[Official Movie Site]

#10: Live Free or Die Hard

Sure not to make many Top Ten lists this year, Live Free or Die Hard is the definition of ‘a popcorn movie’. It is ridiculously over the top and hardly believable for a second, but what made these movies great in the first place is still present today. An updated story for a new audience and the chemistry between Justin Long and Bruce Willis makes this picture worth it. Seeing Willis resurrect the role that made him famous almost twenty years ago with the same bravado made me remember why I love going to movies in the first place – to escape and have a blast doing so.

[tMF Film Review of Into the Wild]

#9: Into the Wild

Sean Penn may not be the actor he once was, but man, this guy can tell a story. And with Emile Hirsch in the lead, how can you go wrong? The gut-wrenching story of Christopher McCandless, a recent college graduate who leaves every earthly possession he has, including his family, to find himself by travelling to Alaska, Into the Wild reminds us that we are only bound by the limits of our own complacency..

[Official Movie Site]

#8: American Gangster

A movie that lives and dies by the performances of its lead actors, American Gangster treats us to yet another brilliant Denzil Washington performance, so much so that he overshadows a very effective Russell Crowe. But he does so without the overacting that plagued his Training Day performance. An Oscar nod should be expected.

[tMF Film Review of Zodiac]

#7: Zodiac

David Fincher directs another masterpiece. A surprisingly quiet picture that tells the story of the obsessiveness of the men who were after the zodiac killer more than the mechanics of the killer himself. Methodical in its execution and fueled by excellent performances from Robert Downey Jr. and Jake Gyllenhaal, Zodiac delivers a movie that a lot of other directors would have allowed to fall into a cliché slasher movie.

[Official Movie Site]

#6: Grindhouse

This is the perfect example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. Grindhouse is a double feature; Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror and Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof, with ‘fake’ trailers in between to fill in the blanks. Death Proof was easily the better of the two features but I applaud this more for the chance it took to be something different than for anything else. A unified effort specifically designed to achieve a desired effect. Mission accomplished.

[tMF Film Review of Before The Devil Knows You're Dead]

#5: Before The Devil Knows You're Dead

This is another movie that thrives on the performances of its characters. Phillip Seymour Hoffman proving again (as if we needed reminding) that he is one of the greatest actors of his generation, if not THE greatest. Sidney Lumet returns to top form in a tense movie that is as much about family friction as it is about the circumstances behind the friction.

[Official Movie Site]

#4: Hot Fuzz

Easily the smartest, funniest comedy of the year (Knocked Up, who?), Hot Fuzz is Edgar Wright teaming up with his Shaun of the Dead team with even better results this time around. A sharp send up of the genre of movies it aspires to be. It’s a buddy action movie, a whodunnit, but it excels most at being what it is at its core: a brilliant spot-on piece of comedy gold.

[tMF Film Review of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street]

#3: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

This is Tim Burton’s masterpiece. In his sixth collaboration with Johnny Depp, these two have found a rhythm between director and actor that is unmatched anywhere else. The heartbreaking story of Benjamin Barker plays out like a Greek tragedy on the big screen. Depp should receive another Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of Todd while Helena Bonham Carter holds her own in a role not dissimilar from those she has become famous for playing. A perfect mix of setting and mood, the music does not disappoint either. This is the movie Burton was born to make.

[tMF Film Review of Gone Baby Gone]

#2: Gone Baby Gone

It’s not often that a movie comes along that sticks with you as long as Gone Baby Gone does. For weeks after I saw it, I still couldn’t decide if I would have done the same things the characters did. So much more than simply right and wrong, this movie reveals the impact of everyone’s interpretation of that decision. Both the Afflecks - Casey as lead actor and Ben as director - give the performance of their respective careers.

[tMF Film Review of No Country for Old Men]

#1: No Country for Old Men

Most of the time, there is some difficulty in choosing my favorite picture of the year. Not this year. No other film did for me what No Country For Old Men did. Josh Brolin finishes off a banner year, Tommy Lee Jones reminds us why he is Tommy Lee Jones, and Javier Bardem gives us the tastiest villain on screen since Hannibal Lector. The Coen Brothers have made the best picture of their careers – this coming from the people who made Fargo. No Country tells a fairly simple story on the surface but as we peel back layer after layer we find a very complicated story of each man's interpretation of his own justice and their search for what they think is right. There isn’t a single wasted minute in any scene of this efficient and effective film.

“A modern masterpiece” and “an instant classic” aren’t terms to be used lightly when describing any movie.

Lucky for us, this movie is easily both.