December 2011
8 posts
Top 10 Movies of 2011
2011 was a GREAT year for movies. More often than the not, I left the theater feeling highly entertained. Here are my faves:
Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part Two: A satisfying finale to a series, film or tv, is nearly impossible. But David Yates did such a fantastic job that the most disappointing part of watching the film was that there was no standing ovation at the end. Also thank you internet!!
Pina: This movie made me want to quit my day job and train to be a dancer at the school of Pina. Unlike anything I have seen before.
Drive: Sexiest Movie Of The Year. Style, blood, minimal dialogue & the perfect soundtrack.
Certified Copy: An absorbing meditation on relationships, the shapes that love can take in a lifetime, featuring the mesmerizing Juliette Binoche.
Carnage: I have a theory that you can tell if you will like a movie in the first ten minutes. I loved this in the first five. Four characters, one room = TENSION. MY FAVOURITE.
Bridesmaids: I saw this in theatre twice. I loved how excessive the jokes were, that each time they really, reaalllly went there.
Winnie The Pooh: No sarcasm. No pop culture references. No 3D. Just a sweet, earnest movie. The world needs more of this.
Incendies: I resisted seeing this for so long because the trailer kind of put me to sleep. The film does anything but. Truly haunting. Believe the praise.
Bill Cunnigham New York: “He who seeks beauty will find it.”
Beginners: Generally the white-man-with-existential-crisis genre does nothing for me. But throw in a charming gay dad, and the father-son dynamics that come with, and that changes everything.
Honourable Mentions:
West is West: In recent years there has been an influx of films discussing what it means to live in North America as an South Asian immigrant. What I loved about this film is that it showed the flip side, the ways our connection to The Motherland can be romanticized and unfortunately lost.
Weekend: A gay Before Sunrise. The beauty, excitement and ache of making a connection to someone in a short span of time.
Rabbit Hole: How do you recommend the saddest movie of 2011? A devastating examination of loss with incredible performances by Kidman & Eckhart.
Biggest Disappointment:
Tree of Life: Even the incredible visuals couldn’t keep me from falling asleep (perhaps it was all the religious overdubs.) Then walking out. Wish I had watched this 2 min synposis instead.
new interview w/ Things I Think About
Thinking back on how I was first introduced to Vivek Shraya’s music, and the progression of not only the sound, but the person himself since then, it’s all terribly exciting and exhausting.
I first met Vivek in 2006 while he was visiting Boston working on his album If We’re Not Talking. Since that time, Vivek has released three albums, two short films and authored one book. He toured India a year ago with Tegan and Sara. He’s done a number of readings from his book God Loves Hair across Canada and the United States. He’s screened his first film Seeking Single White Male at various film festivals and events. And he’s always, it seems, looking to do more.
This month, the Toronto-based Shraya released his newest musical venture, an EP titled 1:1, available through iTunes. I talked with Vivek about it and some other things…
Read full interview here.
