Separating from 2011

It's that time of the year again ... the time to leave the year behind and release my rankings for the best -- and all the way to the worst -- films of the previous year.

I do it every year on the morning the Oscar nominations are announced, and this year, I set a record for movies seen in the previous year: 121. That beats my previous record (set in 2009) by eight. Funny, I don't necessarily feel like I put my mind to it much harder than before -- maybe I got in more movies "casually." (Define that as you will.)

I'll continue to see movies from 2011 -- not for a couple weeks, but I will. However, I will not continue to rank them. These are the rankings that will go down in the annals of my personal record book.

Let me just start by saying that 2011 was a weird year. A friend and fellow film critic characterized it as a year where there were many very good but few great films, and I kind of agree with that. Only my top three films are films I would not change a single thing about. However, it would not be a stretch to say that I love my top 30 films, and that I agonized each time a film I loved inevitably inched downward on the list. (In case you are puzzling over the semantics of this paragraph, apparently you can "love" a film without it qualifying as "great.")

On mornings like this, I usually like to let the list itself do the talking. So, here it is:

1. A Separation
2. Red State
3. Take Shelter
4. Another Earth
5. The Arbor
6. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
7. Anonymous
8. Moneyball
9. Melancholia
10. Tucker and Dale vs. Evil
11. Shame
12. Hall Pass
13. The Artist
14. Crazy, Stupid, Love
15. A Good Old Fashioned Orgy
16. Paul
17. Rubber
18. Water for Elephants
19. Meek's Cutoff
20. Cedar Rapids
21. Win Win
22. A Better Life
23. Captain America: The First Avenger
24. The Guard
25. Certified Copy
26. X-Men: First Class
27. Hugo
28. The Ides of March
29. The Future
30. Margin Call
31. Warrior
32. Bill Cunningham New York
33. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
34. Buck
35. Senna
36. Young Adult
37. J. Edgar
38. Everything Must Go
39. Surrogate Valentine
40. Bridesmaids
41. Martha Marcy May Marlene
42. Contagion
43. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
44. The Tree of Life
45. Terri
46. Beginners
47. The Human Centipede 2: Full Sequence
48. Weekend
49. Rango
50. Higher Ground
51. Our Idiot Brother
52. Jane Eyre
53. Tabloid
54. Like Crazy
55. Super 8
56. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
57. Midnight in Paris
58. The Help
59. The Adventures of Tintin
60. Take Me Home Tonight
61. Jumping the Broom
62. The Lincoln Lawyer
63. Hanna
64. Limitless
65. The Trip
66. The Descendants
67. I Saw the Devil
68. Insidious
69. Super
70. Attack the Block
71. Madea's Big Happy Family
72. The Devil's Double
73. Gnomeo & Juliet
74. Pearl Jam Twenty
75. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
76. The Sitter
77. Bellflower
78. Your Highness
79. Horrible Bosses
80. The Beaver
81. Drive
82. Hobo With a Shotgun
83. Green Lantern
84. Mars Needs Moms
85. Skateland
86. In Time
87. Circumstance
88. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
89. Submarine
90. The Adjustment Bureau
91. Sucker Punch
92. Conan O'Brien Can't Stop
93. Carnage
94. Battle: Los Angeles
95. Friends With Benefits
96. Mr. Popper's Penguins
97. War Horse
98. The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman
99. Apollo 18
100. Trollhunter
101. Red Riding Hood
102. 50/50
103. Thor
104. Source Code
105. The Perfect Host
106. Miral
107. We Bought a Zoo
108. The Thing
109. From Prada to Nada
110. Fright Night
111. Just Go With It
112. The Green Hornet
113. Beastly
114. No Strings Attached
115. Transformers: Dark of the Moon
116. Cowboys & Aliens
117. Drive Angry
118. The Hangover Part II
119. The Change-Up
120. Trespass
121. 30 Minutes or Less

Movies I most regret not getting to see before the deadline: Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Margaret, Project Nim, Rampart, The Skin I Live In, We Need to Talk About Kevin

And I've never done this before, but here are a few "notables" to give my list a little context:

Film that kept getting better the more I thought about it: Melancholia
Film that kept getting worse the more I thought about it: The Ides of March
Film I was really too tired to be watching: Martha Marcy May Marlene
Film I will probably like the most better on second viewing: Martha Marcy May Marlene
Film I wish I could have ranked higher, but it felt wrong: A Good Old Fashioned Orgy
Film I wish I could have ranked lower, but it felt wrong: Drive
Similar sins, (almost) the same ranking: Apollo 18/Trollhunter
Biggest surprise, director: Kevin Smith, Red State
Biggest letdown, director: Alexander Payne, The Descendants

I could probably write up a few more, but let's just get this out on the interwebs, shall we?

This is the only time of the year that I really beg for you to comment. On the day I finish my rankings, I'm giddy to discuss what I've done and compare and contrast it with your own impressions of the previous year. So please, stop in for a comment or two, won't you?