Top 20 Best Movies Of 2011

These are the biggest and best movies of 2011, as far as we’re concerned. Ok 2011′s top movies haven’t enjoyed the sort of buzz that surrounds next year’s big titles, but there’s still plenty to get excited about.

We’ll run down what we’ve been anticipating, then close with how things stand so far. This is the best of 2011 at the movies -

20. The Green Hornet
Starring: Seth Rogen, Cameron Diaz, Christoph Waltz
Director: Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind)
Release Date: 14th January 2011

First up is a comic book adaptation (of which there are many on this list) from wacky director Michel Gondry. Anticipation was a little higher for this before the trailer hit, if only because we all assumed it would be more outlandish than it appears to be, but it still looks like a nicely executed superhero flick. If anything, it seems somewhat reminiscent of Iron Man, in terms of having a strong personality (in this case Seth Rogen) in the central role to give a piece of standard fare that added verve. Also looking good is Kato-vision, as seen at 2:05 in the trailer. We’re being optimistic. It’s potentially the best superhero bromance to ever hit our screens.

19. Fright Night

Starring: Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, David Tennant, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Toni Collette
Director: Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl)
Release Date: 7th October 2011

Star Trek’s Anton Yelchin is Charley Brewster, the young man trying to convince everyone that a murderous vampire (Colin Farrell) has moved in next door. He turns to gothic TV celebrity Peter Vincent (David Tennant) only to find he’s not the tough vampire hunter he portrays. Christopher Mintz-Plasse is Charley’s best friend ‘Evil’ Ed, and Toni Collette plays the mum. The 80s original was an enjoyable, well written comedy horror. This has upped the stakes with a near perfect cast of fun actors.

18. Cowboys And Aliens
Starring: Daniel Craig, Olivia Wilde, Harrison Ford, Sam Rockwell
Director: Jon Favreau
Release Date: 29th July 2011

Most people were sold on this movie on its title alone – it’s about as high concept as it gets. Cowboys. Aliens. Throw in James Bond, Indiana Jones and Miss Tron and you have the kind of movie that makes geek crowds go nuts. Director Jon Favreau is coming off the lukewarm reception to the somewhat disappointing Iron Man 2. We’re hoping for a return to form. ‘Lost’ scribe Damon Lindelof has helped out in the writing department, so his nerdcore sensibilities should shine through too. Cowboys. Aliens.

17. Thor
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Tom Hiddleston
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Release Date: 29th July 2011

With the mighty Thor hitting theatres, we are one step closer to The Avengers, which we’ve been impatiently waiting for since a badass in an eyepatch broke into Tony Stark’s house. But more than just a stepping stone to a bigger picture, Thor is a different breed of Superhero movie. Sure, there’s a cape or two, and people punch things in the name of truth and justice, but the mythic side of Thor is pretty much unprecedented in the world of superhero movies, and now that we’ve seen stills and that leaked SDCC trailer, we could not be more excited to see what the god of thunder has in store for us.

16. Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark
Starring: Bailee Madison, Guy Pearce, Katie Holmes
Director: Troy Nixey (first timer, Guillermo del Toro ‘protege’)
Release Date: TBC 2011

It’s a conventional horror premise – young girl sent to live with her father (Pearce), and new girlfriend, discovers creatures in the home who want to claim her as one of their own. But the presence of Guillermo del Toro as hands-on co-writer/co-producer should elevate this to something genuinely unnerving. The filmmakers were going for a PG-13 but got rated R for ‘pervasive scariness.’ It’s a remake of a 1973 made-for-TV film that few will remember. Good to see Guy Pearce getting some mainstream work again.

15. The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn
Starring: Jamie Bell, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Daniel Craig, Andy Serkis
Director: Steven Spielberg
Release Date: 23rd December 2011

The dream team of Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson are presenting us with an adaptation of Herge’s beloved comic book adventures of Tintin. The ginger-quiffed Belgian reporter is being portrayed by Jamie Bell, who previously collaborated with Peter Jackson on King Kong. You’ll never see Bell’s face though, because the whole thing is being done using the performance capture technology that made James Cameron’s Avatar possible. We’re curious to see what the 3D versions of Herge’s illustrations will look like, and intrigued to see what Spielberg does with the character and the technology. And Daniel Craig’s ‘camp bad guy’:

14. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Anna Kendrick
Director: Bill Condon (Dreamgirls)
Release Date: 18th November 2011

Boy, did we get moaned at for not having Twilight on our list last year. Well I hope you’re happy. Me? I’m confused. One of the votes in this Movie-Moron writers poll was for ‘Twishite: Breaking Dawn’ which was presumably a typo, and the other had the following to say: “2011 looks so crappy that I’d rather laugh and yawn through Twilight than watch most of that list.”

…so yeah. The further adventures of Edward Cullen and his (sort of) paramour – yeah, it’s a word, not just a band – make number 14 on our list. This one’s the craziest storyline of the bunch, leading up to werewolf Jacob falling in love with Bella’s highly intelligent baby vampire.

13. The Muppets
Starring: Jason Segel, Amy Adams, Charles Grodin, Steve Whitmire
Director: James Bobin
Release Date: 25th December 2011

Kermit and Co are like old friends. It’s been a long time since we saw them, and it’ll be a pleasure to see them on screen again – the silver screen is even better! With its working title of The Greatest Muppet Movie Ever Made, writer and star Jason Segel (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) has been giving himself a lot to live up to – and that’s a good thing, he’s acknowledging the daunting task ahead of him introducing the Muppets to a whole new generation.

Segel is joined on the project by director James Bobin, an unfamiliar name perhaps, but he was instrumental in bringing us Sacha Baron Cohen’s colourful cast of characters (Ali G, Borat and Bruno) as well as all-singing all-moping Kiwi folk-comedy duo Flight of the Conchords. We can’t wait to see him help the Muppets put on a show to save their old theatre.

12. Contagion
Starring: Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Marion Cotillard, Jude Law, Gwenyth Paltrow
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Release Date: 21st October 2011

Think Bird Flu: The Movie. Action-thriller about a deadly disease and the international team of doctors contracted by the Center for Disease Control to deal with the spread. It’s also about howinformation spreads virally in the internet age. Contagion is a global story, filming in 10 countries, described as ‘procedural’ yet ‘breakneck tense’. With Steven Soderbergh directing, a script by the writer of The Bourne Ultimatum, and a cast this strong, we’re confident it’ll be more along the lines of 1971′s brainy The Andromeda Strain than Dustin Hoffman’s Outbreak. Also Gwyneth Paltrow’s character is the first to contract the horrible disease, so that’ll be fun to watch.

11. Paul
Cast: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Seth Rogen (voice), Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig
Director: Greg Mottola
Release Date: 18th March 2011

Two British sci-fi geeks (Pegg and Frost) go on a road trip through America. On the way, they discover an escaped alien named ‘Paul’ (voiced by Seth Rogen) near Area 51. As they try to reunite him with his mother ship, they find Paul has many more opinions than your typical ET. You might expect Edgar Wright to be directing this, but instead it’s Greg Mottola (Superbad, Adventureland). Pegg, Frost and Mottola are guaranteed to provide a few laughs, despite the dull title and somewhat thin premise. And it’s great to see Nick Frost finally getting his Hollywood due, hope it’s not too late.

10. Sucker Punch
Starring: Emily Browning, Jon Hamm, Vanessa Hudgens
Director: Zack Snyder
Release Date: 25th March 2011

The first original movie from slow-mo supremo Zack Snyder. The director of the Dawn of the Dead, 300, Watchmen and that owl movie is taking us inside the mind of Babydoll, a young woman committed to to a mental institution who dreams up some pretty crazy stuff whilst inside (seetrailer). This is supposedly set in the 1950s, so quite how her fantasy world comes off as a yet-to-be-invented Heavy Metal/anime hybrid remains to be seen. What we can already see is that Snyder’s visual flair is intact, and his female ensemble cast looks pretty kick ass hot insane. This is Snyder’s last chance to prove he can do good character work before he directs the Superman reboot.

9. X-Men: First Class
Starring: James McAvoy, Kevin Bacon, Michael Fassbender, Rose Byrne, January Jones
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Release Date: 3rd June 2011

The X-Men franchise wasn’t on the boil for long. Bryan Singer’s semi-good X-Men was the movie that kicked off the superhero boom at the turn of the century, its sequel remains one of the best superhero movies ever made, but the third movie was weak and spinoff Wolverine fared no better. But wait, here comes Matthew Vaughn, the director of the excellent Kick-Ass, to tackle an X-Men prequel. And Kevin Bacon is the villain. Ok they started shooting without a finished script. And the 60s set images look a bit Austin Powers. It’s hard to know how this will turn out, but there are more positives than negatives and we have a lot of faith in Vaughn.

8. Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows
Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Jude Law, Noomi Rapace, Jared Harris
Director: Guy Ritchie
Release Date: 16th December 2011

Guy Ritchie surprised a lot of people with the first Sherlock Holmes, a movie that was outside his comfort zone but managed to retain his sensibilities and be a fast paced, humourous adventure. In contrast to the staid adaptations of Holmes that have gone before, Ritchie managed to inject some real excitement into the proceedings. Unfortunately, because the movie wasn’t based on anything Conan Doyle had written, it deviated considerably from the structure of Holmes mysteries, and the actual mystery itself didn’t seem so important. But the interplay between all of the characters was great, Robert Downey Jr got to be Robert Downey Jr (which doesn’t seem to bother people) only this time with an English accent, and Jude Law got to shine for once in his supporting role as Watson. Now in the sequel the less-impressive Rachel McAdams is sidelined in favour of Noomi Rapace from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and Stephen Fry will play Holmes’ smarter-but-lazier older brother (great casting). Ritchie has already surprised everybody by casting Jared Harris (who impressed on TV’s Fringe and Mad Men) as Moriarty, despite persistent rumours that former Snatch collaborator Brad Pitt would be taking the role.

7. Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Ralph Fiennes, Bill Nighy, John Hurt
Director: David Yates
Release Date: 15th July 2011

Some will be upset that this hasn’t been put higher on this list, but amongst the writers here there’s a feeling the series has dragged on for slightly too long (8 movies now). Nonetheless expect this to be a rousing finale to one of the most spectacular film series ever made. Harry, Ron, and Hermione go back to Hogwarts to find and destroy Voldemort’s final horcruxes, but when ‘Ol Snake Nose finds out about their mission you can expect to see school totally trashed by Harry and foe firing enough bolts at each other to keep local glaziers in work for years. In fact their fight sequence will reportedly expand on what’s witnessed in the book. Even though Part 1 missed out on 3D, Part 2 will probably be converted in time.

6. Green Lantern
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Mark Strong
Director: Martin Campbell (Casino Royale, Edge Of Darkness)
Release Date: 17th June 2011

The highest ranking comic book movie on our list is Green Lantern, the first major DC hero to hit the big screen that isn’t a bat, cat, or Kryptonian refugee. Coming to us from Casino Royale director Martin Campbell, Green Lantern, much like Thor, promises to show us a different side to superheroics and take us on a cosmic adventure. The story follows a test pilot who is given a ring by a dying alien which turns him into the Green Lantern, part of a collective who protect the galaxy from similarly powered villains. There have been a few voices of dissent about the casting of Ryan Reynolds – ignore them, he’s perfect for the role of Hal Jordan. The treatment for the sequel has already been ordered.

5. Scream 4
Starring: Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courteney Cox, Emma Roberts
Director: Wes Craven
Release Date: 15th April 2011

Scream transformed the horror landscape when it came out in ’96, kicking off the second slasher cycle (the first was after Halloween) and bringing a truly unique tone to the genre. Brilliantly directed as it was, it was Kevin Williamson’s script that really was a cut above. Scream 2 was largely a success too. Then the studio stupidly booted Williamson for the third instalment and the result was something like a Scooby Doo episode. We’re excited about Scream 4 because Williamson is back, and there are 10 years of horror movies (from Asian ghost movies to torture porn) to riff off, in that clever but still frightening way. It’s going to be interesting to see how the clearly-too-old-to-be-doing-this cast (Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courteney Cox) is melded with the new generation (Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere etc). Will they kill off Sidney Prescott?

4. The Cabin In The Woods
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Jesse Williams, Amy Acker
Director: Drew Goddard
Release Date: TBC 2011

Whedonites are legion. So having Joss Whedon produce and co-write the script is a good thing in terms of drumming up hype. And Cabin in the Woods promises a new take on a played out horror movie trope – the cabin in the woods. It’s directed by Drew Goddard, who was heavily involved with Lost and wrote Cloverfield. It stars Chris Hemsworth, the man who will be Thor. Shooting was finished a while ago but, like Bond, it’s caught in limbo by of MGM’s financial problems. The script is doing the rounds on the internet if you want to get a head start.

3. Super 8
Starring: Kyle Chandler, Elle Fanning
Director: J.J. Abrams
Release Date: 10th June 2011

Godammit, Abrams. You’re doing it again. Remember how the hype for Cloverfield was fueled by furious speculation? How the starfleet uniforms from Star Trek were hidden from the world? Well, here’s J.J. Abrams’ Super 8. Another project shrouded in mystery. We know it’s heavily influenced by the films of producer Steven Spielberg, and that it involves Area 51. We know it involves a group of kids in 1979 playing around making movies with their Super 8 cameras who accidentally capture something sinister, possibly alien, on film. We know one of the stars is Elle Fanning, younger sister of Dakota.

The Movie Preview Critic has a few predictions about what the movie might have to offer, so it’ll be interesting to see how much he gets right:

(One wonders if the filmmakers even know what the movie is, since the creature was designedafter the teaser trailer was released.)

2. Hugo Cabret
Starring: Asa Butterfield, Chloe Moretz, Jude Law, Sacha Baron Cohen, Ben Kingsley
Director: Martin Scorsese
Release Date: 9th December 2011

Hugo Cabret is a film of firsts. It is Martin Scorsese’s first children’s movie, it is Martin Scorsese’s first 3D movie, and it is Martin Scorsese’s first major release in ten years not to feature Leonardo DiCaprio. The official story of The Invention of Hugo Cabret is as follows: “Orphan, Clock Keeper, And Thief, 12 year old Hugo lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity. But when his world suddenly interlocks with an eccentric girl and the owner of a small toy booth in the train station, Hugo’s undercover life, and his most precious secret, are put in jeopardy. A cryptic drawing, a treasured notebook, a stolen key, a mechanical man, and a hidden message all come together…” You can see some of the illustrations from the book upon which the movie is based right here. The movie has the potential to be magical in every sense of the word (apart from the one that means real hocus pocus, of course), which is why it’s so high on our list.

1. The Thing
Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, Eric Christian Olsen
Director: Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.
Release Date: 29th April 2011

Why are we anticipating this so much? Because there’s still so much mileage in the concept (if they are smart filmmakers), the setting and idea haven’t really been revisited by other movies since, and seeing our favourite horror movie ‘prequelised’ decades later has a big curiosity appeal. The prequel has already dropped the ball on two unconventional, but key, elements that helped make the original so unique – the all male cast has gone (the lead is now a hot female who’s helicoptered in), and the large cast of 12 mostly older character-actors has been replaced by the conventional 7 younger characters. It’s asking a lot, but if The Thing prequel turns out to be the smart, well written whodunit mystery it should be, and it stays away from cgi for its creature fx, this will be the cinemagoing experience we at Movie-Moron.com enjoy the most this year. Fingers are firmly crossed.

= 9 MOVIES THAT DIDN’T MAKE OUR TOP 20, BUT YOU’LL PROBABLY BE EXCITED ABOUT =

Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Starring: Johnny Depp, Ian McShane, Penélope Cruz, Geoffrey Rush
Director: Rob Marshall
Release Date: 20th May 2011

Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley are out. Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush are in. Good call. The story sees Jack Sparrow and Barbossa embark on a quest to find the elusive fountain of youth, only to discover that Blackbeard (McShane) and his daughter (Cruz) are after it too. There’s a new director, Rob Marshall, whose only non-musical was Memoirs of a Geisha. Hopefully they’ll keep the running time down and won’t let the plot get too bloated.

Fast Five (Fast & Furious 5)
Starring: Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson
Director: Justin Lin
Release Date: 29th April 2011

Fast & Furious (4) felt like a last role of the dice for Vin Diesel’s career as a leading man, but it paid off huge at the box office. So now he’s sticking around to be joined by Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and the co-star of 2 Fast 2 Furious, Tyrese Gibson. The plot sees former cop Brian (Walker) and Mia (Brewster) break Dom out of custody and flee to Brazil where they must pull one last job to gain their freedom. But a hard-nosed federal agent (Johnson) is on their trail. The director handled the previous two instalments so you can expect much of the same, with a bit of samba.

World Invasion: Battle LA
Starring: Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez, Michael Peña, Bridget Moynahan
Director: Justin Lin
Release Date: 11th March 2011

A Marine platoon faces off against an alien invasion in Los Angeles. The director of Darkness Falls and T’ C’ Massacre: The Beginning is shooting in the Saving Private Ryan handheld style. Hopefully this will be the Black Hawk Down + Independence Day – Jokes it promises. Think large alien ships similar to a Borg cube / Klingon war bird shooting helicopters out of the sky and 8 foot bi-ped creatures street-fighting with the army. The Comic-Con footage went down well. The movie’s probably fairly good as it put Liebesman in the running for the Superman job.

Captain America: The First Avenger
Starring: Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Tommy Lee Jones, Stanley Tucci
Director: Joe Johnston
Release Date: 22nd July 2011

During World War II, Steve Rogers (Evans) volunteers for a top secret research project that turns him into Captain America, a superhero dedicated to defending America’s ideals. His enhanced body enables him to survive being accidentally frozen for several decades. He is thawed in the present day, where he continues his fight with skull-faced Nazi ‘Red Skull’ (Weaving). This is Marvel’s first period movie then, at least in part. Chris Evans was a surprising choice, since he was already known for playing the much-more-physically-suited-to-him Johnny Storm in The Fantastic Four. Most now accept Evans as Cap. But not all. We’d be more relaxed if director Joe Johnston’s last movie The Wolfman wasn’t an expensive mess. Why isn’t this being released on July 4th?

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
Starring: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Josh Holloway
Director: Brad Bird
Release Date: 16th December 2011

Remember the sofa jump and Cruise’s public dumping by Paramount? Well, they made up. JJ Abrams, who directed the third movie, stays on board as producer, giving helming duties to Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Ratatouille). It’s a risky choice of director, the last live-action leap made by a Pixar pro gave us Jonah Hex. The villains are played by Michael Nyqvist (09′s Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) Léa Seydoux (Inglourious Basterds) and Anil Kapoor (Slumdog Millionaire). Hopefully Mission Impossible 4 will remember it’s about the team not the individual (M:I2) and not get sidetracked by boring girlfriend issues (M:I3).

The Hangover 2
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms, Justin Bartha, Ken Jeong
Director: Todd Phillips (The Hangover)
Release Date: 26th May 2011

The gang are heading to Thailand. It’s rumoured that the plot revolves around dentist Stu sleeping with a Thai ladyboy. The first movie deserved its success, working as both a laugh out loud comedy and fun unpredictable mystery. In order to keep the original characters in this one (including the Korean gangster), and have the scenario repeat itself, expect unlikely coincidence to be pushed well beyond where it was in the first movie.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (U.S. Remake)
Starring: Rooney Mara, Daniel Craig, Stellan Skarsgård, Robin Wright, Julian Sands
Director: David Fincher
Release Date: 21st December 2011

Director David Fincher’s on fire after The Social Network and he’s cast the woman who played Zuckerberg’s girlfriend as the lead in this remake of the Swedish phenomenon. It’s based on the first in a series of three novels penned by an author who died before they were published. Dragon Tattoo is a detective story about a disgraced journalist (Daniel Craig) searching for a long-missing woman, assisted by an emo hacker with serious man issues. I didn’t find the Swedish original much better than your average Ashley Judd/Morgan Freeman thriller. I doubt the material would have attracted someone of Fincher’s talent without the huge following it has. P.S. The vital-to-the-mystery family tree in the Swedish original was confusing, hope they sort that out.

Rise Of The Apes
Starring: James Franco, Freida Pinto, Andy Serkis, Tom Felton, Brian Cox, John Lithgow
Director: Rupert Wyatt (The Escapist)
Release Date: 24th June 2011

It’s the prequel/reboot that nobody asked for. Rise is an origin story set in present day San Francisco, where experiments with genetic engineering create intelligent apes and trigger a war for supremacy. It’s primarily about the relationship between Dr. Rodman (Franco), who’s trying to find the cure for his father’s Alzheimer, and the most developed ape, Caesar. Sounds like a mega budget Monkey Shines. It will be interesting to see Tom Felton in a large non-Draco role, although he is still playing a evil son, this time his evil daddy is Brian Cox. We didn’t think much of Burton’s Planet Of The Apes, but this is a different kind of movie. Andy Serkis is playing a monkey, of course.

Transformers: The Dark Of The Moon (Transformers 3)
Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Josh Duhamel, Patrick Dempsey
Director: Michael Bay
Release Date: 1st July 2011

Megan Fox’s public insulting of Michael Bay has led to her getting fired from the series and replaced by newcomer-model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, who plays Carly. The plot revolves around the space race and how The Transformers were involved in it right from the beginning. So real 60s history is being rewritten. Will it turn out Megatron assassinated JFK? We were left exhausted and bored by Transformers 2, this series is so inherently cool we’re waiting for someone else to take charge and concentrate on the interplay between the Transformers rather than Shia LaBeouf trying to score and hiding under a table.

UPDATE JULY 2011: Of our 20 most anticipated movies there have been some huge letdowns (Green Lantern, Green Hornet, Scream 4, Sucker Punch). But thankfully other picks have lived up to our expectations (X-Men: First Class, Paul, Super 8, Thor, Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows: Part 2).

For comparison, here are the top 20 movies according to critics so far (via Rotten Tomatoes):
20. Super 8 (80%)
19. Crazy Stupid Love (81%)
18. A Better Life (82%)
17. Beginners (82%)
16. Kung Fu Panda 2 (82%)
15. Jane Eyre (83%)
14. The Lincoln Lawyer (83%)
13. Cedar Rapids (85%)
12. The Tree of Life (85%)
11. Terri (86%)
10. X-Men: First Class (86%)
9. Submarine (87%)
8. Rango (88%)
7. Winnie the Pooh (90%)
6. Bridesmaids (90%)
5. Attack the Block (91%)
4. Source Code (91%)
3. Midnight in Paris (92%)
2. 13 Assassins (96%)
1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (96%)