Remember how I said I was going to publish one of these posts a day in the run-up to the New Year? Yeah, sorry. Don’t worry, at my usual rate I should be done by Easter! I’ll create a page on my blog’s menu bar for these lists now as I try and pick up speed a little. If you didn’t see my 2010 list, I’m trying to put together a Top 100 Movies of the Decade list, but with 10 movies from each year as opposed to an overall list. I’m weak.
These lists will get better as they go, but as I mentioned last time, I only started movie blogging in 2014, and I still have so many movies I should see. I guess there’s always an option to update the lists, though!
2011 Movies Seen: 45
This was surprisingly difficult to rank. Although I haven’t seen many 2011 releases, I really liked a lot of them, so finding 10 was no problem. I’m not completely happy with the order though, I think I would change them every day.
#10 Thor
I know the original Thor movie wasn’t at the top of many people’s lists but for me, it was the movie that got me invested in the MCU. I loved the simplicity of it, the introduction to Asgard, to one of the MCU’s best villains, Loki, and well, Chris Hemsworth as Thor. What more can I say!
#9 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
I’m glad the idea of splitting final movies in franchises into 2 parts didn’t stick around long, because it’s just unnecessary. Deathly Hallows: Part 2 might not have been my favourite Harry Potter movie, but even on a bad day I still love the franchise.
#8 Captain America: The First Avenger
Captain America has grown on me over the years. I don’t know why for sure, but I was never a big fan to begin with. It has nothing to do with Chris Evans, who is fantastic, but the character just didn’t do it for me. I’ve seen the error of my ways, though!
#7 Horrible Bosses
You can admit it, you hate me for this being here, higher than 2 MCU movies. It’s okay. But the trio of Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis is too perfect for me to not include it. I saw it in the cinema back when it was busy every night, and comedies are best watched with company, strangers or not.
#6 The Help
I need to see this again. 2011 me was painfully naive when it came to movies. Comedies and action movies were my go-to, and I only watched The Help because of my little obsession with Emma Stone. It was moving, upsetting and hilarious at the same time, and well worth a watch.
#5 The Muppets
I’m going to stop trying to defend my choices now and just run with them. The Muppets were basically my childhood. I was raised on them. There was no way I was not going to love this new movie. The soundtrack is to die for, the cameos are brilliant and relentless, and it was funny from start to finish. Fun fact – at my wedding, after we said our vows, we walked back down the aisle to ‘Life’s A Happy Song’.
#4 Source Code
Jake Gyllenhall. On a train. Trying to stop a bomber. He dies, he’s brought back to the train. Mystery! Explosions! Plot twist! If you need more than those things to enjoy a movie, I don’t know what to tell you.
#3 Crazy, Stupid, Love
Literally the best modern-day rom-com out there. Don’t tell me I’m wrong. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling have perfect chemistry together. We’ve since had Gangster Squad (not that good) and La La Land (perfect) with them together and I’m sure we’re due a reunion by now!
#2 Drive
Speaking of Ryan Gosling. Drive is a weird one for me. I watched it, yes, because I was on a Ryan Gosling thirst, and I hated every second of it. It was pretentious and boring, but it felt like something my husband (then, boyfriend) would love, so the next day I told him to watch it and ended up watching it with him. On a second viewing, everything made sense, and I loved it! Weird, right?
#1 The Cabin in the Woods
I’m still not sure if The Cabin in the Woods should stay as my #1 choice for the year, but it certainly deserves its place for now. On the surface, this should have been your average modern horror movie but somehow it’s a horror, comedy and sci-fi movie in one and it works!
The Cabin in the Woods is so goood it’s hard to write about it. And Drive too! Great choices!!!
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Yeah The Cabin in the Woods is almost as hard to talk about as Fight Club!
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Where is The Tree of Life?!?!
Just kidding (sort of).
Drive was a fantastic movie. I recommend a video on Youtube called “Drive (2011) – The Quadrant System” which explains how the film perfectly used the idea of quadrants. I had watched that video BEFORE watching the movie and so it was something I paid heavy attention to (the uploader has done many great videos breaking down the technical aspects of film). Also, the movie had a great soundtrack.
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Oh don’t! The Tree of Life is on my watch list under a title of ‘I’m probably going to hate this but should watch it anyway’!
Thanks for the Drive recommendation!
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Hahaha. Well if you end up watching The Tree of Life, don’t watch the more recent 4 hour version. Stick to the original 2.5 hour version :p
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Oh boy….thank goodness there’s a ‘short’ version for me to watch! š
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Life’s a Happy Song is still on my be happy playlist near the top! Such a great one and I loved Crazy, Stupid, Love I know some people didn’t like the ending but I ate it up š
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Oh god yes I’ll eat Crazy. Stupid, Love’s ending up time and time again!
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The Help is the film in my list that won’t make the final cut as I don’t think it’s that great despite what Octavia Spencer, Viola Davis, and Jessica Chastain did in the film. I have The Cabin in the Woods in my 2012 since it premiered that year as I don’t count releases from the Butt-Numb-a-Thon festivals since I think Harry Knowles is an overrated fat fuck.
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I used to try to do all my lists based on UK release dates but it got so, so confusing that I gave up and stuck with IMDB ones!
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That is why I don’t do my end of the decade list until a couple of years later which is what I plan to do in 2022.
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I love that Cabin is your number 1! I adore this movie, it’s so clever and fun and doesn’t feel dated at all and it’s been 8 years since its release god I feel old reading those posts lol
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Right?! Meanwhile on my Facebook everyone is posting these ‘me in 2009 and me in 2019’ posts and I’m like no thanks…I’ll stick to the movies!
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The Cabin In The Woods! I have a post like this I’m currently writing but I just crammed 50 movies into one post lol. Cabin and Deathly Hallows are currently on mine too. Drive I think may be as well, I should probably go back to working on that.
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Hot damn I can’t wait to see your list!
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great list Allie!
Source code is my #1
followed by Arthur Christmas and Hugo.
keep up the excellent work!
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I was meant to watch Arthur Christmas this December and never got round to it!
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Source Code shouldn’t be so forgotten!
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It’s just so good!
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Great list! Love your top three picks, The First Avenger and Deathly Hallows Part 2. I’ve never seen Source Code, I’ll have to check it out.
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Ohh! It’s a good one, I definitely recommend it. Jake Gyllenhaal never puts in a bad performance š
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Similarly glad that the trend of splitting movies in half didn’t stick. Just leaves behind a trail of incomplete feeling movies.
Love your #2 pick of Drive, and glad you gave it a second chance. And I’m now reminded that I never did get around to watching Crazy Stupid Love just yet. I’ll have to finally correct that. š
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Oh my god Chris you have to! I’m sorry if you end up hating it but please give it a go for me, haha!
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