January will be the month when I will be rolling out plenty of lists of the best movies of 2011, and also probably looking forward to the great movies to be hitting screens in 2012. First up on the list is my favourite genre, unsurprisingly, SciFi. 2011 was a great year for SciFi, as we saw plenty of offerings – from the alien comedy Paul, which involved a lot of swearing and pot smoking, to the lovey dovey Adjustment Bureau chemistry of Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. We saw Justin Timberlake getting all barcoded, and even Bollywood had its fair share of spandex. And yes, the Thing prequel came and went. It is easier to just point out the garbage ones, as these keep hitting the screens with an alarming regularity. But at 9e3k, only the best make it through. So behold, as we announce the..
TOP 5 SciFi Movies of 2011.
Limitless
Amongst the many book adaptations, and the sequel to the successful Hangover, we saw Bradley Cooper actually acting as a proper character, and making us sit, think, and keep guessing. Limitless was a winner through and through, as it engages us with its speedy dialogues, and its wink wink nudges at the possibilities of a drug that can empower the brain to almost 100% state of awareness.
Source Code
It was always going to be difficult to follow a smashing debut. But Duncan Jones’ second directorial feature (after the widely appreciated Moon), although might be a weaker movie, but it is still much stronger than your average Hollywood fare. With a mind/time bending storyline, and a parallel universe twist, it is a perfect example of scifi meets edge-of-the-seat thriller. It’s unpredictable and intriguing and has layers to be discussed upon, and it leaves you with plenty of material to be discussed at length.
Super 8
JJ Abrams takes us back to the beautiful world of Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment scifi cinema of the 80′s, and adds flares, aliens and a lot of heart to give us one of the best family friendly scifi movie in a very long time. It reminded me of the movies I grew up with such as E.T., Close Encounters and the like. But Super 8 does not feature here just for its novelty value. It is here, because it instils the fact that even in the year 2011, family friendly scifi movies with wonderful child actors, can be made and can still warm your heart. I’d like some more of this please!
Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes
I have already written a lot about the Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes in my review. And I cannot stop saying how much I love this movie. Whether it is the amazing Mo-Cap work done by Andy Serkis, or the touching human story of Caeser and his rejection from the human world, or the heartbreaking sub-plot of John Lithgow’s character struggling with dementia – Rise.. hits all the right notes, and even manages to cover almost every explanation on the genesis of the Apes regime. The story gives us characters to root for, even though we are left confused about our loyalty to our own species. That’s the power of scifi.
Attack The Block
And our number 1 SciFi movie of 2011 is.. Attack The Block. A great British monster movie set in one of the roughest South London districts, and on bonfire night, depicts a group of mugging gangster boys trying to save their block from the alien invasion. It is an almost perfect film for me, as it brings a gang of wicked characters and their colourful language let loose onscreen. Unlike other alien movies, these aliens have a reason to be here. And even though by the end of the movie, we end up rooting for these gangster kids, we are never exposed to any gratification of the violent lives that these kids lead, by choice or otherwise. There’s wise cracking humour, Nick Frost’s UV-lit marijuana cultivation green house, and proper foggy suspense, and enough swishing bike chases and machete slashing. It is a genuinely fun, and incredibly well executed concept movie, and by the end of it, you are left pumped to watch it one more time.
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And that was our Top 5 SciFi Movies of 2011. Feel free to express your agreement or disagreement with our top 5 in the comments section below.
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