Of course, no one has enough time to see every film made in 2011, and there were some big ones that I personally missed. So these lists should be more accurately titled “My Favorite and Least  Favorite Films from 2011 That I Have Seen (So far)”

The Worst Film of the Year

Chillerama – Adam Green, Joe Lynch, Tim Sullivan, Adam Rifkin, USA

A juvenile and offensive mess. This doesn’t send-up old drive-in horror films like a lot of people say. It just shows that the filmmakers have no idea what made those films fun to watch.

The Best!

11) The Future – Miranda July, USA

A strange surreal mixture about people trying to find their place in life. It also has a talking cat. The best thing was that the film made me think.

10) Contagion - Steven Soderbergh, USA

Soderbergh has a talent for making a solid, entertaining film in any genre. Here he excels at telling the story of a plague, and all the people affected by it, from start to finish.

9) Tree of Life - Terrence Malick, USA

Just sit back and let the film wash over you. You won’t understand all the imagery, but may be affected by some. But no matter what you think, you have to admire Malick for trying to make something different.

8) Hanna – Joe Wright, USA

The simple story is merely a shell to show off brutally perfect direction, killer music, and a really cool performance by Ronan. Joe Wright is a craftsman, and this film really showcases his talents.

7) Cold Weather - Aaron Katz, USA

A strange hybrid of mumble-core and mystery. A group of young people set out to find a missing person. But the film is about the people. The mystery is just entertaining window-dressing.

6) Melancholia - Lars von Trier, Denmark

I have a love-hate relationship with Von Trier himself, but there is no denying the power of his films. This one is no exception, showing characters dealing with nothing less than the end of existence.

5) 13 Samurai - Takashi Miike, Japan

Miike’s best film in a while. A group of samurai must kill a incredibly evil politician. They all have their reasons, and the joy is learning about them, and their plan, and then watching it all unfold.

4) Super 8 - J.J. Abrams, USA

Yes, the rumors are true. This film is a Spielberg tribute. And it’s a good one. I identified with this film just like I identified with The Goonies when I was ten years old. It has superb attention to detail in all aspects.

3) The Artist - Michel Hazanavicius, France

Disclaimer: I’ve always loved silent films. This one gets it right. It’s an homage to an era. But its not a copy. It knows enough about movies to do its own thing and to remain true to the spirit of the time-period. It’s an absolute delight.

2) Midnight in Paris- Woody Allen, USA

Woody Allen is still going strong. A film a year for, what is it, 40 years? This one showcases the man’s sense of humor and knowledge of art and history. It’s not deep, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s smart, and as beautiful as Paris in the rain. How can you not smile as this film unfolds?

1) Incendies - Denis Villeneuve, Canada

It has a powerful set-up, where a brother a sister are tasked with unlocking their mother’s mysterious past. And it does not let-up from there. It’s a brutal and emotional journey into a dark and disturbing mystery. I was very effected by the film at multiple times. Good use of a Radiohead song.

2011 was a pretty good year. Stay tuned for the Filmies! Where LCD and I give out individual awards to films that deserve (and don’t deserve) recognition in a certain category.

2010 is over! There are some big films that I missed, but at some point I just have to stop chasing them down and lock-in my best of the year. I don’t want my life to turn into an exercise in ticking films off a checklist.

Anyway, I have become less and less enthused with Best of the Year lists. How can anyone see all the films let alone rank them? So below you will find not the “Best of the Year”, but my “Favorite Films of the Year”, as well as some other lists.

Stay tuned for my next post where I will give out my special awards for 2010! That will be much more fun than this, so check in again soon.

Films I wanted to see but didn’t:

4.3.2.1, A Film Unfinished, A Prophet, Alamar, And Everything Is Going Fine, Animal Kingdom, Another Year, Art of the Steal, Bear, Biutiful, Buried, Carlos, Chico & Rita, City Island, Double Take, Down Terrace, Enter the Void, Father of my Children, Fish Tank, Four Lions, Girl on the Train, Hereafter, How to Train your Dragon, Howl, I am Love, Illusionist, Ip Man 2, Kids Are All Right, Last Exorcism, Last Train Home, Let Me In, Life During Wartime, Looking For Eric, Lourdes, Marwencol, Micmacs, Monsters, Never Let Me Go, No One Knows about Persian Cats, Ondine, Rabbit Hole, Red, Red Riding Trilogy, Secret in Their Eyes, Secret Sunshine, Solitary Man, Somewhere, Sound of Noise, The American, The Eclipse, The Town, The Way Back, Tiny Furniture, Trash Humpers, Troll Hunter, Unthinkable, Vengeance, Vincere, White Material, Wild Grass, Youth in Revolt

Films I saw:

127 Hours, A Piece of Work, A Serbian Film, Batman: Under the Red Hood, Best Worst Movie, Black Swan, Catfish, Centurian, Chloe, Clash of the Titans, Cyrus, Daybreakers, Death at a Funeral, Dogtooth, Easy A, Exam, Exit Through the Gift Shop, Frozen, Ghost Writer, Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, Girl Who Played With Fire, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Greenberg, Hot Tub Time Machine, I’m Still Here, Inception, Iron Man 2, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, Karate Kid, Kick-Ass, Killer Inside Me, King’s Speech, Kisses, Knight and Day, Leaves of Grass, Macgruber, Machete, Mother, OSS 117: Lost in Rio, Pirahna 3D, Please Give, Predators, Social Network, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Sex and the City 2, Shutter Island, Splice, Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, The Next Three Days, Toy Story 3, Tron: Legacy, True Grit, Unstoppable, Winter’s Bone, Wolfman, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger

The bottom 4:

4) Clash of the Titans - A horribly directed CGI action film lacking any of the charm the original had.

3) Hot Tub Time Machine - A stupid story, yes, but it’s also full of horrible characters and lacking any basic feeling or emotion that a character-driven comedy must have. Please everyone just screams at each other in it.

2) Sex and the City 2 – I can’t begin to describe what is wrong with this film and the characters in it. I think the ending says it all. Just read this review.

1) A Serbian Film – Pointless and disgusting in every way. Read my full review.

My 12 Favorite Films of 2010

12) Exit Through the Gift Shop - Banksy, USATrue or false (I say it’s true), it is a great behind the scenes look at an art world and the characters within.

11) 127 Hours – Danny Boyle, USA I use the term “form and function” alot, but this film is a perfect combination of form and function. The inventive style matches the character and scenario and it never gets boring or goes over the top.

10) Greenberg – Noah Baumbach, USABen Stiller does a great job as the title character who doesn’t really have a place in the world, and both fails and succeeds at trying to find one.

9) Dogtooth - Giorgos Lanthimos, GreeceA bizarre and entertaining commentary on parenting by a confident director. It is a pleasure to see something fresh and new.

8) Kick-Ass – Matthew Vaughn, UKMatthew Vaughn knows how to make films, and this shows off his talents and those of everyone involved. A wonderful indie film on a studio budget.

7) Mother – Joon-ho Bong, South KoreaIt’s a mystery that reveals information at just the right pace. Nothing feels forced because it’s anchored by a powerhouse performance by Hye-Ja Kim.

6) Winter’s Bone – Debra Granik, USAThe film brought me into a tight-knit community full of secrets, danger and a code of honor. Jennifer Lawrence showed me how to be strong and do what needs to be done.

5) Shutter Island – Martin Scorsese, USAAn old-school horror film in style, but full of real emotion and story. The last lines of dialog elevate the whole thing to something more than I realized.

4) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Niel Arden Oplev, SwedenA great mystery that has characters so interesting that I cared what they were doing and I cared why they were doing it. And when things finally become clear, it all makes perfect sense.

3) The Ghost Writer – Roman Polanski, FranceA confidently directed piece that kept me in the film the entire time. The story is simple, but leaves room for some dynamite sequences of suspense and mystery.

2) Black Swan - Darren Aronofsky, USA

If De Palma directed The Piano Teacher, this would be the film. It’s a full-bore horror movie that builds and builds to an operatic conclusion. The more I think about it the more I love it.

1) Inception – Christopher Nolan, USA

It grabbed me from the opening and never let go. Great soundtrack, great effects, polished direction and the story built up to three different climaxes that happened simultaneously!  More importantly, I was invested in what happened to the characters because they had believable stories and real emotions. I know LCD didn’t like the last shot, but I thought it was perfect.

Compiling a list and putting it in order was very difficult. Thanks to both The Lab Rat and Bootleg Willy for paving the way.

The beginning of this decade marks the time that I really started to become obsessed with film, so this list is very personal to me.

There are many more excellent films that I did not include and on a different day they might have made the final cut, but right now these 25 stand above the rest.

25) Wall-E - Andrew Stanton, USA, 2008

Everything Pixar does right is highlighted in this touching story of robot love. It is also a sci-fi masterpiece that shows where our society is heading.

24) Wayward Cloud - Tsai Ming-liang, Thailand, 2005

A man and a woman tentatively connect during a long drought. Melons, porn and big-budget musical numbers. Tsai Ming-Liang knows how to create a mood with his odd style, but he always keeps his characters real no matter how absurd the film gets.

23) Irreversible - Gasper Noe, France, 2002

Brutal content and dizzying style help tell this story of loss and revenge. Showing the scenes in reverse makes the climax touching rather than sadistic. A very powerful film.

22) The Constant Gardener - Fernando Meirelles, UK, 2005

It’s a thriller, a mystery, and a political drama full of social commentary. But at its heart it is a love story. Meirelles shows that his first film was not a fluke. That he can tell a mature, beautiful and assured story in the way it deserves.

21) Birth - Jonathan Glazer, USA, 2004

It’s a moody story that builds and builds and lets loose at just the right time. The performances are very strong, the direction is superb and the story is full of questions that kept me hooked.

More»

As a preview to our official Top 25 of the Decade lists we have enlisted some help from some fellow film-buff friends. Their lists are below, and LCD and TC will both be giving our opinions about them below in the comments.

A bit about the reviewers:

The Lab Rat – If TC and LCD had a baby the film tastes of that unholy offspring would probably match The Lab Rat. He is a constant presence at the ReelFriction movie nights and his opinion will color whatever films they decide to watch, for better or worse.

Bootleg Willy- It’s no secret that Bootleg Willy’s film tastes align closer to TC than LCD. He did after all initiate TC into the pleasures of cinema back in his formative high school years. Still, their tastes are different and sometimes TC and LCD agree more often than TC and Willy.

And here are their lists!

The Lab Rat

25. Once
24. Juno
23. The Fountain
22. Synechdoche, NY
21. No Country for Old Men
20. History of Violence
19. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
18. The Hurt Locker
17. A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
16. District 9
15. The Life Aquatic
14. Southland Tales
13. Up
12. Lost in Translation
11. Royal Tenenbaums
10. Memento
9. Adaptation
8. Shaun of the Dead
7. Wall-E
6. Donnie Darko
5. Requiem for a Dream
4. There Will Be Blood
3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2. City of God
1. Lord of the Rings

Bootleg Willy

25. Nobody Knows
24. Tarnation
23. Minority Report
22. Blessing Bell
21. Shaun of the Dead
20. Capturing the Friedmans
19. Oldboy
18. The Heart of the World
17. The Pianist
16. Me and You and Everyone We Know
15. In the Mood For Love
14. There Will Be Blood
13. Moon
12. Mulholland Drive
11. Dancer in the Dark
10. Finding Nemo/Triplets of Belleville
9. Audition/Visitor Q
8. Piano Teacher
7. Waking Life
6. Brick
5. Morvern Callar
4. Battle Royale
3. Lord of the Rings
2. Once
1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

It is very hard to come up with a list of the best films of the decade, so thank you both for your contributions! Coming soon will be TC and LCD’s official lists for best 25 of the decade.

I haven’t written much because I have been busy watching films trying to get my Top 10 of the Year and Top 25 of the Decade lists ready. At some point, I just had to stop and lock it in. I can’t see every film, and I can’t obsess about the order forever.

So, with that in mind. Here are my Top Films from 2009. This goes to 11!

11 – An Education – Lone Scherfig, UK

A young highshool girl is swept away by a glamorous older man. This films show how a great script, acting and direction can elevate a simple story into something special.

10 – Not Quite Hollywood – Mark Hartley, Australia

Ever wanted to know about Australian Exploitation film? This documentary will give you the run-down. It’s an incredibly entertaining history of an incredibly interesting style of film-making. A cinephiliac’s dream.

9 – Goodbye Solo – Ramin Bahrani, USA

The story of an unlikely friendship between a immigrant cab-driver and an old suicidal man. Beutifuly told and wonderfully acted. It has an authenticity to it that you rarely see in film.

8 – Away We Go – Sam Mendes, USA

Sam Mendes changes his tone for this smart story of a young couple trying to find the best place to raise their unborn child. It’s very funny and touching. John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph show they can act and be likable at the same time.

7 – Avatar – James Cameron, USA

I struggled to rank this film accurately on my list. It definately is one of the best of the year. With a decent story and a so-so script Cameron was still able to create a incredible celebration of cinema. Give in to it and it will take you away.

6 – Inglorious Basterds – Quentin Tarantino, USA

Tarantino does World War II in this suprisingly assured non-Tarantino film. It’s a segmented story, and the suspense of each segment is ratcheted up to the breaking point before letting loose. All with the use of great scriptwriting. Christoph Waltz is as good as everyone says he is. He handles the strong dialog perfectly.

5 – Desert Within -  Rodrigo Pla, Mexico

An intense story of a man obsessed with building a church in the desert to atone for his sins in turn of the century Mexico. Unfortunately, his family gets the worst of it as his obession with god becomes stronger and stronger. The film is gritty and surreal and very heavy. Mario Zaragoza gives it his all playing the father diving headlong into religious madness.

4 – Up – Pete Doctor, USA

Pixar does it yet again! They flout convention by making this story about an unlikely hero. The montage at the beginning may be the best of the year, telling a complete emotional story dialog free. Their production design is through the roof, but they always make the characters the center of the story and that is why their films are so good.

3 – Revanche - Gotz Speilmann, Austria

A robbery goes wrong and a man sets out to get revenge. Emotions run high and deep in this slow but very intense thriller. The tension is real because the direction is subtle and superb. Just look at the scenes with the wood-cutting machine and you will see a master director at work.

2 – Watchmen – Zack Snyder, USA

I always looked at this story as a character-study about how different types of people react when the world is falling apart. Except the world is an alternate reality and the characters are two generations of superheroes. How this film got made in the studio system is a mystery. It remains loyal to the comic, keeps the style and the message, and remains as dark, complicated, and layered as the original work, and has big-budget production quality. Zack Snyder took a huge step forward in this film, showing he can pull of story as well as style.

1 – White Ribbon – Michael Haneke, Germany

The film is stark black and white. It looks like it came straight out of a photograph from turn of the century Germany. It tells the tale a village experiencing a series of shocking accidents with mysterious causes. Who is to blame? The question is never really answered but fingers are pointed at the children. The children, raised in strict and cruel catholic households. Repressed and tormented and subsquently given no choice but to take it or lash out. As the war arrives, we are left to think about how this generation of children will contribute to the horrors of World War II. Subtle, enigmatic, and brilliantly directed, the film is classic Haneke.

Stay tuned for the best of the decade!