Tis the Top Ten Season

We are in that ultimate crunch before the year is out, and I finally have the time to get around to all the films I've been too busy for until now. I got through a solid five of them over the weekend, and I continue to move forward at a rate of a film each day. But that isn't holding everyone else back from publishing their own top ten lists ahead of the year's official cap-off date. Kris Tapley of In Contention is quite often the first to put forth his ordered list of films. I can't imagine it'll be long for Guy Lodge to follow suit, and then it's just a matter of time before we get to the now much larger crew of Film Misery. It's quite a bit more than simply enjoyable to trade thoughts with them from week to week. I'll be sure to keep you posted on when they do eventually crop up.

I remain on this side of the year until I'm confident I've seen just about everything that's worth coming around to. That does include films on the higher side of the awards season ("The Artist", "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy"), the lower side ("War Horse", "The Descendants"), those that simply exist outside of it ("Shame", "Young Adult", "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", "Weekend", "Tomboy", "Martha Marcy May Marlene", "A Separation"). That puts together a grand total of 11 films I've still to see, not to mention the ones I need to revisit. I will say that you'll get my annual list of the best male and female performances on the 30th and 31st, respectively. But it won't take as long a gasp as last year to get out my Top 15 of this year. Somehow, 10 just doesn't get too much past the surface. May end up jolting it to 20 by the time this year is officially out.

The Top Ten: Television Episodes of 2010-2011 Season

I don't comment as often about television as I do film, but I do believe it's an essential part of the entertainment business.  It's typically overlooked, and not every brilliant show gets the chance to shine. Some are cut short before their prime, and some are just unappreciated in the wider spectrum. So, I decided to take a look back at the most outstanding individual episodes of the 2010-2011 television season. It's a particularly difficult job dissecting ten episodes out of hundreds of hours of entertainment. Some shows just didn't make the cut because they excel better in the long term story arc. How I Met Your Mother was one of the best shows on this season because of how it broke down expectations and delivered an emotionally powerful overarching story. That being said, no single episode encapsulates that.

SPECIAL DESIGNATION:

Best Dramatic Performance: Anna Torv in Fringe: Marionette

I was close to throwing this episode into my list until I realized that the greatest thing about this episode, and the thing that in fact carries it so brilliantly, is Anna Torv's performance. She has done a brilliant job across this entire year, but the performance that rocked my world so completely was not as Fauxlivia or Bellivia, but as the original Olivia. Two years ago, it felt like she was becoming less of a lead character and more of somebody in the background. She commands the screen with a devastating portrait of somebody whose life has been stolen at the time it should have been getting perfect. I doubt Torv will enter this episode in for Emmy consideration, but it's the one that I'd personally choose.

10. Glee: Funeral

FOX may have already picked up Glee for season 3, but that doesn't mean that I have to. That being said, it has managed occasionally deep pleasures, and this happened to be one of them. This episode brought together two things that the show has been sorely lacking in: realism and tragedy. Sue Sylvester has become mostly a cartoon caricature this season, so a revitalization of her emotional connections to humanity was well warranted. It dabble in the idea that there is no rationality behind events that happen, and that's fine. On top of that, I felt like my personal voice was given a character in Jesse St. James, as he criticizes most of the new directions members, as he should. That being said, he shows too much bias towards Rachel. The midsection of songs is the weakest part of the episode, and a part I ignore. However, I did ball my eyes out at the funeral song. That was beautiful, even if I hate the film it's based on.

The Top 10: Best Animated Feature Nominees

With all the bustle of awards season, it's easy to forget that this is the tenth year of the Best Animated Feature category at the Oscars, and the nominees have been diverse and mostly rewarding. So here is my compilation of the ten best nominees in this category to date, stretching all the way back to 2001. And I can promise you that it's not all Pixar.

10. Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
Directed by Wes Anderson

I'm not really a great fan of Wes Anderson, because most of his work is far more miss than hit. He does have an enthusiasm about him and that energy shows in his work. So what better medium for his to try his hand at than animation, or more specifically stop-motion. After Henry Selick left the project for bigger and quite honestly better things (see #4), Anderson became the unlikely director, and brought so much to it. Authenticity is something that always impresses me, and this is undeniably the most authentic animated feature of the past decade. Everything feels so real and untarnished, from the aesthetic of the dolls that make up the characters, to witty script that rivals The Hangover in terms of screwball antics. It definitely feels like the sort of film that would be passed down through the years.

9. Persepolis (2007)
Directed by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud

A French animated adaptation of an autobiographical graphic novel about the Iranian revolution. That's a description that will only ever be suited to this film, and you can overlook how unique this film is at first glance. From the basic and simple animation style, this film is more than just a look into the way the government of Iran changed, but also a spry and emotional tale of the way a little girl changes as she grows up. It has an ironic comic timing to it, and that's very much amplified by the constantly changing atmosphere of Marjane Satrapi's mindset. The film moves at such a clip that you can feel that change of mind that zigzags around so frantically. It's like catching lightning in a bottle, and how it bounces around from there.

8. Finding Nemo (2003)
Directed by Andrew Stanton

When thinking of Pixar's achievements over the past decade, the mind always seems to shift to the film that truly put them on the map. Toy Story, A Bugs Life, and Monster's Inc. could all be seen as Pixar's precursor work, very much like Memento, Insomnia, and The Prestige could be seen as Christopher Nolan's precursor work to The Dark Knight. Both didn't truly hit worldwide renown until their greatest hits yet premiered. Finding Nemo is very much the film most responsible for Pixar's impeccable track record. It didn't stray too far away from the harshness of life, nor the cruelty of the sea. It has plenty humorous anecdotes along the way, and to this day there ceases to be a voice performance that reaches the same heights as Ellen Degeneres as Dori. The men and women over at Pixar still had plenty greater works to unveil, but this was the perfect beginning.

The Top Ten: Coming Soon...

If you visited the site earlier today, you'd have seen a very rough work in progress that I don't intend to publish until next week, so if you saw it then regard it as rough cut that will change a lot before being published, and if not, regard it as nothing. Suffice it to say, I'm working on a new facet of this site, and it's not necessarily a new thing, but it's interesting. It's basically a once-a-month segment of me ranking movies/characters/scripts/actors/etc. in terms of quality. It kicks off next Friday, two days before the Oscars. The only hint I'll give is what you see before you. Have fun riddling it out until then.