Christmas is over and the New Year will soon be upon us. It’s time to name the best DVD releases of fast fading 2011.

This year I’m presenting three lists, a top ten list of DVD/Blu-ray releases of films first released theatrically in the U.S. this year; a best list of Blu-ray upgrades of films previously released on standard DVD and a five best list of classic films released on standard DVD only for the first time.

Best New DVD/Blu-ray Releases of 2011

1. Of Gods and Men
2. In a Better World
3. Poetry
4. Win Win
5. Midnight in Paris
6. Margin Call
7. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
8. Certified Copy
9. Beautiful Boy
10. A Better Life

Four of the year’s ten best, including my top three, are foreign language films; two of the Hollywood produced films are comedies; one is a science fiction epic and two are domestic dramas dealing with contemporary issues.

Based on a true story, Xavier Beauvois’ Of Gods and Men follows the day-to-day lives of a group of Trappist Monks in a poor section of Algeria who must decide to stay or leave under threat of fundamentalist terrorists in the mid-1990s. You may think you’d want to get out of there as quickly as possible, but by the time the film draws to its inevitable conclusion, you’ll find yourself agreeing with the monks that the right thing to do was stay. Stars Lambert Wilson and Michael Lonsdale deliver unforgettable performances. It’s in French with English subtitles.

Last year’s winner of the Best Foreign Language Oscar, Susanne Blier’s In a Better World may be best described as Forbidden Games meets The Last King of Scotland with an emphasis on the former. The Danish film is at its best when exploring the complicated relationship of two young boys whose anti-bullying resolve leads to dire circumstances. The subplot involving a brutal third world country warlord is compelling, but tends to take you away from the main thrust of the film, which is the relationship between the two boys. It’s in Danish and Swedish with chunks of dialogue in English and Arabic with English subtitles.

A profound meditation on an elderly woman’s journey of self-discovery, veteran South Korean actress Yun Jung-hee has won the Los Angeles Film Critics’ Award as Best Actress of the year for her subtle portrayal of the chic but humble grandmother in Poetry. Afflicted with the early stages Alzheimer’s disease, she enrolls in a poetry class to strengthen her verbal skills while dealing with a heinous crime that may have been committed by a family member. You may not agree with the ending, but you’ll certainly understand it. It’s in Korean with English subtitles.

The year’s best comedy, Thomas McCarthy’s Win Win provides Paul Giamatti with another strong role as a small town New Jersey lawyer who doubles as an assistant coach at the local high school in charge of the wrestling team. He sees an opportunity to make some money on the side when he becomes guardian for a court appointed client, but his life becomes complicated when the client’s sixteen year-old grandson shows up on his doorstep. Amy Ryan is especially memorable as Giamatti’s wife.

Woody Allen’s best film in some years, Midnight in Paris is extraordinary when exploring the Parisian past of the 1920s and 1890s, but is less effective in the present day scenes as Owen Wilson has to contend with whiny girlfriend Rachel McAdams and her parents. Corey Stoll as Ernest Hemingway and Tim Hiddleston as F. Scott Fitzgerald are the standouts.

The latest film to try and make sense of the economic mess of 2008, J.C. Chandor’s Margin Call gives us a rogues’ gallery of incompetents and fools as well as a selfish, mean-spirited lead villain in Jeremy Irons at his best. The ending is a bit lame, but the road it takes to get there is a fascinating one.

The best science fiction film to come around in ages, Rupert Wyatt’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a prequel to the original 1968 film and far better than the miserable 2001 attempt at a remake.

Abbas Kiarostami’s Certified Copy is a dreamy tour of a small town in Tuscany with the exquisite Juliette Binoche and British opera singer William Shimell as her companion. It’s in French, English and Italian with English subtitles.

The aftermath of a college massacre centers on Maria Bello and Michael Shene as the uncomprehending parents of the shooter in Shawn Ku’s Beautiful Boy, while Screen Actors Guild Best Actor nominee Demian Bichir is a Mexican illegal fighting for A Better Life for his son in Chris Weitz’s film of that name.

Best Blu-ray Upgrades of 2011

1. A Christmas Carol
2. West Side Story
3. Meet Me in St. Louis
4. My Fair Lady
5. Breakfast at Tiffany’s
6. Bambi/Dumbo
7. All About Eve/An Affair to Remember
8. Ben-Hur/The Ten Commandments/King of Kings
9. The Caine Mutiny
10. A Farewell to Arms

My favorite is the unexpected two-disc set upgrade of Brian Desmond Hurst’s 1951 version of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol featuring Alsatair’s Sim’s immortal portrayal of Ebenezer Scrooge. Good luck trying to find this 60th Anniversary Edition if you don’t already possess it. It’s apparently been pulled from distribution for some reason.

The highly publicized releases of the musical classics West Side Story and Meet Me in St. Louis were as wonderful as promised and the critically lambasted transfer of My Fair Lady is a lot better than the naysayers would have you believe.

The 50th Anniversary Edition of Breakfast at Tiffany’s is the sharpest that film has ever looked while Disney entranced us once again with the now sixty-nine year-year old Bambi and seventy year-old Dumbo.

Fox, which had been one of the first out of the box with their initial DVD releases has been very slow in upgrading to Blu-ray, but early this year gave us two of their best in All About Eve and An Affair to Remember.

Many of gthe biblical epics of the 1950s and 60s were released this year, the best of which were Ben-Hur; The Ten Commandments and King of Kings.

Two films set during wartime round out my top ten. Edward Dmytyrk’s sublime version of Herman Wouk’s The Caine Mutiny featuring one of Humphrey Bogart’s greatest performances looks better than ever, while Frank Borzage’s film of Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms has never looked as good on home video. The 1932 film with Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes has been gloriously restored by Kino.

Best DVD Releases of Classic Films

1. The Incredible Shrinking Man
2. Lost Horizon (1973)
3. Tea and Sympathy
4. Travels with My Aunt
5. Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams

The science fiction classic, The Incredible Shrinking Man, had been previously available as a set of 1950s science fiction films in a cropped version, but has finally been given a stand-alone release in its proper aspect ratio, The other four are personal favorites I was beginning to think we would never see released. Tea and Sympathy and Travels with My Aunt are from the Warner Archive while Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams and the musical version of Lost Horizon are from Sony’s Columbia Classics, which are now also being released through the Warner Archive.