My totally un-biased, 100% un-official top 5 films of 2011

2011 has been an interesting year for movies. While there haven’t been many out and out failures, the number of good films that fell short of greatness made it difficult to compile a list of outstanding cinematic offerings. Add to this the fact that I still haven’t seen a number of big hitters (Hugo, Drive and We Need to Talk About Kevin spring to mind) and it would probably be best to treat this list as a work in progress. Still, in no particular order, my favourite films of 2011 were...

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Before release this seemed like another futile attempt by Fox to breath life into an irrelevant franchise. However Rise turned out to be the surprise blockbuster of the year, bringing in a healthy $468 million worldwide and giving Lord of the Rings fans another reason to dust off their ‘give Andy Serkis an Oscar’ t-shirts. Clever sci-fi that doesn’t disappoint on the monkey mayhem either.

Black Swan

The King’s Speech walked away with the awards but Black Swan won my heart during Oscar season for being barmier than a bag of spanners being carried by a fish on a bicycle. Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis received the attention for swapping saliva, but Vincent Cassel is equally as fun as the most outrageously French character of the year. Sadly at no point does he accuse anyone’s mother of smelling like elderberries.

Hanna

2010 gave us alternative super-hero fun in Kick-Ass and 2011 provided another subversive fantasy in Hanna. Joe Wright proves himself to be one of Britain’s most versatile directors with this coming of age Grimm’s fairytale, albeit starring a teenager more interested in breaking necks than watching Hollyoaks. Saoirse Ronan’s Hanna may not have the potty mouth of Hit Girl, but she does have a thumping soundtrack from the Chemical Brothers and Eric Bana as her Dad.

Life in a Day

Kevin Macdonald’s documentary of a day in the life of the world told through submitted YouTube footage may not throw up many surprises but it still manages to be an emotional two hours looking at just how very different we human beings are. A similar project, Britain in a Day, is due to be broadcast next year.

Submarine

Richard Ayoade’s (The IT Crowd’s Moss) feature debut may have QUIRKY BRITISH INDIE stamped all over it but survives the whimsy thanks to lead actor Noah Taylor as a teenager coping with his first romance. Yes it’s another coming of age story, but Taylor is wonderfully deadpan, and the supporting cast are equally entertaining.

And as a bonus, the worst film of the year was...

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Proving that the shark was well and truly jumped at least two films ago, Pirates 4 was billed as something of a reboot with its fresh director and mostly new cast. Sadly the only remarkable thing about Pirates 4 was that something this dull could cost so much money to make. Despite this the film has currently made over $1 billion worldwide, making a further adventure for Jack Sparrow almost inevitable. Perhaps next time they could remember to include the fun.