the year that was (3/5): top 5 cinematic moments of 2011.
our picks for the best scenes or sequences from the ‘11 litter, packed with hyperbole and unnecessary spoilers.
#5. sticky gloves on the burj khalifa, mission impossible: ghost protocol.
it takes a little something extra to inject genuine tension into any self-contained entry of an action franchise, but that was specifically what brad bird pulled off with his taut, jittery midpoint set-piece of tom cruise sticking, leaping, dropping and, as tongue-in-cheek typically of cruise, running across the walls of the world’s tallest building. shot with vertiginous panache on hefty i-max cameras, the episode may prove not only the franchise’s crowning moment thus far, but quite possibly one of the most effective action sequences in recent years, such is its visceral payoff. - judah
#4. caesar speaks, rise of the planet of the apes.
rupert wyatt’s preeminent entry into a long-deflated series bore a tone so removed from its predecessors that the prospect of walking-talking-costumed chimpanzees seemed one from a different universe entirely. thus, when lead-ape caesar finally uttered his time-freezing first word, the hushed wave of unanimous disbelief that overwhelmed our audience was matched only by the flawlessly-animated, awestruck expressions of caesar’s onscreen primate brethren. that it essentially flipped the bird at its ancestry by instantly pulling the rug from its most overt act of homage, and put a snivelling tom felton in his place only sweetened the reveal. - judah
#3. michael caine showdown, the trip.
any of the classic showdowns from michael winterbottom’s impersonation fest-cum-food trip movie could’ve filled out a top 5 of their own, but we couldn’t look past steve coogan and rob brydon’s titanic clash of the caines for a spot in this piece. the closest contest in a movie where each sit-down had (at least in my mind) a clear victor, coogan getting very loudly INDEED, and brydon not being let to fucking finish were even better than the real thing. - jansen
#2. apocalyptic wagner prelude, melancholia.
grandiose and attention-blackmailing as only lars von trier knows how, the prelude to melancholia contained more pure, high drama in the fluid form of film than any clit-snipping would ever entail him. pinning unsuspecting audiences [the only viewers lars caters for] to their seats worldwide, whether in a festival environment or amongst a happy family-night crowd, both he and wagner made sure folks understood the terms of their forthcoming cinematic experience: loud. difficult. apocalypse. lars von trier. - jansen
#1. the elevator scene, drive.
few scenes in recent times have been so microcosmic of the sum of its parts in all their elements as the breaking point of this year’s best piece of genre filmmaking. from winding refn’s showy visual panache to the sweltering heat of the moment, driver’s in for the kill mentality both magnetically romantic and maniacally over-the-top will not soon be forgotten. shocking, sweet and ultimately sad, the elevator scene will enter the echelon – alongside the likes of de niro’s you talkin’ to me? – of filmic moments equal parts entertainment, exasperation and exposure. - jansen
