Plus a Few Extras:
5. Breaking Bad, Season 1: Bleak, funny and utterly riveting, this show about a dying chemistry teacher's foray into the crystal-meth business features a brilliant, Emmy-winning performance by Bryan Cranston in the role of a lifetime. (Sony Pictures)
6. Downhill Racer: Written by novelist James Salter, this taut, intelligent drama about an arrogant loner of skier (Robert Redford) is one of the best movies ever made about the competitive nature of sports. (The Criterion Collection)
7. The General: The greatest of all silent film comedies features a love story, a stolen locomotive, the Civil War and the incomparable Buster Keaton (who also wrote and directed) as the man in love with both his girl (Marion Mack) and his train. (Kino)
8. Harvard Beats Yale, 29-29: The best gridiron movie I've ever seen, Kevin Rafferty's enormously pleasurable documentary takes you inside the astonishing plays — and the fascinating cultural politics — of perhaps the most famous game in the history of college football. (Kino)
9. Let the Right One In: If you're a fan of Twilight or True Blood, you won't want to miss this utterly original Swedish gem about a 12-year-old boy and his girl friend who has, well, fangs. Tomas Alfredson's superb film manages to inject new blood into what seems like an anemic old story; it's the best vampire movie in the last 75 years. (Magnolia Home Entertainment)
10. My Brilliant Career: One of the greatest and most moving stories of a woman's independence, this 1979 film wasn't just the first big hit of the Australian New Wave. It was the first picture directed by a woman that most audiences had ever seen and boasted a galvanizing performance by the young Judy Davis, whose acting set the template for today's Golden Age of Australian Actresses. (Blue Underground)