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Screen Rant’s Top 10 Favorite Movies of 2011
by Sandy Schaefer
(11 of 10)
Screen Rant's 10 Favorite Movies of 2011
There's a fine (and sometimes non-existent) line between what constitutes a great movie and a "favorite." We all have films we absolutely love and re-watch over and over, imperfect though they may be; conversely, we may really admire and respect the quality of a widely-recognized "classic," but it's not the sort of flick we feel the need to see more than once or twice.
We've settled on a list of 10 movies released in 2011 that the Screen Rant staff not only admired, but flat-out enjoyed. Bear in mind, this isn't synonymous with a "best of" list for films that hit theaters over the past year. These are simply the ones that we deemed our favorites.
Read on for our top 10 choices, along with 5 honorable mentions that almost made the cut. As always, let us know if you agree/disagree and what your favorite 2011 flicks were in the comment section.
We've settled on a list of 10 movies released in 2011 that the Screen Rant staff not only admired, but flat-out enjoyed. Bear in mind, this isn't synonymous with a "best of" list for films that hit theaters over the past year. These are simply the ones that we deemed our favorites.
Read on for our top 10 choices, along with 5 honorable mentions that almost made the cut. As always, let us know if you agree/disagree and what your favorite 2011 flicks were in the comment section.
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GTFOH with Captain America. Super 8 and X-Men First Class were MUCH better than the money monger Marvel movie.
I agree super 8 was one of the best films of the year but xmen was a let down. It didnt take advantage of its awesome cast the way it should have. it was ok but didnt live up to my expectations.
can’t agree with many of the choices, captain america was a major let down, for an action movie it failed, harry potter part 2 (not the biggest fan) but i did watch it and it was ok throughout the movie but the ending was crap and how the ‘dark lord’ died was hilariously laughable how his skin pealed away like LOL. and although mi4 was good, i can’t see it in the top 6.
warrior really should be in the top 5 movies of the year, and rise of the apes was way better than capt, screw honourable mentions they deserve the top spots
uhmm … HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS WAS EPIC AND IT’S ENDING WAS NOT CRAP , OKAY ? HARRY FINALLY DESTROYED THE DARK LORD WHO MURDERED HIS PARENTS BEFORE HARRY COULD EVEN SPEAK TO THEM . THE GOLDEN TRIO ( HARRY , RON , HERMIONE ) RISKED THEIR LIVES TO FIND LORD VOLDEMORT’S HORCRUXES . THEY SUFFERED FROM THEIR LOSS . HARRY FINALLY REALIZES THAT SNAPE WAS PROTECTING HIM .
to me : HARRY POTTER IS THE BEST !
~a p0tterhead representative~
Dude, your childlike responses are kind of emberassing the other Harry Potter fans.
Doesn’t anybody else miss that magick feeling of HP 1 when he first sees hogwarts from that boat. Maybe it’s beacouse Im 14 but the rest of the Harry potter movies are good but not HP 1 magickal. anyone know what I’m saying?
Agree with you. It seems the author attempted to transform Harry Potter into a Lord of the Rings-type epic, but it just doesn’t work. She should have kept if fun and engaging, more age appropriate for the young at heart.
I disagree, personally I’ve felt that all the books kept that same feeling of magic and innocence that’s been around since the first book, even as the characters went to war, but it felt like the FILMS had trouble capturing that spirit because they somehow thought that by making it dark and viloent more people would watch them even though that’s not really what Harry Potter is about. That’s just me though.
JKR was not trying to make HP like LOTR, She was even writing the books for herself? But yeah I agree Jose, the books do feel the same magic. Personally, the most magical one for me is HBP.
HBP is my favourite HP book. And my least favourite HP film.
Honestly, couldn’t disagree more. The magic is certainly in the first book, but in my opinion, the first film did little to capture it.
agree with a lot of the choices here loved captain america and harry potter and mi4 was pretty sick
Congrats Screen Rant. That is a terrific list and very impressive. Delighted you had drive, Tattoo and Block there. Very well done.
I loved all of the movies on your list, at least the ones that I have seen. So yeah good stuff.
Warrior is my top 1 and followed by Drive,Tree of Life,A separation
Warrior,1st time I got emotional during a movie in 5 years
interesting , i didnt knew a separation was getting this much attention , so proud of farhadi he,s the only reason i still go to cinema here and only to hes movies since hes the only real filmmaker here.
hope seperation gets a oscar nod!
Why is everyone so high on warrior?? Well acted yes, but a JOKE of a story! Anyone that knows anything about MMA can not find this story believable!! And if I had to see those idiots from TAPOUT one more time peppered throughout the movie I would have puked!!!
Good cast / BAD STORY!!!
That is from someone that really knows the sport from the inside! …it was a let down, too bad because Tom Hardy is the MAN!!
drive was a great flick!
What are you talking about. I’ve been following MMA since the 90′s. It’s perfectly believable. Even local tournaments are like that with round robin tournaments. It’s only recently because UFC is trying to turn it into a real sport that fighters don’t fight multiple times in one night.
your way over your head, that movie was fantastic, and if the story was a let down how come it made thousands of grown ass men cry, including myself
I ended 2011 watching a film called BOY WONDER, goes straight on my list. I highly suggest it to everyone!
1.Melancholia
2.X-Men First Class
3.Midnight In Paris
4.The Inbetweeners
5.Sherlock Holmes 2
6.Source Code
7.The Adjustment BureauÂ
8.Warrior
9.Captain America
10.PaulÂ
The Adjustment Bureau was fantstic!!!
1. Cowboys & Aliens
2. Crazy Stupid Love
3. Submarine
4. X-Men: First Class
5. Limitless
6. Fast Five
7. Super 8
8. 50/50
9. Horrible Bosses
10. Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol
Limitless is a good call, I forgot that even came out this year! But I can’t agree on Cowboys and Aliens, that was the stinker of the year for me.
See I went to see Cowboys and Aliens for four reasons; one, I love jon favreau, I think he’s a visionary, and love his work. Not the biggest fan of the Iron Man series,but whatever. Second, Ron Howard was the producer. self-explanatory. thirdly, Daniel Craig as an amnesiac in the west? Couldn’t miss it. And finally I’m a huge western fan. I thought the plot was balanced, the action was cool, the romance was actually realistic, And all the side stories were told at a good a reasonable pace. I thought It was one of the better sci-fi movies I’ve seen in awhile, and am not sure why so many people thought itr was bad. Having said that, the title would drive so many people away, so I understand it not doing well.
Yeah, I loved limitless. My favorite kinds of movies are about style and success probably because I have neither of those things. LOL. It was also made by Focus features, and I dont think they’ve made a bad film yet. It was a great movie through and through.
Big question Dr. Sam, DID YOU SEE SUBMARINE?
I’d like to take Paul off my list and replace it with Mission Impossible.
I would like to push mission impossible down a level along with everything else except “Cowboys” and put “The Adventures of Tintin” at number 2. One of the best Spielberg’s in ages.
happy new year to screenrant! my top 10 are 1.thor 2.cap a.t.f.av. 3.super 8 4.r.o.t.pl.o.th.apes 5.tintin . no,sorry just top 5,don´t remind others.
Where’s is X-Men??!! Transformers had good visuals!!
Didn’t think Capt. America was that good to watch more than once. For it to be the favourite superhero movie on the list is a pity IMO. Story started with sooo much promise but my wife and I got bored half-way through as Red Skull failed to live up to expectations. Ah well, to each his own I say.
I would put Thor (despite the hurried story-it’s still visually interesting on second and third viewing) or Xmen First Class there.
Everyone has their own opinions…
)
Personally, I didn’t really enjoy most of the movies in that list (I haven’t even seen some of em’)
Here’s my top 10 favorite movies of 2011:
1. Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows
2. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
3. Captain America: The First Avenger
4. Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows (Part 2)
5. Thor
6. X-Men: First Class
7. The Muppets
8. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
9. Transformers 3
10. Tower Heist (I liked it okay!
too much partying last night! now i´ve got the other 5,6.x-men f.cl. 7.transf.d.o.t.moon 8.ha.potter 7/2 9.insidious 10.apollo 18,i know but i like the movie,little creepy-haunting movie,nothing spectacular ,but watchable!
I love your list!
No rise of the apes?
Personally, I think that the final Harry Potter was the best movie of the year, but that’s just my honest, fan-boy opinion. Sherlock Holmes is probably a close second, and The Help has to be Number 3. Bridesmaids is Number 4, with Captain America taking Fifth place. Number 6 is The Muppets. 7th is Arthur Chistmas. Number 8 is Thor, and Number 9 is X-Men: First Class. Number 10 is Pirates of the Caribeann 4. That’s my list!!!
I can already tell my top three for 2012 will be: The Hunger Games, TDKR, and The Avengers.
damn,the more i read here,i´ve forgotten my fav.movies of 2011. of course pirates 4,second time i´ve really enjoyed it! but for truth there were also good direct-dvd movies.
Shame you didn’t include THOR in here. This was always seen as the most difficult Marvel superhero to bring to life – and Kenneth Branagh pulled it off Big-Time ! From the glory of Asgard to the excellent cast…and helping place a big chunk of Avengers in place.
In what I thought was generally a weak year for movies, I couldn’t agree more with Drive being number one. Refn does what Tarantino can’t. Use his influences to inform his own style (as opposed to just blatantly ripping them off and calling it a homage). It’s a nice validation when something I play cheerleader to pops up on the end of the year lists.
Hated Captain America. Just so very, very dull. Attack The Block was good and had a genuine feel of threat to it which is always a skill to master in a genre focused mainly on comedy. Fincher couldn’t shoot a dull scene even if Michael Bay voodooed his soul as his own. Not been in a good enough mood yet to watch Tom Cruise playing Tom Cruise playing Tom Cruise. Shame and MMMM are top of my list though for future watches. All in all though, a decent list. Would’ve been easy to glad rag all the over-rated critical darlings (The Fighter, I’m looking at you).
Special mention to Take Shelter, Tyrannosaur, Cell 211, We Need To Talk About Kevin, Incendies, Black Swan and Senna.
My top ten (but still trying to determine the actual favorites order) are:
Super 8
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
The Adjustment Bureau
The Muppets
Hugo
Green Lantern
The Debt
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
X-Men: First Class
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
I would definitely consider Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, The Adventures of Tintin, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows as great runners-up. Attack the Block was also quite entertaining
Nice to see Green Lantern on your list, it would be no.11 for me.
I think the list is good, but I disagree with your choice of n.º1, since I think Drive is a bit too overrated. Also, my favorite movie of 2011 was 50/50, which isn’t there. Maybe the list has a bit of a long memory problem and only recalls the latest movies.
“I think the list is good, but I disagree with your choice of n.º1, since I think Drive is a bit too overrated. ”
Ditto.
I haven’t seen enough new films this year to make a objective top 5-10 list but a film that would be on it would be MI:GP.
I really wasn’t expecting much to be honest but I left the theater blown away. And I’ve got to give credit to Cruise. It really looked like his career was taking a major dip but with this it seems like he’s not done yet. This was easily the best installment of the franchise and on par with the Bourne films.
Happy New Year Everyone!…Hope you all partied hard without almost going to jail like i did(: I still haven’t seen a few movies i would like to see such as Super 8,Girl With Dragon Tattoe,and Warrior so my list is a little premature but here’s my top 10 1.The Lincoln Lawyer 2.The Source Code 3.The Mechanic 4.X-men:First Class 5.Rise of the Planet of Apes 6.Insidious..great horror movie in long time 7.Red State 8.Friends With Benifits..funny as s**t 9.Red Riding Hood.. so sue me..plus had a crush on amanda seyfried this year 10.Mission Impossible:Ghost Protocol.This is not in any order by the way, just the 10 films i enjoyed the most this year. Should’ve put list in straight line,hope it’s not that annoying.
Great list ScreenRant. I’m kind of suprised that Warrior didn’t make the list. Warrior was the first movie to make me tear up since We Are Marshall.
Don’t know about a top 10 but a few movies I enjoyed in no particular order:
Battle Los Angeles
Thor
Capt. America
Super 8
Transformers 3
Rise of The Planet of The Apes
The Thing
MI4
There are tons of other films, some of which either don’t get shown at all in Australia or don’t last long enough to go and see them. But I found all of the above quite enjoyable.
Number 1 movie of the year was:
HANNA
just checked out your top 10 and ive only seen a few and the one’s i’ve not seen i would probley not watch so i will look out for them and give them a viewing.
Watched Captain America again and enjoyed it more this time.
Films i am looking for in 2012
1. the darkest hour
2. the avengers
3. dread
4. batman 3
5. world war z
6. hobbit
7. resident evil 5
8. cabin in the woods
@millerman
The Darkest Hour is already out, came out I think the last weekend of 2011, but read the reviews. Apparently it’s TERRIBLE…
sorry dude i live in scotland and its not out until middle of january here i hope its not terrible.
will let you know.
For 2012, I’m anticipating:
TDKR
“The Hobbit”, Part 1
“The Avengers”
“The Woman in Black”
I’m sure I’ll remember others as the weeks pass…
Just saw MI:GP today. Loved it. True return to form for the franchise.
The Muppets tops my list, althought many of the movies on this list I have not seen and am interested in seeing. Girl With the Dragon Tattoo sounds fantastic, and I remember one of my friends raving about the original. Hugo looks cool and steampunk.
Shame might be one to check out, because I like Michael Fassbender (ever since Inglourious Basterds). I’m also curious about this movie, because it’s directed by Steve McQueen, who, if I’m not mistaken, died way back in 1980. He was one of my favorite actors. If he is alive and directing movies, that’s great!
Yes I was rather surprised at how good Captain America was, considering how stupid Thor was.