I SAT through 141 movies this year - the best and worst of the new and the old - so you didn't have to, unless you wanted to.
Here's my take on the hits and misses that reached our cinemas and DVD players in 2011. And before anyone has a go about how some of these movies came out last year, yes, I know that but they didn't reach south-west Victorian audiences until this year, either through belated cinema releases or on DVD. So chillax.
The top 20 movies of the year (in alphabetical order)
Black Swan
Darren Aronofsky's obsession with obsession yields another hit as Natalie Portman turns in the performance of a lifetime as an increasingly disturbed ballerina.
Buried
Ryan Reynolds in a box for 90 minutes... and it's awesome. One of the most intense and clever films of the year.
Captain America
Marvel set up for The Avengers by introducing Cap with old-school action movie flare and enormous amounts of fun.
Crazy Stupid Love
The rom-com of the year thanks to a witty cliche-dodging script and the quadruple threat of Julianne Moore, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone.
The Fighter
Christian Bale steals the show from Mark Wahlberg in this ultimately uplifting Boston boxing tale.
Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part 2
Harry and friends (and enemies) are farewelled in suitably epic fashion. The saga just seemed to get better and better.
I Love You Phillip Morris
The quirkiest comedy of the year and an outrageous true story, with Jim Carrey as a con artist who falls in love with Ewan McGregor.
The King's Speech
A classy and funny film, led by Colin Firth's stellar turn as the king and Geoffrey Rush as the speech therapist.
Midnight In Paris
Utterly charming Woody Allen love letter to Paris throughout history featuring a startlingly good performance from Owen Wilson.
127 Hours
Danny Boyle traps the audience with James Franco's real-life hiker for a teeth-grinding, but rewarding experience.
Paul
Wonderfully nerdy comedy that sees Nick Frost and Simon Pegg share a cross-country trip with the funniest alien ever.
Rango
A western that's a kids movie? You better believe it, and it's a razor sharp treat for all ages.
Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes
The surprise of the year. Who knew this prequel/reboot would be so intelligent, powerful and all-round awesome?
Source Code
Duncan Jones backs up Moon with another mindblowing sci-fi that takes Groundhog Day to another level.
Super 8
Best film of the year. A beautiful classic mix of sci-fi, monster movie, coming-of-age tale, romance, comedy and much more.
Tangled
Disney do Rapunzel in CG and make one of their best movies in quite a while.
Thor
Aussie Chris Hemsworth proves to be a mighty Thor as Kenneth Branagh juggles the humour and heroics brilliantly.
True Grit
The Coens deliver an excellent western that is that rarest of beasts - a remake that's superior to the original.
Unstoppable
Surprisingly awesome runaway train movie that proved to be far smarter and more stylish than it probably deserved to be.
X-Men: First Class
Helping to wash away the bad taste of X3 and Wolverine was this origin story that pits Magneto and Professor X against the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Also good: The Beaver, The Kids Are All Right, Legends Of The Guardians: The Owls Of Ga'Hoole, The Ghost Writer, Cemetery Junction, Arthur Christmas, The Adjustment Bureau, Catfish, Let Me In, Winter's Bone, Megamind, The Adventures Of Tintin.
And the worst...
Just Go With It
Thankfully I avoided seeing Jack & Jill because I don't think I could stomach another unfunny Adam Sandler movie after this distasteful pile of rubbish.
Zookeeper
Worst film of the year. Idiotic in every possible way. And since when did Kevin James become a leading man?
Spy Kids 4
Kids movies don't have to be this painfully stupid. Robert Rodriguez needs to stop making Spy Kids movies and get on with that Sin City sequel.
The Hangover: Part II
So disappointing. It was as if they took the original script and just replaced a few words. Even Cars 2 wasn't this disappointing.
The Smurfs
Amazingly, this was better than I expected. And it was still lame and shameless.
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