Film Fest

December / January, 2012

Top 10 Must-See Films of 2011

If there is one word to describe the experience of watching movies in 2011, it's "perseverance." I look at my list of favorites and can't help but think of how patient I was to endure the lengthiness, slow tempos and near pretentious outcomes. In the end, however, I can't seem to forget these timely ones.

By Bernie Sauer

10 - The Company Men

Yes, it may be about higher tiered businessmen with whom we may not relate, but Ben Affleck's lead role induces viewer empathy when he becomes unemployed in an all too familiar bad economy.

9 - Source Code

My only action/thriller pick: Jake Gyllenhaal is given several time-traveling attempts at deactivating a bomb on a train. Groundhog Day meets Speed with a hint of The Matrix.

8 - Win Win

The first of many slow but rewarding movies-from the writer and director of The Visitor, we witness regular people with the right intentions in the wrong place in the ring of high school wrestling.

7 - Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

Thailand gives us the slowest, oddest, scariest interpretation of the afterlife ever seen on film. It's long but everlasting in visual memory.

6 - The Trip

British humor-tarians unite! The premise is simple and hilarious: Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon go on a pseudo-documentarian journey through the English countryside, eat wild game, and talk droll commentary on life.

5 - Poetry

There are no revelations or easy outs in this frustrating yet remarkable Korean film about mental, emotional and spiritual pain.

4 - The Tree of Life

More of a prayer than a movie, Director Terrence Malick introduces us to a 1950s family (Brad Pitt included) and compares it to a universal ideal of evolution and fading innocence. A rare gem.

3 - Midnight in Paris

Woody Allen is back with his nostalgic shenanigans, capturing picturesque Paris and a neurotic performance by Owen Wilson as a hack writer in pursuit of Jazz Age inspiration.

2 - Melancholia

Ostentatious Director Lars von Trier gives us 136 minutes of a wedding going sour and a stray planet about to collide with Earth. Somehow, we can't look away.

1 - Moneyball

Even if you're not a baseball fan, you will enjoy watching a meek Brad Pitt wheel and deal salaries and on-base percentages to help the Oakland As win in this true underdog sports story. Pristine screenwriting meets down-to-earth acting to achieve the slickest, most enjoyable film of the year.

Bernie Sauer is the music teacher at Regis Jesuit High School, Girls Division. Aside from music, Bernie loves movies and continues to uphold his one-movie-a-day celluloid diet. Please send your comments or questions to Bernie at Berno1206@msn.com.