Years pass and tastes change, at least a little. In choosing their top films of the past decade, Associated Press movie critics David Germain and Christy Lemire stuck closely to their favorites from each year.

But here and there, a film that came in a bit lower on their list at the time has crept up in their esteem to make their cut for best of the decade.

Here are their picks, along with the ranking each film had on their annual top-10 lists from years past.

The top 10 films of the decade, according to AP Movie Writer David Germain:

1. "Pan's Labyrinth" (No. 1 for 2006) _ Writer-director Guillermo del Toro presents a wondrous hybrid of stark historical drama and wildly inventive fantasy in this saga of a girl (Ivana Baquero) whose encounter with an ancient forest spirit offers escape from her bleak life in 1944 Fascist Spain. The chilling images are as fanciful as anything Terry Gilliam's ever dreamed up, and the film offers a marvelously ambiguous finale that could be the downer of the year _ or pure bliss.

2. "You Can Count On Me" (No. 1 for 2000) _ The perfect script meets the perfect cast. Writer-director Kenneth Lonergan captures the essence of sibling unity and disharmony in a taut comic drama propelled by tremendous performances from Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo. This small-budget Sundance prize winner is wistful, hopeful, celebratory and hauntingly sad all at once. On screen, family matters don't get more exquisite than this.

3. "The Barbarian Invasions" (No. 1 for 2003) _ Sentiment and cynicism in perfect blend. Writer-director Denys Arcand crafts a sly sketch of intellectuals who've grown emotionally jaundiced by trying times yet still throw a whale of a party, in this case, for a dying pal (Remy Girard). His reconciliation with an estranged son (Stephane Rousseau) and final farewell to loved ones is heartbreaking, while Marie-Josee Croze brings a sublime damaged-goods grace as a junkie who scores heroin to ease the dying man's pain.

4. "Once" (No. 2 for 2007) _ This may be as real as new love gets on screen: Awkward, inspiring, nervous, hopeful, passionate, impossible, frustrating, and in the end, left in limbo for another day. The micro-budgeted tale from writer-director John Carney stars two non-actors, musicians Glen Hansard as an Irish busker and Marketa Irglova as an Eastern European immigrant. They meet, fall head over heels and, literally, make beautiful, Academy Award-winning music together.