I’m going to be upfront and honest and let you know that you can go anywhere on the Internet to find a list of the best and worst movies of 2011. The end of the year is a time that entertainment writers take to tell you what they thought was the best, funniest, most surprising, or all around most awful movies in the past 12 months and compile them into handy list form. Well I don’t roll like that, so here at Scene Creek we’re going to be doing something different. Below you’ll find a list of films that came out in 2011, some are the best of the year and some are the worst, but all of them fit in their respective categories that I made up just now. So get ready for a new kind of end of year list with the first ever “Arbitrary Compilation of Films That Came Out in 2011.”

Best Spy Movie
Starting off the list with a regular category, the fourth entry in the Mission Impossible series takes the prize for the best spy movie of the year. Filled with incredible set pieces, intense action, and a great story, Mission Impossible IV: Ghost Protocol is a seriously great film and amazing kickoff to director Brad Bird’s live action film debut.

Best Family Film / Musical
While The Muppets was just as much for adults as it was for children, Jason Segel and The Muppets put on one hell of a show this year and successfully revived the franchise for a new generation. With a whole lot of incredible songs written and produced by Flight of the Conchord’s Brett McKenzie sure to be nominated for Academy Awards, there was little if anything in this film not to like.

Best Ape-Taking-Over-The-World-Film Starring James Franco
Although the Academy Awards in February certainly would have been better off had apes hosted them instead of James Franco, Rise of the Planet of the Apes was actually the best Apes/Franco starring vehicle this year. Great action, amazing effects, and a performance by a James Franco many thought had died with the Oscars, Rise of the Planet of the Apes was actually one of 2011’s best all-around films.

Best Use Of Lens Flare
Super 8 wins 2011’s award for the best use of lens flares, as well as the award for having the most nostalgic goodness of any movie in recent history. While J.J. Abrams’ latest film had all the trappings of a J.J. Abrams film, including mysterious alien creature, more questions than answers, and a secret government institution pulling the strings behind the scenes, Super 8 definitely had the most lens flares of any of his previous films. And that’s not a bad thing.

Best Prequel
Amidst a summer of superhero films, X-Men First Class was one of the best reviewed of the year. Great acting, directing, and a stellar script telling the story of what happened before the X-Men were X-Men, X-Men First Class took the X-Men to new heights in a beautifully shot and produced film. (Side note: that previous sentence wins the award for most use of the word X-Men in one sentence.)

Best Movie Based on Cool Factor
Cool factor is important, and Limitless has it in spades. Stylish directing, exotic locations and rich people doing rich people things makes Limitless one of the coolest movies of the year. If you didn’t dream of a world where you were on NZT after seeing this film, you weren’t watching it close enough.

Best Time Travel Movie
Source Code had Jake Gyllenhaal coming back to his roots by kicking ass and taking names. He traveled back in time, prevented the death of countless people, and stopped to listen to Russell Peters along the way. Time travel is awesome.

Most Fun Because of How Bad it is
Hobo With a Shotgun was a terrible movie. It was also an amazing movie. It was more gory than anything this year, had a ridiculous plot and ridiculous acting and cinematography. Watching this movie makes you feel disgusting and you can’t help but feel like you live in the terrible world from the film. That’s a good thing.

Best 3D in a Year Where People Realized They Hate 3D
People are growing sick of 3D. However, Final Destination 5 upped the ridiculousness of the franchise and had sailboats impaling people right in your face. The best film of the franchise also had the best use of 3D this year, because where else can you get a guy’s guts exploding all over you?

Best Jason Bateman Comedy
2011 was the year Michael Bluth finally became a leading man. However, only one Jason Bateman comedy can be the best, and that award goes to Horrible Bosses. With a great cast and a great script, Jason Bateman did good this year and turned in his best work since Arrested Development.

Second-Best Jason Bateman Comedy
Alright, maybe it’s just that Jason Bateman is funny no matter what he does, but his second big comedy this summer was also great. The Change-Up had Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman as friends. Friends that switch bodies. Bateman got to play against type, which was amazing, and we also got to see Reynolds do his best Bateman impression. What more could you ask for?

Worst Comedy
30 Minutes or Less was full or promise, and then full of even more disappointment. Almost as bad as a straight to DVD film, this Jesse Eisenberg led film had the amazingly funny Aziz Ansari and the incredibly annoying Danny McBride running around with no real plot. Note to self: don’t be excited for movies with Danny McBride.

Actually, This Might Be The Worst Comedy
Our Idiot Brother. Was there a plot in this movie? Was it even a comedy? Why were so many famous people in such a bad movie? Who cares.

Best Out of Nowhere Action Movie
The Debt came out of nowhere this year to surprise audiences with a tight story and great action. It featured Sam Worthington being awesome and some good old-fashion Nazi hunting fun. What’s not to like?

Best Shot-For-Shot Remake
There were a few remakes in 2011, but Straw Dogs wins the award for the best shot-for-shot retelling of a movie. While the location changed from England to the deep south, most other things in the film stayed the same. But that’s not bad. In fact, the new Straw Dogs was still a great film.

Best Robot Fighting Movie
When robots fight in movies, said movies are generally amazing. This was the case with Real Steel. A movie with great performances and great heart, there’s as much robot boxing in this movie as there is great story; and that’s a lot.

Worst Robot Fighting Movie
Transformers 3 was not good. It pains me to say it, because I loved the first one, and didn’t despise the second, but the third was just a mess of action and explosions that made no sense in any aspect. It was an incoherent mess with a lot of mindless action and a girl that wasn’t Megan Fox. Also, John Malkovich was in it for some reason.

Worst Movie You Don’t Have to See to Know How Bad it is
Jack and Jill. Come on Adam Sandler, get back in the game.

All-Around Worst Movie
Tree of Life was literally hours and hours of external shots of nature. It had Brad Pitt and Sean Penn in it…I think. There was also a scene with dinosaurs for no reason. Jeeze, what a bad movie.