The 10 best movies of 2011

From young love to a documentary on capital punishment, here are the 10 movies that wowed Monitor film critic Peter Rainer at the multiplex this year

5. 'The Descendants'

By Merie Wallace/HONS/Fox Searchlight Films/AP

It’s been seven long years since Alexander Payne’s “Sideways,” but this quietly compassionate film makes the wait (almost) worth it. George Clooney, playing a Hawaiian real-estate lawyer who must cope with a tragic situation and two unruly daughters, gives one of the least star-struck performances ever by a major star.

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