8 Movies I Loved in 2011

8. Attack the Block



Someone finally figured out that Huge Spectacle does not equal Good Alien Invasion Movie. What's more: this is actually a Great Alien Invasion Movie with awesome, inventive monster designs and characters I cared about. Making the characters likable was a special feat since the film tries hard (and succeeds) to make the audience hate them at first.

7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2



My only problem with this movie is that it means there'll be no more Harry Potter movies. A fine end to a great series.

6. Hanna



Not just an action movie about a girl-assassin. I love how artfully it was shot and how the butt-kicking is alternated with quiet character moments as Hanna adjusts to life around people for the first time.

5. Crazy Stupid Love



Not only made me laugh and turned me into a Ryan Gosling fan; it made me think about relationships and commitment in a new way. The most underrated movie of the year.

4. Rise of the Planet of the Apes



I made sure I was good and pumped up for this movie by watching every Planet of the Apes movie and TV show ever made, but that could have backfired had Rise not lived up to expectations. It did a lot more than that though. It may just be the best Planet of the Apes movie yet.

3. The Muppets



I'm a muppet of a man.

2. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows



Though I kind of quit posting about it, I never gave up my dive into old Sherlock Holmes movies this past Fall. I made it through six of the Basil Rathbone films, watched The Seven-Per-Cent Solution and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother, sat through half of the 1922 John Barrymore silent film, and finally saw Season One of the Benedict Cumberbatch series. What I learned from all that was to be really patient with people's taking different spins on Holmes. Which is to say that Guy Ritchie's is not Arthur Conan Doyle's Holmes, but I enjoy him in the same way I enjoy Tony Stark and Jack Sparrow (which is to say: considerably). And now that I'm used to him, I very much liked watching him run around Europe trying to stop Moriarty from killing Watson and taking over the world.

1. The Adventures of Tintin



The best Indiana Jones movie since Raiders of the Lost Ark, the best dog since Benji, the best 3D since Avatar, the best motion-capture since ever, and the best pirate battle since...well, ever too, I guess. Sorry, Gore Verbinski.

Awesome List: Amazons from Space, Jack Sparrow tells all, flying gorillas, Moon Town, Keira does Shakespeare, and much much more

"Amazons from Space" and other stories



I never had this Wonder Woman one, but I had a couple of these superhero records (like this Hulk book-and-record one) when I was a kid. Clicking either of those links will take you to the Power Records blog where you'll find tons of these things. Very cool site.

Indiana Jones makes everything better

X-box

Jack Sparrow tells all

Confessions of a Disneyland Captain Jack. It's an extremely interesting behind-the-scenes look into the challenges of adapting a drunken, horny pirate to a family setting without losing the initial appeal. Be sure to read all the way to the end. It sounds like he's complaining in parts, but it's got a very sweet finish.

Disney wanted us to tone Jack down, so they put us through an acting class to discover reasons why Jack walks and talks the way he does. Obviously he is based on Keith Richards, who’s always messed up, which is why they came up with the class. “Don’t be flirtatious,” they told us. “See women as trouble.” And they said as far as alcohol goes, don’t even mention drinking. But the Pirates of the Caribbean song is all about drinking, and they’re drinking all along the ride. So I eventually broke that rule, because it would have taken me out of character. When parents took pictures, I’d say, “Everyone say ‘rum,’ ” and the parents loved it.

Flying gorillas

Do you remember my raving about Gene Gonzales' flying gorilla? Turns out its for Perils on Planet X, so we can thank Christopher Mills and be even more excited about his and Gene's comic.

Moon Town



"Moon Town is a series of science-fiction episodes being created by writer/director Steve Ogden. He is planning to use a 'Production-Based' approach to developing the series, in hopes of keeping down the production cost and amount of time it takes to develop each episode. Look for finished episodes to be released online in serial form. The first episode, "Arrival," is slated for completion in Spring 2008." (Thanks, SF Signal!)

Tintin movies a trilogy

Sounds like Spielberg's directing the first one, Peter Jackson's got the second one, and they're co-directing the last.

I've never seen a review of an action figure doll before



At least, not one this in depth. Lots of great pictures too. It really is a great-looking doll.

Devil May Care

The new Bond novel is out. I had my hands on it the other night at Borders, but decided I didn't have time to read it right now. Besides, I'm saving up for the Fleming hardcovers. Devil May Care is definitely on my list though.

"So young, my lord, and true."



It's no secret that we like Keira Knightley around here. And thanks to a re-watch of Emma and her performance in Iron Man, I'm kinda developing a crush on Gwyneth Paltrow too. Put them together with Anthony Hopkins and you've got a can't-miss King Lear. The only thing that could make it better would be for Kenneth Branagh to write, direct, and produce, but we'll give this Joshua Michael Stern fella a chance too.

Hulk connections

Saw Iron Man again last night and dang it if I didn't forget to look for Captain America's shield at the appropriate time. I thought about it as the movie started and then got sucked in and didn't think again about Easter eggs. (Or maybe I was just way distracted by Gwyneth Paltrow.)

I'll probably do the same with The Incredible Hulk, which is going to have plenty of its own Easter eggs and connections to other Marvel movies.

Tintin: The Movie

Tintin is something that's been on my Things to Get to Eventually list for a very long time. It's constantly getting mentioned as an influence of writers I admire, but the plethora of stories and my not knowing where to start digging into them has allowed me to get distracted by other things.

Which is to say that I'm very interested in the character, but don't know much about him. The covers of his books are cool though. Looks like he fights Nazis, explores tombs, discovers islands, searches for treasure, and does all sorts of exciting things. I'm bumping him up on my list of things to check out.

What reminded me about him is that Dreamworks is interested in making a Tintin movie. No word on if it's live-action or cartoon, or any other details for that matter. Just that Spielberg wants to do it eventually and all the stakeholders have started talking. More as it develops, I guess.