5. HANNA

““Hanna” is both the accomplished thriller that “Salt” wanted to be ...”

Like Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill Volume 1,” “Hanna” isn’t much more than a director’s exercise in style and cinematic flair…but oh my goodness, this is an action film that MUST be seen. The story is entrancing, the actors hit all the right notes and each scene demonstrates how first-rate filmmaking is done. It is frenetic, exhilarating and fascinating, and needless to say, I loved every second of it. Who would have thought that Joe Wright, best known for adapting elegant and sophisticated literature like “Pride and Prejudice” and “Atonement” to the big screen, could double as a masterful action director?

Saoirse Ronan plays the sixteen-year-old title character Hanna Heller, who has been training in a snowy Finland environment with her father (played by Eric Bana) for her whole life. She has developed a set of skills that would put five Jason Bournes to shame, including hand-to-hand combat, defense, stealth, quick reflexes and hunting. She can also speak fluently in several languages, has memorized entire encyclopedia entries, and has established fake identities and backgrounds for herself. “Adapt or die” is the phrase spoken between the two characters, which basically means that if you cannot prepare yourself for any potential bind you might get caught in, you are screwed.

So what is this “home-school program” preparing Hanna for? Well, it is all part of an elaborate mission conceived by her father, the intricacies of which I will not spoil. I will say that this dicey operation is initiated with the simple flick of a switch, which triggers a radio signal, catching the attention of a cunning CIA agent who recruits several allies and takes countless measures to guarantee that she retrieves Hanna and her father before they complete their mission. Like with most ingenious thrillers, “Hanna” is filled with all sorts of surprises and twists that are better left a mystery. Lots and lots of chaos ensues in getting from point A to point B.

The film is a masterpiece of technical prowess. The action scenes all have a special kind of artistic craft to them that makes each thrilling to watch, while the original score composed by The Chemical Brothers is a stimulating tour de force in its own right. Of course, the film has fun with the fact that Hanna is a girl who has been deprived of human contact all her life, as in a brilliantly staged scene where she becomes exposed to modern technology for the first time. She is frightened by all sorts of commonplace advancements, such as a flickering fluorescent light, the sound of a television and the whooshing of the blades on an overhead fan. Instinctively, she regards all of these foreign objects and utilities as threats and the film does a terrific job of illustrating the degree of sensory overload she is experiencing at that moment in time. “Hanna” is a nearly perfect thriller.

4. HUGO

“Ultimately, the film is Scorsese’s love letter to film. Being his a...”

Martin Scorsese? THE Martin Scorsese? Arguably one of the greatest American directors of all time? Whose career has spanned over four decades now? The guy who helmed “Mean Streets,” “Raging Bull,” “Goodfellas,” “Taxi Driver,” “The Departed,” “After Hours,” “Gangs Of New York,” “The King Of Comedy” and “Shutter Island?” And he’s making a FAMILY film in 3D?  This is the general reaction everybody had upon hearing that the acclaimed director was adapting the bestselling novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret. But surprise surprise, “Hugo” still ends up being one of the best films of the year. No, there aren’t any sequences of mob violence, gunfights, challenging questions about morality, or other gritty tropes and features common to the typical Scorsese picture here. Yet, it remains a true work of genius and one of the most unconventional, inspired and insightful family films to come out in a very long time.

It follows a young boy in 1930s Paris named Hugo, who lives and works inside of the maze-like network of clocks in a train station after his clockmaker father dies in a museum fire. Though the boy spends most of his spare time stealing food from the train station services and avoiding capture from a bumbling inspector, he is also smart and resourceful, possessing an incredible mechanical expertise and a gift for invention inherited from his father. He is driven to repair his father’s two-foot-tall mechanical automaton, which may or may not hold some kind of secret message.

In hopes of making progress, he swipes gears and spare parts from a furtive old man’s toy shop. One day he gets caught red-handed and the old man snatches the lad’s notebook full of designs and engineering notes for the automaton, threatening to burn it when he gets home. Young Hugo befriends the man’s goddaughter, the verbose and fanatical Isabelle, and the two begin to investigate whether or not the given state of affairs are more than what they seem.

Part of the film’s splendor lies in just how unpredictable the story is. Unlike many trailers and TV commercials, the ones for “Hugo” gave away very little about the film’s secrets outside the basics. Perfect! This is the kind of movie that REQUIRES the audience to approach blindly. It begins as a compelling, Dickensian-style mystery drama with the two children embarking on their own detective adventure to put together the scattered pieces of a backbreaking puzzle. The long riddle is intriguing and every new discovery is a surprise. However, the second half is something even greater as it reveals itself to be a film ABOUT films and the magical impact they have on the world.

It is hard to imagine in this age of CGI explosions and millions of dollars in production values, but silent movies were once equally capable of thrilling audiences and taking them to worlds far, far away. The more I think about it, this is also a sad reflection on just how spoiled moviegoers are now. Every time I go to see a movie, people are checking their cell phones, talking out loud like they are at home, and just all around not paying attention to what’s happening onscreen. In “Hugo,” the moviegoers of the 1930s are on the edge of their seats as silent movie star Harold Lloyd helplessly dangles from the hands of a clocktower high above ground. They jump and scream in alarm as a train rushes into the foreground in the Lumiere brothers picture titled “Arrival Of A Train At La Ciotat.” It’s practically inconceivable to picture such reactions to movies nowadays in an age where attention spans are at their absolute shortest and the demand for cheap thrills, instant gratification and lazy sequels is through the roof.

The film chronicles the innovation of “true” movie studios where filmmakers could shoot extravagant projects, the idea of injecting color into the average black-and-white silent picture, and essentially the pioneering of special effects as we know it. There is admirable craftsmanship in the early, now cheesy looking visual tricks seen in classic films. “Transformers” would no doubt be nonexistent without them. An enchanting visual experience and a thought-provoking look at the history of film, “Hugo” is a great work of art that could have only been done by a great artist like Martin Scorsese.

3. MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

“Despite using a sort of time-travel mechanism as a plot element, th...”

76-year-old Woody Allen has released a LOT of movies throughout his career, and a lot of great ones at that. “Midnight In Paris” is like a pleasant little charmer that stepped out of a time machine from the 1970s or the 1980s when some of his best movies were made, including my personal favorites “Annie Hall,” “Manhattan” and “Crimes and Misdemeanors.” With a flawless script and gorgeous cinematography, this is trés magnifique in my book.

Owen Wilson gives an endearing performance as Gil Pender, the imperative Woody Allen-type character, a hack screenwriter on vacation in Paris with his fiancée Inez and her parents. The man is on a mission to finish up a novel he has been working on about a nostalgia store owner who yearns to have been alive in France during the 1920s, the very definition of a ‘golden age’ in his mind. Of course, this pipe dream is not all that distant from Gil’s own mindset. He is a classic kind of guy; a romantic who loves to absorb the beauty of his surroundings in Paris (I don’t blame him), dislikes pedantic pseudo-intellectuals, and doesn’t appreciate being the outcast of the group. Inez, on the other hand, is on the different end of the spectrum entirely. All she sees in Paris is another place to shop heavy and eat fancy.

However, Gil is granted the opportunity to experience the golden age for himself when the clock chimes midnight on the Parisian streets. He gets whisked away by a mysterious vintage automobile and is taken to a different time or place, where art icons such as F. Scott Fitzgerald (and his wife Zelda), Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí and Gertrude Stein all seem to coexist, converse and attend roaring parties every single night. How does Gil stumble into this world? Is it time travel? An alternate dimension? An alcohol-induced figment of his imagination? It is never quite clear, but that doesn’t mean our hero can’t learn a few things from each visit. Of course, wherever learning is involved, there is likely to be a number of challenging trials and tribulations to inspire such epiphanies.

The cast is uniformly excellent here. Owen Wilson puts his own spin on the Woody Allen character mold, Marion Cotillard is radiant as the lovely Adriana who is irresistible to every man in the 1920s, and Rachel McAdams departs from her niche as a plucky leading lady in her role as Inez. “Midnight In Paris” is a dazzling piece of American filmmaking that acts as a meditative and poignant glance at why no time period will ever perfectly meet expectations, because as Gil says, “[the present] is a little unsatisfying because life is a little unsatisfying.”

2. MONEYBALL

“While I was watching, something about the film’s placement of the h...”

Must I reiterate that when it comes to sports of any kind, I am about as knowledgeable as a dead squirrel? I haven’t the faintest knowledge of the rules, regulations, statistics, records, players, teams, etc. of any sport in particular. And in the state I live in, people would likely go as far as to say my ignorance of America’s pastime is downright un-American. Yet, here is just how powerful an impact “Moneyball” had on me as a film critic: I willingly paid to see it again. And if I weren’t on such an urgent, no-pay schedule, I probably would have seen it a third time. I love this movie.

Sure, most sports movies don’t even center on the sports themselves; they are more obsessed with their characters than they are with competitive action. But “Moneyball” is surely not your average feel-good baseball movie. Instead, it concentrates on facts and figures, applied data used for business strategies, the savvy language of the head honchos in charge and the overall business approach to the game.

Brad Pitt plays Billy Beane in a performance that is destined to earn him an Oscar nomination. Beane is a former ball player who lost his skill and self-assurance when the moment came for him to transition into the Major leagues. Now divorced, this man presides as the general manager for bottom tier Major League baseball team, the Oakland A’s. The team has one of the smallest payrolls and most conservative budgets of any professional sports team. This poses a major problem when three of the star players’ are lost to higher-paying teams and Beane must fill their slots with new players.

However, a momentous visit to the Cleveland Indians introduces Beane to a bright but timid Economics major from Yale named Peter Brand. Though this kid’s number-crunching, glasses sporting image doesn’t immediately register as ‘sports intellectual,’ he has developed an unconventional but theoretically brilliant strategy based in the concept of sabermetrics that may benefit Beane in preparing a full line-up for next season. So Beane hires Brand to become assistant general manager to the Oakland A's. Scouting agencies like hone in on player imperfections, including their personal lives, addictions and physical irregularities. Brand, however, turns Beane’s attention to on-base percentages. With this tactic in mind, Beane makes the most of the small budget he is working with, much to the uncertainty and flat-out opposition of specialists, including team manager Art Howe. Everyone thinks this risky team arrangement is like “buying a ticket on the Titanic,” but Beane is so extremely driven by his desire to win (or even more by his hatred for NOT winning) that he is willing to see Brand’s gameplan through to the end.

Aaron Sorkin (“The Social Network” writer) and Steve Zaillian (“The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” writer) teamed up to adapt the sports geek stats book of the same name by Michael Lewis into the most impeccably written screenplay of 2011. It is pure perfection, intuitively written to where even I can instantly understand the geeky facets of sports culture being discussed. Yet the movie isn’t dumb about its subject in the slightest. It is intelligent entertainment infused with heart and sharp wit. Pitt is mesmerizing and Jonah Hill as Peter Brand proves that the actor can effectively branch outside of the Judd Apatow circle of comedy and hold his own in his first big dramatic outing. Everyone involved truly hit a homerun with “Moneyball.”

1. 50/50

“Sure, “50/50” is funny at times, and Seth Rogen is undoubtedly funn...”

I know for sure my number one pick will come as a shocker to just about everybody. Sure, a lot of people really liked this movie, but it didn’t end up on too many end-of-the-year lists and it isn’t a strong awards contender like “The Artist” or “War Horse”. To be honest, I am just as surprised that it topped my list as well. Upon leaving the theater after initially seeing “50/50,” the words ‘number one movie of the year’ never crossed my mind. But now that a few months have passed by, I think back to which movies have stuck with me the most. I think to the movies that have resonated with me after months of reflection and analysis. I think of what movies got me the most emotionally involved. I think of the movies that changed my outlook on life, movies that made me ask myself questions about my friends and family, and movies that have allowed me to appreciate life a little more. All signs brought me back around to “50/50,” which I do believe is the best movie (in my opinion) to be released in 2011.

Adam Lerner (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a Seattle public radio employee who is a straight arrow if ever there was one. He doesn’t smoke, he doesn’t drink, he exercises regularly, he isn’t promiscuous. He doesn’t even own a car or a license, as he believes driving is pushing the boundaries of what qualifies as ‘safe’ with him. So how could a guy like this not be shocked to hear the news that he has somehow contracted a cancerous tumor in his spine?

According to an informational website, his chances of beating his particular form of terminal illness are 50/50. And over the course of a few weeks, Adam goes through all the normal stages one might go through upon hearing such tragic news, beginning with denial and making its way to anger and depression.

Adam’s best friend Kyle (Seth Rogen) attempts to console him by taking his crisis and spinning it into something positive. He says it’s a sure-fire opportunity to meet some fine ladies at the bar out of sympathy. It’s the last thing Adam wants. To help Adam interpret his thoughts and anxieties is a bright and affirmative young psychiatrist named Katie McKay (Anna Kendrick). She may have only had two patients before him and she is still working toward her doctorate, but she remains confident that she can somehow help him out. Psychiatry is the last thing Adam wants. And what’s worse, his exasperatingly worrisome mother (Angelica Huston) doesn’t react lightly to the news that her son’s days on the planet might be numbered. She relentlessly smothers Adam as if she is in a suspended state of denial herself. Smothering is the last thing Adam wants.

In fact, the only thing Adam gives a damn about anymore is his girlfriend, a painter named Rachael (Bryce Dallas Howard). She seems nice enough, but sort of on the uneasy side. One day, she brings home an emaciated former race dog (lovingly named Skeletor), which she says will help him overcome these difficult times. Another companion is the last thing Adam wants.

In case you cannot tell, the film has less to do with Adam coping with cancer than it does with the miscellaneous reactions of everybody else around him, which different as they are, represent some form of personal grief for a loved one. In many films dealing with cancer, the character stricken with the disease is made out to be like some kind of blameless person, free of sin and immune to persecution. Adam, on the other hand, is surly, sarcastic, pessimistic and easily irritable. He would probably rather willingly die than go through each day in uncertainty about his condition. The character is a more flawed and frankly more realistic portrayal of a cancer patient.

It is in these dire circumstances that one gets a firm awareness of the people that truly care about them, and the results might come as a surprise when you get down to it. The film shrewdly and effortlessly earns its audience's sympathy rather than beating them over the head with sentimentality like the typical tearjerker. Screenwriter Will Reiser based this work upon his own personal experience of being diagnosed with a malignant tumor and seeking comfort in one of his close friends (who was indeed Seth Rogen in real life). I wasn’t prepared for a script with so much insight on human relationships of every kind, and how one person’s crisis can leave even larger impressions on the people surrounding them. “50/50” is a sweet, funny, and deeply moving film. One that remains relevant whether or not you've lived through a similar situation.