Top 25 Movies of 2011
AMC Movie List

Top 25 Movies of 2011

Some were box office hits, some were critical favorites. How would you rank our picks for this year's top movies?

rank title points votes your vote
1 Drive
Nicolas Winding-Refn’s exercise in style and suspense races to the top of Hollywood’s list of antiheroes. 11 393
2 Moneyball
Brad Pitt balances baseball’s budget in a masterful adaptation of what was believed an unfilmable, statistics-heavy book. 9 367
3 Midnight in Paris
Woody Allen returns to form (once again) with a whimsical, late-night traipse through Paris’s rich, artistic history. 1 333
4 Hugo
Martin Scorsese’s first foray into 3D also dabbles in two of his passions: Hollywood history and film preservation. -2 346
5 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
There’s a mole in British intelligence, and only Gary Oldman moves quietly enough to potentially snare him. -9 303
6 The Muppets
Kermit, Piggy, and more felt friends from our childhood reunite for the feel-good, funny surprise of 2011. -11 301
7 Super 8
J.J. Abrams’s throwback scifi thriller about film-savvy teenagers tracking an alien who escapes in their small town. -13 363
8 Bridesmaids
Six seriously funny ladies storm the boys’ club, proving along the way that Kristen Wiig can’t be contained. -15 341
9 The Artist
Against all odds, a silent black-and-white crowd pleaser about a fading film star becomes a modern marvel. -16 306
10 The Descendants
A versatile George Clooney juggles his extended family’s future while closing the door on an immediate family tragedy. -18 308
11 Warrior
Estranged brothers settle their differences in the ring in this formulaic but deeply affecting blue-collar MMA drama. -18 248
12 The Tree of Life
Terrence Malick’s epic grapples with mysteries both massive (the birth of the universe) and intimate (the loss of a child). -31 277
13 A Separation
This unforgettable Iranian drama begins with a couple arguing for a divorce and only grows more tangled from there. -36 198
14 Shame
Michael Fassbender reunites with director Steve McQueen for a raw, unflinching look at sex addiction in the Internet age. -38 206
15 Melancholia
This is how Lars von Trier’s world ends, with sisters Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Rampling battling bursts of malaise. -47 223
16 Take Shelter
End-of-the-world doom and gloom, though the darkest storms might be in Michael Shannon’s cloudy mind. -54 182
17 We Need to Talk About Kevin
Psychological horror for parents as a mom copes with the aftermath of her son’s involvement in a school shooting. -64 180
18 Beginners
Mike Mills’s semiautobiographical charmer finds an aimless son coping with his father’s confession that he’s gay. -65 181
19 Martha Marcy May Marlene
Newcomer Elizabeth Olsen stuns as an impressionable woman fighting to escape a cult leader. Or is she? -72 170
20 Young Adult
Decidedly dark comedy about a delusional YA author who storms her hometown, leaving devastation in her wake. -76 180
21 I Saw the Devil
Extended vengeance from South Korean director Kim Ji-woon that basks in its numerous ultraviolent scenes. -95 173
22 Another Earth
Second chances seem possible in this gloomy two-hander wisely hidden behind a scifi premise about an alternate planet. -99 167
23 Into the Abyss
A humble and haunting commentary on capital punishment and criminal-justice reform from Werner Herzog. -99 147
24 Certified Copy
A man and woman converse while traveling around Italy; the power lies in what is said, as well as how it is spoken. -102 154
25 Terri
Azazel Jacobs's story of an overweight teen and his oddball supporters is equal parts predictable and uplifting. -120 156