"It's one thing to champion great films with quixotic fervor year after year, but another to learn that your readers are right there with you, waist-deep in chaff, seeking out the best cinema has to offer. This is moviegoing in an alternate universe"

Indeed. 10 American films winners, plus 8 American films runners-up. Way to go "best cinema" and "alternate universe"! What kind of movies are watching the AV club readers? I guess Scott Tobias gotta try a little harder to escape the Hollywood cultural hegemony...
I have only 1 American film in my top 20 and it's a 2006 film : INLAND EMPIRE.
[rolling eyes]

Was it meant to be an "American-only" film poll? I can't find the rules for the nominees requirements anywhere. It's not possible not a single foreign film slipped in...

Harry, I'd guess that the results reflect two things: the nature of the AV Club readership and the current state of distribution of foreign films in the US. The Club's film reviews appear in alternative weeklies all across the States. Theatrical runs for foreign films tend to be pretty spotty - a week or two in one city before moving on to the next. See, for example, the current runs of 4 Months... and The Band's Visit, one critically lauded, the other with probably a bit more popular appeal. Even so, it's one coast for a while, then the other, then, at best, sporadic appearances in theaters in cities like Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas and so on.

There's no sense of any sort of collective moment for them, even within the small group of movie-lovers Scott Tobias is expressing his appreciation for here, as there is on, say, the opening weekend for No Country for Old Men.

What about broader-niche films like The Host; The Diving Bell and the Butterfly; La Vie en Rose; Private Fears in Public Places; Paprika; Time; Persepolis, Lust, Caution; Ten Canoes... there were some foreign films in the Village Voice and IndieWIRE 2007 polls.
It's quite defeatist of Scott Tobias to congratulate himself without even noting the English-exclusive results... What kind of "state of world cinema" is he promoting there? What kind of achievement is there? Just being "anti-Oscars" is good enough for him?

Yes, but let's keep in mind: the Voice and iW polls are critics polls. Again, the results reflect on the Club's readers; the Club's critics came up with different lists:

http://daily.greencine.com/archives/005122.html

As for the jubilation, I can't speak for Scott T, of course.

Ok that explains a lot. Only Offside is not English in their top10.
Although I admit I've seen only 5 films from the 18 polled by the readers (half didn't make it to France yet). But their #1 doesn't make my top20.

Unrelated (or maybe not), here is the freshly released poll of the audience of a popular Film critic radio broadcast:
Le Masque et la Plume
(though they are asked to vote for 10 French and 10 Foreign films separately, which probably helps to balance it all out)

FOREIGN FILMS BALLOT:

1) The Life of the Others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck)
2) The Edge of Heaven (Fatih Akin)
3) 4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days (Cristian Mungiu)
4) Climates (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
5) We Own The night (James Gray)
6) Eastern Promises (David Cronenberg)
7) Inland Empire (David Lynch)
8) Control (Anton Corbijn)
9) Letters from Iwo Jima (Clint Eastwood)
10) Still life (Jia Zhang-ke)