Contagion coughs up several scares and makes the fantastical feel unbearably believable.

Mike Leigh’s dark, twisted and very, very funny 1993 effort Naked is as raw and as emotionally nude as anything the acclaimed filmmaker has ever made.

Terrence Malick’s fifth motion picture The Tree of Life is a breathless cinematic miracle that’s unlike anything else I’ll see in all of 2011.

All the President’s Men is the greatest journalism thriller ever made.

Another Year is an experience unlike almost any other. The world it showcases might be in London, might be filled with British customs and mannerisms, but what it is talking about in regards to friendship, family and life is stunningly universal.

The Naked Kiss is dynamite.

Army of Shadows is a masterpiece.

Somewhere is a hypnotic series of brief vignettes of a father trying to decide who he is and what the next step to being a better human being is, all of this seen through the eyes of a youngster wise beyond her years.

As for the action, Red Cliff shows once again that when he’s working at the top of his game there is no better maestro of this sort of thing than John Woo.