"What are these people watching? People like me."- BEST VILLAINS OF 2011

             I think it is common knowledge that I love my villains like none other. 2011 brought with it some particularly nasty and memorable ones. These were the best (or the worst).


Honourable mentions: Rattlesnake Jake from Rango, Lea Seydoux in MI4, Yorick van Wagingen as a particularly icky Nils Bjurman in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, David Lindhagen in Crazy, Stupid, Love.

10.

Melancholia in Melancholia

Both the planet and Justine's problem. However beautiful this film was, it was filled with melancholy and it did leave you feeling depressed as hell. 

9.

Sakharine in The Adventures of Tintin

He is the perfect image of a creepy thin man who is up to no good. Even though Tintin was not quite the hero, Sakharine was a pretty spot-on villain. Daniel Craig did a good job of voicing him.

8.

The virus in Contagion

Yes the virus in itself is scary as hell, because it kills people really really fast. But what is scarier is what it brings out in people- fear, violence, anarchy, apathy.

7.

Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2

He is the Dark Lord after all. He is most effective in this film. He goes madder than ever, and makes people really afraid of him. Oh and the way his hissing voice makes people scream...

6.

The bosses in Horrible Bosses

You can't choose one. They were all pretty awful. Never want a boss like any of them.

5.

Bernie Rose in Drive

The perfect mobster. Cruel and heartless, but tries to be the nice guy after all. Albert Brooks was so very good as Bernie.

4.

The 'big gorilla-wolf-motherfuckers' aliens in Attack the Block

No explanation required.

3.

Loki in Thor
I do love supervillains so. Loki is probably one of the best ever, and is the sole reason why Thor is quite good. He adds a dimension to the film that otherwise would have been about a big cocky guy with a hammer, with Natalie Portman of course.


2.

Kevin in We Need to Talk About Kevin

All the Kevins are included in this. He was so sinister. As much as his parents were wrong, Kevin was no angel. He was a disturbed child from the get-go, and when he finally does what he does, we should not be scared as we had been expecting it from the start, but it steals manages to shock and startle us.

1.

Robert Ledgard in The Skin I Live In

The top 2 were neck-in-neck for me as both are ideal representations of what is good in the world- a child and a doctor, but are not in these cases. They are very much the opposite. But I could not shake the feeling of just how wrong Antonio Banderas's character was in this. Doctors and surgeons are entrusted with lives, and his character, a true mad man, tries to play god with them. I won't say what he does, because that has to be experienced, but it is so very disturbing and reprehensible. Frankenstein could not have been this crazy and horrible.

My Top 10 Films of 2011, Somewhat

      The end of 2011 is nigh, and all I can do is make a list. That too an incomplete one as nothing releases where I am. Anyways, let me present to you the list-

Note: There is no honourable mentions in this one as some of them may make it to the final top 20, which will be posted along with my favourite performances and scenes of the year.

Special Mention

Delhi Belly (Dir: Abhinay Deo)

The best Bollywood film I saw this year. I even considered to put it in the final list, but I felt it was not as good as the rest. Still it was bloody ballsy and very entertaining, and I hope it brings about a revolution in Indian cinema for the better.

10.

The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (Dir: Steven Spielberg)

I really enjoyed this film, and I didn't even like the Tintin comics. Spielberg brings all the Indiana Jones-esque energy and splendour into the film. Also, Snowy!

9.

Submarine (Dir: Richard Ayoade)

It's so cute and quirky and adorable- I wish I had made it. One of the simplest and funniest coming-of-age films I have seen, and ugh that Alex Turner soundtrack is just beautiful.

8.

We Need to Talk About Kevin (Dir: Lynne Ramsay)

Bloody creepy film that just gets under your skin. What was really brilliant was how unnerving all the Kevins were. And Tilda Swinton gives a fantastic performance too.

7.

Martha Marcy May Marlene (Dir: Sean Durkin)

A most unsettling, yet beautiful looking film. It is the debut of both Durkin and Elizabeth Olsen, who just blew me away with her extremely natural and superb acting.

6.

The Tree of Life (Dir: Terrence Malick)

Easily one of the most visually stunning films I, or anyone else has ever seen. I am among the people who was mostly blown away by the core story of the American family growing up in the 50s, and not so much by the cosmic stuff. Still, the beauty in this is just staggering.

5.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (Dir: David Yates)

Oh my childhood :'( I still have issues with it, but I cannot deny that it is a brilliant end to the beloved series. With the music and Professor McBadass and Neville and the emotional impact and Daniel Radcliffe's best performance in the series, it had to be in my list.

4.

A Separation (Dir: Asghar Farhadi)

I saw this only a couple of days back. Didn't want to like it, but ended up loving it- true story. What an impactful drama, and so well made and acted.

3.

Hugo (Dir: Martin Scorsese)

This film just killed me- there's no other way to put it. Yes there is the childlike wonder and the mystery of the automaton, but what it really is is a love-letter to cinema by one of the greatest living film makers. How can a young film-lover like me not be touched?

2.

Drive (Dir: Nicolas Winding Refn)

Yes, it really is that good. Refn has made one helluva stylish film and also made Ryan Gosling a bona fide star. One cannot watch this enough times. Just put it on repeat and be mindblown.

1.

Midnight in Paris (Dir: Woody Allen)

My favourite film maker returned with a bang and a nostalgic tale that will enchant everyone. I always believed that Paris is magical, but Woody's take on that makes it so much more. Funny, heartwarming, gobsmacking, unforgettable, brilliant- Midnight in Paris people!

And there you have it :D

Thoughts

I forgot to be all It's December, YAAAYYY!! last week, so here it goes- It's December. YAAAYYY!!! :D
An extra exclamation mark and a smiley face for y'all. Anyways, my thoughts are as follows:


1) Daniel Radcliffe, who has been voted Entertainment Weekly's Entertainer of the Year, is in talks to play the Beat poet Allen Ginsberg in the thriller Kill Your Darlings. It's apparently about poetry, gay stalkers and murder in 1940s New York and is around the time when young and impressionable (??) Mr. Ginsberg got into the beat scene. The whole story about Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Lucien Carr and David Kammerer is damn exciting. Captain America Chris Evans might play Kerouac and the fantastic Ben Whishaw is being considered for the role of Carr. Pretty good cast I must say. It seems Ginsberg was rather tall, and DanRad is a fellow hobbit like me. Also their voices are nothing alike, though distinctive in their own way. I find it funny that in counting down all the actors that have played the famous poet, no one is even thinking about Tom Sturridge who plays his literary counterpart Carlo Marx in the "upcoming" On The Road movie. I mean, well duh. I was just telling a friend of mine about how he has been cast opposite Dakota Fanning in the Effie Gray biopic as her second husband and the painter John Everett Millais, and her reply was "It will never get released." But thank the lord DanRad is a reliable star, who I hope can carry off this Ginsberg picture well. 


2) Do any of you follow Boardwalk Empire, because last week's episode was nuts! Jimmy Darmody has the MOST FUCKED UP FAMILY OF ALL TIME. This whole season, as compared to the first one, has been rather slow and annoying. I had thought that things had picked up, but no they just went super-weird. Nucky and Margaret were my favourite people in the first season, but they are just so needy in this one. Michael Shannon as Van Alden is still pretty good, and I love Jack Huston as Richard Harrow. There is barely any Chalky White and Arnold Rothstein, otherwise I like them too. Can't say the same for everyone else... Next week is finale, hopefully it's good.


3) My thought process has suddenly gone off-rail due to the presence of a rather large spider near my foot. I am not exactly scared, but you know, I can't help wonder what would happen if it bites me. I mean, haven't you always wondered whether you'll get superpowers when a spider bites you? Also how that's probably the most plausible way of getting superpowers among all the superheroes? 


4) Anyways, back on track, you know how I am always casting Guillermo Del Toro's Beauty and the Beast, in which Emma Watson is going to play Belle (I don't know if they'll keep that name but I am just going with it for now), in my head until the proper people do so? I just had another brilliant idea for who should play Beast- True Blood's Alexander Skarsgard!! I mean he already has such a commanding presence and he is a gorgeous man... it's perfect! If only someone would listen to me!


5) As I said it's December, and the 'top 10 films of 2011' have already started. Peter Travers of Rolling Stones and David Edlestein of NYMag have released theirs. What's really pissing me off is that there are 10+ films that have the chance of being in my top 10 that I haven't even seen yet! Grumblegrumblegrumble!! Moneyball, Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy, Hugo, The Artist, Carnage, A Dangerous Method, Shame, A Separation, The Descendants, War Horse, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Coriolanus, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Young Adult- gaaaaaahhhhhh!! I hate this world -.-


6) My weekly "Oscar buzz" talk- I saw The Ides of March and We Need to Talk About Kevin this week, and rewatched The Tree of Life. I will hopefully review all of them. Anyways I don't think The Ides of March has any chances for anything except Best Actor for Ryan Gosling. He is easily the best part of the film, and I think the voters will go for the clear-cut idealistic-turned-disillusioned-with-politics campaign manager over his clearly superior, but less showy performance in Drive. I thought We Need to Talk About Kevin was all kinds of brilliance. It can get nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actress for Tilda Swinton and maybe even Best Supporting Actor for Ezra Miller. The film in itself was very good, but I don't know how the AMPAS will roll this year. Swinton was fantastic though, as always, and after her snub last year for I Am Love, it must. This is an even better performance, so yes, I am team Tilda forever and always. Both her and Gosling were probably the biggest snubs of last year... Miller was very good too, and he's my number 2 choice for Best Supporting Actor right now along with Christopher Plummer for Beginners and Brad Pitt for The Tree of Life. Albert Brooks is still the best that I have seen. Speaking of Tree of Life, it really should get a Best picture nomination, and if Emmanuel Lubezki doesn't win the Oscar for cinematography, we should just fire the whole of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and put them on trial. There is no point in wanting the much-deserving Hunter McCracken to get some recognition, because he won't. Jessica Chastain is lovely, but her time will come. She's here to stay.


7) Trailers- um not much this week. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close has another trailer. I have put it in my above anticipated list because of Stephen Daldry and Tom Hanks and Jonathan Safran Foer, otherwise this is one terrible trailer and Thomas Horn looks like a super-irritating kid. If he gets any recognition over people like Asa Butterfield and Hunter McCracken, I shall kill someone. This Means War also got another trailer this week. I do not understand the hate towards Chris Pine. I mean okay Tom Hardy is a big man who is playing Bane, but Pine is Captain Kirk and there will be a Star Trek 2 (Yessssss) soon, and he's not exactly dainty. What he is, is insanely hot. I am so seeing it, I do not care. The Five-Year Engagement is the next offering by Judd Apatow and crew. It has Jason Segel and Emily Blunt and looks rather sweet. I will watch this.


8) Finally (for a very long Weekly Thoughts post) I went through 30 pages of my Tumblr and found nothing except this. By the way, I only recently realised that Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch will be enemies for all practical purposes in The Hobbit... Sherlock just becomes more awesome day by day.

Please.

The spider is gone. Now I shall never know... Bye