8 - Pan’s Labrynith

A beautiful, slow-burning fairy tale, Guillermo del Toro’s film was a manifesto about the power of the escapism. Contrasting the horrors of fascist Spain with the dark beauty and magical monsters of the titular maze, it took its time to really hit, but when it did, it left us well and truly beguiled, just as every great fairy tale should.

9 - Munich

Steven Spielberg’s intelligent and hard-hitting re-telling of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre refused to take sides in the Isreali-Palestiniean conflict meaning it, like many of the director’s more political films, came across as slightly naïve. But, in making the film another father-son story, the Great Bearded One crafted a movie about individuals and the effect of violence on those individuals, which said far more than a simple polemic could. Look at Eric Bana’s face as he returns from his mission and sees his child for the first time. In one image, that is the film epitomised.

10 - Good Night, And Good Luck

George Clooney’s great attack on George Bush proved not to be about politics after all, but television. The son of an ex-newsman, Clooney truly broke free from his ER roots with a claustrophobic, smokily shot and composed film which, quite rightly, took aim not at the puppet, but those masked media men who control the puppet. In short, it was the most important attack on the media since Peter Finch got a bit narked in Network.

11 - Capote

Philip Seymour Hoffman quite rightly won the Oscar for his uncanny turn as Truman Capote in this intelligent biopic, but quite frankly we already knew of the brilliance of the only thing that made Mission Impossible 3 bearable. The hidden quality of Capote lies in the fact that despite the all-consuming performance at its centre, the film still stood as an intelligent look at the dubious morality which created Capote’s most important book, but also led to his painful downfall. Brilliant for more than just the Hoff.

12 - The Departed

Ever since Martin Scorsese first picked up a movie camera, he’s always been pegged as a gangster. That’s probably the reason why this stylish remake of Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs was hailed as a return to form after The Aviator. Fact is, Scorsese’s biopic of Howard Hughes was right up there with his best - and so is this. More subtle, better paced and more stylishly shot than its father-film, The Departed even had Jack Nicholson doing an impression of a rat. What more do you need?

13 - Monster House

In a year stuffed to the gills with postmodern animal films, this delightfully retro animation had the guts to be different. Blending the sweetness of Spielberg, zaniness of Zemeckis and daring of Dante (the former two of which acted as the film‘s executive producers), Monster House was a throwback to the 80s when kids films had a darker, more adult edge and found all kinds of weird and wonderful things in the warped world of suburbia.

14 - Cars

Widely regarded as Pixar’s weakest effort to date, Cars was, in fact, a charming slice of old school Americana. It may not have had the cuteness of Finding Nemo, inventiveness of The Incredibles or charm of Toy Story, but a pleasingly sweet message and some stunning animation ensured that Cars maintains Pixar’s place at the top of the animation podium.

15 - The Wind That Shakes The Barley

Despised by the right-wing media and discarded as a weaker Ken Loach effort by many a critic, The Wind That Shakes The Barley was still more than deserving of its Palm D’Or at this year’s Cannes. Cillian Murphy continued his quiet ascent up the ranks of great British actors and Loach just about managed to find the right balance between political polemic and genuinely humane drama.

16 - Paradise Now

The same can be said of this Palestinian film. Just as Loach focused on the rise of terrorism in Ireland, Paradise Now used the current conflict in the Middle East as the basis for some stark revelations into just what makes a man feel the need to kill. Superbly acted and delicately shot, it offered a new look at a much-debated subject.

17 - Slither

Snakes on a Plane attracted all the internet hype, but this year’s real treat for lovers of trashy B-movies was this killer alien slug flick from former Troma employee James Gunn. Mixing ridiculous laughs with enough gore to make Tom Savini blush, it ranks alongside Braindead, Tremors and Evil Dead 2 in the small but significant horror/comedy subgenre.

18 - Hard Candy

Men look away now. Arguably the most difficult film of the year for a man to watch, Hard Candy followed the exploits of 14-year-old Hayley as she tortures and torments thirty-something possible paedophile photographer Jeff. But despite it’s potentially Daily Mail baiting plot and extended scenes of castration, David Slade’s film was actually an acute thriller which cut straight to the bone…

19 - Hostel

…Much like Eli Roth’s much-maligned follow-up to Cabin Fever. While Hostel was certainly no masterpiece, it remains an intelligent though clumsy attempt to add real brains to the horror genre and channel the subtextual brilliance of the likes of Wes Craven. See it as a dark punishment for Porky’s and it’s so much better.

20 - Superman Returns

Too long, unsure of whether it wanted to shoot for camp matinee-style fun or serious soap opera and featuring a leading lady far too young to cut the mustard as a Pulitzer Prize winner; Superman Returns was certainly not without its flaws. But, if it didn’t have the best opening titles of the year, I’ll be the son of Jor-El. All together now: Ba, ba, ba, ba, ba. Ba. Ba. Ba. Ba, ba, ba, ba, ba. BA. BA. BAAAAAAAA!