It's that listy time of year. Naughty vs. nice, art vs. commerce, Tree of Life vs. Twilight, etc. Movie critics, film pundits, and cine-bloggers are compiling their summations of what happened, or didn't, onscreen in 2011. Here are some I find most useful and meaningful. Between now and January I'll be adding to this list as more appear.
The Atlantic: Richard Lawson's The Best Movies of 2011
A.V. Club: 15 Best Films of 2011
Roger Ebert's Journal: The Best Films of 2011 and The Best Documentaries of 2011
GreenCine Daily: Best of 2011: Supporting Performances
The Guardian: The best films of 2011: Peter Bradshaw's choice
IndieWire: Annual Critics Survey 2011 and overview article
io9: Best and Worst Science Fiction/Fantasy Movies of 2011
L.A. Times: Year in Review: Kenneth Turan's best film picks of 2011
Movie Line (Stephanie Zacharek): The Artist, Tinker, Midnight in Paris: Stephanie's Top 10 Movies of 2011
Movie Morlocks (TCM): The Top Twelve Genre Films of 2011
MSN:
- Top 10 Movies of 2011
- Contributors' Individual Top 10 Lists (Sean Axmaker, Jim Emerson, Don Kaye, Glenn Kenny, Richard T. Jameson, Dave McCoy, Kim Morgan)
- MSN Movies Bloggers' Top 10 Lists
- Users' Top 10 Poll
The New Yorker (Richard Brody): The 26 Best Films of 2011
The New Yorker (David Denby): The Best Films of 2011
The New York Times: Riding Off Into Civilization's Sunset — Stephen Holden's Top 10 movies of 2011
NPR: 2011 In Film: Bob Mondello's Top 10 (Plus 10)
Online Film Critics Society: 15th Annual OFCS Awards Nominations
The Oregonian: Top Movies of 2011 — Shawn Levy — Mark Mohan — Mike Russell (pleased to see 13 Assassins here)
Salon: Andrew O'Hehir's The 10 best movies of 2011: Brilliant movies for a bleak year
Scanners (Jim Emerson): My First 2011 "Ten Best" List
Slant: Top 25 Films of 2011
Sunset Gun (Kim Morgan): Magnificent Melancholia: 11 Best of 2011
Time: Richard Corliss' Top 10 (one of those annoying click-through formats, but glad to see Rango there). And the Top 10 Worst.
Time Out London: Time Out's film team nominate their favourite movies of 2011
Village Voice: 2011 Film Poll, including J. Hoberman's Personal Best. The Critics List is here. Click the names to see individual votes.
Also looking back at the year in movies:
Ferdy on Films: My Year at the Movies, 2011 and Confessions of a Film Freak, 2011
Glenn Erickson: DVD Savant picks the Most Impressive Discs of 2011
Huffington Post: Best Films Of 2011: 11 Great Films You May Have Missed
IndieWire: The 30 Top-Grossing Indies of 2011, Led By Woody Allen's 'Midnight in Paris'
IndieWire: A Complete Guide To 2011-12 Awards Season / Summary of Winners
IndieWire: Indiewire's Greatest Hits: The Top 10 Reviews From 2011io9: Lessons that 2011 Has Taught the Entertainment Industry
New York Times: Old-Fashioned Glories in a Netflix Age by A. O. Scott and Manohla Dargis
New York Times: A Year of Disappointment at the Movie Box Office
The New Yorker: Anthony Lane's The Year in Movies: Gladness, Despondency, Madness
Slate:
- The Movie Club Entry 1: What movies gave you the goosebumps this year? How about nausea?
- Entry 2: Why I loved Melancholia, and why Tree of Life left me cold
- Entry 3: If Hollywood made more movies like Bridesmaids, garbage like Sherlock Holmes might bother me less
- Entry 4: Can you admire a movie without enjoying it?
- Entry 5: Bridesmaids proved a comedy could be big and brash and rude and still fully, proudly female
- Entry 6: A defense of The Artist, offered without disclaimers or shame
- Entry 7: They don't make bad movies like they used to
- Entry 8: There is no single movie this year that everyone is excited about
