Now, we come to the movie awards. 2011 was a year full of franchise offerings, being the largest sequel-driven year in cinematic history. Some lived up to the hype, some didn't, but even with so much Hollywood franchising, there were still several great original movies that wowed audiences as well. Even when sequelitis set in, several floundering franchises were given a new lease on life after falling from grace, while others continued to surprising acclaim and sales, proving that they're still not out of steam. In any case, 2011 was an eventful year for the big screen, and now it's time to honour the top cinematic products of last year.
The first part of the movie awards will celebrate the most esteemed features of the movies, and how established movie convention continued to improve with both new universes and returning franchises alike. Let's get started!
BRENTIVERSE 2011 MOVIE AWARDS: Esteemed features
- The Human Shield Award (Best Hero)
- Rango (Rango)
- Annie Walker (Bridesmaids)
- Thor (Thor)
- Caesar (Rise of the Planet of the Apes)
- The Driver (Drive)
WINNER: Caesar (Rise of the Planet of the Apes)
WHY: In the span of just under two hours, Caesar went from an unusually intelligent household companion, to an outcast amongst his own species, to the leader of a revolution that motivated human audiences to cheer against their own species. While the real rise of the apes seems yet to come, Caesar kicked off proceedings beautifully, as a fiendishly intelligent leader to the simian uprising, as well as a surprisingly sympathetic victim of circumstances beyond his control. Even though the apes are to serve as antagonists after their takeover of Earth, it was impossible not to fall in love with Caesar's character, to the point where we could put aside the fact that his movement eventually conquers our planet. Even as the groundwork is laid for humans to fall, we just wanted this primate to find peace, even if it meant crushing the human race under his army. When you get a protaganist so potent that it makes you want to root for the eventual bad guys, even when it's your own species they're out to flatten, you know you've created an excellent main hero for your movie!
- The Bad Cheese Award (Best Villain)
- Loki (Thor)
- Voldemort (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2)
- Professor James Moriarty (Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows)
- Bernie Rose (Drive)
- Rattlesnake Jake (Rango)
WINNER: Professor James Moriarty (Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows)
WHY: It's true that Voldemort got his send-off this year, and he's one of the most beloved pop culture villains today, but when you think about it, he's a pretty one-dimensional bad guy in the movies especially. Where the bar was really raised this year was with another well-known villain of literature, Professor James Moriarty, archenemy to Sherlock Holmes. Outwardly respectable, formally devious and surpressing an undeniable air of moral insanity, there were so many appealing layers to Jared Harris' excellent portrayal of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's ultimate bad guy that it carried an already amazing movie by itself. Europe at large was oblivious to Moriarty's true motives, but thanks to his airtight plans and superhuman intellect, this was made believable. Even when faced with his greatest opponent, Moriarty doesn't simply bump him off, he almost seems to deliberately challenge him in an unspoken contest to see who truly is the greatest mind the world has ever known. A sign of a great villain is one that redefines our hero, and in a strange way, we begin to question Sherlock's own morality through Moriarty's actions, wondering if his desire to stop the villain is out of a genuine sense of justice, or simply to best him at his own game. Whatever the case, Moriarty's grand plans were deadly enough to bring all of Europe to its knees, and he did it without superpowers, massive capital or even a shred of evidence. Truly, the big screen never saw a deadlier villain in 2011!
- The Eager Monkey Award (Best Supporting Character)
- Anjelica (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides)
- Raven Darkholme (X-Men: First Class)
- Neville Longbottom (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2)
- William Brandt (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol)
- Megan (Bridesmaids)
WINNER: William Brandt (Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol)
WHY: When a supporting character carries enough appeal to upstage the protaganist of a movie over the course of four films, to the point where rumours persist of his being passed the reins of the entire franchise, you know that you've made a winning personality. Brandt begins the movie as a seemingly unassuming analyst, but it's quickly made clear that there's much more to the character. His surprising connection to Ethan Hunt and the operation only serves to make him more appealing, and he finely complements Ethan's superhuman capability with a more grounded, calculating attitude that makes him feel like a much more rounded persona. In a movie that was otherwise all about the ludicrous, yet entertaining spectacle, Brandt brought it to the real world, and even if Tom Cruise makes another attempt at bailing from the franchise, you know that Mission: Impossible can yet continue with this awesome IMF agent taking center stage, even if he'd rather seduce the rich guy than drop tens of feet into an oven.
- The Crying Smiley Face Award (Best Dramatic Performance)
- Chris Hemsworth as Thor (Thor)
- Jared Harris as Professor James Moriarty (Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows)
- Andy Serkis as Caesar (Rise of the Planet of the Apes)
- Michael Fassbender as Erik Lensherr (X-Men: First Class)
- Ryan Gosling as The Driver (Drive)
WINNER: Andy Serkis as Caesar (Rise of the Planet of the Apes)
WHY: This was a very tough category, as 2011 saw some truly amazing dramatic performances on the big screen, even in the most mainstream blockbusters. I cut my teeth on all five nominees, who would all be winners if they were spread across several years, but of all of them, Andy Serkis is the one that shines the brightest. I seriously hope that they give this guy an Oscar for his portrayal of Caesar, because as I said, the performance is so compelling and sympathetic that it even makes you want to root against your own species! The transition from innocent household test subject to determined leader of the revolution is gradual, but highly believable, and I'd probably love these movies even more if Caesar took center stage over the human characters entirely! Despite the fact that he was an ape, Serkis somehow made Caesar seem even more human than the actual human characters, and as ridiculous and biologically inaccurate as it was, I damn near shed a tear or two when Will beckons Caesar to return to his home, to which Caesar looks at the woods behind him, and whispers to Will in embrace, "Caesar is home". One of the most emotionally poignant moments on the big screen in 2011, for sure!
- The Homing Pie Award (Best Comedic Performance)
- Kristen Wiig as Annie Walker (Bridesmaids)
- Charlie Day as Dale Arbus (Horrible Bosses)
- Neil Patrick Harris as Neil Patrick Harris (A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas)
- Seth Rogen as Paul (Paul)
- Steve Carell as Cal Weaver (Crazy, Stupid, Love)
WINNER: Kristen Wiig as Annie Walker (Bridesmaids)
WHY: This is another list of performances that's tough to narrow down to just one winner, as every nominee was hysterical in all the right ways, from Steve Carell diving out of a moving car upon hearing of a divorce plea, to Charlie Day obliviously trying to revive the dying boss that he's supposed to be killing. I have to admit though that out of all of the great actors giving me the giggles this year, Kristen Wiig likely did it best in the lead role of Annie Walker in Bridesmaids. Bridesmaids was one of my favourite surprise hit comedies of 2011, proving that female-driven comedies can in fact be among the funniest movies of the year, and Wiig's portrayal of Annie was so hilarious in all of its straightness. Even as a depressing near-failure of an ex-small business owner forced to watch her best friend get married and leave her, Annie kept us smiling with how well she kept things light even at the movie's darkest moments, whether she's drunkenly staggering around a plane to Vegas, or trying desperately to get her angry cop boyfriend's attention by spinning her car topless while holding a bottle of liquor. As ridiculous as Bridesmaids' gags were on paper, Annie made them surprisingly believable, producing a heartfelt character even as shit hit the fan all around her. Hopefully this means that we'll be seeing lots more of Kristen Wiig over the course of the future!
- The Orange Jumpsuit Award (Best Breakout Performance)
- Chris Hemsworth as Thor (Thor)
- Charlie Day as Dale Arbus (Horrible Bosses)
- Kristen Wiig as Annie Walker (Bridesmaids)
- Michael Fassbender as Erik Lensherr (X-Men: First Class)
- Asa Butterfield as Hugo Cabret (Hugo)
WINNER: Michael Fassbender as Erik Lensherr (X-Men: First Class)
WHY: This was a very close tie between Michael Fassbender and Chris Hemsworth, both of whom received massive, and well-deserved career boosts after their excellent roles in two equally awesome superhero blockbusters. It's very close, but Michael Fassbender just barely edges out in the role of a younger Erik Lensherr, before he becomes X-Men arch-nemesis, Magneto, mainly because he did such an excellent job of filling the massive shoes of Ian MacKellan's incredible performance in the role throughout the former X-Men movie trilogy. Fassbender not only injected a new level of youth and conflict into a character we thought we knew, but also an increased sense of fury and ruthlessness that set him firmly on the path to super-villainy, but also turned him into a character we futily hoped would rise above his desire for revenge on the man who killed his mother and left him with nothing. Though he's a steadfast ally to his future archfoe, Charles Xavier throughout most of the film, Erik inevitably turns to the dark side despite our hopes for him in the end, starting on his way to his growth into Magneto by the time the end credits roll. Even when Erik did terrible things in his quest for the head of Sebastian Shaw though, we understood his grief and what drove him forward. A tortured soul that's as much a victim as he is a villain in the making, Michael Fassbender simultaneously honoured the legacy of Magneto while redefining the character for a new arc of X-Men films. I love Ian MacKellan's portrayal of Magneto as much as any other Marvel geek, but I'm beyond excited to see what else Fassbender can bring to this role in the inevitable follow-ups, and the roles of many other big movies that he's bound to land over the future.
- The Burger Phone Award (Best Quote)
- “No man can walk out of his own story” – Spirit of the West (Rango)
- “If I drive for you, you get your money. That's a guarantee. Tell me where we start, where we're going and where we're going afterwards, I give you five minutes when you get there. Anything happens in that five minutes and I'm yours, no matter what. Anything a minute either side of that and you're on your own. I don't sit in while you're running it down. I don't carry a gun. I drive.” – Driver (Drive)
- “This is so awkward, I want you to leave, but I don’t know how to say it without sounding like a dick” – Ted (Bridesmaids)
- “Next time, I get to seduce the rich guy.” – William Brandt (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol)
- “If you wonder where your dreams come from, look around you. This is where they’re made!” – Papa Georges (Hugo)
WINNER: - “If I drive for you, you get your money. That's a guarantee. Tell me where we start, where we're going and where we're going afterwards, I give you five minutes when you get there. Anything happens in that five minutes and I'm yours, no matter what. Anything a minute either side of that and you're on your own. I don't sit in while you're running it down. I don't carry a gun. I drive.” – The Driver (Drive)
WHY: Do you love the movies? Did you see Drive this year? If you said no, please give yourself three slaps in the face and take away your allowance, because you missed out on one of 2011's best sleeper hits. Even if you haven't seen it though, this quote alone gives you all the development of your main character, in one paragraph. The rest of our main protaganist, simply called 'The Driver' in all credits and never named in the film, is left up to your imagination. It's amazing though that in this handful of sentences, we learn nothing about The Driver, yet at the same time, we learn everything noteworthy about him. It's kind of fascinating. Drive is a very cool movie despite its slow pace, because it liberally goes against the excess that Hollywood seems to pride itself on, giving us a surprisingly appealing minimalist take on an action-drama. In the opening minutes, this quote is all The Driver uses to describe himself, and doesn't do so at any greater length throughout the film. Works for me!
- The Hot Pepper Award (Sexiest Character)
- Babydoll (Sucker Punch)
- Anjelica (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides)
- Carly Spencer (Transformers: Dark of the Moon)
- Dr. Julia Harris, D.D.S. (Horrible Bosses)
- Jane Carter (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol)
WINNER: Anjelica (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides)
WHY: Sure, characters like Babydoll are very beautiful to the point of being downright enchanting, and characters like Dr. Julia Harris, D.D.S. are so hilariously oversexed that us guys can't help but feel a little aroused at the thought of their existence. What revs my engine as an honest man though, is a mix between beauty, brains and resourcefulness. A little of everything, wrapped up in a spicy disposition and the objective confidence that this woman has no need of a man's influence to get what she wants. That beautifully sums up Anjelica, the new female lead in the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film. An ex-flame of Jack Sparrow, and the daughter of nefarious pirate, Blackbeard, Anjelica is a sassy cutthroat who will charm the pants off you just as soon as she'd lie, cheat and steal her way to what she wants out of you. In short, she's what Keira Knightley should have been for this franchise! Penelope Cruz seizes the female lead position and runs with it in the Anjelica role, delivering the bulk of the promise for future films in the new Pirates arc, in some ways even moreso than Johnny Depp, whose Sparrow schtick seems firmly planted in audiences' heads by now. Even in a ridiculous Jack Sparrow disguise, she still kind of made me hot, and I'm sure I wasn't the only man to feel that way! 2011 may have brought plenty of lovely ladies to the big screen, but Anjelica was the one who best stole my heart!
- The Reese's Pieces Award (Best Team)
- Green Hornet/Kato (The Green Hornet)
- Charles Xavier/Erik Lensherr (X-Men: First Class)
- Charlie Kenton/Max Kenton (Real Steel)
- Harold Lee/Kumar Patel (A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas)
- Gary/Walter (The Muppets)
WINNER: Charlie Kenton/Max Kenton (Real Steel)
WHY: Real Steel claimed to be about futuristic boxing robots smacking the hell out of each other for our amusement. That was mostly true. At the movie's core though, Real Steel was actually a surprisingly heartfelt underdog story about a father and son trying to mend their broken relationship. In a sense, Charlie and Max couldn't be any more different, but in a way, they were still much the same. They were stubborn, determined people with a fighter's spirit, with Max restoring Charlie's faith in the fighting game as they piloted an unlikely modified sparring bot to the top! The idea of robots beating each other to scrap is already a decent idea to sell a silly action movie, but when even that seems to be superceded by the father/son bond driving the whole show forward, you know that Hollywood has managed to craft a pretty good team!
- The Flying Pen Award (Best plot)
- X-Men: First Class
- Drive
- Hugo
- Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
- The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
WINNER: Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
WHY: Towards the end of the year especially, we had some great plots at the movies. This is another category where any of these movies told a great story for varying reasons. Drive maximized emotional and dramatic impact from an otherwise worn premise, Hugo enchanted audiences with a cinematic history lesson disguised as a wondrous family adventure filled with surprises, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo brought the esteemed Millennium Trilogy to an English-speaking audience to once again redefine the spirit of darkness and violence in a wonderfully twisted mystery, and X-Men: First Class brought huge layers of added depth to a deep and provocative comic book series that had previously lost its way on the big screen. Once again though, it was the greatest detective mind in Europe that delivered the most impressive yarn of all. With Holmes pitted against his archenemy in a deadly battle of wits for all of 19th Century Europe, the Sherlock Holmes sequel took us across the country as the mystery only thickened with every minute, raising the stakes, the thrills and the wit all the while. Though it took minute inspiration from a handful of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows mainly devised an original mystery that simply fired on all cylinders, noticeably outdoing the preceding movie and overcoming the sophomore slump with one of the most intricate, smart action movie plots to come along in years!
- The Licorice Whip Award (Best plot twist)
- The identity of the Spirit of the West (Rango)
- Sentinel Prime’s agenda (Transformers: Dark of the Moon)
- Hannah’s lineage (Crazy, Stupid, Love)
- Papa Georges’ history (Hugo)
- Moriarty’s plan (Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows)
WINNER: Hannah's lineage (Crazy, Stupid, Love)
WHY: If you haven't seen Crazy, Stupid, Love, and are holding out for it, you may want to scroll down. Know which twist I mean then? Good. Actually, there were two really impressive twists in this movie, with the identity of Cal Weaver's son's teacher being the other great surprise. So, in a year full of franchise movies, big blockbusters and all sorts of complicated scripts, two of the best scenes of the year exist in a romance-themed comedy? Again, not to be confused with a romantic comedy, as Crazy, Stupid, Love is in a much better, smarter class of films. Yeah, crazy, isn't it? This just goes to show you how awesome Crazy, Stupid, Love's writing really was though, and it actually spent some time on the Hollywood Black List of unproduced scripts, along with Hanna, another of 2011's best movies that's a must-see for any cinemaphile. Anyway, if you don't know already, here comes the spoilers, so last chance to leave, mmkay? Ok. Anyway, I almost lept out of my seat when I saw that Hannah, Emma Stone's character, was actually the daughter of Steve Carell the entire time, with a twist of fate leading to her dating the very same apparently lowlife womanizer that taught Carell's character his moves after his divorce, as well as being the mysterious 'Nana' character often referred to in passing. Apparently the nickname came from the littlest daughter being unable to pronounce Hannah's name as a baby. Huh. Well played, movie... Well played... Again, I never thought that I would give this award to a comedy, much less a comedy about romance, but hey, it's always nice to be pleasantly surprised by a wonderful movie like Crazy, Stupid, Love!
- The Cannonball Man Award (Best stunts)
- Hanna
- Fast Five
- Drive
- Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
- Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
WINNER: Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
WHY: Every nominee on this list had some really impressive stunt work behind it. As ridiculous as it was, Fast Five's climactic action scene is worth seeing the movie for alone, and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows blew its predecessor out of the water with even more ambitious action scenes that were nonetheless true to the series' style. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol was the movie that really turned heads though, and rightfully so. Shirking CGI for the most part, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol instead relied on good old handmade stunt work, with Tom Cruise yet again doing his own action scenes, and boy were these some ambitious action scenes! Cruise scaled the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, using nothing but a pair of prototype adhesive gloves (which didn't work well, might I add), pursued a suspect in the middle of a sandstorm, and took to a climax of shifting vehicles and platforms in a tower-like parking garage. Jeremy Renner also got in on the action with a daring wind tunnel leap and a perilous underwater escape to boot! Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protcol was some of the most silly fun I had at the movies throughout all of 2011, but it was still easy to be impressed at the movie when you see its mind-blowing stunts and action sequences at work! Even from the outset, this fourth movie hits the ground running and never lets up until the credits roll, and it's especially impressive to experience on an IMAX screen too! Even if you don't normally like action movies, there's a rough and tumble dedicated to Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol that will nonetheless entertain you, if for no other reason than to amaze you at just how these actors pulled all of this off! If only every action movie could look so impressive without that needless CGI cheating!
- The Trippy Colours Award (Best special effects)
- Sucker Punch
- Thor
- Green Lantern
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
WINNER: Green Lantern
WHY: You can say what you will about the quality of Green Lantern as a movie (a movie I actually didn't hate nearly as much as many other people did), but you can't argue that it was breathtaking to look at. It was very ambitious on the part of the filmmakers to try to bring a lesser known B-list DC Comic to the big screen, one that spends much of its time in outer space, from the perspective of space cops that battle alien entities with the power of their imaginations, in a nutshell. Maybe it wasn't a total success, but at least the visuals and effects were spectacular, and beautifully brought the comic to life! Yes, Green Lantern is essentially all style and precious little substance, flubbing most of its opportunities to set up a larger DC Cinematic Universe in order to compete with Marvel's imminent Avengers initiative, but if nothing else, at least we got a movie that looked good in all of its failure. Effects don't make a movie, true, but even disappointing movies can still leave an impression with their effects work, and at the very least, Green Lantern may get a second chance at taking on the big screen simply because it's a better-looking movie than most. Hey, there are worse reasons to make a sequel!
- The Yellow Bunny Award (Best costumes)
- Sucker Punch
- Captain America: The First Avenger
- Conan the Barbarian
- Thor
- Immortals
WINNER: Sucker Punch
WHY: This is another movie that kind of... bombed this year, and maybe in some ways, rightfully so. Sucker Punch was a beautiful film, but plot-wise, it was a mess. Thankfully, this confused, faux-artistic action movie at least compensated by having easily the most stunning wardrobe of the entire year! Stylized sometimes to the point of unintentional hilarity, Sucker Punch was nonetheless captivating at how it got beautiful ladies into even more beautiful outfits and challenged us guys not to get a boner even when we were fuming at the whole mess. You can spew bile at this movie until the cows come home, but you have to admit that the costumes kicked ass, and at least director, Zack Snyder and his wardrobe department got those very much right. Sucker Punch's worse moments were sometimes painful, especially with all the hype it garnered in the geek community, but at least the blow was softened by the fact that we could continually make mental notes of all the outfits that we wish the girlfriend we don't have would wear for us. Ahhh, a guy can dream...
- The Googly Glasses Award (Best 3D presentation)
- Kung Fu Panda 2
- Puss in Boots
- Hugo
- Green Lantern
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
WINNER: Hugo
WHY: All of the nominees stood out amongst a sea of 3D releases in 2011 for actually making decent use of a 3D presentation, despite the occasional overexposure. Kung Fu Panda 2 was a 3D stunner that continued to show all the wonderful ways that the third dimension can add to an animated story, while Green Lantern actually successfully delivered a shaky, but fun superhero flick that made surprisingly decent use of 3D, and the Harry Potter finale's post-3D conversion amazingly didn't suck at all, in fact, it wasn't bad! Out of the many, many 3D movies that came to the big screen in 2011 though, it was Hugo that truly took a 3D presentation to the next level. This is a movie that absolutely, and unfortunately loses something when you view it in 2D. The enchanting 3D environments are absolutely breathtaking to behold, constantly creating an unparalleled sense of atmosphere, and truthfully enhancing the enchanting appeal of the story all the while! It seems cheesy to say, but the added 3D presentation made Hugo's adventure feel all the more magical and alive, expertly using 3D to make the world feel so much more lifelike, without resorting to cheap gimmickry like all too many misguided 3D releases. Sure, 2011 had some real 3D stinkers that made terrible, redundant use of a 3D presentation like Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Conan the Barbarian, and it's easy to get cynical about 3D when the cinematic calendar is choked with 3D misfires like this, but Hugo is enough to make you really believe in 3D as the future of filmmaking, and considering that it's the first time director, Martin Scorsese has worked with it, it really makes you appreciate the man's immense directing talents on a whole new level as well!
Thus concludes Part 1 of my movie awards, so stay tuned for Part 2 of both the video game and movie awards for 2011 to be posted soon!
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