1.The Sun
(2005, Alexander Sokurov,  NR)
Alexander Sokurov’s "The Sun” looks at the emperor Hirohito in the murk of Japan’s surrender.

2.Red Cliff
(2008, John Woo,  R)
With "Red Cliff,” the director John Woo goes back to his violent roots.

3.2012 (Columbia Pictures)
(2009, Roland Emmerich,  PG-13)
I know what I have against Roland Emmerich, but what does he have against us?

4.Fantastic Mr. Fox
(2009, Wes Anderson,  PG)
"Fantastic Mr. Fox” is in some ways Wes Anderson’s most fully realized and satisfying film.

5.Uncertainty
(2008, Scott McGehee, David Siegel,  NR)
"Uncertainty” is a taut, skillful exercise in cinematic clockwork.

6.Precious
(2008, Lee Daniels,  R)
"Precious” is a hybrid, a mash-up that might have been ungainly, but that manages to be graceful instead.

7.The Messenger
(2008, Oren Moverman,  R)
Oren Moverman’s sober and satisfying drama shows how the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have created a fissure in American society.

8.The Twilight Saga: New Moon
(2009, Chris Weitz,  PG-13)

9.Pirate Radio
(2009, Richard Curtis,  R)
Boys will be boys and at often top volume in "Pirate Radio,” Richard Curtis’s fanciful fiction about rebel broadcasters.

10.A Serious Man
(2009, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen,  R)
"A Serious Man” is, like its biblical source, a distilled, hyperbolic account of the human condition.

11.The Men Who Stare at Goats
(2009, Grant Heslov,  R)
"The Men Who Stare at Goats” is a likable, lightweight, absurdist comedy.

12.Moloch
(1999, Alexander Sokurov,  NR)

13.A Christmas Carol (Walt Disney)
(2009, Robert Zemeckis,  PG)
"Disney’s A Christmas Carol,” written and directed by Robert Zemeckis, is a branded piece of shiny seasonal entertainment.

14.An Education
(2008, Lone Scherfig,  PG-13)
If in hindsight "An Education” might make you a little queasy, it is hard to resist.

15.Michael Jackson’s This Is It
(2009, Kenny Ortega,  PG)
Death returned Michael Jackson’s humanity, and in a curious, tentative way so too does "Michael Jackson’s This Is It.”

16.Women in Trouble
(2009, Sebastian Gutierrez,  R)
To judge by the swelling bosoms spilling out of the frame, the lingerie bill for "Women in Trouble” must have been estimable.

17.Dare
(2009, Adam Salky,  NR)
"Dare” stakes out familiar territory and, true to its name, strikes out in some risky new directions.

18.Broken Embraces
(2009, Pedro Almodovar,  R)

19.Bright Star
(2008, Jane Campion,  PG)
John Keats was a Romantic poet. "Bright Star,” which tells the tale of Keats and Fanny Brawne, the love of his short life, is a romantic movie.

20.La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet
(2009, Frederick Wiseman,  NR)
"La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet” is one of the finest dance films ever made, but there’s more to it than that.

21.Up
(2009, Pete Docter, Bob Peterson,  PG)
In its opening stretch the new Pixar movie "Up” flies high, borne aloft by a sense of creative flight and a flawlessly realized love story.

22.A Woman in Berlin
(2008, Max Farberbock,  NR)
"A Woman in Berlin,” is a sprawling, difficult, powerful film.

23.The Box
(2009, Richard Kelly,  PG-13)
"The Box” is sincere and sinister and inevitably ambitious.

24.Oh My God?
(2009, Peter Rodger,  NR)
"Oh My God?” is a picturesque but shallow inquiry into the meaning of God.

25.Four Seasons Lodge
(2008, Andrew Jacobs,  NR)
In the documentary "Four Seasons Lodge,” a group of Holocaust survivors spend their 26th summer at a Catskills bungalow colony.
 
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