Counting Down Brandon’s Favorite Movies of 2011! 7. Bridesmaids, directed by Paul Feig. I called it. When the trailer for this movie first hit about this time last year, I said Melissa McCarthy was going to steal the movie. She did, and she now has the Oscar nomination to show for it (and an Emmy too because there’s no way she won that thing based on the dreck that is Mike and Molly alone). McCarthy has had a great year with many people hailing her as a newcomer. The thing is she’s not. She was excellent as Sookie for 7 years on Gilmore Girls and those brilliant sketches she did on SNL (Hidden Valley Ranch and the balloons), I saw her do those at The Groundlings four years ago. McCarthy deserves all the recognition she’s been getting, but she’s deserved it for the past decade not just this year. And she’s not the only hilarious woman in this hilarious movie-Wendi McClendon-Covey (my favorite Reno 911 alum), Ellie Kemper, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, and Kristen Wiig (who co-wrote the movie with Annie Mumulo, also earning an Oscar nod for their screenplay) all deliver their fair share of laughs as well. The movie features some talented men as well in Jon Hamm and Chris O’Dowd. It’s also directed by Paul Feig, creator of my all-time favorite TV show, Freaks and Geeks, so the talent was deep here, and it shows. The movie is both extremely funny and extremely relatable as these women feel like actual people instead of just types like in so many comedies. I didn’t laugh harder at a movie all year than I did at Melissa McCarthy driving a minivan full of puppies or just about any scene in Bridesmaids.

There’s always something on the pop culture landscape to look forward to and that

So early in the year, I posted this list of my most anticipated entertainments of the year. Since we are now over halfway through 2011, I thought I’d look back on the list. A lot of these items have been released and I thought I’d share a brief rundown on my feelings about them.

Super 8, Smallville, Scream 4, Doctor Who? What did I think about all these and more? Find out after the jump.

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