Bryan’s Top Ten Movies of 2011

As is becoming tradition, I don’t complete my top ten list until a few months into the new year. This is mostly because I’m trying to see everything I missed. This list is late for that reason of course, but also because I was having my friends at Outpost Media put together a video companion (which I think came out looking sweet, many thanks to them). I thought it might be fun. So watch the video, then read on for more context or read first then watch or whatever you feel like doing. Just enjoy.

Game of Polls – “The Ides of March” Review

With debates heating up and the presidential election a year away, George Clooney releases his indictment of the political machine. The Ides of March has a lot to say about current politics, mostly about campaigns, but the film is a piece of entertainment first, acting as a tense dialogue-driven thriller. There is a temptation to dismiss the film based on perceived biases, and I’m sure there are a few more liberal ideas presented than not. However, the movie does show both sides of the coin and eventually reveals what many characters from the HBO program The Wire know all too well, “the game is rigged.”

Opening Weekend: Driving It Home

Ryan Gosling drives. James Marsden won’t allow violence against his house. And no one knows how Sarah Jessica Parker does it.

The Artful Driver – Review: Drive

I don’t want to review this movie. I don’t want to tell you that Nicolas Winding Refn is a great director who’s made an amazingly taut thriller that grabs you by the throat and refuses to let go. I don’t want to tell you that Ryan Gosling delivers a uniquely unnerving performance. I just want to tell you to go see Drive, because I don’t want to spoil the surprise.

Fall Preview: 25 Films I Can’t Wait to See #5-1

And so we reach the end. Here are the final five, with trailers.

Fall Preview: 25 Films I Can’t Wait to See #10-6

The end is nigh. We’re down to the top 10 films I can’t wait to see. And we’ve got trailers for all 5 of today’s picks again.

Opening Weekend: Crazy Smurfin’ Cowboys

The Smurfs reach the big screen. Daniel Craig plays a taciturn gunslinger who takes on alien invaders in the old west. And Steve Carell becomes Ryan Gosling’s wingman.

10 Quick Thoughts on Oscar Nods

I’m sure everyone has heard by now that Academy Award nominations were announced today, so I thought I’d list a few things that I found agreeable and a few I did not. A few notes before I start. This list is mostly for surprises so I’m not going to waste time expounding about Christian Bale’s much deserved first nomination or how mediocre The Kids Are All Right really is because it was widely expected that they would be nominated. Also, I have not seen everything (yet…although I don’t know if I’ll make time for Country Strong), so make of that what you will. If you want the best online awards coverage I suggest you check out In Contention. In the meantime, here are my two cents.

Where Is the Love? – Review: Blue Valentine

Director Derek Cianfrance and his leading dynamic duo, Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, ring in the new year with a stunning examination of the bittersweet highs and lows of modern love. Blue Valentine offers a palpable sort of neo-realistic look at love, both in bloom and beyond “happily ever after,” an anti-romantic comedy, if you will.

What Seems to be Your Boggle?

[Editor’s note: It’s the turn of the century… “gay” is a four-letter word… the naked human form is more disturbing than torture porn… and in the world of fictionalized biopics, sexism that is, in fact, very real should be omitted… all for the sake of our sensitive moral sensibilities. It seems that the 21st Century is a time for walking on eggshells… a time for self-censorship in fear of offending someone… a time to avoid conflict. People don’t want to rock the boat. In other words, the 21st century is when we all become big pussies…