Best Movies of 2011, Part One: Commercial/Hollywood

Since I don't think the two styles should be competing in the same category, I'm doing two top ten lists this year... the first, today, for the mainstream big studio stuff, and this coming week for the independent/art house/foreign language stuff. Keep in mind that this list is still flexible: I'm probably not going to see EVERYTHING that's eligible for it until February, maybe even March... and who cares about a top ten list for the previous year at that point? I don't even care about my OWN list by then. So I'm posting this list now, and as I later on might see films that deserve to be on it, I'll come back and edit it. Just in case you were wondering "Why in the world isn't (fill in the title) on this list, that could well be why. Of course, it could also be because I have no taste. Whatever.

10. WATER FOR ELEPHANTS. The best romantic drama in ages, the best period movie in ages, and one of the best adaptations of a novel in a long time, this charming story of a life in the circus was one of the year's major surprises for me. Not that I didn't expect it to be good, but ROBERT PATTINSON was actually good in it. I didn't even think such a thing was possible...

9. THE COMPANY MEN. Anyone who has gone through downsizing and the perils of our chancy economy (as have I, and probably most folks reading this) will readily identify with Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper and the rest of this sterling cast as blue collar workers faced with how to carry on their accustomed life style in these difficult times. Quite an impressive piece of work.

8. HARRY POTTER & THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, PART TWO. The conclusion of the Potter saga on film may actually be slightly more effective than the book was. the best performances in the careers of most of the brilliant cast members, and an extremely satisfying way to say farewell to these beloved characters. And Ralph Fiennes is absolutely spine-chilling as Voldemort.

7. THE IDES OF MARCH. You say you're interested in a serious movie about what's wrong with politics today and how even the most idealistic among us can be corrupted by the system? Or maybe you feel more like a good suspenseful thriller that simply uses politics as the backdrop? In either case, "The Ides Of March" is the movie for you, and one of two George Clooney movies on this list. The man STILL doesn't get enough credit for his creativity and the risks he takes to get films on screen that aren't just the same old thing.

6. THE DESCENDENTS. And here we have the OTHER Clooney movie. A sure-fire Oscar nominee in several categories, this is a film that takes what could very easily be just another sappy dysfunctional family story and makes it achingly real. We have more than enough soap operas at the movies, what we don't have are genuine human interest stories like this one.

5. THE HELP. I've seen way too many movies that try to tell the story of the civil rights era through the eyes of white characters that help out, as if black people were just peripheral characters. While "The Help" does feature a white woman (played by a terrific Emma Stone) as the initiator of a book that will tell the unpublicized stories of the black maids of the south in the early 60's, it truly IS the maid's story, and the wonderful Viola Davis (also a sure Oscar nominee) is the one you'll remember afterward.

4. MONEYBALL. I've heard from enough non-baseball fans to be able to say for sure that this is definitely NOT just a movie for baseball lovers (though they will probably love it the most). The true story of Billy Bean as he tries to put together a winning team with nowhere near the resources of the Big clubs like the Yankees is one of the most amazing and gripping of the year. Yes, you CAN have a story about a little guy trying to beat the system that isn't corny, cliched and sentimental.

3. THE MUPPETS. We've waited twelve years since the last Muppet theatrical movie, and it was definitely worth the wait. Human Star and co-screenwriter Jason Segel, a life-long Muppet fan, has given us the movie we were all hoping for, filled with all the downright surreal craziness that we've always loved about the Muppets, with maybe just a little touch more feeling and heart that you might expect. Now, let's hope it's a lot shorter wait until the next one, and that Segel is involved in that one too.

2. BRIDESMAIDS. I heard so many incredible things about how hysterically funny this movie was, that it was in serious danger of being overhyped... I was starting to think that it couldn't possibly be as funny as I'd heard it was. It wasn't... it was even funnier. This is not just my favorite comedy of the year, it's my favorite of the past SEVERAL years. I kept hearing all of this "The female HANGOVER" stuff, and I found the ORIGINAL "Hangover" KIND OF funny and the sequel not at all... but "Bridesmaids" was hysterical.

1. HUGO. Martin Scorsese gives us his first movie for younger viewers and it's an absolute wonder. A story about a poor orphan boy living in a train station that Dickens would have loved, it's also an utterly uplifting story about what "family" really is, and a testament to the magic power of the movies themselves. Plus, it's one of the very few movies that's found a legitimate, artistic use for 3-D that doesn't involve throwing objects out of the screen at the audience for two hours. True magic.