Obviously Hugo, hot off the Oscars with 11 Noms and five wins. It may have lost the two big ones to The Artist but I don't think many people expected it to win as many total as The Artist. I missed it I. The theaters so I am really looking forward to finally catching up with it.

Before I post my top five here are all my usual disclaimers etc.
This list reflects my favourites, I'm sure I don't know the indisputable, infallible, and irrevocable "best" films of 2011.
Also there are quite a few films that I have yet to catch up with, so updates will come.

1. The Tree of Life
Too many good things about this film. I connected with it in lots of ways: as a father, son, brother, the fact that I grew up in Texas.

2. Meek's Cutoff
I love westerns. This is a gritty, dark, simple, realistic western with very high takes. A group of settlers on their way to Oregon get lost and they must find their way, and more importantly water. Stupendous acting and cinematography are only two of the many great things this film has going for it.

3. The Beaver
This film was probably my biggest surprise of the year, I almost didn't even bother watching it but I am obviously very glad I did. Mel Gibson not only turns in one of his best performances in a long time but also one of the best this year.

4. Terri
This is one of the films on my list that was not on my radar at all before I caught up with it. Roger Ebert's end of the year list was what brought it to my attention.

5. Jane Eyre
Fierce performances from Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender are the main reasons I love this film. The ambiance and direction are also terrific.

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6. The Mill and the Cross
See my review here: http://westiemag.posterous.com/the-mill-and-the-cross

7. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
An engrossing an subtle spy movie with very little shooting or chase sequences. Actually this film and MI4 are two spy movies that are at complete opposite ends of the spectrum, but both of them completely work or me. Also the cast in this film is unreal: Tom Hardy, Colin Firth, Ciaran Hinds, Toby Jones, John Hurt, Mark Strong, and of course Gary Oldman. He is remarkable as George Smiley and I am so glad he finally got an Oscar nom, I just wish he was going to win.

8. Of Gods and Men
Another movie similar to The Mill and the Cross that deals with difficult questions that don't have easy answers, or perhaps even "correct" ones.

9. Midnight in Paris
Owen Wilson was cast so perfectly in this movie, and even though I went into it with low expectations (the plot synopsis did not interest me) I had a really good time with this film. I loved its message that even the people that live in the time and place that you long for are themselves pining for something different. That being said I can't imagine that the ending is anything but ironic.

10. Win Win
A really relatable film with modern and realistic problems, not everything needs to have as high of stakes as MI4. A movie with good, regular people an the slippery slopes of doing the wrong thing. Really great performances as well.

I've been really lazy but my deadline is always to get my list out before the Oscars so here it goes...

11. Drive
This movie was intense and had great performances. I really enjoy "man with no name films" and I thought Gosling was great as that character.

12. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
Here is a link for my review: http://westiemag.posterous.com/mission-impossible-ghost-protocol

13. Warrior
I'm a sucker for boxing movies and even though this is actually a MMA movie it still follows the traditional boxing movie story arc. The main thing that sets this one apart is terrific performances.

14. Martha Marcy May Marlene
Review to come, but don't hold your breath.

15. Another Earth
An incisive look at how young girls mistake changes her life and the life of a small family.

5/5
The Mill and the Cross was the most beautiful and visually arresting film that I saw from 2011. It took me a long time to decide to say that considering that 2011 also gave us The Tree of Life.
It tells a story inspired by Pieter Bruegel the Eldar's 1564 painting The Way to Calvary and Michael Francis Gibson's book The Mill and the Cross.
The film is deliberately paced with little dialogue but anything else would be dishonest. The look of the film is truly fascinating and as technically advanced as the visual elements are they never take away from the story and, in fact, work very well with the simplicity of the film. Over half of the film is of peasants doing ordinary, everyday tasks.
There are a lot of different things going on here and I think I picked up on at least a couple of them. The main one that struck a chord with me was the Christ story, specifically his crucifixion. Pieter Bruegel, played by Rutger Hauer, knows the importance of events occurring around him and is very concerned with properly capturing the story of his time for future generations.
Pieter brings up how people often don't realize the importance of events transpiring around them while they are taking place. This is shown in the film during the crucifixion. A crowd has gathered to view the spectacle, but they are cruelly indifferent to the men being crucified. Kids are playing. Soldiers are gambling.
In one scene Pieter is discussing his painting with Nicolaes. "Although he (our Savior) has fallen at the center of my painting, I must hide Him from the eye."
"Why would you want to hide Him?" Nicolaes asks.
"Because He's the most important." Pieter replies.

I'll separate the nominees into 3 categories:

1. The Household Names, and Previous Nominees.

Brad Pitt and George Clooney. Both for the same roles that their Golden Globe Noms were for. No surprise here.

2. The Guys You've Never Heard Of.

Jean Dujardin and Demian Bichir. Dujardin was expected and he did already win a Globe. Bichir on the other hand is quite a surprise, especially considering that he got nominated over Leonardo DiCaprio and Michael Fassbender.

And the best for last...

3. The Guy That's Way Overdue.

Gary Oldman. It is a real shame that this is only Oldman's first nomination. He is a true cinematic treasure and someone who rarely, if ever, misses with a performance. He is ace as George Smiley in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and I am really hoping that he wins. He has some serious competition, but I could see him winning in much the same way that Scorsese did for The Departed. I do think he deserves it for this performance but the fact that he has previously been such a glaring omission from the Oscars is in his favor I think.

Let me know what you think and who you think did or didn't deserve a nod.

Best Picture Thoughts:
The Artist and The Descendants, if I had made a bet on any 2 being nominated it would have been these. Close behind would have been Moneyball and The Tree of Life. Hugo is no surprise, but I did not expect to see War Horse. Midnight in Paris is a very pleasant surprise, but a bigger surprise is that Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close somehow got nominated despite poor critical reception (48% on Rotten Tomatoes as of now). Four of the Noms have a 90% or higher on RT, two have 80% or higher, two have 75% or higher, and Extremely Loud has a paltry 48%.
I'm not surprised to see The Help in there, and I guess I don't mind since I'm sure it won't win.
Where's Drive? It was the 4th most listed film on critics end of the year lists.
Also, why nine nominees? Just to prove that they don't have to do 10? They should have just added in Drive to make it 10, or left off Extremely Loud and The Help for seven.
Now of course there are lots of other films that I would have liked to have seen instead, but I'm realistic. I'm just happy that The Tree of Life and Midnight in Paris made it.

What are your thoughts? Let me know if you agree or disagree with me.

Just saw this today. A truly amazing ensemble cast. Plenty of great performances. Kept me interested enough the whole time. In the end I thought it was good but not great.

With Haywire hitting theaters this weekend I decided to choose Steven Soderbergh for this weeks top five.
Disclaimer: I've only seen about half of his films so far so my list obviously only reflects the ones I've seen.

1. Che
I'm putting both parts 1 & 2 together for my number 1. Benicio Del Toro gives an incredible performance and I believe that these were the first feature films to be shot entirely with Sony's RED cameras. I knew practically nothing about Che Guevara before watching these films and I found them to be quite gripping and informative.

2. Bubble
A very simple low budget film using non-actors. It's about people stuck in a small, mundane town and something that happens that's not so mundane.

3. Traffic
Soderbergh's Oscar winning masterpiece drama about drugs (to put it really simply).

4. The Informant!
Another great fact based story about a man who cannot stop lying no matter who to or what the stakes are. Also Matt Damon turns in what I believe to be his best performance.

5. Solaris
A really cool and trippy sci-fi film, starring one of Soderbergh's favourites, George Clooney.

Honorable Mentions:
Contagion
The Ocean's films

January Jones is not a good actress, at least not in movies. I've only seen her in X-Men: First Class and Unknown but she is terrible in each.
I've never seen Madmen but I've heard lots of good things about it, hopefully she is better in it as well otherwise I'll probably never be able to sit through more than a couple episodes.
Now to be fair she had to wear some pretty absurd outfits in X-Men but she is still bad.