Years marked with an asterisk have been ranked according to the year of U.S. release; without, by IMDb dates. Oddball titles, like shorts, director's cuts, straight-to-DVD titles and delayed releases are included in addition to the Top 10 and honorable mentions. Even more so than it will eventually be on a regular basis, this page should be considered a work in progress.
1997:
1. Princess Mononoke (Hayao Miyazaki)
2. Jackie Brown (Quentin Tarantino)
3. Henry Fool (Hal Hartley)
4. Starship Troopers (Paul Verhoeven)
5. Happy Together (Wong kar-wai)
6. Titanic (James Cameron)
7. Breakdown (Jonathon Mostow)
8. Boogie Nights (Paul Thomas Anderson)
9. Alien: Resurrection (Jean-Pierre Jeunet)
10. Contact (Robert Zemeckis)
Honorable Mentions: Face/Off (John Woo), The Fifth Element (Luc Besson), Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (Jay Roach), Good Will Hunting (Gus Van Sant), Chasing Amy (Kevin Smith), Waiting for Guffman (Christopher Guest)
1998:
1. The Thin Red Line (Terrence Malick)
2. Babe: Pig in the City (George Miller)
3. Bulworth (Warren Beatty)
4. Dark City (Alex Proyas)
5. A Bug's Life (John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton)
6. The Big Lebowski (Joel Coen)
7. Rushmore (Wes Anderson)
8. Pi (Darren Aranofski)
9. Pleasentville (Gary Ross)
10. Run Lola Run (Tom Tykwer)
Honorable Mentions: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Terry Gilliam), Saving Private Ryan (Steven Spielberg)
1999:
1. Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick)
2. The Blair Witch Project (Daniel Myrick and Edward Sanchez)
3. Magnolia (Paul Thomas Anderson)
4. The Straight Story (David Lynch)
5. Fight Club (David Fincher)
6. Being John Malkovich (Spike Jonze)
7. The Iron Giant (Brad Bird)
8. eXistenZ (David Cronenberg)
9. The Insider (Michael Mann)
10. The Matrix (Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski)
Honorable Mentions: The Virgin Suicides (Sofia Coppola), South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (Trey Parker), 10 Things I Hate About You (Gil Junger), Office Space (Mike Judge), The Ninth Gate (Roman Polanski), The Limey (Steven Soderbergh), American Beauty (Sam Mendes), The Sixth Sense (M. Night Shyamalan), Toy Story 2 (John Lasseter, Lee Unkrich, Ash Brannon)
2000:
1. In the Mood for Love (Wong kar-wai)
2. Mission to Mars (Brian De Palma)
3. American Psycho (Mary Harron)
4. Cast Away (Robert Zemeckis)
5. The Yards (James Gray)
6. High Fidelity (Stephen Frears)
#. Rejected (Don Hertzfeldt) {short}
7. Unbreakable (M. Night Shyamalan)
8. Requiem for a Dream (Darren Aronofsky)
9. The Emperor's New Groove (Mark Dindal)
10. Battle Royale (Kinji Fukasaku)
Honorable Mentions: Gladiator (Ridley Scott), Chicken Run (Nick Park, Peter Lord), Charlie's Angels (McG), The Cell (Tarsem Singh)
2001:*
1. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Steven Spielberg)
2. Mulholland Dr. (David Lynch)
3. Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly)
4. The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson)
5. Waking Life (Richard Linklater)
6. Monster's, Inc. (Peter Docter, David Silverman)
7. Ghost World (Terry Zwigoff)
8. Ali (Michael Mann)
9. Gosford Park (Robert Altman)
10. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Peter Jackson)
Honorable Mentions: Memento (Christopher Nolan), Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (Kevin Smith), In the Bedroom (Todd Field)
2002:*
1. 25th Hour (Spike Lee)
2. Gangs of New York (Martin Scorsese)
3. Spider (David Cronenberg)
4. Femme Fetale (Brian De Palma)
#. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring [Extended Edition] (Peter Jackson) {originally released in 2001; extended edition debuted on DVD in 2002}
5. Adaptation. (Spike Jonze)
6. Lilo & Stitch (Chris Sanders, Dean Deblois)
7. Narc (Joe Carnahan)
8. Punch-Drunk Love (Paul Thomas Anderson)
9. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Peter Jackson)
10. Catch Me If You Can (Steve Spielberg)
Honorable Mentions: Blade II (Guillermo Del Toro), Minority Report (Steve Spielberg)
2003:*
1. Lost in Translation (Sophia Coppola)
2. Big Fish (Tim Burton)
3. Bad Santa (Terry Zwigoff)
4. The Company (Robert Altman)
5. The Fog of War (Errol Morris)
#. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers [Extended Edition] (Peter Jackson) {originally released in 2002; extended edition debuted on DVD in 2003}
6. In America (Jim Sheridan)
7. Millennium Actress (Satoshi Kon)
8. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Peter Jackson)
9. The Triplets of Belleville (Sylvain Chomet)
10. Elephant (Gus Van Sant)
Honorable Mentions: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Alfonso Cuaron), Kill Bill, Volume 1 (Quentin Tarantino), School of Rock (Richard Linklater), Good Bye, Lenin! (Wolfgang Becker), Balseros (Carlos Bosch and Jose Maria Domenech), Hulk (Ang Lee), Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (Peter Weir), To Be and To Have (Nicolas Philibert), Whale Rider (Niki Caro), 21 Grams (Alejandro González Iñárritu)
2004:*
1. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (Wes Anderson)
2. Before Sunset (Richard Linklater)
3. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (Mike Hodges)
4. Code 46 (Michael Winterbottom)
5. Kill Bill: Volume 2 (Quentin Tarantino)
6. Dogville (Lars von Trier)
7. House of Flying Daggers (Zhang Yimou)
8. Million Dollar Baby (Clint Eastwood)
9. The Manchurian Candidate (Jonathan Demme)
10. The Incredibles (Brad Bird)
Honorable Mentions: Touching the Void (Kevin Macdonald), Crimson Gold (Jafar Panahi), Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring (Kim Ki-duk), Spider-Man 2 (Sam Raimi), Twentynine Palms (Bruno Dumont), Baadasssss! (Mario Van Peebles), Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (Adam McKay), Sideways (Alexander Payne), The Aviator (Martin Scorsese), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry)
2005:*
1. The New World (Terrence Malick)
2. The White Diamond (Werner Herzog)
3. Munich (Steven Spielberg)
4. A History of Violence (David Cronenberg)
5. Downfall (Oliver Hirschbiegel)
6. Wolf Creek (Greg McLean)
7. Mysterious Skin (Gregg Araki)
8. War of the Worlds (Steven Spielberg)
9. Junebug (Phil Morrison)
10. Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee)
Honorable Mentions: Forty Shades of Blue (Ira Sachs), Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (George Lucas), Last Days (Gus Van Sant), Red Eye (Wes Craven), The Squid and the Whale (Noah Baumbach), Grizzly Man (Werner Herzog), Sin City (Robert Rodriquez and Frank Miller), The Devil's Rejects (Rob Zombie), Oldboy (Park Chan-wook), Saraband (Ingmar Bergman)
2006:*
1. Miami Vice (Michael Mann) [NOTE: This is explicitly *not* an endorsement of the "director's" cut, which I can almost only think of as an abomination. Moving on...]
2. A Prairie Home Companion (Robert Altman)
3. L'Enfant (Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne)
#. Army of Shadows (Jean-Pierre Melville) {originally released in 1969; never released stateside until 2006}
4. Casino Royale (Martin Campbell)
5. Inland Empire (David Lynch)
6. Neil Young: Heart of Gold (Jonathan Demme)
7. The Fountain (Darren Aronofsky)
8. Happy Feet (George Miller)
9. The Wild Blue Yonder (Werner Herzog)
10. Marie Antoinette (Sofia Coppola)
Honorable Mentions: Mongolian Ping Pong (Hao Ning), Letters from Iwo Jima (Clint Eastwood), Apocalypto (Mel Gibson), Three Times (Hsiao-hsien Hou), Infamous (Douglas McGrath), The Proposition (John Hillcoat), 4 (Ilya Khrjanovsky), Glue (Alexis Dos Santos) [NOTE: Never released theatrically stateside], When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (Spike Lee), Old Joy (Kelly Reichardt), A Scanner Darkly (Richard Linklater)
2007:*
#. Killer of Sheep (Charles Burnett) {originally released in 1977; never officially released until 2007}
1. Zodiac (David Fincher)
#. Blade Runner: The Final Cut (Ridley Scott) {1982 original, 2007 re-cut}
2. No Country for Old Men (Joel Coen, Ethan Coen)
3. There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson)
4. Into Great Silence (Philip Groning)
5. Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters (Matt Maiellaro, Dave Willis)
6. Death Proof ["Grindhouse" and Extended Cuts] (Quentin Tarantino)
7. Eastern Promises (David Cronenberg)
8. Youth Without Youth (Francis Ford Coppola)
9. We Own the Night (James Gray)
10. Hotel Chevalier/The Darjeeling Limited (Wes Anderson)
Honorable Mentions: Rescue Dawn (Werner Herzog), Revolver [U.S. Cut] (Guy Ritchie), Paprika (Satoshi Kon), Rolling Like a Stone (Stefan Berg, Magnus Gertten), Ratatouille (Brad Bird), Helvetica (Gary Hustwit), Southland Tales (Richard Kelly), The Taste of Tea (Katsuhito Ishii), Broken English (Zoe R. Cassavetes), The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Andrew Dominick)
2008:*
(tie) 1. Speed Racer (Larry Wachowski, Andy Wachowski)
(tie) 1. Wendy and Lucy (Kelly Reichardt)
3. Reprise (Joachim Trier)
#. Generation Kill {Miniseries}
4. WALL-E (Andrew Stanton)
5. Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (Kurt Kuenne)
6. Rachel Getting Married (Jonathan Demme)
7. The Duchess of Langeais (Jacques Rivette)
8. Paranoid Park (Gus Van Sant)
9. My Blueberry Nights (Wong Kar-wai)
10. Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Guillermo Del Toro)
Honorable Mentions: The Edge of Heaven (Fatih Akin), Boarding Gate (Olivier Assayas), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (David Fincher), In Bruges (Martin McDonagh), Married Life (Ira Sachs), Dark City [Director's Cut] (Alex Proyas) {originally released in 1998; Director's Cut debuted on DVD in 2008}, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Steven Spielberg), W. (Oliver Stone), Shotgun Stories (Jeff Nichols), My Father My Lord (David Volach), The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan)
2009:*
1. Two Lovers (James Gray)
2. Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
3. Tetro (Francis Ford Coppola)
4. 35 Shots of Rum (Claire Denis)
5. A Serious Man (Joel Coen, Ethan Coen)
6. Fantastic Mr. Fox (Wes Anderson)
7. Public Enemies (Michael Mann)
8. The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow)
9. The Cove (Louie Psihoyos)
10. Adventureland (Greg Mottola)
Honorable Mentions: Liverpool (Lisando Alonso), Julia (Erick Zonca), Coraline (Henry Selick), The Sun (Aleksandr Sokurov), Moon (Duncan Jones), Treeless Mountain (So Yong Kim), Surrogates (Jonathan Mostow), That Evening Sun (Scott Teems), A Town Called Panic (Stephane Aubier, Vincent Patar), Armored (Nimrod Antal)
2010:*
1. The Social Network (David Fincher)
2. True Grit (Joel Coen, Ethan Coen)
3. The Illusionist (Sylvian Chomet)
4. Shutter Island (Martin Scorsese)
#. Halloween II [Director's Cut] (Rob Zombie) {originally released in 2009; Director's Cut debuted on DVD in 2010}
5. The Ghost Writer (Roman Polanski)
6. The Other Guys (Adam McKay)
7. Prodigal Sons (Kimberly Reed)
8. Tron: Legacy (Joseph Kosinski)
9. Somewhere (Sofia Coppola)
10. How to Train Your Dragon (Chris Sanders, Dean Deblois)
Honorable Mentions: Day & Night (Teddy Newton) {Short}, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I (David Yates), The Eclipse (Conor McPherson), Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky), Winter's Bone (Debra Granik), Let Me In (Matt Reeves), Greenberg (Noah Baumbach), Step Up 3 (Jon M. Chu), The Fighter (David O. Russell), Salt (Philip Noyce), The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (Tom Six)
2011:*
1. Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami)
2. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
3. In the Family (Patrick Wang)
4. Beginners (Mike Mills)
5. The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick)
6. Midnight in Paris (Woody Allen)
7. Nostalgia for the Light (Patricio Guzmán)
8. Take Shelter (Jeff Nichols)
9. Shame (Steven McQueen)
10. Attack the Block (Joe Cornish)
Honorable Mentions: Source Code (Duncan Jones), Margaret (Kenneth Longergan), Silent Souls (Aleksei Fedorchenko), Le Havre (Aki Kaurismäki), Outrage (Takeshi Kitano), Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Michael Bay), Warrior (Gavin O'Connor), Sucker Punch [Extended Cut] (Zack Snyder), Hugo (Martin Scorsese), Cave of Forgotten Dreams (Werner Herzog)
