Mid-Year Review: 2011

It's hard to believe over half the year is already gone, isn't it? The first half of the year has been a little slow, cinematically speaking, for me. So far, I've only seen nine films this year (of course, that's for new releases; via Netflix I've probably seen close to 100); money's been tight this year, and of course my theater visits will kick into high gear once the Oscar contenders start rolling out in the fall. Another reason for the low count so far has been, well, nothing's seemed particularly good this year. Even the films I did see, as I've listed below, didn't exactly bowl me over. Hopefully the second half of the year will prove better.

My viewing log, thus far:

1. The Tree of Life, A
2. Super 8, A-
3. Midnight in Paris, A-
4. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, B
5. Cars 2, B-
6. Paul, C+
7. Battle: Los Angeles, C+
8. Sucker Punch, C-
9. The Green Hornet, C-

That's right, ladies and gentlemen, the fourth Pirates movie scored higher than Cars 2. That's got to be a sign of what kind of year it's been.

On the Oscar horizons, I can't say that any of these films will be Best Picture nominees. Midnight in Paris probably has the best chance, since plenty of people are falling in love with the film (and a crowd-pleaser could get first-place votes). Super 8 isn't exactly a film people are madly in love with, and The Tree of Life, like every Terrence Malick film, has proven to be divisive. Malick could score a "lone wolf" directing nomination, though, and the film will certainly score in cinematography. Woody Allen will likely get a screenplay nomination for Midnight in Paris, and Super 8 and Pirates should land some technicals. Cars 2 will probably earn an Animated Feature nomination out of "hey, it's Pixar" laziness but I doubt a win will happen this year.

My favorite performances so far this year, in no particular order:

Elle Fanning, Super 8
Joel Courtney, Super 8
Marion Cotillard, Midnight in Paris
Owen Wilson, Midnight in Paris
Adrien Brody, Midnight in Paris ("Rhinoceros!")
Allison Pill, Midnight in Paris
Corey Stall, Midnight in Paris
Hunter McCracken, The Tree of Life
Brad Pitt, The Tree of Life
Jessica Chastain, The Tree of Life
Ian McShane, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (easily the best part of the film)

There are a lot of films I'm sorry I missed, but I've got many of them saved to my Netflix queue. Cheers to the second half of the year.

What are your favorite films so far this year?