At TIME we try to cover the most significant movie releases every week, but even with two critics working fulltime, we don’t always get to everything. Before 2012 draws to a close, here is a list of 10 compelling films, features and documentaries that we missed when they opened—from the tale of a backpacking couple derailed by a single misstep to the true story of a coalition that declared war on AIDS in the 1980s. Consider this a cheat sheet for the video store or your Netflix queue.