Another fabulous year for movies. It is such a pleasure being able to go to the local cinema or rental shop and see bold, thrilling movies like “Kill List”, “Martha Marcy May Marlene”, “Take Shelter”, “Rare Exports” or “Essential Killing”. I love that such cliche-dodging, thought-provoking, wrong-footing treats are so easily accessible.
If we did not like a film from the year, then it is not mentioned on the list. No value in being negative. I hate critique, but I *love*recommendation. I know that not all these films will be to everyone’s taste, yet I find it hard to believe that you would not enjoy movies like “Beginners”, “Who Took The Bomp?”, “Animal Kingdom”, “Submarine”, “The Big Picture”, “Rare Exports” or “A Lonely Place To Die”.
I didn’t expect there to be four Ryan Gosling films in our favourites, nor three with Christopher Plummer, nor three with John Goodman, nor two in the top twenty made separately by a husband and wife, nor one written by a husband and wife team. nor so many monkeys, goats and dogs…
A bumper year, but In the end “Blue Valentine” remained our favourite, in fact grew and grew on us. Not always an easy watch, but so pure, so romantic, so painful and so true – ace performances, a brilliant soundtrack and wonderful end-credits too.
1 Blue Valentine 2 Beginners 3 Take Shelter 4 Who Took The Bomp? 5 Kill List 6 My Dog Tulip 7 Essential Killing 8 Midnight In Paris 9 Animal Kingdom 10 Drive 11 Submarine 12 Little White Lies 13 Attack The Block 14 Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy 15 The Artist 16 A Separation 17 Rise Of The Planet of The Apes 18 The Future 19 Senna 20 The Skin I Live In 21 Melancholia 22 The Inside Job 23 The Big Picture 24 Le Quattro Volte 25 Project Nim 26 Rare Exports 27 Tyrannasaur 28 A Lonely Place To Die 29 Bridesmaids 30 Red State 31 Limitless 32 The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo 33 Romantics Anonymous 34 Mammuth 35 Easy A 36 Potiche 37 Baghead 38 Crazy, Stupid, Love 39 T.T. Closer To The Edge 40 Barney’s Version 41 World’s Greatest Dad 42 We Need To Talk About Kevin 43 50/50 44 The Guard 45 True Grit 46 The Way 47 Julia’s Eyes 48 Meeks’ Cut-Off 49 The Resident 50 Water For Elephants 51 Ides Of March 52 Howl 53 Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol 54 Rango 55 Last Night 56 Cold Weather 57 Never Let Me Go 58 The Loved Ones 59 You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger 60 The Adventures Of Adele Blanc-Sec 61 Black Swan 62 Living In The Material World 63 A Small Act 64 Hanna 65 Seconds Apart 66 Daydream Nation 67 Tree Of Life 68 Source Code 69 The House Of The Devil 70 The Lincoln Lawyer 71 Point Blank 72 Incendies 73 The Rum Diary 74 How Do You Know 75 The Fighter 76 Just Go With It 77 Nenette 78 Trust 79 Insidious 80 Horrible Bosses 81 Super 8 82 How I Ended This Summer 83 Tucker And Dale Vs Evil 84 The Company Men 85 Fair Game 86 H2Oil 87 Rabbit Hole 88 Super 89 The Mechanic 90 Hobo With A Shotgun 91 Johnny English Reborn 92 Stakeland 93 Blitz 94 Gasland 95 His And Hers 96 Life In A Day 97 Oranges And Sunshine 98 Beautiful Lies 99 Bad Teacher 100 Everything Must Go