The standout flick of 2011 is The Artist, a silent love song that can nonetheless be heard by all who enjoy film. If you’ve been motivated to read this Top 100 list, you are undoubtedly among those devoted theatergoers I’m talking about.
The Artist not only runs silent, but also runs deep into the very soul of moviemaking, as it eloquently endeavors to entertain while simultaneously chronicling the evolution of the art form from its earliest beginnings to today’s blockbusters. As such, this black & white throwback is a tour de force which earns well-deserved recognition for its unique contribution to cinema. Consequently, it would be unfair to pigeonhole such a genre-blending masterpiece, or to compare it to any of the other offerings of 2011.
The Artist aside, rather than limit my annual list just to the 10 Best offerings, I’ve expanded it, as usual, to 100, including documentaries, independents and foreign films, along with the obligatory Hollywood blockbusters. The idea is to encourage you to discover some of those lesser-known sleepers which might not have registered a blip on your radar, previously.
10 Best Big Budget Films of 2011
1. Bridesmaids
2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
3. The Help
4. Super 8
5. The Lincoln Lawyer
6. Moneyball
7. Anonymous
8. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
9. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
10. War Horse
Big Budgets Honorable Mention
11. Crazy, Stupid, Love
12. Real Steel
13. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
14. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
15. Fast Five
16. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
17. Thor
18. Scream 4
19. The Ides of March
20. X-Men: First Class
21. Captain America
22. Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2: Rodrick Rules
23. I Don’t Know How She Does It
24. Jumping the Broom
25. Bad Teacher
Best Foreign Films
1. Sarah’s Key (France)
2. Leap Year (Mexico)
3. Life, Above All (South Africa)
4. The Woman on the 6th Floor (France)
5. Point Blank (France)
6. Kinyarwanda (Rwanda)
7. True Legend (China)
8. Elles (France)
9. Scheherazade, Tell Me a Story (Egypt)
10. The First Grader (Kenya)
Foreign Films Honorable Mention
11.Senna (Brazil)
12.Viva Riva! (Congo)
13.King of Devil’s Island (Norway)
14.Hell and Back Again (Afghanistan)
15.Shaolin (Hong Kong)
16.Certified Copy (Italy)
17.The First Rasta (Jamaica)
18.TrollHunter (Norway)
19.Ip Man 2 (Hong Kong)
20.The Sleeping Beauty (France)
21.The Carrier (Zambia)
22.Le Havre (France)
23.I Saw the Devil (Korea)
24.Amigo (Philippines)
25.Special Treatment (France)
10 Best Independent Films
1. Drive
2. Melancholia
3. Art History
4. Gabi on the Roof in July
5. Shame
6. Midnight in Paris
7. The Debt
8. Courageous
9. I Will Follow
10.Trust
Independent Films Honorable Mention
11. My Reincarnation
12. Martha Marcy May Marlene
13. The Descendants
14. Silver Bullets
15. Meek’s Cutoff
16. Hello, Lonesome
17. London River
18. Albert Norris
19. The Grace Card
20. Tyrannosaur
21. Pariah
22. The Iron Lady
23. Spork
24. Fire in Babylon
25. Bellflower
10 Best Documentaries
1.Charlotte Rampling: The Look
2.Eames: The Architect and the Painter
3.Chasing Madoff
4.Dear Daddy
5.Carbon Nation
6. Hey Boo: Harper Lee and “To Kill a Mockingbird”
7. The Blackpower Mixtape 1967-1975
8. Crime after Crime
9. Orgasm, Inc.
10.Tabloid
Documentaries Honorable Mention
11. Thunder Soul
12. Forks over Knives
13. Beware of Christians
14. Rejoice & Shout
15. Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune
16. Fear of a Black Republican
17. Into the Abyss
18. Rebirth
19. Muhammad Ali 1973-1974
20. Sarah Palin: You Betcha!
21. The Interrupters
22. Under the Boardwalk
23. The Story of Lovers Rock
24. America the Beautiful 2: The Thin Commandments
25. Undefeated
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