The 25 Best Movies Of 2011

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Ranking a year’s strongest films in list form is, for all intents and purposes, a celebration, so why does it often feel disheartening, not joyous? OK, we’re being a bit melodramatic here, but it’s tough to ignore the fact that, following tradition, the majority of 2011’s preeminent movies either evaporated at the box office or barely registered as mere blips on the mainstream’s radar. In that sense, the following list is positive, filled with underrated, overlooked, and underperforming flicks that deserve eyes and ears, and, fingers crossed, will gain their rightful followings.

But it’s not all high-brow and art-house. The major studios didn’t completely drop the ball in 2011, with larger budgets and bigger names contributing to memorable films about revolutionary primates, heroic and conflicted mutants, and a Goth computer hacker with pierced nipples and a flair for solving crimes. So where do they all land on amongst the year’s finest? Get ready to hate, adulate, and debate as we count down The 25 Best Movies Of 2011.

Written by Matt Barone (@MBarone)

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Fast Five

25. Fast Five

Director: Justin Lin
Stars: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Dwayne Johnson, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Tego Calderón, Don Omar, Gal Gadot, Elsa Pataky

We’re still in a state of shock. Ready to savage the festivities with the same vitriol we slathered upon the previous sequels (2003’s 2 Fast 2 Furious, 2006’s The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift, and 2009’s Fast & Furious), we sat down to have our ears bashed and eyeballs raped last May as Fast Five started to roll. And then a strange, unbelievable thing happened: We finally understood why this Vin Diesel-centered franchise’s loyal and loud-mouthed fans keep buying tickets to these dumb, overblown, and shallow flicks.

When movies of this nature are done right, the experience of turning your brain off and basking in cinematic excess is one of life’s greatest joys. And the unavoidable truth is that Fast Five, with its enjoyable wit, eye-popping action sequences (that car chase with the bank vault is still fucking epic), lighthearted thrills, and shameless T&A, is an exemplary brain cell killer. Just bask in it, uptight haters. Trust us, before this past May, we were just like you.

The Descendants

24. The Descendants

Director: Alexander Payne
Stars: George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Robert Forster, Judy Greer, Amara Miller, Beau Bridges, Matthew Lillard, Nick Krause

For anyone who might hate on George Clooney, thinking that he’s more of a social commentator than a proficient actor, have a go at The Descendants, the latest film from champion of subtle dramedies Alexander Payne (Election, Sideways). Your mother’s biggest crush, a.k.a. Clooney, stars as a father living in Hawaii who’s detached from his two young daughters (the excellent duo of teenaged Shailene Woodley and pre-teen Amara Miller) but forced to bond with them when his wife enters a coma after a boating accident. And, as the eldest kid informs him, his now-vegetable wife was cheating on him…with Matthew Lillard, of all people.

Payne, true to form, finds unexpected moments to evoke laughs, though the film’s intelligent comedy never distracts from The Descendants’ palpable meditations on family, internal suffering, and second chances. All of which are embodied with a movie star’s finesse by Mr. Clooney, who manages to execute a tightrope walk of a performance: When you’re ready to buy dude a beer and yuck it up, you’re ready to give the man an “Everything’s gonna be all right” pat on the back.

Hobo With A Shotgun

23. Hobo With A Shotgun

Director: Jason Eisener
Stars: Rutger Hauer, Molly Dunsworth, Brian Downey, Gregory Smith, Robb Wells

On a purely sensory level, seeing Hobo With A Shotgun for the first time in a packed, albeit small and independent, theater was one of the year’s more enjoyable cinematic experiences. Surrounded by folks who either grew up on the exploitation genre pics of the 1970s and early ’80s or can simply appreciate a trashy good time, we laughed, we cheered, we squirmed, and we couldn’t wait to watch it again. If that’s not the mark of a successful motion picture, then we don’t know fuck-all about movies.

Better than any filmmakers who’ve tried before him (even Grindhouse collaborators Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, whose fake trailer contest inspired the original Hobo short), first-time feature director Jason Eisener and writer John Davies perfectly recaptured the anything-goes spirit of old drive-in schlock fests. The great Rutger Hauer’s antihero remains hilariously deadpan while giving ridiculous monologues (the best one explaining his fascination with bears), the violence goes way overboard, and the music sounds like it was unearthed from Eli Roth’s personal 8-track collection. Hobo With A Shotgun is about as unpretentious as horror-comedies get, and for that, it’s a roaring success. Severed limbs and all.

Moneyball

22. Moneyball

Director: Bennett Miller
Stars: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Robin Wright, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Chris Pratt

There’s no getting around the fact that Moneyball is a sports movie, and a damn good one, at that. Detailing the Oakland Athletics’ 2002 rise from an MLB whipping boys’ squad to a formidable contender, director Bennett Miller (Capote) covers all of the genre’s familiar territory: There are scenes covering the team’s practices, as well as the prerequisite “big game” climax.

But Moneyball, based on Michael Lewis’ non-fiction book Moneyball: The Art Of Winning An Unfair Game, is deeper than baseball. Beneath its bat-and-ball-covered surface lies a wonderfully inspiring tale of an underdog’s refusal to back down against stronger opposition. Playing A’s general manager Billy Beane, Brad Pitt hits countless dramatic homers, providing the sufficient touches of humor when needed and evoking the pathos necessary to elevate Beane’s ultimate triumphs to motivational gold status.

Black Death

21. Black Death

Director: Christopher Smith
Stars: Sean Bean, Eddie Redmayne, Carice van Houten

With each film that he makes, British director Christopher Smith further establishes himself as one of the genre community’s most exciting and unpredictable talents. In 2004, he released a particularly nasty piece of work in Creep, a claustrophobic monster movie; two years later, he flipped the slasher movie concept on its head with the horror-comedy Severance, followed in 2009 with the stellar mind-bender Triangle. This year, though, Smith unveiled his most impressive work to date: Black Death, a humorless, grim medieval horror film.

What starts out as a road, or better yet “crusade,” movie( led by Sean Bean, because, after all, you can’t have a sword-and-shield production without him) slowly descends into a gruesome exhibition of God-fearing, religious anarchy. Black Death has a lot to say about the darker side of faith; Smith, along with screenwriter Dario Poloni, ask their questions and vaguely provide answers so that, by the film’s downbeat conclusion, you’ll be left shell-shocked and eager to debate.

Crazy, Stupid, Love

20. Crazy, Stupid, Love

Director: Glenn Ficcara and John Requa
Stars: Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, Emma Stone, Marisa Tomei, Analeigh Tipton, Jonah Bobo, Kevin Bacon

In a way, we’re glad that Crazy, Stupid, Love wasn’t a massive box office smash; if it had raked in loads of cash, the unimaginative suits in H-wood most likely would’ve pumped out a string of male-driven romantic comedies, and the majority, if not all, of them would’ve no doubt sucked. So, yes, we’ll take a one-of-a-kind creative success like directors’ Glenn Ficcara and John Requa (the screenwriters behind Bad Santa) and be appreciative that we didn’t get another Gerard Butler embarrassment.

Across the board, Crazy, Stupid, Love beams with exceptional talent acting, well, exceptionally. As the film’s central character, a recently single man awkwardly looking to make waves in the dating world, Steve Carell gives one of his best all-around performances; he’s alternately funny and touching. Ryan Gosling, showcasing unforeseen comedic chops, effortlessly nails the funniest lines, while Emma Stone, further endearing herself to audiences as the next big thing, matches both wits and tenderness with Gosling.

Though an undeniable cheesiness sets into the final act, Crazy, Stupid, Love nevertheless combines genuine laughs with multiple love stories, and the final product is the best kind of date movie.

The Artist

19. The Artist

Director: Michel Hazanavicius
Stars: Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo, John Goodman, James Cromwell, Penelope Ann Miller, Missi Pyle

Come February, when the 2012 Academy Awards brings the ever-exciting cinematic trophy season to an end, don’t be surprised if French director Michel Hazanavicius’ silent film The Artist dominates every ceremony outside of the Independent Spirit Awards. Unlike last year’s dominant The King’s Speech, however, we won’t be mad at The Artist’s takeover. Because, well, all of the hype is well-deserved; sorry, Colin Firth.

Hazanavicius’ experimental triumph is a funny, joyful, and deftly made trip back to the days before “talkies” took over Hollywood. The silent film premise is realized down to the smallest detail, right down to the playful piano soundtrack and the infrequent white-font quotes plastered across the screen. And without the benefits of dialogue or colorful set designs, lead actors Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo—as a fading star and the ingénue who’s taking Tinsel Town by storm—are asked to relay a complicated romance through mere facial expressions, body language, and wordless chemistry, which they do admirably.

Bridesmaids

18. Bridesmaids

Director: Paul Feig
Stars: Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Ellie Kemper, Melissa McCarthy, Jon Hamm, Wendi McLendon-Covey

It’s been a dismal year for major studio comedies, from the all-out despicability of The Hangover Part II and The Sitter to the ho-hum mediocrity of Bad Teacher and Horrible Bosses. Thank heavens for Kristen Wiig, then, the star and co-writer of the year’s funniest movie, mainstream or not: Bridesmaids.

Assembling an ace ensemble (powered by scene-stealers Melissa McCarthy and Rose Byrne), Wiig and director Paul Feig (creator of Freaks And Geeks) took a bunch of chick-centric themes (bridal party stresses and demands, feeling one’s internal clock ticking while others get married) and stripped them of all gender bias. Simply a hilarious, as well as disarmingly profound, comedy, Bridesmaids is good-hearted fun for everyone. And the smash hit that single-handedly saved Hollywood’s funny movie genre from completely shitting the bed in 2011.

Midnight In Paris

17. Midnight In Paris

Director: Woody Allen
Stars: Owen Wilson, Rachel MacAdams, Michael Sheen, Marion Cotillard, Corey Stoll, Alison Pill, Tom Hiddleston, Kathy Bates, Adrien Brody, Lea Seydoux

Midnight In Paris is a movie that’s so delightful, and so alive, that you don’t want it to end. And when was the last time anyone could say that about a movie starring Owen Wilson? The latest from veteran writer-director Woody Allen, Midnight In Paris is a total charmer, following a pleasant screenwriter/hack, Gil (Wilson), who, on vacation in the storied French city, drifts away from his gold-digging fiancée (Rachel MacAdams), daydreams about becoming a respected novelist, and magically starts hanging out with past art world luminaries (including Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Salvador Dalí).

Yes, it’s basically Rod “Twilight Zone” Serling by way of Woody Allen, but that’s not exactly a lightweight description for any project. Midnight In Paris, with its wonderful performances and easily realized humor, whisks you away into its culturally vibrant and otherworldly elegance in the same way that Gil inhabits his own supernatural playland.

Tyrannosaur

16. Tyrannosaur

Director: Paddy Considine
Stars: Peter Mullan, Olivia Colman, Eddie Marsan

English actor turned filmmaker Paddy Considine’s unflinchingly bold Tyrannosaur has one of the bravest opening scenes imaginable: Joseph, the film’s self-destructive protagonist (played with brute force by Peter Mullan), beats his dog to death in a sudden outburst of rage. Immediately, though, he feels deep sorrow and remorse, and Considine’s task from there on out is to garner compassion for a violent canine-killer.

To say that Tyrannosaur makes you love Joseph by the end credits would be misleading, to say the least. Yet Considine, with Mullan’s grandiose performance as support, does one hell of a job of gradually peeling back all of Joseph’s layers, ultimately revealing a man whose uncontrollable fits of rage trivialize an inner, hard-to-unveil sensitivity. Joseph’s duality gets brought out by Hannah (Olivia Colman, the film’s greatest asset), a thrift shop owner he befriends in the midst of her many losing bouts against domestic violence.

Tyrannosaur challenges audiences to sympathize with a potential monster, stomach a couple of cringe-worthy moments of sexual violence, and find light at the end of its dark tunnel. The journey is, to put it lightly, harrowing, but it’s one you won’t easily forget.

Hanna

15. Hanna

Director: Joe Wright
Stars: Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana, Cate Blanchett, Jessica Barden, Olivia Williams, Jason Flemyng

If you watch Hanna on a purely surface level, it’s very likely that director Joe Wright’s assassin-on-the-loose action flick will wash over you, registering as little more than a serviceable Jason Bourne variation. But that’s the completely wrong way to view Hanna; the correct manner to undergo the film’s fairy-tale-like narrative and trippy energy is to pay close attention to Wright’s technical wizardry.

As the titular protagonist, Saoirse Ronan owns her role as a sheltered warrior-type let loose into an unfamiliar world; when it’s time to knuckle up, Ronan bobs, weaves, and strikes with vicious aplomb, and the character’s quieter moments of self-discovery are just as expertly done. But it’s Wright who steals the show here, making an unexpectedly drastic leap from his elegant costume dramas (Atonement, Pride & Prejudice) to an action-thriller pulsating with nihilistic sensibilities.

Hanna boasts several impressive set-pieces, but it’s the film’s centerpiece—a three-versus-one fight inside a vast container park—that takes the cake. Wright’s camera zigs and zags with reckless abandon, and the dizzying electronic score, courtesy of The Chemical Brothers, is simultaneously hypnotic and immersive. The same can be said for Hanna as a whole.

Shame

14. Shame

Director: Steve McQueen
Stars: Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan, James Badge Dale, Nicole Beharie

Under a lesser actor’s control, Shame could have been one misery-soaked downer. Don’t get it twisted, though—Steve McQueen, the virtuoso director behind 2008’s astonishing Hunger, directs the hell out of this one. Co-written by McQueen and Abi Morgan, Shame pulls no punches in its mission to depict sexual addiction as a destructive force, the reason why main character Brandon (Michael Fassbender) is unable to forge any heart-to-heart bonds or function properly whenever he’s not in control of a situation. With his long, single-shot takes and penchant for blistering, unpleasant character interactions, McQueen keeps Shame rooted in a discomforting sense of gloom.

Shit, though—it’s not exactly a joy to experience. And we’re sure McQueen intended it as such, yet Fassbender’s towering performance is so captivating that Shame’s somewhat sadistic view of human nature is more than tolerable. Equally mesmeric is Carey Mulligan, bearing all (physically and emotionally) as Brandon’s depressed, dangerous-to-herself younger sister, whose sudden appearance into his closed-off life triggers Brandon’s downward spiral.

X-Men: First Class

13. X-Men: First Class

Director: Matthew Vaughn
Stars: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Rose Byrne, Jennifer Lawrence, January Jones, Kevin Bacon, Nicholas Hoult, Lucas Till, Zoe Kravitz, Oliver Platt

In a year full of superhero cinema, X-Men: First Class sits miles above its competition. Part Cold War thriller, part 007-inspired action show, and a showcase for a pair of in-command leading man (James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender), this much-needed reboot of the cinematically tainted mutant characters (scarred by Brett Ratner’s 2006 wack-fest X-Men: The Last Stand) moves quickly, blends in sly humor, and never skimps out on the CGI spectacle.

And to think, all it took for the X-Men sequel (well, technically, prequel) fans have been clamoring for since 2003’s X2 was a filmmaker (English director Matthew Vaughn) willing to treat Marvel Comics’ original characters and mythos with respect. Not to mention, intelligence and maturity.

Martha Marcy May Marlene

12. Martha Marcy May Marlene

Director: Sean Durkin
Stars: Elizabeth Olsen, John Hawkes, Sarah Paulson, Hugh Dancy, Brady Corbet

Ambiguity is the driving force behind first-time filmmaker Sean Durkin’s disturbing gem Martha Marcy May Marlene. In his unconventional character study, about a mentally uncertain girl (breakout star Elizabeth Olsen) trying to regain sanity immediately after fleeing from a dangerous cult, Durkin lays the puzzle pieces out elusively; it’s not until the second viewing that Martha Marcy May Marlene’s delicate nightmare and nuanced performances come together to yield something complete.

Even if the script’s lack of answers and neatly tied-up resolutions leave you cold, much like we’re sure Durkin’s hauntingly abrupt and enigmatic ending certainly will, the feeling of dread that engulfs Martha Marcy May Marlene is suffocating. Largely responsible for that intensity is Olsen’s all-in performance, a masterful balance of instability, paranoia, and fully earned likeability. Unlike the film itself, it won’t take multiple viewings for you to appreciate her skills.

I Saw The Devil

11. I Saw The Devil

Director: Kim Jee-woon
Stars: Byung-hun Lee, Min-sik Choi, Gook-hwan Jeon, Ho-jin Jeon

We’ve seen dozens of serial killer movies before, and it’s become effortless to predict the narrative beats: Psycho murderer offs several innocent people, the hero tracks him down, there’s the inevitable confrontation, and the good guy walks away victorious. I Saw The Devil, however, bucks that trend. Or, rather, rams a butcher’s knife through it, one that’s held by the villain and turned counter-clockwise by the good guy.

South Korean genre master Kim Jee-woon (A Tale Of Two Sisters, The Goof, The Bad, The Weird) goes for broke in I Saw The Devil, orchestrating a series of insanely graphic set-pieces involving, amongst other grotesqueries, severed Achilles tendons, rape, multiple homicide inside a taxi cab (one of Jee-woon’s crowning technical achievements), and a guillotine.

The film’s heightened gore would be cheaply gratifying if not for I Saw The Devil’s role-reversal element; in a refreshing and intriguing change of pace, the killer (Min-sik Choi) becomes the hunted, tormented by a victim’s furious husband (Byung-hun Lee). It’s a cat-and-mouse game that blurs the line between hero and antagonist—that pools of blood are what’s making the line tougher to see only increases I Saw The Devil’s superiority.

50/50

10. 50/50

Director: Jonathan Levine
Stars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard, Anjelica Huston

Those who bought tickets to see 50/50 and expecting to laugh at Knocked Up 2.0. (the film’s commercials were a bit misleading) must’ve wished they’d snuck in boxes of Kleenex along with the Twizzlers and gummy bears.

Written by real-life cancer survivor, and actual best friend of Seth Rogen’s, Will Reiser, 50/50 does pull several authentic laughs out of its gravely serious premise, that of an average dude (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who finds out he has cancer and painfully comes to grips with the possibility of an early death. Rogen’s presence (he basically plays himself) ensures sporadic bits of comic relief, and it’s mostly successful, especially when Rogen and Gordon-Levitt try to use the latter’s condition to get laid.

But director Jonathan Levine (The Wackness) knows what the film’s biggest strength is: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, one of the industry’s best young actors. And in 50/50, he’s magnificent, conveying a gamut of emotions with naturalism and knocking the wind out of you when it’s time for his character to accept his helplessness. Rarely does a movie targeted at the twenty-something crowd pack so much poignancy and grace.

Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes

9. Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes

Director: Rupert Wyatt
Stars: James Franco, Freida Pinto, Andy Serkis, Tom Felton, Brain Cox, John Lithgow

Can you blame unsuspecting critics and audiences for entering Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes with lowered expectations? Not only is director Rupert Wyatt’s flick a seemingly unnecessary reboot of a franchise previously sullied by an awful remake (Tim Burton’s 2001 misfire Planet Of The Apes), but it also stars an obviously paycheck-grabbing James Franco as a, get this, biotechnology scientist. So, yes, we, like many others, walked into the theater anticipating unintentional comedy and two wasted hours of our time. But fuck were we wrong.

Granted, Franco’s performance is dull (it’s as if he didn’t realize that his paycheck gig was actually, you know, a good movie), and the humans in Wyatt’s blockbuster are largely non-factors. Yet, that’s all inconsequential when you’ve got some of the year’s most awe-inspiring visual effects and Caesar, the film’s central primate rendered with tremendous and tangible emotion by Andy Serkis. With Serkis’ remarkable Caesar at its core, Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes (skillfully conceived by screenwriters Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver) proves that summer bank-breakers can both wow visually and impact emotionally.

Attack The Block

8. Attack The Block

Director: Joe Cornish
Stars: John Boyega, Franz Drameh, Alex Esmail, Leeon Jones, Nick Frost, Jodie Whitaker, Luke Treadaway, Simon Howard

First-time writer-director Joe Cornish turned in one of the year’s most wow-inducing debuts with Attack The Block, a hip, livewire, and kinetic alien invasion flick that should have evolved into the summer’s most crowd-pleasing sleeper. Instead, unfortunately, people just slept on it altogether, but there’s no reason why this English genre mash-up can’t earn a cult following in years to come.

The story is simple: A gang of unlikeable thugs in South London mug an innocent woman, prepare to haul ass away from the crime scene, and stumble across the beginnings of a wide-scale E.T. onslaught. The invaders, which look totally kick-ass with their glowing teeth and shadow-like bear forms, wreak havoc, prompting the previously bad kids to become heroes, an arc that Cornish handles brilliantly, without resorting to schmaltziness or heavy-handed sentimentality.

Attack The Block is, ostensibly, Cornish’s love letter to Steven Spielberg’s earlier, youth-led genre fare (The Goonies, specifically) and John Carpenter’s old bombastic action flicks (Assault On Precinct 13, Escape From New York). Like those classics, which gained their followings over time, Attack The Block will someday find its rightful audience. We’ll be waiting.

Warrior

7. Warrior

Director: Gavin O’Connor
Stars: Joel Edgerton, Tom Hardy, Nick Nolte, Jennifer Morrison, Frank Grillo, Kevin Dunn

Warrior’s dismal box office performance is one of the year’s biggest “Y’all fucked up” indictments of moviegoers nationwide. The ingredients for a profitable run were all there: the tried-and-true underdog sports formula, the hugely popular MMA fighting angle, and commercials and trailers that sold it as this year’s The Fighter. Had Warrior starred a name of Mark Wahlberg’s status, director Gavin O’Connor might be active in the current awards season frenzy, but, alas, he’s left to entertain the late praise of sleepers now waking up to the film’s greatness on DVD and Blu-ray.

Well, better late than never. With a plot that’s admittedly clichéd (two estranged brothers square off against each other at home and in the ring), Warrior looks and feels like every other movie of its kind, but very few flicks of this type benefit from a trio of dynamite acting jobs. As the pugilistic siblings, Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton are outstanding, as is Nick Nolte, who plays their formerly abusive, recovering alcoholic father who’s desperate for another chance.

Warrior is a testament to how stellar acting and empathetic characters can uplift even the most familiar of stories into rousing, emotionally rich filmmaking.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

6. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Director: David Fincher
Stars: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Stellan Skarsgård, Christopher Plummer, Robin Wright, Embeth Davidtz, Joely Richardson

Is The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo in the same league as David Fincher’s best works (i.e., Fight Club, Zodiac, The Social Network)? Not quite, but, oddly enough, that’s nothing to get all worked up about. Even at his most routine, Fincher is a master craftsman when it comes to grimy, darkly tinted thrillers, and his much-buzzed-about adaptation of the late Swedish author Steig Larsson’s international best-seller is a gorgeously shot, masterfully acted, and enthralling dose of glossy Hollywood filmmaking.

With composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ pulsating and eerie score at his disposal, Fincher translates Larsson’s otherwise pedestrian whodunit murder mystery into a brooding procedural that moves with calculated force. And through Rooney Mara, the director presents the book’s beloved firecracker of a heroine, Lisbeth Salander, as a female badass for the ages. Mara, moving with a ghostly demeanor and balancing several inscrutable emotions at once, is a revelation—she’s reason enough to endlessly praise The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Thankfully, Fincher and everyone else involved never slouch, either.

We Need To Talk About Kevin

5. We Need To Talk About Kevin

Director: Lynne Ramsay
Stars: Tilda Swinton, John C. Reilly, Ezra Miller

The year’s most disturbing film isn’t technically horror, though you’d be hard-pressed to find a horror flick that’s as bleak, unsettling, and haunting as Lynne Ramsay’s We Need To Talk About Kevin. Based on author Lionel Shriver’s 2003 novel, Ramsay’s overwhelming domestic nightmare centers on a remorseful outcast of a mother (the amazing Tilda Swinton) who’s struggling to understand why her troubled son, Kevin (the extremely creepy Ezra Miller), went on a murder spree inside his high school.

Which is in no way a spoiler, since co-writer Ramsay’s script bounces around in time to present the Columbine-like massacre as the possible culmination of years’ worth of parental neglect and just plain old inherent malevolence. By the film’s distressing shocker of a climax, We Need To Talk About Kevin has already fastened a noose around the viewer’s throat; once the true horror occurs, the box is kicked out from under your feet. Though it’s not an easy watch, Ramsay’s meticulous examination of domestic terror is incredibly vital.

Insidious

4. Insidious

Director: James Wan
Stars: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Barbara Hershey, Ty Simpkins, Lin Shaye, Leigh Whannell, Angus Sampson

The first time you watch Insidious, the bloodless, old-school scare show from Saw director James Wan and screenwriter Leigh Whannell, the most likely reaction is unnerved fear, mixed with the exhilaration of realizing you’ve actually watched a genuinely scary movie—the total opposite of Hollywood’s horror output in recent years. But it’s not until the second or third time that one sits with Insidious that Wan’s low-budget remixing of old-school haunted house movie tropes really earns its stripes.

In ways similar to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (which, of course, is superior—relax, purists), Insidious maintains its scariness upon repeat viewings. Credit the slow, methodical pacing, which allows the film’s well-timed jump scares to impact greatly (you’ll never look at a baby’s crib the same again), and Whannell’s knack for creepily iconic imagery, such as a spirit that looks like Ozzy Osbourne in drag, malevolent ghouls that resemble those in the slept-on horror gem Carnival Of Souls, and a final shot reminiscent of Donald Sutherland’s last hurrah in Invasion Of The Body Snatchers.

The frights come often and hit hard in Insidious, and it’s been far too long since we’ve said that about a horror flick not made in France or Spain.

Take Shelter

3. Take Shelter

Director: Jeff Nichols
Stars: Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain, Shea Whigham, Katy Mixon

Paranoia and dread permeate independent writer-director Jeff Nichols’ devastating, psychologically unhinged character study Take Shelter. In his best performance to date, Michael Shannon (Boardwalk Empire) whips up a nuanced storm of emotions as a small-town husband, and father to a young, deaf daughter, who begins having hallucinations and nightmares predicated on suspicions of an impending apocalypse. Nichols stages the dream sequences, which bleed into what seems to be the film’s reality, as horror movie freak-outs best described as David Lynch meets Roman Polanski, and Shannon’s mounting nerves consistently elevate Take Shelter’s tension to near eruption.

But what truly makes Nichols’ film such an unforgettable experience is how well he maneuvers around the story’s heartfelt pulse: Shannon’s character’s love for his family; extra props go to Jessica Chastain for her excellent work as his vulnerably sympathetic wife. Take Shelter doesn’t provide any easy answers, paying less attention to whether Shannon is crazy or legitimately foreseeing doom than showing how a man’s desperation to protect his loved ones can test both his sanity and others's tolerance of him. It’s a powerhouse drama and a chilling look at wavering psychosis all wrapped into one knockout of a package.

Hugo

2. Hugo

Director: Martin Scorsese
Stars: Asa Butterfield, Chloë Moretz, Jude Law, Emily Mortimer, Christopher Lee, Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Richard Griffiths, Ray Winstone, Michael Stuhlbarg

If you remember that first Hugo trailer, then you no doubt recall how quickly cinephiles’ red flags began waving. Devoted film buffs knew that the almighty Martin Scorsese’s latest, an adaptation of author Brian Selznick’s whimsical look at silent movies and childhood adventure, was going to be a family-friendly diversion from Scorsese’s usual grit, but the initial preview, marred by lame pratfalls and a grimacing dog, hinted at a miscalculation of Marmaduke’s caliber.

But then we all woke up and remembered that’s Martin fucking Scorsese we’re talking about, and the iconic filmmaker’s Hugo turned out to be anything but hackneyed. Utilizing 3D technology to gorgeous degrees, and anchored by a slew of delightful performances (namely Ben Kingsley’s fragile turn as legendary director George Meiles), Hugo is uplifting and welcoming enough for the kids, but, really, it’s a grown-up movie lover’s playpen.

The film’s third act, in particular, is a tour de force of grade-A storytelling and all-out magic. Scorsese presents a series of classic black-and-white, silent flicks in modern-day 3D, and the results are invigorating. Hugo sends the viewer out on a cinema-loving high, more than any other picture this year.

Drive

1. Drive

Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Stars: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks, Oscar Isaac, Ron Perlman, Christina Hendricks

Unsurprisingly, most casual moviegoers didn’t know what to make of Drive. One dumbass, in fact, actually wanted to sue the film’s backers for selling it as a brain-dead, Fast & Furious-styled action romp, which, of course, it’s not. And that’s what makes the fascinating Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn’s first “mainstream” production such an oddity: a commercially released, movie-star-led subversion of popcorn entertainment, made with art-house sensibilities and a general disinterest in conventions.

Winding Refn wastes no time in laying his cards out; after a taut, bravura car chase sequence, Drive kicks into artistic high-gear with its hypnotic opening credits, scored by Kavinsky’s ’80s prog rock-inspired “Nightcall.” And then Ryan Gosling’s nameless character, a stunt driver by day and getaway wheelman by night, quietly falls in love with a neighbor (Carey Mulligan) whose baby daddy is an ex-con in deep with mob types. Once Gosling steps in to help, Drive induces audience whiplash by exploding into beautifully choreographed moments of brutal violence.

The juxtaposition of a tender kiss and a nasty head-bashing in Drive’s epic elevator scene embodies all that’s special about the film: It’s equal parts romantic, visceral, and unpredictable. A fairy tale for gear-heads who love a nice exploding head from time to time. And the year’s most exciting and singular piece of pulpy entertainment, bar none.