In refusing to take sides, Higher Ground really allows the story to be about the fullness of Corinne's faith journey through all its ups and downs, insecurities, doubts, questions and crises. Had Farmiga taken Corinne's personal exploration just a tad deeper, Higher Ground would have been one a top five film for 2011. Higher Ground is still a rather remarkable achievement for the first-time director.

Oliver Tate (Craig Roberts, Jane Eyre) is a 15-year-old with a lot on his mind, mostly figuring out how to lose his virginity before his next birthday and how to prevent the divorce of his parents (played to perfection by Sally Hawkins (Made in Dagenham) and Noah Taylor (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou). Submarine is not too far removed from Youth in Revolt, though it is immensely more satisfying intellectually and emotionally.

Working from a script by Will Reiser, who based the screenplay upon his own experiences in dealing with cancer, director Jonathan Levine (The Wackness) nails almost to perfection the balance between humor and humanity. To have made this film nothing but a comedy would have been crass and ineffective, but to have made it a straight-forward drama would have turned it into nothing more than a disease-of-the-week flick. Instead, Levine and his cast/crew have turned 50/50 into one of 2011's best films.

Co-written and directed by Thomas McCarthy (The Station Agent, The Visitor), Win Win is likely McCarthy's most accessible film to date and arguably his greatest chance for success at the American box-office despite the film's overt quirkiness that sort of blends Little Miss Sunshine with each of McCarthy's first two films. Win Win, which McCarthy wrote with a childhood buddy, isn't a particularly original story but it is a beautifully scripted, authentically realized one.

Olivia Colman captured the Best Actress prize for her performance here from the British Independent Film Awards, with Paddy Considine picking up the award for Best Directing Debut. Joseph (Peter Mullan) is a man plagued by violence and rage who earns a shot at redemption courtesy of a Christian charity shop worker named Hannah (Olivia Colman). The film is so astounding and amazing that I lament not having seen it prior to the Indiana Film Journalists Association annual awards. It's hard to say that I "enjoyed" the film as much as I was simply blown away by it.

While I am a minister, it's a coincidence that there seems to be a strong spiritual thread running through at least half of my Top 10 list for 2011. What can I say? Hollywood has looked inward and upward this year, and it's made for some incredible cinema. In this film, Michael Shannon gives one of the year's best performances as a father who begins experiencing apocalyptic visions and must decide whether to protect his family from the coming storm or, in fact, from himself.

The second film to make my Top 10 this year that I didn't have the chance to screen prior to the IFJA Awards, but a film that likely would have been near the top of my list...at the very least for Best Foreign Language film. This Iranian film examines an Iranian family facing the choice whether to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or staying in the country to care for a parent with Alzheimer's Disease. Shahab Fosseini gives an amazing performance here, but given that this is a foreign film has virtually no chance of an Academy Award nomination.

Easily one of the most enjoyable movie experiences of 2011, The Artist won't likely bring in a new era of silent films but it is bold and entertaining enough that audiences who give it a chance may find themselves pleasantly surprised by how immensely satisfied they are as the closing credits roll. Funny, heartfelt and intelligent, The Artist is an exquisite joy.

There are some cinematic experiences that nearly defy description, and it feels difficult to do justice to Scorsese's Hugo, a film that is simultaneously entertaining, intelligent, emotionally resonant and technologically dazzling. Unlike any film he has ever made, Hugo may better capture the full cinematic rainbow of Scorsese's remarkable career.

Martha Marcy May Marlene won't be a film that will resonate for everyone and, in fact, there will be those who choose to view it solely upon the basis of its reputation and will likely walk out of the theatre muttering "That was crap." It's not for everyone, but those embrace it will embrace it wholly and passionately and, if those who don't embrace it are being honest, the performances alone make this one of the best films of 2011 and one of the first true "must see" films of the 2011 awards season.