Favorite films of 2011

[kowhite]

Tree of Life is probably my favorite of the year.

[Impact]

What's it stand for, "you sucked but we can't quite call it an F"?

Actually from what I remember it was one of those special grades they give kids sometimes like S.

[Dementeleus]

That makes it even funnier.

[Ezen Baklattan]

1. The Artist

2. Drive

3. Hugo

4. The Descendants

5. 50/50

6. The Muppets

7. Rango

8. Win Win

9. Midnight In Paris

10. Super 8

11. Bridesmaids

12. Contagion

13. Source Code

14. Beginners

15. Crazy, Stupid, Love

16. The Adventures Of Tintin

17. Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes

18. Our Idiot Brother

19. 30 Minutes Or Less

20. Paul

21. A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas

22. Horrible Bosses

23. The Tree Of Life

24. Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows: Part 2

25. Footloose

26. Captain America: The First Avenger

27. The Lincoln Lawyer

28. Insidious

28. The Adjustment Bureau

30. Thor

31. Cedar Rapids

32. Just Go With It

33. Fast Five

34. Limitless

35. No Strings Attached

36. Arthur

37. Sucker Punch

38. Hop

39. The Green Hornet

[Travod]

Drive is my number two.

[baumer]

Here is my top ten of the year:

1) Rise of the Planet of the Apes: Completely blew me away.

2) Bridesmaids: Funny, touching and some of the best writing of the year.

3) Crazy Stupid Love: Perhaps the best script of the year.

4) Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: The last 15 minutes knocks it out of the number one slot.

5) Transformers 3: The most amazing visual experience of the year.

6) Our Idiot Brother: Another very strong script and a tour de force performance from Rudd.

7) Midnight in Paris: Allen's best film in two decades.

8) My Week with Marilyn: It should be a two horse race this year between Mara and Williams for best actress.

9) Scream 4: Brings the franchise back to the glory days. Almost perfect film.

10) X-Men FC: The best X-Men film ever imo.

[Noctis]

Apes is so average and forgettable, IMHO.

[75Live]

I will just do top 10

1. Hugo

2. The Muppets

3. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

4. Sherlock Holmes 2

5. XM:FC

6. Captain America

7. Rise of the Planet of the Apes

8. Paul

9. Source Code

10. Fast Five

[baumer]

Hugo and Paul would probably make my top 20.

[tawasal]

Favorite movies of 2011:

1. The Rise of the Planet of the Apes
   
2. Super 8
   
3. Fast Five
   
4. Bridesmaids
   
5. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
   
6. The Help
   
7. 50/50
   
8. The Mechanic
   
9. Cars 2
   
10. Thor
    
11. Rio
    
12. Rango
    
13. Limitless
    
14. Captain America
    
15. The Smurfs
    

These are the ones I have seen.

[75Live]

Hugo and Paul would probably make my top 20.

Paul is more of a personal reason. I finally went to one of those kind of conventions in 2010 and the beginning 10 minutes of the getting a pizza in the hotel room and the crazy peopel was almost identical to what I experienced. If it wasn't for that, it probably wouldn't me in my top 10 either. Scream 4 was close, but didn't quite make it for me.

[baumer]

I found Paul to be one of the funniest and smartest films of the year. So that's why it's in my top 20.

[Gopher]

I haven't seen a lot, because I'm not a film critic and I don't live in either NY or LA. But these are the best of the 73 movies I saw in 2011.

Some movies worth shouting out that didn't make the next two lists:

The Adventures of Tintin

Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey

The Guard

Margin Call

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Here's a few films I loved that didn't make the cut, from worst to best.

Mission: Impossible- Ghost Protocol: The premise is silly, but whatever. Brad Bird can make a damn great action movie. The Dubai scene is one of 2011's most memorable moments.

Midnight in Paris- Woody Allen's best movie in a long time.

Weekend- You haven't heard of this, probably. But it features one of the most revelatory and heartfelt relationships I've seen on film in recent years. It's is on Netflix instant, I recommend watching it.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy- Gary Oldman effing owns this movie. And given the terrific cast surrounding him, that's a stupendous accomplishment.

The Muppets- This movie addresses the nostalgia for the characters in a unique, profound way while also functioning as a hilarious, emotional ride. Long live the Muppets.

And now, my list:

10. Bridesmaids- Possibly the best movie to ever come out of Apatow's wheelhouse. Superb script, hysterical performances, and it made me love Kristen Wiig. I didn't know I could do that.

9. Win Win- Thomas McCarthy is a national treasure. He can take an established premise (it's really The Blind Side meets Rocky) and squeeze every bit of heart and genuine emotion out of it.

8. Rango- One of the weirdest, coolest, most original CGI movies ever made. I'm amazed a studio even backed this.

7. Beginners- No ordinary indie romcom. It's like a beautiful, unusual poem, with a nonlinear narrative and profound character emotion. Ewan and Melanie have terrific chemistry, and Plummer is wonderful.

6. Moneyball- One of the best scripts and performances (Brad Pitt) of the year. I'll be watching this one for a long time.

5. The Descendants- The contrived last fifteen minutes keep this from the #1 spot. Otherwise, what a smart, funny, emotionally poignant film.

4. Hugo- Scorsese makes a magnificent ode to the films of old while embracing state of the art technology. The result is simply magical. 3D has never been so transcendent.

3. 50/50- I had no idea a movie could be so funny and sad at the same time. As a survivor's story, this movie may be groundbreaking.

2. Tree of Life- Terrence Malick tries to capture our existence, past, present and future. Guess what? It works. It also features Brad Pitt's career-best performance.

1. Drive- I've never seen anything like Drive. This is a downright spellbinding movie.

In short, a great year for 'very good' movies, an okay year for great ones, and the rest, whatever. Critique away!

[rockNrollaDIM]

Caught a few more this weekend. Probably won't post a final top 10 until February.

1. Bridesmaids (9.5)
   
2. Drive (9.5)
   
3. 50/50 (9.2)
   
4. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (9.0)
   
5. Hanna (8.8)
   
6. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (8.5)
   
7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (8.0)
   
8. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (8.0)
   
9. Horrible Bosses (8.0)
   
10. Margin Call (8.0)
    
11. The Muppets (8.0)
    
12. Paranormal Activity 3 (8.0)
    
13. X-Men: First Class (8.0)
    
14. Kung Fu Panda 2 (8.0)
    
15. The Descendants (7.5)
    
16. Moneyball (7.5)
    
17. Hugo: 3D (7.2)
    
18. The Ides of March (7.2)
    
19. Unknown (7.0)
    
20. Crazy, Stupid, Love (7.0)
    
21. Red Riding Hood (7.0)
    
22. The Mechanic (7.0)
    
23. Insidious (7.0)
    
24. Midnight in Paris (7.0)
    
25. What’s Your Number? (6.5)
    
26. The Adjustment Bureau (6.5)
    
27. Fast Five (6.5)
    
28. J. Edgar (6.5)
    
29. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn (I) (6.0)
    
30. Bad Teacher (5.0)
    
31. Scream 4 (5.0)
    
32. The Hangover II (5.0)
    
33. I Am Number Four (5.0)
    
34. The Roommate (3.5)
    
35. Battle: Los Angeles (2.0)
    

[Kvikk Lunsj]

1. Tree of Life 10/10
   
2. 50/50 9.5/10
   
3. Drive 8.5/10
   
4. Moneyball 8/10
   
5. Take Shelter 8/10
   
6. The Descendants 8/10
   
7. Rise of the Planet of the Apes 8/10
   
8. Super 8 8/10
   
9. X-Men first class 8/10
   
10. War Horse 7.5/10
    
11. Midnight in Paris 7.5/10
    
12. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 7.5/10
    
13. Contagion 7.5/10
    
14. Young Adult 7.5/10
    
15. Source Code 7.5/10
    
16. Win/Win 7.5/10
    
17. The Conspirator 7.5/10
    
18. Warrior 7/10
    
19. The Help 7/10
    
20. Horrible Bosses 7/10
    
21. Crazy, Stupid, Love 7/10
    
22. 30 Minutes or Less 7/10
    
23. Rio 7/10
    
24. Restless 7/10
    
25. Bridesmaids 7/10
    
26. The Adjustment Bureau 6/10
    
27. Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows 6/10
    
28. Thor 6/10
    
29. Paul 6/10
    
30. Friend’s With Benefits 6/10
    
31. Lincoln Lawyer 6/10
    
32. Damsels in Distress 5.5/10
    
33. The Debt 5.5/10
    
34. Rango 5/10
    
35. Bad Teacher 5/10
    
36. Green Lantern 5/10
    
37. Transformers: DOTM 4/10
    
38. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides 3/10
    
39. Unknown 3/10
    
40. Cowboy and Aliens 3/10
    
41. Captain America 3/10
    
42. Sucker Punch 3/10
    

[RichWS]

Finally watched Rango and Planet of the Apes yesterday. Loved both.

[acsc1312]

I finally have my top 10:

1. Dragon Tattoo

2. Hugo

3. Midnight In Paris

4. Win Win

5. The Descendants

6. Drive

7. Warrior

8. Beginners

9. War Horse

10. The Help

HM: Tree of Life. I haven't watched this a second time yet, but some if it just made it miss my top 10

[Impact]

MI4 was really really good.

[SchumacherFTW]

For me I guess it is:

1 Hugo: from the opening shot I was absolutely captivated, in a way that no other film this year managed. It was a joy to watch from start to finish, and I cannot wait until the day I can pick up a copy on Blu ray 3D.

2 Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: Utterly compelling, complex and deep. Absolutely intriguing and phenomenly acted. How the cast isn't getting awards love is beyond me. Hardy and Cumberbatch are fantastic support, and Oldman is absolutely phenomenal as the lead. He should he the frontrunner of the oscar race this season, not on the bloody fringes.

3 Rise of the Planet of the Apes: The biggest surprise of all this year for me quality wise. They knocked this out of the park completely in my eyes, and was absolutely the best Blockbuster movie of 2011.

4 The Adventures of Tintin: A return to classic Spielberg in my eyes, fun, breezy and action packed from start to finish. Snowy is the most awesome on screen dog in years.

5 A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas: I can't critique this film because it's pointless to do so. I've always loved the franchise, and I adored this one. Zany, stupid, random and Trejo! What more could you want from a stoner movie.

6 Senna: For a massive formula one fan such as myself, this was a joy to watch as well as the most hard to watch film i've ever seen. Seeing Ayrton Senna's genius on the big screen was amazing, but watching his fatal accident on the screen was gut wrenching and honestly heart breaking.

7 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II: Cracking finale and a hell of an experience. Really the best way to finish off the most prominent franchise thus far in my lifetime.

8 Real Steel: Yes it's Rocky with Robots, but that doesn't mean that it was great fun. Engaging, heartfelt and pure awesome made it some of the most fun I had in a theatre all year.

9 The Inbetweeners Movie: After 3 years showing us what its like in the UK equivalent of high school on TV, Simon, Will, Neil and Jay make the jump to the big screen to go on their first lads holiday together. Hilarious movie, best comedy of the yeah (minus Harold and Kumar).

10 The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo: Intense, shocking, thought provoking, tough to watch and cracking. Much better upon repeat viewing. Mara definitely looked like she gave everything for this performance and is unfortunate not to be getting any awards love.

Honorable Mentions:

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

Thor

X-Men First Class

TT 3D: Closer to the Edge

Super 8

Red State

The Smurfs (Sue me, I thought it was fun)

[Gopher]

The Smurfs (Sue me, I thought it was fun)

I'll see you in court, sir.