As is the usual practice almost anywhere were column inches or post counts matter, writers such as myself take to their keyboards and make lists. I am no exception and, with a great deal of difficulty and toil, have managed to cobble together a list of what I think are some of the best things of 2011.

I don’t really want to bore you with a lot of explanations as to why I picked what I did. Suffice it to say these picks are mine and mine alone. Also, they are not in any particular order, mostly because I find it hard to rank them that closely. Or, I was just too lazy.

Either way, here you go.

Movies

Drive
The Artist
Attack the Block
X-Men: First Class
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
The Descendants
Thunder Soul
13 Assassins
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
Hugo

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Nick Frost has taken on zombies, suburbanites, and a friendly alien that sounds like Seth Rogen, but his newest flick, Attack the Block looks like it may just be his time to step away from Simon Pegg and shine.

Directed by friend and collegue of Edgar Wright, Joe Cornish, the film looks to do all of the things that Skyline and Battle of Los Angeles failed to do. Here’s the premise.

Set on a council estate in South London on Bonfire night, the film follows a street gang, Moses (John Boyega), Pest (Alex Esmail), Dennis (Franz Drameh), Jerome (Leeon Jones) and Biggz (Simon Howard). While they are mugging nurse Sam (Jodie Whittaker), a fiery object falls from the sky, crashing through the roof of a nearby car. When they investigate, they discover a creature from the meteor and they kill it. Soon more aliens crash land and the gang has to defend themselves and their council estate from the alien invaders.

The tagline alone, “Inner City vs. Outer Space”, should be enough to get you to see the film, but if you need more incentive, you can check out the brand new red band trailer for it after the jump.

Attack the Block is set to hit select US cities on July 29th.

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If you’re a fan of J.J. Abrams Clovefield, can’t wait for Super 8 and loved Shaun of the Dead, chances are you will also enjoy director Joe Cornish’s Attack the Block. Fortunately, you will soon get a chance to prove that theory as the film has been picked up for distribution by Sony through its Screen Gems division.

The film, which won the Midnight Feature Audience Award at SXSW, tells the story of a gang of tough inner-city kids in London who battle a bunch of invading aliens. Sounds cool, right?

Said Screen Gems president Clint Culpepper: “Steve Bersch screened this film for me and I fell completely in love with it. The film is, at once, charming, scary, funny, hip, clever and completely hits its mark. I hope this is the beginning of a long relationship with these incredibly talented filmmakers.”

Click through to check out the trailer if you haven’t already seen it. Even if you have, it’s worth another look. As for the film, it features Nick Frost and kids beating the crap out of invading aliens. How can it not be good?

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While here in the states, we’ll be fighting off the alien threat out of Hollywood in Battle:LA, they’ve got a less conventional way of taking down evil extraterrestrials overseas. What happens when aliens are met with a bunch of street-savvy hoodrats from South London? Nothing good.

Here’s the official synopsis.

From the producers of SHAUN OF THE DEAD and SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD comes ATTACK THE BLOCK, a fast funny, frightening action adventure movie that pits a teen gang against an invasion of savage alien monsters. It turns a London tower block into a fortress under siege, and a weapon wielding teenage thugs into heroes. It’s inner city versus outer space.

Because Paul just wasn’t enough of an alien encounter, Nick Frost steps into this film as well, as the only well-known comedic figure in the film. Overall, an interesting take on a classic story, played to today’s social culture.

Check out the full trailer for Attack the Block after the jump, and the film hits UK screens on May 13th, so you can expect it to hit the states sometime shortly after.

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