2011
Shame
(2011)
Steve McQueen (written by), Abi Morgan (written by), Harold Manning (french adaptation)
Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 49 wins & 89 nominations.
Brandon is a 30-something man living in New York who is unable to manage his sex life. After his wayward younger sister moves into his apartment, Brandon's world spirals out of control. Shame examines the nature of need, how we live our lives and the experiences that shape us.
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
(2011)
Michele Mulroney, Kieran Mulroney, Arthur Conan Doyle (characters: Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson)
3 wins & 11 nominations.
Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) and his longtime trusted associate, Doctor Watson (Jude Law), take on their arch-nemesis, Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris), with the help of Holmes' older brother Mycroft Holmes (Stephen Fry) and a gypsy named Simza (Noomi Rapace).
Source Code
(2011)
Ben Ripley
1 win & 8 nominations.
Colter Stevens, a US Army helicopter pilot whose last memory is flying in Afghanistan, wakes up on a commuter train. However, he discovers that he has assumed the identity of another man. 8 minutes later, the train explodes and Stevens finds himself in some kind of pod. He then talks to someone named Goodwin, who tells him he has to go back and find out who the bomber is. He is sent back to go through the whole thing again and attempts to find who the bomber is but fails. The bomb goes off and Stevens finds himself in the pod again. He is sent back another time, yet still cannot find out anything. When he returns, he asks what is going on. Goodwin and Rutledge, the scientist in charge, tell him that he is part of a project that can put someone in another person's consciousness during the last 8 minutes of their life. Stevens then asks why he cannot just stop the bomb. He is told that he is not going back in time but placed in the moment so he can find out who the bomber is and if there are any other targets. On the side, Stevens finds himself falling for the woman traveling with him while he is still in the other man's consciousness.
Sucker Punch
(2011)
Zack Snyder (screenplay), Steve Shibuya (screenplay), Zack Snyder (story)
1 win & 9 nominations.
A young girl is institutionalized by her abusive stepfather. Retreating to an alternative reality as a coping strategy, she envisions a plan which will help her escape from the mental facility.
Super 8
(2011)
J.J. Abrams
11 wins & 60 nominations.
During the summer of 1979, a group of friends witness a train crash and investigate subsequent unexplained events in their small town.
Switch
(2011)
Jean-Christophe Grangé (scenario), Jean-Christophe Grangé (adaptation), Frédéric Schoendoerffer (adaptation)
N/A
In Montreal, the unemployed fashion designer Sophie Malaterre is summoned by Claire Maras to show her work to her boss. When Sophie arrives in the company, Clare apologizes and tells that her boss is on vacation and will return only two months later. Clare invites Sophie to have lunch with her and tells Sophie about the website switch.com, where it is possible to switch houses with a stranger for vacation. Sophie seeks an apartment in Paris nearby the Eiffel Tower that belongs to Bénédicte Serteaux and they change apartments. Sophie arrives in Paris on Saturday morning and has a dream day riding a bicycle through the touristic area. However, on the next morning, policemen break in the apartment and arrest Sophie while she is having a bath. Detective Damien Forgeat interrogates Sophie believing that she is Bénédicte and she learns that a beheaded body was found in her room. Further, all the evidences of her life has been deleted and she can not prove that she is Sophie.
Take Shelter
(2011)
Jeff Nichols
42 wins & 46 nominations.
Curtis, a father and husband, is starting to experience bad dreams and hallucinations. Assuming mental illness, he seeks medical help and counseling. However, fearing the worst, he starts building an elaborate and expensive storm shelter in their backyard. This storm shelter threatens to tear apart his family, threatens his sanity and his standing in the community, but he builds it to save his family's life.
The Adjustment Bureau
(2011)
George Nolfi (screenplay), Philip K. Dick (short story "Adjustment Team")
1 win & 9 nominations.
The affair between a politician and a ballerina is affected by mysterious forces keeping the lovers apart.
The Guard
(2011)
John Michael McDonagh
Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 14 wins & 25 nominations.
Sergeant Gerry Boyle is a small-town Irish cop with a confrontational personality, a subversive sense of humor, a dying mother, a fondness for prostitutes, and absolutely no interest whatsoever in the international cocaine-smuggling ring that has brought straight-laced FBI agent Wendell Everett to his door.
The Hunter
(2011)
Alice Addison (screenplay), Wain Fimeri (original adaptation), Daniel Nettheim (original adaptation), Julia Leigh (based on the novel by)
4 wins & 23 nominations.
The independent and lonely hunter Martin David is hired by the powerful biotech company Red Leaf to hunt down the last Tasmanian tiger. Red Leaf is interested in the DNA of the animal and Martin travels to Tasmania alone. He poses as a researcher from a university and lodges in the house of Lucy Armstrong. Martin learns that Lucy's husband has been missing for a long time and he befriends her children, Sass and Bike. When Martin goes to the village, he has a hostile reception from the locals. Along the days, Martin spends his days in the Tasmanian wilderness chasing the Tiger and becomes closer and closer to the Armstrong family. But Red Leaf wants results no matter the costs.
The Lincoln Lawyer
(2011)
John Romano (screenplay), Michael Connelly (novel)
1 nomination.
Mick Haller is a defense lawyer who works out of his Lincoln. When a wealthy Realtor is accused of assaulting a prostitute, Haller is asked to defend him. The man claims that the woman is trying to get some money out of him. But when Haller looks at the evidence against him, he learns that this case might be linked to an old case of his.
The Mechanic
(2011)
Richard Wenk (screenplay), Lewis John Carlino (screenplay), Lewis John Carlino (story)
1 nomination.
Arthur Bishop (Jason Statham) is a 'mechanic' - an elite assassin with a strict code and unique talent for cleanly eliminating targets. It's a job that requires professional perfection and total detachment, and Bishop is the best in the business. But when his mentor and close friend Harry (Donald Sutherland) is murdered, Bishop is anything but detached. His next assignment is self-imposed - he wants those responsible dead. His mission grows complicated when Harry's son Steve (Ben Foster) approaches him with the same vengeful goal and a determination to learn Bishop's trade. Bishop has always acted alone but he can't turn his back on Harry's son. A methodical hit man takes an impulsive student deep into his world and a deadly partnership is born. But while in pursuit of their ultimate mark, deceptions threaten to surface and those hired to fix problems become problems themselves.
The Raid
(2011)
Gareth Evans
8 wins & 13 nominations.
In Jakarta, Indonesia, Lieutenant Wahyu organizes the invasion of an apartment building that is the safe house of the powerful and cruel drug lord Tama and his gang. The SWAT team breaks in the building but one lookout sees and warns the gangsters and the police force is trapped on the seventh floor. They learn that Lt. Wahyu has not informed his superiors about the operation. Now the police officers have to fight with limited ammunition against the armed and dangerous gangsters.
The Snowtown Murders
(2011)
Shaun Grant, Shaun Grant (story), Justin Kurzel (story), Debi Marshall (book), Andrew McGarry (book)
22 wins & 22 nominations.
Based on true events, 16 year-old Jamie falls in with his mother's new boyfriend and his crowd of self-appointed neighborhood watchmen, a relationship that leads to a spree of torture and murder.
The Thing
(2011)
Eric Heisserer, John W. Campbell Jr. (short story "Who Goes There?")
4 nominations.
Paleontologist Kate Lloyd is invited by Dr. Sandor Halvorson to join his team who have found something extraordinary. Deep below the Arctic ice, they have found an alien spacecraft that has been there for perhaps 100,000 years. Not far from where the craft landed, they find the remains of the occupant. It's cut out of the ice and taken back to their camp but as the ice melts, the creature reanimates and not only begins to attack them but manages to infect them, with team members devolving into the alien creature.
The Tree of Life
(2011)
Terrence Malick
Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 100 wins & 104 nominations.
The story of a family in Waco, Texas in 1956. The eldest son witnesses the loss of innocence and struggles with his parents' conflicting teachings.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
(2011)
Bridget O'Connor (screenplay), Peter Straughan (screenplay), John le Carré (novel)
Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 34 wins & 86 nominations.
In the early 1970s during the Cold War, the head of British Intelligence, Control, resigns after an operation in Budapest, Hungary goes badly wrong. It transpires that Control believed one of four senior figures in the service was in fact a Russian agent - a mole - and the Hungary operation was an attempt to identify which of them it was. Smiley had been forced into retirement by the departure of Control, but is asked by a senior government figure to investigate a story told to him by a rogue agent, Ricky Tarr, that there was a mole. Smiley considers that the failure of the Hungary operation and the continuing success of Operation Witchcraft (an apparent source of significant Soviet intelligence) confirms this, and takes up the task of finding him.
TT3D: Closer to the Edge
(2011)
N/A
1 nomination.
By vividly recounting the TT's legendary rivalries and the Isle of Man's unique road racing history, this 3D feature documentary will discover why modern TT riders still risk their lives to...
Tyrannosaur
(2011)
Paddy Considine
Won 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 19 wins & 21 nominations.
The story of Joseph, a man plagued by violence and a rage that is driving him to self-destruction. As Joseph's life spirals into turmoil, a chance at redemption appears in the form of Hannah, a Christian charity shop worker. Their relationship develops to reveal that Hannah is hiding a secret of her own with devastating consequences to both of their lives.
Unknown
(2011)
Oliver Butcher (screenplay), Stephen Cornwell (screenplay), Didier Van Cauwelaert (novel)
3 nominations.
A man awakens from a coma, only to discover that someone has taken on his identity and that no one, (not even his wife), believes him. With the help of a young woman, he sets out to prove who he is.