There has long been a debate in the comic book world about what’s fair as far as creator’s rights are concerned. If you self-publish or work for one of the smaller companies, it’s possible to maintain the rights to any characters that you create while working in comics. If you want to work for one of the big guys like DC or Marvel, however, what you’re doing is work for hire. That means you’re just an employee of said company and any of the characters that you create while writing a Marvel or DC book are not your property, but the property of the company.

While young comic creators are more than happy to agree to terms like this when they’re starving and hungry for work, regrets can sometimes develop later on if a character gets popular and starts to bring in huge amounts of revenue. This is especially true now that comic book properties are routinely being developed into big budget films that bring in hundreds of millions of dollars. DC has famously had troubles dealing with the estates of Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joel Shuster, who have been trying to get back control of the Superman pie for many years, and recently Marvel has had its own batch of troubles thanks to a man named Gary Friedrich.

Friedrich worked as a freelancer for the House of Ideas back in the early 70s, and part of his output was the creation of a character named Ghost Rider, a motorcycle stuntman who gets possessed by a hell spawn and develops a flaming skull for a head. Friedrich seemed content to let Marvel do what they would with his character for a large number of years, but once the character was made into a profitable film starring Nicolas Cage back in 2007, suddenly he came out of the woodwork looking for his cut.

Friedrich’s claim was that, though he had signed away the rights to publish the Ghost Rider character in the world of comic books to Marvel, any other places in which the character appeared should see rights reverting to him. Meaning, hand over some of that $230 million that Ghost Rider made.

Alas, it was not meant to be for the creator, as Wednesday a New York judge took a look at Friedrich’s contracts with Marvel and declared that the character belonged to the company and not the man, whether it was fair or not. As a matter of fact, the judge said that the legitimacy of Marvel’s claims “could not be clearer.”  This means that Marvel’s upcoming Ghost Rider sequel Spirit of Vengeance can now be released without Marvel Studios having to worry about being forced into any sort of profit sharing, and Friedrich is still out on his ass, only earning whatever he made back in the early 70s for creating such a prolific character.

What are your feelings about this issue? Is “work for hire” a scam that should be made a thing of the past? Or is signing over your ideas to your employer just the price that has to be paid if you want to work in the big leagues of the comic world? Personally, I’d like to hear what comic book super-fan Nic Cage has to say on the matter. [THR]

What is Movie News After Dark? It’s a nightly thing that collects things about movies, television and other things. Lots of things in store for you tonight, including some more Dark Knight Rises things…

We begin tonight with an image of Ben Affleck as a real life former CIA agent from the early 1980s in Argo. In a way that can only be from the 1980s, he also looks like a Die Hard villain. So much mulleted intensity.

Today’s top story is from Hero Complex, who has published a revealing piece about Anne Hathaway as Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises. It’s potentially a bit spoilery, depending on your definition, but it’s also another reminder of the grim Gotham Christopher Nolan seems hell bent on blowing up block by block.

“At some point I would love to play Einstein. I would love to play him at some place, some how. Or Teddy Roosevelt because he’s so fascinating, a really interesting guy. He shot every animal he saw!” Robin Williams apparently doesn’t remember Night at the Museum.

The folks at Mondo have released their last two movie posters of 2011, a year that saw them rise even further into the pantheon of nerd art dealing. I remember the days when you could actually buy a Mondo poster without having to be a hacker. Now all we can do is ogle posters like Tom Whalen’s Two-Gun Mickey poster:

The yearly tradition birthed by internet-driven entitlement, the most pirated films of 2011 list is out. Topping the list were Fast Five, The Hangover Part II and Thor. At least pirates had taste this year.

Movieline keeps the hits coming this week with their Shirtless Evolution of Sylvester Stallone feature. Man, that guy does not like shirts. Also, if I were that old and that ripped, I’d never wear a shirt. Not ever.

Roger Ebert explains why movie revenue is down.

Our friends over at Smells Like Screen Spirit, a site you should visit and read regularly, presents an interesting list of the best narrative films of 2011, including plenty of films you should put on your catch-up lists

At HitFix, Kris Tapley chronicles the critical praise for Drive, much of which has made it one of the most talked about movies of the year. It’s pretty damn good. All the truly legit film critics that know what’s up ranked it as their #1 film of the year.

We close this evening with a collection of all the teasers for series two of BBC’s Sherlock. There’s a level of anticipation I have for this series of this show that rivals any childhood Christmas morn. Bring it on, Mr. Moffat:

Since moving to Germany, I’ve gotten used to watching movies overdubbed in Deutsch (last night was Charlie und die Schokoladenfabrik). Still, there’s no amount of dubbing that could prepare me for hearing Samuel L. Jackson say “We get ready,” in a deep, Russian baritone. Мы получаем готовый!

The Russian trailer for The Avengers is essentially the same one from our shores, but they shine a bigger spotlight on Black Widow (which means extended footage of Scarlett Johansson looking like an ice-veined killer in black latex while explosions happen all over the place.

It’s no surprise they’d treat native daughter, and former KGB operative, Natasha Romanoff with such respect. Now check it out for yourself:

Explode-y! And why do I want to watch the entire movie in Russian now? Or at least make sure that every role played by Jackson is dubbed over by that same Russian guy.

Unless that’s actually Samuel L. Jackson speaking Russian – a fact that 1) would not surprise me and 2) would make him just that much cooler.

What say you? Are you hyped for The Avengers or are you tired of superheroes?

Source: MSN Russia

Now, normally I don’t post stuff like this because staring at plastic toy designs in order to determine what a character might look like in an upcoming movie is less fun than, say, flying a kite or punching myself in the face. However, these speculative product tie-in pictures for The Amazing Spider-Man were too good/terrible to pass up.

Why? Because I fear for the movie. I fear for it. I fear that a character I love is getting an unnecessary recharge because Sony wants more money. Beyond that, I’m excited to see more work from Marc Webb, but I fear that a director with incredible creative potential is being wasted on a project no one really asked for – a character introduction to someone we already know really well.

Plus, these images from Idle Hands are ridiculous. If this truly does echo the look of The Lizard (Rhys Ifans) in the movie, then we are all in for the laugh riot of the year. The design here is, I believe genuinely, channeled from the abomination that was the 1993 Super Mario Bros.  Judge for yourself:

I couldn’t find a good image of the mean one, but mentally wipe that smile away, and you’re left with brothers. At least close cousins.

Plus, there’s this:

The baby from Dinosaurs grew up.

All jokes aside, the movie version will undoubtedly be better and different. Just like judging a costume from a still shot (which I’ll also do), it’s always impossible to really know what something will look like in full motion on screen. Especially when you’ve never seen a picture of it in the first place.

This doesn’t add to or alleviate any of my fears or hopes for the movie, but it’s pretty damned funny.

What say you?

When HBO wanted to create an adaptation of the best-selling book “Game Change,” about the 2008 presidential race between John McCain and Barack Obama, they picked up the phone and called Jay Roach – the director behind Austin Powers and The Fockers who also delivered them the television movie Recount. Now, Roach has covered, semi-fictionally, politics in 2000 and in 2008.

Slog through the dialogue between Woody Harrelson as Steve Schmidt (the Republican strategist) and Ed Harris as McCain, and you’ll be rewarded briefly with who will inevitably be the real star of the show, Julianne Moore slingin’ a down home twang as Sarah Palin.

The question is this: with so much going on socially and economically, are we really interested in going back in time to examine a reality television star?

And how will film fan Meghan McCain feel about seeing herself portrayed on screen?

And what do you think?!

To classic horror fans, the word “hammer” does not simply denote a tool or a now defunct 80s rapper, it is a six-letter seal of excellence. For years, Hammer Studios reached into the cache of our collective nightmares; resurrecting boogeymen theretofore romanticized in black and white and splashing them onto our eyes in savage, gorgeous technicolor. Their treatment of the likes Dracula, the Mummy, and Frankenstein’s monster not only reacquainted us with monsters, but introduced us to silver screen legends such as Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. After experiencing a popularity that made them a powerhouse, the studio seemed to have whispered meekly out of existence after a short-lived television swan song in the 1980s. But now Hammer Studios is poised, like so many of its signature villains, to rise from the dead with several new films released in the last few years and others currently in production; the newest being the upcoming The Woman in Black starring Daniel Radcliffe.

In apparent celebration of this resurgence, the official Hammer historian Marcus Hearn has plundered the hallowed Hammer archives and come out with “The Hammer Vault.” This book is an epic, glorious catalog of some of the studio’s greatest marketing materials, behind-the-scenes photos, film props, and other artifacts of enormous cinematic significance. It turns out the only thing that ever managed to rival the dark beauty and grandiose gothic tone of Hammer’s films was its marketing for those films. The book is an absolute triumph not only for fans of the classic studio, but also those who revel in pictorial film history. We were fortunate enough to sit down with good Mr. Hearn, a man worthy of knighthood in our humble, geeky estimation, to discuss the book. Not only does he lend even more insight into the Hammer archives, but also lets slip his opinions of the upcoming Woman in Black.

Grab your wooden stakes, unburden your bosom of those top blouse buttons, and prepare to take a perilous journey into “The Hammer Vault.”

As a huge fan of Hammer myself, I have to know, how did you rise to the ranks of official Hammer historian?

It all happened by accident really. I started working with Hammer in 1994, when I was an editor at Marvel Comics. I was given the job of editing Hammer’s official magazine, and this led to laserdisc commentaries, DVD commentaries and, most notably, the chance to write “The Hammer Story” with Alan Barnes. That book was the company’s authorized history, and it’s since led to “Hammer Glamour,” “The Art of Hammer” and now “The Hammer Vault.”

When you made the decision to take on this daunting project, what was your first step in acquiring all these incredible pieces?

Well I feel as if I’ve been rehearsing for this one since 1994. It’s the culmination of all my research into Hammer’s archive, although I’m also grateful to the private collectors who have helped to plug the gaps.

Despite being a Hammer historian, did it still give you chills to see and/or touch certain artifacts from the archives such as, say, Christopher Lee’s first Hammer contract for The Curse of Frankenstein?

Oh yes, of course. Hammer has preserved all its artist and writers’ contracts, and it’s astonishing to see how much (and how little!) some people were paid. These are the kinds of details that I wouldn’t feel comfortable about including in a book, even 50 years after the event, but I know that Christopher has never made a secret about what he earned for The Curse of Frankenstein so I hope he’s okay about me reproducing his contract for that film. I’m sure he earns a bit more nowadays!

In your opinion, what was it about Hammer’s advertising ideology that allowed them to stand apart even from other British studios or horror studios?

Hammer’s marketing campaigns were very aggressive and, unlike many of their contemporaries in the British film industry, were aimed at an international audience. This aligns them more closely with the James Bond films than the Carry Ons or the Ealing comedies.

In conducting your research, what were some facts you uncovered that genuinely surprised you?

Sometimes I unearthed things that I couldn’t include in the book because the illustrations or artifacts relating to the story weren’t in the archive. For example, in May 1958 the Blood Transfusion Service in England mounted an exhibition to coincide with the release of Dracula. They recruited quite a few volunteers as a result, but the exhibition was withdrawn after just one week on the grounds that it was in poor taste. I would love to find something relating to that exhibition, but sadly there’s nothing in the archive.

Were there any pieces that you uncovered in the archives that its administrators did not want featured in the book?

One of the reasons I’ve always enjoyed working with Hammer so much is that they’re always been quite relaxed about criticism of the old films. When you’ve made more than 200 films, which they have, they know as well as I do that they can’t all be classics. So I feel as though I’ve got the best of both worlds with Hammer – access to some wonderful material, and relative freedom in the way I write about it.

I have to say, I love the photo from Nightmare of Clytie Jessop casually reading Raymond Chandler’s “The Long Goodbye” on set with a prop knife stuck in her chest. Can you talk about some of your favorite candid photo discoveries?

There have now been so many books about Hammer that it’s getting quite difficult to come up with something unusual. Some of my favorites in The Hammer Vault include the shot of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee with the Queen’s Award to Industry and Ursula Andress feeding the camel during the making of She, but really I like anything that tells a story from a behind the scenes point of view. I especially like the shot of Martine Beswick and Michael Carreras on the set of Slave Girls, and I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions about what they’re doing with that rhino horn.

Who is your favorite Hammer beauty?

I think I’d incriminate myself by answering that question. Most of the Hammer ladies I’ve met have been lovely, and some of them are beautiful people as well.

Can you explain for our American readers what a campaign book is and how a front of house still compares to the more commonly used lobby cards here in the states?

There are numerous examples of campaign books in The Hammer Vault. They were issued to cinema managers and publicists, and served as a guide to how to run a publicity campaign on a local level. As well as essential information they included ideas for publicity gimmicks and details of the posters and stills that could be purchased to decorate cinema foyers. Front of house stills are just like lobby cards, but smaller.

Something I’ve always wondered, why are British quads so named and what was the reasoning behind their being horizontal where American posters are traditionally vertical?

Quad is short for Quad Crown, and to be honest I don’t know why we went for the landscape format in the UK while in the US you’ve generally preferred the portrait one-sheet format. It’s still the same today.

Something I’ve always enjoyed on a base level is Hammer’s use of cleavage in their posters. However, I know the studio drew quite a bit of ire from critics over this. In your view, was there ever a point wherein Hammer’s utilization of ample bosoms in their advertising began to go a bit too far? If so, to you, which film’s marketing represents their first steps over the line?

I don’t think any of the published posters crossed the line, but in the book you’ll see several examples of pre-production posters – created purely to entice potential distributors – that are quite explicit in the way they mix sex and violence. Hands of the Ripper is one example of an illustration that would not be considered acceptable on a publicly exhibited poster, even today.

Why do you think contemporary film marketing in general has lost the grandeur and artistry that once characterized it?

The advent of Photoshop spelled the demise of the painted film poster, and as much as I love Photoshop I think that’s a great shame. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg still commission painted film posters, and Hammer has just commissioned one for their next film, The Woman in Black, but it’s very rare these days.

Obviously Hammer has a special meaning for you, can you tell us about your first experience with the studio?

I’m too young to have seen the original films at the cinema. My introduction to Hammer was through late night double-bills on the British television channel BBC2. I think many fans of classic horror in this country fondly recall those double-bills, which were a crash course in Hammer, Universal, Val Lewton, Jacques Tourneur and so on. These days it’s increasingly rare to see any black and white films on network television.

What are your favorite Hammer films?

My favorite Gothic horror is The Brides of Dracula, my favorite science fiction film is Quatermass 2 and my favorite thriller is Cash On Demand.

Have you been fortunate enough to meet any of the Hammer legends?

I didn’t meet Peter Cushing, sadly, but we corresponded when I was a teenager. I got to know Christopher quite well. In fact I published his authorized biography about ten years ago.

What are your thoughts on the resurgence of Hammer and their stylish new onscreen logo?

I’m delighted that Hammer is back, because the films they’re making are so good. The next one, The Woman in Black, is the best yet. For those who haven’t seen it, the animated logo comprises images from classic posters which solidify into the word ‘Hammer.’ For an old timer like me, seeing that on the big screen is genuinely thrilling.

Buy “The Hammer Vault” over at Amazon

Over the course of the year, curating the Short Film of the Day feature has given me a deep and affecting appreciation of the art form. Before, I hadn’t given much thought to the little bastards, but the truth is that they are incredibly versatile and representative of the boundaries that film can break. They can be jokes told well or human dramas driven home. They can be a perfect bite or demand to be expanded into a full meal. They can feel classic or break out into the long, strange realm of experimentation.

They are so much more than movies with short runtimes.

There’s one difficulty in judging them, though. With such variation, pinpointing how one can be better than another gets to be tricky. So, no matter the order, the one constant is that all the movies listed here are outstanding at what they do.

The other (small) problem is that sometimes short films spend a long time touring festivals and otherwise being unavailable online. Thus, eligibility here is based solely on when a movie hit the web for us to digest. In that way, it’s the best short films from 2010-2011, but I have a feeling that that trivia won’t matter once you sit glued to the screen at the talent on display here.

11. The Man Who Never Cried

In this sweetly dark comedy from writer/director Bradley Jackson features Ralph Winston (Keir O’Donnell) as a children’s party clown who has never cried in his entire life. Not when he saw E.T.; not when his father dies. After that tearless tragedy, he vows that he’ll learn to cry before the funeral. It’s a great, slightly somber story with a lot of heart (and cream make-up).

10. Zombie in a Penguin Suit

Leave it to a short film featuring a marketing mascot changed into a brain-hungry monster to teach all a little bit about humanity. This short from Chris Russell is a killer idea done with bloody beauty.

9. Always a Family

In remembrance of 9/11, on its tenth anniversary, StoryCorps put together a series of animated shorts which used recordings from the family members of victims of the terrorist attack. This particular story hit incredibly hard. It’s soul-squeezing stuff, and it requires tissues to be within reach.

8. Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared

Absurdity lives. This pitch-perfect parody of children’s programming left my jaw on the cement because it looks like it was made by Lucifer after singing show tunes and fornicating violently with the Teletubbies.

7. The German

Is it possible to deliver blockbuster budget effects with an indie wallet? Hell yes. Nick Ryan‘s short is as much proof of that as it is proof that he’s got a stirring eye for action (especially dog fights).

6. Mourir Auprès de Toi

Spike Jonze. Olympia Le-Tan. A partnership in explosive, vibrant creativity that yields something in stop-motion that’s reminiscent of an old Looney Tunes cartoon.

As you may have noticed, this final week of 2011 has been almost completely taken over by our third annual Year in Review. It was born in 2009 out of our love for lists and your thirst for reading, discussing and ultimately hating them. And each year the entire project gets a little bigger, a little bolder and slightly more absurd. With that in mind, I’m once again proud to present you with The Best Films of 2011: The Staff Picks. Each of our 14 regular staff writers, contributors and columnists, almost all of whom have been with us the entire year, were asked to present their top 5 films, in no particular order (although many of them placed their top film at the top, as logical people tend to do), each with an explanation. Some even included curse words as a bonus to you, the reader.

Read: The Best Films of 2010: The Staff Picks | The Best Films of 2009: The Staff Picks

Once again, the Staff Picks are a testament to the diversity we have here at Film School Rejects, with picks ranging from the likely suspects (Take Shelter, Hugo, Shame) to the slightly more nerdy (Attack the Block, Super 8, The Muppets) to several movies that may not yet be on your radar (see Landon Palmer’s list for those). And once again, it’s with a deep sense of pride that I publish such a list, the best of 2011 as seen through the eyes of the movie blogosphere’s most talented team.

Enjoy!

Cole Abaius, Managing Editor

You’re Next
Do I care that this only played at Fantastic Fest? Do I care that it wasn’t released theatrically in 2011? Of course not. I didn’t care when I put The Last Circus on my list last year, and I don’t care now. Why not? Because this was such a Goddamned breath of fresh air (from a stale old mansion) that it demands to be celebrated. Director Adam Wingard and writer Simon Barrett alongside a hell of a cast have done something wondrous to the world of horror. Not only that, they tackled the oldest trick in the book, swung an axe into its forehead, and left it with a smile on its face in a bloody puddle. You’re Next is (and will be next October) the best thing to happen to the genre since Scream.

30 Minutes or Less
It’s difficult to explain why an R-rated comedy that was fairly straightforward made its way to the top of the pile, but Ruben Fleischer’s follow-up film caused me physical pain from the amount of laughing I was doing. It was great to see a movie unabashedly made for adults that took a ridiculous premise and mined it for all the comedy gold it was worth. For all the movies trying to be the next Hangover (including Hangover 2), this actually delivered. Fleischer is two for two.

The Skin I Live In
There were two films that left my eyes wide and my jaw lowered to my chest this year. The Skin I Live In was one of them, and with its raw, bizarre, perversely compelling power, it’s an outstanding return to the kind of filmmaking Almodovar was tackling back with Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! Hell, it’s Matador levels of goodness. Antonio Banderas’s turn as a mad scientist was only made better by all the Puss in Boots promos that were playing right after I saw this weird, fantastical, psycho-sexual horror. Almodovar is probably the only director who got to legitimately raise an eyebrow and unnervingly whisper “Gotcha…” to his audience in 2011.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
I know, I know. It’s obvious. But my goal here was not to be cunning; it was to pick the films that hit the hardest, and few even had the potential to swing a bat as heavy as the final Harry Potter. It delivered on every level – picking up where the sobriety of the 7th movie left off and wasting no time in building to a massive battle set piece that put true heroes on display. It was the perfect high note on which to end an era.

Take Shelter
The other movie that grabbed me by the jaw this year, Jeff Nichols’s drama about a small town man tortured by portents of the end of days is peerless at every level. Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain deserve every statuette on the shelf. Take Shelter is a living thing. It’s a giant, terrible, foreboding masterpiece that sets up shop in your mind and never leaves. It’s flawless filmmaking that needs altars built to it.

Robert Levin

The Descendants
Alexander Payne’s first film since Sideways is also his best one yet. It’s a movie that understands what it means to face the death of a loved one, to live on in the face of unspeakable personal tragedy. At the same time, the screenplay brilliantly interweaves that specific focus into a broader portrait of a developing Hawaii grappling with its past. The picture reveals the unexpected fortitude of the human spirit in its beautifully understated, truthful depiction of lawyer Matt King (George Clooney) and his daughters reconnecting and persevering after their wife/mom slips into a coma.

The Interrupters
It’s astounding that documentarian Steve James (Hoop Dreams) got snubbed by the Academy again for this extraordinary doc. It’s a herculean effort that goes inside CeaseFire, a Chicago program that uses a public health blueprint to stop gang violence before it happens, with a specific focus on three of the organization’s best “interrupters.” In its depiction of the program’s unmistakable success, the film offers a deeply moving indictment of the oft-held belief that the violence destroying so many of our cities is endemic and unsolvable.

Hugo
Somehow Martin Scorsese made a mega-budgeted, 3-D family movie about Georges Méliès, the early special effects innovator best known for A Trip to the Moon (1902). We’re all extremely fortunate he did. The Oscar-winning legend’s latest masterpiece is a picturesque, elaborately conceived, highly emotional tribute to the magic of cinema. Its core reflects the medium’s unparalleled ability to bring whole universes alive.

Another Earth
I saw this underrated science fiction-tinged romance at the Sundance Film Festival last January and it’s stayed with me ever since. A haunting tone poem, it’s a moody evocation of loss and regret set against an imposing, mysterious celestial phenomenon. From filmmaker Mike Cahill and starring Brit Marling (who co-wrote with Cahill), this is the movie Melancholia wishes it could be.

50/50
Most cancer movies are grim affairs, extended funerals, slow and uncomfortable marches toward death. 50/50 is not one of them. Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen, it’s the life-affirming and relentlessly upbeat portrait of a man who just won’t let his discomforting diagnosis or his debilitating treatments prevent him from living his life, following his dreams and being the man that he wants to be. It’s not easy to wring a genuine message of hope out of such relenting despair, but this cathartic picture does it.

The title of this post is pretty self explanatory, so no introduction is really needed here. But… I do feel compelled to point out the same thing I point out every year. Nailing foreign releases down to a particular year isn’t an exact science. Obviously every film has an actual date of initial release, but most foreign titles don’t hit our shores until the following year, if at all. I try to go by original release date whenever possible though which means some of my choices have yet to be screened in the US outside of film festivals and import DVDs.

That said, here’s a list of my eleven favorite foreign films for 2011 in alphabetical order. (Be sure to check out my lists from 2010, 2009 and 2008 too.)

And because I know someone will ask, yes, I did see Certified Copy.

The Artist (France)

A silent movie star (Jean Dujardin) meets and falls for a young starlet just as her talkies start making his silent films obsolete. Writer/director Michel Hazanavicius has crafted a loving homage to the early days of cinema with wit, creativity and charm to spare. The story is a simple one and while it’s far from the best film of the year (that some people are touting) it’s still a sweet and fun piece of entertainment made with dedication and love. Hazanavicius commits to his subject so The Artist is almost exclusively dialogue free and instead is accompanied by a lush and lively score from Ludovic Bource.

The Flowers of War (China)

The city of Nanking, China has fallen to the Japanese, and a morally bankrupt American (Christian Bale) is all that stands between the barbarian invaders and a group of Chinese schoolgirls. Zhang Yimou moves his eye for action and art a bit closer to the present day with this powerful look at what happens when mankind’s most vile nature comes face to face with its kindest. The film is visually stunning as it moves between intense battles, emotionally devastating scenes that wrench the heart and moments of true beauty found in faces, fabrics and architecture.

Haunters (South Korea)

A young man with the ability to control other people’s minds uses it for malicious and selfish purposes, but when he finally meets the only person capable of resisting his control the two enter into a psychic battle that leaves carnage and destruction in their wake. I count myself as a fan of Unbreakable, but folks who loved that film’s plot while hating the pacing should seek out this Korean gem. It’s a a dark and twisted battle of wills filled with solid action and suspense as well as some deliciously wicked laughs and visually exciting set pieces.

Headhunters (Norway)

Roger Brown is a successful corporate headhunter with a beautiful wife, house and life, but he also moonlights as an art thief. His double life catches up to him though when he’s caught red handed, and winds up neck deep in murder, deceit and fecal matter. This adaptation of Jo Nesbo’s novel is fantastically entertaining in regard to its suspense, action and dark comedy, but the main draw is Aksel Hennie’s lead performance. Brown is a cocky and smug son of a bitch early on, but as he falls further and further into the rabbit hole he becomes a sympathetic character who viewers want to see succeed and survive the mess he’s gotten himself into.

The Kid With a Bike (Belgium)

Cyril’s (Thomas Doret) father gives up one day and leaves him at an orphanage, but the boy refuses to accept this hard truth and instead makes efforts to find him. A local hairdresser (Cécile de France) begins to foster Cyril on weekends, but unresolved issues with his dad and the influence of a local thug threaten to permanently derail his adolescence. There’s no way to make this synopsis exciting, but I promise you the film is an emotionally suspenseful must-see that warms and wrenches your heart in equal measure. Doret gives an award-worthy performance as a boy determined to keep standing no matter what. His enthusiasm and excitement are infectious, and you can’t help but fall for him even as his actions tempt fate.

As we all sit here at Reject HQ, gathered around an absurdly long, but incredibly imposing, table discussing what to do with the nuclear missiles we just “creatively appropriated” from a breakaway Russian republic, it occurs to us that 2011 was a great year to be bad. For every boring, dopey, goody-good hero that popped up on the silver screen, there was a brilliant, super cool, woefully misunderstood villain doing everything he/she/it could to thwart the zero hero at every turn.

So when Supreme Commander #1, better known to the world (and those pesky Avengers so they’ll stop blasting our lair) as Neil Miller, issued an official order (delivered by a specially-trained, fire-breathing, gun-toting alligator who lives in the moat) to construct a supersonic death ray…that assignment went to Kate “Femme Fatale” Erbland. But then I got asked to do this list of the 20 Best Villains of 2011, a decided promotion from my usual position as sinister cocktail-fetcher and cleaner of the diabolical gutters.

Voldemort (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2)

*SPOILER ALERT* The ultimate lizard-faced, petulant man-child, Tom Riddle, had his final showdown with little Harry Potter this year. That Voldemort just got exponentially more dickish as the franchise drew to a close, as he destroyed a goodly portion of Hogwarts, killed nearly all your favorite ancillary characters, and even took down Hans Gruber. Hans. Gruber!

Professor Moriarty (Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows)

Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty are as inextricable as fried food platters and heartburn. In Guy Ritchie’s mildly-anticipated sequel Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Jared Harris stepped into the shoes of this classic foil and absolutely nailed it. It takes a great deal of skill to put cocksure cocky cock Robert Downey, Jr. in his place.

Red Skull (Captain America: The First Avenger)

You have to admire Red Skull. On top of plotting his own world domination under the nose of, and then in fearless defiance of, Adolf Hitler’s quest for world domination, he also manages to battle Marvel’s most jingoistic pretty boy and look damn fine in a suit all despite suffering from the worst sunburn anyone has ever known.

Loki (Thor)

There was once a time when the greatest crime Loki, the Norse god of mischief, ever committed was supplying rubber-faced Jim Carrey with a wooden mask and subjecting all of us to one of the worst films of the 90s; no small trespass to be sure. But when Marvel finally produced a big-budget, big-screen version of Thor, Loki proved he could wreak havoc with the best of them. He proved it so well that the good folks at the Society for the Prevention of Diminishing Returns invited him back to be the villain in The Avengers.

Shen (Kung Fu Panda 2)

Gary Oldman is one of those actors who, for many years, was utterly chameleon-like in his complete submersion into his various colorful roles. In fact, there are people to this day who have no idea what Gary Oldman actually looks like. Thankfully, Kung Fu Panda 2 finally cleared up the speculation when they boldly revealed that Gary Oldman is in fact a CG peacock. As the sinister Shen, he helped Kung Fu Panda 2 excel not only as a family film, but as an action movie as well.

Goddamn Aliens (Super 8, Attack the Block, Battle L.A., Transformers 3, The Thing, The Darkest Hour, Cowboys & Aliens)

2011 was a tremendously bad year for intergalactic diplomatic relations. We could not go a month without our planet being besieged, attacked, or otherwise picked on by goddamn aliens. They tried killing us in the 70s (Super 8) and they tried killing us in the old west (Cowboys & Aliens). They tried destroying the London projects (Attack the Block) and they tried to level L.A. They sent giant, obnoxious robots, shape-shifting insidious CG blobs, and even invisible, wattage-sucking absurdities. Seriously, whoever has been flaming The Rest of the Universe on their blog, please apologize.

Sex (Shame)

Not all villains are tangible beings. Michael Fassbender proved that sex addition and the subsequent feelings of, wait for it, shame it fosters are just as crippling as having Magneto punch you in the balls while you’re trying to get your rocks off. Also, Fassbender played Magneto…we’ll get there.

Albert Brooks (Drive)

Ryan Gosling may have been the hipster hero of the year in the, admittedly sensational, Drive, but his skills behind the wheel, his proficiency for choosing super cool jackets, and his mastering of looking hot while chewing on a toothpick were matched beautifully by Albert Brooks’ pesky inclination toward vicious murdering. The final showdown of the two is an epic struggle of bloodletting and wills worthy of Akira Kurosawa. Still not as funny as his dad.

The Accountant (Drive Angry)

Is there anything not to like about Drive Angry? Shut up, internet, I wasn’t asking you. As Nicolas Cage hilariously sleepwalks through another whacked-out script he clearly didn’t read, William Fichtner has the audacity to wholeheartedly commit to an even more ridiculous role. As “The Accountant” he keeps turning up on Cage’s trail spouting staccato quips of brillance and moving like he’s contanstly on the verge of a Saturday Night Fever dance number.

Rose McGowan (Conan the Barbarian)

To be fair, Rose McGowan has never had to travel very far to land smack dab in the middle of Creepytown, but in this year’s remake of Conan the Barbarian, she takes it to a whole new, shower-requiring level. Not only does she boast the fairest complexion since Powder became a fulltime blogger, but her normally charming bloodlust is elevated to a degree completely beyond the pale (as again is her skin), and she has this suggested propensity toward incest. She should change her name to Rose McEWWWan.

The 3D reboot of Piranha from 2010 was one of my favorite movies of that year. And I don’t usually much like horror stuff, especially winky, self-aware horror parody: that means they did something very right. So word of a followup should have been great news. But as soon as Piranha 3DD was announced as re-teaming the creative team behind the Project Greenlight winning horror film Feast rather than re-teaming the creative team that already worked so well together on a Piranha movie, director Alexandre Aja and writers Pete Goldfinger & Josh Stolberg, I was dubious.

The next hint that this movie wasn’t going to turn out so great came in October, when Piranha 3DD was scrapped from having its planned November 2011 release and was instead marked with the ominous “sometime in 2012” release date instead. It was starting to look like the writing was on the wall, that Dimension didn’t have much faith in the film and that it was now residing in limbo, probably until an eventual straight to home video release.

Well, it looks like the next step toward making that doomed future a reality has happened. It’s looking like the UK has now become the first market to scrap a theatrical release plan for Piranha 3DD in favor of dumping it onto disc. According to the British Video Association website, March 19th is the day it will happen. Unless this is a mistake by the BVA site, this means that not very many people will be seeing the movie in the UK, and almost no one will be seeing it in its intended 3D format. Also, once copies of this thing start floating around due to the UK release, it’s probably going to be a lot less likely that anyone is going to bother showing this thing in a theater in the States or anywhere else; if there were still any plans to make that happen at all.

This can only be seen as bad news for Feast fans, and fans of 3D boobs and gore in general. But, as a fan of the 2010 Piranha specifically, I kind of see it as just desserts. This is what you get when you try to keep a franchise going without bringing back the people who made the magic happen. Let that be a lesson to you, purveyors of filth. [via Bloody Disgusting]

If I had to pick two things that I just can’t get enough of in films, it would have to be a good underdog story and gratuitous physical violence. It is only natural then that I would build a humble list of some of my favorite moments in cinema where the two are combined.

When I think about what makes a fight particularly one-sided, it actually has less to do with the amount of people that the hero is up against and more about the hero’s strengths, or rather lack thereof. But then there’s always going to be an ‘awesome’ factor to think about, because when it is all said and done the hero usually triumphs against the odds – so the means in which they do such a thing is very important to me; being badass certainly has its merits, but in most cases, being creative is far more impressive.

12. Sherlock Holmes vs. Dredger

As a fan of the original Sherlock Holmes books I find it funny when people give this movie shit for its ‘out of character’ fight scenes. While we all know the character of Holmes to be some delicate funny hat-wearing man who solves puzzles while puffing on a pipe, this popularized image is actually far from the man in the original books. In fact, the Guy Ritchie version – while not perfect – is far closer to the anti-social, rollie-smoking cocaine-addict pack rat who had no qualms about throwing a fist or two that exists in the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle version.

This particular fight against a rather imposing Frenchman is especially fun due to the trial and error it takes both Holmes and Watson to eventually take him out – a cattle prod doesn’t stop him, a gun fails as well. In the end it takes the sheer strength of both heroes engaging in a two-man strangulation that eventually does Dredger in for good – and that’s only after the second time around. The first time around goes less well.

Best moment: When Dredger barrels Holmes like he’s freaking Donkey Kong.

11. Westley vs. Fezzik in The Princess Bride

Again with the little guy versus the big guy – and like before, this ends in a less-fatal strangulation. Look, we all know why this scene is awesome – we’ve seen our hero Westley take on the Cliffs of Insanity and show bad ass mercy toward Inigo Montoya, on top of this we’ve no doubt fallen in love with Andre the Giant’s brutally statured yet good natured Fezzik by this point – so neither of these people can die and surely they would normally get along, but they still must fight. When they do, it’s as silly, brutal, and as polite as we hoped it to be.

Anybody want a peanut?

10. Neo vs. Agent Smiths in The Matrix Reloaded

We all knew this fight was coming the moment we discover that Agent Smith has the power to replicate himself – and of course we knew that Neo could handle it. I think what we didn’t expect to see was how silly the whole ordeal ends up being – but when you think about it, why wouldn’t it be? There is really no way to have one character fight scores upon scores of doppelgangers of Hugo Weaving and have it not look stupid-hilarious.

I think the mistake is seeing this scene as anything intended to be a dramatic moment – but rather a joyous moment in cinema where we are allowed to watch Keanu Reeves literally walk on people before getting pig-piled.

9. Mani vs. Thieves in The Brotherhood Of The Wolf

Oh Mani. This blank faced Native American badass is too awesome for words – no, literally he is too awesome to speak in most of the scenes in this film. He just stares at you and processes your every move before slamming you without ever breaking a sweat. His introductory fight against roughly a half-dozen men with sticks doesn’t make any effort to hide the kind of kick-assery we’re about to be subjected to for the remainder of the film. Not to mention that he’s wearing a goddamned tricorne and ninja-style face covering trench coat the whole damn time he’s schooling these ruffians.

Seriously how can one guy be more awesome? Not only does he lay hands like a pro but also looks Matrix-cool the entire time!

8. V vs. Creedy’s Men in V For Vendetta

Oh it’s such a satisfying scene! Watching V not only have his revenge, but actually getting to carry it out through such a vicious choking out is a perfect finale to the sharp carnage he has just inflicted to the futilely-armed room of men now bleeding out in the gutters around him. The best part is that on most days and with most people, Creedy would have been absolutely right in his assessment of the situation beforehand; more often than not firing a good ten rounds into a person will pretty much take care of things – but in this case, V had rage on his side. By far the greatest moment is when it’s all over, and V finally realizes that he’s not in the best shape.

7. The Bride vs. The Crazy 88s in Kill Bill Vol. 1

Violence. You know it’s going to be bad when the movie actually has to switch to black and white just to compensate for the copious gallons of human-juice that’s about to be spilled. Leave it to Quentin Tarantino to stick an all-yellow Uma Thurman in a Japanese dance hall and have her sword fight hoards of gang members dressed like The Lone Ranger. I’m honestly not even sure why they had to censor the red out of the scene; the whole thing looks like a Monty Python sketch to me. Fountains of blood aside, the scene really has more of a comedic feel to it than anything else – especially at the end when The Bride stands over a room wriggling with crying amputees and orders everyone to leave their limbs behind, as they now belong to her.

6. King Kong vs. Three Tyrannosaurus Rexes

What I love about this fight is that every moment when you think things can’t get worse, they inevitably do – first it’s one Rex, then two, and before you know it poor Kong is being snapped at by three hungry Tyrannosaurus Rexes as they snarl for his lady morsel of food. If that isn’t bad enough, the group all end up plummeting into a hanging battle as our damsel in distress dangles over inescapable ingestion. The final blow comes about in a moment of utter brutality when Kong literally crushes his final opponent’s skull. When all is said and done, retrospectively this whole ordeal seemed rather childish considering that they are all fighting over a meal that’s proportionately the size of a soft taco.

5. Dutch vs. The Predator

The Predator is just about the most badass villain you can have in a film – partly because he’s a giant claw-faced alien, but mainly because he has an almost Klingon sense of honor when it comes to fighting. What I mean by this is that if he respects his opponent he will take them on face to scary, scary face. This is what happens in the first film, but only after Dutch literally uses all of the Predator’s techniques against him – such as invisibility, projectiles, and tree dwelling. It’s his fighting spirit that finally makes the gloves come off, so to speak, as The Predator removes his weapons and mask and takes on Arnie alien-to-man. To this day, this character is the only one that I hold in my mind as a serious threat to any Schwarzenegger character out there, and I’m including The Terminator.

I bet there is some kind of clever transition to be made here, but I’m going to take the lazy route.

4. T-800 vs. T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day

The thing about the T-1000 is that it runs on a whole different level than our hero character. When you watch the first Terminator film you get to see how a trained solder handles the T-800 robot – by running his ass off. That’s really all you can do: shoot and run and hope that you find some convenient way to crush or blow the thing up. Then we have this film – Terminator 2 – and the same applies for the T-1000 villain: run and shoot and hope. But the catch is that the one doing all the running and shooting this time around is that very same model from the first one, this model which seemed indestructible before is running for it’s goddamn life in the second film. And when they are finally cornered and forced to fight – you see exactly why the T-800 has avoided this very situation; the T-1000 is a steamroller.

3. Indiana Jones vs. The Big Bald Nazi in Raiders of the Lost Ark

The world is already pretty tough on Indiana Jones to begin with – but then you have a scene like this. He just escaped from a room full of what is literally his biggest fear and now all he really wants to do is bounce this Nazi camp and out of nowhere this giant bald dude just strolls out of a hut and immediately starts pounding on him like there’s candy inside. Who the hell is this guy anyway? Why is he half dressed and why does he enjoy punching so much? Luckily he enjoys it so much that he completely forgets his surroundings, and if it weren’t for that it seems like there wasn’t much hope for our hero otherwise. It’s hard to even classify it as a fight, up until the end it’s more of an ass kicking.

Speaking of ass kicking…

2. ‘Jack’ vs. Tyler Durden in Fight Club

This is pretty much as one-sided as a fight can get, considering that our nameless narrator of the film is actually fighting himself. The scene is both cruel and hilarious as we watch the beating not just from the character’s perspective but also from the perspective of the security cameras, which show the sad truth of the matter. There is also one of the funniest moments of ass-handing-to when Tyler grabs at Jack only to get a single shoe, which he examines momentarily before wielding it like a club. The cherry, naturally, is the fact that the receiver of the beating is not wearing any pants. This whole ordeal seems hopeless in the end, as Tyler throws his opponent/himself down a flight of stairs. How do you even defend yourself from yourself? Luckily, in the end the narrator does find a way – a really, really desperate way.

1. Dae-su Oh vs. A Hallway Filled With Dudes in Oldboy

Okay. Best fight scene – you know what? Best action scene, ever. I know that it’s hard to find one scene and actually label it as the ‘best’ of anything – but for me, this really is it. First off, it’s one single three minute long shot, secondly the entire buildup actually comes to a freaking punch line at the end when Dae-su Oh finds himself grinning madly at an elevator full of thugs, who are clearly going to end up like the wailing bunch behind him. But mostly what makes this scene the best ever for me is that it is the only instant in a movie where one person takes on many and I actually believe it. When you see The Bride or Neo take on hoards of enemies it’s sure entertaining, but nothing about it actually reflects reality in the least, and deep down you just don’t really care about what you are seeing. The real reason for this is that most action scenes escalate in order to keep the audience interested – however this scene does the opposite, which is actually how you’d expect it to go in real life. As the hero takes on more and more people he becomes more and more fatigued, as does those he fights. In the end it’s almost awkward in that there is no resolving final blow, no witty lines – he just slowly limps away, hammer in hand. Oh yeah – the hammer… actually I think the hammer is probably what makes this scene the best… I mean… it’s a hammer. He’s hitting people with a freaking hammer.

So I’m almost certain that for every one I listed here there are ten I did not – after all, action and fight scenes are pretty much built on the idea that to every fight there is an underdog. I’d like to hear what ones I missed. Honestly I would.

As I wrote in both my review and interview with Gary Oldman and Tomas Alfredson, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is not one’s average spy thriller. Nothing portrays the spy lifestyle as exciting or “awesome,” just cold, lonely, and harsh. Perhaps the greatest character who represents the themes of the film, while also still feeling like a person, is Jim Prideaux, played by Mark Strong.

Prideaux, like every other character in the film, descends to worse and worse places, emotionally and mentally, as things progress. The character’s as lonely as can be, and Strong conveys that with every somber and sad look on his face. It’s an interesting contrast to another one of Strong’s performances from this year as Clive in The Guard. A lot of actors discuss how they love variety and go for it — and most genuinely mean it — but Strong seems to be one of the prime examples of someone doing it right. A sympathetic villain, an alien superhero, and an isolated spy make up an eclectic bunch of characters.

Here’s what Mark Strong had to say about the catharsis of press, the divisiveness of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, and the comfortable amount of takes:

Are you enjoying your press day?

Yeah, I don’t mind doing these, you know? Everyone says, “Oh, you’re tired. They go on a bit.” I love talking about the stuff I do, because you spend so much time doing it in isolation — working out your character and approaching a scene. Talking about it is quite cathartic.

Plus, I’d imagine you wouldn’t go, “I have to go talk about Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy“!?!

[Laughs] No, exactly. Touch on wood, I’ve never had to push one that’s been rubbish, and I don’t know what that would be like.

[Laughs] I think this one’s fantastic, so that must help.

Oh, good! I think it’s divided people, and quite rightly. Everyone comes to it with their own subjective opinion. I think cinephiles, people involved in film, critics, and people who know about movies have really taken to it. You can tell what an intelligent piece of work it is. There is a broad side of the cinema going public who just [find] it too challenging, and not that there’s anything wrong with them. I think they just want something different from it.

I do think it takes more than one viewing to really take it all in, and the movie really requires you to stick with it.

What’s also important for people to know is that it’s very faithful to the book. Not necessarily in the narrative or what’s incorporated, but in the tone. The tone of the book is incredibly arcane, difficult, obscure, and frustrating. When you read the novel, you never really know if Smiley knows more than you and if he’s discovered something you haven’t, and you never really understand that in the novel. The film mirrors that from the novel. For the people who haven’t read the novel, they’ll see it as being willfully difficult to follow. The fact is, that is the way the novel and the story was originally conceived.

I’ve seen a lot of people say how you get to know nothing about these characters, even though I think the film says a lot about them.

Yeah, you may not know much about these guys, but that’s somebody talking about the way they’ve been trained to consume film, which is everything has to be explained. Tomas sees it different, that everything doesn’t have to be explained. Sometimes you can absorb things by osmosis, just having a flavor or a feeling of something. There was a direction he gave, which Gary [Oldman] mentioned, when he asked Tomas how he wanted the scene to feel, and Tomas said, “I want the scene to smell of damp tweed.” What kind of director talks like that? [Laughs] It tells you everything you need to know about the scene. It makes you realize he’s operating on a different level, not from the usual type of spoon-fed narratives that everyone’s been trained to want. In that sense, I think it’s a very delicate and intelligent film. But people are perfectly at liberty not to enjoy it. It’s all subjectivity anyway.

Yeah, you don’t wanna be that guy who says, “Oh, you didn’t get it.”

Right, you can’t say that. In fact, it’s like Shakespeare in a way. If you go to see a Shakespeare play, you don’t understand every allusion to everything, because a lot of the language and references are archaic. It doesn’t spoil your enjoyment of the play, though, because you get the general idea.

Exactly. Like I said, I think the film says a lot without saying anything. One scene in particular that does that is when you see Jim give Bill a very vulnerable look at the party. Can you talk about finding those little moments that say a lot about who Jim is?

Yeah, I was very lucky with Jim. He does have his own particular arc through the story. You see him in Budapest being a spy, you know, doing the job. The reason he’s sent is because he’s the best at it. You see him doing the thing they’re trained best to do. Then you see him very down on his luck being tortured in this prison somewhere. Then you see him being chewed up and spat out having to go undercover at a school and trying to recover. What’s brilliant is, you get these flashbacks of all of us together before this whole incident. You realize they’re all in their own world, these guys. They’re all lonely and dissociated from everything around them. By sheer necessity, they have to be extremely private, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have feelings or emotions.

I love that [party] scene because you get to realize Jim has had a crush on Bill Haydon for his whole life, but it’s observed with subtlety. There’s no great scene in which I say that or which it’s revealed; it’s just done with a look. Earlier on in the film, you see photos of them just having played a game of rugby, and they look very happy. Little subtle clues such as that I really enjoyed about this film.

I read this quote of yours about how the process of transformation is your favorite part of acting. For Jim, where did that transformation come from?

I think it was the vulnerability of the character. I’ve played so many villains recently, that I really enjoyed the opportunity to play someone sympathetic. Although Jim’s the least abled to do something, compared to what I’ve done recently, the transformation was the subtlety of what he wore and his hair. We had that debate of, “What if you were bald in the ’70s, just as everyone was getting to grow their hair, as you’re starting to lose yours?” We found that sort of comb-over thing Jim has, and it makes him look vulnerable. I love going to work on how we were going to make this guy work — very capable, which he obviously is, since he was the one sent to bring back the General, but also very vulnerable, since he’s the one spat out by the machine.

I’m surprised to hear you mention that about villains and getting the chance to play sympathetic. For me, Clive [in The Guard] was very sympathetic.

[Laughs] The gag I loved about Clive is that, he’s a villain bored of being a villain. He’s had enough and is having an existential crisis. Really, he just wants to settle down. Unfortunately, he doesn’t think it’s like the old days, where all the policeman are now stupid and all the other gangsters/criminals are not honorable. I like the in-joke, if you like, of playing a villain who’s fed up with playing a villain.

I love how Clive, instead of running or freaking out during a shootout, just revels in it. I think he had that line, “This is like fucking Christmas!”

[Laughs] Yeah, exactly. He’s been so numbed in his life of crime that he’s just looking for excitement.

[Laughs] Him and Sgt. Boyle would probably get along really well in that film.

Yeah, they’d bond over a pint, that’s true.

[Laughs] I think The Guard and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy are those type of films you find new details on repeat viewings. While reading those scripts or even seeing those films, do you constantly make new discoveries, as well?

It’s those things that usually ring the alarm bells in your head, that you’re dealing with something a little bit different. Certainly, with The Guard, that made me howl all the way through. I just thought it was dark, wicked, and funny. When we came to play it, there was no movement away from the original script, because John was the writer and the director, so he wouldn’t let you change anything. With this, I could just see it was all in the play, the nuance of the whole thing. Tomas adapted a lot of it. It was a joy coming into work because even though you felt you had a handle with what you were studying at home, when you got on the set, he would change things, and that was always exciting.

If I read correctly, he would usually only do two or three takes. Was it a very disciplined form of acting on set?

Yeah, I love doing that. That’s my perfect number, in a way. One take gets you used to it and gets you started. The second one corrects the mistake of the first one. The third take is when you’re flying a little bit and have now had a couple of gos at it. Beyond that, I find you’re then starting to repeat things and adjusting things for the sake of it; that’s exactly the way I like to work. The first take is usually the best, because that’s the first moment you come to it. Endless and endless takes, I’m not really sure what that’s for.

Do you recall the most amount of takes you’ve ever had to do?

I don’t. Martin Campbell is fond of many, many takes. On Green Lantern we would do quite a lot of takes, and Martin wouldn’t really explain why or what he was looking for. I began to realize he just wanted you to have a go at it, to get familiar with it. Like a duel, one would just pop out and be the right take, and he always knew what the right one was.

Even when doing those endless takes, do you just figure the director has his reasons?

Yeah, that’s exactly how I felt with Martin. Normally when somebody does that many takes, I’ll be asking, “Well, why? What do you want me to do differently? What do you want me to change?” The truth is, he didn’t want me to do anything different or change. He was just waiting for that one take that just works. It’s like taking a photograph — you’ll take five pictures, which are all pretty similar, but there will be one that’s better than the others. That’s how Martin works.

How’s Mr. Alfredson on set? Is he extremely detail-oriented?

Yeah, he’s very meticulous and very delicate in his approach to every scene. He would never force anything, though; he would just allow you to find it. It felt like a very straightforward, very easy, and absorbing job to do without any chaos or panic.

To end on: Speaking earlier about the transformation of acting, what roles have you had to transform the most for, both externally and internally? 

Externally, I’d probably have to say Sinestro. When I got into the comics, I thought, “Wow, if I could look like that,” and that’s exactly what I love doing, where you do things that people don’t know it’s you. I did Polanski’s Oliver Twist, where I had a top hat, ginger hair, and big teeth. I did Syriana, where I was playing a second generation Lebanese Muslim, which is completely different from Oliver Twist. I love the perversity of that. Body of Lies came out the same time as RocknRolla, and they were completely different. Now, if you think about it, The Guard and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy are completely different things. Externally, certainly Sinestro. Internally, that’s a very tricky question. I suppose I had to plumb the depths a bit with Lord Blackwood [from Sherlock Holmes], since he was such a fictional character, where he was supposedly in league with Satan and wanted to conquer the world, and those are pretty big concepts. [Laughs]

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is now in theaters.

When we at Junkfood Cinema heard that we had somehow again avoided outright cancellation, clearly an oversight on the part of hectically busy and woefully unobservant management, we decided to celebrate with another installment of the Junkfood Cinema Awards, affectionately known (read “irresponsibly abbreviated”) as The Junkies. Since this was our sophomore effort, we really wanted to flaunt our year-long incompetence with plenty of pomp and circumstance. We therefore hired a big time Hollywood director, one who had similarly proven his commitment to terrible films, to produce a garish, way-too-expensive, online awards ceremony. But then we had to fire him over some incredibly unsavory comments he made; something about rehearsals being for fatties. So instead, we’re just going to do the exact same crap we did last year. Enjoy.

The Junkiest Prime Number of 2011: 2

What the hell does that mean? First of all, just assume I’ve anticipated your asking that question of every single category or you may very well pass out from confounded sighing. 2011 was a big year for sequels here at JFC, with 8 total followups being canonized. We labored over this category for literally days on end; neglecting sleep, but never food. At first we seemed pretty keen on the number 3 (as in Scream 3, Final Destination 3, and Jurassic Park 3–all featured this year), but it lacked the paradoxical irony of also being an even number; not to mention the political implications. Also, and much more likely the reason than that thing I just said, we actually covered five different part 2′s this year: Death Wish 2, Stepfather 2, Home Alone 2, Conan the Destroyer, and U.S. Marshals. Thank you, number 2.

Grossest Misuse of the Entire Screen Actors Guild: Dick Tracy

Seriously, there are more clueless, direction-free actors in this film than at a political rally and/or benefit concert for third-world countries in which they own beachfront property. Watching Dick Tracy is tantamount to attending one of those Eyes Wide Shut orgies (except way filthier) wherein every single attendee is riddled with shame and hiding their true faces under copious piles of makeup. Except Madonna of course, who is doing all she can to keep her face perfectly in frame…as well as her frame perfectly in your face.

Worst Understanding of the Basic Tenets of Law: Sylvester Stallone (Over the Top)

Stallone is a regular guest of our relentless mockery. In fact, his frequency of appearances saw him sharing 2010′s coveted Musclehead of the Year award with equally repeatedly mocked Austrian half-goon action hero Arnold Schwarzenegger. But in 2011, he opted for (lack of) quality over (embarrassing) quantity, appearing in the column only twice. However, in Over the Top, he exhibits enough brazen stupidity in one sitting to last through even the brainiest of winters. Not only does he subscribe to the concept that custody of his son can be obtained via the winning of an arm-wrestling contest, but he pursues this course in spite of the fact that he LEGALLY HAS CUSTODY THE ENTIRE TIME!!! *Face* *Palm*

Best Ambassador of Blaxploitation: Sho’nuff (The Last Dragon)

Here at JFC, we take blaxploitation very seriously, too seriously, and then uncomfortably seriously. Every year we designate February as Blaxploitation History Month, showcasing some of the best of this controversial b-movie genre as well as simultaneously proving just how white we really are. And yet, even with the likes of Slaughter, Coffy, Black Belt Jones, and Dolemite turning up in February, our selection for the person most representative of the spirit of the subversive subgenre was featured in a movie written into the annals of our cyber tome of misery by guest author Adam Charles. The Last Dragon‘s Sho’nuff, the self-proclaimed Shogun of Harlem, is a modern day (and by modern day, I of course mean the 80s) version of Dolemite: a lyrical loudmouth with a fashion that can only be described as…visible.

Most Inane Phobia: The Color White (Blackjack)

Every hero needs a weakness, something to keep him (or her) grounded and vulnerable so that the audience can relate. For Superman it was kryptonite, for Magneto it was plastics, and for The Green Lantern it was evidently pacing and plot structure. So what was hero Dolph Lundgren’s Achilles Heel in John Woo’s Blackjack? The color white. That’s right, this Swedish man mountain is routinely foiled by…the presence of all chroma in the light spectrum. Classical conditioning notwithstanding, unless of course Jack was violated with a milk bottle by the Abominable Snowman, this seems a hilariously absurd choice for a foible.

Guest Contributor of the Year: Luke Mullen

As much as my heart, and my aversion to sleeping on the couch, tells me to go with my lovely wife who wrote not one, but two pieces this year, the numbers do not lie (except the ones on that bastard bathroom scale). Therefore, the clear winner this year is Luke Drago Mullen. Luke turned in a whopping six entries this year covering the greasy gamut from Pitch Black to The Mummy (daring choices, considering how easily sand gets stuck in his beard). Luke preformed more than admirably and proved without a shadow of a doubt that I am 100% obsolete. Honorable Mentions: Mrs. Junkfood, Adam Charles, and Kate Erbland. Photo courtesy of John Gholson’s Taking Requests.

Worst Indictment of Heavy Metal: Black Roses

Look, we are all well aware that heavy metal music is the dark lord’s most insidious weapon against the innocent followers of the Almighty. Well no, I take that back; it’s actually Angry Birds. But heavy metal is still pretty evil. And yet even I have trouble swallowing the anti-metal (so, pro-wood?) propaganda of 1988′s Black Roses. They actually insinuate that attending one heavy metal concert will make American teenagers (American teenagers who are Canadian, no less) fight, smoke, and have plenty of the sex; plugging their ears and singing as the world tries to remind them that these teenage indiscretions are also known side effects of…being teenagers. Thankfully, they also throw in as evidence rubber-boobed demon puppets and devil worshipers who use Yankee Candles in their dark, but pleasantly scented, consorts with Lucifer.

Best Represented Mythical Creature: The Dragon

In our ongoing efforts to each year have the federal government to certify one mythical creature as real, we’ve again failed. However, 2011 turned out to be a great year for dragons both cinema figuratively and cinema literally. We clocked a grand total of four dragon-related pieces. What’s more, we had a different author contribute each of the four dragon pieces…sounds like the plot of some terrible Shaw Brothers movie. Dragonslayer (by moi) and DragonHeart (by the lovely Mrs. Junkfood) featured “actual” dragons while The Last Dragon (by Adam Charles) and Kiss of the Dragon (via Luke Mullen) featured characters, of varying levels of Asian descent, nicknamed Dragon. It’s such a shame that we still live in a society under the control of a mythist government. Occupy Reality!

Most Apathetic Hero: Dan Haggerty (Elves)

“Grizzly” Dan “Grizzly Adams” Haggerty  “Adams,” at some point after the cancellation of his television series about a man-ursine love affair, developed a terminal case of the DontGiveAShits. Now don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of put-upon cinematic “lifers” who stop giving each and every role their all. But there’s not busting your ass, and then there’s refusing to take the cigarette out of your mouth long enough to fight the gun-toting Nazi cultists trying to use an evil elf to spawn a race of supermen. So not only does Haggerty look like a homeless person they found at the bus stop minutes before shooting, but apparently his approach to the role was to embody a homeless person found at a bus stop minutes before shooting.

The Most Disgusting Junkfood Pairing Stuffed Inside The 2nd Most Disgusting Junkfood Pairing: A Ryan’s Buffet Stuffed Inside a Marshmallow Peep (Deep Blue Sea, U.S. Marshals)

It’s a good thing this category speaks for itself, because I have a serious challenge ahead of me. We’re gonna need a really, really…tiny Ryan’s Buffet.

There’s always more helpings of Junkfood Cinema

With the entire original run of The Twilight Zone available to watch instantly, we’re partnering with Twitch Film to cover all of the show’s 156 episodes. Are you brave enough to watch them all with us?

The Twilight Zone (Episode #128): “Uncle Simon” (airdate 11/15/63)

The Plot: A woman gives in to greed and allows her mean old uncle to die prematurely in an effort to speed up her inheritance.

The Goods: Barbara has lived with her Uncle Simon for 25 years, the entirety of her adult life, but her dedication has little to do with love or familial responsibility. Simon is extremely wealthy, and Barbara is in line to inherit it all when he passes. It hasn’t been easy for her though as the man is a complete and utter prick. She keeps her eye on the prize, takes the abuse, and counts the days until the old bastard keels over.

Until the day he really does fall over… and lands in a crumpled and twisted heap at the bottom of the stairs. He pleads for her help, but Barbara simply chastises the dying man and walks away.

“You have all the grace and femininity of a high-buttoned shoe.”

Barbara’s plan succeeds and we next see her at the reading of her dead uncle’s will. Every last thing goes to her. The house, the holdings, the money and accounts… all of it. With two ridiculous stipulations.

She has to remain in the house, and she has to take care of Simon’s belongings including a secret project that has yet to be revealed. And which turns out to be a robot that’s every bit as rude, insulting and demanding as her uncle ever was.

Neither character here is very nice and both are deserving of their fate, but Barbara’s feels more than a little drawn out. The punchline ending, that her expected freedom from her uncle has been thwarted by a replica who she can never hope to outlive, should really have been a zinger in the final two minutes. Instead the robot is revealed halfway through the episode and spends the remaining ten minutes being a dick to Barbara. It loses any real impact it could have had.

Still, the dialogue here is some of the zippiest and meanest to ever pour from the mouths of Twilight Zone denizens as uncle and niece zing each other at a near constant rate. “You peanut headed sample of nature’s carelessness…” being one of my favorites. It keeps things moving fairly quickly even if the content underwhelms.

There’s also some madness happening on the production side as the episode features some crazy zooms and musical cues. It feels like a template Sam Raimi would follow decades later for Drag Me to Hell. And what’s up with that will? Once it’s all in Barbara’s name no further stipulation can take effect right? She could cash it all out and walk at that point.

This episode is definitely a middle of the road entry with the highs of the script’s dialogue being balanced out by the structure and invasive camera/sound cues. And then it ends with a visual that induces laughter when we should be feeling the ironic “a ha!” of Barbara’s fate… a robot with a cane is just silly looking.

What do you think?

The Trivia: Director Don Siegel is also the man behind Dirty Harry and the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

On the Next Episode: “Space explorer Adam Cook crash lands on a seemingly deserted planet.”

Catch-Up: Episodes covered by Twitch / Episodes covered by FSR

We’re running through all 156 of the original Twilight Zone episodes over the next several weeks, and we won’t be doing it alone! Our friends at Twitch will be entering the Zone as well on alternating weeks. So definitely tune in over at Twitch and feel free to also follow along on our Twitter accounts @twitchfilm and @rejectnation.

Because it’s Saturday, we’re talking television. That’s when Amber Humphrey publishes her weekly entry of Channel Guide, our twice-weekly column on all things television. But there’s something else at work this week. It might be Saturday, but it’s also the final day of the year. And what better way to send off our coverage of television in the year 2011 than with a list of the shows that we loved most dearly. In order to do so, Channel Guiders Amber Humphrey and Mikela Floyd each contributed their picks for the five best shows of the year, in no particular order. In keeping with our ’11 Best’ theme for the Year in Review, FSR Publisher and closet television fanatic (don’t tell movies, we don’t want them to be jealous) Neil Miller throws in one final pick with his own best show of the year. All powers combined, they have unleashed our list of the 11 Best TV Shows of 2011.

Friday Night Lights

Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t stop crying. Listen, you guys. I was initially reluctant to open my heart to the citizens of Dillon, TX – fearful that their high school goings-on would be all-too-similar to my own adolescent experience in the South. Once I finally got around to watching this on Netflix in early 2011, it took me only a few months to power through 4 seasons of what I can only describe as the most humanly real television show in decades. And while the rough-and-tumble kids of East Dillon (spoiler alert for you FNL newbs, sorry) were hard to embrace at first, by the fifth and final season, I wept along with the best of them as we said goodbye to Tami, Eric, Matty, and the whole gang. Texas forever. - Mikela Floyd

Raising Hope

You know how they say that you only find true love when you aren’t looking for it? Well, if I’d had the energy to reach for the remote control and change the channel after Glee that fateful Tuesday night in 2010, I may have never met and subsequently fallen in love with the Chance family. The show’s second season has been as consistently funny as its first—not since Shakespeare have malapropisms been used so brilliantly. Raising Hope may pull you in with its quirk but this underrated gem has heart, and that’s what keeps you watching every week. There’s also a really cute baby, which doesn’t hurt.  - Amber Humphrey

Game of Thrones

Yep, I’m gonna go ahead and beat a dead horse with this one, but in the words of Parks and Rec’s own Ben Wyatt – “It’s a crossover hit!” This seemed to be 2011′s “water cooler” show, and I drank the George R. R. Martin Kool-Aid in a big way. I read the book before diving into the show, which often results in the inevitable argument of authenticity. However, this human/fantasy hybrid is as true to the source material as they come. - Mikela Floyd

Fringe

The fourth season of Fringe has been suspenseful and episodes like “One Night in October” prove that this high concept science-fiction series is as poignant and emotionally affecting as any drama currently on the air. John Noble is a wonder—his Walter Bishop is by turns heartbreaking and hilarious. (How many alternate versions of a character does a man have to portray before he gets a little Emmy recognition?) Each new season of Fringe is better than the one that came before it; this year has been no exception.  - Amber Humphrey

Downton Abbey

Good God, is this show wonderful. This British drama came stateside in January, and I never looked back. It combines incest, class struggles, period costumes, and sex-related deaths – all required characteristics of winning TV in this viewer’s mind. OK, not really – but this tale of a British Abbey and its inhabitants of all classes is as intoxicating as the wine the servants get accused of stealing. - Mikela Floyd

Enlightened

Amy Jellicoe is probably the most annoying character on TV today (she’s far more annoying than that skeevy cook on2 Broke Girls or that kid who’s always whining about his girlfriend on Terra Nova). She’s relentless, says things that are ripped straight from New Age self-help books, she’s the kind of person you’d dread being in the same room with. But Amy is also one of the most complex and expertly rendered characters on TV. In an instant she can shift from hippie dippy spiritualism to cursing someone out. She’s human and, just like an actual human, isn’t always (or even usually) likable. Enlightened is one of this year’s best series because it’s well-written and the actors are all excellent (Luke Wilson in particular deserves some credit), but mainly because it’s unique and unsettling in that way that avant-garde art is. Enlightened isn’t easily digested and I kind of love that.  - Amber Humphrey

Happy Endings

I’m not shy about my love for this tale of late twenty somethings who in their own ways are as uniquely neurotic as I often realize myself to be. It’s a-mah-zing. There’s fearful spinster Penny, filter-less and abrasive Max (who will get a tattoo on his body to save money on a 99 cent food item, and also has some of the best one-liners on TV today), neurotic and aloof Jane, her husband Brad, sister alex, and Dave – Alex’s former fiancé. These people go through everyday situations with what will never be constituted as grace, but they do it together. One minute, they’re eating free seafood in plush bathrobes; the next screaming, vomiting, crying, and generally reacting poorly to a potentially life-threatening situation. But don’t worry, they’ll still browse pay per view after. These are my people. - Mikela Floyd

Torchwood: Miracle Day

You many not see this one on many (or any other) year-end lists but there wasn’t anything that I was more addicted to in 2011. Torchwood: Miracle Day was engrossing, smart, and managed to maintain the integrity of the series despite the introduction of several new American characters. Though some people were critical of its lack of an alien menace, I actually applaud the decision. In the past, Captain Jack has stood toe-to-to with the biggest, baddest extraterrestrial villains, so if the show was ever going to progress, it was essential that he and the rest of the crew be challenged in a completely different way. Miracle Day also highlighted how badass Gwen Cooper is. She’s one of the greatest sci-fi heroines of our time and it’s always going to be exciting to watch her do just about anything—I wouldn’t hesitate to tune in for Torchwood: Gwen Eats Some French Fries or Torchwood: Gwen Buys Paper Towels.  - Amber Humphrey

Parks and Recreation

Remember Season 1 of this “Office Spinoff”? The one where we all cringed and worried that the mockumentary-style of TV had “jumped the shark”? Well, with the roll that this show has been on this season, it’s time to give Pawnee the benefit of the doubt. To quote from innumerable television-centric voices, this show has really “come into its own,” and how. If the addition of a surprisingly hilarious Rob Lowe weren’t enough, they threw in the (until-recently) television-doomed Adam Scott, a personal favorite. That’s not even the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the number of ways this show has become appointment viewing. Parks and Rec is like a weekly meme factory, adding yet another layer with which to connect to the characters – Treat yo self! Tom Haverfoods! Anything Ron Swanson! The internet has given us many gifts this year, many Pawnee-related. More than that, it warms my heart on a weekly basis, and I hope that never stops. Now, if you need me, I’ll be treatin’ myself into the new year. - Mikela Floyd

Boardwalk Empire

Boardwalk Empire has been solid since day one. The storytelling is beautifully textured, riveting, bold, and it’s the only series to have ever moved me with its technical virtuosity—the editing is amazing. The first season set us firmly and satisfyingly in the era—familiarizing us with the people, the politics, the bootlegging, and teetotalism of 1920s Atlantic City. But this year was filled with so many “what the eff” moments that the wait from week to week was totally unbearable. Incest, infidelity, polio—there was no telling what was going to happen next. The jaw-dropping dénouement just showed that we’ve barely scratched the surface of the Nucky Thompson saga. - Amber Humphrey

Sons of Anarchy

As the editor and final contributor of this piece, I had the luxury of looking over the entire list assembled by the ever-wonderful Mikela and Amber and think, “what one show can I add to this list?” Several shows instantly sprung to mind. The likes of Breaking Bad, with its fantastic fourth season cutting through the middle of 2011 like a knife. And Doctor Who, which continues to be sensational. Or how about BBC’s Sherlock, one of the great miniseries events we’ve seen in a long, long time. That said, none of those won like Kurt Sutter’s constant climax of a show in Sons of Anarchy. It’s fourth season was a roller-coaster of violence, grease and deception. It was perhaps the best written, best acted, most deviously fun and outright entertaining show that aired in all of 2011. And even though we chose not to put any particular order to this list, it feels right to end with the gentlemen of the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Originals. - Neil Miller

For more of the best and worst of the year, check out the rest of our 2011 Year in Review.

In our final 2011 edition of Scenes We Love, a column you’ll be seeing a lot more of in the coming year, we’d like to celebrate the scene that, in our humble opinion, was the definitive and most memorable scene of the entire year. A great deal of care and collaboration went into the choosing of this winner, with every FSR staff writer first submitting nominations then a fierce round of voting. In my final thoughts, I’ll reveal the runners up. But for now, lets just enjoy the majesty of a moment that is all at once romantic and violent, sweet and salty, quiet and louder than a bomb.

Setting the Scene:

Up to this point, our quiet hero (Ryan Gosling) has but only one interest: he drives. That is, of course, until he finds himself caught under the spell of his beautifully broken neighbor, played by Carey Mulligan. Now his interests are changed. He will not drive and fight and steal and cheat and do whatever is necessary to keep her out of harms way. It all culminates, both in literal and metaphorical fashion, with a scene in an elevator. The fated lovers share a ride with a man who might be someone to do them harm, and our silent hero won’t be having any of that. But before he gives the man the beating of the last few seconds of his life, he must take a moment to give his love a slow-motion sign of deep affection. It’s a sexy moment that turns into a hellish moment, all at once twisting our own thoughts and desires as only a visionary director like Nicolas Winding Refn can.

Watch the clip:

What’s to Love:

Everything about this scene is worth your appreciation as a film fan. It teems with style and grace, explodes with heart-stopping violence and fills every frame with the emotional weight that’s been built up to that point. It’s the catalyst for the film’s big finish and a microcosm of everything that Nic Winding Refn and star Ryan Gosling do right with this film, much of which is done in service of the film’s pulsing atmosphere. Few films of 2011 found that special place in which story and visual and score come together so perfectly to create a wholly transformational experience. Drive wasn’t a film that aspired merely to draw you in. Rather, it was a film that grabbed you between the legs and refused to let go. It hurt do damn good, and this scene is its crown jewel.

Final Thoughts:

Agree or disagree, we’d love to hear in the comments section about your favorite scene of 2011. The staff of FSR, for the most part, was at odds about what would end up taking this particular prize. Nominees included the monstrous train crash in Super 8, Carey Mulligan stopping the world around her with a rendition of “New York, New York” in Steve McQueen’s Shame, Michael Shannon experiencing an emotional break at a fish fry in Take Shelter and Tom Cruise’s heart-stopping scaling of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. Any of these scenes could have been the best of 2011, but Drive‘s elevator sequence won by a narrow margin. And in the end, it feels like the right choice. Few scenes stuck with us quite as long as it did. Few scenes felt so well-rounded and meticulously crafted for dramatic effect. Few scenes appropriately represent the sexuality and violence and style that permeated the entire year of 2011 in film.

There’s plenty more to talk about in our 2011 Year in Review.

They say it’s hard to judge a book by its cover, but when it comes to world of cinema and movie marketing (and the plethora of films that hit theaters each weekend), it’s hard not to use a film’s three-minute long trailer to judge whether or not it will be something you’ll be interested in seeing (and with movie prices on the up and up, it’s hard to go in blind these days).

The illustrious Jack Giroux and Allison Loring rounded up the top 11 trailers released over the past year. They’re both for films that came out in 2011 and either lived up to or fell short of their promise and for films due to be released next year that have begun teasing us early. Plus a few honorable mentions because Jack and I aren’t super great at math (we’re writers, and I’m pretty sure you can only be good at one or the other).

From horror to action to comedy (and much discussion about the merits of underwear – you’ll see), our picks spanned the genres proving that it does not matter what type of film you are promoting, just whether or not you are able to grab people’s attention.

Listed in no particular order, let us know in the comments if you agree, disagree or if there was a trailer you loved that we missed on our list.

Paranormal Activity 3

This movie had a couple of different trailers, but really anything that features children and the idea that something is not quite right (and they might be in on it) is terrifying and these trailers played that idea up. The trailer that features Katie (Chloe Csengery) and Kristi (Jessica Tyler Brown) standing in their bathroom playing Bloody Mary (a game that also terrified me as a kid) and the slightly unexpected (and even more off-putting) scare that pays off in the end gives me a wave of panic when I watch it even now. All versions did a good job of linking this film to the first two as an origin story and possible explanation of what really has been haunting this family. AL

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 

Cool. Just cool. Who would’ve thought Fincher & Co. would have been able to top the teaser for The Social Network? Somehow they did. With the chilling imagery telling you exactly what the film is, along with Trent Reznor and Karen O.’s fully awesome cover of “Immigrant Song,” this teaser did everything it had to do to make one go over the moon for an adaptation with a not-so-great story. The energy and haunting mood of this teaser is perfect. JG

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark

The creepy music and whispering voices were enough to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, but when Sally (Bailee Madison) starts interacting with/getting harassed by these “creatures” the scares really get turned up. The idea of potential monsters that can be kept away with light (and what happens when the lights do go out) is a simple enough premise to sell this horror story and Sally crawling through her sheets (for what seems like eternity) was the perfect end to the trailer with the anxiety it caused paying off in the final moments with one serious scare. AL

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy 

You know those trailers you go back to watch over and over until the release? For me, that was the first trailer for Tomas Alfredson’s bleak epic Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Everything about it is painted as being beautifully atmospheric. While the pace of the trailer went for something far faster and urgent than the film’s slow-burn pace, it was well representative. Every image is so precise in this trailer that, if you blink, you’ll probably miss something. JG

Contagion

This trailer really worked to depict the panic and confusion that would follow an uncontrollable viral outbreak and how it could isolate an entire population. The lines, “Don’t talk to anyone, don’t touch anyone, stay away from other people,” “It’s figuring us out faster than we’re figuring it out” and “It’s mutating” left me wondering what was going on by giving away just enough information to grab one’s attention without giving too much away. Plus the ending with Kate Winslet covering up “our” faces with a mask helped make the idea of a world- wide epidemic even more palpable. AL

Super 8

Unfortunately, J.J. Abrams film didn’t quite live up to the magical promise the Super 8 trailer made. With the James Horner tune from Cocoon, Abrams much fawned over mystery element, the beautiful child faces in awe, and every other Steven Spielberg tag one can think of, that piece of marketing made Super 8 look like the film of the summer. It gave one enough to feel satisfied, but not too much to feel spoiled — which are the core traits of a perfect trailer. JG

The Amazing Spider-Man

Although I am not a huge superhero fan, the moment Andrew Garfield (who first grabbed my attention in Boy A) got attached to this project I was anticipating seeing him as the webbed crusader. This trailer proves that Garfield may indeed have the chops (and the webs) to be our newest superhero. Plus getting to scale buildings from his point-of-view? Yeah – that moment definitely had me hitting the replay button on this trailer more than once. AL

The Woman in Black

It was obvious The Woman in Black trailer wasn’t your typical horror preview by the end. With creepy kid voices (yeah, that’s typical, I’ll give you that), an eerie as all hell score, and that terrifying final image, this teaser provided plenty of horror in under two minutes. Whether the film will standout from the haunted house/town herd remains to be seen, but this trailer certainly does. It hits all the horror film preview beats with flying gothic colors. JG

The Hunger Games

Probably one of the most anticipated trailers of the year, when the long-form Hunger Games trailer finally got released, I finally got truly excited for the film.  And man do these games look as terrifying as I imagined they would. There are few moments in the trailer that aren’t rife with anxiety and panic and that is exactly the feeling I had when reading the books. With enough voiceover explanation for those not familiar with the story, this trailer looks to promise this one intense trip to the movie theater next spring. AL

The Dark Knight Rises

In IMAX, this trailer gave me chills. The first teaser did nothing for me, but this got my (along with everyone else around me) excitement level blasting during MI:4. The Dark Knight Rises trailer left my audience in silence. With the exploding football field and the cheesy action movie 101 line that is, “A storm’s coming,” this looks like Nolan going all cartoonishly and overly-seriously out, as portrayed by a suitably brooding and bombastic trailer. This is intended to be an epic conclusion, and epic is certainly an adjective one should use to describe this trailer. And, even with a brief glimpse and smile, Marion Cotillard stills wields the unholy power to make a jaw drop. JG

The Hobbit

For those missing Middle-Earth, this trailer takes us right back into that world, but this time from the perspective of Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), setting up a whole new adventure to look forward to. Promising old friends and new, this saga’s stunning visuals are back and it was hard not to get chills when all the hobbits all began singing together. AL

Honorable Mentions: Martha Marcy May Marlene, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Lucky One (ass-grab), Prometheus and The Five-Year Engagement.

I bet you didn’t think we could get any more meta than we did with last year’s Our List of the Best Lists of 2010, but boom, we have – by making that exact list feature a recurring Year In Review feature. It’s here to stay. It will never go away. Unless we think of something better.

We’ve been lucky enough to have some talented and truly inventive Cinematic Listologists on staff this year – from former writers Matt Patches and Ashe Cantrell (hi, dudes!), to our latest list-o-maker, David Bell. Along the way, some of us other Rejects have even piped in with our own works of list art (I won’t deny that it’s no coincidence that my one list for the year shows up on the list). Our lists for the year ran the gamut, from special peeks inside how movies get made, to more specific takes on genres and styles, to the traditional “here is a list of films that go together for some specific reason that we refer to in the title,” we’ve got them all. To end the year on a high note, to check off the last piece of list-making (well, relatively, let’s be honest here), to carefully enumerate just one of our favorite features, here are 11 of our best lists from 2011. Best for the creativity, their relatability, their personality, and their ability to spark debate and discussion among our readership. Enjoy.

The 30 Most Anticipated Movies of 2011

By Neil Miller, Cole Abaius, and Rob Hunter

There’s nothing quite like looking back with that pesky little thing called hindsight. Some of the films we were most excited about for 2011? Stuff like Cabin in the Woods (still not out), The Way Back (which virtually no one saw), the horrific Sucker Punch, and disappointments such as The Hangover 2, Cowboys & Aliens, and One Day. But there were some quality picks in the midst of the cinematic refuse – stuff like Rango, The Muppets, Hugo, and Ghotocol. With our 2012 list currently in gestation, it’s always wise to remember how wrong we can be (and how right!).

8 of Hollywood’s “Next Big Stars” That Blew Up…And Faded Out

By Matt Patches

Apparently, the only thing that I Am Number Four made Patches think of was inevitable failure. Inspired by star Alex Pettyfer‘s not-so-enviable position as a rising talent who could crash and burn at any moment, he rounded up eight “next big things” who didn’t make the leap.

10 Movies That Remind Us There’s Potential in the Spoof

By Matt Patches

Patches attacked the dangerous waters of the spoof movie with aplomb in this list of, um, spoof movies that attacked the dangerous waters of spoof movies with aplomb.

Ten Not-So-Heroic Heroes in Recent Movie History

By Jack Giroux

These days, the word “hero” is tossed around as a synonym for “lead” or “headliner” or “guy making the most money for this stupid movie,” even if they don’t exhibit anything resembling actual heroics. Jack cracked open the trend with ten not-so-heroic heroes from recent films. Sorry, Twi-hards.

8 Movies My Past Girlfriends Forced Me to Watch That Made Me Who I Am Today

7 Movies My Past Boyfriends Forced Me to Watch That Made Me Who I Am Today

By Matt Patches and Kate Erbland

Patches’ list kicked off some of our most fun and involved comments of the year. When I published a follow-up list, most of the comments made fun of my past boyfriends. So, yeah, about right. No matter how the comments shook out, these were my favorite “personal lists” of the year, lists that made both myself and Patches dig deep into the often tangled web of romance and cinema, lists that (hopefully) made our readers do the same.

Sticking Around After the Movie: 12 Notable Post-Credit Sequences

By Matt Patches

After-credit sequences have gone from rare treat to expected continuation of the narrative, but that doesn’t mean that they’re always worth sticking in your seat to see. Patches picked out twelve of the most notable and interesting sequences, complete with video for in-home watching (without any superstar cinema employees trying to sweep under your feet).

The Hellish Productions of 6 Great Movies

By David Bell

A fun idea taken to new heights by David’s in-depth take on the material, elevating it from quick trivia to some real story-telling.

10 Famous Films That Surprisingly Fail the Bechdel Test

By Ashe Cantrell

Perhaps the most controversial list on this list, Ashe’s take on the classic Bechdel Test didn’t bring in commentary on how he (or we, as it were) were wrong, but if the Bechdel Test even has value. Consider this list its own single-serving film class.

6 Things the Film Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know About

By Ashe Cantrell

Easily the most informative list of the year, and probably the most informative (and researched, can you imagine?) list we’ve ever featured here on FSR. Ashe went straight for the neck with his piece on the dirty secrets that run the industry, guaranteeing that you’ll never look at pull quotes the same way. Ever again.

8 Promised Movies That Still Haven’t Been Made and Might Never Be

By Cole Abaius

A glorious combination of the trivial, the controversial, and the informative. Want to see Arrested Development fans riot? Tell them that they’re long-promised movie might never be made and watch the fireworks. There may always be money in the banana stand, but there’s not always movies where there are promised.

For more of our best alongside Hollywood’s best, check out our entire 2011 Year in Review.

Hundreds of movies are released each year in theaters or straight to DVD, and a large percentage of them suck. A much smaller group though are fantastic slices of cinema that thrill, excite, invigorate and entertain, and while some of them are recognized at the box office many more are left to die a quick and undeserved death.

And it’s essentially your fault.

Of course I don’t mean you specifically, but instead I’m referring to the average American movie-goer who chose not to see these movies in the theater. They ignored the critical acclaim, reviews and recommendations from sites like ours and instead bought multiple tickets for the latest Twilight or Transformers movie. So while it’s too late to affect their box office returns (most of them anyway), Jack Giroux and Rob Hunter have put together a list of eleven movies that deserved far better treatment in 2011.

30 Minutes or Less

Ruben Fleischer’s follow-up to Zombieland did okay, but it didn’t make the splash his feature film debut did. That’s a shame, since 30 Minutes or Less is funnier, quicker, and isn’t afraid to get a little mean at times. There’s not a lot of meat to the story, so Fleischer wisely keeps things moving fast and knows how not to overstay his welcome. The director gets comic pacing and high-volume energy, both of which that made 30 Minutes or Less a strong comedy. (Domestic BO total: $37 mil) – JG

50/50

Why people didn’t flock to this movie about a young man whose life begins to crumble when he’s diagnosed with life threatening cancer I’ll never know. Imagine an even funnier Terms of Endearment, and you’ll understand how good this movie is. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is endearing and inspiring in the lead role of Adam, and Seth Rogen even manages to entertain instead of annoy as the best friend along for the ride. Anna Kendrick shines too as Adam’s untested counselor who stumbles along the way. The film is sweet, funny and never shies away from the reality of Adam’s situation, and it has a great soundtrack! (Domestic BO total: $35 mil) – RH

The Adventures of Tintin

Steven Spielberg’s animated/motion-captured adventure has only been in theaters here for a couple weeks, but an opening of $16 million is pretty damn sad for the year’s best animated film. That would hardly even cover the cost of oil changes and tire rotations for the entire cast of Cars 2 (a movie whose tailpipe you and your kids sucked all the way to $191 mil). The film wisely eschews an origin story of any kind and instead jumps right into the intrepid young reporter’s life as he begins a new adventure involving lost treasure, ancient feuds and a unicorn. It’s a fun film for all ages, and features fantastic action scenes including a spectacular chase done in one unbroken camera shot. (Yeah, I know it’s animated. Shut up.) On the bright side the film is doing blockbuster business overseas (to the tune of $240 million), but that doesn’t excuse the lack of attention it’s received here. (Domestic BO as of 12/31/11: $40 mil) – RH

Attack the Block

I know what you’re thinking. How can this Hunter prick put Attack the Block on a list of over-hyped films one minute and a list of under-seen titles the next? Well it isn’t easy, I’ll tell you that much. Writer/director Joe Cornish’s retro romp was praised daily since SXSW as the second coming of Amblin Entertainment, but while that claim was more than a little excessive the movie is still damn entertaining. The creature design is very cool, the film is shot with style and energy, and it’s a refreshing change of pace from the sequels and remakes we’re used to. But with all that incessant hype how did it do so poorly? Why didn’t you listen?!? (Domestic BO total: $1 mil) – RH

Fright Night / The Thing

Okay, neither of these come close to qualifying as “fantastic” movies, but they’re both pretty good. Yes, even The Thing remake is an okay little monster movie when you set aside your love of John Carpenter’s classic and your hatred of CGI and remakes. The point is there aren’t a lot of studio backed horror films anymore so when they put a somewhat good one out we need to support them. The flip side of this is that derivative crap should be ignored. But no, Americans chose to pass on these two and instead turn the cheap drivel of Paranormal Activity 3 into a $103 mil hit. Remember how the Saw series lasted seven goddamn installments? Your fault. And you’re doing it again. (Domestic BO total: $35 mil combined) – RH