Top Ten Lists

*Films are listed by year of their first public release in Canada, either theatrical or direct to DVD.

2012 (Full write-up)

Anna Karenina

1. Anna Karenina (Dir. Joe Wright)
2. Stories We Tell  (Dir. Sarah Polley)
3. Zero Dark Thirty (Dir. Kathryn Bigelow)
4. We Are Wisconsin (Dir. Amie Williams)
5. Quartet (Dir. Dustin Hoffman)
6. Silver Linings Playbook (Dir. David O. Russell)
7. The Imposter (Dir. Bart Layton)
8. Rust and Bone (Dir. Jacques Audiard)
9. Beasts of the Southern Wild (Dir. Benh Zeitlin)
10. Skyfall (Dir. Sam Mendes)
10. Smashed (Dir. James Ponsoldt)

Honourable mentions: Argo, Cosmopolis, The Dark Knight Rises, Django Unchained, English Vinglish, The Hunger Games, The Impossible, Inch’Allah, The Invisible War, Les Misérables, Lore, The Master, Midnight's Children, Moonrise Kingdom, Rebelle, The Sessions, Take This Waltz.

Also: The Best Performances of the Year, The Best Canadian Films of the Year and The Worst Films of the Year

Midnight in Paris

2011 (Full write-up)

1. Midnight in Paris (Dir. Woody Allen)
2. The Descendants (Dir. Alexander Payne)
3. Shame (Dir. Steve McQueen)
4. We Need to Talk About Kevin (Dir. Lynne Ramsay)
5. The Tree of Life (Dir. Terence Malick)
6. The Whistleblower (Dir. Larysa Kondracki)
7. The Help (Dir. Tate Taylor)
8. Café de Flore (Dir. Jean-Marc Vallée)
9. Take Shelter (Dir. Jeff Nichols)
10. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Dir. Tomas Alfredson)

Honourable Mentions: The Artist, Beginners, Bridesmaids, Contagion, Drive, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Hanna, Higher Ground, The Housemaid, Hugo, Jane Eyre, Last Night, Margin Call, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Melancholia, Rampart, Tyrannosaur.

Also: The best canadian films of 2011, the best performances of 2011, and the 10 worst films of 2011.

Black Swan

2010 (Full write-up)

1.    Black Swan (Dir: Darren Aronofsky)
2.    Inception (Dir: Christopher Nolan)
3.    Another Year (Dir: Mike Leigh)
4.    The King’s Speech (Dir: Tom Hooper)
5.    Winter’s Bone (Dir: Debra Granik)
6.    127 Hours (Dir: Danny Boyle)
7.    Please Give (Dir: Nicole Holofcener)
8.    Trigger (Dir: Bruce McDonald)
9.    Incendies (Dir: Denis Villeneuve)
10a.  I am Love (Dir: Luca Guadagnino)
10b. Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (D: Ricki Stern, Anne Sundberg)
Honourable mentions: Animal Kingdom, Barney’s Version, Chloe, Fair Game, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, How to Rid Your Lover of a Negative Emotion Caused by You!, The Kids Are All Right, Made in Dagenham, Nowhere Boy, Rabbit Hole, The Town.

Mulholland Dr.

Top Ten of  the 2000s:

1. Mulholland Dr. (David Lynch, 2001)

2. Sideways (Alexander Payne, 2004)
3. The Barbarian Invasions (Denys Arcand, 2003)
4. Atonement (Joe Wright, 2007)
5. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee, 2000)
6. Adaptation (Spike Jonze, 2002)
7. Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire (Lee Daniels, 2009)
8. Million Dollar Baby (Clint Eastwood, 2004)
9. Rachel Getting Married (Jonathan Demme, 2008)
10. In the Bedroom (Todd Field, 2001)

Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire

2009

1. Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire (D: Lee Daniels)

2. The Hurt Locker (D: Kathryn Bigelow)

3. Inglourious Basterds (D: Quentin Tarantino)

4. A Single Man (D: Tom Ford)
5. Away We Go (D: Sam Mendes)
6. Fantastic Mr Fox (D: Wes Anderson)
7. Antichrist (D: Lars von Trier)
8. Bright Star (D: Jane Campion)
9. Up in the Air (D: Jason Reitman)
10. An Education (D: Lone Scherfig)

Rachel Getting Married

2008:

1. Rachel Getting Married (D: Jonathan Demme)

2. Revolutionary Road (D: Sam Mendes)

3. The Visitor (D: Tom McCarthy)
4. Doubt (D: John Patrick Shanley)

5. The Wrestler (D: Darren Aronofsky)

6. I’ve Loved You So Long (D: Philippe Claudel)

7. Happy-Go-Lucky (D: Mike Leigh)

8. The Reader (D: Stephen Daldry)

9. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (D: David Fincher)

10. Australia (D: Baz Luhrman)

Atonement

2007:

1. Atonement (D: Joe Wright)

2. Away From Her (D: Sarah Polley)
3. No Country For Old Men (D: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen)

4. A Mighty Heart (D: Michael Minterbottom)

5. Michael Clayton (D: Tony Gilroy)
6. Jindabyne (D: Ray Lawrence)
7. Once (D: John Carney)
8. The Bourne Ultimatum (D: Paul Greengrass)
9. I’m Not There. (D: Todd Haynes)
10. There Will Be Blood (D: Paul Thomas Anderson)

Little Children

2006:

1. Little Children (D: Todd Field)

2. The Departed (D: Martin Scorsese)

3. United 93 (D: Paul Greengrass)

4. Notes on a Scandal (D: Richard Eyre)

5. Volver (D: Pedro Almodovar)

6. Children of Men (D: Alfonso Cuaron)
7. Stranger than Fiction (D: Marc Forster)
8. Babel (D: Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu)
9. Dreamgirls (Bill Condon)
10. Shut up and Sing (D: Barbara Koppel & Cecila Peck)

The Constant Gardener

2005:

1. The Constant Gardener (D: Fernando Meirelles)

2.  A History of Violence (D: David Cronenberg)
3. Match Point (D: Woody Allen)

4. Good Night, and Good Luck (D: George Clooney)
5. Crash (D: Paul Haggis)
6. Syriana (D: Stephen Gaghan)
7. Grizzly Man (D: Werner Herzog)
8. Me and You and Everyone We Know (D: Miranda July)
9. Capote (D: Bennett Miller)
10. The Squid and the Whale (D: Noah Baumbach)

Sideways

2004:

1. Sideways (D: Alexander Payne)

2. Million Dollar Baby (D: Clint Eastwood)

3. Hotel Rwanda (D: Terry George)

4. Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (D: Quentin Tarantino)
5. The Manchurian Candidate (D: Johnathan Demme)

6. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (D: Michel Gondry)

7. A Very Long Engagement (D: Jean-Pierre Jeunet)
8. Dogville (D: Lars von Trier)
9. The Aviator (D: Martin Scorsese)
10. The Door in the Floor (D: Tod Williams)

The Barbarian Invasions

2003:

1. The Barbarian Invasions (D: Denys Arcand)
1.5 House of Sand and Fog (D: Vadim Perleman)

2.Mystic River (D: Clint Eastwood)

3. Kill Bill: Vol 1 (D: Quentin Tarantino)

4. Finding Nemo (D: Andrew Stanton)
5. A Mighty Wind (D: Christopher Guest)
6. Monster (D: Patty Jenkins)
7. Cold Mountain (D: Anthony Minghella)
8. Lost in Translation (D: Sofia Coppola)
9. American Splendor (D: Robert Pulcini & Shari Springer Berman)
10. The Triplets of Belleville (Dir. Sylvain Chomet)

Adaptation.

2002:

1. Adaptation. (D: Spike Jonze)

2. About Schmidt (D: Alexander Payne)

3. Bowling for Columbine (D: Michael Moore)

4. The Hours (D: Stephen Daldry)
5. Talk to Her (D: Pedro Almodovar)
6. Far From Heaven (D: Todd Haynes)
7. Catch Me if You Can (D: Steven Spielberg)
8. Gangs of New York (D: Martin Scorsese)
9. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (D: George Clooney)
10. Femme Fatale (D: Brian De Palma)

Mulholland Dr.

2001:

1. Mulholland Dr (D: David Lynch)

2. In the Bedroom (D: Todd Field)

3. Vanilla Sky (D: Cameron Crowe)

4. Amélie (D: Jean-Pierre Jeunet)

5. A Beautiful Mind (D: Ron Howard)

6. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (D: Peter Jackson)

7. In the Mood for Love (D: Wong Kar Wai)
8. Gosford Park (D: Robert Altman)
9. Shrek (D: Andrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson)
10. Wit (D: Mike Nichols)

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

2000:

1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (D: Ang Lee)

2. Requiem for a Dream (D: Darren Aronofsky)

3. Traffic (D: Steven Soderbergh)

4. Best in Show (D: Christopher Guest)

5. The Contender (D: Rod Lurie)
6. Almost Famous (D: Cameron Crowe)
7. The Taste of Others (D: Agnes Jaoui)
8. Wonder Boys (D: Curtis Hanson)
9. You Can Count on Me (D: Kenneth Lonergan)
10. Gladiator (D: Ridley Scott)

Pulp Fiction

1990s

1. Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994)

2. The Sweet Hereafter (Atom Egoyan, 1997)
3. The Silence of the Lambs (Johnathan Demme, 1991)
4. Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990)
5. Fargo (Joel Coen, 1996).
6. L.A. Confidential (Curtis Hanson, 1997)
7. The Remains of the Day (James Ivory, 1993)
8. Schindler’s List (Steven Spielberg, 1993)
9. Magnolia (Paul Thomas Anderson, 1999)
10. All About My Mother (Pedro Almodovar, 1999)
10. Exotica (Atom Egoyan, 1994)

Blue Velvet

1980s

1. Blue Velvet (David Lynch, 1986)

2. The Last Emperor (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1987)

3. Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989)

4. Hannah and Her Sisters (Woody Allen, 1986)
5. The Decline of the American Empire (Denys Arcand, 1985)
6. Blood Simple (Joel Coen, 1985)

7. Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)
8. On Golden Pond (Mark Rydell, 1981)
9. Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1985)
10. Atlantic City (Louis Malle, 1981)

Annie Hall

1970s

1. Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1977)

2. Network (Sidney Lumet, 1976)
3. The Godfather: Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)

4. The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)

5. Manhattan (Woody Allen, 1979)

6. Chinatown (Roman Polanski, 1974)

7. Nashville (Robert Altman, 1975)
8. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Milos Forman, 1975)
9. Mon Oncle Antoine (Claude Jutra, 1971)
10. The Sting (George Roy Hill, 1973)

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

1960s:

1. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Mike Nichols, 1966)

2. La Dolce Vita (Frederico Fellini, 1961)

3. The Graduate (Mike Nichols, 1967)

4. Chimes at Midnight (Orson Welles, 1966)

5. The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960)

6. West Side Story (Robert Wise, Jerome Robbins; 1961)

7. Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)
8. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)

9. Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967)
10. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (George Roy Hill, 1969)

Sunset Blvd.

1950s:

1. Sunset Blvd (Billy Wilder, 1950)

2. A Streetcar Named Desire (Elia Kazan, 1951)

3. All About Eve (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950)
4.  Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954)
5. On the Waterfront (Elia Kazan, 1954)
6. Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa, 1951)
7. Ben-Hur (William Wyler, 1959)
8. Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958)
9. Some Like it Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959)
10. Black Orpheus (Marcel Camus, 1959)

Double Indemnity

1940s

1. Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944)

2. Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942)

3. Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941)

4. It’s a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946)

5. The Red Shoes (Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, 1948)
6. Rebecca (Alfred Hitchcock, 1940)
7. The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor, 1940)
8. The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949)
9. Gentleman’s Agreement (Elia Kazan, 1947)
10. Mildred Pierce (Michael Curtiz, 1945)

*Lists are subject to change due to rescreening and/or new additions.