Best of 2011

Every year I like to finalize my Best of the Year list for movies on the same weekend of the Oscars, since it takes forever for me to catch up with all the movies that get released in December and I can pretend this is what my Oscar ballot (for nominations) would look like. I still have about ten to fifteen foreign films on my list that I was too lazy to watch by today's deadline, but I did manage to watch around 85 movies this year. The one movie I regret not seeing in New York was Margaret (Anna Paquin and Jeannine Berlin are supposed to be great in it), since it never expanded to Miami. Oh well! I do have to say that although this year is a pretty shitty year for awards movies (especially compared to last year, which had great movies like The Social Network, Black Swan, Winter's Bone, The Kids Are All Right, and The Fighter), I really love the top 15 movies on my list. This year also wasn't great for Hollywood movies, animated movies, or documentaries, so my lists are pretty heavily dominated by indie and foreign film festival entries. Here are my lists...

Best Picture

1. A Separation

2. Drive

3. Weekend

4. Bridesmaids

5. Beginners

6. Melancholia

7. Moneyball

8. The Interrupters

9. Shame

10. Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Runners Up: We Need to Talk About Kevin, Poetry, Certified Copy, Take Shelter, Pina

Honorable Mentions: Hugo, The Artist, Pariah, We Were Here, Bull Cunningham New York, Young Adult, Martha Marcy May Marlene, The Skin I Live In, Heartbeats, Miss Bala

Biggest Dissapointments: Midnight in Paris; The Muppets; Carnage; Super 8; Crazy, Stupid, Love; The Descendants

Best Director

1. Asghar Farhadi, A Separation

2. Nicholas Winding Refn, Drive

3. Lars van Trier, Melancholia

4. Mike Mills, Beginners

5. Steve McQueen, Shame

Runners Up: Lynne Ramsay, We Need to Talk About Kevin; Abbas Kiarostami, Certified Copy; Andrew Haigh, Weekend; Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist; Bennett Miller, Moneyball

Honorable Mentions: Jeff Nichols, Take Shelter; Martin Scorsese, Hugo; Dee Rees, Pariah; Sean Durkin, Martha Marcy May Marlene; Pedro Almodovar, The Skin I Live In

Best Actor

1. Michael Fassbender, Shame

2. Michael Shannon, Take Shelter

3. Brad Pitt, Moneyball

4. Tom Cullen, Weekend

5. Jean Dujardin, The Artist

Runners Up: Woody Harrelson, Rampart; Ewan McGregor, Beginners; Ryan Gosling, Drive; Brendan Gleeson, The Guard; Chris New, Weekend

Honorable Mentions: Demian Bichir, A Better Life; Peyman Moaadi, A Separation; Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy; Steve Coogan, The Trip; Peter Mullan, Tyrannosaur

Best Actress

1. Juliette Binoche, Certified Copy

2. Jeong-hie Yun, Poetry

3. Kirsten Dunst, Melancholia

4. Adepero Oduye, Pariah

5. Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin

Runners Up: Olivia Colman, Tyrannosaur; Charlize Theron, Young Adult; Elizabeth Olsen, Martha Marcy May Marlene; Kristen Wigg, Bridesmaids; Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn

Honorable Mentions: Viola Davis, The Help; Charlotte Gainsbourg, Melancholia; Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady; Leila Hatami, A Separation; Rooney Mara, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Best Supporting Actor

1. Christopher Plummer, Beginners

2. Albert Brooks, Drive

3. Brad Pitt, The Tree of Life

4. Ezra Miller, We Need to Talk About Kevin

5. John Hawkes, Martha Marcy May Marlene

Runners Up: Patton Oswalt, Young Adult; Chris O'Dowd, Bridesmaids; Chris Parnell, Pariah; Shahab Hosseini, A Separation; Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn;

Honorable Mentions: Rob Brydon, The Trip; Phillip Seymour Hoffman, The Ides of March; Bruce Greenwood, Meek's Cutoff; Corey Stall, Midnight in Paris; Ben Kinglsey, Hugo

Best Supporting Actress

1. Sareh Bayat, A Separation

2. Carey Mulligan, Shame

3. Vanessa Redgrave, Coriolanus

4. Jessica Chastain, The Help

5. Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids

Runners Up: Sarina Farhadi, A Separation; Octavia Spencer, The Help; Angelica Houston, 50/50; Melanie Laurent, Beginners; Kim Wayans, Pariah

Honorable Mentions: Shailene Woodley, The Descendants; Rose Byrne, Bridesmaids; Jessica Chastain, Take Shelter; Berenice Bejo, The Artist; Evan Rachel Wood, The Ides of March

Best Original Screenplay

1. Asghar Farhadi, A Separation

2. Andrew Haigh, Weekend

3. Mike Mills, Beginners

4. Abbas Kiarostami, Certified Copy

5. Annie Mumulo and Kristen Wigg, Bridesmaids

Runners Up: Diablo Cody, Young Adult; Jeff Nichols, Take Shelter; Abi Morgan and Steve McQueen, Shame; John Logan, Gore Verbinski, and James Ward Brykit, Rango

Honorable Mentions: Sean Durkin, Martha Marcy May Marlene; Dee Rees, Pariah; John Michael McDonagh, The Guard; Will Reiser, 50/50

Best Adapted Screenplay
1. Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, Moneyball

2. Hossein Amini, Drive

3. Pedro Almodovar, The Skin I Live In

4. Bridget O'Connor and Peter Strong, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

5. Lynne Ramsay and Rory Kinnear, We Need to Talk About Kevin

Runners Up: George Clooney and Grant Heslov, The Ides of March; Christopher Hampton, A Dangerous Method; John Logan, Hugo