Alex in Movieland

my Alex In Movieland awards, 4th edition: Episode 3/4: Best Picture & Director

These were the 2011 films that impressed me the most: 2 or 3 classics and some good ones, but overall not a fabulous year, with plenty of disappointments. 

List of eligible/seen films (62):

50/50, The Adventures of Tintin, Albert Nobbs, Anonymous, The Artist, Beginners, A Better Life, Bridesmaids, Carnage, A Cat in Paris, Certified Copy, Chico & Rita, Contagion, Coriolanus, A Dangerous Method, The Descendants, Drive, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Hanna, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, The Help, Hugo, The Ides of March, The Iron Lady, J. Edgar, Jane Eyre, Like Crazy, Margaret, Margin Call, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Meek’s Cutoff, Melancholia, Midnight in Paris, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Moneyball, The Muppets, My Week with Marilyn, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Potiche, Puss in Boots, Rampart, Rango, Real Steel, Rio, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Scream 4, A Separation, Shame, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, The Skin I Live In, Super 8, Take Shelter, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Tree of Life, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, W.E., War Horse, Warrior, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Weekend, Young Adult

And my choices:

BEST PICTURE

My number one is a masterpiece and the best film I've seen in YEARS. A film for the soul, like no other done before. The Tree of Life is an experience.

1. The Tree of Life

2. Drive

3. Melancholia

4. A Separation

5. Shame

and then also:

6. Young Adult

7. War Horse 

8. Take Shelter

9. Weekend

10. Hanna

Runner-ups:

11. Moneyball

12. Margin Call

13. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

14. Contagion

15. Like Crazy

Also:

16. Bridesmaids

17. The Adventures of Tintin

18. The Help

19. Meek's Cutoff

20. Jane Eyre

BEST DIRECTOR

This category was very interesting this year, with a lot of auteurs bringing their best; this Top 5 is very competitive, with lots of different directing styles. That being said, my number one was obvious, as I consider it the highest achievement of the year, in any category.

1. Terrence Malick - The Tree of Life

2.Nicolas Winding Refn - Drive

3. Lars von Trier - Melancholia

4. Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist

5. Steve McQueen - Shame

Runner-ups:

6. Kelly Reichardt - Meek's Cutoff

7. Steven Spielberg - War Horse

8. Jeff Nichols - Take Shelter

9. Tomas Alfredson - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

10. Bennet Miller - Moneyball

Also:

11. Stephen Daldry - Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

12. Steven Spielberg - The Adventures of Tintin

13. Martin Scorsese - Hugo

14. Asghar Farhadi - A Separation

15. Joe Wright - Hanna