Has everyone seen everything released so far this year, yet? We’re not making our list until we see “Seven Pounds,” “Revolutionary Road,” “Defiance” and “The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button.” We have screenings to all of them this week (or at least in the case of ‘Button,’ hopefully…). But others are more fortunate and have released their top 10s already. Wait, have all of them seen “Valkryie”? Sure, it’s prolly not top 10 material, but it’s barely screened yet and people might be jumping the gun. You’ve gotta wait til you’ve see it all as far as we’re concerned. We digress. Oscar prognosticators should note the “The Dark Knight” is not at the top of any of these lists nor was it in the top of any recent critical award polls.
Lou Lumenik of the NY Post is one of the first and has released his top 10. His number 1 is “Slumdog Millionaire” and slots 2 and 3 are taken up by, “Wall-E” and “Milk.” [NYPost]
Kyle Smith of the Post also puts, ‘Slumdog’ at number 1 and give the documentary “Man On Wire,” the two slot and “Seven Pounds” the number 3 spot.
Roger Ebert has listed out his Top 20 films of the year (we may need something bigger than 10 too). His has eschewed with the regular ranking order and instead is going in alphabetical order so the best of his picks per our opinion are, “Ballast,” “Che,” “My Winnipeg,” “Slumdog Millionaire,” and “Happy Go Lucky” [Roger Ebert]
The New Yorkers Anthony Lane loves “Wall-E” the best it seems (he also does away with a traditional top 10, but shouts out films we adored like, “The Edge of Heaven,” from the German-Turkish director Fatih Akin, and “Four Months, Three Weeks, and Two Days,” from the Romanian Cristian Mungiu and France’s extremely moving, “I’ve Loved You So Long.” David Denby puts “Defiance” at the top of his list which seems so far anyhow, the first major piece of love anyone has given that Ed Zwick film.
New York Magazine’s David Edelstein puts “Rachel Getting Married” as his numero uno. Note that “The Dark Knight,” a film he was roasted over by geeks appalled with his, “I didn’t totally love it” review is absent from his top 10. Also, inexplicably, “Cadillac Records,” took the number four slot. We kinda love Edelstien, but that film on your top 10?? You’ve got to be kidding. [NYMag]
Time Magazine has released their Top 10 as well. “Wall-E” is number one, “Synecdoche, New York” is number two and we’re glad to see some more love for Guy Maddin’s “My Winnipeg” at number 3, a film we put in our mid-year Best Films So Far… list. [Time]
Jeffrey Wells has also completed his Top 10 Films list. “Che” is his number one, “Man on Wire” is number two and the third slot is taken by “Revolutionary Road.” We love his unswerving take on “Che” and we feel the same way he says, “and fair warning to anyone planning to perversely name [‘Che’ as one the year’s worst — i.e., this is an aesthetically untenable viewpoint, and you will be called out on this].” Love it, we can’t wait to see a roasting of some numb nut who didn’t “get” this film.