By MSN Movies contributors
Special to MSN Movies

Here, for your delight and delectation, is the fifth annual MSN Movies top 10 movies of the year poll. A superficial look at the 10 films may confirm the standard bias many have about film critics as a class: that is, that they're moody, furrow-browed agoraphobics who cannot resist their penchant for the obscure. But wait, we implore you, wait. Don't just take the superficial view. The movies that made our top 10 list are all, save two, in the English language; more important, though, is that they're all works of art connected very directly to not-at-all-obscure aspects of the human condition. Family, loss, betrayal, love, sex, how we talk about sex, how we break, how we heal, how we grieve, how we survive: They're all in there. In some of the films these themes are dealt with obliquely, but beautifully; in other films the themes come at the viewer with a directness that can shock, that can jolt the viewer into thinking -- no, feeling -- the theme in an entirely different way. Was 2011 a good year for movies? Although it began with what seemed like very little promise, we think our list says, yes, it was. And that's because, at least in part, of the variety of the films that ended up on the list. Quite a few genres, or variations of genres, get represented: the thriller, the historical drama, the Western, the family film, and yes, even the, um, well, let's say the pre-talking picture, all get their places on the list. It was determined via the individual top 10 lists of 13 MSN movie writers, all of whose ballots we'll also share with you. And our bloggers' lists are here. MSN Movies users weighed in with their own top 10, as well. In the meantime, 10 of those writers will be defending the place and honor of one of "their" films on the list. -- Glenn Kenny

From left to right: "The Descendants," "Melancholia," "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" & "Hugo" (Fox Searchlight; Magnolia Pictures; Focus Features; Paramount Pictures)