Quentin Tarantino Gives ‘Drive,’ ‘Rampart’ & ‘Meek’s Cutoff’ Slots On His Worst & “Nice Try” 2011 Film Lists

Is Quentin Tarantino turning into a crank? Or Armond White? The director has dropped his best of list for 2011, and let’s just put it this way: Paul W.S. Anderson‘s ridiculous and dumb “The Three Musketeers” made the top 11, while movies like “Drive,” “Rampart” and “Meek’s Cutoff” didn’t. In fact, the latter two made his Worst Movies list.

But of course, QT is like most nerds who tend to favor stuff that is “cool” or falls right into their geeky wheelhouse, which makes the dismissal of “Drive” all the more strange (though maybe he was intimidated by a movie that took many of the same influences he shares and created something fresh, rather than a winking homage). Anyway, it’s no surprise that big entertainments like “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” “X-Men: First Class” and “Attack the Block” ranked in his Best list. But to his credit, we’re glad to see him add to the “Sucker Punch” pile-on, because Zack Snyder‘s film was truly terrible, and hopefully QT will silence the still small contingent who continue to claim the film is some kind of misunderstood work of art. It’s not. Same goes for “Paranormal Activity 3,” a franchise that continues to recycle jump scares for an audience that continues to eat it up. Also nice to see QT give some shine to “The Skin I Live In” that didn’t get the love it deserved, likely because Pedro Almodóvar bravely stepped out of his comfort zone, delivering something uniquely and bizarrely twisted that turned off those only accustomed to his more recent arthouse hits.

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But perhaps the oddest entry on his annual run through the movies is the tie between silent movie sensation “The Artist” and the thoroughly average ensemble comedy “Our Idiot Brother.” We’d love to get a further explanation on that. Anyway, the full list is below. [Quentin Tarantino Archives via Total Film]

Quentin Tarantino’s official Top 11 of 2011

1. Midnight in Paris
2. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
3. Moneyball
4. The Skin I Live In
5. X-Men: First Class
6. Young Adult
7. Attack the Block
8. Red State
9. Warrior
10. The Artist / Our Idiot Brother (tie)
11. The Three Musketeers

Others considered in no particular order

50/50
Beginners
Hugo
The Iron Lady
Carnage
Green Hornet
Green Lantern
Captain America
The Descendants
My Week With Marilyn
Fast Five
The Tree of Life
The Hangover Part II
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
The Beaver
Contagion
The Sitter
War Horse

Nice Try Award

Drive
Hanna
Drive Angry
Real Steel

Best Director

Pedro Almodóvar
Bennett Miller
Woody Allen
Jason Reitman
Michel Hazanavicius

Best Original Screenplay

Midnight in Paris
Young Adult
Red State
Attack the Block
Our Idiot Brother
Beginners

Best Adapted Screenplay

Moneyball
The Skin I live In
Carnage
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Hugo
X-Men: First Class

Worst Films

Sucker Punch
Potiche (Trophy Wife)
Miral
Insidious
Rampart
Straw Dogs
Paranormal Activity 3
Meek’s Cutoff