1. No Country for Old Men – The Coen Brothers incorporated a million peculiar but nevertheless relevant details in their story of cops, criminals, bystanders and satchel of $2 million. It's no wonder you come out of the theater dizzy and exhilarated yet a little thrown off by how unconventionally it concludes. I was up many nights afterwards thinking and pondering over every detail. That's really movies at their best – making you think about them endlessly for days, turning into weeks. And then arguing and debating the story's mysterious elements with others.

The Texas border landscape is turned into a bleak killing ground for its fatalistic characters. Josh Brolin stumbles onto a nest of dead bodies and $2 million, makes one crucial nice-guy mistake, and spends the rest of his time evading his pursuers. Tommy Lee Jones is the pessimistic sheriff who is seen more random acts of murder in his time than he can withstand. Javier Bardem , on the hunt for the money, is the marauding psychopath who encounters every situation as a bloodlust opportunity. Invigorating it is to see how so many brilliant and head-spinning scenes can inhabit one single movie.

2. No End in Sight – One of the top documentaries ever made. If you have only the patience to see just one documentary on the Iraq debacle, make it this one. It's hard to believe this, but Charles Ferguson's doc is more aggressive and fiercely dramatic than most scripted movies. What's mainly probed is the ineptitude of U.S. military planning, showing how errors and delays in judgment allowed time for the Iraq insurrection to blow out of proportion. You will understand with clarity of why we're going to be stuck there for a very long time.

3. In the Valley of Elah – The only thing that stinks about the movie is that damn unappealing title. This could be Tommy Lee Jones' best ever lead performance, as a patriotic father who investigates his son's disappearance from a New Mexico military base. What kind of dishonorable mess did the son get involved with during his tour in Iraq that upon his return to the States he'd pull a vanishing act? Paul Haggis' fine writing and directing reminds you how once in awhile a drama has the power to totally absorb you and wring you out emotionally. That's unsuspecting power.

4. Sunshine – Danny Boyle's sci-fi action picture in outer space is a totally fun, totally extravagant treat for the eyes. It's a fantasy concept that in the year 2057, the sun is dying and mankind faces extinction. Two years in a spacecraft and its crew loses focus on what they are supposed to achieve. Boyle's film is carried by nail-biting suspense because there are never less than three dilemmas going on at a time. I'm a tad disappointed with the shot selection in the final moments, but after repeat viewings I've learned to love the film regardless.

5. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford – A big canvas intelligent epic like the kind that were made regularly back in the 70's. Brad Pitt plays the unapologetic Old West outlaw who unwisely befriends hanger-on Casey Affleck who is a wannabe gunslinger. The old west dialogue is exceptionally distinctive (if only Oscar would take note). But the masterstroke of the film is the third act which examines the aftermath of the legend. Admittedly, the film could have used some more gratuitous gun-blazing – but the construction and composition of that concluding segment, I can't say this enough, is miraculous filmmaking.

6. Rendition – A bomb goes off in South Africa that kills an American diplomat. Director Gavin Hood's powerful and headstrong drama about how errors in national security can lead to unmerited torture of legal immigrants. If Anwar (Omar Metwally ) is indeed innocent, the time interrogating him is a waste and distraction from looking for the real terrorists. Invaluable supporting work from Reese Witherspoon as Anwar's American-born wife, Jake Gyllenhaal as a rookie CIA analyst, Meryl Streep as an unsympathetic member in the Senate. One thing was wrong in my original review: I predicted that it would become a box office hit. Perhaps it will engage all who discover it when it hits DVD and cable.

7. Waitress – It's not hard to despise chick flicks for their simpleton psychology, for their one shade characterizations. This one however could be the best chick flick of the decade. Keri Russell's talent really shines as a woman stuck in a grueling marriage to a man that tabs her every movement but finds sanctuary with the local family doctor who takes a fancy to her and her pies. The men in this picture are good, bad, and a complicated mix between the two. Screwball comedy is one of the picture's ingredients, but on further thought, the film works enduringly because it's an honest character study of people at their best and at their worst. Russell, it goes without saying, is lovable.

8. The Bourne Ultimatum – What I love about the last two installments of the Bourne franchise – the ones directed by Paul Greengrass – is that Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) is in full self-apocalyptic tunnel-vision mode. Basically, he's ready to run over or shoot anybody that gets in the way of his vindication. Greengrass knows how to bring fury and urgency to every moment, which is warranted because Bourne knows he has to thrust forward constantly in hyperspeed to stay alive. The foot chase atop the domiciles of Morocco is so exciting it deserves a dozen repeat viewings.

9. Four Months, Three Weeks & Two Days – The best foreign film of the year is from Romania, and it's also the best kind of representation of avante-garde filmmaking. I'm totally aware that this film will be seen by like ten people. I'm hoping that my review will at least inspire the eleventh person to go see it. A young university student prepares for an illegal abortion in a time during Romania communism in the late 1980's. If caught, she could face prison time. The compromises, the decisions, the sacrifices – oh my god, it is ugly demeaning stuff. Not for just the pregnant girl but for her roommate and chaperon through this ordeal. I know this small film is under the radar, but I wouldn't even mention it unless I wasn't thoroughly impressed by its random in-the-moment verité art.

10. Juno – At first you think its going to be a comedy about tacky kid furniture and outdated hard rock posters in teenage bedrooms. Ellen Page plays the title character, a plucky and free-speaking high school junior who becomes pregnant. Instead of aborting the fetus, she finds an eager and affluent couple out of the Penny Saver that will raise her child. Page, who was seen previously in the daring independent Hard Candy , carries the film on her shoulders with boastful zest. There were other films this year just as funny, but nothing plot-wise is contrived in this very fresh and original creation.

Honorable Mentions: Away From Her with Julie Christie in the best performance by an actress this year as an Alzheimer's patient who forgets her husband; Brian De Palma's Redacted was a true feat of courageous filmmaking containing a story reflecting current wartime atrocities; Reign Over Me featured a daring dramatic performance by Adam Sandler as a mentally disturbed man and the superb Don Cheadle as his reluctant fraternity pal; The Namesake was sumptuous and sweeping storytelling of an Indian Bengali family's assimilation in America; Blades of Glory with the unstoppable Will Ferrell is the best stupid movie in years.

The Robert Altman Maverick Award: There Will Be Blood – It pains me that I can't hand over four stars to Paul Thomas Anderson's latest. Three-quarters of the film looks like a masterpiece. But the last twenty minutes doesn't add up to as much as it should, although I did like the moment where Daniel Day-Lewis (the best lead actor performance of the year) as an old man is discharging his firearm at objects in his own house. If I had $10 million out of my own pocket to spare, I'd give it up to Anderson so he could reshoot the last act. Still, you can't help but admire the genius that went into many of the film's sequences, especially the scene where the drilling tower catches fire. The whole thing is sort of a flawed masterpiece so to speak. It's a work that will last even if it has a few dings in it.

Ten More Good Titles Worth Mentioning (alphabetically listed): American Gangster , Black Snake Moan , Bug , The Diving Bell and the Butterfly , The Great Debaters , Once , Rescue Dawn , Reservation Road , Spider-Man 3 , Zodiac .

Best Musical Interlude: “When Your Mind's Made Up” in Once .

Best Crack-Up Funny Scene: McLovin ' first attempt to purchase alcohol with his fake ID in Superbad .

Best Villain in an Action Movie: Asian babe Maggie Q in Live Free or Die Hard . She's so good that she upstages the main villain. When she's gone, the film loses its potency.

Best Villain / Best Performance of the Year Period: Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men . Everything about his off-kilter smile insinuates evil.

Best Trashy B-Movie: Shoot ' Em Up

Best Redeeming Element in an Otherwise Awful Movie: Thandie Newton is positively sunny in the otherwise stupefying Norbit .

Most Promising Premise for a Movie that Fouled Up Big-Time: I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry