The Best Films of 2011
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- DirectorTerrence MalickStarsBrad PittSean PennJessica ChastainThe story of a family in Waco, Texas in 1956. The eldest son witnesses the loss of innocence and struggles with his parents' conflicting teachings.The Tree of Life is not just a film. It's a spiritual experience!
- DirectorJeff NicholsStarsMichael ShannonJessica ChastainShea WhighamPlagued by a series of apocalyptic visions, a young husband and father questions whether to shelter his family from a coming storm, or from himself.
- DirectorLucky McKeeStarsPollyanna McIntoshBrandon Gerald FullerLauren Ashley CarterWhen a successful country lawyer captures and attempts to "civilize" the last remaining member of a violent clan that has roamed the Northeast coast for decades, he puts the lives of his family in jeopardy.Raw, shocking, disturbing, twisted and fun! This is a masterful feat by director Lucky McKee. He took a story that could have easily been tossed aside as 'torture porn' and turned it into the most effective film on the subject of misogyny and the abuse that happens within families controlled by prideful power-hungry men. Meanwhile the film, as mean and ugly as it gets at times, keeps a clever sense of humor with richly written characters and witty dialogue. Sean Bridger's performance as Chris Cleek goes down in history with the likes of Jack Nicholson in The Shining and Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet.
- DirectorJay DuplassMark DuplassStarsJason SegelEd HelmsJudy GreerDispatched from his basement room on an errand for his widowed mother, slacker Jeff might discover his destiny (finally) when he spends the day with his unhappily married brother as he tracks his possibly adulterous wife.
- DirectorJoe WrightStarsSaoirse RonanCate BlanchettEric BanaA sixteen-year-old girl who was raised by her father to be the perfect assassin is dispatched on a mission across Europe, tracked by a ruthless intelligence agent and her operatives.The beautiful cinematography, the intensity of direction, editing and unforgettable sound design make an excellent experience.
- DirectorJulia LeighStarsEmily BrowningRachael BlakeEwen LeslieA haunting portrait of Lucy, a young university student drawn into a mysterious hidden world of unspoken desires.
- DirectorLars von TrierStarsKirsten DunstCharlotte GainsbourgKiefer SutherlandTwo sisters find their already strained relationship challenged as a mysterious new planet threatens to collide with Earth.This gorgeous tragedy about the end of the world is Lars von Trier's most accessible and least impressionable films. Though far from the impacts that Dancer in the Dark and Antichrist had on audiences, it's still Lars von Trier. Consider this, his happy movie. The happy movie about the end of the world.
- DirectorTony KayeStarsAdrien BrodyChristina HendricksMarcia Gay HardenA substitute teacher who drifts from classroom to classroom finds a connection to the students and teachers during his latest assignment.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsAsa ButterfieldChloë Grace MoretzChristopher LeeIn 1931 Paris, an orphan living in the walls of a train station gets wrapped up in a mystery involving his late father and an automaton.You can't go wrong with such an excellent story filled with much suspense and mystery while at the same time, fun for the whole family. Martin Scorsese outdoes himself!
- DirectorSpencer SusserStarsJoseph Gordon-LevittDevin BrochuNatalie PortmanA young boy has lost his mother and is losing touch with his father and the world around him. Then he meets Hesher who manages to make his life even more chaotic.
- DirectorJonathan LevineStarsJoseph Gordon-LevittSeth RogenAnna KendrickInspired by a true story, a comedy centered on a 27-year-old guy who learns of his cancer diagnosis and his subsequent struggle to beat the disease.Here's a film that deals with the most devastating subject we, as humans, have to face in today's world. Cancer. Never before has a film treated this subject with such respect to it's audience, as to not manipulate and force tears from our eyes with an overly sappy story. The films also is able to use humor without causing offense to those of us who have lost loved ones to the disease. It's a delicate subject and 50/50 deals with it just right.
- DirectorWes CravenStarsNeve CampbellCourteney CoxDavid ArquetteTen years have passed, and Sidney Prescott, who has put herself back together thanks in part to her writing, is visited by the Ghostface Killer.The most fun I had at the theatres since Grindhouse. Taking a complete 180 degree turn in a different direction from the embarrassing Scream 3, Wes Craven returns with a film as good as the original. It's been ten years and it's just what the series needed. This films feels more like an event. A ride, if you will, without any silly 3D glasses. Just good old fashion murder mystery fun!
- DirectorMatthew VaughnStarsJames McAvoyMichael FassbenderJennifer LawrenceIn the 1960s, superpowered humans Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr work together to find others like them, but Erik's vengeful pursuit of an ambitious mutant who ruined his life causes a schism to divide them.
- DirectorPaul FeigStarsKristen WiigMaya RudolphRose ByrneCompetition between the maid of honor and a bridesmaid, over who is the bride's best friend, threatens to upend the life of an out-of-work pastry chef.
- DirectorSeth GordonStarsJason BatemanCharlie DayJason SudeikisThree friends conspire to murder their awful bosses when they realize they are standing in the way of their happiness.
- DirectorKeith WrightStarsStan RoweSarah SpencerAndy PandiniHarold is suffering from a frightening new disease that is turning him into a zombie. After an experimental new treatment fails, Harold's condition deteriorates and he ends up on the run from a group of violent vigilantes who are out for blood.
- DirectorLynne RamsayStarsTilda SwintonJohn C. ReillyEzra MillerKevin's mother struggles to love her strange child despite the increasingly dangerous things he says and does as he grows up. But Kevin is just getting started, and his final act will be beyond anything anyone imagined.The most frightening film of the year. This psychological mind-bender will keep you up at night, especially if you're a mother! Intense, very disturbing and well shot. There is much missing from the original novel but the film, I feel, took the right approach by focusing on the relationship between the mother and son.
- DirectorPedro AlmodóvarStarsAntonio BanderasElena AnayaJan CornetA brilliant plastic surgeon, haunted by past tragedies, creates a type of synthetic skin that withstands any kind of damage. His guinea pig: a mysterious and volatile woman who holds the key to his obsession.
- DirectorDaniel NettheimStarsWillem DafoeSam NeillMorgan DaviesMartin, a mercenary, is sent from Europe by a mysterious biotech company to the Tasmanian wilderness on a hunt for the last Tasmanian tiger.
- DirectorMichel HazanaviciusStarsJean DujardinBérénice BejoJohn GoodmanWhen George, a silent movie superstar, meets Peppy Miller, a dancer, sparks fly between the two. However, after the introduction of talking pictures, their fortunes change, affecting their dynamic.A silent film in the middle of the 3D Age? Just when all hope is about to be lost, this wonder reminds us of why we fell in-love with cinema in the first place.
- DirectorAlexandre BustilloJulien MauryStarsChloé CoulloudFélix MoatiJérémy KaponeThe suggestion of a big treasure hidden somewhere inside Mrs Jessel's once renowned classical dance academy will become an irresistible lure to a fiendish trap for Lucie and her friends.
- DirectorGore VerbinskiStarsJohnny DeppIsla FisherTimothy OlyphantRango is an ordinary chameleon who accidentally winds up in the town of Dirt, a lawless outpost in the Wild West in desperate need of a new sheriff.
- DirectorJesse PeretzStarsPaul RuddElizabeth BanksZooey DeschanelA comedy centered on an idealist who barges into the lives of his three sisters.
- DirectorSean DurkinStarsElizabeth OlsenSarah PaulsonJohn HawkesHaunted by painful memories and increasing paranoia, a damaged woman struggles to re-assimilate with her family after fleeing an abusive cult.
- DirectorChris MillerStarsAntonio BanderasSalma HayekZach GalifianakisAn outlaw cat, his childhood egg-friend, and a seductive thief kitty set out in search for the eggs of the fabled Golden Goose to clear his name, restore his lost honor, and regain the trust of his mother and town.
- DirectorMichael DowseStarsSeann William ScottJay BaruchelAlison PillLabeled an outcast by his brainy family, a bouncer overcomes long odds to lead a team of under performing misfits to semi-pro hockey glory, beating the crap out of everything that stands in his way.
- DirectorGus Van SantStarsMia WasikowskaHenry HopperRyô KaseThe story of a terminally ill teenage girl who falls for a boy who likes to attend funerals and their encounters with the ghost of a Japanese kamikaze pilot from WWII.A soft and tender love story blooms out of the most tragic circumstances. Gus Van Sant is one of the best director's working today and though this might not have the haunting, powerful punches that he gave us with Elephant and Paranoid Park, there is something magical and unique about this simple study on death and love.
- DirectorDavid FincherStarsDaniel CraigRooney MaraChristopher PlummerJournalist Mikael Blomkvist is aided in his search for a woman who has been missing for 40 years by young computer hacker Lisbeth Salander.
- DirectorGuy RitchieStarsRobert Downey Jr.Jude LawJared HarrisDetective Sherlock Holmes is on the trail of criminal mastermind Professor Moriarty, who is carrying out a string of random crimes across Europe.
- DirectorJacob EstesStarsTobey MaguireElizabeth BanksLaura LinneyWhen a family of raccoons discover worms living underneath the sod in Jeff and Nealy's backyard, this pest problem begins a darkly comic and wild chain reaction of domestic tension, infidelity and murder.