Christmas in July: The (Halfway) Best of 2011

It's July. Half of 2011 is gone. Time to round up the best of what we've seen. I honestly thought I'd have many more beloved contenders at this point (I certainly did last year), but such is life. Sometimes the gold is scattered, and sometimes it's simply scarce. (And I don't want to sound like a whiner, but there's even a handful of things below I'm not all that nuts about.)

But let's not focus on that! Positivity, positivity. Here are my thus-far faves of 2011, in handy Oscar-ish categories. A few of them are bound to make it to the December home stretch:

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Marion Cotillard,
"Midnight in Paris"
Melissa McCarthy,
"Bridesmaids"
Wendy McClendon-Covey,
"Bridesmaids"
Amy Ryan, "Win Win"
Juno Temple, "Kaboom"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (do not adjust your sets!)

Michael Fassbender,
"Jane Eyre"
Bruce Greenwood,
"Meek's Cutoff"
John Krasinski,
"Something Borrowed"
Christopher Plummer, "Beginners"
Mark Strong, "Green Lantern"

BEST ACTRESS

Juliette Binoche,
"Certified Copy"
Mia Wasikowska, "Jane Eyre"
Kristen Wiig, "Bridesmaids"
Michelle Williams,
"Meek's Cutoff"

BEST ACTOR (easily the weakest bunch)

Mel Gibson, "The Beaver"
Hamish Linklater, "The Future"
William Shimell,
"Certified Copy"

BEST DIRECTOR

Miranda July, "The Future"
Abbas Kiarostami,
"Certified Copy"
Terrence Malick,
"The Tree of Life"
Kelly Reichardt, "Meek's Cutoff"

BEST SCREENPLAY

Miranda July, "The Future"
Abbas Kiarostami,
"Certified Copy"
Tom McCarthy, "Win Win"
Mike Mills, "Beginners"
Jonathan Raymond,
"Meek's Cutoff"
Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, "Bridesmaids"

BEST PICTURE

"Bridesmaids"
"Certified Copy"
"The Future"
"Meek's Cutoff"
"The Tree of Life"

(Special mention for "Page One: Inside the New York Times," which I currently have a semi-irrational crush on. Review coming soon!)

If you're reading this, what have I missed that could really beef up these lists? At the top of my must-see queue at the moment are "Incendies," "City of Life and Death" and "Cave of Forgotten Dreams."

'Water for Elephants' Review

In my review of "Water for Elephants," a film so bad you almost miss its technical beauty, I name-dropped art director David Crank (among others), but failed to mention production designer Jack Fisk, the industry whiz behind "There Will Be Blood," "Mulholland Dr." and Terrence Malick's most recent projects (including "The Tree of Life"). Alas, not even Fisk's good deeds go unpunished in a production that lumbers like a 9,000-pound...well, you know.

Want more wrath? Read my full review of "Water for Elephants," now online at SouthPhillyReview.com. CLICK HERE. (I wanted to adore it, cross my heart.)

Spring Movie Preview

I've got your spring filmgoing plans all wrapped up with my new preview article, which highlights a handful of alternatives to all the unstoppable sequels headed our way. I chose the nice spring-y image below for this post, but wait until you see which image my editors chose to lead with after the jump.

Read the full article, now online at SouthPhillyReview.com. CLICK HERE.