2011 Year in Review

What do I when I am really freaking bored at the end of December? I go through my box of tickets and come up with lists of things I did this year, of course! I'll put my top five in each category here, then my complete lists after the jump. Do check it out to see just how much money I wasted spent in 2011!

Top 5 Theatre Experience

1. American Idiot (Jan 30, St. James Theatre, New York City)


2. The Submission (Oct 16, Lortel Theatre, New York City)


3. La Cage aux Folles (Jan 30, Longacre Theatre, New York City)


4. Godspell (Oct 16, Circle in the Square, New York City)


5. Les Miserables (Nov 3, Providence Performing Arts Center, Providence)

It was a good year in theatre for me this year. I took four trips to NYC to see various shows, all of the shows being very enjoyable. My theatre-going excursions in the Boston area were rather light this season, something I hope to change in 2012. Honorable mention here goes to Daniel Radcliffe's star turn in How to Succeed, the much maligned Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark and the off-Broadway revival of Rent.

Top 5 Concerts

1. Bruno Mars & Janelle Monáe (May 7, Agannis Arena, Boston)


2. Sara Bareilles & Josh Radin (Aug 30, Bank of America Pavilion, Boston)


3. Jon McLaughlin (May 3, Brighton Music Hall, Boston)


4. The Script (June 8, Bank of America Pavilion, Boston)


5. American Idol Live! (Sep 1, DCU Center, Worcester) 

Looking back I initially thought of this as a good year for me in concerts, but listing them all out, it was kind of slim pickings. The ones I went to were good fun, but there isn't much to choose from for a top-5 list (at least for my likings!). Honorable mention here for Josh Groban at Providence's Dunkin Donuts Center.

Top 5 Movies (based on pure enjoyment, not quality or Oscar-worthiness)

1. Captain America: The First Avenger


2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo


3. 50/50


4. X-Men First Class


5. Super 8

Ugh, talk about tough. To do this, I narrowed my list down to 10 movies, then selected five... but in all honesty, there isn't much of a difference between 1 and 10 here. Like the problem I have when finishing my Oscar Watch series, it's so tough to rank movies that are so, so different. Each of the 10 movies I put down elicited different reactions from me, making me love them for different reasons. Tough stuff. The other 5 (in no particular order): Thor, The Muppets, Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows, Black Swan and Footloose. Yes, Footloose.

Top 5 TV Series
Limited to series I saw the entirety of this season, based on 2011's new episodes and again on pure entertainment

1. Breaking Bad


2. Parks & Recreation


3. Friday Night Lights


4. Dexter


5. New Girl

This... this actually was not all that tough. Friday Night Lights's final season was technically in 2010, but it was aired on NBC in 2011, so it's included. I watched P&R in its entirety after realizing that The Office was leaving a void on my TV-viewing schedule (not that the Steve Carrell-less version isn't funny, it's just not AS funny...). P&R more than fills the void... and actually I think it surpasses it. I hesitated to put New Girl on the list at all, given that there's only half a season to go by, but I freaking love that show so far. Honorable mention to The Walking Dead... and for the record, I'd probably put Glee dead last. 

So that's that. 2011 was not a good year for me... so as you can see, I tried to fill it with as much escapism as possible. Hopefully 2012 is different, but still filled with lots of escapism. Because escapism is the best. :)

Full lists after the jump.

OW11: 50/50

Image via Wikipedia

What we have here is a beautifully written movie filled with absolutely wonderful performances. The script by real-life cancer-survivor Adam Reiser is heart-breaking, hilarious, touching, and full of hope, often all at the same time. The performances are all top notch, especially from the always wonderful Joseph Gorden-Levitt and the delightful Anna Kendrick. Seth Rogan was also surprisingly good, even if he was playing the same old Seth Rogan role (which I learned later was the point, as his character is based on... Seth Rogan).

In all, this movie is sure to go down as one of my favorites of the year. I typically find a "little" movie to root for at the Oscars... 50/50 will almost certainly be 2011's.

OW11: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Image via Wikipedia

Read the book... found the first half interminably slow, but a strong second half mostly made up for it.

Saw the original Swedish film... thought mostly the same thing, plus a truly fantastic performance from Noomi Repace.

This new US version... solves the problem. The adaptation by Steven Zaillian is nothing short of masterful, giving all the pertinent exposition without the book's plodding, meandering subplots. That, coupled with David Fincher's typically sparkling direction, moves the movie along at a breakneck pace (though slower when it needs to be). Outside of Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara (who give spectacular performances) in the lead roles, the movie didnt look quiet as I expected, which oddly added to the experience.

As you can tell, I enjoyed this film immensely. It was absolutely everything I wanted as I read the book, which helps. Ideally, truly hope the sequels get made, as I'll be right there to see them.

OW11: J. Edgar

Image via Wikipedia

J. Edgar is a rather peculiar little film with big aspirations. It is filled with some great imagery, a wonderful stylistic choices by director Clint Eastwood, a stunning performance by Leonardo DiCaprio, a very well done love story, a solid screenplay… but it ultimately comes off as somewhat slight, rather boring and, frankly, kind of pointless.

The screenplay by Dustin Lance Black is both a strong point of the film and a source of many of the film's problems for me (if that makes any sense at all). The dialogue is quick and appropriate, telling the story wonderfully. The problem is that the film doesn't really give any information about J. Edgar Hoover I didn't already know, and it didn't delve into the why; why was Hoover so insecure, why did he do the things he did, why was he so obsessed? Beyond that, most of the action of the plot wasn't all that engaging to me, so there were times in the film where I felt bored. Though I must say that the love story between Hoover and his protege Clyde Tolson was handled very well, not once taking over the film or being 'over the top', if you will. 

In all, J. Edgar is a film that could have been much better for me. I do highly recommend it if you like the whole biopic genre, as it's definitely worth a watch - the direction and lead performance see to that. 

 

OW11: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II

Image via Wikipedia

As an adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s novel, HP7.5 is wonderful, right in line with the 3 previous Yates films. My problems with the film largely extend from my problems with the novel itself, and the decision to break the novel into two films. In essence, director David Yates made one giant film based on the seventh book and split it into two pieces, exactly as the full title of the film indicates: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II. The result is a movie that struggles to build as a well-made movie should, culminating in a disappointing, largely predictable ending and an absolutely wretched and unnecessary epilogue.

The performances in the cast are wonderful, some of the best of the series. Looking back on the whole Harry Potter octalogy, it’s been an absolute pleasure to watch the young trio of actors, Daniel Radcliffe especially, grow alongside such celebrated actors, seemingly acting as mentors for the young actors. The visual effects are superb, as expected, with the visual feel to the movie right in line with the other Yates Potter films. The overall structure of the film is also a bit lacking, since the first half of the film is missing, as previously noted. It is tough to fully judge this film without the first part, but since the films were packaged as thus, that is how they are judged. It is truly disappointing, as this film could have been, and should have been, an epic finale to an epic series.

I’m including this in my Oscar Watch 2011 series not because of the quality of the film being worthy of inclusion, but because it is the finale of such a landmark film series. As discussed last year with Toy Story 3, the Academy likes to honor landmark finales, so this bears keeping an eye on. I only wish David Yates could go back and re-make the relatively lackluster first four films in the series....

 

Oscar Watch 2011

It's come time for a decision, re: "Oscar Watch 2011". Last year, I'd seen 4 of the films named to the American Film Institute's Top 10 list. The AFI announced their awards recently, and I've seen a grand total of.... zero. #timmfail. There are a couple on the list that I absolutely plan on seeing (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, War Horse), a few that I planned on seeing just never got around to (Moneyball, J. Edgar, The Help), a couple that certainly intrigued me (Hugo, The Descendants), one I wouldn't mind seeing (The Tree of Life), one I absolutely avoided seeing (Bridgesmaids) and one I've only vaguely heard of (Midnight in Paris). Plus this list is only a starting point, as there are a bunch of movies this year that I've heard wonderful things about, but aren't on the list (Drive, Ides of March, 50/50... to name a few). 

So I'm putting together a list of the big buzzworthy movies, culled from various best-of lists and such... fortunately, all seem to be available for me to see (or, in some cases, will be available within the next month or so). Here's what I'm going to strive to see:

My list

• The Adventures of Tintin - out 12/21


• Bridesmaids - out currently on blu-ray, added to my Netflix queue.


• Carnage - out 12/16


• The Descendants - out in theaters now


• Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close - out 12/25


• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - out 12/18


• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - already seen, full review to follow


• The Help - out currently on blu-ray, added to my Netflix queue


• Hugo - out in theaters now


• Ides of March - out in theaters now


• The Iron Lady - out 1/13


• J. Edgar - out in theaters now


• Midnight in Paris - blu-ray comes out 12/20


• Moneyball - blu-ray comes out 1/10


• The Tree of Life - out currently on blu-ray, added to my Netflix queue


• War Horse - out 12/25 (though I won't be seeing it until I see the play in January)


• We Bought a Zoo - out 12/23


• 50/50 - out in theaters now, though may be difficult to find

Of course, as I generate this list, I think of a slew of others... but this is what I will begin with. This will be a vaunting task... but I will try my best. Hell, I may even start tonight. Stay tuned for updates!

Could these movie posters be any more awesome?

See the full gallery on Posterous

'Amazing Spider-Man' and 'The Dark Knight Rises'.

Is it next summer yet?

Zoey in her chair... surely expecting something.

timmmc.com is back on Posterous

I'm an indecisive cad when it comes to hosting my website. It's back on Posterous now... so the last 7 posts may have some wonky formatting. Just a head's up.

Taming of the Shrew

As my regular readers know (lol, regular readers), I've been missing in action for almost a month and a half now. I've been taking part in my alma mater's production of Taming of the Shrew, which was certainly an experience (I'm not naming the college because I don't want this turned up in search engines... though obviously the school can be uncovered rather easily)

I graduated from in the spring of 2008, meaning that kids that came in as freshmen during my senior year graduated last spring, spring 2011. After first realizing how freaking old that made me feel, I sat back and took stock of the theatre department: It's almost exactly the same, for better and for worse.

The better: the department is still strong. Very strong. You have a wide variety of "types" in the department. There is a wealth of very good young actors. You have students clearly buying into what various professors are teaching. You have a department that when it comes together, puts on damn good productions. But even with all that, the negatives are still there. I won't get into specifics, but there is a rift in the department that always tended to make the rehearsal process borderline miserable, a characteristic today's department still has. It's disappointing, really, but I'd have a hard time envisioning a scenario where it wasn't always going to be the case.

In the end, however, the actual performances of the show righted all rehearsal wrongs. I can honestly say I was miserable leading up the weekend performances... but when I left campus on Sunday, I did so with a heavy heart. I never would have thought I'd say this a week ago, but I am very glad I took part in the production.

Also, one last note... I learned that stereotypes exist because, well, they are real. When I went to school, a number of the students fit into a number of typical theater stereotypes. All those students are now gone... replaced by more stereotypes. In several cases, I could look at certain people and find a 1-to-1 correlation with a classmate. I even found someone that reminded me of myself. I was accordingly freaked out.

But now, it's back to my regular schedule of TV, movies and theatre watching. Escapist entertainment, I've missed you.