The Big Picture: MovieBob's 2011 Top Ten

[04whim]

I'd actually be curious to see where Bob but Sucker Punch on the list; like a general area. Did it just miss off the list or in the 25-30 range etc. I only say this because I saw a run down on a website somewhere the other day of the best and worst films of 2011 and Sucker Punch got number one worst. This made me want to reach through the screen and strangle the writer of the list. I know it's subjective and all but I don't get why it's the subject of so much hate. I can understand the scepticism of people who haven't watched it, but if you're actually awake through the film, you'd realise there's a bit more to it than coquettishly dressed teenagers killing baby dragons for the lulz (also enough with that complaint, it's not a real fucking dragon, get over it).

 

[esperandote]

That Super movie sounds very Kick Ass

 

[ihood8205]

did bob even watch Bunraku?

 

[badmunky64]

I don't understand why people like Captain America so much. The origin was good, but the rest felt rushed and disorienting. The Red Skull was a boring villain and the Captain was unlikeable. Even in comic book land I can't believe that a shrimpy little guy who constantly got his ass kicked isn't at least a little bitter.

As for Bob's opinions I always remember that this is a guy who's watched way to many movies. His and anyone else who watches to many movies overrate something fresh or different even if its bad and hate on things that seem formulaic because even if its actually good.

 

[Sudowoodo]

I thought Joe Johnston's the Rocketeer was a superior film and hero story than Captain America in just about every single way. Captain America fell apart right at the train sequence, and the rest of the film just felt like a jumbled mess.

 

[Strain42]

Bob, I think you're a great reviewer and I value your opinions... on anything BUT superhero movies. Seriously. You are so incredibly biased towards them it's actually starting to bug me. X-Men First Class was one of the worst movies I've ever seen and Captain America was 100% forgettable. I know there's opinion and all that, but these movies should be in no one's top 10.

You're more than entitled to your opinion, and I'm sure I'm not the first person to call you on this, so I'm sorry in advance if I say something that upsets you, but I take some issue with you saying that Movie Bob is biased towards superhero movies.

Green Lantern, X-Men 3, Origins: Wolverine, Steel, both Fantastic Four films, The Spirit, Jonah Hex*, Daredevil, Batman and Robin, and while I don't think he's ever said it, I'm gonna put money on Ghost Rider.

These are all superhero movies that Movie Bob has admitted to not liking. It's clearly not a bias or else he would be like "Welp, it's a superhero movie. I like it."

I admit that MovieBob can sometimes be a bit strong in both his positive and his negative opinions (for example, I didn't like the movies at all, but he mentions his dislike for the Transformers movies way too often) but I don't think it's really fair to say he's biased towards a specific subset of films.

*Not sure if Jonah Hex really counts as a superhero or not.

 

[Darks63]

Hmm never heard of super before but its got ellen page and she a psychopath? color me interested.

As far as tree of life the older people who are the main lifeblood of the theater i work at largely walked out of that movie saying it was boring and the parts i looked at made it look like its a movie made by a guy who wanted that feather from the forest gump movie to have it own feature length film.

 

[Excludos]

wait, no Sucker Punch on top 10? Did you forget the earlier release of the year, Moviebob?

 

[Grahav]

Four movies added to my watch list. Between them, games, mangas and real life I have the ominous feeling that I will die before catching them all...

 

[Xenominim]

I don't watch a ton of movies but did wind up seeing Captain America thanks to a free PPV voucher with my father this year. He was interested being big into war movies himself and liking Tommy Lee Jones and I like action movies of all types. But we were both just BORED and wound up resorting to making fun of everything partway through else we would have turned it off. Everything in the flick was a cliche and stereotype, and I get it, I understand that's the origin, and it uses all those tired formulas because they might very well have invented many of them 70-80 years ago. But even so that doesn't make it a good movie just because it follows its own source material so well. If a story is dated and tired on paper, it'll be dated and tired in film also. Hopefully the character at least will be far more interesting in the Avengers.

 

[Sylveria]

Tree of Life... Well, I hadn't been taking Bob's "Word for it" on movies for a long time, but talk about the last nail in the coffin. It's a big budget film school project with great camera work. Pure pretension with absolutely no meaning with it except what you've convinced yourself should be there, and the absolutely repulsive human beings that the nameless main characters are. But it's a Malick movie and film snobs eat his shit up.

 

[sporkaganza]

Spoilers: The movie Bob is looking forward to this year is The Avengers.

Anyway, yeah, pretty good list. A few deserving films were on there (Drive was seriously amazing and Rise of the Planet of the Apes really surprised me with how damn good it was), some other films I haven't seen yet but want to made the list.

My only qualm is: I really liked Captain America too, but number 2? Ahead of fucking X-Men: First Class? Seriously? It's good, but it's not THAT fucking good.

 

[uguito-93]

Honestly all I can say about the tree of life is "bleeeeeeeeeeeegh...." People were going on and on about that damn film being a master piece and when I finally got to see it I was treated to a film that was so pretentious and boring that I showed admiral restraint by not waling out ofter the first 20 minutes and punching the nearest old person.

 

[ZombieMonkey7]

HAHAHAHAHAHA, Hannah! Are you serious?! That was the dumbest movie I've seen all year. If anything the movie was more of a comedy movie instead of an action movie. I mean when one of the movie's main antagonists is goldmember you can't take it very seriously

 

[TheSchaef]

I don't question that Tree of Life may be an Experience Movie (tm), but I'm scratching my head at the comparison to 2001, a movie for which I find myself most likely to experience a nap.

Clarke is my favorite of the Golden Age science fiction authors, and Kubrick's talent is beyond dispute, but this movie had either the most extensive use of zero-dialogue, figure-out-what's-happening-your-damn-self silent scenes, or made the most pretentious use of them, therefore making them FEEL ubiquitous. The one place where it really REALLY worked was the pod bay scene with Dave and Frank, where the silence is cut out to hammer home the point that Hal is reading their lips. The camera cuts back and forth between their mouths and that ominous unblinking red eye and you just thought to yourself, HE KNOWS... Anyway, I thought Clockwork Orange and Full Metal Jacket were superior entries in the Kubrick lexicon.

For me, the genuine Experience Movie was Fantasia (and by extension, F2000).

 

[Apples_McGrind]

Seriously Bob, The Artist didn't make the list? Sigh... good pick for top film though, took a couple watches but it sure was an experience.

I don't think he actually saw "The Artist." I've been struggling to see it myself actually.

OT: Anyway, interesting list. Love the fact that you have four of my favorite movies of the year on the list (Drive, Attack the Block, Midnight in Paris, Tree of Life). I'm certainly in the majority of those who thought "Captain America" and "X-Men First Class" weren't #2 and #3 material, but I wasn't surprised you put them on the list anyway. Kind of surprised how high Tree of Life got on your list though. As much as I like the film (#7 on my favorites of the year), it's ending is total crap IMO. I mean the rest of the film is breathtaking, intelligent and surprisingly ambiguous. Then the last 25 minutes take the ambiguity and throw it out the window.

It certainly wasn't enough to ruin the entirety of the movie, but I was ready to call it the best film of the year until the ending.

 

[BlueHighwind]

MovieBob, I agreed with this list mostly until Tree of Life. That was the worst movie I have ever seen. Twilight 4 was better. Green Lantern was better. Transformers 3 was better. Those were all movies, and even if they were done badly, they at least got the general idea right.

I don't believe you for a second that you actually liked that movie. I don't believe anybody who claims to like that film. Maybe you dozed off halfway through and saw a different movie, it isn't hard to fall asleep during a movie so intolerably boring. Terrence Malick is a fraud, he made a fake-movie, and people bought it hook, line, and sinker.