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Jonathan F. Richards, Film.com

1. Countdown to Zero 2010 Countdown to Zero may not be the most fun you'll have in the movies this year, but it is absolutely mandatory viewing. full review
2. I Am Love 2010 There's no getting around the fact that this is elegant soap opera,. It won't appeal to every taste. But it's sensational to look at, powerfully acted, and delivers a bang for the emotional buck. full review
3. Creation 2009 Some good acting and fine cinematography are watered down in a tepid yawner that moves with the speed of natural selection, but without its irresistible sense of purpose. full review
4. The Eclipse 2009 McPherson brews a strangely appealing composite, a movie that is mostly character-driven romance but that seasons the proceedings with timely scare-your-pants-off moments of horror. full review
5. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 2009 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a handsome thriller, anchored by an arresting performance in the title role by Noomi Rapace. full review
6. Ondine 2009 Some complexities of story will be lost on audiences not tuned to the regional Irish brogue that is the mother tongue of this little fishing community. But Christopher Doyle's dark lush photography plucks the green coast of Cork like a harp. full review
7. Vincere 2009 Bellocchio has turned the story of Mussolini's discarded wife and son into a movie that has some of the bully swagger and excess of Il Duce himself. full review
8. Elegy 2008 With his fierce, impeccable craft Kingsley shows us around David's tortured, preening, desperate psyche. full review
9. Man on Wire 2008 In this exhilarating, palm-moistening documentary by British filmmaker James Marsh (Wisconsin Death Trip), the twin towers are back to celebrate one of their finest moments. full review
10. Religulous 2008 Maher is essentially and professionally a comic, and the measure of this movie is not just the thoughts it provokes but the laughs it generates. full review
11. The Yes Men Fix the World 2008 Bichlbaum and Bonanno don't just try to make the world a better place. They treat it as if it already were. full review
12. Beaufort 2007 It makes an urgent case for the futility of most wars, which serve immediate political goals that afterward don't seem terribly important. full review
13. Lars and the Real Girl 2007 ...we're surprised to find that it's possible to feel a real emotional attachment to an anatomically correct girl made of quality plastic. full review
14. Trumbo 2007 The transporting power of this experience is in the passionate and almost outlandishly eloquent verbal expression Trumbo poured into his correspondence, and the vividly American principles he defends. full review