1. The Departed
 Scorsese re-claims his title as the screen’s “King of Crime” with this devious, meticulously plotted thriller about two moles, a cop disguised as a gangster and a gangster disguised as a cop, who stalk each other through of jungle of organised crime and political corruption. Nicholson and DiCaprio are stupendous but the amazing supporting cast work in a seamless ensemble to build a savagely witty and graceful film.
2. Inside Man
 Spike Lee scored a new career best with this complex, sardonic thriller about the heist that never was. With a plot as twisty as Rubik’s cube he managed to sustain focus and tension on the heist itself but also built up a complex drama that reached back over 50 years. All his cutting observations of racial inequality in American society were in place, but their implication was deepened and strengthened by a cast that knew exactly what Lee was doing and helped him do it brilliantly. Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Christopher Plummer, Jodie Foster, Chiwetel Ejiofor and all the others made this film sparkle.
3. Little Children
 Director Todd Field does not make many films but his work always has a sense of completeness and power, as if this story could not possibly be told any other way. In a classy, conservative American suburb a sad, frustrated young mother, a confused, naïve stay-at-home dad and a paedophile newly released from prison, become the inadvertent partners in a dance of suburban spite and guilt. Kate Winslet scores a career-best with this performance and the film is immaculately made.
 4. Little Miss Sunshine
This is the independent movie that everyone wishes they had made. It’s an agonisingly funny comedy about our cultural obsession with winning and how it corrodes our sense of self and our commitment to others. The miracle is that with all this frustration, disappointment, death and self-loathing, the film contrives to be sweet, funny and genuinely inspiring.
5. A Prairie Home Companion
 Robert Altman’s final film is all about death: the death of a culture, the loss of youth, the loneliness and impotence of old age, and a social culture that doesn’t give a stuff about any of those things. He mixes the Angel of Death with a fading American dream; superbly raunchy country music with the fragile remnants of love; and an affirmation of art and beauty in a world of greedy commerce and disposable pleasure. Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Kevin Kline and Garrison Keillor never miss a beat in an elegy of pure joy.
6. Flags of Our Fathers
 Clint Eastwood's devastating look at one of the crucial, most brutal battles of World War II is highly accomplished but his deconstruction of the famous photograph showing the heroic image of marines raising the flag at Iwo Jima, is nothing short of brilliant. The film has all the excitement of a military epic but it has a degree of insight and wisdom that we seldom see in such films. He also made a companion piece “Letters from Iwo Jima”, made in the Japanese language that shows the same battle seen through Japanese eyes. Together the two films express one of the most artful and moving anti-war statements ever made.
7. United 93
 Everyone was dreading the inevitable films that would be made about the 9/11 bombings but this terse, beautifully imagined and designed documentary re-construction did everything right. There was no judgement and no political rhetoric, just a stark depiction of a terrible tragedy in which the victims and their killers all died in the same way at the same moment. Much was lost, nothing was gained and the film’s passionate sense of the pointlessness of such destruction set it apart from all other 9/11 films, especially Oliver Stone’s handsome, effective but stilted piece of flag-waving.
8. Children of Men
 Under-appreciated, misunderstood and pretty much neglected by most audiences this dystopian tragedy about a world where the human race has become infertile and is dying out, was a dazzling feat of story-telling and production. The superlative designs, the excellent acting and the cunning mix of race against time though a battle zone, with a story of a miraculous resurrection was daring and faultlessly done.
9. The Devil Wears Prada
 One is tempted to think this film is all about Meryl Streep’s savagely funny portrayal of a haughty fashion diva, but when you remember the whiny, self promoting book on which it was based and see the witty, perfectly attuned film that they made you understand what making a silk purse out of sow’s ear really means. Everything is exactly right, the buzz of New York, the sparkling romance of Paris, the razor-sharp comedy and the performances of Stanley Tucci, Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt. It is the year’s top comedy.
 10. Tsotsi
With its well-deserved Oscar held aloft this is the South African film for which we have all been waiting. Shot entirely on location in Soweto and Johannesburg, with a strong South African cast, superlative African musicians and gripping, well-told story, this film is a benchmark for the South African industry.
11. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
 It’s offensive on more levels than you can count on both hands but Sacha Baron Cohen has created a unique comedy event. It dominated the comedy scene at the movies this year and the extent of the debate it provoked shows how deep a nerve the film has hit. Cohen is a superb comic talent and his ability to enrage almost everybody took the world’s movie goers way out of their comfort zone.
12. The Holiday
 Within a crisp, traditional farce structure Nancy Meyers builds an unusually clear and resonant examination of various cotemporary relationship anxieties. Two smart, successful women, both with good jobs and financial independence still find themselves stymied and shattered by the men in their lives. They do a home-swap and buy seeing the world from a different angle they do some rapid, racy growing up. Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet are perfect in these witty, intelligently written roles.
 13. Charlotte’s Web
In a year of excellent youth entertainment and sensational animated movies, “Charlotte’s Web” still stands out as the most charming and accomplished fantasy film. Based on the E B White classic and starring Dakota Fanning this tale of a girl and her pig is superbly executed, delicately inspirational and technically superb.
 14. Thank You for Smoking
This abrasive comedy about the laws and structures of capitalist corruption was bracing and bold, flying in the face of institutionalised political correctness and the bullying style of the “nanny state”. The humour in black, the insight crisp and the performances are model of satiric accuracy.
 15. Merry Christmas
This sombre, resonant World War I drama about hostile troops stealing a few hours of forbidden truce and human companionship on the bleak field of war is beautifully made. It harks back to the classic dramas of the 1940s but a lively pace and delicate emotions make it an impressive study.
 16. Friends with Money
Nicole Holofcener’s delicate open-ended study of four women in contemporary Los Angeles is funny, compassionate and unexpectedly probing. She’s probably one of the best directors of women around right now, and in her detailed miniaturist style, she manes to assembled details that suddenly click into a very big and true picture.
 17. The Squid and the Whale
This unexpectedly fine study of adolescent angst at a time of a family divorce is filled with exceptional performances and razor sharp insight. Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney find ever resonance possible in the script and the carefully observed New York mood of the film not only rings true, it is sustained throughout.
18. The Secret Life of Words
 The film has a precisely styled artifice in its construction. A man who cannot see and a woman who cannot hear, meet on an oil rig, a platform set between sea and sky, on which they encounter their own and each other’s deepest fears. For all that obvious metaphorical construction, the acting of Tim Robbins and Sarah Polley is true and resonant. It’s a small gem of film-making.
19. Hustle and Flow
 Hip-Hop is not a genre to which one usually looks for cinematic excellence but this study of a low-life grifter and pimp who channels his frustration and rage into his music was an exceptional study of the roots of this music that has now been all but consumed by hype and meretricious “bling”. Terrence Howard gives a stunning performance but the whole cast, especially D J Qualls and Anthony Edwards, are superb.
20. Running With Scissors
 This is one of the most eccentric and over-baked films of the year, about a confused teen who is slung from one crazy family to another like a burst tennis ball. Poised uneasily between black comedy and stark tragedy, it still seemed weirdly compelling. To watch Annette Bening and Jill Clayburgh, two of Hollywood’s great actresses give startling performances put the film in a league of its own.
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