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Critics weigh in on the year in films

A few prominent critics have weighed in their picks for the year's best movies.

Ebert elected not to rank them this year, so here they are placed in alphabetical order:
  • Ballast
  • The Band’s Visit
  • Che
  • Chop Shop
  • The Dark Knight
  • Doubt
  • The Fall
  • Frost/Nixon
  • Frozen River
  • Happy-Go-Lucky
  • Iron Man
  • Milk
  • Rachel Getting Married
  • The Reader
  • Revolutionary Road
  • Shotgun Stories
  • Slumdog Millionaire
  • Synecdoche, New York
  • W
  • WALL-E

His former reviewing partner, Richard Roeper published his top 25 list, as well as an assortment of other categories (full article here). What I like is that Forgetting Sarah Marshall made it to his number 9 choice, so he gains lots of respect for that move. The rest of the list is as follows:

  1. Slumdog Millionaire
  2. The Dark Knight
  3. The Wrestler
  4. In Bruges
  5. I've Loved You So Long
  6. Gran Torino
  7. Milk
  8. The Visitor
  9. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
  10. Frozen River
  11. Doubt
  12. Snow Angels
  13. Frost/Nixon
  14. The Reader
  15. Seven Pounds
  16. Iron Man
  17. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
  18. W.
  19. Henry Poole Is Here
  20. Burn After Reading
  21. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
  22. WALL-E
  23. The Bank Job
  24. Tropic Thunder
  25. Che

Finally, Richard Corliss of Time Magazine has his top ten of the year, and somehow, Speed Racer made it to 9... questionable... :
  1. WALL-E
  2. Synecdoche, New York
  3. My Winnipeg
  4. 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days
  5. Milk
  6. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
  7. Slumdog Millionaire
  8. Iron Man
  9. Speed Racer
  10. Encounters At The End of the World

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It's interesting to note that the movies that made it to all three lists include Slumdog Millionaire, Wall-E and Milk... maybe an early Oscar indicator. It's too bad that animated movies aren't considered in the best picture category because Wall-E would be a shoe in. However, I think it's pretty much guaranteed a win in the animated category.

Comments

Unknown said…
"It's too bad that animated movies aren't considered in the best picture category because Wall-E would be a shoe in. However, I think it's pretty much guaranteed a win in the animated category."

Actually, animated films are allowed to compete in the Best Picture category at The Oscars (although they traditionally haven't) and Pixar *is* pushing for a Best Pic nom. All signs so far point to WALL-E getting the nomination even if it doesn't win, otherwise it will be the biggest snub in Oscar history, and The Academy knows it.
The Lam said…
I stand corrected. I do hope they get a nod at the very least.

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