Quentin Tarantino’s Favorite Films of 2011

You’ve read the rest of the year-end critics’ lists, now check out the best?

Director Quentin Tarantino has passed along his comprehensive rundown of 2011 films to the aptly named Quentin Tarantino Archives website, and it features enough conversation starters to last at least three rounds at the local bar. His top-eleven (plus one), presented without commentary:

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”

Assuming this list comes from Tarantino’s brain — good assumption, since The Quentin Tarantino Archives has published his best-of lists in 2009 and 2010 — there are some good conclusions to draw. For starters, QT is loyal to his friends; the inclusions of the roundly panned “The Three Musketeers” (featuring Christoph Waltz) and the middling “Our Idiot Brother” (released by The Weinstein Company) attest to that. QT also loves his genre feasts (“Red State,”"Attack the Block,”"X-Men: First Class” and “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”) and strong directors (Woody Allen).

Interestingly, Tarantino placed “Drive” on his “Nice Try Award” list, this despite — or perhaps because of — the way critics compared Nicolas Winding Refn’s moody arts-ploitation genre exercise to “Pulp Fiction.” Guess in Tarantino’s eyes, the student is still the student.

Head over to The Quentin Tarantino Archives to see Tarantino’s full list, including honorable mentions, worst films and his choices for best directors of the year.