Golden Cornea Awards 2011: The Ensembles

There's nothing like a great cast to make a movie wonderful. This year was full of fantastic feats of ensemble acting, so without further ado, my favorites from 2010.

5. The Concert

Though the advertising campaign will have you believe that this movie is all about Melanie Laurent, tis not the case - though she's lovely in her small role, it's the rest of the cast that breathes such a whimsical life into the film. Be it the goofy Valeri Barinov as the Communist sympathizing manager or the entire crowd of gypsy musicians this wonderful group had a lot of fun, and thus, so did the audience.

4. Mother and Child

The script may have been a bit contrived but thanks to the wonderful performances by the whole cast, "Mother and Child" excels. Bening, Watts and Washington make for great leads but Samuel L. Jackson, Shareeka Epps and Cherry Jones, along with the rest of the supporting players, all give their parts so much more depth than expected.

3. Please Give

This cast of droll and almost unanimously unlikable characters could have been ridiculous or grating. Intsead, Keener, Hall, Platt, Peet, Guilbert and Steele are funny, lovable and work off of each other so remarkably well.

2. The Social Network

Sorkin's dialogue is brilliant, yes, but without the fantastic delivery by every member of the cast, there would not have been the fireworks that there were. And not only do Eisenberg and Garfield do well, but so do the smaller players - Timberlake is surprisingly good, Jones and Song make the most out of their small roles, Hammer is fantastic and Mara is a raw emotional turning point. Simply marvelous.

1. Scott Pilgrim VS The World

Well of COURSE! There's just too much brilliance in every moment of every scene thanks to this amazing cast to be written down in words. I could easily write a paragraph about how great every member of the cast is - Cera, Winstead, Kulkin, Wong, Pill, Plaza, Kendrick, Larson, Whitman...ahhhh. This cast is teh epic.

Honorable Mentions: I do think that Jacki Weaver unabashedly steals the show in Animal Kingdom but the rest of the cast is really quite fantastic as well; Dogtooth's ensemble is marvelous at being both creepy yet surprisingly sympathetic; Winter's Bone is a great spotlight for Jennifer Lawrence but the supporting players hold up remarkably; Greenberg's main trio of Stiller, Gerwig and Ifans is great and it's supported well; Black Swan belongs to Portman but her costars surround her brilliantly; The Fighter is an ensemble piece at its best and those sisters are irresistible!

This was a tough one! What were your favorite ensembles this year?