Drum roll please ... The top 10

OK here's the top 10. But first, a few awards.

Most underrated movie of the year: "The Hunting Party" I've seen this since I started putting together this list. It might not be top 10 worthy, but it is much better than the middling reviews and paltry box office would indicate. A very strong, darkly comedic look at Bosnia in the aftermath of the ethnic cleansing through the eyes of a trio of television reporters in search of a war criminal. It also holds the distinction for being the only film I've ever seen a trailer for in theaters after it's already been released on DVD. Apparently even someone at the distributor forgot they'd released the thing.

Most unjustly invisible film of the year: "The Savages" This is the film that would have cracked my top 10 list if I had seen it earlier (at No. 5 in fact). It got consistently good reviews, stars a pair of fairly recognizable actors, got a few Oscar nominations and is a very relatable dramedy. Yet it got scant publicity and grossed less than $10 million - worldwide.

Most overrated movie: "Grindhouse" While "Lake of Fire" and the also recently seen "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" come close, neither got the hype and the critical fanboy drool that the Tarentino-Rodriguez monster got. The Tarentino fawning was especially obnoxious given how "Death Proof" was something that even me, who is not a huge Tarentino fan, had never accused him of being: dull.

The Frances McDormand in "Laurel Canyon" award: This year's honor for the best performance in a bad movie goes to Jennifer Jason Leigh, bringing one of the few sparks of genuine humanity to "Margot at the Wedding."

Theme of the year: While many painted this a year of dark films, of destruction (for one of the worst examples, read Mitch Albom's simple-minded "Let's only nominate blatantly uplifting movies for Oscars" article), for me four of this year's best films were about creation, in two cases the creation of life and in two the creative process in general.

And on to the top 10:

10. "Rescue Dawn": This story of a man pretty much willing himself and his fellow POWs to survive through little more than his only crazy brand of hope manages to do something that other recent prison camp movies haven't, craft interesting, three dimensional characters and create genuine suspense. While Christian Bale is great as the perhaps slightly loony pilot Dieter and Jeremy Davies provides able support, perhaps most impressive of all was the wonderful dramatic work done by Steve Zaun. Best known for his comedies, Zaun gives one of the year's better performances as one of Bale's fellow POWs who latches onto the pilot's plans to break free.

tie, 8 and 9. "The Bourne Ultimatum" and "Michael Clayton": It seemed only too perfect to put these two together. Both are wonderfully executed paranoia-driven thrillers led by movie starts delivering one of their best performances. Tony Gilroy had a hand in writing each of them. Both also share the same weakness, a slight feeling of been there done that. In the case of "Bourne," it is from the previous movies in the series, with "Clayton" other movies in the genre. Still, it is the execution that sets both apart. Credit Greengrass and Gilroy along with their casts and crews for pulling off two of the best movie-going experiences of the year.

7. "Zodiac": Much great fiction has been spun out of cops becoming obsessed with a case they are working, allowing it to eat them up from the inside, and Fincher's "Zodiac" deserves to be mentioned alongside such works as "The Wire" and "The Black Dahlia" (the book, not the movie) as one of the best such stories. In this case, it is not only the officers who fall prey to this obsession, but also reporters covering one of the most famous officially unsolved crimes in U.S. history, the Zodiac killings. It eats away at them, heightening the personality flaws they'd managed to keep mostly in the background as they stumble from one dead end to the next.

6. "Knocked Up": Yes, the ending feels a bit easy, but nothing else about the film is. While most would probably see the raunch as the biggest difference between this and more conventional romantic comedies. For me it was the lack of plot devices conspiring to keep the characters apart. The issues they have to work through aren't comedic misunderstandings; they are genuine issues that you'd expect these characters to have to deal with if they were actually going out. They spring from the characters, giving the comedy an honesty. It makes the happiness seem well-earned. Oh, and the film is flat-out hilarious, just like you'd expect from a Judd Apatow-directed feature.

5. "Juno": The start is awkward, but once this film gets rolling it is tough to stop. It's funny, highly quotable but also remarkably human. There's a wonderful scene at a mall, where everything clicks into place for the title character that is among the year's best. The romance is nicely played by Ellen Page and Michael Cera, and the supporting cast is amazing, especially including Jennifer Garner. Between her success here, her husband's directorial effort and the pair of great lead performances given by her brother-in-law, it sure was a great year for the Affleck clan.

4. "No Country for Old Men": This one could move up on second viewing if I can just figure out a couple of questions about what certain parts of the ending means. This might just be the Coen Brothers' best, and considering this is the duo that made "Fargo," "The Man Who wasn't There," "The Big Lebowski" and "O Brother, Where Art Thou," among others, that's saying something. The scene between Bardem and Kelly McDonald is especially chilling.

3. "No End in Sight": While "No End in Sight" is generally lumped in with the anti-war documentaries, the best of the docs I saw from last year says very little about the U.S. going into Iraq. Its focus is less anti-war, more anti-ineptitude. The movie paints a frightening picture of months following the fall of Saddam's government, painting a picture where loyalty and cronyism were valued above expertise, advice was rejected if it disagreed with what was "known" to be true and diplomatic decisions were taken out of the hands of diplomats and made by the defense department instead. This film provokes anger in all the right ways without showboating or grandstanding. Think of it as everything "Fahrenheit 9/11" could have been but wasn't.

2. "Ratatouille": This might be one of the least funny of the films Pixar has produced (although there are still plenty of laughs). Their simple storytelling magic has never shown brighter, however. Few films have better captured the passion and exhilaration in the creative process. While he might not get the level of acclaim as some of the top directors out there (directors of animated movies rarely do), Brad Bird is simply one of the great storytellers working today, and, as strange as it sounds, this story of rat who longs to be a gourmet chef is pure cinematic magic.

1. "Once": Few films this year were simpler in concept. None, however, hit the emotional chords quite as well as this story of a pair of musicians hesitantly stumbling toward love while, to be cliche, making beautiful music together. And oh how wonderful the music is, propelling the film emotionally onward from the first magical duet of the Oscar-winning "Falling Slowly" to the humor and sadness of Glen Hansard's "Broken Hearted Hoover Fixer Guy," from Marketa Irglova's "If You Want Me" to the exhilaration of the recording scenes. The story is simple, tender, sad and hopeful. It is, quite simply, great.

That is the list. What did I get wrong? What should I still watch (I've got "Diving Bell and the Butterfly," "Lars and the Real Girl" and "I'm Not There" at home to watch next)? What would your top picks be?

Up next, delayed reviews of two films I've seen recently, "Iron Man" and "Baby Mama."