MY LEAST FAVORITE FILMS OF 2011

I had stated previously that 2011 would not be remembered as a great year in cinema and this list of the following films makes the point loud and clear:

"Another Earth" & "Like Crazy"

Both of these low-budget independent films, "Another Earth" and "Like Crazy" managed to receive plenty of critical praise and film festival glory (which was part of the reason why I went to see them) but the appeal of either of these films was completely lost on me. Both films features attractive, privileged and seemingly intelligent young people who make some bad mistakes. One foolish; in "Like Crazy" a young couple is kept apart because the British female (Felicity Jones) decides not to return home after her visa expires in order to be able to spend more time with her new American love (Anton Yelchin) and the other tragic; "Another Earth" is about a bright, young woman (Brit Marling) whose promising future is ruined after accidentally killing the family of a brilliant composer (William Mapother) on the eve of the discovery of a duplicate Earth. While it's clear that there were some talented people working in front of and behind the camera on these films but neither has that spark to elevate them to engaging or memorable works.

"The Future"

I really loved Miranda July's first feature film, "Me and You and Everyone We Know" in 2005, so I was really looking forward to finally seeing her follow-up film, "The Future" but I was really disappointed in how much I really disliked this really monotonous mess. It's about this annoying, whiny couple (July and Hamish Linklater) whose relationship has grown stale, so they decide to adopt an injured cat which causes them to re-evaluate their lives. Oh, and this cat named Paw Paw narrates the story. I'm sure Ms July knew exactly what she was trying to say with this artless film but didn't feel any strong need to let the audience in on it.

"Sucker Punch"

I am now completely convinced that "300" was simply a fluke for director, Zack Snyder as his follow-up films "Watchmen" (which found a spot on this list in 2009) and now "Sucker Punch" have demonstrated that he has no clue in how to properly make an action film. Sure, it's a great-looking film with plenty of loud, over-the-top, repetitive action sequences but the real problem is everything in between. Incredibly bad dialogue and two-dimensional characters drags this convoluted and disturbing story down. It's about a cute, young girl in pig-tails who is wrongly placed in a mental institution as she fantasizes about battling her care-givers as a super-human (with a samurai sword) and this all take place before she is lobotomized. The work of Zack Snyder somehow manages to makes the films of director, Michael Bay (and you don't know how badly it hurts to say this) look like an art.

"The Rum Diary"

"The Rum Diary" is a glossy yet surprisingly lackluster Johnny Depp vehicle, based on the novel by Hunter S. Thompson, in which he plays a New York journalist who travels to Puerto Rico in the 1950's to write for a local newspaper. While there, he deals with a crew of odd reporters, gets wrapped up in an unsavory business deal, seduced by a beautiful woman (Amber Heard) and consumes as much rum and other controlled-substances that he can possibly get his hands on. The problem with "The Rum Diary" is not that it's necessarily awful, it's just extremely frustrating because you can clearly see it had the potential to be so much better.

"Immortals"

"Immortals" is very loosely based on the Greek myth about Theseus (Henry Cavill) and the Minotaur but this involves him rescuing a virgin high priestess (Freida Pinto) from the clutches of Hyperion (Mickey Rourke?), the king of Crete and stop him from getting his hands on the Epirus Bow that can be used to release the imprisoned Titans so they can destroy Zeus (Luke Evans) and the other gods. Whatever. The film is littered with relentless, bloody battles, tedious beheadings and painfully bad acting with a script that is incredibly inept. Tarsem Singh, the director who is best known for his work in music videos, spends plenty of time on the truly dazzling visuals but not nearly enough on creating a logical plot or coherent film.



"Just Go With It", "Straw Dogs", "Fright Night" & "Conan The Barbarian"

What do "Just Go With It", "Straw Dogs", "Fright Night" and "Conan The Barbarian" all have in common? They are 2011 re-makes of films from the '70's and '80's that have become cult classics. While none of the original versions of these films would be considered great yet they are still miles ahead of these pointless, incompetent make-overs. Although each film takes full advantage of today's cinematic technology, they are all completely lacking in style and substance.

ANOTHER EARTH (2011)

Written by Mike Cahill & Brit Marling


Directed by Mike Cahill


Where & When: Laemmle's Sunset 5, West Hollywood, CA. August 30, 2011 4:30PM



"Another Earth" wants to be a grand, thought-provoking story about loss and redemption with a sci-fi twist but instead is only able to manage to be a low-budget, fairly routine, and slightly disturbing drama

The film begins with a tragedy as Rhoda (Brit Marling), a gregarious, intelligent young woman, is leaving a party one evening. She has had a little too much to drink but drives home anyway. Rhoda hears news that another planet has been found that could sustain human life but as she take her eyes off the road to stare at this new discovery, she crashes into a car, killing an expectant mother, her young child and leaving the father in a critical condition.

After serving four years in prison, Rhoda has become glum and withdrawn, with her plans to go to college to study astrophysics now over. She keeps to herself, not wanting to deal with people, so she gets a job as a custodian at a high school and works with a blind, elderly man who doesn't speak. Rhoda is having great difficulty trying to find a way to move on with her life or even if she should continue living but her interest is piqued by an essay contest for an opportunity to win a trip to the new planet, now called Earth 2, which we have communicated with and seems to be an exact replica of our own Earth. Fascinated by the idea, she is inspired to write a completely honest entry on why she wants to go.

After a chance sighting of John Burroughs (William Mapother), the only survivor from the car accident, Rhoda now wants to apologize for what she has done as she was unable to while he was in a coma for months after the incident. She finds out where he lives but after she gets the nerve to knock on his door, Rhoda backs down and claims to offer a free trial cleaning service. John was a successful music composer but after losing his family, he was left broken-down, depressed, and spending each day drinking heavily.

Against better judgement, Rhoda begins working for him without revealing who she actually is. The two slowly develop a friendship that inspires John to create new music and opens Rhoda up to feel and laugh again. This soon leads to inevitably more tender feelings between them and after Rhoda wins the contest, John is happy for her but doesn't want her to go which leaves her to face several complicated and difficult decisions.

"Another Earth" poses some intriguing ideas, such as, if Rhoda actually went to this parallel planet, would it truly be exactly the same and could it be dramatically altered by her presence there but Mr. Cahill, (who also did cinematography, edited and produced) because of his budget, wasn't able to fully explore this theme so the film doesn't have much to offer beyond a thin and unremarkable melodrama. I know that Rhoda wanted to make amends but I'm pretty sure she could have found a smarter way than causing this poor man even more pain by not revealing that she is the one responsible for killing his family until long after she sleeps with him.

The only real highlight of "Another Earth" is the discovery of a new talent as Ms Marling, who also co-wrote the screenplay, manages to give a moving performance with little dialogue and with the use of her very expressive face. I'm sure this film will be just enough of a calling card to lead to other more promising opportunities for this young actress. "Another Earth" is never able to soar as many of the deeper ideas that it touches are never fully developed which keeps this film sadly Earthbound.