TOP MOVIES

Annually, I offer my top five movies for each year. This is usually done closer to Oscar time instead of at the end of the calendar year, as there are often a few important movies that I haven't seen yet or that aren't in wide release until the new year. My top five lists have to be made up of movies I've seen. The caveat to this is that once I've seen a movie, I can possibly go back and update a previous list.

2012

1. Lincoln*

2. Zero Dark Thirty*

3. Argo*

4. The Dark Knight Rises

5. Silver Linings Playbook*
6. Skyfall

7. Looper

8. The Impossible

9. Life of Pi*
10. The Avengers

2011
1. The Ides of March
2. The Descendants*
3. War Horse*
4. Moneyball*
5. Rise of the Planet of the Apes

2010

1. The Social Network*

2. Toy Story 3*

3. Inception*

4. The Fighter*

5. Black Swan*

2009

1. District 9*

2. Up*

3. The Hangover

4. Up in the Air*

5. Moon

2008

1. The Dark Knight

2. Gran Torino
3. WALL•E

3. The Wrestler

4. Iron Man

2007

1. There Will Be Blood*

2. Ratatouille

3. Superbad

4. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

5. No Country for Old Men**

2006

1. The Departed**

2. Children of Men

3. Casino Royale

4. The Prestige

5. Inside Man

2005

1. Munich*

2. Batman Begins

3. The 40-Year-Old Virgin

4. Crash**

5. A History of Violence

2004

1. Closer

2. The Incredibles

3. Million Dollar Baby**

4. Spider-Man 2

5. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

2003

1. Finding Nemo

2. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King**

3. X2

4. Elf

5. Seabiscuit*

2002

1. Gangs of New York*

2. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers*

3. Spider-Man

4. The Bourne Identity

5. Minority Report

2001

1. Monsters, Inc.

2. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring*

3. Black Hawk Down

4. A Beautiful Mind**

5. Donnie Darko

*Denotes a film that was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture
**Denotes a film that won the Academy Award for Best Picture