| Title |
Year |
Rating |
Rank |
Review |
| Hurt Locker, The | 2008 | 96 | 1 | - What Platoon was to Vietnam, Hurt Locker is to Iraq. Beautifully done. Keeps you fully engrossed and never falls into the temptation of giving you a political perspective on the war. |
| Memento | 2000 | 93 | 2 | - Watch this without knowing anyone or anything behind it and you'll say, "where has this movie been all my life?" Then discover Christopher Nolan's name and say "Ah, that explains it all." |
| Room | 2015 | 89 | 3 | - Both heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time for the duration. |
| Blair Witch Project, The | 1999 | 87 | 4 | - Absolutely terrifying. |
| Fruitvale Station | 2013 | 86 | 5 | - Most moviegoers will get hung up on the criminality of the BART officers' action, but the real message here is you just never know when it's your time. |
| Shaun of the Dead | 2004 | 85 | 6 | - It's not just a great zombie-laden comedy. This is one of the smartest, funniest satires to come out since the turn of the century. |
| Winters Bone | 2010 | 85 | 6 | - The no-fills film is as rustic as the Ozark backwoods it takes place in. Even with simplicity, the film has the ability to draw you in as if it were the most complex of thrillers. |
| Beasts of the Southern Wild | 2012 | 84 | 8 | - If you're into artsy movies, you'll absolutely love it. Otherwise, it's just "good". |
| City Of God (Cidade de Deus) | 2002 | 84 | 8 | - An epic crime saga about how the most dangerous thing to have in one of the darkest places on Earth is a conscience. |
| Ex Machina | 2015 | 84 | 8 | - It's fascinating how such a seemingly simple story can evoke such complex themes. |
| Manchester by the Sea | 2016 | 84 | 8 | - In the darkness that is 'Manchester by the Sea', there is a certain beauty. Emotionally-scarred characters learning to cope with tragedy once again. And bonds that otherwise may not have ever been made. |
| Senna | 2011 | 84 | 8 | - I don't think following the story and career of one person has ever dissected an entire industry so perfectly. |
| Blue Ruin | 2014 | 82 | 13 | - It's a gripping little tale of revenge. |
| Boyhood | 2014 | 82 | 13 | - Richard Linklater deserves all the credit in the world for his industry-changing work here. |
| Moonlight | 2016 | 81 | 15 | - A thoughtful and methodical drama. |
| Secret in Their Eyes | 2015 | 81 | 15 | - Your convential crime thriller. |
| A Separation | 2011 | 80 | 17 | - I don't wish people would see this movie because it's THAT good, I wish people would see this movie because it does such a wonderful job of dismissing so many ignorant stereotypes. |
| Crash | 2004 | 80 | 17 | - A tough, raw story about the gaps in social statuses, racism, and the fears we admit to no one. |
| Imposter, The | 2012 | 80 | 17 | - A dark story that serves as an exhibition on human tendencies. |
| Pieces Of April | 2003 | 80 | 17 | - While it won't win any awards for subtlety, 'Pieces of April' is undeniably charming. The kind of thing to get you in that warm, gushy mood for the holiday. |
| Pride | 2014 | 80 | 17 | - 'Pride', with its punk-like angst, is probably more stick-it-to-the-man than is historically accurate, but who cares? Sometimes a revolution needs a little edge to its rememberance. |
| The Imitation Game | 2014 | 80 | 17 | - The tension of the moment is cut only by the film's inisistence on being both a biopic and a World War II era period piece. In truth, had it stuck to one, it probably would've gone a lot further. |
| Wrestler, The | 2008 | 80 | 17 | - This classic down-on-his-luck protagonist drama is a dissection of what happens when the American dream doesn't exactly pan out with |
| Moon | 2009 | 78 | 24 | - It's basically 'The Island' -- the film Michael Bay did four years prior -- but exponentially better. |
| 71 | 2014 | 77 | 25 | - It should serve as a reminder to everyone that religious and cultural strife is just as integral a part of the western world as it is the east. |
| Philomena | 2013 | 76 | 26 | - 'Philomena' is good, but ultimately what holds it back from being great is its own indecision as to what it is. Is it a history-hunting thriller? Is it an artsy tale of the unlikely kinship between two people worlds apart? Or is it period piece with a scathing message for how Irish nunneries conduct themselves? Trying to be all three, as Stephen Frears' latest film does, can only have so much success. |
| Calvary | 2014 | 72 | 27 | - Every day that goes by is another day Brendan Gleeson could've done something about his impending fate, but instead decides to wander off and learn just what a town of assessment he lives in. |
| Amy | 2015 | 71 | 28 | - A sad starlet story that feels all too familiar. |
| All About My Mother | 1999 | 69 | 29 | - Truly peculiar, in both good and bad ways. |
| Eastern Promises | 2007 | 69 | 29 | - If you want to delve into the saturated genre of organized crime noirs, you better bring something special. 'Eastern Promises' does not. |
| The Lobster | 2015 | 68 | 31 | - The problem is, far too often, as 'The Lobster' hits its stride, it goes even whackier and seems to lose the context of its allegorical intentions. |
| Rushmore | 1998 | 67 | 32 | - Typical Wes Anderson. |
| In Bruges | 2008 | 65 | 33 | - You buy into the film's more comical moments, not the serious ones. Unfortunately, the ending relies on the latter. |
| Kings Speech, The | 2010 | 63 | 34 | - Sorely overrated. If you can't sell the audience on caring about the protagonist's struggles, what chances does your film have? |
| 28 Days Later | 2002 | 59 | 35 | - It's ironic that Danny Boyle and Alex Garland's infected humans are adrenaline-packed, raging monsters, because they are cast amidst a rather slow-moving world, and in a movie that never really takes off. |
| Slumdog Millionaire | 2008 | 55 | 36 | - Boyle's high-adrenaline, psychedellic vision for the film gets in the way of what would have otherwise been a fairly impressive script. |
| Let the Right One In | 2008 | 47 | 37 | - If you want to put this film in the horror genre, I say let's put an asterisk buy it. This isn't a scary movie. This is a bizarre, slow-moving drama about a vampire and a boy both very much living in the shadows. |
| Ida | 2013 | 42 | 38 | - The slow-moving Polish film seems inhumanely long even with it's impressively short run time. |
