Earlier today I sat down to really think about what I believe are the best movies of 2011. To be fair, I'm not including movies I heard were fantastic - just the films that I've seen (some more than once, believe me). 2010 was a great year for film, in my opinion, and my first thought was "well, last year was better." It wasn't. Once I actually started listing, I was surprised at how many good movies I did get to see!

Without further adieu, let's get to it: My absolute favorite movie of 2011 (so far) is Drive. To be honest, I was warned in advance (and I'll go ahead and warn those of you who haven't seen it yet) that it's extremely violent. Gut-churningly violent. Normally that isn't my thing - I avoid those 'kinds' of movies. Not Drive. It is, quite simply, a masterpiece. Retro-noir at it's very, very best.

Ryan Gosling doesn't say much in Drive, but his actions speak loudly. Albert Brooks deserves an Academy Award nomination for his performance. If you are on the fence about Drive, just see it. I'm not sure whether the violence will deter Academy voters...we shall see. Some speculate that it will. I hope not.
Woody Allen, thank you. Thank you for giving me the great pleasure of seeing one of the best movies you've done in years in a theater. Midnight in Paris, Woody fans, is fantastic!

Even non-Woody fans I know (my spouse included) who saw this gem were raving about it. Unfortunately, it's still not out on DVD, so if you missed it, you missed it. When it's finally released, see it immediately. Great, classic Woody Allen romantic comedy.
I realize that not everyone's on board with this, but I absolutely flipped over Bridesmaids. Even with all of the hype leading up to the release, I still loved it (usually movies can't live up to that kind of expectation for me). Melissa McCarthy is forever on my radar, and I'm secretly hoping she gets an Oscar nomination for this one. I own this one, I've seen it umpteen times now and I'm still laughing.

It's getting better each time. If you like comedy, particularly raunch comedy, see this one now.

To be honest, I'm horrible at lists. I tend to go back and add or change things constantly. I do have a working list of "honorable mentions" for the best films of 2011...movies that I really, really enjoyed, but that fell just short of amazing for me. Stay tuned!