Roger Ebert has gone against the negative chatter saying 2008 is a dismal year for film and declared it “a great year for movies” as he has unveiled his top 20 films of 2008. Why 20 instead of the traditional ten? Well, as he puts it, “I am violating the age-old custom that film critics announce the year’s 10 best films, but after years of such lists, I’ve had it. A best films list should be a celebration of wonderful films, not a chopping process.” I guess he felt rather strong about that in the past as he had 10 films “tie for 11th place” in 2007 as he listed the following ten last year as 2007’s best:
- Juno
- No Country for Old Men
- Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
- Atonement
- The Kite Runner
- Away From Her
- Across the Universe
- La Vie en Rose
- The Great Debaters
- Into the Wild
Nope, this year Roger has “had it” and he isn’t even listing his films in any order other than alphabetical. No #1 film for Roger. So how does it bang out? Check it out below:
- 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
It’s a good list and he caps it off saying his “Special Jury Prize” goes to Guy Maddin’s My Winnipeg as well as a list of his top five documentaries:
- Encounters at the End of the World
- I.O.U.S.A.
- Man on Wire
- Standard Operating Procedure
- Trouble the Water
Of the films on Ebert’s Top 20 I still have not seen Che, Ballast, Chop Shop, The Band’s Visit and Shotgun Stories, but I expect copies of Che and Ballast to be in my hot little hands next week. As for the others I can’t tell you if I will ever get to them by year’s end, there’s only so many movies oen can see in a year and still manage to maintain their sanity.
As for my personal top ten I expect it will drop some time between December 17 and December 22. I will finally see Gran Torino on the 16th and it will mark the final film of 2008 for me to see. For Ebert’s film-by-film explanation of his selections click here.
