Top movies of 2011 (1 Viewer)

[Andy Dufresne]

I'm shocked by the number of 2011 movies that I didn't see.

My top 10 (Yes, I like a particular type of movie)

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2

X-Men: First Class - Looked great

Source Code

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

Thor

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Captain America: The First Avenger

Battle: Los Angeles

The Adjustment Bureau

Movies I liked okay, but weren't great

Limitless

Super 8

I Am Number

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Fright Night

My Week with Marilyn

Movies I saw but didn't care for

Rango

Rio

Cars 2

Killer Elite

Melancholia

Movies I have every intention of seeing sometime soon

Unknown

The Lincoln Lawyer

Sucker Punch

Hanna

Soul Surfer

Fast Five

Kung Fu Panda 2

The Tree of Life

Another Earth

Attack the Block

The Help

Contagion

Drive

Dolphin Tale

Moneyball

Real Steel

In Time

Hugo

The Artist

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

War Horse

 

[mon]

Only saw 20-25 movies this year. I'll have to give this some thought, because I can't seem to remember even half of them. My favorite was probably Midnight in Paris. Tree of Life was well done and was fascinating to me, mostly because it reminded me of my family life as a kid. The movie I most wanted to see is Melancholia, but it wasn't released in my town.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Only saw 20-25 movies this year. I'll have to give this some thought, because I can't seem to remember even half of them. My favorite was probably Midnight in Paris. Tree of Life was well done and was fascinating to me, mostly because it reminded me of my family life as a kid. The movie I most wanted to see is Melancholia, but it wasn't released in my town.

There are parts to like. The opening montage is one. And the last half of part 2 is pretty good. The first part is simply Von Trier showing you what it's like to be depressed and doesn't really even fit with the idea that a planet will soon collide with the earth as none of the characters in that part even know about that.

 

[timschochet]

Midnight In Paris was the best film I saw last year. The Help was a close second.

 

[mon]

Movies I have every intention of seeing sometime soon

The Tree of Life

Watch it on Amazon for $0.99.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Movies I have every intention of seeing sometime soon

The Tree of Life

Watch it on Amazon for $0.99.

Sweet, thanks!

 

[pantagrapher]

Midnight In Paris was the best film I saw last year.

Good call. It's not artsy. It doesn't break any ground—it's your standard Woody Allen. But there was something about it that was very fulfilling. It was so ridiculous and optimistic. I really enjoyed it.Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is also on my list. Those were the two movies that stuck out for me this year. Admittedly, I do not go out to a lot of movies.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Was going to start a thread, but I personally see tons more movies on DVD than I do new releases in the theater. Was thinking about starting voting like NV does with albums for movies that were released on DVD this year for a 'best of' list. That way people could use that and watch the movie right away.

I will try to put a list together anyway.

 

[KarmaPolice]

..and for a list completely opposite of Andy's

My quick top 10 movies that I could think of so far:

Tree of Life

Another Earth

Barney's Version

Win Win

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil

Rango

Water for Elephants

Attack the Block

Kung Fu Panda 2

Super

Here would be a list that I wouldn't consider to be that great, but I had fun watching:

Source Code

Battle: LA

Fast Five

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Crazy, Stupid Love

The Change-Up

Insidious

Paul

Lincoln Lawyer

Sucker Punch

Hobo with a Shotgun

My biggest disappointment of the year would be:

Super 8

And some movies that I thought were just terrible:

Green Hornet

Cedar Rapids

Bad Teacher

Drive Angry

Your Highness

Transformers

Cowboys & Aliens

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Tucker & Dale was technically 2010, but I want to see that one too.

Interesting that you have Water For Elephants, KP. I think I want to see that one too.

 

[pantagrapher]

Cedar RapidsBad Teacher

I thought Cedar Rapids was nice. Nothing great, but I thought it was enjoyable.But yeah, Bad Teacher was absolutely horrible.

 

[Major]

Looking back, there weren't a lot of great movies this year.

The Descendants was a good flick. Midnight in Paris, 50/50 and Girl w/ Dragon Tatt were probably my favorites. Still want to see The Artist and Melancholia.

 

[pantagrapher]

Has anyone seen Ebert's top movie of 2011: A Separation?

 

[Jaysus]

I am pretty sure that the only new movie I saw in 2011 was the Smurfs movie

 

[KarmaPolice]

Cedar RapidsBad Teacher

I thought Cedar Rapids was nice. Nothing great, but I thought it was enjoyable.

Just found this movie completely unfunny despite the 2 leads being perfect for those roles.

 

[Fennis]

Has anyone seen Ebert's top movie of 2011: A Separation?

It has grossed $66,000 so far.

 

[pantagrapher]

Cedar RapidsBad Teacher

I thought Cedar Rapids was nice. Nothing great, but I thought it was enjoyable.

Just found this movie completely unfunny despite the 2 leads being perfect for those roles.

I agree with that. It wasn't very funny (they really wasted John C. Reilly). There was a lot of potential in this movie that was never realized. But I liked Ed Helms. He was just so .. likable. And it did a decent job of depicting the small-time trade conference.When I think of movies that had huge comedy potential for a perfectly cast lead, this year nothing was worse than Our Idiot Brother.

 

[Apple Juice]

A very down year for movies. Maybe the worst I can think of since I started going to the show. Super 8 and Drive are at the top of my list.

 

[Workhorse]

I can honestly say that Tintin was the most enjoyable movie I saw this past year, but Raiders of the Lost Ark is my favorite movie of all time so it was an easy choice. Slightly ahead of Midnight in Paris, which I really liked.

 

[The Dreaded Marco]

My favorites:

Take Shelter

The Descendents

Win Win

Drive

Midnight In Paris

The Trip

Moneyball

Buck

50/50

Source Code

Still want to see:

The Artist

Melancholia

Hesher

Beginners

Hugo

Tree of Life

 

[jonboltz]

Ooof, looking at that list this was a really bad year for movies, IMHO.

P.S. Tree of Life-- worst movie I've ever seen, and its not even close. This from someone that fashions themself as a pretentious liberal type and generally like "thinking" movies over action/suspense.

 

[tommyboy]

I loved lincoln lawyer. Ill have to put some thought into a list and post later

 

[Andy Dufresne]

I must have been looking at an incomplete list of movies because I missed that I still want to see Take Shelter and 50/50.

And Win Win was a good movie too.

 

[Cliff Clavin]

Best:

The Help (Drama)

Planet of the Apes (Action)

30 Minutes or Less / Super (Comedy)

Worst:

Midnight in Paris

Tree of Life

Drive

 

[Crazy Canuck]

Midnight In Paris was the best film I saw last year. The Help was a close second.

I'm trying to figure when Woody Allen went from being a brilliant comic film artist to an old perv spinning hackneyed garbage that seemingly only Jewish people still like. That's no dig on you per se, Tim. This is what I saw coming out of the theater and heard among friends. My Jewish friends love that film. Everyone else thought it was garbage. I seriously heard one old Jewish lady come out of the theater declaring, "I think that's one of his best films ever!"

Really? A bunch of kitsch period references held together by a pretty city and a whiny lead actor? This is a good film now?

 

[Cliff Clavin]

Midnight In Paris was the best film I saw last year. The Help was a close second.

I'm trying to figure when Woody Allen went from being a brilliant comic film artist to an old perv spinning hackneyed garbage that seemingly only Jewish people still like. That's no dig on you per se, Tim. This is what I saw coming out of the theater and heard among friends. My Jewish friends love that film. Everyone else thought it was garbage. I seriously heard one old Jewish lady come out of the theater declaring, "I think that's one of his best films ever!"

Really? A bunch of kitsch period references held together by a pretty city and a whiny lead actor? This is a good film now?

Its a great film for outing the pseudo-intellectual types. There is nothing good about but drop names like Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Picaso, etc. and you'll get a bunch of wannabes saying it is great.

 

[cstu]

Here's the top ones I've seen (no particular order):

Drive

The Help

50/50

X-Men First Class

Midnight in Paris

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Warrior

Source Code

The Guard

Super 8

Crazy, Stupid Love

Win Win

Limitless

The Adjustment Bureau

Horrible Bosses

Another Earth

Bridesmaids

Terrible year for comedies.

 

[Jutz]

We Bought A Zoo

Just saw it last week and might be one of the best movies I've ever seen. I checked the release date and it was Dec of 2011 so it makes it in. The only other movie I would consider is Moneyball, but WBAZ was better by a good margin.

I haven't seen many movies this year, but I have a hard time believing anything could beat this. Maybe The Help, but I haven't seen it.

 

[cstu]

Midnight In Paris was the best film I saw last year. The Help was a close second.

I'm trying to figure when Woody Allen went from being a brilliant comic film artist to an old perv spinning hackneyed garbage that seemingly only Jewish people still like. That's no dig on you per se, Tim. This is what I saw coming out of the theater and heard among friends. My Jewish friends love that film. Everyone else thought it was garbage. I seriously heard one old Jewish lady come out of the theater declaring, "I think that's one of his best films ever!"

Really? A bunch of kitsch period references held together by a pretty city and a whiny lead actor? This is a good film now?

Its a great film for outing the pseudo-intellectual types. There is nothing good about but drop names like Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Picaso, etc. and you'll get a bunch of wannabes saying it is great.

Not the best of the year but I enjoyed it. I find Owen Wilson annoying as well but it did a pretty good of showing his character's transformation. The movie was often cheesy but I still think it's a good movie.

 

[Fennis]

We Bought A Zoo

Just saw it last week and might be one of the best movies I've ever seen. I checked the release date and it was Dec of 2011 so it makes it in. The only other movie I would consider is Moneyball, but WBAZ was better by a good margin.

I haven't seen many movies this year, but I have a hard time believing anything could beat this. Maybe The Help, but I haven't seen it.

If you saw it last week why would you have to check the release date?

 

[Jutz]

We Bought A Zoo

Just saw it last week and might be one of the best movies I've ever seen. I checked the release date and it was Dec of 2011 so it makes it in. The only other movie I would consider is Moneyball, but WBAZ was better by a good margin.

I haven't seen many movies this year, but I have a hard time believing anything could beat this. Maybe The Help, but I haven't seen it.

If you saw it last week why would you have to check the release date?

I can't really come up with a valid explanation for that

 

[Ministry of Pain]

1. Tree of Life

2. Hugo

3. Drive

4. Midnight in Paris

5. The Artist

6. We Need to Talk About Kevin

7. Take Shelter

8. 13 Assassins

9. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

10. Rise of the Planet of the Apes

 

[Cliff Clavin]

Midnight In Paris was the best film I saw last year. The Help was a close second.

I'm trying to figure when Woody Allen went from being a brilliant comic film artist to an old perv spinning hackneyed garbage that seemingly only Jewish people still like. That's no dig on you per se, Tim. This is what I saw coming out of the theater and heard among friends. My Jewish friends love that film. Everyone else thought it was garbage. I seriously heard one old Jewish lady come out of the theater declaring, "I think that's one of his best films ever!"

Really? A bunch of kitsch period references held together by a pretty city and a whiny lead actor? This is a good film now?

Its a great film for outing the pseudo-intellectual types. There is nothing good about but drop names like Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Picaso, etc. and you'll get a bunch of wannabes saying it is great.

Not the best of the year but I enjoyed it. I find Owen Wilson annoying as well but it did a pretty good of showing his character's transformation. The movie was often cheesy but I still think it's a good movie.

I really don't get what was good about it. The lead (Wilson) was terrible. The "romance" between him and Adrianna was forced and painful to watch. The dialogue between him, his wife and her parents was ridiculous. It was billed as a romantic-comedy but I don't recall any humor. Sheen's character was just too over the top. The only character that interested me was Zelda but she was nothing but a bit role.

 

[Fennis]

My top list - and plenty more to see:

The 3 Best:

Beginners

The Help

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, Part 2

The next 7:

Crazy Stupid Love

The Artist

Tintin

The Descendants

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Project Nim

The Muppets

 

[Time Kibitzer]

Top 5 great films:

Incendies

Drive

The Skin I Live In

Small Town Murder Songs

Meek's Cutoff

Other decent films:

Hesher

Moneyball

30 Minutes or Less

Rango

Bridesmaids

Knuckle

Outrage

Melancholia

Terri

Bellflower

Still haven't seen any movies from November or December though.

 

[The Z Machine]

...5. The Artist6. We Need to Talk About Kevin9. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

I'm interested in hearing more about these as I may see them.

 

[pantagrapher]

Midnight In Paris was the best film I saw last year. The Help was a close second.

I'm trying to figure when Woody Allen went from being a brilliant comic film artist to an old perv spinning hackneyed garbage that seemingly only Jewish people still like. That's no dig on you per se, Tim. This is what I saw coming out of the theater and heard among friends. My Jewish friends love that film. Everyone else thought it was garbage. I seriously heard one old Jewish lady come out of the theater declaring, "I think that's one of his best films ever!"

Really? A bunch of kitsch period references held together by a pretty city and a whiny lead actor? This is a good film now?

I liked it. And I'm not Jewish.

 

[pantagrapher]

Meek's Cutoff

I was pretty disappointed with this one. OK, very disappointed. I can dig me some minimalism, but this was just spare. Short on everything: color, plot, acting, meaning.

 

[Yankee23Fan]

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Transformers: Dark of the MoonSoul SurferDolphin Tale

I only saw these, and none in the theatre.

 

[Yankee23Fan]

Wait - I saw The Muppet Movie in the theatre - yup, I did go to one movie this year. Thankfully, it was funny enough that I wasn't ready to kill myself having to watch it with all the kids in the complex.

 

[Time Kibitzer]

Meek's Cutoff

I was pretty disappointed with this one. OK, very disappointed. I can dig me some minimalism, but this was just spare. Short on everything: color, plot, acting, meaning.

I thought the movie looked beautiful, and the acting was great. As for the meaning and the plot being sparse, that's probably true seeing as the film was based on a real event that wasn't terribly important or anything. Even though the story isn't really an important one, I still thought it was interesting and I liked the characters, so the minimalist structure didn't bother me.

 

[Kenny Powers]

50/50

Midnight in Paris

The Guard

Crazy, Stupid Love

Win Win

Horrible Bosses

Bridesmaids

Terrible year for comedies.

Yet you have 7 comedies of different types in your list

 

[scoobygang]

Its a great film for outing the pseudo-intellectual types. There is nothing good about but drop names like Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Picaso, etc. and you'll get a bunch of wannabes saying it is great.

I'm not sure what you mean. If there's a consesnsus about Midnight in Paris (among intellectuals and psuedo-intellectuals alike), it's that it's nothing more than an entertaining trifle. Nobody who can string more than two sentences together has claimed any degree of profundity for the film. Now, some people nevertheless found it an enjoyable and diverting 90 minutes in the theater (or in my case, on the couch). Some didn't. But even Allen clearly sees it as cinematic bubblegum. All the intellectuals and pseudo-intellectuals are talking about Tree of Life or Melancholia. Or even Driver.

 

[Abraham]

We Bought A Zoo

Just saw it last week and might be one of the best movies I've ever seen. I checked the release date and it was Dec of 2011 so it makes it in. The only other movie I would consider is Moneyball, but WBAZ was better by a good margin.

I haven't seen many movies this year, but I have a hard time believing anything could beat this. Maybe The Help, but I haven't seen it.

If you saw it last week why would you have to check the release date?

I can't really come up with a valid explanation for that

That made my day.

I didn't go to the movie this year. Most of what i saw was netflix or rental Of what I did see I remember being very disappointed in Transformers (really enjoyed the first two) and The Conspirator. Limitless and Lincoln lawyer were entertaining but really rushed the ending. Sucker Punch was fantastic. Fast Five and x men were very enjoyable. 13 Assassins was okay.

I loved the Swedish tattoo and like fincher so I'm sure that will be great. Really wanted to see "drive" and "crazy stupid love" as well. Nothing else really sparked my interest this year.

As a note, "small town murder songs" would be a great name for a rock bad or album.

 

[sports_fan]

My Top Ten (no particular order)

Drive

Warrior

Fast Five

The Interrupters

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Bobby Fischer Against the World

Kung Fu Panda 2

The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo

Thor

The Kid With a Bike

 

[tommyboy]

from what I saw:

Harry Potter part 2

Transformers

TinTin

Battle: LA

Lincoln Lawyer

Soul Surfer

Contagion

Moneyball

I'd like to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie. Other than that 2010 was a much better movie year.

 

[Ministry of Pain]

...5. The Artist6. We Need to Talk About Kevin9. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

I'm interested in hearing more about these as I may see them.

The Artist is an incredible film, saw this with my wife over the holiday weekend. It's a silent film if you didn't know already and it really is stunning to look at and also the acting is superb. Kevin is a great movie and I got lucky to see it as it's not out most places, special screening here in Miami, Tilda Swinton as usual very good. There's a lot of things I do not like about Tilda and she has a very unique private life but her chops as an actress are pretty darn good.Tinker Tailor has elements that I love in film. It takes place in the 70s when cell phones and a lot of modern technology that puts a quick end to many Hollywood Films is taken away by setting stories in an earlier time. No Country For Old Men could not be shot in 2010 because they would just use cell phones to call for help...you couldn't do that 30-40 years ago. TTSS is a spy type film, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, several other strong performances.

 

[Ministry of Pain]

Its a great film for outing the pseudo-intellectual types. There is nothing good about but drop names like Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Picaso, etc. and you'll get a bunch of wannabes saying it is great.

I'm not sure what you mean. If there's a consesnsus about Midnight in Paris (among intellectuals and psuedo-intellectuals alike), it's that it's nothing more than an entertaining trifle. Nobody who can string more than two sentences together has claimed any degree of profundity for the film. Now, some people nevertheless found it an enjoyable and diverting 90 minutes in the theater (or in my case, on the couch). Some didn't. But even Allen clearly sees it as cinematic bubblegum. All the intellectuals and pseudo-intellectuals are talking about Tree of Life or Melancholia. Or even Driver.

Scoob is right, the film wasn't deep, wasn't trying to send a message, it was a 90 minute escape and played solid all summer long and even during the holidays was still doing some business at theaters. I thought it was great to see the car pull up and Owen Wilson gets in and hangs out with some of the best and brightest of the 20th Century. It's a spoof of sorts but it worked really well on the screen. I like movies set in Paris by default as I also was a big big fan of Hugo which a lot of people missed out on, not sure why.

 

[Cliff Clavin]

Its a great film for outing the pseudo-intellectual types. There is nothing good about but drop names like Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Picaso, etc. and you'll get a bunch of wannabes saying it is great.

I'm not sure what you mean. If there's a consesnsus about Midnight in Paris (among intellectuals and psuedo-intellectuals alike), it's that it's nothing more than an entertaining trifle. Nobody who can string more than two sentences together has claimed any degree of profundity for the film. Now, some people nevertheless found it an enjoyable and diverting 90 minutes in the theater (or in my case, on the couch). Some didn't. But even Allen clearly sees it as cinematic bubblegum. All the intellectuals and pseudo-intellectuals are talking about Tree of Life or Melancholia. Or even Driver.

What made it more enjoyable than any other romantic-comedy? I honestly can't think of anything. Can anyone say they enjoyed Owen Wilson's acting? People seem to like it because it is a) Woody Allen b) set in Paris c) has some cultural icons. Great. But just because you mash those things together doesn't make it a good movie.I put it in the exact same group as Tree of Life and Driver (haven't seen Melancholia). To each his own. I'd just like to hear why people enjoyed it other than 'it was light and fun'.

 

[Papa Georgio]