Double: Regardless of the flaws with the film itself, this has one of my favorite performances of the year with Dominic Cooper's double duty role. You completely forget that he plays both the calm morally grounded Latif and the almost cartoonishly insane Uday Hussein, showcasing his range as an actor and emphasizing the film's emotional arch for the Letiff character. You feel for Latif as he has to convincingly portray such a despicable human being in order to protect his family from potential death, which makes all of Uday's vial actions all the more horrific. The film has a few big issues visually, in that the effects done to put both of Cooper's characters in one scene are jarringly bad at points and director Lee Tamahoir's slick style conflict with the late 80s/early 90s setting, but Cooper's performance still shines through gorgeously. 4/5

Cowboys & Aliens: This had a lot of promise with such a cool concept and names like Jon Faverau, Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford behind it. While fun, it was ultimately forgettable. This thing suffered from some major screenwriting issues, particularly this crappy trend of setting up a subplot about ten minutes before it's resolved and the whole Olivia Wilde character. Also, pretty boring aliens both in terms of design and as a general threat. But, I'll give it this; the cast is pretty impressive overall and the western stuff works so much, even when it's clashing with the sci-fi stuff like in the horseback/spaceship chase set piece. Shame that it fell apart in the last act. 3.5/5

Another Earth: Independent sci-fi at it's best. The initial premise presents so much potential for a big budget film, but the filmmakers here used their low budget to the film's advantage. The way this film depicted this universe shattering event from the perspective of these two uninvolved characters exploits the average joe's opinion on the event. However, the main story between the two leads still is fascinating on its own, with the performances from Brit Marling and William Mapother selling just how damaged these two people are and how (despite the obvious reasons why they should loath each other) they need each other. It's heartfelt, it's low key and it makes you think; how rare is that in this day & age? 4.5/5

Crazy, Stupid, Love: The most uneven movie of 2011. The stuff that works is fun to watch; Ryan Gosling is in top form, Steve Carrell is quite funny & sympathetically down on his luck and Emma Stone is as charming as ever. The things that don't work are fucking AWFUL; Carrell's son is this creepy stalking kid who's fixation on the babysitter character is treated as an adorable little precocion rather than the serial killer in the making material that it is, that babysitter character's fixation on Carrell comes off as so stupid that it pushes the limits of a normal 17 year old's naivete and all of the other characters are so poorly developed that the lame fight climax leaves no real impact. It's jumbled and such a shame that the good parts didn't outdo the awful stuff. 2.5/5

Attack The Block: Best of the year. Seriously, the best of the entire year! I've seen plenty of alien attack movies in my day; some work, some don't. The best part about this one is how unique it was. Instead of focusing on some white pretty boy Hollywood stars, this focus is on a bunch of hooligans of various races in the middle of England. These kids are presented as harsh and the film shows the environment they live in in a way that doesn't seem preachy, but just drives the characters along. All the kids are fantastic, particularly Jodie Whittaker, working off each other well and holding their own against the adult actors. The score is inventive, the gore is frightening and the script develops these characters and the aliens well enough to where the whole ordeal feels engaging. There's laughs, there's jump scares and so much other entertaining bits and pieces that make this my personal best film of the year! 5/5

August

"NO!"

Bellflower: Man, this one almost had me. The way this chronicled the relationship between the likable lead personas of Evan Glodell and Jessie Wiseman fascinated me so much, particularly the creative contraptions used to flesh out Glodell's character and the unique cinematography that captured the gritty realism of the whole thing. Sure, it had slow moments and the side characters seemed boring, but it felt like the film was leading to something big! And it did... only to cop out of that and end on a pretty lame note. It's a shame, but I still enjoyed it more than I didn't. 3/5

Rise of the Planet of the Apes: Now this is how you reboot a franchise! This took a franchise that had been long dead and gave it such life. The way these apes are portrayed gives them such distinctive personalities without the use of dialogue (well, for the most part), with the most obvious performance to praise being the brilliant Andy Serkis. Much as he did with Gollum, Serkis has once again perfected the way motion capture performances are done, encapsulating his character with pure body language. The script and direction also manage to call back to the famous franchise while giving itself a distinct look, particularly with the amazing chimpapocalypse climax. It was the best blockbuster of the summer and one of the best films of the entire year! 4.5/5

The Help: One hell of a crowd pleasing drama. Mind you, the use of the term "crowd pleasing" isn't a detrimental one; the film does a great job of appealing to a mass audience, even if it's occasionally clawing while doing so. The huge cast here is pretty damn impressive, particularly Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Emma Stone, Jessica Chastaine, Sissy Spacek and Bryce Dallas Howard as THEE biggest bitch fo a character I've seen in quite some time. Some of the male characters do feel underdeveloped (especially Stone's love interest), but it still does a great job of going into the social torment these black maids had to go through, resulting in a pretty emotional film on the whole. 4/5

30 Minutes or Less: Not much to say about this one. Danny McBride, Aziz Anzari and even Nick Swardson were funny, Jessie Eisenberg's character was wan't all that engaging as a character, Michael Pena was pretty annoying, Ruben Fleischer shows a few cool directorial flourishes and the ending was underwhelming. That's about all I have to say about this. It's consistently funny, but ultimately forgettable. 3.5/5

Fright Night: Young Chekov & The Tenth Doctor Who fight off a vampiric Irish drunk? Why wouldn't I enjoy this?! This was such a fun Halloween horror/comedy, complete with the right amount of jokes, gore & chills that managed to exceed the quality of the original (but still quite good) Fright Night. The way this director Craig Gillespie not only payed tribute to the vampire genre, but also shot some damn cool one shot sequences such as the car chase. The performances from Colin Farrell, Anton Yelchin, David Tennant & Imogen Poots all work well, fitting with the film's fun and scary tone. It has a few script problems, but it's a rockin good time on the whole. 4/5

September

"I don't carry a gun... I drive."

Warrior: The best crowd pleaser of the whole year. I was so surprised by this, especially since I'm no big fan of MMA fighting, but this appealed to the sports drama fan that I can be. The film sets up two endearing underdog fighters in the form of Joel Edgerton & Tom Hardy that have relatable motives, making the idea of routing for one or the other seem so conflicting. Hardy's & Edgerton's really add to that confliction, as does Nick Nolte's performance as the bloated frog former drunk father of the two who just wants to be loved! THAT'S ALL HE WANTS! The fights are intense, the emotions are pounding and you can't help but fall for a duel underdog story. Makes me want to shout "ADRIAN!"... but in a good way. 4.5/5

Drive: Hey, Terrence Malick! HERE'S how you do an artsy movie right! Director Nicolas Winding Refn already proved himself to be a unique filmmaking voice with his 2008 film Bronson and his work here continues to show what an engaging artist he is. The way he clashes genres, uses a 1970s ecstatic and has a minimalist style shows that he's not the most mainstream of filmmakers, but he knows how to take a very simple story and flourish the most heinous of images with such a gorgeous look. In layman's terms, dude makes gore look pretty. Of course, you have to commend the outstanding cast; Ryan Gosling (who is the new Brad Pitt in terms of "pretty boy turned amazing actor"), Albert Brooks (stepping so far out of character), Bryan Cranston (who deserves all these roles after his unbelievable work on Breaking Bad), Carey Mulligan, Oscar Issacs, Ron Perhlman and Christina Hendricks all do such a fantastic job of developing their characters through body language and facial expressions rather than just their limited dialogue. The story is very small in scope and it does drag along at times, but that slow pace worked to give the violence of the film's latter half more tension and really engaged me. One of my favorites of the year. 4.5/5

Red State: I've already gone in depth about Kevin Smith's latest effort in a previous blog, but I'll summarize. Thanks to some stellar performances (Michael Parks, Melissa Leo & John Goodman specifically) and some engaging story turns, this is Smith's best film of the last 12 years. It has a few pitfalls with it's climax and editing, but this is still worth a watch for all those who have written the Clerks/Chasing Amy director off. 4/5

50 / 50: Hey guys! It's all right to laugh at cancer again! Seriously, I did find this to be a funny and touching look at such a dower subject. Most of the cast manages to deliver relatable laughs and tears, specifically Joseph Gordon Levitt, Anna Kendrick, Anjelica Houston, Bryce Dallas Howard and even Seth Rogen. Elements of the film genuinely feel like the struggles of a young cancer patient, something screenwriter Will Reiser sadly knows about and director Jonathan Levine does a great job of showing that frustration visually in certain scenes. A few bits in the script felt unnecessary, like the old guys and the Rogen character reveal (which was more obvious to me), but this still ends up being a touching effort from the entire cast & crew. 4/5

Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil: One of the best horror comedies I've seen since Shaun of the Dead. Parodying this cabin in the woods genre of films is such a fantastic concept and it's nice to see that while doing this the titular characters (as hysterically played by Alan Tudyk & Tyler Labine) managed to be developed as well rounded and likable characters. Special mention should also go to Jesse Moss for playing one of the funniest villains out there while still managing to be authentically menacing. 4.5/5

October

"My name would become legend..."

The Thing: I think the negative critical reaction was really an issue with the title. Apparently, because it had the same exact title, people went into this expecting THE SAME DAMN MOVIE!!! Yeah, I love the 1982 film too, but I was willing to except that this would never really reach the same quality level (like any sane person would) and, most of the time, this got it right. Sure, it has HUGE issues, like that lame human villain, some of more realistic attempts at CGI (ie human parts of the transformation) and a pretty terrible climax. However, the cast is decent, the CG is creative and the scares are more genuine then not. 3/5

The Rum Diary: I love Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas, but this isn't that type of movie. Sure, there's that trademark Hunter S. Thompson style of writing there and Johnny Depp once again does his eerily identical impression of the man with so much gusto, but instead, it's more about the wild drunken adventures of young Thompson in the early sixties, which is quite entertaining for the most part. The supporting cast works well with Depp and director/writer Bruce Robinson fills the film with some sharp dialogue & appropriately bizarre visuals. It does kind of fizzle out by the end and certain subplots go nowhere, but it's still a small gem of a movie to enjoy. 3.5/5

Puss In Boots: Continued proof that Dreamworks Animation has hit it's stride ever since the first Kung Fu Panda. Not only does the animation look gorgeous, but it fits the fairy tale estetic much more than even the best of the Shrekfilms could, placing the audience in that world in the most luscious ways possible. The cast is well used (with the exception of Billy Bob Thorton and Amy Sedaris), the relationship between Puss and the Humpty Dumpty is actually well developed in a way that makes you care for them and the humor is mostly character driven, tossing aside the annoying pop culture humor that has already dated the previous entries of this franchise. Such a pleasant surprise. 4/5

November

"My life has taught me that happy endings only happen in the movies."

A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas: I wasn't a big fan of the first two entries in the Harold & Kumar Saga. The first had some fun moments yet felt forgettable to me and the second one is just disgusting to the point where I didn't bother finishing it. However, with this third film, they somehow managed to make this work. Maybe it was the insane use of 3D, maybe it was the awesomeness of Neil Patrick Harris or maybe it was the somewhat heartwarming storyline of the title characters' strained friendship, but whatever it was, it made the film work. It has a few gags that fall flat (claymation, anyone?), but it hit so hard most of the time and really put me in the Christmas spirit... and maybe gave me the munchies. 4/5

Melancholia: I'm no huge fan of Lars Von Trier, particularly after his last film Anti-Christ. This one wasn't that bad of a watch, though. He still provides a lot of his annoying flourishes though, particularly the self indulgent 8 minute long opening scene, one of the poorest attempts at comedic relief in the form of Udo Kier and a score that becomes gratingly familiar after a while. What really saves this are some of the performances, most notably Kirsten Dunst. She exhibits this depressed vulnerability that alternates between respectfully sad and enraging, but given the end of the world circumstances and her depressed behavior, you can understand it. Kiefer Sutherland, Charolette Gainsbourg, Cameron Spurr & Stellan Skarsgard are also quite good. I was also intrigued by how Von Trier explored the end of the world on a personal level, which felt engaging and worthwhile as did the film as a whole. 3.5/5

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1: What do I have to say? It's all been said. Bella Swan is the biggest bitch in modern literature, constantly cock teasing the shirtless Jacob while taking the abusive emotionally absent shit from Edward as per usual, only now there's a twenty minute wedding sequence, telepathic werewolves and a pregnant anorexic Bella. It's safe to say that I'm looking forward to this thing ending soon. 1.5/5

The Descendants: Alexander Payne does it again! The writer/director returns to his craft of dramedy in perfect form, dishing out a story that's equal parts tear jerking drama and knee slapping hilarity. It might be hard to watch a film based around the misery of others, but Payne strays away fro making it misery porn by injecting a small realistic twist that gives you something to ponder. The cast is phenomenal, whether it's the main family of George Clooney, Shailene Woodley & Amara Miller or the supporting performances of Robert Forester, Judy Greer & Matthew Lillard (yes, he's actually good!). They all feel believable and endear you to the situation at hand. It'll make you laugh, it'll make you cry and it'll make you think. What more could you ask for? 4.5/5

The Artist: A gorgeous tribute to silent film era Hollywood. Director/writer Michel Hazanavicius captures that silent film era so well with the art design and the use of Ludovic Bource's amazing score. The way he used traditional film techniques to make the film look like it was something out of that era is seamless and it has such fun with the concept of a silent film in order to fit the main character's struggle worked so well. The cast manages to fit the over the top esthetic of the time quite well too, particularly Jean Dujardin & Berenice Bejo as the charismatic leads, along with John Goodman, James Cromwell, Penelope Ann Miller and that damn cute dog. There's so much effort here and none of it goes to waste. 4.5/5

The Muppets: Man, I am the biggest Muppet guy and this film was a generally pleasing experience. You can tell that Jason Segel is really into these characters and gives them the spotlight... most of the time. This had a pretty big issue with story editing, as the juggling between the Amy Adams storyline & the Muppets as well as the obviously sloppy editing job towards the end shined through quite obviously. That aside, this is still one of the best Muppet movies out there, with memorable songs, consistently funny jokes and a sense of reverence and faithfulness to the personalities of these characters. Plus, it managed to actually make Jack Black funny again! 4/5

Hugo: The mighty Martin Scorsese shines through again! Scorsese has made no secret about his love of film previously, what with this huge support of film preservation and his support of films as diverse as The Red Shoes and Shakes the Clown.Here, he focuses on the earlier side of film, showing just how inventive the earliest filmmakers were and the joy of seeing something shown on a projector that needs cranking. He manages to also craft some of the most memorable visuals of this year through his groundbreaking use of 3D that manages to be both atmospheric and appropriately gimmick filled at the same time. The actors are all commendable, from the youthful Asa Butterfield & Chloe Moretz to the middle aged Sacha Baron Cohen to the elder statesmen that is Ben Kinglsey. The story does a beautiful job of weaving between the main character's arch and the major lesson of belonging in the world. Scorsese might not be killing gangsters here, but he's still just as marvelous a storyteller as he ever was. 4.5/5

December

"You care about something, you fight for it. You hit a wall, you push through it."

Young Adult: Jason Reitman continues his great streak once again. Much like Thank You For Smoking, Reitman has once again mastered the ability to follow an unlikable character yet keep the whole thing engaging. Charlize Theron is presented as this mentally unstable woman who we follow throughout the whole film and it's just fascinating to watch this woman as she pursues a goal that has horrible intentions & would never work, but Theron's acting and Diablo Cody's script keep you interested in seeing just how far this train is going to derail. The supporting performance from Patton Oswalt is also quite well done and he works off Theron's arrogance quite well. The ultimate resolution is revealed in a questionable fashion, but it's still a darkly fun watch. 4.5/5

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows: An enjoyable disappointment. After re-watching the first 2009 film from Guy Ritchie, I found myself liking it even more. This however felt more like an example of sequelitis as it tries to one up certain elements from the first film, such as the disguises, the slow-motion, the leaps in logic that go outside of even the first film and the eccentricities of Holmes. It also wasted most of it's good cast, particularly Stephen Fry, Noomi Rapace and Eddie Marsan. The main duo of Robert Downey Jr & Jude Law still feels solid, Jared Harris as Moriarty manages to do a nice job despite the uneven writing for his character and the final 15 minutes do pick up tremendously, so it's enough to say that this is at least worth one watch. 3/5

The Adventures of Tintin: Spielberg's big return to adventure pays off in spades! Along with Rise of the Planet of the Apes, this shows the inherent potential motion capture can have, as all the characters here feel cartoonish but still have many of the subtleties from their human performers. Speaking of which, many of the performances here fit so well, particularly Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis & Daniel Craig. As a Steven Spielberg action film, this has everything he was missing from the fourth Indiana Jones movie; suspenseful action scenes (which he takes full advantage of with the lack of live action boundaries), over the top yet endearing characters and a genuinely rousing score from John Williams. Some of the humor doesn't work that well (particularly Simon Pegg & Nick Frost's characters), but it's a mere blemish on one hell of a return to forum for Spielberg. 4.5/5

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: If any of you read last year's big ass year in review, you'll know that I really loved the original Swedish film. And I really enjoyed this one... which is pretty similar. I have the same issue with this one that I did with the other version (in that the final resolution to the mystery really fell flat), but I enjoyed this one slightly more thanks to the performances from Daniel Craig & Rooney Mara. Both added something to the characters, particularly the vulnerability & sheer violent rage Mara exhibited in the role that Noomi Rapace was missing in the original film. David Fincher does his usual dark direction well and manages to make all of those research scenes engaging. Not a best of the year, but so enjoyable none the less. 4.5/5

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol: Tom Cruise is STILL running! Director Brad Bird transitions to live action filmmaking in the best way possible, crafting some of the most tension filled action scenes I've seen in ages, which take advantage of the spy technology and use the practical locations of Dubai to gorgeous effect. The main cast also has a great rapport. Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Paula Patton & Jeremy Renner all work perfectly off each other and there is some nice support from Lea Seydoux and Tom Wilkinson. The only true downside is the villain, who is blandly written and even blandly played by Michael Nyqvist. Otherwise, this is a legitimate adrenaline filled thrill ride the entire way through. 4.5/5

War Horse: What a lame way to end the year. Spielberg manages to make a film that's worse than the second Jurassic Park, filling this war story with cliches so sappy they seemed right out of an old Disney TV movie from the 70s. All of the characters are shallow vessels that don't have any development, elements like the score try far too hard to force emotional connection and the main relationship between the "boy" (more like a full grown adult) & his horse feels more like a horrific prelude to bestiality given how disturbingly attached the man is. The film isn't completely devoid of good (the cinematography and Spielberg's shot compositions are still top notch) but this is such a disappointing Oscar bait bullshit.1/5

Final Thoughts:

As you can see, I watched a ton of films from this year, 84 to be specific. I bet you could also see that I enjoyed most of them. There were plenty of films that I loved this year, which either speaks to how easy I am to please or how fantastic this year's films were. Sure, I missed a few that were pretty big duds, but this year's movies provided me with a lot laughs, tears and genuine moments of joy. What more could you ask for? Overall, this is probably one of the best years in film I've experienced in a while. Here's hoping that 2012 continues that trend... or that it gives me more discerning taste. Whichever comes first.