Grading My 2011 Movies

Going to the movies is one of my favorite spare-time fillers, and in 2011 I saw 16 movies, of which only 2 made the F list: Moneyball and The Descendants, both of which received far better press than deserved. A big name actor cannot save a mediocre movie script and neither of these movies began with a good script, but both went downhill from there.

However, the rest of my viewing experiences earned grades of A, B or C:

Grades of A: The Warrior, the fight movie that pits brothers against each other, with Dad in the middle; The Ides of March, which is perhaps too nuanced for those who don’t know Shakespeare's Caesar and Brutus dust-up; The King’s Speech, which connects on many levels to many viewers for many reasons (released last year, in time for Oscar recognition); and the incredible My Week With Marilyn, for which the leading lady, Michelle Williams, should receive an Oscar.

The B films are J. Edgar, which went a bit too heavy in some aspects of the script and took away from the overall quality of the performance; War Horse, too similar to Secretariat to stand in the A category, but a really good viewing experience; Water for Elephants, which I enjoyed more than I enjoyed reading the book; Sherlock Holmes II, which is clever, interesting, and just dark enough to stave off campy; and Bridesmaids, which has to be the best chick comedy ever!! Believe me, I'll never eat in an Indian restaurant!!

In the C category are Footloose, which proves that a remake never is as good as the original; The Lincoln Lawyer, which demonstrates why I often prefer the book; The Muppets, which publicizes itself as a kid’s film, but is obviously intended to entertain the (younger) adults who grew up with the muppets; and A Dolphin Tale, one of the best “feel good” films of the year.

I don’t rent too many DVDs because I’m never quite sure how to make that aspect of the tangled wires of the electronics' components work, but my two favorites continue to be The Hurt Locker and Taking Chance, starring Kevin Bacon in what I believe is the role of his career. I would watch NetFlix, but the "newest" movies for NetFlix are at least 6 months in the past, which doesn't meet my standard for "new," especially when I can RedBox DVDs that are really new at the local grocery store. And I can RedBox a whole lot of movies for the "cost of a couple of lattes each month," Mr. NetFlex CEO!!

My to-do list still has several titles on it: The Iron Lady, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Too Loud/Too Close, Mission Impossible, We Bought a Zoo, and Young Adult. The only one of these that may prove impossible for me to watch is … Mission Impossible ... because I have a problem with people on the big screen acting at dizzying heights. The previews for The Man on the Ledge prove to me that there’s no way I could ever watch that film, even if I wanted to, which I don’t. The lady climbing to the top of the “penis” sandstone rock, both in the TV commercials and on the huge theater screen, sends me into panic attack mode! I can tell myself repeatedly that Tom Cruise is acting in a movie, that no film company is going to risk his life by allowing him to die while jumping off the highest building in the world, and still scream when he does that in the previews!

My goal is to see one movie a week until I'm caught up with my list and then add new titles that catch my attention during the previews. I'll keep you posted on my progress.