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1. Hugo
2. Melancholia
3. A Separation
4. Meek's Cutoff
5. Certified Copy
6. Drive
7. The Tree of Life
8. The Skin I Live In
9. The Descendants
10. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

The Next Ten: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Contagion, Midnight in Paris, Moneyball, Tabloid, Le Havre, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, Young Adult, Hanna, Super 8

Last update: 2-12-12

1) The Tree of Life
2) Certified Copy
3) Melancholia
4) Tabloid
5) Drive
6) The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
7) Cave of Forgotten Dreams
8) Hugo
9) How to Die in Oregon
10) Meek's Cutoff

Honorable mention: Midnight in Paris, Young Adult

The Ten:
1. Aita, José María de Orbe, 2010
2. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2010
3. HaHaHa, Hong Sang-soo, 2010
4. The Trip, Michael Winterbottom, 2010
5. The Time That Remains, Elia Suleiman, 2009
6. My Joy, Sergei Loznitsa, 2010
7. Outrage, Takeshi Kitano, 2010
8. Melancholia, Lars von Trier, 2011
9. Into the Abyss, Werner Herzog, 2011
10. J. Edgar, Clint Eastwood, 2011

Surplus (in order of viewing, most recent first):
A Separation, Asghar Farhadi, 2011
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, David Fincher, 2011
A Dangerous Method, David Cronenberg, 2011
Hugo, Martin Scorsese, 2011
13 Forsaken Fragments, Robert Gardner, 2011
Martha Marcy May Marlene, Sean Durkin, 2011
Better Than Something: Jay Reatard, Alex Hammond & Ian Markiewicz, 2011
The Skin I Live In, Pedro Almodovar, 2011
Le Havre, Aki Kaurismäki, 2011
Gantz, Shinsuke Sato, 2010
Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame, Tsui Hark, 2011
Crazy, Stupid, Love., Glenn Ficarra & John Requa, 2011
The Woman with the 5 Elephants, Vadim Jendreyko, 2009
Contagion, Steven Soderbergh, 2011
Summer of Goliath, Nicolás Pereda, 2010
Submarine, Richard Aoyade, 2010
Tabloid, Errol Morris, 2010
Beginners, Mike Mills, 2011
The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick, 2011
City of Life and Death, Lu Chuan, 2009
Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen, 2011
Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Werner Herzog, 2010
Jane Eyre, Cary Joji Fukunaga, 2011
Meek's Cutoff, Kelly Reichardt, 2010
Public Speaking, Martin Scorsese, 2010
Hanna, Joe Wright, 2011
Of Gods and Men, Xavier Beauvois, 2010
13 Assassins, Miike Takashi, 2010
To Die Like a Man, João Pedro Rodrigues, 2009
Copie conforme, Abbas Kiarostami, 2010
Into Eternity, Michael Madsen, 2010
Caterpillar, Wakamatsu Kôji, 2010
The Way Back, Peter Weir, 2010
A Useful Life, Federico Veiroj, 2010

Not-a-chance:
Sleeping Beauty, Julia Leigh, 2011
In Time, Andrew Niccol, 2011
Drive, Nicolas Winding Refn, 2011
The Future, Miranda July, 2011
Buddha Mountain, Li Yu, 2010
Bridesmaids, Paul Feig, 2011
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Rob Marshall, 2011
Tuesday, After Christmas, Radu Muntean, 2010
The Housemaid, Im Sang-soo, 2010
Putty Hill, Matthew Porterfield, 2010

01 My Joy (Loznitsa)
02 Melancholia (von Trier)
03 Meek's Cutoff (Reichardt)
04 The Time That Remains (Suleiman)
05 Le quattro volte (Frammartino)
06 Aita (de Orbe)
07 Certified Copy (Kiarostami)
08 The White Meadows (Rasoulof)
09 The Future (July)
10 Incident by a Bank (Östlund)

Last edited Jun 01, 2021

Blue Valentine (Cianfrance, 2010)
Amer (Cattet/Forzani, 2009)

List includes 2011 releases only per IMDb date.

1. A Separation (Farhadi)
2. The Mill and the Cross (Majewski)
3. Bellflower (Glodell)
4. Take Shelter (Nichols)
5. Martha Marcy May Marlene (Durkin)
6. Another Earth (Cahill)
7. The Turin Horse (Tarr)
8. Chicken with Plums (Satrapi and Paronnaud)
9. The Skin I Live In (Almodóvar)
10. Hugo (Scorsese)

01 Another Earth (Mike Cahill)
02 Young Adult (Jason Reitman)
03 Beginners (Mike Mills)
04 the Myth of the American Sleepover (David Robert Mitchell)
05 Super 8 (JJ Abrams)
06 Margaret (Director's Cut) (Kenneth Lonergan)
07 the Skin I Live In (Pedro Almodovar)
08 the Artist (Michael Hazanavicius)
09 Hanna (Joe Wright)
10 Contagion (Steven Soderbergh)

UPDATED 05/24/2019

1. The Turin Horse (Béla Tarr)
2. The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick)
3. Patience (After Sebald) (Grant Gee)
4. Essential Killing (Jerzy Skolimowski)
5. Le quattro volte (Michelangelo Frammartino)
6. The Suicide Room (Jan Komasa)
7. The Interrupters (Steve James)
8. Attack the Block (Joe Cornish)
9. Little Rose (Jan Kidawa-Błoński)
10. Attenberg (Athina Rachel Tsangari)


(Also seen: After the Apocalypse, Bedevilled, Black Swan, Blood in the Mobile, Eleanor's Secret, The Freebie, Heniek, The King's Speech, Limitless, Living on Love Alone, Lynch, My Australia, Page One, Rango, Rio, A Simple Love Story, Tatsumi, Tintin, Tracker, When China Met Africa, The Wolf Knife)

1. Rango
2. The Mechanic (Simon West) [I wonder how far this will drop by the end of the year ... hopefully pretty far]

1. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
2. Le Havre
3. Beginners
4. Meek's Cutoff
5. Drive
6. Hanna
7. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
8. The Skin I live In
9. Melancholia
10. The Interrupters

Enjoyed, but not top 10 material (in a rough order of preference, i.e. #11 on)....
The Debt
Win Win
Hugo
Super 8
The Artist
Take Shelter
Attack the Block
Martha Marcy May Marlene
Small Town Murder Songs (w/ a strong nod to an incredible soundtrack)
Another Year
Contagion
Whistleblower
Young Adult
Winter in Wartime
Sarah's Key
Margin Call
Carnage
Bridesmaids
50/50
Captain America - I was shocked at how much I enjoyed this
Source Code
Incendies
My Week With Marilyn
Crazy Stupid Love
Tracker
Troll Hunter
Blue Valentine
HP 7.2
Rango
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Lincoln Lawyer
Insidious
Tabloid
Rabbit Hole
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

Indifferent...
Paranormal Activity 3
Bellflower
Red State
Tree of Life
Cold Weather
Exporting Raymond
Devil's Double
The Future (July)
The Big Year
Adjustment Bureau
Paul
Unknown
Kill the Irishman - paint by numbers Goodfellas wannabe

Did not like...
J. Edgar
Jane Eyre (zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz)
Enter the Void
Morning Glory

Oh, the Joys of Parenthood...
The Dilemma
Just Go With It
Beastly
Soul Surfer
Blue Crush 2

The Paul Haggis White Guilt Award
The Help

The "misleading marketing award" for 2011:
Barney's Version

1. Hors Satan (Bruno Dumont)
2. I Wish (Hirokazu Kore-eda)
3. The Kid With a Bike (The Dardennes)
4. The Deep Blue Sea (Terence Davies)
5. The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick)
6. Cave of Forgotten Dreams (Werner Herzog)
7. The Skin I Live in (Pedro Almodóvar)
8. Meeks Cutoff (Kelly Reichardt)
9. The Exchange (Eran Kolirin)
10. Elena (Andrei Zvyagintsev)


Films I liked, but missing out
Dreams of a Life
Crazy Horse
Melancholia
Midnight in Paris
L.A. Zombie
Elena
ALPS
Back to Stay
Las Acacias
The Artist
Stateless Things
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
Film socialisme
Attenberg
Heartbeats
Reagan

Pretty Good
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
Submarine.
Snowtown.
Miss Bala.
Tangled.

Average:
Potiche.
The Fighter.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
Rise of planet of the Apes.
We Need to Talk About Kevin.
Kill List.
Shame.

Really didn't like:
Shockhead Soul.
Wuthering Hights.
Hanna
127 Hours.
Son of Babylon.
West is West.

1. The Tree of Life (Malick)
2. The White Meadows (Rasoulof)
3. Nostalgia for the Light (Guzman)
4. Meek's Cutoff (Reichardt)
5. Film Socialisme (Godard)
6. Certified Copy (Kiarostami)
7. Le quattro volte (Frammartino)
8. Street Days (Koguashvili)
9. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Weerasethakul)
10. Martha Marcy May Marlene (Durkin)

Also quite good:
Contagion
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Pina
The Robber
Sleeping Beauty

Not sure:
Cave of Forgotten Dreams - To see these ancient images at all was a profoundly moving and emotionally overwhelming experience for me, but some doubts and hesitations about Herzog's overall structure and presentation leave me confused about how to rate it as a film.

The rest:
Another Earth, The Artist, Black Bread, Bridesmaids, Cold Weather, A Dangerous Method, Drive, Flamenco Flamenco, Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life, Green Lantern, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, The Help, The Last Circus, Melancholia, Rubber, Shame, X-Men: First Class

1. A Separation
2. The Tree of Life
3. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
4. The Kid With A Bike
5. Weekend
6. Take Shelter
7. Le Havre
8. The Innkeepers
9. The Raid
10. War of the Arrows

Honourable mentions: Into The Abyss, The Guard, The Skin I Live In

Disappointments: Drive, Kiseki (I Wish), Kill List, A Lonely Place to Die, We Need To Talk About Kevin

GREAT year.

Top Ten:
1. Poetry
2. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
3. Margaret ("Extended Cut")
4. The Tree of Life
5. Certified Copy
6. Mysteries of Lisbon
7. Hugo
8. A Dangerous Method
9. Le Quattro Volte
10. Meek's Cutoff

Drive
Another Earth
Melancholia
Beginners
How to Die in Oregon
Meek's Cutoff
Hugo
The Tree of Life
Certified Copy
Young Adult

01. Melancholia (von Trier)
02. Midnight in Paris (Allen)
03. Drive (Refn)
04. Margaret (Lonergan)
05. Young Adult (Reitman)
06. Take Shelter (Nichols)
07. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Fincher)
08. The Skin I Live In (Almodóvar)
09. Meek's Cutoff (Reichardt)
10. A Separation (Farhadi)

LAST UPDATED: 1/9/2019

1. Midnight in Paris
2. Mildred Pierce
3. Margaret
4. Young Adult
5. Woody Allen: A Documentary
6. Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff
7. War Horse
8. Hugo
9. The Artist
10. The Skin I Live In

1. Melancholia
2. Margaret
3. Young Adult
4. Drive
5. The Skin I Live In
6. Another Earth
7. Midnight in Paris
8. Meek's Cutoff
9. A Separation
10. Beginners

Hon. Mention: Le Havre, Hugo, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Pariah, Hanna, Contagion, Rango, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Tree of Life, Attack the Block, Shame, Super 8, Take Shelter.

1. The Tree of Life
2. Le quattro volte
3. Essential Killing
4. My Joy
5. Certified Copy
6. Melancholia
7. Aita
8. The Time That Remains
9. Poetry
10. Midnight in Paris

MichaelB wrote:Disturbingly (if unsurprisingly), I hear rumours that its heroically uncompromising dialogue and delivery may be subtitled or even dubbed for US consumption - which would be an insult to one of the few wholly commercial British films in recent memory that doesn't slavishly pander to the international marketplace.

Why would it be an insult to subtitle the film?

Well the film is partially obscured by distracting and redundant white matter for one. I find it more insulting to the locals whose accented dialect is being subtitled though - it bugs me to no end when SBS or the ABC news subtitle perfectly legible but accented voices.

This has gotten quite challenging.

1. "DRIVE" (Refn)
2. "HUGO" (Scorsese)
3. "MELANCHOLIA" (Trier)
4. "13 ASSASSINS" (Miike)
5. "CARNAGE" (Polanski)
6. "SHAME" (McQueen)
7. "ATTACK THE BLOCK" (Cornish)
8. "THE TREE OF LIFE" (Malick)
9. "MARGARET" (Lonergan)
10. "BEGINNERS" (Mills)

JMULL222 wrote:Things I've seen that were released in the US in 2011, from 'mind bogglingly amazing' up top to 'just-barely-worth-watching' near the bottom. Of course, the true garbage like "drive angry" and its ilk are excluded, hence it being a top seven, not a top ten.

Drive Angry was great though.

John Edmond wrote:Well the film is partially obscured by distracting and redundant white matter for one. I find it more insulting to the locals whose accented dialect is being subtitled though - it bugs me to no end when SBS or the ABC news subtitle perfectly legible but accented voices.

In all honesty I wish more art houses subtitled their english language films. I couldn't hear half the things said in Certified Copy and subtitles over the english parts could have helped that. There are(partially)deaf people out there after all.

Well that's why hard of hearing subtitles should be encouraged (if not mandated) for the DVD or blu-ray release of a film - but I'm not sure futzing with a movie's visuals is a workable solution for a problem that (I hope) is only encountered by a small minority.

The art theater here does a once-a-week showing of each of their movies with subtitles, which I always thought was a nice idea.