So far we've run through the top movies, interviews, blockbusters, trailer, posters and breakthrough stars of 2011. But what of all the other note-worthy big-screen moments? Surely we have to address those somewhere, right? Well you've come to the right place. This handy-dandy list of randomness is our look at what we like to call 'the best of the rest': a somewhat tongue-in-cheek tribute to the other highs, lows and everything in between.
From scene-stealers to soundtracks to strategic f-bomb usages, we've covering a wide gamut of creative subjects to wrap up our look back of the best of the year. Take a look at the stand-outs below then be sure to comment and let us know which moments stood out for you on-screen in 2011!
The Wind Beneath My Wings Award: Rose Byrne
The Australia beauty has been making movies for almost two decades and while she is mostly known for dramas and thrillers (
Wicker Park, Sunshine, 28 Days Later), she showed an affinity for comedy with her work in last year’s
Get Him to the Greek but really came into her own as the icy Queen of Cool Helen in
Bridesmaids. As the interloping, best-friend-in-waiting, she added new meaning to the idea of killing with kindness and always chose the most cutting bon mot to simultaneously insult and back-hand-compliment
Kristen Wiig’s inept Annie. It’s never been more fun to watch someone so seemingly perfect have it all crumble in the 11th hour.
Scene-Stealer of the Year: Michael Sheen
Woody Allen loves to humiliate and rib the pseudo-intellectuals that often appear in his films, and
Michael Sheen's bearded braggadocio-prone know-it-all Paul serves as the perfect foil to
Owen Wilson’s insecure, wannabe writer Gil in
Midnight in Paris. Sheen commands every scene he’s in and imbues Paul with an unearned arrogance that includes correcting the museum guide (a gorge
Carla Bruni) and continually spouting facts and figures to assert his supposed intelligence. His character is played for big laughs and Sheen’s timing and delivery are impeccable.
The Soundtrack You Wanted to Download Before You Left the Theatre: Drive
I have yet to meet someone who left their seats after experiencing
Nicolas Winding Refn’s brutal neo-noir and didn’t immediately jump on Google to find out who put together the pulsating beats, ‘80s-soaked synths and dramatic, beautiful tracks that made up the
Drive soundtrack. A few clicks later and we all knew the name
Cliff Martinez, the film’s music composer, and the song Real Hero by
College Featuring
Electric Youth. A must-listen that added to the film’s power and narrative in a compelling way.
Best Movies You Didn’t See: Take Shelter, Beginners
Michael Shannon makes use of his bug-eyed appearance to play Curtis, a father and husband struggling to make sense of apocalyptic visions haunting him, while spending his family’s savings and skipping work, all while trying to build a bomb shelter strong enough to save his family from the biblical storm he believes is on the way.
Take Shelter is powerful, nervy, doesn’t let the audience off the hook for even a second and is bravely unlike any other movie that came out in 2011.
Beginners stings, delights, taunts and tickles and most of that can be chalked up to
Christopher Plummer’s pitch-perfect performance as Hal, a recent widow who comes out of the closet and starts the living the life he was never able to. His taciturn son Oliver (
Ewan McGregor) takes up with a free-spirited French actress (
Melanie Laurent) and tries to live by the new example his father is setting, just as he learns his dad is dying of cancer. Heavy stuff, yes, but
Beginners is buoyed by
Mike Mills’ quiet direction and exceptional, honest performances by all.
The Jude Law Award for Ubiquity: Ryan Gosling
Yes, The Gosling was arguably EVERYWHERE this year but we aren’t complaining. From his ab-tastic turn in
Crazy Stupid Love to a million memes (Hey Girl...) and then Time Magazine bestowing upon him the title Coolest Person of the Year (for whatever it’s worth), Gosling’s movie choices elevated his profile by a zillion percent and scored him major critical acclaim along the way in the form of two Golden Globe nominations (for
The Ides of March and
Crazy Stupid Love). While we enjoyed him most as the quiet anti-hero prone to bouts of ultra-violence in
Drive, more Gosling is always a good thing.
Honourable mention:
Michael Fassbender. Points for being the most, ahem, exposed (
Shame) but also for starring in a big franchise prequel (
X-Men: First Class) a sexy classic (
Jane Eyre) and another movie about, well, sex (
A Dangerous Method) during the past 12 months.
Best Euphemistic Use of Feathers: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1
The baby-makin’ scene that was the stuff of Twi-hard fantasies involved pleading, a broken bed, bruises and, most of all, a storm of feathers, all standing in for the deed that produced Edward and Bella’s half-human, half-vamp spawn. Early marketing teased what was to come with feathers, strategically placed on pillows, floating near Bella and Edward’s almost-touching faces, all hinting toward their marital copulation that was not so much shown as alluded to, thanks to an explosion of baby soft white feathers.
Best Use of Sarcasm or Deadpan Delivery - Adam Scott
Be it on the the big screen or small, no one delivers a line of dry wit quite like Mr. Scott. Though not yet a well-known name for the majority of movie fans (though many may know him as the fantastically slimy Derek in
Step Brothers), indie flick and television aficionados who have seen his star turns in
The Vicious Kind,
Passenger Side, "Parks and Recreation" and "Party Down" know what I'm talking about. It came as no surprise to those of us in the know then that Adam Scott, master of the craft of deadpan befuddlement and sarcastic frustration, stole the show from comedy heavyweights like
Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks and
Steve Coogan in August's
Our Idiot Brother.
Through his insanely spot-on line readings and well-timed eyebrow raises, the lighthearted flick got a well-needed shot of that little something extra. No mean feat there. Look for his star to rise even further this year as he takes centre stage in the romantic comedy
Friends With Kids, co-starring
Kristen Wiig, Jon Hamm, Maya Rudolph and
Chris O'Dowd, due in theatres in the spring.
Most Ironic Celebrity Hashtag - #winning
Love him or hate him,
Charlie Sheen was everywhere in 2011. From his controversial exit from his television show "Two and a Half Men" to his critically lambasted one-man show, it was hard to turn on the TV or open a paper without seeing a Sheen-related headline. Through-out it all, the troubled actor's main mode of communication to fans and critics alike was his Twitter feed. His thoughts came fast and furious, some intelligible, some not so much. But through it all there was one constant...his hashtag #winning. While most observers would probably argue Sheen's year has been anything but flawless victory, you can't say that Sheen isn't one hundred percent convinced his year has been anything else.
Best Use of a Curse Word in a Swear-free Franchise - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
Not surprisingly, given its target audience, the wildly popular Potter series has been completely void of less than savory language thus far - that is if you don't count some of the wizarding world's more insulting usages ('mudblood', for example). All of that changed in a climactic scene in this summer's explosive finale when Mrs. Weasley let loose at big bad Bellatrix Lestrange. Channeling Ripley from Ridley Scott's
Alien, the matriarch of
J.K. Rowling's most famous red-headed family slid into protective mothering magic mode and took down the evil witch as she did in the novel - by casting a couple of well-placed spells and by dropping one well-placed b-bomb. "Get away from my daughter, you b***h" indeed.
Honourable mention:
X-Men: First Class. To keep the film's PG-rating in tact, the filmmakers behind one of the year's most successful comic films had to be very strategic with their use of language. Despite multiple scenes of violence and tragedy, they managed to keep the dialogue of the main comic characters swear-free, which meant they could save the film's sole f-bomb for a certain hirsute hero's brief cameo.
Hugh Jackman's fan-favourite Wolverine has only one line and for fans of the franchise and of the character, it couldn't have been more perfect. For this hilarious big-screen moment, Jackman also earns our
Best Cameo of the Year Award too.
The We Didn't Know We Missed You Award - Wilson Phillips
Bridesmaids was one of this year's very best films. It made us laugh, it made us tear up, it made us sit up and take notice of a cast of amazing actors and it even made us rediscover our love of '90s pop trio
Wilson Phillips. To be honest, we'd pretty much forgotten about them completely until the opening strains of Hold On came blasting at us via the theatre sound-system. Turns out we can still sing along with Carnie, Wendy and Chynna as we still remember all the words, though we're sadly lacking the impressive dance moves of
Maya Rudolph and
Kristen Wiig. We're working on them though!
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