This really has been kind of a blah year in terms of media events.  You have to figure when idiots like the Kardashians and Donald Trump garner more attention than movies, music, and books, then we as an artful society have really suffered and lost ground.  It almost feels like the entertainment world really has nothing new and exciting to offer.  Nonetheless, it’s imperative that we celebrate the best of the best (even if our opinions are subjective and have cause for disagreement) and since L.L. is sending me hate mail to write something, here are my picks and pans for 2011:

Best Movie:  Hands down, my choice was INSIDIOUS.  The fact is, though, that I just don’t have time anymore to rush out and see every movie that I want to see, and I kind of have to pick and choose.  My year in the theater was peppered with must-see only flicks and kids movies like ALVIN AND THE CHIPMONKS, CHIPWRECKED!  But INSIDIOUS was the one I really, really wanted to see.  It lived up to the hype of the Facebook preview clips and the blurbs I’ve seen posted everywhere (and you’ve probably seen them too…the campaign where they show people getting interviewed immediately after walking out halfway, most crying or too frightened to talk about what they’d just seen).  The contenders were PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3, CAPTAIN AMERICA and the final HARRY POTTER flick.  I also want to add a DVD flick that I saw at the beginning of the year (which had been released the year before) called THE NEW DAUGHTER.  I thought this movie was quite sensational, and it took me a whole year to get L.L. to finally sit down and watch it.  After all the protests, he finally agreed that he liked it, too.

Worst Movie:  Well, not really.  More like a pan on the motion picture industry in general.  Over the last several years I’ve railed against remakes and reboots of my favorite horror films.  This year I’m pissed off at the idiocy of presenting kick-ass trailers, only to have the movie itself NOT get released on the big screen.  Cases in point: THE POUGHKEEPSIE TAPES and GRAVE ENCOUNTERS.  The previews for both these movies left me drooling and checking the Moviefone app on my iPod, but were released in either limited engagements or direct-to-download releases.  If you’ve made the investment on the film, why wouldn’t you try to recoup your finances?  Even the worst horror films seem to make money at the box office, so what the hell is holding you back?  I have seen reviews for GRAVE ENCOUNTERS, and even though they’ve been unfavorable, I still want to see it.  So take note, Hollywood…don’t take us half-way and leave us like a cheap ho with the clap!

And with an eye to the future:  I’m highly anticipating January’s release of THE DEVIL INSIDE.  The trailers look supremely frightening; especially the NC-17 preview where the priest drowns a baby during it’s baptism (I’m still in shock from watching THAT one).

Hope you enjoyed 2011.  I, for one, could have skipped it, but as my daughter is fond of saying, “You git what you git and don’t pitch a fit!”

Cheers and Blessings for 2012!

© Copyright 2011 by Peter N. Dudar

This entry was posted on January 15, 2012 at 5:30 am and is filed under 2011, Best Of Lists, Exorcism Movies, Ghost Movies, Paranormal, Peter Dudar Reviews with tags Best of 2011, Grave Encounters, Insidious, The Devil Inside, The Poughkeepsie Tapes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.