As the New Year has approached us, there have been many things to look forward to, but the memories from the year before will always stick with us. One thing we can always look back on in 2011 are the exceptional movies that were released. Everybody will have their different opinions of what movie they thought was “the best”, but the box office can’t lie!

            According to the box office, the top grossing movies are as follows: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1, The Hangover Part 2 and Pirates of the Caribbean 3: On Stranger Tides. Although these movies may not be seen as the “best” of 2011, these are the ones that America saw the most in theaters. There seems to be a trend among these movies considering they’re all part of a series. It’s quite possible they were top grossing movies because people wanted to see how all of these series continued. They’re also big movies with a stacked cast of well-known celebrities (For example, Daniel Radcliffe from Harry Potter, Robert Pattinson from Twilight and Johnny Depp from Pirates of the Caribbean.)

            MTV.com also released their list of the top 10 movies of 2011, not based off of the domestic grosses from the box office. Their top 10 consists of: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Drive, Harry Potter, Bridesmaids, Hugo, X-Men, The Muppets, 50/50, The Descendants and Attack the Block. Alex Cayer, an IHS senior agrees with this lineup, saying,

            “I really liked Bridesmaids. That movie was so funny! I also loved the Hangover Part 2, but I don’t think it was as funny as the first.”

            Don Hendrix, an Atlanta, Georgia native, also gave his opinion on his favorite movies of 2011.

            “I loved Moneyball. I’m actually surprised it’s not on the list, but I heard it's up for some Oscar nominees. But, I did see Drive and that movie was awesome! There was tons of action and expensive cars; it was the perfect movie for men!”

            The females of America would probably enjoy Drive, as well, considering its main star is Hollywood hunk, Ryan Gosling!

            The Oscars are also coming up in February, so we’ll get to see if the list of movies provided by MTV makes impact on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the awards show!

            When the Academy Awards do air, there will definitely be some tough competition to see which movies beat out one another for the big Oscar trophy! I’m also sure that 2012 will show us even more amazing movies to leave us with lasting memories.