Every year I eagerly anticipate the release of the critics' top ten picks of the previous year. Better still, Metacritic.com publishes these lists together, and I go a step further; I compile all those lists into an UBER-list, and rank the movies by the number of lists each one appears on. (Metacritic itself does something similar, but stops after the first 20 or so...)
Granted, each year there's a lot of bloated, overhyped movies of mediocrity to sift through (I'm looking at you, "The Aviator"!), but in these same lists you can find little-sung gems like "Sunshine Cleaning" and "A Home at the End of the World". This year, I vehemently disagree with the #1 spot -- "Tree of Life" has many good parts that deserve to be in a much better movie. Preferably one WITHOUT random sequences featuring morose dinosaurs. (WTF? Exactly.)
Anyhoo, I always try and see as many as possible, especially as they become available to rent. Which lovely surprises lay in store? We shall see! Below is the list, for your viewing pleasure:
| Rank | Movie Title | Votes |
| 1 | The Tree of Life | 75 |
| 2 | A Separation | 44 |
| 3 | Drive | 44 |
| 4 | The Artist | 43 |
| 5 | The Descendants | 43 |
| 6 | Hugo | 40 |
| 7 | Melancholia | 38 |
| 8 | Take Shelter | 38 |
| 9 | Moneyball | 35 |
| 10 | Certified Copy | 32 |
| 11 | Martha Marcy May Marlene | 29 |
| 12 | Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy | 29 |
| 13 | Shame | 27 |
| 14 | Beginners | 26 |
| 15 | Margaret | 26 |
| 16 | Meek's Cutoff | 26 |
| 17 | The Skin I Live In | 23 |
| 18 | Bridesmaids | 21 |
| 19 | We Need to Talk About Kevin | 20 |
| 20 | Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives | 19 |
| 21 | Midnight in Paris | 17 |
| 22 | Poetry | 17 |
| 23 | Rise of the Planet of the Apes | 16 |
| 24 | Weekend | 16 |
| 25 | A Dangerous Method | 15 |
| 26 | Mysteries of Lisbon | 15 |
| 27 | The Interrupters | 15 |
| 28 | Margin Call | 14 |
| 29 | Young Adult | 14 |
| 30 | War Horse | 13 |
| 31 | Attack the Block | 12 |
| 32 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 | 12 |
| 33 | Nostalgia for the Light | 12 |
| 34 | Bellflower | 11 |
| 35 | Le Havre | 11 |
| 36 | Le Quattro Volte | 11 |
| 37 | Of Gods and Men | 11 |
| 38 | The Arbor | 11 |
| 39 | The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo | 11 |
| 40 | 50/50 | 10 |
| 41 | Cave of Forgotten Dreams | 10 |
| 42 | Rango | 10 |
| 43 | The Trip | 10 |
| 44 | Win Win | 10 |
| 45 | Contagion | 9 |
| 46 | Super 8 | 9 |
| 47 | The Future | 9 |
| 48 | Tuesday, After Christmas | 8 |
| 49 | Warrior | 8 |
| 50 | A Brighter Summer Day | 7 |
| 51 | Incendies | 7 |
| 52 | Like Crazy | 7 |
| 53 | Senna | 7 |
| 54 | The Help | 7 |
| 55 | 13 Assassins | 6 |
| 56 | Project Nim | 6 |
| 57 | Submarine | 6 |
| 58 | The Adventures of Tintin | 6 |
| 59 | The Muppets | 6 |
| 60 | Another Earth | 5 |
| 61 | City of Life and Death | 5 |
| 62 | Film Socialisme | 5 |
| 63 | Pina | 5 |
| 64 | Bill Cunningham New York | 4 |
| 65 | Buck | 4 |
| 66 | Cold Weather | 4 |
| 67 | Coriolanus | 4 |
| 68 | Hanna | 4 |
| 69 | Into the Abyss | 4 |
| 70 | J. Edgar | 4 |
| 71 | Jane Eyre | 4 |
| 72 | Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol | 4 |
| 73 | Putty Hill | 4 |
| 74 | Tabloid | 4 |
| 75 | The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu | 4 |
| 76 | The Mill and the Cross | 4 |
| 77 | Another Year | 3 |
| 78 | Aurora | 3 |
| 79 | Carnage | 3 |
| 80 | Crazy, Stupid, Love | 3 |
| 81 | El Sicario, Room 164 | 3 |
| 82 | Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close | 3 |
| 83 | In the Family | 3 |
| 84 | Kill List | 3 |
| 85 | My Joy | 3 |
| 86 | Terri | 3 |
| 87 | The Clock | 3 |
| 88 | The Guard | 3 |
| 89 | The Illusionist | 3 |
| 90 | The Last Circus | 3 |
| 91 | To Die Like a Man | 3 |
| 92 | Tomboy | 3 |
| 93 | We Were Here | 3 |
| 94 | Wuthering Heights | 3 |
| 95 | A Better Life | 2 |
| 96 | Alps | 2 |
| 97 | Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey | 2 |
| 98 | Black Swan | 2 |
| 99 | Blue Valentine | 2 |
| 100 | Captain America: The First Avenger | 2 |
| 101 | Cedar Rapids | 2 |
| 102 | Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame | 2 |
| 103 | Extraordinary Stories | 2 |
| 104 | General Orders No. 9 | 2 |
| 105 | Hell and Back Again | 2 |
| 106 | Higher Ground | 2 |
| 107 | How to Die in Oregon | 2 |
| 108 | I Saw the Devil | 2 |
| 109 | Leap Year | 2 |
| 110 | Love Exposure | 2 |
| 111 | My Week With Marilyn | 2 |
| 112 | Petition | 2 |
| 113 | Rampart | 2 |
| 114 | Seeking the Monkey King | 2 |
| 115 | Source Code | 2 |
| 116 | Sucker Punch | 2 |
| 117 | The Adjustment Bureau | 2 |
| 118 | The Kid With A Bike | 2 |
| 119 | The King's Speech | 2 |
| 120 | The Time That Remains | 2 |
| 121 | True Grit | 2 |
| 122 | Tyrannosaur | 2 |
| 123 | Winnie the Pooh | 2 |
| 124 | X-Men: First Class | 2 |
| 125 | 3 | 1 |
| 126 | 50 | 1 |
| 127 | A Screaming Man | 1 |
| 128 | A Useful Life | 1 |
| 129 | Abracadabra | 1 |
| 130 | Agrarian Utopia | 1 |
| 131 | Amigo | 1 |
| 132 | And Everything Is Going Fine | 1 |
| 133 | Animal Kingdom | 1 |
| 134 | Anonymous | 1 |
| 135 | Archipelago | 1 |
| 136 | Assassins | 1 |
| 137 | Beautiful Boy | 1 |
| 138 | Biutiful | 1 |
| 139 | Café de Flore | 1 |
| 140 | Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer | 1 |
| 141 | Crime After Crime | 1 |
| 142 | Damsels in Distress | 1 |
| 143 | Dogtooth | 1 |
| 144 | Elena | 1 |
| 145 | Elite Squad: The Enemy Within | 1 |
| 146 | Fast Five | 1 |
| 147 | Final Destination 5 | 1 |
| 148 | Foreign Parts | 1 |
| 149 | Four Lions | 1 |
| 150 | Fright Night | 1 |
| 151 | Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life | 1 |
| 152 | Goodbye, First Love | 1 |
| 153 | Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench | 1 |
| 154 | Historias extraordinarias | 1 |
| 155 | Hobo With A Shotgun | 1 |
| 156 | Kaboom | 1 |
| 157 | Kinyarwanda | 1 |
| 158 | Knuckle | 1 |
| 159 | La Pivellina | 1 |
| 160 | Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen | 1 |
| 161 | Limitless | 1 |
| 162 | Love Crime | 1 |
| 163 | Mildred Pierce | 1 |
| 164 | Miss Bala | 1 |
| 165 | My Perestroika | 1 |
| 166 | No Strings Attached | 1 |
| 167 | On the Bowery | 1 |
| 168 | One Day | 1 |
| 169 | Oslo August 31st | 1 |
| 170 | Pariah | 1 |
| 171 | Pink Ribbons, Inc. | 1 |
| 172 | Polytechnique | 1 |
| 173 | Position Among the Stars | 1 |
| 174 | Psychohydrography | 1 |
| 175 | Redland | 1 |
| 176 | Rejoice and Shout | 1 |
| 177 | Road to Nowhere | 1 |
| 178 | Roadie | 1 |
| 179 | Secret Sunshine | 1 |
| 180 | Silver Bullets | 1 |
| 181 | Take This Waltz | 1 |
| 182 | Target | 1 |
| 183 | The Deep Blue Sea | 1 |
| 184 | The Double Hour | 1 |
| 185 | The Elephant in the Living Room | 1 |
| 186 | The Green Hornet | 1 |
| 187 | The Ides of March | 1 |
| 188 | The Inheritors | 1 |
| 189 | The Iron Lady | 1 |
| 190 | The Last Lions | 1 |
| 191 | The Mouth of the Wolf | 1 |
| 192 | The Myth of the American Sleepover | 1 |
| 193 | The Princess of Montpensier | 1 |
| 194 | The Return | 1 |
| 195 | The Strange Case of Angelica | 1 |
| 196 | The Three Musketeers | 1 |
| 197 | The Whistleblower | 1 |
| 198 | The Wise Kids | 1 |
| 199 | This Is Not a Film | 1 |
| 200 | Trollhunter | 1 |
| 201 | Tucker & Dale vs. Evil | 1 |
| 202 | United Red Army | 1 |
| 203 | Vengeance | 1 |
| 204 | Viva Riva! | 1 |
| 205 | Voluptuous Sleep | 1 |
| 206 | We Bought a Zoo | 1 |
| 207 | Wiebo's War | 1 |
| 208 | Wrinkles | 1 |
| 209 | You All Are Captains | 1 |
Which ones of these have you seen? Do you have any recommendations? I'm all ears! :-)