2011 came to a close a few weeks ago and award season is in full swing. Here at BoxOfficeBoredom.com we decided to continue our tradition of the Baker’s Dozen Awards. Each of our contributors, Jason, The Mike, Matthew Parkinson, Nate Grenbeck and podcast contributors Drew Schlosser and Matt VanWinkle share with you our thoughts on the best and worst in 2011 cinema. Enjoy!
Best Film of the Year
Jason- Moneyball
Matt VanWinkle- Warrior
Drew- Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. Prototypical “Best films” are usually not my favorite.
The Mike- Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Matthew- Moneyball takes the cake for me. Funny, some real tension to most of the scenes, a good performance by Brad Pitt and a surprising turn from Jonah Hill. Great film, and better than any other I saw from 2011 (so far).
Nate Grenbeck- Drive Angry
Worst Film of the Year
Jason- Your Highness or Tornado Alley
Matt VanWinkle- Something Borrowed
Drew- Jack and Jill
The Mike- Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark
Matthew- I have to give this a tie. Red Riding Hood and The Green Hornet were both so terrible that I had difficulty finding anything good about either of them. They’re both complete messes.
Nate Grenbeck- Jack and Jill
Best Actor
Jason – Brad Pitt (Moneyball)
Matt VanWinkle- Brad Pitt (Moneyball)
Drew- Michael Fassbender
The Mike- Rutger Hauer (Hobo With a Shotgun)
Matthew- Brad Pitt for Moneyball. Sure, he’s playing the regular guy here, but he does it so well and I really cared for his character. This was a weak year for male actors out of the films I saw, though. There was no performance similar to Christian Bale in The Fighter, for instance.
Nate Grenbeck- William Fitchner for Drive Angry. He rivaled Nic Cage in Awesomeness in this film.
Worst Actor
Jason- Paul Walker (Fast Five) -It’s a tradition. Who’s better than Paul Walker? Anybody but Chris Kanyon. Bonus points to who ever gets that reference.
Matt VanWinkle- Colin Farrell (Fright Night)
Drew- Mel Gibson, The Beaver/Taylor Lautner
The Mike- Paul Walker (Fast Five)
Matthew- Seth Rogan. While I heard he was okay in 50/50, his performance in The Green Hornet was the worst I saw this year. I can’t even imagine who pitched that idea. “Hey, you know who should be a superhero? Seth Rogan, that’s who!” That person should be fired.
Nate- Grenbeck- Zach Galifinakis – Over rated, and somehow played the same role only worse in Hangover Part 2
Best Actress
Jason- Emma Stone for (The Help, Crazy Stupid Love)
Matt VanWinkle- Justin Bieber…jk Emma Stone (Crazy, Stupid Love, The Help)
Drew- Emma Stone or Gwyneth Paltrow (Contagion)
The Mike- Rooney Mara (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo)
Matthew- No contest here. I’m giving it to Rooney Mara for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. In what easily could have turned into a copycat performance, she decided to take the role of Lisbeth Salander in a slightly different direction, diving head first into the role and turning into a real film star overnight.
Nate Grenbeck- Adam Sandler for Jack and Jill. The dude looks like a lady and can woo the pants off Al Pacino. Besides who wants to give another award to Meryl Streep- AGAIN!
Worst Actress
Jason- Kristen Stewart
Matt VanWinkle- Amanda Seyfried (In Time)
Drew- Kristin Stewart
The Mike- Katherine Heigl (New Year’s Eve)
Matthew- Cameron Diaz for The Green Hornet. Have I mentioned that I didn’t like that film? Diaz’s character was pointless to the story and she didn’t give the character reason to exist. I’ve never been a fan of her, but she shouldn’t have been in that film.
Nate Grenbeck- Kathryn Heigl. I guess for New Years Eve, but she’s just awful in everything.
Best New Star
Jason – Joel Edgerton (Warrior)
Matt VanWinkle- Chris Hemsworth (Thor)
Drew- Ryan Gosling because of his “comeback”? Prior to 2011 what was his last big film? The Notebook?
The Mike- Chris Hemsworth (Thor) or Sara Paxton (The Innkeepers)
Matthew- Emily Browning for both Sucker Punch and Sleeping Beauty. I feel like I’m one of the few who enjoyed Sucker Punch, as well as one of the few who actually saw Sleeping Beauty. The former had Browning show that she has what it takes to be an action star, if she wants to, while the latter was one of those performances that you do once, and only once, showing your dedication to your craft.
Nate Grenbeck- Jason Sudeikis
Worst New Star
Jason- Kenny Wormald (Footloose (2011))
Matt VanWinkle- Justin Bieber
Drew- Justin Bieber (Never Say Never)
The Mike- Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids)
Matthew- That one guy from Red Riding Hood. Max Irons, I think was his name. Not only was he hollower than those incredibly spiky trees, but his accent was absolutely awful. (What’s funny is that he is dating Emily Browning, whose career should be on the upswing, while his should be over.)
Nate Grenbeck- Sam Worthington. After all where has he been post Avatar?
Best Director
Jason- Michael Bay (Transformers 3: The Dark of the Moon) Bay redeemed himself from the atrocious Transformers 2 with explosions, fighting robots and fun that only a Baytastic Blockbuster can provide. Thanks for righting the wrongs of the sequel with part 3!
Matt VanWinkle- Steven Spielberg (Tintin)
Drew- Bennet Miller (Moneyball)
The Mike- David Fincher (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo)
Matthew- Zack Snyder for Sucker Punch. Had I seen either of Spielberg’s films, it’s possible he would be my choice. But for the visual style that Snyder brought to his film, as well as the depth that was overlooked by man, I have to hand it to him.
Nate Grenbeck- Jim Sheridan for Dream House. I’m kidding right?….oh wait…am I?
Best Idea of the Year
Jason- Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil – The way they flipped the traditional horror film on its head is the best thing I have seen since Zombieland (possibly better!)
Matt VanWinkle- Captain America
Drew- Horrible Bosses– the casting director had the best idea
The Mike- X-Men: First Class
Matthew- Probably the idea behind Limitless. The “I only use a certain percentage of my brain” concept is interesting, even if it has been disproved by science. Unlocking that potential and exploring what could be done if you do so is a great concept for a film. It just didn’t quite pan out.
Nate Grenbeck- Jim Sheridan for Dream House. Ok, Ok…you got me. I’m kidding. Or am I?
Worst Idea of the Year
Jason- The Beaver - Everything about this film is wrong. Watching real life Mel Gibson with a beaver puppet interact with a son who is worse than he is. What a waste of celluloid
Matt VanWinkle- Jack and Jill
Drew- Jack and Jill
The Mike- The Hangover Part II
Matthew- Abduction. I guess the idea was that Taylor Lautner could carry an action film. That was proven wrong byAbduction. It gets this award twice by also relegating its talented cast to backup roles and underutilizing all of the good actors in the film.
Nate Grenbeck- Mr. Popper’s Penguins
Biggest Surprise of the Year
Jason- Source Code -Much more fun than I had ever imagined, and the more you think about it the more you start to enjoy some of the ideas it brings up.
Matt VanWinkle- The Lincoln Lawyer
Drew- We Bought A Zoo/Bridesmaids
The Mike- Rango
Matthew- I’ll give this a tie to two films. The first is X-Men: First Class, whose trailer made it look absolutely terrible and silly. I was not excited to go see it, but it turned out to be really good. The second is Part 2 of the Deathly Hallows films. I wasn’t a big fan of Part 1, which made Part 2, a really good film, all the more surprising.
Nate Grenbeck- Crazy, Stupid, Love
Biggest Disappointment of the Year
Jason- Super 8. Wow…another lens flare filled, vibrating camera, monster movie from JJ Abrams. I watched this movie thinking after every scene Abrams turned to Spielberg and said, “Did I replicate your style well Mr. Spielberg? Pat me on the head and send me off to do the next scene please Sir!”
Matt VanWinkle- The Hangover Part II
Drew- Hangover Pt. 2. But I can’t believe we expected anything different!
The Mike- The Resident/Wake Wood
Matthew- Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. I liked the earlier Pirates films. Well, 2/3, anyway. The series just seems to continue to go downhill, and even though it made money, I hope there won’t be a fifth. Also, someone needs to explain to me how it was filmed in 3D, meaning it didn’t have to be converted, yet still looked worse than Conan, which was converted in post-production.
Nate Grenbeck- Announcing that The Lion King 3-D was 2 weeks only; and then proceeding to keep it in theaters for 3 months.
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