Top Twenty Films Of 2011

Words: Saam Das

A selection of FG writers submitted their favourite films of 2011. Each was released in UK cinemas during the calendar year. I totted the votes up and added some patented editorial magic to present this list of our top 20 films of 2011. With contributions from: Ced Yuen, Lauren Johnson-Ginn, Raman Kamboh, Alicia McBride, Paul Dean and Gabriella Shimeld-Fenn.

DVD Review: Tomorrow, When The War Began

'Tomorrow, When The War Began' (UK DVD Release: 19 Sept '11) // Words: Paul Dean

'Tomorrow, When The War Began' is as much a coming-of-age story as it is a tale of guerrilla fighters. A group of rural teenagers venture into the Australian outback for a holiday, only to return to discover their families have vanished and their homes are deserted. It soon becomes apparent that their country has been attacked and invaded.

TV Preview: Strike Back Project Dawn

'Strike Back: Project Dawn' // Words: Paul Dean

Aha, I thought. A second series of Chris Ryan's 'Strike Back' is a second series of opportunities to see Richard Armitage stripped to the waist and tortured in a variety of foreign countries, before being inevitably saved from some messy end in the very nick of time. Again.

Scala Forever: After Hours + Seconds @ Roxy Bar & Screen

'After Hours' & 'Seconds' at Roxy Bar & Screen, London (21 Aug '11) // Words: Paul Dean

The late Scala Cinema at King’s Cross, now a nightclub, is infamous for having shown 'A Clockwork Orange' in the early 1990s, when the film was still banned in the UK. After being sued by Warner Bros, the arthouse theatre was effectively bankrupted and London lost a fine venue for alternative cinema.

TV Review: Queen - Days Of Our Lives [BBC iPlayer]

'Queen - Days Of Our Lives' // Words: Paul Dean

SYNOPSIS: The story of British rock band Queen, formed in 1971. The band members reveal how four strong-minded individuals worked together so successfully for four decades. (bbc.co.uk)

I love Queen. Since I was young they've been a defining part of my life and they're so totally infused with the rest of my being that it's impossible for me to even begin to describe the influence they've had on me or the depth of emotion that they inspire in me.

Film Review: Heartbeats (2011)

'Heartbeats'/'Les Amours Imaginaries' (UK Release: 27 May '11) //
Words: Paul Dean

Director: Xavier Dolan // Cast: Xavier Dolan, Monia Chokri, Niels Schneider

When 'J'ai Tué Ma Mere'/'I Killed My Mother' came out just over a year ago now, Xavier Dolan impressed not only with an original and engaging debut, but also his ability to perform well as an actor, writer and also director. He takes on all three duties again with his second feature and largely manages to pull it off, though with less style and maturity than before.

BBC iPlayer: Doctor Who (2011) 'The Doctor's Wife' [Review]

'Doctor Who' Series Six, Episode Three - 'The Doctor's Wife' // 
Words: Paul Dean

SYNOPSIS: "Science fiction drama. When he follows a Time Lord distress signal, the Doctor (Matt Smith) puts Amy (Karen Gillan), Rory (Arthur Darvill) and his beloved TARDIS in grave danger." (bbc.co.uk)

DVD Review: Woochi The Demon Slayer (2009)

'Woochi - The Demon Slayer' (UK Release: 25 April '11) // Words: Paul Dean

There are all kinds of things I could write about right now. For some reason, the strangest array of topics is running through my head and I feel I want to tell you all about my curtain-twitching neighbours, or the first job I had, or the time I met Bill Bailey in the street, or even a great idea for a book I came up with. In fact, I think I want to write about almost anything except 'Woochi - The Demon Slayer'.

Film Review: Blooded (2011)

'Blooded' (UK Release: 1 April '11)
Words: Paul Dean

I am all for faux documentaries and I think I fell a little bit in love with them when 'The Blair Witch Project' managed (fairly successfully, I thought) to marry the unlikely partners that are horror and credibility, creating something whose simplicity made it all the more visceral and unpleasant. Its stoic refusal to admit that it was a work of fiction only heightened its profile further and a good many filmmakers have since been inspired to attempt similar tricks, only to find that the moviegoers are all the more savvy now.

DVD Review: The Town (2010)

Words: Paul Dean

'The Town' DVD (UK Release: 31 Jan '11)

Director: Ben Affleck
Cast: Ben Affleck, Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Pete Postlethwaite

The way things are going, it looks as if Ben Affleck is well on his way to becoming an extremely impressive all-round filmmaker. Having already shared an Oscar with Matt Damon for demonstrating his writing chops on 'Good Will Hunting' (back in the now long-distant past that was 1997), both his directorial debut 'Gone Baby Gone' and now 'The Town', in which he shares another writing credit, show he is quickly establishing himself as a very capable director too. It would be well worth keeping an eye on what ever project this gentleman chooses to helm next.

Part heist film and part police procedural, 'The Town' sees Affleck as a meticulous Boston bank robber unwittingly enamoured with the manager of a branch his team targets. While entering into an unwise romance with the woman, who does not realise he was the masked raider she met a week ago, he must also avoid the ever-tightening net of a scrupulous FBI investigation (led by Jon Hamm) and reconcile himself with his own past as he tries to build a better life.

BBC iPlayer: The Trip (2010) Ep 6 - The Angel At Hetton

Words: Paul Dean

'The Trip' Episode 6: 'The Angel At Hetton'

SYNOPSIS: "Comedy series starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon. Steve and Rob visit Bolton Abbey and breakfast at The Angel at Hetton. On their way back home to London they stop off at Steve's parents' house." (bbc.co.uk)

The weather's changed. The sun came out and it dried the jokes up. I'm glad that I watched 'The Trip' and, at the beginning, it made me laugh a lot, but I've just finished watching the final episode and I'll be completely honest with you, it's actually an effort for me to remember what happened in it. I barely smiled once and, without the humour, I've come to realise that there's very little plot to engage the viewer, particularly as each episode follows a very similar structure.

BBC iPlayer: The Trip (2010) Ep 5 - The Yorke Arms

Words: Paul Dean

'The Trip' Episode 5: 'The Yorke Arms'

SYNOPSIS: "Comedy series starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon. Steve and Rob visit the world-famous Malham limestone pavement before eating at the Yorke Arms." (bbc.co.uk)

Perhaps the feature length version of 'The Trip' will be better. The big screen edit that's set to be released in some territories next year will no doubt feature the very best moments of this series, while chopping out the faff and the repetition. I really think that needs to be done, too. Much as I hate to say so, I think this series has stalled and, at times, even come close to outright nose-diving. Its funniest moments came too soon and there are few surprises left for us now.

Not only has the spontaneity gone, but the dialogue is dying too. Though the humour was supposed to come from how mundane and petty the leading duo's quips and quibbles were, they really are verging on the dull now. They crack few new jokes and have little more to say to each other than they did in previous episodes.

BBC iPlayer: The Trip (2010) Ep 4 - Hipping Hall

Words: Paul Dean

'The Trip' Episode 4: 'Hipping Hall'

SYNOPSIS: "Comedy series. Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon continue their restaurant-reviewing road trip at Hipping Hall in Kirby Lonsdale, in the Lake District." (bbc.co.uk)

Spending much of my week with a nose leaking like a tap and a throat gurgling like a drain, I was very much looking forward to the fourth installment of 'The Trip' and holding the hope that it might go some way to lifting me out of my painful malaise. Instead, going beyond its alternating playfulness and petulence, I think it has finally crossed over into the realm of genuine bitterness.

BBC iPlayer: The Trip (2010) Ep 3 - Holbeck Ghyll

Words: Paul Dean

'The Trip' Episode 3: 'Holbeck Ghyll'

SYNOPSIS: "Comedy series starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon. Over the course of six meals at six different restaurants in and around the Lake District, Lancashire and the Yorkshire Dales, this ultimate odd couple find themselves debating the big questions of life over a series of culinary delights." (bbc.co.uk)

"Do you think we just have the same conversation every restaurant?" asks (fictional) Rob Brydon. He wonders if he and (fictional) Steve Coogan are destined to spend the rest of their time together repeating an endless cycle of impersonations, awkward exchanges, nervous chuckles and cantankerous critiques of each other, all while eating. They may have found themselves trapped in a not entirely unpleasant purgatory, or perhaps that's only Coogan, since it seems this trip gives him far too much time to ruminate on where his life leaves him unsatisfied, something only brought into starker contrast by Brydon's own contentment.

BBC iPlayer: The Trip (2010) Ep 2 - L'Enclume

Words: Paul Dean

'The Trip' Episode 2: 'L'Enclume'

SYNOPSIS: "Comedy series starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon. Over the course of six meals at six different restaurants in and around the Lake District, Lancashire and the Yorkshire Dales, this ultimate odd couple find themselves debating the big questions of life over a series of culinary delights." (bbc.co.uk)

I am terrible for endlessly re-watching favourite sketches or scenes from old comedy shows that I love. Some of them probably aren't funny any more, or perhaps never even were, but I can't help myself. It likely annoys the hell out of other people and gives them the impression that I have the narrowest of tastes and a complete inability to move on.

Well, I can now refute those claims entirely by showing everyone how I've embraced 'The Trip' and how I ride the wave of contemporary comedy. Then I can go away and privately watch parts of it over and over, until I'm old and bent and wrinkly, endlessly babbling the dialogue to any relatives compassionate enough to still come and visit me. Won't that be nice?

BBC iPlayer: The Trip (2010) Ep 1 - The Inn At Whitewell

Words: Paul Dean

Episode 1: 'The Inn At Whitewell'

SYNOPSIS: "Comedy series starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon. Over the course of six meals at six different restaurants in and around the Lake District, Lancashire and the Yorkshire Dales, this ultimate odd couple find themselves debating the big questions of life over a series of culinary delights." (bbc.co.uk)

It's such a simple idea I wonder why I haven't seen it done before. Two comedians argue about how to do impressions, while performing those very impressions, sat at dinner, in public and in all too raised voices. Nowhere else in time or space will you see Michael Caine arguing with Michael Caine or Anthony Hopkins trying to out-yell himself.

Film Review: Involuntary (2010)

Words: Paul Dean

'Involuntary' (UK Release: 29 Oct '10)

Director: Ruben Östlund
Cast: Maria Lundqvist, Villmar Björkman, Linnea Cart-Lamy, Leif Edlund

I have to admit that I have a personal bias toward long takes in filmmaking. I believe that they focus the viewer, that they're immersive and that they can also be an incredible way to create tension. At the same time, tension built in this way can make me feel extremely nervous, probably because I’ve seen a lot of films employ this unflinching technique to demonstrate particularly sudden, unpleasant or outright gruesome events. I spent perhaps the first quarter of Swedish film 'Involuntary' squirming, worried that horrific things might spontaneously happen to each and every character, a fear reinforced by an early scene where a man is struck in the eye by a firework.

London Film Festival 2010: Darren Aronofsky Q&A

Words: Paul Dean

American Express Screen Talk: Darren Aronofsky (23 Oct 2010)

It’s surely a good thing that Darren Aronofsky’s personality is absolutely nothing like the intense, disturbed and sometimes distressing films that he makes. He must be one of the most comfortable, casual and communicative filmmakers around, swivelling his chair as he answers questions and effortlessly delivering a great many friendly jokes and warm anecdotes. At one point he even performs a passable Sylvester Stallone impression.

It’s disarming to see a man considered one of today’s most impressive filmmakers so without ego, but he appreciates filmmaking is a process that can fail in many ways, something that has kept his feet very much on the ground. He has worked hard to not only see his films realised, but also to ensure they even get as far as being funded. He would love, for once, to be in a pitching situation “where I’m not the only person in the room who wants to make the film”.

His box office successes have never been ideas that were easy to summarise or to sell and he has plenty to say about the funding of independent film. Many projects collapse simply because nobody wants to pay for them, particularly if, like his own, such films “don’t hit a genre on the nose”.

Buried Treasures: Brother To Brother (2004)

Buried Treasures is a column dedicated to things we feel have gone underappreciated, often both critically and commercially. We encourage you to seek these moments out and hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

Words: Paul Dean

DVD: 'Brother To Brother'

Director: Rodney Evans
Cast: Anthony Mackie, Daniel Sunjata, Larry Gilliard Jr, Aunjanue Ellis

Generally speaking, I like surprises. I suppose I don’t really like muggings, but mostly I find the unexpected to be quite the morale booster. I didn’t know quite what to expect from 'Brother To Brother' and I certainly had no idea it was going to be such a good film.

DVD Review: Villa Amalia

Words: Paul Dean

'Villa Amalia' (Release: October 4th)

I can’t help but think that, had it featured a lead any less able than Isabelle Huppert, this might have ended up being a distant and perhaps even terribly dull experience which would feel far too remote and emotionally disconnected for anyone to appreciate it. Instead, we have a film largely held together by a fine performance expertly balanced between icy detachment and inner turmoil.