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Coming in at number nine is Stage Beauty, a film that is so defined by its lead's performance that there isn't much else memorable about it. But really all it needs is Billy Crudup, who gives one of the best performances of the decade. Crudup plays Ned Kynaston, a Shakespearean actor famous for playing the ingénues in the days when women were legally barred from the stage. But when the law is repealed, Crudup finds himself ousted by his former dresser, played by Claire Danes. Crudup is so mesmerizing, and his fall from grace so brutal, that you can't look at anything else on the screen.

All but two of the films originally in this category are eliminated by the new rules, and I've only seen one of them. Primer absolutely deserves to be on this list. A fascinating and incredibly complex story about two men who invite a time machine, Primer is one of the most confusing but captivating films I've ever seen, and it makes Donnie Darko look like garbage (not that that's saying much). Made on a budget of $9,000, Primer deserves the sort of success that Paranormal Activity had, and is a film that I want to watch over and over again until I someday understand any of it.

Number seven is the only foreign language film on this list, Goodbye Lenin! It stars Daniel Bruhl, who might be Europe's Johnny Depp because he always takes interesting, challenging parts and his eyes are dreamy (you might remember him and his dreamy eyes as the Nazi war hero in Inglourious Basterds). Goodbye, Lenin! is a comedy about a young man living in East Germany whose mother goes into a coma just before the collapse of the Berlin Wall. When she wakes up he has to pretend that they are still under Soviet rule because he is afraid that the shock will kill her. The film is utterly charming and sweet, and is a delight to watch.

Due to its NC-17 rating, The Dreamers had its fate sealed as an overlooked film, but it earned its spot at number six on this list. Bernardo Bertolucci's love letter to cinema is beautiful, erotic, and the perfect film for any film snob. Featuring wonderful performances by Michael Pitt, Eva Green and Louis Garrel, it tells the story of a young American who goes to Paris and falls into bed with two rebellious film-loving students. At times shocking, it is understandable why it got its rating (and why George Michael Bluth likes the way the French think), but it is a powerful film that deserved a larger audience.

Mean Creek was the surprise of the year for me and kicks off the top five. I am generally wary of films with casts comprised of mostly children, but this movie was more Lord of the Flies than Unaccompanied Minors. A teenager decides to help his younger brother get revenge on the class bully by taking him out into the woods and embarrassing him, but things go horribly wrong in this brutally intense drama. A micro-budget film, it features excellent performances by Rory Culkin, Carly Schroeder, Scott Mechlowicz and Josh Peck long before most people had heard of any of them.

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