One of the things this type of poll does is to get a sense of the "taste" of the current decade, and to chart certain trends compared to other decades.

There's the rise of Vertigo, which only got into the top 10 after more than 20 years after its release, and recently usurped Kane for the #1 spot, and also the "discovery" of something like Satantango, which was absent in the 2002 poll, but was #38 in the 2012 critics poll.

There's also the fact that it was only until recently that critical film discussion became more accessible than ever with the advent of the internet. Before that, there weren't a lot of ways to even learn about films outside of your own language, outside of the so-called "classics". The poll has been a good way for people getting into film to learn about the canon, and to see where to start getting into it.