best of 2011: film

well this is way late as i was planning on dropping this piece the week before the oscars but my computer died so that did not happen. originally i was going to write a bit about each selection but the time has passed and i just want to get this piece out and move on to other stuff. i have some long-form essay type stuff in the works too, but for now here's my top 20 of 2011:

top 20:

020: carnage directed by roman polanski 

019: hall pass directed by bobby farrelly, peter farrelly

 018: the ides of march directed by george clooney

017: the artist

 directed by michel hazanavicius 

016: hugo 

directed by martin scorsese

015: mission impossible - ghost protocol 

directed by brad bird

 014: martha marcy may marlene directed by sean durkin

013: our idiot brother directed by jesse peretz

012: moneyball directed by bennett miller

011: young adult directed by jason reitman

010: midnight in paris 

directed by woody allen

 009: limitless directed by neil burger

008: hanna directed by joe wright

007: the guard directed by john michael mcdonagh

006: the raid: redemption directed by gareth evans

005: warrior directed by gavin o'connor

004: the skin i live in directed by pedro almodóvar

003: drive directed by nicolas winding refn

002: melancholia directed by lars von trier

001: the tree of life directed by terrence malick

nice try award (cribbed from QT):the cabin in the woods (drew goddard) the devil's double (lee tamahori) the girl with the dragon tattoo (david fincher)i melt with you (mark pellington)
  honorable mentions: 50/50 (jonathan levine)bridesmaids (paul feig)contagion (steven soderbergh)the green hornet (michel gondry)haywire (steven soderbergh)higher ground (vera farmiga)the muppets (james bobin)real steel (shawn levy)red state (kevin smith)scream 4 (wes craven)source code (duncan jones)tower heist (brett ratner) win win (thomas mccarthy)x-men: first class (matthew vaughn)your highness (david gordon green)
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awards
  best picture: drive (nicolas winding refn) melancholia (lars von trier) the skin i live in (pedro almodóvar) the tree of life (terrence malick)warrior (gavin o'connor)
best director: pedro almodóvar (the skin i live in) gareth evans (the raid: redemption) terrence malick (the tree of life) nicolas winding refn (drive) lars von trier (melancholia)   best original screenplay: diablo cody (young adult) terrence malick (the tree of life) john michael mcdonagh (the guard) gavin o'connor (warrior) lars von trier (melancholia) 
  best adapted screenplay: pedro almodóvar & agustín almodóvar (the skin i live in) leslie dixon (limitless) john logan (hugo) yazmina reza & roman polanski (carnage) steven zaillian & aaron sorkin (moneyball) 
  best performance by a lead actor: dominic cooper (the devil's double)  jean dujardin (the artist) ryan gosling (drive) brad pitt (the tree of life) paul rudd (our idiot brother)
  best performance by a lead actress: elena anaya (the skin i live in) kirsten dunst (melancholia) rooney mara (the girl with the dragon tattoo) elizabeth olsen (martha marcy may marlene) charlize theron (young adult)
  best performance by a supporting actor: nick nolte (warrior) michael parks (red state) seth rogen (50/50) corey stoll (midnight in paris) christoph waltz (carnage) 
  best performance by a supporting actress: bérénice bejo (the artist) charlotte gainsbourg (melancholia) melissa mccarthy (bridesmaids) chloe moretz (hugo) carey mulligan (drive) 
  best documentary:   beats rhymes & life: the travels of a tribe called quest (michael rapaport) catching hell (alex gibney) conan o'brien can't stop (rodman flender)  into the abyss (werner herzog) warren ellis: captured ghosts (patrick meaney) 
  best cinematography: jeff cronenweth (the girl with the dragon tattoo) matt flannery (the raid: redemption)   emmanuel lubezki (the tree of life) robert richardson (hugo) jo willems (limitless)
best editing:tracy adams & naomi geraghty (limitless)  kirk baxter & angus wall (the girl with the dragon tattoo)hank corwin, jay rabinowitz, daniel rezende, billy weber & mark yoshikawa (the tree of life)josé salcedo (the skin i live in) paul tothill (hanna)   best score: ludovic bource (the artist) cliff martinez (drive) trent reznor & atticus ross (the girl with the dragon tattoo) tom rowlands & ed simons (hanna) mike shinoda & joseph trapanese (the raid: redemption)