The Best of 2011: The Best New Movies I Saw in 2011

Due to working a good bit more and other such complications, I saw nowhere near the number of movies in 2011 that I did in 2010. Probably well less than one-third.

I saw a comparable number of new release movies in theaters--plus some 2011 films on DVD--but didn't take in nearly the number of foreign films, documentaries or classic older movies.

So unlike 2010, when I was able to cobble together separate Best Of lists for English-language feature films, foreign films, documentaries and the best of everything I saw from any era, this year I'm really only prepared to give you a list of the best new movies I saw in 2011.

This does include a foreign film or two, and I watched a few documentaries, but primarily covers mainstream movies that were newly shown at a screen near me within the past 12 months.

For Academy Award purposes, some of the films on my 2011 list were actually 2010 releases. But I didn't see them until this year--they weren't released in the Chicago area until then, or perhaps very late in 2010--so for my purposes, they count.

Admittedly, I may not all that vividly remember some of the ones I saw earlier in the year, so take my rankings with a grain of salt. Especially as there are several critically-acclaimed movies I have yet to see, which I have listed underneath (feel free to weigh in with the best of these).

But for what it's worth, here is Seth Saith's list of:

The Best New Movies I Saw in 2011

* = officially a 2010 release; ** = a foreign film (non-U.S., England, Canada)

1. The Artist

2. Hugo

3. Poetry**

4. Trust

5. Rabbit Hole*

6. Barney’s Version*

7. Moneyball

8. The Descendants

9. Beginners

10. Young Adult

11. Super 8

12. Another Year*

13. Blue Valentine*

14. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

15. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

16. My Week With Marilyn

17. Midnight in Paris

18. Margin Call

19. Warrior

20. The Company Men

Honorable Mention
Source Code
Unknown
Life, Above All**
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Bridesmaids
X-Men First Class
Melancholia
Hanna
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
The Adjustment Bureau

Notable 2011 Films Not Yet Seen
The Ides of March
A Dangerous Method
Take Shelter
Drive
Martha Marcy May Marlene
J. Edgar
A Separation**
Shame
Kinyarwanda**
The Tree of Life
Le Havre**
Terri
Margaret
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
Certified Copy**
The Help
War Horse
The Iron Lady
Albert Nobbs
Pariah
The Adventures of Tintin
50/50
The Muppets
The Guard
Coriolanus
The Skin I Live In**
In A Better World**
Incendies**
Like Crazy
Crazy, Stupid, Love

My Friend Dave's Top 15

Incendies**
Another Year
The Artist
The Illusionist**
Poetry**
The Housemaid
Bridesmaids
Le Havre**
Rapt**
The Trip
The Descendants
Margin Call
Tabloid
The Skin I Live In**
The Guard

The Best of 2011: The Best Musicals I Saw (i.e. the musical theater productions I enjoyed most)

Over the past 12 months, I have seen 34 musical theater productions, of 31 different titles.

These have been across a full spectrum of levels and venues, including high school, college, community theater, local non-Equity, local full Equity (actors union) and national tour productions in the Chicago area, plus shows on Broadway and in London's West End.

I found the vast majority of these shows to be quite enjoyable, with some at the supposed "lower levels" more so than ones at the most prestigious levels.

For instance, the high school version of Les Miserables I saw at New Trier  and a community theater rendition of Rent at Skokie's Devonshire Playhouse were more tangibly enjoyable than some musicals I recently saw in London.

Of course, that's largely because the source material is superior--Les Miz and Rent are among my top 10 all-time favorite musicals--but in both cases cited above, the productions and performances were surprisingly robust.

Also, while I enjoyed the reworked touring version of Les Miserables I saw at the Cadillac Palace in February, it wasn't as good as on past tours, and thus won't make my top 10 for 2011 below.

So although source material and production quality obviously blend together in providing an enjoyable evening of entertainment--or not--in ranking the best musicals I saw in 2011, I am more heavily considering the productions, rather than just the works themselves.

Sometimes the distillation isn't so clear, but I guess basically I'm ranking how much I enjoyed each performance, with whatever factors go into that.

Thus, rather than being a list of:

The Best Musicals I Saw in 2011

this should more be considered

The Musical Theater Productions I Enjoyed Most in 2011

1. West Side Story - Cadillac Palace, Chicago (Broadway in Chicago) (my review)

2. The Book of Mormon - Eugene O'Neill Theatre, New York (my review in longer post)

3. Follies - Chicago Shakespeare Theatre (my review)

4. The Sound of Music - Drury Lane Oakbrook (my review) 

5. Brigadoon - Light Opera Works, Evanston (my review) 

6. Anything Goes - Steven Sondheim Theatre, New York (my review in longer post) 

7. Sweeney Todd - Drury Lane Oakbrook (my review)

8. Next To Normal - Bank of America Theatre (Broadway in Chicago) (my review) 

9. A Christmas Story: The Musical - Chicago Theatre (my review)

10. Working - Broadway Playhouse, Chicago (Broadway in Chicago) (my review)


Honorable Mention (in order of preference)

Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark - Foxwoods Theatre, New York (my review in longer post)

Mary Poppins - Cadillac Palace, Chicago (Broadway in Chicago) (my review)

The Sound of Music - Chamber Opera Chicago (my review)

Les Miserables - Cadillac Palace, Chicago (Broadway in Chicago) (my review)

Snapshots - Northlight Theatre, Skokie (my review)

Follies - Marquis Theatre, New York (my review in longer post)
 
Merrily We Roll Along - The Music Theatre Company, Highland Park (my review)

Rent - Devonshire Playhouse, Skokie (my review)

La Cage Aux Folles - Bank of America Theatre (Broadway in Chicago) (my review)

42nd Street - Marriott Theatre Lincolnshire (my review)

Spring Awakening - Oriental Theatre, Chicago (my review)

The Doyle & Debbie Show - Royal George Theatre, Chicago

Priscilla Queen of the Desert - Palace Theatre, London 

Memphis - Cadillac Palace, Chicago (Broadway in Chicago) (my review)

The Best of 2011: The Best Albums I Heard

As I recently posted, I attended many tremendous concerts in 2011. Coming soon, I'll also post about the best musicals I saw, several of which were similarly outstanding.

So I can't say that this was truly a bad year for music, at least on a personal level. But in the realm of recorded music, especially in the rock genre, 2011 was far from a watershed year. 

This is in stark contrast to 1991. As commemorated by several anniversary re-releases, 20 years ago there was an avalanche of great, even groundbreaking albums.

Many have become such classics that it's unnecessary to cite the artist when mentioning works like Nevermind, Ten, Achtung Baby, Out of Time, Badmotorfinger, Use Your Illusion and Blood Sugar Sex Magik.

1991 also brought Metallica's biggest (and possibly best) album, debuts from The Smashing Pumpkins and Blur, swan songs from Queen and the Pixies, personal favorites from Dinosaur Jr. and Material Issue and key era and/or career-defining works by My Bloody Valentine, Matthew Sweet, Spin Doctors, Primal Scream, Jesus Jones, Fishbone and Teenage Fanclub. I won't pretend that rap has ever done much for me, but should recognize Ice-T, P.M. Dawn and Public Enemy as also having important releases in 1991. Even Michael Jackson and Prince put out albums that some consider their last true vestiges of greatness. And though I avoided it, Garth Brooks' Ropin the Wind was the year's top seller.

2011 has Adele.

Sure, I'll manage--after much exploration in recent weeks--to give you a Top 10 list plus several other albums I've liked from this year. But right now, the only one I'm perceiving as a classic is Adele's 21. Though not exactly in my wheelhouse--and as a consequence, I came to the Adele party way late--it is clearly the best album I've heard this year.

You might find it hard to believe--I do, as 21 is the best selling album in many a year and spawned two giant hits--but I hadn't knowingly heard an Adele song until this month. But now that I "get it," even well beyond chanteuses who have had breakthrough success in recent years--Dido, Duffy, Norah Jones, the late Amy Winehouse--I perceive Adele as a transcendent vocal talent, possibly along such exalted lines as Billie Holiday and Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand. And she's still only 23, so hopefully her voice can fully recover from recent throat surgery, enabling her career to further evolve & flourish.

With all due respect to still-great rock bands like Wilco, Foo Fighters and the now retired R.E.M., no rock artist put out an album in 2011 that showcased comparable greatness. Sure, it's a different world now, ruled not only by Adele but women like Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Beyonce and Rihanna, but if guitar-driven rock wants to remain a relevant musical form, somebody soon is gonna have to blow my mind like it's 1991 again.

But just because 2011 seemingly wasn't a classic year for rock albums--and admittedly, this list represents my tastes, which is why you won't find the Jay-Z/Kanye West collaboration or some other highly regarded releases in various realms--doesn't mean there wasn't some good stuff. I very much enjoy & recommend the albums below and hopefully some will continue to grow on me. Though after the top slot, the order in which these are ranked is largely inconsequential.

The Best Albums of 2011 

1. Adele – 21

2. Foo Fighters – Wasting Light

3. The Nightwatchman – World Wide Rebel Songs

4. Wild Flag - Wild Flag

5. Wilco – The Whole Love

6. Willie Nile – The Innocent Ones

7. The Black Keys – El Camino

8. The Decemberists – The King is Dead

9. Red Hot Chili Peppers – I’m With You

10.  Florence & the Machine - Ceremonials


Honorable Mention 

Lindsey Buckingham – Seeds We Sow

Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues

Smoking Popes – This Is Only A Test

R.E.M. – Collapse Into Now

Smith Westerns – Dye It Blonde

The Cars – Move Like This

Yuck - Yuck

My Morning Jacket – Circuital 

The Bangles – Sweetheart of the Sun 

Paul Simon – So Beautiful or So What

Radiohead - The King of Limbs

The Best of 2011: The TV Shows I--and My Friend Dave--Enjoyed Most Over the Past Year

I don't watch nearly enough television.

I mean, it seems like I do--especially if you count movies watched on TV--but despite having a handful of series I watch regularly and other shows I catch sporadically, I somehow seem to avoid everything that friends, critics and the general public seem to love.

I don't watch any reality TV or talent shows, despite my fondness for musicals I haven't liked what I've seen of Glee and I've yet to get into most cable dramas, such as Breaking Bad, Dexter, Boardwalk Empire and Mad Men.

And even though I enjoy sitcoms, between whatever else I do, I just don't seem to ever see
Modern Family, 30 Rock or How I Met Your Mother, to name some that I have enjoyed but not often or of late. And though Parks & Recreation and Community are getting a lot of love on "Best of" lists, such as this one by Paste Magazine, I think I've only seen one or the other once, years ago.

So now that I've told you why you really shouldn't much care what I think--for another more expert opinion, see this list by Maureen Ryan, the former Chicago Tribune critic who now writes online--here are my picks for:

The Best TV of 2011

1. The Good Wife - CBS

2. Friday Night Lights - NBC

3. Person of Interest - CBS

4. World Series Game 6 - Fox - One of the best baseball games I've ever seen. The last day of the regular season was also high drama, but I didn't see that much of it. For me, sports remains the best reality television. 

5. Homeland - Showtime

6. Ringer - The CW

7. Beavis & Butthead - MTV

8. Burn Notice - USA

9. Castle - ABC

10. Royal Pains - USA

I also wanted to give a shout out to the HD cable channel, Palladia. It shows all kinds of concerts and pop music movies and is my favorite "time waster" channel. If you have digital cable, you probably have it, so look for it.

In the months ahead, I'm planning to watch all the back episodes of Breaking Bad and Mad Men, the latter of which is returning with new episodes in March. But given my relative lack of breadth in viewership, I've enlisted the choices of my friend Dave.

Dave's Picks (not ranked)

Breaking Bad - AMC

Justified - FX

The Killing - AMC

Curb Your Enthusiasm - HBO

American Horror Story - FX

Modern Family - ABC

Downton Abbey - PBS

Dexter - Showtime

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - FX

Baseball - 9/28/11 - The last day of the regular season

These are in addition to some of the shows I cited, like Homeland, The Good Wife, Friday Night Lights, Ringer and Beavis & Butthead.

The Best of 2011: The Best Concerts I Attended

2011 was a really good concertgoing year. Aside from years in which I've seen Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band multiple times--hopefully 2012 will be another such year, despite the sad passing of Clarence Clemons--I can't readily recall a year in which I've enjoyed as many shows to such an extent.

As I've pretty much come to expect, my favorite shows are almost exclusively drawn from old favorites, for there aren't many acts I've yet to see that I knowingly want to.

But Arcade Fire, who I saw for the first time in April, was truly a revelation in terms of just how good they were live. Although I had seen a number of live streaming concerts of theirs previously, catching them in person was a far transcendent experience.

Which is why, although I saw a number of full concerts within the comfort of my condo in 2011-- streaming live over the internet, via Blu-ray/DVD and on the Palladia cable channel--and enjoyed several of these, they are not eligible for inclusion below. Though I was often able to get a sense of an artist's abilities as a live performer, there is much that just can't be replicated without actually "being there." And I'm not speaking simply of the smell of pot or the jerk in front of me arguing with his girlfriend all night.

As you'll see, the top two spots on my list are taken by acts I saw multiple times. Each of their shows could easily have earned its own berth--although the Chicago U2 show seemed slightly better than the Denver one, and McCartney's Wrigley shows felt even cooler than the one I caught in Paris--but I decided not to clog the list with redundancies. And even if you don't bother to click to see my reviews of each show--a few I didn't bother reviewing--I thought I'd mention that the first nine listed all got @@@@@ ratings from me, while the Foo Fighters got @@@@1/2. A good year for live music, indeed.

The Best Concerts of 2011

1. Paul McCartney - July 31, August 1, Wrigley Field (my review); November 30, Bercy, Paris

2. U2 - July 5, Soldier Field (my review); May 21, Invesco Field, Denver (my review)

3. Arcade Fire - April 25, UIC Pavilion (my review)

4. Soundgarden - July 16, UIC Pavilion (my review)

5. Pearl Jam - September 4, Alpine Valley, East Troy, WI (my review)

6. Willie Nile - September 23, Fitzgerald's, Berwyn (my review)

7. Wilco - December 13, Riviera Theatre (my review)

8. Roger McGuinn - June 3, Beverly Arts Center (my review)

9. Ray Davies - November 11, Chicago Theatre (my review)

10. Foo Fighters - September 17, Scottrade Center, St. Louis (my review)

Honorable Mention

Fastball/Smoking Popes - August 27, Backlot Bash, Skokie (my review)

Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band - April 2, Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, MI (my review)

Rush - April 12, United Center

Jerry Lee Lewis - December 3, Congress Theatre (my review)

Ike Reilly/Alejandro Escovedo - July 3, Summerfest, Milwaukee  

Steve Miller Band - August 4, Chicago Theatre

The Smashing Pumpkins - October 14 - Riviera Theatre (my review)

The Best of 2011: The Best Plays I Saw

New York and London are generally regarded as the world's two greatest theater cities. I visited both in 2011 but went to no plays. Only musicals, as is my wont.

But I'm convinced that several of the plays I saw on Chicago stages were every bit as good as what I could have seen on Broadway or in the West End. In fact, some of the productions on my Best of 2011 list have played in or will transfer to one of the meccas, or are the world's first regional stagings.

And my top choice for Best Play of 2011 had its world premiere in my hometown of Skokie. But it starred two Tony winners who would be in demand anywhere.

Two quick notes to keep in mind before I give you my list. Though sometimes the distinction isn't all that clear, even to me, I am ranking the productions I saw, not necessarily the play (i.e. the script) itself. Hence, a classic by Shakespeare is in the middle of the pack, and though many of those listed are new works, not all are. Also, beyond the 15 shows I'll cite below, I only saw 3 additional plays (or non-musical stage works). So omissions may very well be about what I didn't see rather than what I didn't like.

The Best Plays I Saw in 2011 (all in the Chicago area)

1. The Outgoing Tide - Northlight Theatre (my review)
written by Bruce Graham; directed by BJ Jones

2. Clybourne Park - Steppenwolf Theatre (my review)
written by Bruce Norris; directed by Amy Morton

3. Chinglish - Goodman Theatre (my review)
written by David Henry Hwang; directed by Leigh Silverman

4. Red - Goodman Theatre (my review)
written by John Logan; directed by Robert Falls

5. East of Berlin - Signal Ensemble Theatre (my review)
written by Hannah Moscovitch; directed by Ronan Marra 

6. The Merchant of Venice - Broadway in Chicago; Bank of America Theatre (my review)
written by William Shakespeare; directed by Darko Tresnjak

7. The Beauty Queen of Leenane - Shattered Globe Theatre (my review)
written by Martin McDonagh; directed by Steve Scott 

8. The Trinity River Plays - Goodman Theatre (my review)
written by Regina Taylor; directed by Ethan McSweeny

9. Ann - Broadway in Chicago; Bank of America Theatre (my review)
written by Holland Taylor; directed by Benjamin Endsley Klein

10.  The Hot L Baltimore - Steppenwolf Theatre (my review)
written by Lanford Wilson; directed by Tina Landau

Special Mention
(I couldn't count these one-person shows as "plays," but both were very good)

Colin Quinn - Long Story Short (my review)
written by Colin Quinn; directed by Jerry Seinfeld

Carrie Fisher - Wishful Drinking (my review)
written by Carrie Fisher

Honorable Mention

Stage Kiss - Goodman Theatre (my review)
written by Sarah Ruhl; directed by Jessica Thebus

God of Carnage - Goodman Theatre (my review)
written by Yasmina Reza; directed by Rick Snyder

Night and Her Stars - The Gift Theatre (my review)
written by Richard Greenberg; directed by Michael Patrick Thornton