The Best Films of 2011 (So Far)
by LeoCrow2002 | created - 31 Oct 2011 | updated - 11 Jan 2012 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. 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: 336,890 | Gross: $73.86M
2. 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: 251,864 | Gross: $82.58M
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: 184,165 | Gross: $13.30M
4. 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: 495,001 | Gross: $102.52M
5. Margaret (I) (2011)
R | 150 min | Drama, Mystery
A young woman witnesses a bus accident, and is caught up in the aftermath, where the question of whether or not it was intentional affects many people's lives.
Director: Kenneth Lonergan | Stars: Anna Paquin, Matt Damon, Mark Ruffalo, J. Smith-Cameron
Votes: 18,348 | Gross: $0.05M
6. We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)
R | 112 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Kevin'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.
Director: Lynne Ramsay | Stars: Tilda Swinton, John C. Reilly, Ezra Miller, Jasper Newell
Votes: 167,826 | Gross: $1.74M
7. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
R | 127 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
In the bleak days of the Cold War, espionage veteran George Smiley is forced from semi-retirement to uncover a Soviet Agent within MI6.
Director: Tomas Alfredson | Stars: Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong
Votes: 212,564 | Gross: $24.15M
8. George Harrison: Living in the Material World (2011)
Not Rated | 208 min | Documentary, Biography, Music
Filmmaker Martin Scorsese examines the life of musician George Harrison, weaving together interviews, concert footage, home movies and photographs.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: George Harrison, Harry Harrison, Peter Harrison, Paul McCartney
Votes: 12,631
9. Take Shelter (2011)
R | 120 min | Drama, Thriller
Plagued by a series of apocalyptic visions, a young husband and father questions whether to shelter his family from a coming storm, or from himself.
Director: Jeff Nichols | Stars: Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain, Shea Whigham, Tova Stewart
Votes: 108,178 | Gross: $1.73M
10. 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: 133,653 | Gross: $37.31M
11. 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: 206,295 | Gross: $4.00M
12. 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: 449,984 | Gross: $56.82M
13. Beginners (2010)
R | 105 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A young man is rocked by two announcements from his elderly father: that he has terminal cancer and that he has a young male lover.
Director: Mike Mills | Stars: Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer, Mélanie Laurent, Goran Visnjic
Votes: 94,831 | Gross: $5.79M
14. 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: 464,837 | Gross: $75.61M
15. Young Adult (2011)
R | 94 min | Comedy, Drama
Soon after her divorce, a fiction writer returns to her home in small-town Minnesota, looking to rekindle a romance with her ex-boyfriend who is now happily married and has a newborn daughter.
Director: Jason Reitman | Stars: Charlize Theron, Patrick Wilson, Patton Oswalt, Elizabeth Reaser
Votes: 87,946 | Gross: $16.31M
16. We Bought a Zoo (2011)
PG | 124 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
Set in Southern California, a father moves his young family to the countryside to renovate and re-open a struggling zoo.
Director: Cameron Crowe | Stars: Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, Thomas Haden Church, Elle Fanning
Votes: 151,796 | Gross: $75.62M
17. 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: 704,758 | Gross: $35.06M
18. 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: 248,650 | Gross: $44.67M
19. 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: 230,817 | Gross: $40.96M
20. Warrior (2011)
PG-13 | 140 min | Action, Drama, Sport
The youngest son of an alcoholic former boxer returns home, where he's trained by his father for competition in a mixed martial arts tournament - a path that puts the fighter on a collision course with his estranged, older brother.
Director: Gavin O'Connor | Stars: Tom Hardy, Nick Nolte, Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Morrison
Votes: 498,067 | Gross: $13.66M
21. 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: 108,373 | Gross: $5.70M
22. Rampart (2011)
R | 108 min | Crime, Drama
Set in 1999 Los Angeles, veteran police officer Dave Brown, the last of the renegade cops, works to take care of his family, and struggles for his own survival.
Director: Oren Moverman | Stars: Woody Harrelson, Ben Foster, Sigourney Weaver, Jon Bernthal
Votes: 25,243 | Gross: $0.97M
23. Into the Abyss (2011)
PG-13 | 107 min | Documentary, Crime, Drama
Conversations with death row inmate Michael Perry and those affected by his crime serve as an examination of why people - and the state - kill.
Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Werner Herzog, Richard Lopez, Michael Perry, Damon Hall
Votes: 17,356 | Gross: $0.22M
24. Meek's Cutoff (2010)
PG | 104 min | Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Settlers traveling through the Oregon desert in 1845 find themselves stranded in harsh conditions.
Director: Kelly Reichardt | Stars: Michelle Williams, Bruce Greenwood, Paul Dano, Will Patton
Votes: 15,227 | Gross: $0.98M
25. 50/50 (2011)
R | 100 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Inspired 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.
Director: Jonathan Levine | Stars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard
Votes: 342,976 | Gross: $35.01M
26. Everything Must Go (2010)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Drama
When an alcoholic relapses, causing him to lose his wife and his job, he holds a yard sale on his front lawn in an attempt to start over. A new neighbor might be the key to his return to form.
Director: Dan Rush | Stars: Will Ferrell, Rebecca Hall, Christopher Jordan Wallace, Michael Peña
Votes: 53,153 | Gross: $2.71M
27. Margin Call (2011)
R | 107 min | Drama, Thriller
Follows the key people at an investment bank over a 24-hour period during the early stages of the 2008 financial crisis.
Director: J.C. Chandor | Stars: Zachary Quinto, Stanley Tucci, Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany
Votes: 144,396 | Gross: $5.35M
28. Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)
R | 102 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Haunted by painful memories and increasing paranoia, a damaged woman struggles to re-assimilate with her family after fleeing an abusive cult.
Director: Sean Durkin | Stars: Elizabeth Olsen, Sarah Paulson, John Hawkes, Christopher Abbott
Votes: 55,830 | Gross: $2.98M
29. 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: 165,664 | Gross: $79.88M
30. Another Earth (2011)
PG-13 | 92 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
On the night of the discovery of a duplicate Earth in the Solar system, an ambitious young student and an accomplished composer cross paths in a tragic accident.
Director: Mike Cahill | Stars: Brit Marling, William Mapother, Matthew-Lee Erlbach, DJ Flava
Votes: 100,040 | Gross: $1.32M
31. Win Win (2011)
R | 106 min | Comedy, Drama, Sport
A struggling lawyer and volunteer wrestling coach's chicanery comes back to haunt him when the teenage grandson of the client he has double-crossed comes into his life.
Director: Tom McCarthy | Stars: Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan, Jeffrey Tambor, Bobby Cannavale
Votes: 55,268 | Gross: $10.18M
32. Contagion (2011)
PG-13 | 106 min | Drama, Thriller
Healthcare professionals, government officials and everyday people find themselves in the midst of a pandemic as the CDC works to find a cure.
Director: Steven Soderbergh | Stars: Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow
Votes: 316,054 | Gross: $75.66M
33. Terri (2011)
R | 105 min | Comedy, Drama
In a small town, a morbidly-obese, 15yo's bullied, as he struggles to adjust to his difficult life.
Director: Azazel Jacobs | Stars: John C. Reilly, Jacob Wysocki, Bridger Zadina, Creed Bratton
Votes: 10,320 | Gross: $0.65M
34. Submarine (2010)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
15-year-old Oliver Tate has two objectives: to lose his virginity before his next birthday, and to extinguish the flame between his mother and an ex-lover who has resurfaced in her life.
Director: Richard Ayoade | Stars: Craig Roberts, Sally Hawkins, Paddy Considine, Noah Taylor
Votes: 96,560 | Gross: $0.47M
35. Rango (2011)
PG | 107 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
Rango 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.
Director: Gore Verbinski | Stars: Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Timothy Olyphant, Abigail Breslin
Votes: 293,186 | Gross: $123.48M
36. Source Code (2011)
PG-13 | 93 min | Action, Drama, Mystery
A soldier wakes up in someone else's body and discovers he's part of an experimental government program to find the bomber of a commuter train within 8 minutes.
Director: Duncan Jones | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright
Votes: 549,955 | Gross: $54.71M
37. The Guard (2011)
R | 96 min | Comedy, Crime, Thriller
An unorthodox Irish policeman with a confrontational personality is partnered with an uptight F.B.I. agent to investigate an international drug-smuggling ring.
Director: John Michael McDonagh | Stars: Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Mark Strong, Ronan Collins
Votes: 95,643 | Gross: $5.36M
38. Tabloid (2010)
R | 87 min | Documentary, Crime
A documentary on a former Miss Wyoming who is charged with abducting and imprisoning a young Mormon Missionary.
Director: Errol Morris | Stars: Joyce McKinney, Peter Tory, Troy Williams, Jackson Shaw
Votes: 7,285 | Gross: $0.68M
39. The Beaver (2011)
PG-13 | 91 min | Drama
A troubled husband and executive adopts a beaver hand-puppet as his sole means of communication.
Director: Jodie Foster | Stars: Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, Anton Yelchin, Cherry Jones
Votes: 50,759 | Gross: $0.97M
40. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)
PG-13 | 132 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
The IMF is shut down when it's implicated in the bombing of the Kremlin, causing Ethan Hunt and his new team to go rogue to clear their organization's name.
Director: Brad Bird | Stars: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Paula Patton
Votes: 528,585 | Gross: $209.40M
41. Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011)
PG-13 | 118 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A middle-aged husband's life changes dramatically when his wife asks him for a divorce. He seeks to rediscover his manhood with the help of a newfound friend, Jacob, learning to pick up girls at bars.
Directors: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa | Stars: Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, Emma Stone
Votes: 564,659 | Gross: $84.35M
42. My Week with Marilyn (2011)
R | 99 min | Biography, Drama
Colin Clark, an employee of Sir Laurence Olivier, documents the tense interactions between Olivier and Marilyn Monroe during the production of The Prince and the Showgirl (1957).
Director: Simon Curtis | Stars: Michelle Williams, Eddie Redmayne, Kenneth Branagh, Julia Ormond
Votes: 89,607 | Gross: $14.60M
43. 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: 195,998 | Gross: $3.03M
44. Attack the Block (2011)
R | 88 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
A teen gang in South London defend their block from an alien invasion.
Director: Joe Cornish | Stars: John Boyega, Jodie Whittaker, Alex Esmail, Leeon Jones
Votes: 111,443 | Gross: $1.02M
45. Our Idiot Brother (2011)
R | 90 min | Comedy, Drama
A comedy centered on an idealist who barges into the lives of his three sisters.
Director: Jesse Peretz | Stars: Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel, Nick Sullivan
Votes: 90,584 | Gross: $24.81M
46. Page One (2011)
R | 92 min | Documentary
Unprecedented access to the New York Times newsroom yields a complex view of the transformation of a media landscape fraught with both peril and opportunity.
Director: Andrew Rossi | Stars: David Carr, Sarah Ellison, Larry Ingrassia, Dennis Crowley
Votes: 3,448 | Gross: $1.07M
47. 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: 367,616 | Gross: $127.00M
48. Hanna (2011)
PG-13 | 111 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A 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.
Director: Joe Wright | Stars: Saoirse Ronan, Cate Blanchett, Eric Bana, Vicky Krieps
Votes: 206,906 | Gross: $40.26M
49. A Better Life (2011)
PG-13 | 98 min | Drama, Romance
A gardener in East L.A. struggles to keep his son away from gangs and immigration agents while trying to give his son the opportunities he never had.
Director: Chris Weitz | Stars: Demián Bichir, José Julián, Eddie 'Piolin' Sotelo, Joaquín Cosio
Votes: 16,540 | Gross: $1.76M
50. The Muppets (2011)
PG | 103 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family
A Muppet fanatic with some help from his 2 human compatriots must regroup the Muppet gang to stop an avaricious oil mogul from taking down one of their precious life-longing treasures.
Director: James Bobin | Stars: Amy Adams, Jason Segel, Chris Cooper, Rashida Jones
Votes: 96,884 | Gross: $88.63M
51. Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010)
G | 90 min | Documentary, History
Werner Herzog gains exclusive access to film inside the Chauvet caves of Southern France and captures the oldest known pictorial creations of humanity.
Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Werner Herzog, Jean Clottes, Julien Monney, Jean-Michel Geneste
Votes: 17,795 | Gross: $5.23M
52. The Future (2011)
R | 91 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
When a couple decides to adopt a stray cat their perspective on life changes radically, literally altering the course of time and space and testing their faith in each other and themselves.
Director: Miranda July | Stars: Miranda July, Hamish Linklater, David Warshofsky, Isabella Acres
Votes: 9,127 | Gross: $0.57M
53. Horrible Bosses (2011)
R | 98 min | Comedy, Crime
Three friends conspire to murder their awful bosses when they realize they are standing in the way of their happiness.
Director: Seth Gordon | Stars: Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis, Steve Wiebe
Votes: 469,803 | Gross: $117.54M
54. The Conspirator (2010)
PG-13 | 122 min | Crime, Drama, History
Mary Surratt is the lone female charged as a co-conspirator in the assassination trial of Abraham Lincoln. As the whole nation turns against her, she is forced to rely on her reluctant lawyer to uncover the truth and save her life.
Director: Robert Redford | Stars: Robin Wright, James McAvoy, Tom Wilkinson, Kevin Kline
Votes: 30,012 | Gross: $11.54M
55. Cedar Rapids (2011)
R | 87 min | Comedy
Tim Lippe has no idea what he's in for when he's sent to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to represent his company at an annual insurance convention, where he soon finds himself under the "guidance" of three convention veterans.
Director: Miguel Arteta | Stars: Ed Helms, John C. Reilly, Anne Heche, Isiah Whitlock Jr.
Votes: 39,595 | Gross: $6.86M
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