Best of 2011 (One or Two Retros Here, Too!)

After reading about the best and worst of some genre movies on one of my favorite web sites, I decided to offer a few interesting and good finds of films, t.v., and films. A few were completed/published before this year, and I just never got around to discovering them. I’m hoping to write a different blog post- New Year with the advice I gained this year, too.

Enjoy!

Best Film Finds:

    Good (2008) is based off the play of the same name, and it involves one family man, John Halder (Mortensen,) who finds himself suddenly praised by the Nazi party for a piece of fiction he wrote that seemingly advocates euthanasia. As he reaps the rewards of his good fortune, he notices the diminishing career of a Jewish colleague and friend, and when this friend asks for help, he begins to question who he truly is.

I love movies that make me think about them long after they’re over, and this one continues to challenge me. The question stands, “if it’s good for you, does the cost to others matter?”

 

 

To steal from a reviewer, Hanna takes what so many action films attempt to do and does it correctly. This movie was a film with high acclaim and low theater attendance (though that’s usually the norm.) It centers around a young girl and her father living isolated in the harsh cold until she signals chaos to come find her. She’s a trained warrior, thanks to her dad, and she’s completing an agenda given to her that we are unaware of until the end.

What works so beautifully in this film is the interaction of a girl who’s never had a true identity nor any friends and the small family she comes into contact with throughout her journey. Add to that the twisted framework of a fairy tale (think Red Riding Hood as a warrior,) and you have a great story with perfect non-perfect European scenery to play it all out. One last addition that worked for me was the soundtrack by The Chemical Brothers. Each part of the score just adds to the surrealism of the film and amplifies it.

   

   Tucker and Dale vs. Evil gave me a reason to believe in the quality of some films that are not shown in theaters but go straight to On Demand. The stereotype is that films that skip theaters and hit Netflix or On Demand are not worth watching because they’re so God awful. While this is true for some films (Trespass,) some great film gems that just don’t have the star power or money power can find a chance this way, too. This is where I first encountered this film.

If you enjoy wittier comedy-horror films like Shaun of the Dead or Zombieland, this film needs to enter your must-see list. The set-up is an overused archetypal plot; college kids go out into the woods with two odd rednecks around. From there, the plot goes into one of the most hilarious, entertaining, and original plot lines of this genre. It’s a play on horror stereotypes and stupid people who never think twice about them. Though incredibly gory, I found myself hunched over from laughing so hard at the most “inappropriate” moments. The director, Eli Craig, gives fans of both comedy and horror a unique breath of fresh air, and I just can’t say enough about this film.

Best T.V.

Ok, between running at night and being a working mom, I only have about three shows I commit to all year, and they’re all cable-based, so I get 12 episodes and then done. For me to add any new shows requires a freeing up of some nighttime, which I am very reluctant to do. However, two shows made it into my list, and True Blood (blech!) has been demoted from my list to watching it “when I can get to it.” Here’s the two shows I’ve recently added to my list:

Game of Thrones-     The question isn’t “why aren’t you watching this show?” The question is “when are you going to watch this show?” Let me begin by saying that I had very little interest in watching this show from the moment I saw a preview for it on HBO. However, when at least ten people on your Facebook are raving about it on their statuses, YouTube videos are featuring people screaming about one episode in particular, and the books are hitting the New York Times bestseller lists, I figured I should try out the first episode. Um, yeah. I’ve never seen a first episode of anything full of so many taboos, especially the two at the end! Like a bag of potato chips, I couldn’t eat just the first, so I went right into the second episode and so forth.

So why is this show worthy of screaming fan boys and my small amount of precious t.v. time? To steal from Ray Bradbury, “this shows the pores in society.” This show contains no black and white characters. Everyone has a pretty logical reason for doing what they’re doing, including killing, cheating, lying, and pushing people out of windows. It also contains overtones that carry directly into our society, especially in the areas of politics and human nature. For instance, is it THAT important to keep sending men to their deaths just to be in charge when a much greater war is coming that you keep ignoring or denying? Of course, the nudity, violence, and one-liners by Peter Dinklage are enough to keep most people interested anyway. Get on this bandwagon before there’s no more room!

The Walking Dead– I’m not a huge fan of zombies. They’re predictable, dead, smelly, and gross to look at. However, create an apocalyptic event that they happen to dominate in, and you’ve got my attention. This show continues to keep my attention not because of the zombies but because of the strong characters who are trying to come to grips and survive the situation that’s been thrust upon them. Now, I should include one small issue I have with this series…the women suck. Some started out strong, but this season weakened a few into a near annoyance territory. However, I have faith that the writers will improve this a bit, and a few women, particularly Lori, still have some promise and strong moments.

The best reason to love this show, in my opinion, is Mr. Daryl Dixon (played by Norman Reedus of Boondocks Saints fame.) This character beat out the likes of Breaking Bad‘s Walter, Doctor Who’s Rory, and even Tyrian Lannester from Game of Thrones in a recent “Who’s the Best T.V. Character of 2011” contest done by RedEye ! This guy is the surviving half of a pair of brothers, and he is the character that most viewers stamp the “asshole” archetype on his forehead. HOWEVER, he’s got more to him than any other character I’ve seen on t.v., and the episodes featuring him in season 2 are not only memorable but they force the viewer to admit to being wrong. He’s awesome enough to even have his own meme on Reddit!

Best Books

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins- I added this trilogy because it ended this summer. If you haven’t read this series, you need to get your hands on all three. Easy to read due to a plot-based story, this trilogy produces a distopia that even Orwell couldn’t have imagined. Inspired by the story of Theseus, reality t.v., and the Iraq War, Collins created a world where children are punished for the “sins” of their parents. Keeping people in line and entertained, via the bread and circuses concept, works well in this world until Katniss Everdeen willingly takes the place of her younger sister in a game designed to kill everyone but one in it. Take “The Lottery” and add 1984 and a bit of the Roman apathy towards the lives of the gladiators, and you’ve got this series.

What makes it work even more is the first person perspective of Miss Everdeen. She’s an atypical teenage girl who would slap Bella Swann for ever having thought about being nothing without her sparkling vampire in her life. However, she’s not so atypical that we write her off as unreal. She’s thrown into a brutal world that demands her best, her logic, and her ability to control her emotions. Though probably unintentional and similar to the movie, Good, Collins creates a book that forces the reader to think, “if I have this, what is someone else losing?”

Good Boss, Bad Boss by Robert I. Sutton- I became a fan of Sutton’s after reading The No Asshole Rule which was a non-fiction book detailing, using powerful real-world examples,  how much it ends up costing companies to keep assholes on the payroll and to deal with major assholes as customers. After he wrote this book, readers e-mailed him complaining that their biggest assholes at their companies were, surprisingly, those in charge. This inspired Sutton to write this 2011-published book.

Let me dissolve the idea that I picked up this book because I hate my job, boss, life, etc. On the contrary, I wanted to see who’s making it work out there, and I was not disappointed. By profiling bosses who are using good practices, i.e. the late Steve Jobs, Brad Bird, the editor-in-chief of The Onion :), Sutton shows the reader what does work and the careful balance of being a good leader without appearing to lead. He solidified my belief that a good boss doesn’t seem like a boss but rather a coach or a mentor. This book also made me reflect on my favorite boss, Mr. Dave Smith, and how lucky I was to set my expectations of future leaders in my workplace according to his mold.

If you know anyone currently climbing the corporate ladder, this is a great book to inspire and inform.