Here is my review of the films I which saw in 2011.  In a change from the past few years, this does NOT include movies released in 2011 which I saw in 2012.  Which is why The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo doesn’t feature prominently on this list.  I know that I am missing some great movies by adopting this strategy.  Furthermore, movies that were on last year’s “Best Of” list should also be included on this year’s list (using the new rules) but I decided to omit them than recognize them twice.

While I wouldn’t say that 2011 was a bad year for movies, it wasn’t particularly special.  Maybe I just chose poorly…  Where in years past I would have to whittle down my list of ‘best’ films, this year it felt like work to simply come up with 10.  It’s not that there is an abundance of lowlights, but there weren’t many highlights.

• Top 10 Films of 2011 (in Alphabetical Order):
  
  • Another Earth
  • Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey
  • El Bulli: Cooking in Progress
  • Incendies
  • Last Days Here
  • Moneyball
  • On The Ice
  • Shame
  • Take Shelter
  • The Guard
• Bottom 5 films of 2011 (in Alphabetical Order):
  • Bridesmaids
  • Hangover: Part II
  • Sucker Punch
  • Thor
  • Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon
• Best Director: Constance Marks and Philip Shane for Being Elmo
• Best Actress: Lubna Azabal in Incendies
• Best Actor: Michael Fassbender in Shame
• Best Supporting Actress: Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin in Incendies
• Best Supporting Actor: Shea Whigham in Take Shelter
• Best Inanimate Object: Robert in Rubber
• Best Original Screenplay: Brit Marling and Mike Cahill for Another Earth
• Best Adapted Screenplay: Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin for Moneyball
• Best Cinematography: El Bulli: Cooking in Progress
• Most Alarming Cinematic Trend: Once again, 3D and Fake IMAX.
• Most Memorable Lines:
  • Moneyball
    • Peter Brand: I wanted you to see these player evaluations that you asked me to do.
    • Billy Beane: I asked you to do three.
    • Peter Brand: Yeah.
    • Billy Beane: To evaluate three players.
    • Peter Brand: Yeah.
    • Billy Beane: How many you’d do?
    • Peter Brand: Forty-seven.
    • Billy Beane: Okay.
    • Peter Brand: Actually, fifty-one. I don’t know why I lied just then.
  • The Guard
    • Sergeant Gerry Boyle: Now I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, these men are armed and dangerous, and you being an FBI agent you’re more used to shooting at unarmed women and children…
    • FBI agent Wendell Everett: Oh, fuck you, Sergeant!
  • Rubber
    • Man in wheelchair: Excuse me, I hate to be a bother, but… the way I look at it, this scene makes no sense at all. Not that it was great to begin with, but at least I understood it. Now, this is just uh, totally confusing.
• Best Documentary: Last Days Here
• Guilty Pleasures:
  • A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas
  • Red State
  • Hobo with a Shotgun
  • Rubber
• Films I feel guilty for missing:
  • 50/50
  • My Week with Marilyn
  • Drive
  • Beginners
  • Martha Marcy May Marlene
• Films I don’t feel guilty for missing:
  • Midnight in Paris
  • War Horse
  • The Help