3D makes a strong showing in FJI top ten of 2011

By Kevin Lally

A year ago, I couldn't have imagined that 3D would nab five spots in my personal list of the ten best films of 2011. But this was truly a breakthrough year for the stereoscopic medium, as four major filmmmakers--Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and veteran German New Wave auteurs Wim Wenders and Werner Herzog--all made their 3D feature debuts and showed what kind of visual glories this still-evolving medium is capable of.

Apart from 3D, this year's listincludes (for this writer) an unusually large proportionof mass-entertainment films. But those movies were not just bountifully entertaining--they delivered the sort of visualspectacle that made you lean back in your seat and say "Wow!" And if you weren't watching them on a big screen at your favorite theatre, you were missing at least half the experience.

Looking back on 2011's offerings, it was actuallyan excellentyear for movies, and there are many, many films that didn't make the cut that I could enthusiastically recommend. I also still need to catch up with a number of highly acclaimed films like Iran's A Separation and Korea's Poetry, so there may be an asterisk in this column's future.

Here are my favorites from 2011:

1. The Artist. How amazing that a black-and-white silent feature is one of the year's top award contenders. This French production filmed on Hollywood soundstages is far from just a novelty--it's also joyful, witty, poignant, and overflowing with style and invention. Jean Dujardin, playing a charismatic sllent-filmmatinee idolwho stubbornly resists the transition to sound, was already astar in France--now he's a very likely Oscar contender.

2. Hugo. Martin Scorsese not only embraces 3D, he shows therest of the film community how it should be done. Hisfirstpicture aimed at a young audience is an awesome three-dimensionalvisual feastfrom first frame to last, and it's also an enchanting tribute to the silent era and the artistry of its most magical pioneer, Georges Melies.

3. The Descendants. Director Alexander Payne nimbly straddles the line between comedy and drama in this funny andaffecting tale of a Hawaiian heir who must reconnect with his neglected young daughters after his wife is gravely injured in a boating accident. The premise may sound mawkish, but George Clooney and his able supporting cast evoke genuine laughter and tears.

4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2. The 3D finale of the phenomenally successful fantasy series is also the best film of the bunch. The boy wizard's ultimateconfrontation with the evil Lord Voldemort is gripping, suspenseful and wonderfully satisfying, and showcases Daniel Radcliffe's growth as an accomplished movie actor.

5. The Adventures of Tintin. Steven Spielberg's other, more serious holiday film, War Horse, is on my runner-up list, but it's great to welcome a new Spielberg movie that is pure fun. It's his first animated film (using motion-capture technology) and his first in 3D, but his treatment of the adventures of the beloved French comic-book hero harkens back to the thrills of the original Indiana Jones movies. An elaborate, breathless chase in Morocco, conceived in one very long take, is alone worth the price of admission.

6. Drive. Ryan Gosling upped his star credentials with this violent, moody existential thriller about an enigmatic getaway driverwho comes to the aid of his neighbors and encounters some very bad criminals.Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn's filmmay not be everyone's cup of alienation, but it's exquisitely photographed and features surprising performances from its marvelous cast, most especially Albert Brooks as a ruthless kingpin.

7. Pina. After watching Wim Wenders' tribute to the late German choreographer Pina Bausch, I regret never having seenher spellbinding dance company live. But this 3D documentary is certainly the next best thing, with excerpts from four of her signature works and new solos (often in outdoor spaces, sometimes with city traffic zooming by in the background) making imaginative and immersive use of the 3D medium.

8. Cave of Forgotten Dreams. Visionary director Werner Herzog received permission tofilm inside France's Chauvet Cave, an ancient space discovered in 1994 and home to the oldest pictorial artwork known to man. Herzog's 3D cameras caress the curved walls andoffer a privileged.intimate look at these surprisingly sophisticated cave paintings--the public's only chance to see this art-world miracle.

9. Le Havre. Finland's Aki Kaurismakicreates a droll, disarming tale of an elderly man in the titular French port city who shelters a young refugee boy from Africa. Kaurismaki's understated style and painterly eye result in a film of great charm that is completely without cynicism but never overly sentimental.

10. Rango. The year's second-best animated feature,a western parody about a domesticated chameleon stranded in a parched desert town,is a visual tour de force for director Gore Verbinski and a party for Johnny Depp and his supporting cast, who performed their parts live on a soundstage.

To name just a few runners-up: Weekend, Incendies, Crazy Stupid Love, Project Nim, Tomboy, Bridesmaids, The Guard, Pariah, Young Adult, Midnight in Paris. It was a very good year indeed.