My Favorites Movies of 2011

2011 may not have been that great of a year for quality Hollywood movies, but when you step out of Hollywood it was an amazing year. Only one of the films on my top 15 of 2011 can be considered a major studio film. The rest were all either independently made or foreign made. The reason why the list is a top 15 instead of a top 10 is because there were just too many great movies. Each of the top three films on this list would have individually been my favorite movie of last year, that's how much quality is on this list. 


The amount of movies I saw in 2011 was the most I have ever seen in my life in any given year, so for that reason I believe my list is quite well made and one that I am proud of. But like every year, there were movies I was not able to see that may have made it on this list had I been given the opportunity to see them. Those movies include The Artist, Margaret, Martha Marcy May Marlene, House of Pleasures, and Mysteries of Lisbon. 


When it comes to the movies that were barely left off the list, there are many, but a handful of them would be: Midnight in Paris, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, The Descendants, Weekend, and Shame. 


Now, continue onwards to finally view my long-delayed best of 2011.

Most anticipated films of fall/winter 2011

I did a similar list for the first four months of the year and the second four months (the summer), but really it's all about these last four months. That's when it all comes out. The first eight months were pretty bland, and I had a hard time picking 10 worthwhile movies for those lists, but for this one I had a very hard time keeping it to 25. A lot of very promising movies coming out, and even more movies that are not on this list that could very well breakout and become hits. I know for a fact that I would not have been anticipating "A Prophet" or "The King's Speech" all that much last year, and they both made my top 10 of 2010.

Most of these movies chosen were chosen based on some combination of director (like Martin Scorsese being the sole reason I am anticipating "Hugo"), trailer ("The Lady" and "Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy" both have brilliant trailers), early buzz ("Martha Marcy May Marlene" and "Take Shelter" got some great buzz from Sundance), and other miscellaneous tidbits (like Jonsi is doing the music for "We Bought a Zoo" and "50/50" is based on the life of the screenwriter).