1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Year of Release: 2011
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Adventure/Fantasy
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: David Yates
Actors: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Ralph Fiennes, Bonnie Wright, Helena Bonham Carter
Plot: As the confrontations between good and evil mount, not everyone will survive. Harry Potter faces Voldemort in a final battle to determine who will live and who will die, along with the ultimate fate of the magical world.
2. The Help
Year of Release: 2011
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Tate Taylor
Actors: Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jessica Chastain, Allison Janney
Plot: In 1960s Mississippi, a young woman returns to her small town determined to make it as a writer but when she begins interviewing black women who have spent their lives working for prominent families, it causes an uproar in the community.
3. The Artist
Year of Release: 2011
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Romance/Comedy
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Michel Hazanavicius
Actors: Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, John Goodman, James Cromwell, Penelope Ann Miller, Missi Pyle
Plot: A silent film star who worries that the advent of talking pictures will spell the end of his career connects with a young up-and-coming dancer in 1927 Hollywood.
4. Warrior
Year of Release: 2011
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Action/Drama
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Gavin O'Connor
Actors: Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton, Nick Nolte, Jennifer Morrison, Frank Grillo, Kevin Dunn
Plot: Returning home to train with his father, an alcoholic and former boxer, Tom Conlon will make in the world of mixed martial arts, even if that path puts him in direct competition with his older brother.
5. X-Men: First Class
Year of Release: 2011
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Action/Sci-Fi
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Actors: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Kevin Bacon, Jennifer Lawrence, Rose Byrne, January Jones
Plot: Explores the early relationship of Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr when they were friends, long before they took the names Professor X and Magneto, and the rift that forms between turning them to arch-enemies.
6. Drive
Year of Release: 2011
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Action/Drama
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Actors: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Christina Hendricks, Ron Perlman, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks
Plot: A stuntman-turned-wheelman must use all his skills to survive after a botched job results in a contract on his head.
7. Separation, A ( Jodaeiye Nader az Simin )
Year of Release: 2011
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: Persian
Genre: Drama
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Asghar Farhadi
Actors: Peyman Moaadi, Leila Hatami, Sareh Bayat, Shahab Hosseini, Sarina Farhadi, Merila Zare'i
Plot: An Iranian couple face a tough decisions: the wife is determined to leave the country behind in order for their daughter to have a better life, but the husband refused to leave in order to care for his father, who suffers from Alzheimers. Divorce seems like the only option to satisfy both sides.
8. 50/50
Year of Release: 2011
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Comedy/Drama
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Jonathan Levine
Actors: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Anjelica Huston, Marie Avgeropoulos
Plot: A young man is diagnosed with a rare form of spinal cancer and decides to fight for his life with the help his friend, mother and a young therapist.
9. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Year of Release: 2011
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Action/Sci-Fi
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Actors: James Franco, Freida Pinto, John Lithgow, Tom Felton, Andy Serkis, Brian Cox
Plot: Prequel to Planet of the Apes in which scientists working on genetic experiments creates a race of intelligent apes that leads to a war to determine which species will ultimately dominate the Earth.
10. Jiro Dreams of Sushi
Year of Release: 2011
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Documentary
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: David Gelb
Actors: Jiro Ono, Yoshikazu Ono
Plot: 85-year-old sushi master Jiro Ono works in the basement of a Tokyo office building, meticulously crafting the perfect pieces to present at his restaurant Sukiyabashi Jiro. The documentary explores the relationship between him and his son (and sushi heir) Yoshikazu, as well as his life-long quest to develop the perfect piece of sushi.
