Best Movies of 2011

Editor: Piero Scaruffi
Best movies of all time | Back to the Cinema page
Best of the decade | Best of 2010 | Best of 2012
The following list averages the opinions of my favorite critics plus mine.

Foreign movies show sometimes a year later, so if you can't find a title, check last year's ratings.


7.5 Terrence Malick: The Tree of Life
7.5 Bela Tarr: The Turin Horse
7.4 Asghar Farhadi: Separation
7.4 Nuri Bilge Ceylan: Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
7.4 Lars Von Trier: Melancholia
7.3 Gerardo Naranjo: Miss Bala
7.2 Everardo Gout: Days of Grace
7.2 Miranda July: The Future
7.2 Pedro Almodovar: The Skin I Live In
7.1 Alexander Zeidovich: Mishen/ Target
7.1 Bertrand Bonello: L'Apollonide/ House of Pleasures
7.1 Jafar Panahi: This Is Not a Film
7.1 Sion Sono: Koi no Tsumi/ Guilty of Romance
7.1 Christopher Munch: Letters From the Big Man
7.1 Steve McQueen: Shame
7.1 Aki Kaurismaki: Le Havre
7.1 Alexandr Sokurov: Faust
7.1 Christian Petzold: Dreileben
7.1 Jeff Nichols: Take Shelter
7.1 Mike Cahill: Another Earth
7.1 Joachim Trier: Oslo August 31st
7.1 Zack Parker: Scalene
7.1 Lynne Ramsay: We Need to Talk About Kevin
7.0 Bruno Dumont: Hors Satan
7.0 Steve Collins: You Hurt My Feelings
7.0 Chris Weitz: A Better Life
7.0 Matias Pineiro: Rosalinda
7.0 Geoffrey Enthoven: Hasta la Vista/ Come as You Are
7.0 Milagros Mumenthaler: Abrir Puertas y Ventanas/ Back to Stay
7.0 Alice Rohrwacher: Corpo Celeste/ Heavenly Body
7.0 Sang-ho Yeon: The King of Pigs
7.0 Nadav Lapid: Policeman
7.0 Hiroyuki Okiura: A Letter to Momo
7.0 Alex Perry: The Color Wheel
7.0 Lav Diaz: Siglo ng Pagluluwal/ Century of Birthing
7.0 Yorgos Lanthimos: Alps
7.0 Joseph Cedar: Footnote
7.0 Abel Ferrara: 4:44 Last Day on Earth
7.0 Wang Xiaoshuai: 11 Flowers
7.0 Ben Wheatley: Kill List
7.0 Malgoska Szumowska: Elles
7.0 Andrei Zvyagintsev: Elena
7.0 Markus Schleinzer: Michael
7.0 Jang Hun: Front Line
7.0 Xavier Gens: The Divide
7.0 Julia Leigh: Sleeping Beauty
7.0 George Nolfi: Adjustment Bureau
7.0 Lavinia Currier: Oka
7.0 Evan Glodell: Bellflower
7.0 Pawel Pawlikowski: The Woman in the Fifth
7.0 Sarah Polley: Take This Waltz
7.0 Andrew Haigh: Weekend
7.0 Dominik Graf: Don't Follow Me Around
7.0 Gian Alfonso Pacinotti: L'Ultimo Terrestre
7.0 Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne: The Kid With the Bike
7.0 Michel Hazanavicius: The Artist
7.0 Sean Durkin: Martha Marcy May Marlene
7.0 Simon Curtis: My Week With Marilyn
7.0 Steve James: The Interrupters
7.0 Tiffany Shlain: Connected
7.0 Ulrich Kohler: Sleeping Sickness
7.0 Woody Allen: Midnight in Paris
7.0 Agnieszka Holland: In Darkness
7.0 Dee Rees: Pariah
7.0 Joe Cornish: Attack the Block
7.0 Andrew Niccol: In Time
6.9 Coen Brothers: A Serious Man
6.9 Lucas Belvaux: Rapt
6.9 Baran bo Odar: The Silence
6.9 Elia Suleiman: The Time That Remains
6.9 Miguel Arteta: Cedar Rapids
6.9 Patricio Guzman: Nostalgia for the Light
6.9 Catherine Breillat: Sleeping Beauty
6.9 Alain Corneau: Love Crime
6.9 JC Chandor: Margin Call
6.9 Nanni Moretti: We Have a Pope
6.9 Steven Soderbergh: Contagion
6.8 Kim Jee-woon: I Saw the Devil
6.8 Zoya Akhtar: Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
6.8 William Friedkin: Killer Joe
6.8 Terence Davies: The Deep Blue Sea
6.8 Alexander Payne: The Descendants
6.8 Neil Burger: Limitless
6.8 Pablo Trapero: Carancho
6.8 Jeff Lipsky: Twelve Thirty
6.8 Hans Petter Moland: A Somewhat Gentle Man
6.8 Brad Anderson: Vanishing on 7th Street
6.8 Benjamin Heisenberg: The Robber
6.8 James Westby: Rid of Me
6.8 Koji Wakamatsu: Caterpillar
6.8 Azazel Jacobs: Terri
6.8 Oliver Schmitz: Life, Above All
6.8 Tate Taylor: The Help
6.8 Maryam Keshavarz: Circumstance
6.8 Bennett Miller: Moneyball
6.8 Tomas Alfredson: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
6.8 Tony Kaye: Detachment
6.7 Ron Howard: The Dilemma
6.7 Ruben Ostlund: Play
6.7 Richard Ayoade: Submarine
6.7 Joao Pedro Rodrigues: To Die Like a Man
6.6 William Monahan: London Boulevard
6.6 Aaron Katz: Cold Weather
6.6 Matt Porterfield: Putty Hill
6.6 Yousry Nasrallah: Scheherazade Tell Me a Story
6.6 Madeleine Olnek: Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same
6.5 Celine Sciamma: Tomboy
6.5 Alexander Zeldovich: Target
6.5 Morten Tyldum: Headhunters
6.5 Quan'an Wang: Bai Lu Yuan/ White Deer Plain
6.5 Hirokazu Kore-eda: Kiseki/ I Wish
6.5 Jean-Pierre Ameris: Les Emotifs Anonymes
6.5 Sam Levinson: Another Happy Day
6.5 Roman Polanski: Carnage
6.5 Simon Arthur: Silver Tongues
6.5 Jaume Collet-Serra: Unknown
6.5 Federico Veiroj: A Useful Life
6.5 Valerie Donzelli: Declaration of War
6.5 Alison Bagnall: The Dish & the Spoon
6.5 Juan Carlos Fresnadillo: Intruders
6.5 Daniel Nettheim: The Hunter
6.5 Philippe Falardeau: Monsieur Lazhar
6.5 Ann Hui: A Simple Life
6.5 Feo Aladag: When We Leave
6,5 Gore Verbinski: Rango
6.5 Greg Mottola: Paul
6.5 James Gunn: Super
6.5 Mark Ruffalo: Sympathy for Delicious
6.5 Tony Krantz: The Big Bang
6.5 Daniel and Diego Vega: Octubre
6.5 Zack Godshall: Lord Byron
6.5 Massy Tadjedin: Last Night
6.5 Carlos Cesar Arbelaez: The Colors of the Mountain
6.5 Shawn Ku: Beautiful Boy
6.5 Jake Kasdan: Bad Teacher
6.5 Michael Bay: Transformers - Dark of the Moon
6.5 Eve Annenberg: Romeo & Juliet in Yiddish
6.5 Nicolas Pereda: Summer of Goliath
6.5 George Ratliff: Salvation Boulevard
6.5 John Michael McDonagh: The Guard
6.5 Mona Achache: The Hedgehog
6.5 Jesse Peretz: Our Idiot Brother
6.5 Gavin O'Connor: Warrior
6.5 Cam Archer: Year
6.5 SJ Clarkson: Toast
6.5 Philippe Le Guay: The Women on the 6th Floor
6.5 Nicolas Winding Refn: Drive
6.8 Patrick Wang: In The Family
6.5 Cedric Klapisch: My Piece of the Pie
6.5 Kenneth Lonergan: Margaret
6.4 Craig Johnson: True Adolescents
6.4 Florin Serban: If I Want to Whistle I Whistle
6.4 Bertrand Tavernier: The Princess of Montpensier
6.4 Rupert Wyatt: Rise of the Planet of the Apes
6.2 Mikael Hafstrom: The Rite
6.2 David Evans: The Grace Card
6.2 David Hyde Pierce: The Perfect Host
6.2 Jean-Paul Salome: The Chameleon
6.2 Kevin Smith: Red State
6.2 Joshua Leonard: The Lie
6.2 Jason Reitman: Young Adult
6.2 Steven Spielberg: War Horse
6.2 Tran Anh Hung: Norwegian Wood
6.1 Richard Levine: Every Day
6.1 Iciar Bollain: Even the Rain
6.0 Koen Mortier: Ex Drummer
6.0 Todd Solondz: Dark Horse
6.0 Paolo Sorrentino: This Must Be the Place
6.0 Gus Van Sant: Restless
6.0 Rick Alverson: New Jerusalem
6.0 Chan-wook Park: Night Fishing
6.0 Rodrigo Garcia: Albert Nobbs
6.0 Michael Weithorn: A Little Help
6.0 Gregg Araki: Kaboom
6.0 Shana Feste: Country Strong
6.0 Michel Gondry: The Green Hornet
6.0 Levan Koguashvili: Street Days
6.0 Martin Pieter Zandvliet: Applause
6.0 Vladan Nikolic: Zenith
6.0 Kevin Macdonald: The Eagle
6.0 Zeina Durra: The Imperialists are Still Alive
6.0 Peter Farrelly and Bobby Farrelly: Hall Pass
6.0 Cary Joji Fukunaga: Jane Eyre
6.0 Catherine Hardwicke: Red Riding Hood
6.0 Duncan Jones: Source Code
6.0 Joe Wright: Hanna
6.0 Susanne Bier: In a Better World
6.0 Tom McCarthy: Win Win
6.0 Zack Snyder: Sucker Punch
6.0 Takashi Miike: 13 Assassins
6.0 Ben Hickernell: Lebanon PA
6.0 Mike Pavone: That's What I Am
6.0 John Martoccia: Vito Bonafacci
6.0 Matthew Vaughn: X-Men First Class
6.0 Adam Reid: Hello Lonesome
6.0 Paul Feig: Bridesmaids
6.0 Dan Rush: Everything Must Go
6.0 J. J. Abrams: Super 8
6.0 Ben Sombogaart: Bride Flight
6.0 Mark Walters: Mr. Popper's Penguins
6.0 Ivan Fund and Santiago Loza: The Lips
6.0 Miguel Angel Vivas: Kidnapped
6.0 David Yates: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
6.0 Jon Favreau: Cowboys & Aliens
6.0 Glenn Ficarra and John Requa: Crazy Stupid Love
6.0 Leon Ford: Griff the Invisible
6.0 Craig Gillespie: Fright Night
6.0 Rene Feret: Mozart's Sister
6.0 Lone Scherfig: One Day
6.0 Vera Farmiga: Higher Ground
6.0 Troy Nixey: Don't Be Afraid of the Dark
6.0 John Madden: The Debt
6.0 Matthew Dean Russell: Seven Days in Utopia,
6.0 Bryan Goluboff: Beware the Gonzo
6.0 Anne Sewitsky: Happy Happy
6.0 Tom Tykwer: 3
6.0 John Singleton: Abduction
6.0 Jonathan Levine: 50/50
6.0 Shawn Levy: Real Steel
6.0 Abe Sylvia: Dirty Girl
6.0 David Frankel: The Big Year
6.0 Jim Loach: Oranges and Sunshine
6.0 Chris Miller: Puss in Boots
6.0 Bruce Robinson: The Rum Diar
6.0 Bill Condon: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part I
6.0 Clint Eastwood: J. Edgar
6.0 David Cronenberg: Dangerous Method
6.0 Jose Padilha: Elite Squad 2 - The Enemy Within
6.0 Martin Scorsese: The Invention of Hugo Cabret
6.0 Ralph Fiennes: Coriolanus
6.0 Garry Marshall: New Year's Eve
6.0 David Pomes: Cook County
6.0 Cameron Crowe: We Bought a Zoo
6.0 Gaby Dellal: Angels Crest
6.0 Sion Sono: Himizu (2011)
5.9 James Keach: Waiting for Forever
5.9 Will Canon: Brotherhood
5.9 Jonas Mekas: Sleepless Nights Stories
5.8 Matthew McConaughey: The Lincoln Lawyer
5.8 Bernard Rose: Mr Nice
5.8 Phyllida Lloyd: Iron Lady
5.7 George Miller: Happy Feet Two
5.7 Marius Holst: King of Devil's Island
5.6 Sarah Smith: Arthur Christmas
5.5 Tarsem Singh: Immortals
5.5 Ivan Reitman: No Strings Attached
5.5 Michael Dowse: Take Me Home Tonight
5.5 Christopher Smith: Black Death
5.5 Paul Johansson: Atlas Shrugged Part I
5.5 Salim Akil: Jumping the Broom
5.5 Gavin Wiesen: The Art of Getting By
5.5 Thomas Bezucha: Monte Carlo
5.5 Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
5.5 David Dobkin: The Change-Up
5.5 John Sayles: Amigo
5.5 Olivier Megaton: Colombiana
5.5 Jeanne Labrune: Special Treatment
5.5 Alex Gregory and Peter Huyck: A Good Old Fashioned Orgy
5.5 Marc Forster: Machine Gun Preacher
5.5 Roland Emmerich: Anonymous
5.5 Drake Doremus: Like Crazy
5.5 Mark Pellington: I Melt With You
5.5 Guy Ritchie: Sherlock Holmes - A Game of Shadows
5.5 Gianfranco Rosi: El Sicario Room 164
5.2 Paddy Considine: Tyrannosaur
5.1 Don Roos: The Other Woman
5.0 Simon West: The Mechanic
5.0 Andre Techine: Impardonnables/ Unforgivable
5.0 Zhang Yimou: The Flowers of War
5.0 Rod Lurie: Straw Dogs
5.0 Peter Weir: The Way Back
5.0 Jorge Michel Grau: We Are What We Are
5.0 Kelly Asbury: Gnomeo and Juliet
5.0 Daniel Barnz: Beastly
5.0 Barry Blaustein: Peep World
5.0 Dana Adam Shapiro: Monogamy
5.0 Jacques-Remy Girerd: Mia and the Migoo
5.0 James Wan : Insidious
5.0 Julian Schnabel: Miral
5.0 Malcolm Venville: Henry's Crime
5.0 Tim Hill: Hop
5.0 Robert Redford: The Conspirator
5.0 Carlos Saldanha: Rio
5.0 Jim Mickle: Stake Land
5.0 Justin Lin: Fast Five
5.0 Joe Nussbaum: Prom
5.0 Roland Joffe: There Be Dragons
5.0 Kenneth Branagh: Thor
5.0 Luke Greenfield: Something Borrowed
5.0 Mitch Glazer: Passion Play
5.0 Jason Eisener: Hobo With a Shotgun
5.0 David Fincher: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
5.0 Marilyn Agrelo: An Invisible Sign
5.0 Joe Johnston: Captain America - The First Avenger
5.0 Gilles Paquet-Brenner: Sarah's Key
5.0 Adam Wingard and Joe Swanberg: Autoerotic
5.0 Spencer Susser: Hesher
5.0 Jennifer Yuh Nelson: Kung Fu Panda 2
5.0 Tom Hanks: Larry Crowne
5.0 Frank Coraci: Zookeeper
5.0 Stephen Anderson and Don Hall: Winnie the Pooh
5.0 Lee Tamahori: The Devil's Double
5.0 Rashaad Ernesto Green: Gun Hill Road
5.0 Renny Harlin: 5 Days of War
5.0 Rowan Joffe: Brighton Rock
5.0 Cristian Mungiu et al: Tales From the Golden Age
5.0 Jim Whitaker: Rebirth
5.0 Mark Mylod: What's your Number
5.0 George Clooney: The Ides of March
5.0 Oliver Parker: Johnny English Reborn
5.0 Brett Ratner: Tower Heist
5.0 Dito Montiel: The Son of No One
5.0 Peter Odiorne: The Greening of Whitney Brown
5.0 Xavier Durringer: The Conquest
5.0 David Gordon Green: The Sitter
5.0 Angelina Jolie: In the Land of Blood and Honey
5.0 Stephen Daldry: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
5.0 Chris Gorak: The Darkest Hour
5.0 Michael Cuesta: Roadie
4.9 Dominic Sena: Season of the Witch
4.8 Alister Grierson: Sanctum
4.5 Wilson Yip: Ip Man 2 - Legend of the Grandmaster
4.5 Dennis Dugan: Just Go With It
4.5 D. J. Caruso: I Am Number Four
4,5 David Gordon Green: Your Highness
4.5 Francis Lawrence: Water for Elephants
4.5 Jodie Foster: The Beaver
4.5 Rob Marshall: Pirates of the Caribbean - On Stranger Tides
4.5 Todd Phillips: The Hangover Part II
4.5 John Lasseter: Cars 2
4.5 Matthew Chapman: The Ledge
4.5 Seth Gordon: Horrible Bosses
4.5 Jonathan English: Ironclad
4.5 Will Gluck: Friends With Benefits
4.5 Ruben Fleischer: 30 Minutes or Less
4.5 Vivi Friedman: The Family Tree
4.5 Douglas McGrath: I Don't Know How She Does It
4.5 Craig Brewer: Footloose
4.5 Joel Schumacher: Trespass
4.5 Jim Sheridan: Dream House
4.5 Henry Joust: Paranormal Activity 3
4.5 Joe Maggio: The Last Rites of Joe May
4.5 Philipp Stolzl: Young Goethe in Love
4.5 Allie Dvorin: A Novel Romance
4.5 Dennis Dugan: Jack and Jill
4.5 Brad Bird: Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol
4.5 Steven Spielberg: The Adventures of Tintin
4.0 Kenneth Price: Americatown
4.0 Josh Radnor: Happythankyoumoreplease
4.0 Jason Winer: Arthur
4.0 Jonathan Liebesman: Battle Los Angeles
4.0 Max Winkler: Ceremony
4.0 Simon Wells: Mars Needs Moms
4.0 Martin Campbell: Green Lantern
4.0 Marcus Nispel: Conan the Barbarian
4.0 John Carpenter: John Carpenter's The Ward
4.0 Christopher Sun: 3D Sex and Zen - Extreme Ecstasy
4.0 Chris Faulisi: A Proper Violence
4.0 Elana Krausz: Stripped Down
4.0 Eli Craig: Tucker and Dale vs Evil
4.0 Tom Six: The Human Centipede 2
4.0 Todd Strauss-Schulson: A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas
4.0 Mike Mitchell: Alvin and the Chipmunks - Chipwrecked
4.0 Martin Guigui: Beneath the Darkness
3.5 Wes Craven: Scream 4