50 Best films of 2011.
by threenails10 | created - 28 Dec 2012 | updated - 28 Dec 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: 336,917 | Gross: $73.86M
2. In Darkness (2011)
R | 145 min | Drama, War
A dramatization of one man's rescue of Jewish refugees in the German-occupied Polish city of Lvov.
Director: Agnieszka Holland | Stars: Robert Wieckiewicz, Benno Fürmann, Agnieszka Grochowska, Maria Schrader
Votes: 11,162 | Gross: $1.04M
3. 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: 450,031 | Gross: $56.82M
4. 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: 258,672 | Gross: $7.10M
5. 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: 206,316 | Gross: $4.00M
6. 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: 184,177 | Gross: $13.30M
7. 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: 495,061 | Gross: $102.52M
8. 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: 108,196 | Gross: $1.73M
9. Tyrannosaur (2011)
Not Rated | 92 min | Drama
Joseph, a man plagued by violence and a rage that is driving him to self-destruction, earns a chance of redemption that appears in the form of Hannah, a Christian charity shop worker.
Director: Paddy Considine | Stars: Peter Mullan, Archie Lal, Jag Sanghera, Mike Fearnley
Votes: 33,782 | Gross: $0.02M
10. 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: 464,920 | Gross: $75.61M
11. 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: 165,978 | Gross: $3.19M
12. 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: 17,359 | Gross: $0.22M
13. The Snowtown Murders (2011)
Not Rated | 119 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Based on true events, 16 year-old Jamie falls in with his mother's new boyfriend and his crowd of self-appointed neighborhood watchmen, a relationship that leads to a spree of torture and murder.
Director: Justin Kurzel | Stars: Lucas Pittaway, Daniel Henshall, Louise Harris, Bob Adriaens
Votes: 20,633 | Gross: $0.01M
14. 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: 89,611 | Gross: $14.60M
15. Bill Cunningham New York (2010)
Not Rated | 84 min | Documentary, Biography, History
A profile of the noted and extraordinarily cheerful veteran New York City fashion photographer.
Director: Richard Press | Stars: Bill Cunningham, Anna Wintour, Michael Kors, Editta Sherman
Votes: 5,670 | Gross: $1.51M
16. 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: 251,883 | Gross: $82.58M
17. 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: 108,388 | Gross: $5.70M
18. 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: 15,228 | Gross: $0.98M
19. 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: 167,847 | Gross: $1.74M
20. 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: 367,652 | Gross: $127.00M
21. 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: 704,908 | Gross: $35.06M
22. 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: 105,186 | Gross: $31.85M
23. 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: 293,244 | Gross: $123.48M
24. 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: 196,025 | Gross: $3.03M
25. The Deep Blue Sea (2011)
R | 98 min | Drama, Romance
The wife of a British Judge is caught in a self-destructive love affair with a Royal Air Force pilot.
Director: Terence Davies | Stars: Rachel Weisz, Tom Hiddleston, Ann Mitchell, Jolyon Coy
Votes: 16,693 | Gross: $1.12M
26. Beauty Day (2011)
Not Rated | 92 min | Documentary
In 1990, before the advent of shows like Jackass and Tom Green, Ralph entertained his southern Ontario audience on cable access by performing gross-out stunts.
Director: Jay Cheel | Stars: Ralph Zavadil, Robert Buick, Nancy Dewar, Barbara Zavadil
Votes: 450
27. 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: 133,064 | Gross: $2.55M
28. 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: 17,796 | Gross: $5.23M
29. The Sleeping Beauty (2010 TV Movie)
Unrated | 82 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
A young princess is the subject of a tug-of-war among witches, as each struggles to find the suitable antidote to a death sentence inculcated by an evil sister.
Director: Catherine Breillat | Stars: Carla Besnaïnou, Julia Artamonov, Kerian Mayan, David Chausse
Votes: 822 | Gross: $0.03M
30. 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: 55,836 | Gross: $2.98M
31. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)
PG-13 | 105 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
A substance designed to help the brain repair itself gives advanced intelligence to a chimpanzee who leads an ape uprising.
Director: Rupert Wyatt | Stars: James Franco, Andy Serkis, Freida Pinto, Karin Konoval
Votes: 559,927 | Gross: $176.76M
32. 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: 96,564 | Gross: $0.47M
33. 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: 493,060 | Gross: $169.71M
34. 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: 342,998 | Gross: $35.01M
35. The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (2011)
TV-G | 15 min | Animation, Short, Adventure
Morris Lessmore, a young writer, wanders into a mysterious library after a storm devastates his city. The library is home to magical flying books that literally come to life.
Directors: William Joyce, Brandon Oldenburg
Votes: 5,806
36. Red State (2011)
R | 88 min | Action, Crime, Horror
Set in Middle America, a group of teens receive an online invitation for sex, though they soon encounter fundamentalists with a much more sinister agenda.
Director: Kevin Smith | Stars: Michael Parks, Melissa Leo, John Goodman, Michael Angarano
Votes: 67,268 | Gross: $1.10M
37. Damsels in Distress (2011)
PG-13 | 99 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A trio of girls set out to change the male-dominated environment of the Seven Oaks college campus, and to rescue their fellow students from depression, grunge and low standards of every kind.
Director: Whit Stillman | Stars: Greta Gerwig, Adam Brody, Lio Tipton, Megalyn Echikunwoke
Votes: 9,992 | Gross: $1.01M
38. 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: 498,141 | Gross: $13.66M
39. Tuba Atlantic (2010)
TV-MA | 25 min | Short, Comedy, Drama
Everybody will die one day, but 70-year-old Oskar will die in 6 days. He is now ready to forgive his brother for a long-ago disagreement. Will he reach his brother, whom he believes live on... See full summary »
Director: Hallvar Witzø | Stars: Edvard Hægstad, Ingrid Viken, Terje Ranes, Ryan Adams
Votes: 810
40. Trust (I) (2010)
R | 106 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A teenage girl is targeted by an online sexual predator.
Director: David Schwimmer | Stars: Clive Owen, Catherine Keener, Liana Liberato, Jason Clarke
Votes: 44,032 | Gross: $0.12M
41. Albert Nobbs (2011)
R | 113 min | Drama, Romance
Albert Nobbs struggles to survive in late 19th-century Ireland, where women aren't encouraged to be independent. Posing as a man so she can work as a butler in Dublin's most elegant hotel, Albert meets a handsome painter and looks to escape the lie she has been living.
Director: Rodrigo García | Stars: Glenn Close, Mia Wasikowska, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Antonia Campbell-Hughes
Votes: 25,598 | Gross: $3.01M
42. 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: 165,677 | Gross: $79.88M
43. Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)
PG | 90 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
Po and his friends fight to stop a peacock villain from conquering China with a deadly new weapon, but first the Dragon Warrior must come to terms with his past.
Director: Jennifer Yuh Nelson | Stars: Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Dustin Hoffman
Votes: 321,266 | Gross: $165.25M
44. Jess + Moss (2011)
Not Rated | 83 min | Drama
A series of vignettes involving memories of companionship and sexual awakening shared by two second cousins.
Director: Clay Jeter | Stars: Sarah Hagan, Austin Vickers, Haley Strode, Haley Parker
Votes: 1,003
45. 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: 309,337 | Gross: $169.11M
46. Hesher (2010)
R | 106 min | Comedy, Drama
A 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.
Director: Spencer Susser | Stars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Devin Brochu, Natalie Portman, Rainn Wilson
Votes: 54,111 | Gross: $0.38M
47. 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
48. Road to Nowhere (I) (2010)
R | 121 min | Crime, Mystery, Romance
A young filmmaker gets wrapped up in a crime while shooting his new project on location.
Director: Monte Hellman | Stars: Tygh Runyan, Dominique Swain, Shannyn Sossamon, John Diehl
Votes: 1,855 | Gross: $0.04M
49. Sleeping Beauty (2011)
TV-14 | 101 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
A haunting portrait of Lucy, a young university student drawn into a mysterious hidden world of unspoken desires.
Director: Julia Leigh | Stars: Emily Browning, Rachael Blake, Ewen Leslie, Bridgette Barrett
Votes: 34,644 | Gross: $0.04M
50. 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: 95,653 | Gross: $5.36M
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