Top 20 Lists

Since 2002, I’ve been releasing my Top 20 films of the year. Each list comprises the 20 top films I saw that calendar year.

2012

1. Zero Dark Thirty (also Best Drama, Best Studio Film)

2. Argo

3. Les Misérables

4. Lincoln

5. Killer Joe (also Best Independent Film)

6. Anna Karenina

7. Beasts of the Southern Wild

8. Amour (also Best Foreign Film)

9. Wreck-It Ralph (also Best Comedy, Best Animated Feature)

10. Django Unchained

11. Rise of the Guardians

12. Life of Pi

13. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

14. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

15. Moonrise Kingdom

16. Frances Ha

17. The Paperboy

18. The Intouchables

19. The Gatekeepers (also Best Documentary)

20. The Dark Knight Rises

Honorable Mentions

The Artist (2011)

Casting By

Final Cut – Ladies and Gentlemen

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Polisse (2011)

 2011

1. Blue Valentine (also Best Drama, Best Independent Film)

2. Another Earth

3. Hugo (also Best Studio Film)

4. Moneyball

5. The Ides of March

6. Hanna

7. Carnage (also Best Comedy)

8. Warrior

9. We Need to Talk About Kevin

10. My Week with Marilyn

11. Attack the Block (also Best Foreign Film)

12. Shame

13. The Adventures of Tintin (also Best Animated Feature)

14. Midnight in Paris

15. The Skin I Live In

16. Into the Abyss (also Best Documentary)

17. Machine Gun Preacher

18. Pariah

19. Rango

20. War Horse

Honorable Mentions

Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop

Jane Eyre

2010

1. Inception (also Best Drama, Best Studio Film)

2. Toy Story 3 (also Best Animated Feature)

3. Waiting for “Superman” (also Best Documentary)

4. The Social Network

5. Black Swan (also Best Independent Film)

6. Made in Dagenham (also Best Foreign Film)

7. The King’s Speech

8. The Fighter

9. Crazy Heart (2009)

10. The Ghost Writer

11. Soundtrack for a Revolution (2009)

12. True Grit

13. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

14. Winter’s Bone

15. Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work

16. The Kids Are All Right

17. Another Year

18. I Love You Phillip Morris (also Best Comedy)

19. Peepli Live

20. Get Low

Honorable Mentions

127 Hours

The Last Station (2009)

Rabbit Hole

2009

1. (500) Days of Summer (also Best Comedy, Best Independent Film)

2. A Single Man (also Best Drama)

3. Broken Embraces (also Best Foreign Film)

4. Where the Wild Things Are

5. Inglourious Basterds (also Best Studio Film)

6. The Burning Plain

7. Frost/Nixon (2008)

8. The Hurt Locker

9. The Road

10. Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire

11. Up in the Air

12. Last Chance Harvey (2008)

13. The Private Lives of Pippa Lee

14. Mammoth

15. Star Trek

16. The September Issue (also Best Documentary)

17. In the Loop

18. Revolutionary Road (2008)

19. Man on Wire (2008)

20. Fantastic Mr. Fox (also Best Animated Feature)

Honorable Mentions

Art & Copy

Creation

Julie & Julia

Which Way Home

The Young Victoria

2008

1. WALL-E (also Best Animated Feature, Best Comedy)

2. Doubt (also Best Drama)

3. Milk (also Best Independent Film)

4. Australia (also Best Studio Film)

5. The Wrestler

6. The Fall

7. There Will Be Blood (2007)

8. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007) (also Best Foreign Film)

9. The Dark Knight

10. The Reader

11. Slumdog Millionaire

12. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

13. The Orphanage (2007)

14. The Duchess

15. Changeling

16. Transsiberian

17. Vicky Cristina Barcelona

18. Cadillac Records

19. Synecdoche, New York

20. W.

Honorable Mentions

Be Kind Rewind

Flash of Genius

Married Life (2007)

2007

1. Across the Universe (also Best Musical, Best Studio Film)

2. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) (also Best Foreign Film)

3. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

4. Atonement (also Best Drama)

5. No Country for Old Men

6. Charlie Wilson’s War (also Best Comedy)

7. 3:10 to Yuma

8. Volver (2006)

9. Juno (also Best Independent Film)

10. Black Snake Moan (2006)

11. Dreamgirls (2006)

12. Children of Men (2006)

13. Blood Diamond (2006)

14. Curse of the Golden Flower (2006)

15. Hairspray

16. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead

17. American Gangster

18. Gone Baby Gone

19. Into the Wild

20. Michael Clayton

Honorable Mentions

The Darjeeling Limited

Notes on a Scandal (2006)

Ratatouille (also Best Animated Feature)

2006

1. Stranger Than Fiction (also Best Comedy, Best Drama, Best Studio Film)

2. An Inconvenient Truth (also Best Documentary, Best Independent Film)

3. Match Point (2005) (also Best Foreign Film)

4. The Prestige

5. A Prairie Home Companion (also Best Musical)

6. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)

7. For Your Consideration

8. The Departed

9. Bobby

10. Babel

11. All the King’s Men

12. Little Miss Sunshine

13. The New World (2005)

14. Shut up & Sing

15. Hollywoodland

16. The Pursuit of Happyness

17. Half Nelson

18. The Last King of Scotland

19. Flags of Our Fathers

20. Munich (2005)

Honorable Mentions

Marie Antoinette

A Scanner Darkly (also Best Animated Feature)

Syriana (2005)

2005

1. Rent (also Best Drama, Best Independent Film, Best Musical)

2. Hotel Rwanda (2004)

3. Crash (2004)

4. Million Dollar Baby (2004)

5. Good Night, and Good Luck.

6. Vera Drake (2004) (also Best Foreign Film)

7. Pride & Prejudice (also Best Comedy)

8. Bad Education (2004)

9. The Squid and the Whale

10. Millions (2004)

11. Memoirs of a Geisha (also Best Studio Film)

12. The Sea Inside (2004)

13. Everything Is Illuminated

14. The Producers

15. Paper Clips (2004) (also Best Documentary)

16. Capote

17. The Family Stone

18. A Very Long Engagement (2004)

19. Proof

20. Broken Flowers

Honorable Mentions

The Assassination of Richard Nixon (2004)

Beyond the Sea (2004)

A History of Violence

House of Flying Daggers (2004)

Madagascar (also Best Animated Feature)

Shopgirl

2004

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (also Best Independent Film)

2. I Heart Huckabees (also Best Comedy)

3. Garden State

4. The Passion of the Christ (also Best Drama)

5. Maria Full of Grace (also Best Foreign Film)

6. Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (also Best Studio Film)

7. Dogville (2003)

8. Mystic River (2003)

9. 21 Grams (2003)

10. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera

11. Shrek 2 (also Best Animated Feature)

12. Finding Neverland

13. Closer

14. City of God (2003)

15. Fahrenheit 9/11

16. Super Size Me (also Best Documentary)

17. Ray

18. The Polar Express

19. De-Lovely

20. Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003)

Honorable Mentions

In America (2003)

Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

2003

1. Adaptation. (2002) (also Best Comedy)

2. Big Fish

3. Chicago (2002)

4. The Pianist (2002) (also Best Drama)

5. Cold Mountain

6. The Hours (2002)

7. Matchstick Men

8. Kill Bill: Vol. 1

9. Love Actually (also Best Foreign Film)

10. Seabiscuit

11. Finding Nemo (also Best Animated Feature)

12. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

13. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)

14. Whale Rider (2002)

15. Gangs of New York (2002)

16. Catch Me If You Can (2002)

17. The Human Stain

18. Thirteen

19. The Magdalene Sisters (2002)

20. Lost in Translation

Honorable Mentions

Bend It Like Beckham (2002)

Pieces of April

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

2002

1. Bowling for Columbine (also Best Documentary)

2. Y Tu Mamá También (2001) (also Best Drama, Best Foreign Film)

3. Monster’s Ball (2001)

4. Gosford Park (2001) (also Best Comedy)

5. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

6. Frida

7. Far from Heaven

8. Possession

9. Road to Perdition

10. A Beautiful Mind (2001)

11. My Big Fat Greek Wedding

12. Minority Report

13. In the Bedroom (2001)

14. Lovely and Amazing (2001)

15. Real Women Have Curves

16. Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (also Best Animated Feature)

17. The Good Girl

18. Kissing Jessica Stein (2001)

19. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

20. Sunshine State