2011 was a weak year for entertainment. Sure, I enjoyed my fair share of movies, television, music and books/comic books, but I find myself hard-pressed to choose favorites in some of these formats. Nevertheless, it's the end of the year, so I'm compelled to try.
Either I have become too critical to enjoy most theatrical releases, or it was a horrible year at the movies. Using my long-established rating system on the Internet Movie Database, I gave no movies a perfect 10 in 2011, and I gave only six movies a near-perfect 9. I'd award each of these a "Favorite" designation in one of six different categories:
- Favorite Comedy – Bridesmaids
- Favorite Movie I Really Wanted to Hate – The Help
- Favorite Horror Movie – Scream 4
- Favorite Guilty Pleasure – Sucker Punch
- Favorite Superhero Movie – Thor
- Favorite Movie (Period) – Moneyball
By the way, the movie I absolutely hated in 2011 was In Time. I couldn't tell you why now; I've blessedly blocked it from my memory. But I remember that sitting through it made me very, very angry.
If it was a horrible year at the box office, all those responsible can be grateful that television had it worse. The networks' fall seasons were some of the worst I've ever seen. My two favorite new series were on cable:
American Horror Story and
Homeland. But my favorite drama episode of 2011 was the mid-season finale of
The Walking Dead:
Pretty Much Dead Already. There were a lot of complaints about the second season, but if you stuck with it, you were rewarded at the end with a brilliant convergence of everything that previously happened.
And while I watch many (too many) sitcoms, all it takes is watching one episode of
Modern Family to realize it continues to belong in a different league altogether. Even so, my favorite sitcom episode of 2011 was from the new season of
Community:
Remedial Chaos Theory. When Troy and Abed throw a party in their apartment, several alternative timelines evolve from different decisions the characters make. It was not only clever, but also hilarious.
In 2011, I got the most entertainment bang for my buck in the print format. I've already written about the brilliant
Flashpoint miniseries from DC Comics, but I also discovered a new favorite ongoing comic book series,
Morning Glories. (If
Lost were a comic book, it would be
Morning Glories.) However, my favorite single comic book issue was
Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #160, featuring the death of Peter Parker (Spider-Man). For real. I think that was the first time I have ever cried reading a comic book. It read like a relentless action movie that built to an emotionally cathartic climax.
I don't read too many novels these days, but I read anything Stephen King writes. And I cannot express how much I enjoyed his new book,
11-22-63. I sped through its 849 pages in only six days! It's something different for King, a non-stop, time-travel thriller with a heart-breaking twist.
11-22-63 is amazingly compelling and infinitely entertaining.
I don't write much about music, but I noticed one week when I was driving the car everyday that many of today's "hits" offer great dance beats. I didn't mind the frequently repetitive playlists that the local stations broadcast with songs like
Without You by David Guetta,
We Found Love by Rihanna and
Good Feeling by Flo Rida. I'd love to be spilling a little blood on the dance floor right now, if I was ever awake late enough to do so.
Now that I've written this, I guess 2011 wasn't so bad. At least there were a handful of things I really liked. It just seems that selecting my favorites is normally more difficult. As I continue to embrace the Nerdist Way, allow me to use this metaphor: if 2011 was a swamp of mediocrity, let's hope that 2012 can triumphantly rise from it like Luke Skywalker's X-Wing...
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