My Top Movies of 2011

I'm so excited...awards season is upon us! I know this a week or two late, but I wanted to share my favorites of 2011.

Crazy, Stupid, Love gave me comfort in two ways – I was able to forgive Steve Carell for leaving The Office to do movies and I finally got what the Ryan Gosling hype is over. I’m surprised more people didn’t see this. I suppose the romantic comedy crowd thought this was an indie film and the hipsters thought it was a romantic comedy. I thought it was a good combination of both.

By the way, poor Emma Stone. She was absolutely perfect in this and The Help, but not one person has mentioned her being nominated for an award.

From the moment I saw Charlize Theron cynically lying to a complete stranger in the Young Adult trailer, I knew I had too much in common with the character to not see this. We all have a dark side that comes out when a few things go wrong, both Charlize Theron and Patton Oswalt show this spiral perfectly. I found it interesting that the Kardashians were always in the background – Was this research for her young adult writing or to numb the loneliness of the hotel room?

My only problem is they didn’t offer a solution to my own problems at the end, but I guess that’s really my issue.

The Descendants perfectly describes what it is like for a white family to grow up in the islands. George Clooney shows what it is to appreciate and love a culture that he was not born into.

This could have been cut-down about a half hour, but I’m assuming that the editor left in more to show the slow process of losing a loved one.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that 50/50 was nominated for the Golden Globes. It isn’t the Woody Allen film or musical that they normally look for. Instead, this is a real story written by a person that had a 50/50 chance at life and kept a sense of humor throughout. Interesting trivia - Will Reiser and Seth Rogen were working on Da Ali G Show when Reiser got the bad news.

Again, as a woman in my 20s I’m required to love Bridesmaids. No one single loves bridal showers and getting to know the brides other friends, Kristen Wiig captured this perfectly. I loved Wiig most in a scene where she takes an hour to make the perfect cupcake then eats it alone, that was an award-winning moment for me.