December 14, 2005

"What I NEED is a big famous critic to support my FILM, who wont' just STAND there..."

er... Roger Ebert named Crash his number one movie of the year! Wow.

1. Crash
2. Syriana
3. Munich
4. Junebug
5. Brokeback Mountain
6. Me and You and Everyone We Know
7. Nine Lives
8. King Kong
9. Yes
10. Millions

Now, this is an interesting list. There are 4 that are very good candidates for Best Picture, another one which really WANTS to be a candidate (Syriana), but will almost definitely not make it. Now, care to last year's top 10.

1. Million Dollar Baby
2. Kill Bill Vol. 2
3. Vera Drake
4. Spider-Man 2
5. Moolaade
6. The Aviator
7. Baadasssss!
8. Sideways
9. Hotel Rwanda
10. Undertow

3 Best Picture nominees, one that very nearly made it and another that desperately wanted to be a candidate but probably missed by a long shot (3 other nominations or not). Those last two are Hotel Rwanda and Vera Drake respectively. I dont think Vera was close to a nomination even though it got a Director nod.

But, man, Brokeback at #5 bodes alright, but Munich being placed higher is of some concern - but Ebert loves Spielberg. Minority Report was his #1 in 2002.

Anyway. Back to this years. I like his top 10. It is true to Roger Ebert - he works on his own system. Not many major critics do top 10s like him. He really does put movies he loves on there. How else would Me & You and Everone We Know, Yes, Nine Lives and Undertow get on there? And thats why when he places movies like Munich and Brokeback on there it shows he really does love them. And CRASH at #1. How about THAT?! Is this film flip flopping like crazy or what?

Peter Travers has posted his Top 10 as well.

1. A History of Violence
2. Brokeback Mountain
3. Good Night, Good Luck
4. Munich
5. Capote
6. The Squid & The Whale
7. The Constant Gardener
8. Crash
9. (TIE) King Kong and The Wedding Crashers

Now, this is a much much blander list - all these titles (except Wedding Crashers) just don't scream anything out to me. Yeah, History, Brokeback, GN&GL, Munich, Capote, Squid, Gardener, Crash and Kong are all meant to be great but this list feels like it has no personality to it. I am sure Travers loves all of these movies but really, who cares? This list feels so generic. And throwing The Wedding Crashers on the end just seems like a throwaway (it's even a tie for TENTH) to show he has some opinions of his owns. Ebert had four very unique films on his list, I personally currently has movies like Mysterious Skin, Wallace & Gromit and Look Both Ways as sort of my unique choices. Travers has NONE. Absolutely zero point to this list. It is the type of critic pandering that I dislike. It seriously looks like Travers just picked the 10 movies that are generally considered really good. No brave choices, so unique choices, nothing. Boring. Utterly utterly boring.

THE END