2011 in Film: One-Sentence Reviews

As if you couldn't tell from past entries, I'm a compulsive list-maker. I am constantly keeping tabs on things in my head -- Top 10 this, Top 25 that, etc. I even made a list of my favorite sandwiches once. One thing I usually do throughout the year is keep a running tab of all the movies I've seen in that particular year. I try to rank them as I go in relation to each other. As I was busy updating my 2011 list, I figured I might as well review them. But then I thought, "That's a lot of work." I haven't really seen that many movies this year, but writing even a few hundred words on each them seemed daunting. Then I though, "Hey, I'm lazy, it's the Twitter Age, why not just fire out a quick sentence on each?" So that's what I did. Enjoy -- it's simple and easily digestible, just like a sandwich! BEWARE: Persistent and egregious violence committed against punctuation below.

Movies ranked on a very subjective Excellent-to-Total Crap scale:

Excellent (*****)
None so far

Great (****1/2)
None so far

Very Good (****)
Paul - Made for fanboys, by fanboys; funniest of the year so far.
Fast Five - Perhaps most homoerotic movie since Top Gun -- in a good way.
Everything Must Go - Will Ferrell tries his hand at drama, is still funny, which makes the movie work.
Bridesmaids - NEWSFLASH: Women can be funny and crass too (something Kristen Wiig fans already knew).
Take Me Home Tonight - Funny, touching, nostalgic -- would-be That '80s Show adaptation decent.

Solid (***1/2)
Unknown - I'd watch Liam Neeson kick ass and take names in anything -- and I mean N-E-thing.
X-Men: First Class - Even with its flaws (useless side characters, MacAvoy's preening, etc.), still way better than anything Singer or Ratner put out.
The Hangover Part II - Yes, it was a complete rip-off of the first and, no, it didn't need to be made, but you're delusional if you didn't laugh your ass off.
The Adjustment Bureau - This had the chance to be Blade Runner-good... maybe in the hands of a more experienced director.
Source Code - Thoroughly solid genre fare, but that's it.
Kung-Fu Panda 2 - How did this not have some sort of ridiculous subtitle like Attack of the Cranes or Electric Bamboogaloo?

Mediocre (***)
The Mechanic - See entry for Unknown, replace Neeson, Liam with Statham, Jason -- watch for plot holes though.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - Completely unnecessary yet entertaining enough.
Thor - Scenes in Asgard = good, scenes on Earth = zzzzz's -- do the math and the result is "meh."
Your Highness - This had soooo much potential as a brilliant fantasy genre parody, but it just wound up being a mediocre stoner comedy.

Kinda Sucked (**1/2)
Scream 4 - Actually started off fairly decent, but the wheels came off in the third act.
Sucker Punch - Zack Snyder should never, ever, ever, ever be allowed to work with actors again -- dug the style and atmosphere though.

Sucked (**), Awful (*1/2), Terrible (*), Crap (1/2), Total Crap (0)
None so far

WTF (???)
The Tree of Life - Cop-out: This is what happens when hubris goes unchecked (as it so often does).

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That's it so far. I'll keep it updated throughout the year. Feel free to agree or disagree or agree to disagree.