Here’s an ongoing (and frequently updated) list of my top few favourite movies for each year. I’m just getting started, but more there will be more to come soon! Let me know what you think, and feel free to post your own lists below in the comments.

2012

  1. Safety Not Guaranteed
  2. Jeff, Who Lives At Home
  3. Moonrise Kingdom
  4. 21 Jump Street
  5. Magic Mike
  6. The Dark Knight Rises
  7. Haywire
  8. The Hunger Games
  9. Chronicle
  10. The Avengers

2011

  1. Super 8
  2. Midnight in Paris
  3. Bridesmaids
  4. The Descendants
  5. We Bought a Zoo
  6. Meek’s Cutoff
  7. Pearl Jam Twenty
  8. The Ides of March
  9. Young Adult
  10. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

2010

  1. The Social Network
  2. Fish Tank
  3. Winter’s Bone
  4. The Town
  5. Blue Valentine
  6. Animal Kingdom
  7. The Kids Are All Right
  8. Inception
  9. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
  10. 127 Hours

2009

  1. Up in the Air
  2. Inglourious Basterds
  3. A Single Man
  4. It Might Get Loud
  5. (500) Days of Summer
  6. Adventureland
  7. Bright Star
  8. The White Ribbon
  9. Humpday
  10. Where the Wild Things Are

Need to See: Precious

2008

  1. Milk
  2. Snow Angels
  3. The Dark Knight
  4. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
  5. Pineapple Express
  6. In Bruges
  7. Baghead
  8. Slumdog Millionaire
  9. Wall-E
  10. Rachel Getting Married

Need to See: The Wrester, Reprise

2007

  1. Juno
  2. Into the Wild
  3. There Will Be Blood
  4. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
  5. Zodiac
  6. No Country for Old Men
  7. Control
  8. Gone Baby Gone
  9. Rocket Science
  10. Across the Universe

Need to See: Knocked Up, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead

2006

  1. The Departed
  2. Half Nelson
  3. Little Miss Sunshine
  4. Thank You For Smoking
  5. Casino Royale
  6. Brick
  7. Factory Girl
  8. Children of Men
  9. The Science of Sleep
  10. Blood Diamond

Need to See: Babel, V for Vendetta, Pan’s Labyrinth, The Fountain

2005

  1. The Squid and the Whale
  2. Capote
  3. Brokeback Mountain
  4. Pride & Prejudice
  5. Crash
  6. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
  7. War of the Worlds
  8. Junebug
  9. Batman Begins
  10. Walk the Line

Need to See: Sin City, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, A History of Violence

2004

  1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
  2. Sideways
  3. Mean Creek
  4. The Village
  5. The United States of Leland
  6. Mean Girls
  7. Garden State
  8. The Aviator
  9. Friday Night Lights
  10. Rory O’Shea Was Here

Need to See: Million Dollar Baby, Closer

2003

  1. Lost in Translation
  2. Finding Nemo
  3. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
  4. Shattered Glass
  5. Cold Mountain
  6. In America
  7. All the Real Girls
  8. Big Fish
  9. Good Bye Lenin!
  10. School of Rock

Need to See:Kill Bill vol. 1, Elephant

2002

  1. Signs
  2. Adaptation.
  3. 25th Hour
  4. Minority Report
  5. About a Boy
  6. 24 Hour Party People
  7. Catch Me If You Can
  8. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
  9. The Hours
  10. The Bourne Identity

Need to See: Gangs of New York, 28 Days Later, The Pianist, City of God, Punch-Drunk Love

2001

  1. Memento
  2. The Royal Tenenbaums
  3. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
  4. Bridget Jones’s Diary
  5. A.I. Artificial Intelligence
  6. Donnie Darko
  7. A Beautiful Mind
  8. Monsters, Inc.
  9. Amelie
  10. Vanilla Sky

Need to See: Mulholland Drive, Ghost World

2000

  1. Almost Famous
  2. Requiem for a Dream
  3. You Can Count on Me
  4. Wonder Boys
  5. George Washington
  6. Billy Elliot
  7. High Fidelity
  8. X-Men
  9. Castaway
  10. The Patriot

Need to See: Traffic, Gladiator, Erin Brokovich, Snatch

1990′s

  1. Pulp Fiction
  2. American Beauty
  3. Goodfellas
  4. The Talented Mr. Ripley
  5. Dazed and Confused
  6. Reservoir Dogs
  7. Magnolia
  8. Fight Club
  9. Before Sunrise
  10. Girl, Interrupted