Todd McCarthy‘s (Hollywood Reporter) choice:

The Descendants (Alexander Payne)
A Dangerous Method (David Cronenberg)
The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick)
City of Life and Death (Lu Chuan)
A Separation (Asghar Farhadi)
Hugo (Martin Scorsese)
Le Quattro Volte (Michelangelo Frammartino)
Tuesday, After Christmas (Radu Muntean)
Poetry (Lee Chang-dong)
Shame (Steve McQueen)
Pina (Wim Wenders)
Young Adult (Jason Reitman)
Margin Call (J.C. Chandor)
Moneyball (Bennett Miller)
My Joy (Sergei Loznitsa)
Warrior (Gavin O’Connor)
Another Earth (Mike Cahill)
Rango (Gore Verbinski)
Bellflower (Evan Glodell)
The Guard (John Michael McDonagh)
The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius)
Bridesmaids (Paul Feig)
Jane Eyre (Cary Joji Fukunaga)
Like Crazy (Drake Doremus)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (David Yates)
Martha Marcy May Marlene (Sean Durkin)
Win Win (Tom McCarthy)
J. Edgar (Clint Eastwood)
Midnight in Paris (Woody Allen)
Margaret (Kenneth Lonergan)