The 25 best films of 2011
by aleix_wiggum_93 | created - 05 Dec 2012 | updated - 05 Dec 2012 | PublicA list of the best of 2011. Not including short subjects.
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1. The Descendants (2011)
R | 115 min | Comedy, Drama
A land baron tries to reconnect with his two daughters after his wife is seriously injured in a boating accident.
Director: Alexander Payne | Stars: George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Amara Miller, Nick Krause
Votes: 251,876 | Gross: $82.58M
Noms/wins
Best Picture*
Best Director - Alexander Payne
Best Actor - George Clooney
Best Supporting Actress - Shailene Woodley
Best Adapted Screenplay*
5 noms / 2 wins
2. Hugo (2011)
PG | 126 min | Adventure, Drama, Family
In 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.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Asa Butterfield, Chloë Grace Moretz, Christopher Lee, Ben Kingsley
Votes: 336,910 | Gross: $73.86M
Best Picture
Best Director - Martin Scorsese
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Cinematography
Best Film Editing
Best Sound Editing
Best Sound Mixing*
Best Art Direction*
Best Costume Design
Best Visual Effects*
Best Original Score
11 noms / 3 wins
TOP 10
Best Supporting Actor - Ben Kingsley
3. The Tree of Life (2011)
PG-13 | 139 min | Drama, Fantasy
The story of a family in Waco, Texas in 1956. The eldest son witnesses the loss of innocence and struggles with his parents' conflicting teachings.
Director: Terrence Malick | Stars: Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain, Hunter McCracken
Votes: 184,171 | Gross: $13.30M
Best Picture
Best Director - Terrence Malick*
Best Supporting Actor - Brad Pitt
Best Supporting Actress - Jessica Chastain
Best Cinematography*
Best Film Editing
Best Original Screenplay
Best Visual Effects
8 noms / 2 wins
TOP 10
Best Original Score
4. War Horse (2011)
PG-13 | 146 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A young farm boy enlists to serve in World War I after his beloved horse is sold to the cavalry. His hopeful journey takes him out of England and onto the front lines as the war rages on.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Jeremy Irvine, Emily Watson, David Thewlis, Benedict Cumberbatch
Votes: 165,671 | Gross: $79.88M
Best Picture
Best Director - Steven Spielberg
Best Original Score*
Best Sound Editing*
Best Sound Mixing
Best Art Direction
Best Cinematography
7 noms / 2 wins
TOP 10
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Costume Design
5. The Artist (I) (2011)
PG-13 | 100 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
When 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.
Director: Michel Hazanavicius | Stars: Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, John Goodman, James Cromwell
Votes: 248,662 | Gross: $44.67M
Best Picture
Best Director - Michael Hazanavicius
Best Actor - Jean Dujardin
Best Supporting Actress - Berénice Bejo
Best Original Screenplay
Best Original Score
Best Costume Design*
Best Art Direction
Best Cinematography
Best Film Editing
Special recognition - Uggie
11 noms / 2 wins
6. The Adventures of Tintin (2011)
PG | 107 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
Intrepid reporter Tintin and Captain Haddock set off on a treasure hunt for a sunken ship commanded by Haddock's ancestor.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig, Simon Pegg
Votes: 243,327 | Gross: $77.59M
Best Animated Film*
Best Original Score
2 noms / 1 win
7. Moneyball (2011)
PG-13 | 133 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane's successful attempt to assemble a baseball team on a lean budget by employing computer-generated analysis to acquire new players.
Director: Bennett Miller | Stars: Brad Pitt, Robin Wright, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Votes: 464,890 | Gross: $75.61M
Best Picture
Best Actor - Brad Pitt*
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Film Editing*
Best Sound Editing
5 noms / 2 wins
TOP 10
Best Supporting Actor - Jonah Hill
8. Carnage (2011)
R | 80 min | Comedy, Drama
Two pairs of parents hold a cordial meeting after their sons are involved in a fight, though as their time together progresses, increasingly childish behavior throws the discussion into chaos.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz, John C. Reilly
Votes: 133,052 | Gross: $2.55M
Best Picture
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Supporting Actor - Christoph Waltz
3 noms / 0 wins
TOP 10
Best Supporting Actress - Kate Winslet
Best Director - Roman Polanski
9. A Separation (2011)
PG-13 | 123 min | Drama
A married couple are faced with a difficult decision - to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer's disease.
Director: Asghar Farhadi | Stars: Payman Maadi, Leila Hatami, Sareh Bayat, Shahab Hosseini
Votes: 258,650 | Gross: $7.10M
Best Original Screenplay
Best Foreign Language Film*
2 noms / 0 wins
TOP 10
Best Actor - Peyman Moohadi.
10. The Skin I Live In (2011)
R | 120 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A 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.
Director: Pedro Almodóvar | Stars: Antonio Banderas, Elena Anaya, Jan Cornet, Marisa Paredes
Votes: 165,970 | Gross: $3.19M
Best Foreign Language Film
TOP 10
Best Original Score
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Actress in a Leading Role - Elena Anaya
Best Director - Pedro Almodóvar
11. Midnight in Paris (2011)
PG-13 | 94 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Romance
While on a trip to Paris with his fiancée's family, a nostalgic screenwriter finds himself mysteriously going back to the 1920s every day at midnight.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates, Kurt Fuller
Votes: 450,016 | Gross: $56.82M
Best Picture
Best Original Screenplay*
2 noms / 1 win
TOP 10
Best Art Direction
12. The Help (2011)
PG-13 | 146 min | Drama
An aspiring author during the civil rights movement of the 1960s decides to write a book detailing the African American maids' point of view on the white families for which they work, and the hardships they go through on a daily basis.
Director: Tate Taylor | Stars: Viola Davis, Emma Stone, Octavia Spencer, Bryce Dallas Howard
Votes: 493,027 | Gross: $169.71M
Best Picture
Best Actress - Viola Davis
Best Supporting Actress - Octavia Spencer*
Best Costume Design
Best Art Direction
Best Original Song - "The Living Proof" *
6 noms / 2 wins
TOP 10
Best Supporting Actress - Jessica Chastain
Best Adapted Screenplay
13. Drive (I) (2011)
R | 100 min | Action, Drama
A mysterious Hollywood action film stuntman gets in trouble with gangsters when he tries to help his neighbor's husband rob a pawn shop while serving as his getaway driver.
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn | Stars: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks
Votes: 704,848 | Gross: $35.06M
Best Picture
Best Sound Editing
2 noms / 0 wins
TOP 10
Best Director - Nicholas Winding Refn
Best Actor - Ryan Gosling
Best Supporting Actor - Albert Brooks
14. Melancholia (2011)
R | 135 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
Two sisters find their already strained relationship challenged as a mysterious new planet threatens to collide with Earth.
Director: Lars von Trier | Stars: Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland, Alexander Skarsgård
Votes: 196,012 | Gross: $3.03M
Best Actress - Kirsten Dunst
Best Supporting Actress - Charlotte Gainsbourg
2 noms / 0 wins
TOP 10
Best Director - Lars Von Trier
Best Original Screenplay
Best Cinematography
15. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
R | 158 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Journalist Mikael Blomkvist is aided in his search for a woman who has been missing for 40 years by young computer hacker Lisbeth Salander.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgård
Votes: 495,041 | Gross: $102.52M
Best Film Editing
Best Cinematography
Best Sound Editing
Best Original Score
4 noms / 0 wins
TOP 10
Best Director - David Fincher
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Actress - Rooney Mara
16. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011)
PG-13 | 129 min | Adventure, Drama, Mystery
A nine-year-old amateur inventor, Francophile, and pacifist searches New York City for the lock that matches a mysterious key left behind by his father, who died in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
Director: Stephen Daldry | Stars: Thomas Horn, Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Max von Sydow
Votes: 105,184 | Gross: $31.85M
Best Supporting Actor - Max Von Sydow*
TOP 10
Best Supporting Actress - Sandra Bullock
17. Wrinkles (2011)
Not Rated | 89 min | Animation, Drama
An astonishing cocktail of friendship, resistance and life set among the unexpected landscape of an elderly care facility.
Director: Ignacio Ferreras | Stars: Tacho González, Álvaro Guevara, Mabel Rivera, Raúl Dans
Votes: 4,560
Best Animated Film
Best Foreign Language Film
2 noms / 0 wins
18. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)
PG-13 | 130 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Harry, Ron, and Hermione search for Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes in their effort to destroy the Dark Lord as the final battle rages on at Hogwarts.
Director: David Yates | Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Michael Gambon
Votes: 949,020 | Gross: $381.01M
Best Makeup
Best Art Direction
Best Visual Effects* (tied with Hugo)
3 noms / 1 win
19. A Dangerous Method (2011)
R | 99 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
A look at how the intense relationship between Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud gives birth to psychoanalysis.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Michael Fassbender, Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortensen, Vincent Cassel
Votes: 108,383 | Gross: $5.70M
TOP 10
Best Supporting Actress - Keira Knightley
Best Supporting Actor - Michael Fassbender
Best Art Direction
20. Shame (2011)
NC-17 | 101 min | Drama
A sex addict's carefully cultivated private life falls apart after his sister arrives for an indefinite stay.
Director: Steve McQueen | Stars: Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan, James Badge Dale, Lucy Walters
Votes: 206,309 | Gross: $4.00M
Best Actor - Michael Fassbender
1 nom / 0 wins
TOP 10
Best Film Editing
21. The Ides of March (2011)
R | 101 min | Drama, Thriller
An idealistic staffer for a new presidential candidate gets a crash course on dirty politics during his stint on the campaign trail.
Director: George Clooney | Stars: Paul Giamatti, George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ryan Gosling
Votes: 230,834 | Gross: $40.96M
Best Adapted Screenplay
1 nom / 0 wins
22. Super 8 (2011)
PG-13 | 112 min | Action, Mystery, Sci-Fi
During the summer of 1979, a group of friends witness a train crash and investigate subsequent unexplained events in their small town.
Director: J.J. Abrams | Stars: Elle Fanning, AJ Michalka, Kyle Chandler, Joel Courtney
Votes: 367,633 | Gross: $127.00M
Best Visual Effects
1 nom / 0 wins
TOP 10
Best Sound Editing
Best Sound Mixing
23. Bridesmaids (I) (2011)
R | 125 min | Comedy
Competition 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.
Director: Paul Feig | Stars: Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Terry Crews
Votes: 309,325 | Gross: $169.11M
Best Original Screenplay
1 nom / 0 wins
24. Sleep Tight (2011)
Not Rated | 102 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Cesar, a miserable man who works as an apartment concierge, takes a special interest in an attractive woman who lives there. He goes to great lengths to trouble her.
Director: Jaume Balagueró | Stars: Luis Tosar, Marta Etura, Alberto San Juan, Petra Martínez
Votes: 46,713
TOP 10
Best Actor - Luís Tosar
Best Foreign Language Film
25. J. Edgar (2011)
R | 137 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
J. Edgar Hoover, powerful head of the F.B.I. for nearly fifty years, looks back on his professional and personal life.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Armie Hammer, Naomi Watts, Josh Hamilton
Votes: 133,660 | Gross: $37.31M
Best Actor - Leonardo DiCaprio
1 nom / 0 wins
TOP 10
Best Makeup
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