Smokey
01-04-2012, 09:56 PM
This is list of 20 films which Ebert picked as the best of year. I have not heard some of mentioned filoms, let alone seen it. I guess that is why we have movie critics. For full movie description, click HERE (http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2011/12/the_best_films_of_2011.html)
Ranked accordingly:
20. "Another Earth"
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/assets_c/2011/12/another-thumb-300x168-42491.jpeg
Joins "Melancholia" as a second 2011 film about a new planet hanging in our sky. This one doesn't presage the end of the world, but represents perhaps our very same Earth, in another universe that has now become visible.
19. "The Mill and the Cross"
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/assets_c/2011/12/mill-thumb-300x199-42488.jpeg
Any description would be an injustice. It opens on a carefully-composed landscape based on a famous painting, "The Way to Calvary" (1564), by the Flemish master Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Within the painting, a few figures move and walk.
18. "Life, Above All"
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/assets_c/2011/12/life-thumb-300x199-42485.jpeg
This South African feature centers on a 12-year-old named Chanda (Khomotso Manyaka), who takes on the responsibility of holding her family together after her baby sister dies. Family members are suspected of having AIDS; the community ostracizes them, until a courageous neighbor finally steps in.
17. Trust
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/assets_c/2011/12/trust-thumb-300x200-42479.jpeg
The bravest thing about David Schwimmer's "Trust" is that it doesn't try to simplify. It tells its story of a 14-year-old girl and a predatory pedophile as a series of repercussions in which rape is only the first, and possibly not the worst, tragedy to strike its naive and vulnerable victim.
16. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2"
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/assets_c/2011/12/harry-thumb-300x200-42476.jpeg
The second installment in the last chapter of the legendary saga comes to a solid and satisfying conclusion, conjuring up enough awe and solemnity to serve as an appropriate finale and a dramatic contrast to the lighthearted (relative) innocence of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" all those magical years ago.
15. "Martha Marcy May Marlene"
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/assets_c/2011/12/martha-thumb-300x127-42473.jpeg
Those are four names that apply at various times in the life of a young woman played by Elizabeth Olsen. "Martha" is her name. "Marcy May" is the name given to her by the leader of a cult group she falls into. "Marlene" is the name all the women in the group use to answer the telephone.
14. "Margaret"
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/assets_c/2011/12/margaret-thumb-300x199-42470.jpg
Kenneth Lonergan's film begins with a young woman (Anna Paquin) thinking she may have contributed to a fatal bus accident through her own foolishness. She decides the bus driver (Mark Ruffalo) should also be held accountable, and makes it her business to see that he is.
13. "The Descendants"
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/assets_c/2011/12/descen-thumb-300x200-42467.jpeg
George Clooney in one of his best performances as a descendant of one of Hawaii's first white land-owning families, who must decide whether to open up a vast tract of virgin forest on Kauai to tourist and condo development. This decision comes at the same time his wife has had a boating accident and is in a coma.
12. "Terri"
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/assets_c/2011/12/terri-thumb-300x200-42464.jpeg
Tells the story the story of a fat kid who is mocked in high school. Terri (Jacob Wysocki) is smart, gentle and instinctively wise. His decision to wear pajamas to school "because they fit" may be an indication that later in life he will amount to a great deal. He has character. He's been missing a lot of school and is called in by the assistant principal, offering kindness, anger and hard-won lessons learned in his own difficult life.
11. Melancholia
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/assets_c/2011/12/mel-thumb-300x168-42461.jpeg
This film about the end of the world is, Lars von Trier assured us, his first with a happy ending. I think I see what he means. At least his poor characters need suffer no longer. If I were choosing a director to make a film about the subject, von Trier the gloomy Dane might be my first choice.
Ranked accordingly:
20. "Another Earth"
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/assets_c/2011/12/another-thumb-300x168-42491.jpeg
Joins "Melancholia" as a second 2011 film about a new planet hanging in our sky. This one doesn't presage the end of the world, but represents perhaps our very same Earth, in another universe that has now become visible.
19. "The Mill and the Cross"
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/assets_c/2011/12/mill-thumb-300x199-42488.jpeg
Any description would be an injustice. It opens on a carefully-composed landscape based on a famous painting, "The Way to Calvary" (1564), by the Flemish master Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Within the painting, a few figures move and walk.
18. "Life, Above All"
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/assets_c/2011/12/life-thumb-300x199-42485.jpeg
This South African feature centers on a 12-year-old named Chanda (Khomotso Manyaka), who takes on the responsibility of holding her family together after her baby sister dies. Family members are suspected of having AIDS; the community ostracizes them, until a courageous neighbor finally steps in.
17. Trust
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/assets_c/2011/12/trust-thumb-300x200-42479.jpeg
The bravest thing about David Schwimmer's "Trust" is that it doesn't try to simplify. It tells its story of a 14-year-old girl and a predatory pedophile as a series of repercussions in which rape is only the first, and possibly not the worst, tragedy to strike its naive and vulnerable victim.
16. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2"
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/assets_c/2011/12/harry-thumb-300x200-42476.jpeg
The second installment in the last chapter of the legendary saga comes to a solid and satisfying conclusion, conjuring up enough awe and solemnity to serve as an appropriate finale and a dramatic contrast to the lighthearted (relative) innocence of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" all those magical years ago.
15. "Martha Marcy May Marlene"
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/assets_c/2011/12/martha-thumb-300x127-42473.jpeg
Those are four names that apply at various times in the life of a young woman played by Elizabeth Olsen. "Martha" is her name. "Marcy May" is the name given to her by the leader of a cult group she falls into. "Marlene" is the name all the women in the group use to answer the telephone.
14. "Margaret"
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/assets_c/2011/12/margaret-thumb-300x199-42470.jpg
Kenneth Lonergan's film begins with a young woman (Anna Paquin) thinking she may have contributed to a fatal bus accident through her own foolishness. She decides the bus driver (Mark Ruffalo) should also be held accountable, and makes it her business to see that he is.
13. "The Descendants"
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/assets_c/2011/12/descen-thumb-300x200-42467.jpeg
George Clooney in one of his best performances as a descendant of one of Hawaii's first white land-owning families, who must decide whether to open up a vast tract of virgin forest on Kauai to tourist and condo development. This decision comes at the same time his wife has had a boating accident and is in a coma.
12. "Terri"
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/assets_c/2011/12/terri-thumb-300x200-42464.jpeg
Tells the story the story of a fat kid who is mocked in high school. Terri (Jacob Wysocki) is smart, gentle and instinctively wise. His decision to wear pajamas to school "because they fit" may be an indication that later in life he will amount to a great deal. He has character. He's been missing a lot of school and is called in by the assistant principal, offering kindness, anger and hard-won lessons learned in his own difficult life.
11. Melancholia
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/assets_c/2011/12/mel-thumb-300x168-42461.jpeg
This film about the end of the world is, Lars von Trier assured us, his first with a happy ending. I think I see what he means. At least his poor characters need suffer no longer. If I were choosing a director to make a film about the subject, von Trier the gloomy Dane might be my first choice.