2011: Thank you

“Life moves pretty fast.  If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it”.

Ignore the hair, he speak the troot'

It’s not often a right minded adult would heed the advice of a 15 year old truant, but Ferris Bueller didn’t get many sentiments wrong, and this is no different. It’s easy to become disillusioned by a band, a director, a film franchise, but now and again something happens that reaffirms why you love it in the first place.

2011 has had more than it’s share of these moments, whether it be Ben Wheatley confounding all expectation with his ‘Kill List’, 80’s sensibilities returning in J.J.Abrams’ ‘Super 8’ (surely Bueller would approve), or Duncan Jones emerging as the next big thing with *shock horror* an actually clever action sci-fi flick (Source Code).  Bearing in mind it’s only late September, it’s already turning into a vintage year on both sides of the pond.

Subtlety? I fuck subtlety!

What makes this as surprising as it is welcome,  is it’s sheer unexpectedness. This is a year, on the surface, dominated by the immense power of the machine, the Hollywood that shelves the original in favour of filling it’s trolley with the remake/franchise/sequel, or sometimes all three at once (hello ‘Fast 5’). In addition, there’s been no backlash to inspire such a year, no mini cinematic revolution, and no discernable indie movement responsible for any visible change of direction.

At first glance it’s a year populated by the ‘Thors’, ‘Hangover II’s, and the ‘Harry Potter’s of the world. But underneath this blanket of behemoths lies something for more interesting.  Exhibit A: ‘Limitless’: A seemingly standard case of ‘man of the moment’ (Bradley Cooper) starring with ‘older man with waning gravitas’ (Robert De Niro) for ‘super hero tale grounded in reality’ (miracle pill). First thoughts? Oh fuck. The reality was different. A clever, lean thriller which slightly betrays the marketing campaign that preceded it.

Don Cheadle. Yep................

Then there’s the kind of film impacting on 2011 that’s so refreshing. I haven’t even seen ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’ as yet. But a non-showy, talky, mysterious, low action character piece (FROM ENGLAND!) becoming the most talked about and hyped movie of the year? Next we’ll be talking about Don Cheadle in a 5 star Brit flick comedy set in Ireland. Oh,  wait!!!!!! Of course, we’ll always be peppered with the usual  Transformers  sequel, the inevitable ‘final’ Final Destination, and another 2+ hours of life waste from the Pirates of The Caribbean clan.

The Richard Keys impression went down a storm

But in a year so laden with treasures, this makes the dross somehow more palatable, even perversely more enjoyable, as we know it’s a distracting aperitif as opposed to an indigestible main course. ‘Troll Hunter’, ‘Warrior’, ‘Hugo Cabret’, ‘Drive’, ‘A Separation’. And these are pictures I haven’t even seen yet.  And how ‘nice’ (for want of a better word) is it for this list to be so varied? So different and distinctive?

So often contemporary movies can leave you with déjà vu, the easy option of accurately classifying ‘this’ film as a cross between ‘that’ and ‘the other’. But 2011 has thrown up ‘Kill List’ (Wicker Man comparisons are obvious but not entirely correct), and promises B-Movie premise for A-List cast of the year in Soderbergh’s ‘Contagion’, which could turn out to be, well, who knows?

The Rum Diary: Might be good. Will definitely be odd.

Johnny Depp will shortly be back into his trippy ‘Fear & Loathing....’ slippers for ‘The Rum Diary’, a Bruce Robinson directed adaptation of a Hunter S. Thompson novel. Yes please. While if that doesn’t tickle your fancy, there's always Fincher’s reworking of 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’, which has the potential to be so brilliant that it makes my brain bleed. 

In short (although I realise it’s far too late for that now), the past 9 and bit months have thrown up a stellar collection of films, a list so eclectic you’d be hard pressed not to stumble across something that floats your boat.  And if 2012 reverts to chucking out the same lazy, contrived fare that audiences so clearly don’t desire, then at least it will be a great year for DVD.