What I Watched, What You Watched: Installment #123

December 11, 2011

By Brad Brevet

This was one hell of a busy week for me, beyond seeing five films in theaters I watched five documentaries which I already discussed The Adventures of Tintin and finally Shame. Of those five, I had only seen Shame before and as for those I had never seen, Bullhead was easily my favorite of the bunch, but I’ll be discussing that one a little later.

Considering Tintin was one of the five films I saw in theaters, yes, this was a week in which I watched 14 movies, had one phone interview with Drive helmer Nicolas Winding Refn and did the week’s day-to-day news updates… suffice to say, I’m beat and ready to watch a little football. But first, here are a few brief comments on the two films I watched that I had seen before.

Drive (2011)

Preparing for my interview with Refn I gave Drive a watch for the fourth time. I also included this in my top five Best Picture nominations for my Critics Choice Awards ballot, which was due today, but I have to say, that was a hard list to make and it is going to be an adventure delivering my top ten for this year. I like so many movies for so many different reasons. Naming one the best won’t be easy and trying to decide which films will be my numbers 2-10 will probably be even harder. I will say this, I anticipate Drive being in the top three…

Shame (2011)

Shame is a film that makes figuring out my top ten very hard (no pun intended). This is a film I consider one of the best made films of the year, right up there with We Need to Talk about Kevin, and while I watched it again and enjoyed Steve McQueen’s talents as a craftsman, it’s a hard film to consider a top ten film for me, since I like to reserve that list for films I will want to watch again… Then again, this was the second time I watched Shame and I imagine it won’t be the last. Decisions… Decisions…

That’s where I will leave it for myself this week, but I want to know what you watched and if you’ve started creating your top ten for 2011? I still have to see Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows next week before I even start on my list, but I hope to have my top ten online a few days before Christmas.