The Best Films of 2011 & The Films I Enjoyed The Most in 2011

When 2011 I started writing a memoir like fashion about the films I saw and each month I would tally up the films in terms of which I thought were the best, and which films I most enjoyed. They had very different results from the get go, and I've long been a supporter of acknowledging and embracing films you enjoy, even if they aren't perfect, or 'important' or meaningful or touchstones, revolutionary, etc. Those are all great marks in film, but how much YOU enjoy a film is important too. The reverse logic held up because one of the early theatrical releases of 2011 was the brilliant yet brutal Incendies, and as much as I can acknowledge it as a formidable film, I got zero enjoyment from watching it. So, in an effort to acknowledge and support both the films I think are formidable as well as the ones that warmed my heard and made me light up, I'm writing 2 lists the year; and here are in my opinion The Best Films of 2011 (I saw 100/400 released) and the Most Enjoyable Films (to me) of 2011:

Movie Moxie's The Best Films of 2011:

These are the films that I think are hands-down brilliant films on all levels.

1. Drive (2011)
2. TrollHunter / Trolljegeren
3. The Tree of Life
4. Small Town Murder Songs
5. The Guard (2011)
6. Four Lions
7. Melancholia
8. Incendies
9. In a Better World / Hævnen
10. Beginners
11. Jane Eyre (2011)
12. Meet Monica Velour
13. Pina
14. One Day (2011)
15. Thor
16. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
17. Beautiful Boy
18. Familiar Ground / En Terrain Connus
19. Another Earth
20. The Adjustment Bureau

Movie Moxie's Films I Most Enjoyed in 2011:

These are the films that made me laugh, smile, cry and giggle. They are the films where I felt that the film was speaking directly to me, and I wanted to hear what it had to say.

1. Drive (2011)
2. Soul Surfer
3. TrollHunter / Trolljegeren
4. The Adjustment Bureau
5. The Tree of Life
6. The Guard (2011)
7. Thor
8. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
9. Fast Five
10. The Three Musketeers (2011)
11. Jane Eyre (2011)
12. Small Town Murder Songs
13. I Am Number Four
14. Super 8
15. Country Strong
16. Another Earth
17. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part 1
18. Kung Fu Panda 2
19. One Day (2011)
20. Melancholia

Special shout out to both Rubber and Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls, which would have made both my lists but I saw them prior to 2011 therefore they don't meet my own parameters!

I'll be writing more about the particular films and their impact in a separate post about my movie memories of the year.