Top 10 Lists

2012

1. I Wish (Hirokazu Kore-eda)
2. Lincoln (Steven Spielberg)
3. Amour (Michael Haneke)
4. The Master (Paul Thomas Anderson)
5. Silver Linings Playbook (David O. Russell)
6. Zero Dark Thirty (Kathryn Bigelow)
7. Holy Motors (Leos Carax)
8. Wuthering Heights (Andrea Arnold)
9. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
10. Damsels in Distress (Whit Stillman)

Awards:

The "Just One More" Award: Oslo, August 31st and Flight
The "Whose God Would Do This?" Award: Flight and Life of Pi
The "Don't Mess With Nature" Award: Life of Pi and Beasts of the Southern Wild
The "Kids Are All Right" Award: Beasts of the Southern Wild and Moonrise Kingdom
The "Kids Aren't Exactly All Right" Award: The Kid with a Bike and Looper
The "Joseph Gordon-Levitt Had a Good Year" Award: Looper and Premium Rush
The "Almost a Masterpiece" Award: Django Unchained and Anna Karenina
The "Is the Grass Greener?" Award: Anna Karenina and Take This Waltz
The "Young and Horny" Award: Turn Me On, Dammit! and Goodbye First Love

 2011

1. Weekend (Andrew Haigh)
2. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
3. The Tree of Life (Terence Malick)
4. A Separation (Asghar Farhadi)
5. Beginners (Mike Mills)
6. Meek's Cutoff (Kelly Reichardt)
7. Hanna (Joe Wright)
8. Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami)
9. Take Shelter (Jeff Nichols)
10. (tie) The Adjustment Bureau (George Nolfi)/Warrior (Gavin O'Connor)

Honorable Mentions: 

Cave of Forgotten Dreams (Werner Herzog) 
Into the Abyss (Werner Herzog)  
Buck (Cindy Meehl)
The Arbor (Clio Barnard)  
Martha Marcy May Marlene (Sean Durkin)  
The Skin I Live In (Pedro Almodóvar)  
Hugo (Martin Scorsese)  
Midnight in Paris (Woody Allen)  
Dog Sweat (Hossein Keshavarz)
Attack the Block (Joe Cornish)

2010

1. Please Give (Nicole Holofcener)
2. The Social Network (David Fincher)
3. Winter's Bone (Debra Granik)
4. Toy Story 3 (Lee Unkrich)
5. Obselidia (Diane Bell)
6. Blue Valentine (Derek Cianfrance)
7. True Grit (Joel & Ethan Coen)
8. Somewhere (Sofia Coppola)
9. The Kids Are All Right (Lisa Cholodenko)
10. Exit Through the Gift Shop (Banksy)
11. Made in Dagenham (Nigel Cole)

2009

1. Up in the Air (Jason Reitman)
2. The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow)
3. Still Walking (Hirokazu Kore-eda)
4. Bright Star (Jane Campion)
5. Medicine for Melancholy (Barry Jenkins)
6. An Education (Lone Scherfig)
7. Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
8. Adventureland (Greg Mottola)
9. Summer Hours (Olivier Assayas)
10. Two Lovers (James Gray)

Runners-up:

Up (Pete Docter)
Sita Sings the Blues (Nina Paley)
 Coraline (Henry Selick)
Fantastic Mr. Fox (Wes Anderson)  
Wendy and Lucy (Kelly Reichardt)  
Treeless Mountain (So Yong Kim)
Coco Before Chanel (Anne Fontaine)  
Sugar (Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden)
Goodbye Solo (Ramin Bahrani)  
I Love You, Man (John Hamburg)

2008

1. Rachel Getting Married (Jonathan Demme)
2. Man on Wire (James Marsh)
3. Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman)
4. Disfigured (Glen Gers)
5. Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Woody Allen)
6. Happy-Go-Lucky (Mike Leigh)
7. The Fall (Tarsem Singh)
8. In Bruges (Martin McDonagh)
9. Milk (Gus Van Sant)
10. Chop Shop (Ramin Bahrani)

Honorable Mentions (in alphabetical order):

August Evening (Chris Eska)
Control (Anton Corbijn)  
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (David Fincher)  
The Edge of Heaven (Fatih Akin)  
In Search of a Midnight Kiss (Alex Holdridge)  
Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson)  
Slumdog Millionaire (Danny Boyle)
The Visitor (Thomas McCarthy)  
Wall-E (Andrew Stanton)  
Youth Without Youth (Francis Ford Coppola)

2007

1. Once (John Carney, 85 m)
2. I'm Not There (Todd Haynes, 135 m)
3. No Country For Old Men (Joel & Ethan Coen, 122 m)
4. There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, 158 m)
5. Waitress (Adrienne Shelly, 108 m)
6. Away From Her (Sarah Polley, 110 m)
7. Into the Wild (Sean Penn, 140 m)
8. Knocked Up (Judd Apatow, 129 m)
9. Day Night Day Night (Julia Loktev, 94 m)
10. 2 Days in Paris (Julie Delpy, 96 m)

Tied for 11th:

No End in Sight (Charles Ferguson, 102 m)
Deep Water (Louise Osmond, Jerry Rothwell, 92 m)
The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (Seth Gordon, 79 m)
Zodiac (David Fincher, 158 m)  
Persepolis (Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi, 95 m)  
The Wind That Shakes the Barley (Ken Loach, 127 m)
The Lives of Others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 137 m)
Superbad (Greg Mottola, 114 m)  
The Savages (Tamara Jenkins, 113 m)
Margot at the Wedding (Noah Baumbach, 91 m)  
The Hoax (Lasse Hallström, 116 m)

2006

1. United 93 (Paul Greengrass, 111 m)
2. Letters from Iwo Jima (Clint Eastwood, 141 m)
3. Something New (Sanaa Hamri, 99 m)
4. The Descent (Neil Marshall, 99 m)
5. Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón, 109 m)
6. Monster House (Gil Kenan, 91 m)
7. Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro, 119 m)
8. Volver (Pedro Almodóvar, 121 m)
9. The Queen (Stephen Frears, 103 m)
10. Five Minutes, Mr. Welles (Vincent D'Onofrio, 30 m)

The 11-way tie for 11th place:

Mutual Appreciation (Andrew Bujalski, 110 m)  
Brick (Rian Johnson, 110 m)  
The Proposition (John Hillcoat, 104 m)  
The Puffy Chair (Jay Duplass, 85 m)  
Dave Chappelle's Block Party (Michel Gondry, 103 m)  
The Departed (Martin Scorsese, 151 m)  
Conventioneers (Mora Stephens, 95 m)  
Notes on a Scandal (Richard Eyre, 92 m)  
Little Children (Todd Field, 130 m)  
Half Nelson (Ryan Fleck, 106 m)  
My Dad is 100 Years Old (Guy Maddin, 16 m) 

2005

1. Me and You and Everyone We Know (Miranda July, 91 m)
2. Millions (Danny Boyle, 98 m)
3. 2046 (Wong Kar-Wai, 129 m)
4. Pride & Prejudice (Joe Wright, 127 m)
5. The Constant Gardener (Fernando Meirelles, 129 m)
6. Capote (Bennett Miller, 114 m)
7. Proof (John Madden, 99 m)
8. Nobody Knows (Hirokazu Koreeda, 141 m)
9. The 40-Year-Old Virgin (Judd Apatow, 116 m)
10. Turtles Can Fly (Bahman Ghobadi, 98 m)

2004

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 108 m)
2. Million Dollar Baby (Clint Eastwood, 132 m)
3. Sideways (Alexander Payne, 126 m)
4. Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (Quentin Tarantino, 136 m)
5. The Incredibles (Brad Bird, 115 m)
6. Spider-Man 2 (Sam Raimi, 127 m)
7. Before Sunset (Richard Linklater, 77 m)
8. The Dreamers (Bernardo Bertolucci, 115 m)
9. The Saddest Music in the World (Guy Maddin, 100 m)
10. Intermission (John Crowley, 105 m)

 2003

1. Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola, 102 m)
2. Whale Rider (Niki Caro, 101 m)
3. American Splendor (Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini, 101 m)
4. Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (Quentin Tarantino, 111 m)
5. City of God (Fernando Meirelles, Kátia Lund, 130 m)
6. In America (Jim Sheridan, 105 m)
7. Mystic River (Clint Eastwood, 137 m)
8. The Station Agent (Thomas McCarthy, 88 m)
9. The School of Rock (Richard Linklater, 108 m)
10. Monster (Patty Jenkins, 109 m)