![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
2011 (Basically) in TV/Movies
If I kept better track of the books I read, I'd do this for books too, but I read too many and in peculiar sequences. And my TV and movie standards are much lower, which helps me pass for a facsimile of a fun and easygoing person under casual scrutiny.
You know, I never was much of a film person and I'm definitely not a TV person. I'm still not much of a film person -- inasmuch as I wouldn't pass up any form of entertainment or possible art, I wouldn't pass up a film, but it's not high on my list of preferred forms of art or narrative. And never mind the television, if I watch more than 2-3 hours of that a week I start getting depressed and confused like a large shark in an aquarium tank filled with electrical interference.
I once had a friend insinuate that children who grew up without TV were doomed to being socially awkward and out of touch with culture. She was cool. I was 13. I was briefly worried. Now with some perspective I'm happy to report that this was probably one of the dumbest things that came out of anyone's mouth at the time, though some people who are insecure about how much time they spend watching TV are doomed to being out of touch with tact, apparently. But partly due to the company I keep -- and mostly due to having a comparative surfeit of time on my hands -- I have 34 entries and counting under my "TV" tag.
Also, Doctor Who played in 2011, and I wouldn't want to be socially awkward and out of touch with culture! (And there was Game of Thrones which I would've watched if I had to watch it on someone else's smartphone.)
Restricting this to a retrospective of TV/movies in 2011 with an exception or two, I am assigning letter grades for some perspective, as it occurs to me sometimes I say I like a movie and what I really mean was it was about a C on the report card but inoffensive and I was bored. Also one-sentence rundowns where they apply.
Doctor Who S6: F. Steven Moffat participates in National Novel Writing Month but then makes the fatal error of adapting it for the Series 6 Doctor Who screenplay.
Game of Thrones S1: A-. Bad casting choices and offensive tacked-on luridity mar what otherwise makes for a complex and visually arresting epic fantasy TV experience; the books are still way better, read them.
The Voice S1: B. I don't like reality TV, but there was a lot of talent on this and Adam Levine is much more charming in the flesh than on his records.
Camelot S1: C. Visually beautiful (and even before we factor in Eva Green) with a couple intriguing characters, but that's not enough to redeem the silly melodrama and fundamentally misogynistic plot.
Suits S1: C+. Panderingest stock white boy slash fodder premise I ever heard of this side of Superwholock, but redeemed a bit by the total appealingness of the cast members.
Baccano!: A. Fabulous non-linear dark tragicomic historical fantasy weakened only a little by anticlimax and shoehorned romance.
The Hour S1: B+. Structural shakiness aside, I kind of loved this anyway, being chilling and full of Cold War censorship and Ben Whishaw, Romola Garai, and Dominic West being super-talented, especially Dominic West.
The Walking Dead S1-2: A. Just fucking awesome.
American Horror Story S1: B. You know, no matter how silly, confusing, at-times-offensive, and just plain bizarre this show was, it was the first thing this year that really felt like fresh blood and I have a place for it in my heart next to The Hour.
Once Upon A Time (partial): F. How did this wander off the SyFy channel?
Neverland: D. Jimmy!!
Grimm (partial): D. The opening quote is in Papyrus.
Sherlock S2: B-. Whatever, it almost came out in 2011. Resides in my heart too, but while I would've given S1 a B+, the plotting was too weak this series -- Sherlock and Mycroft were the strongest points, everything else was a bit tenuous, and Moffat still loathes women.
Downton Abbey S1: A. Well it came out before 2012, that counts. I'M IN A GLASS CASE OF EMOTION
Thor: B+. Pretty much did exactly what it said on the tin: a successful summer blockbuster fantasy superhero movie. Tom Hiddleston could make serial cannibalism look sad.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides: D. Charmless and franchise-milking, albeit not as bad as DMC/AWE, oh please please please let this franchise die with the remaining two scraps of its dignity.
X-Men: First Class: C. Pretty standard X-Men franchise stuff, helped tremendously by being about Magneto, subtracted from tremendously by being 1960s levels of sexist/racist stereotypical.
Cave of Forgotten Dreams: ?? How do I review a 3-D Werner Herzog documentary about the Chauvet Cave? What am I comparing it to?
Captain America: D-. This movie was a piece of mediocre jingoistic crap and I don't care who knows it.
Jane Eyre: C-. Meandering goth music video.
The Debt: B. Mostly pulled along by the flashback section and the whole forbidden love story thing.
The Three Musketeers: C+. .... like Thor, it probably accomplished exactly what it was trying to do, I must say. Evil Orlando Bloom, pompadour.
Night of the Living Dead: A-. Cool.
Anonymous: F. I wish I had watched this movie using a Time Turner.
Marie Antoinette: D-. Another long, dissonant music video.
Breaking Dawn: C-. To be fair, that was probably the best they could do by that story. But there was no Christina Perri song at all, I was completely bilked.
Shame: A. What was that letter I just used? An A? On a 2011 movie? I have no idea how the Academy skipped merrily over this.
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows: B. Consumed a lot of my metaphorical popcorn, in a good way. Ohh Jude Watson oh.
Fright Night: A. This movie was so awesome and it was so billed like it was going to be so bad.
Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol: B. Another one of those reasonable and unambitious popcorn flicks, albeit this one had Simon Pegg and Jeremy Renner, whose beautiful body gets a beautiful A+.
War Horse: C-. Sometimes I think Stephen Spielberg could direct Gossip Girl and they would nominate it for something.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy: C. The actors were good and the novel they worked from was good, but they were still trying to turn a complicated novel into a feature-length film, which made it confusing as hell. Also, I think the set designers were also trying to direct a music video.
Beauty and the Beast 3-D: Not sure how to review this either, but the 3-D neither significantly helped nor harmed the movie.
Because best is not the same as favorite:
Favorite TV: Game of Thrones, The Hour, The Walking Dead, American Horror Story, Sherlock, Downton Abbey.
Favorite Movies: Fright Night was the only one I particularly imprinted on. Sigh. O tempores, o movies.
You know, I never was much of a film person and I'm definitely not a TV person. I'm still not much of a film person -- inasmuch as I wouldn't pass up any form of entertainment or possible art, I wouldn't pass up a film, but it's not high on my list of preferred forms of art or narrative. And never mind the television, if I watch more than 2-3 hours of that a week I start getting depressed and confused like a large shark in an aquarium tank filled with electrical interference.
I once had a friend insinuate that children who grew up without TV were doomed to being socially awkward and out of touch with culture. She was cool. I was 13. I was briefly worried. Now with some perspective I'm happy to report that this was probably one of the dumbest things that came out of anyone's mouth at the time, though some people who are insecure about how much time they spend watching TV are doomed to being out of touch with tact, apparently. But partly due to the company I keep -- and mostly due to having a comparative surfeit of time on my hands -- I have 34 entries and counting under my "TV" tag.
Also, Doctor Who played in 2011, and I wouldn't want to be socially awkward and out of touch with culture! (And there was Game of Thrones which I would've watched if I had to watch it on someone else's smartphone.)
Restricting this to a retrospective of TV/movies in 2011 with an exception or two, I am assigning letter grades for some perspective, as it occurs to me sometimes I say I like a movie and what I really mean was it was about a C on the report card but inoffensive and I was bored. Also one-sentence rundowns where they apply.
Doctor Who S6: F. Steven Moffat participates in National Novel Writing Month but then makes the fatal error of adapting it for the Series 6 Doctor Who screenplay.
Game of Thrones S1: A-. Bad casting choices and offensive tacked-on luridity mar what otherwise makes for a complex and visually arresting epic fantasy TV experience; the books are still way better, read them.
The Voice S1: B. I don't like reality TV, but there was a lot of talent on this and Adam Levine is much more charming in the flesh than on his records.
Camelot S1: C. Visually beautiful (and even before we factor in Eva Green) with a couple intriguing characters, but that's not enough to redeem the silly melodrama and fundamentally misogynistic plot.
Suits S1: C+. Panderingest stock white boy slash fodder premise I ever heard of this side of Superwholock, but redeemed a bit by the total appealingness of the cast members.
Baccano!: A. Fabulous non-linear dark tragicomic historical fantasy weakened only a little by anticlimax and shoehorned romance.
The Hour S1: B+. Structural shakiness aside, I kind of loved this anyway, being chilling and full of Cold War censorship and Ben Whishaw, Romola Garai, and Dominic West being super-talented, especially Dominic West.
The Walking Dead S1-2: A. Just fucking awesome.
American Horror Story S1: B. You know, no matter how silly, confusing, at-times-offensive, and just plain bizarre this show was, it was the first thing this year that really felt like fresh blood and I have a place for it in my heart next to The Hour.
Once Upon A Time (partial): F. How did this wander off the SyFy channel?
Neverland: D. Jimmy!!
Grimm (partial): D. The opening quote is in Papyrus.
Sherlock S2: B-. Whatever, it almost came out in 2011. Resides in my heart too, but while I would've given S1 a B+, the plotting was too weak this series -- Sherlock and Mycroft were the strongest points, everything else was a bit tenuous, and Moffat still loathes women.
Downton Abbey S1: A. Well it came out before 2012, that counts. I'M IN A GLASS CASE OF EMOTION
Thor: B+. Pretty much did exactly what it said on the tin: a successful summer blockbuster fantasy superhero movie. Tom Hiddleston could make serial cannibalism look sad.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides: D. Charmless and franchise-milking, albeit not as bad as DMC/AWE, oh please please please let this franchise die with the remaining two scraps of its dignity.
X-Men: First Class: C. Pretty standard X-Men franchise stuff, helped tremendously by being about Magneto, subtracted from tremendously by being 1960s levels of sexist/racist stereotypical.
Cave of Forgotten Dreams: ?? How do I review a 3-D Werner Herzog documentary about the Chauvet Cave? What am I comparing it to?
Captain America: D-. This movie was a piece of mediocre jingoistic crap and I don't care who knows it.
Jane Eyre: C-. Meandering goth music video.
The Debt: B. Mostly pulled along by the flashback section and the whole forbidden love story thing.
The Three Musketeers: C+. .... like Thor, it probably accomplished exactly what it was trying to do, I must say. Evil Orlando Bloom, pompadour.
Night of the Living Dead: A-. Cool.
Anonymous: F. I wish I had watched this movie using a Time Turner.
Marie Antoinette: D-. Another long, dissonant music video.
Breaking Dawn: C-. To be fair, that was probably the best they could do by that story. But there was no Christina Perri song at all, I was completely bilked.
Shame: A. What was that letter I just used? An A? On a 2011 movie? I have no idea how the Academy skipped merrily over this.
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows: B. Consumed a lot of my metaphorical popcorn, in a good way. Ohh Jude Watson oh.
Fright Night: A. This movie was so awesome and it was so billed like it was going to be so bad.
Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol: B. Another one of those reasonable and unambitious popcorn flicks, albeit this one had Simon Pegg and Jeremy Renner, whose beautiful body gets a beautiful A+.
War Horse: C-. Sometimes I think Stephen Spielberg could direct Gossip Girl and they would nominate it for something.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy: C. The actors were good and the novel they worked from was good, but they were still trying to turn a complicated novel into a feature-length film, which made it confusing as hell. Also, I think the set designers were also trying to direct a music video.
Beauty and the Beast 3-D: Not sure how to review this either, but the 3-D neither significantly helped nor harmed the movie.
Because best is not the same as favorite:
Favorite TV: Game of Thrones, The Hour, The Walking Dead, American Horror Story, Sherlock, Downton Abbey.
Favorite Movies: Fright Night was the only one I particularly imprinted on. Sigh. O tempores, o movies.