comment #1

erniesouchak says ...

Sorry, I cannot take seriously any organization that would give Scorsese Best Director for "The Departed."

comment #2

actionman says ...

i was VERY pleased to see Miami Vice get some shout outs on these lists...at least some people saw the brilliance of that film

jeff-this is an amazing resource, thanks for the link!

comment #3

EDouglas says ...

"The Best Film honor went to Cristi Puiu's The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, and the next nine preferences were as follows: L'Enfant, The Departed, Inland Empire, Army of Shadows, Three Times, Old Joy, United 93, Children of Men and Half Nelson."

Proof positive that most critics are pretentious gits. I really liked Death of Mr. Lazarescu, but the rest of those are the kind of pretentious self-important choices that one should expect from those Village Voice polls. L'Enfant was so overrated even and especialy when it won the Cannes D'Or and I bet that half the critics include it in their list to make themselves feel that they're worthy of being on the same tier of taste as Cannes judges. (not sure why anyone would want that) Inland Empire was unbearable and Three Times was boring... walked out of both, though at least the latter was watchable. Never saw Old Joy, but I've heard more bad than good on that one.

I mean, heaven forbid that they actually include something in their list that the majority of American moviegoers might actually watch... oh, yeah... The Departed, Martin Scorsese's most plebeian and simplistic movie in years.

I bet half these critics plot together to include things that people will have to seek out as a sadistic joke to make the American moviegoing audiences suffer for having such awful taste to begin with.

comment #4

Craig Kennedy says ...

EDouglas, I'm not a critic, but obviously I'm still a pretentious git because I found the list to be a breath of fresh air.

L'Enfant was gripping and emotionally kind of terrifying. Overrated? It came and went with barely a whisper.

Inland Empire was admittedly self indulgent but it was also amazing. I'll take David Lynch's self indulgence over Jerry Bruckheimer's any day of the week.

Three Times was glacially slow and I had a hard time with it, but it was beautiful and I can't wait to see it again on DVD.

You walked out on them so your opinion is essentially meaningless.

It's true, these alt-critics seem to intentionally pick the most difficult, obscure films they can think of to praise because it makes them look intellectual, but halle-friggin-leujah for that! These are great movies and they deserve any attention that comes their way. Anyone who wants to be challenged by a movie rather than lulled or numbed should be glad for this list.

Aggg...I'm done ranting. Enjoy yourself at the cineplex.

Glad to see 7 other pretentious gits enjoyed Gretchen Mol's performance in Notorious Bettie Page. First mention of her I've heard all year.

comment #5

kmoore says ...

"Three Times was glacially slow and I had a hard time with it, but it was beautiful and I can't wait to see it again on DVD."

Am I the only one who thinks something is terribly wrong with this statement? Maybe it's just weird...

comment #6

Breedlove says ...

i'll just throw this out there, but i think arguably the best performance i saw by an actor all year was colin farrel in 'miami vice,' which was also probably my favorite film so far this year. totally locked in and believable as a haunted badass. really mesmerizing to watch. colin farrel has been the star of my favorite film of the year two years in a row (the new world).

comment #7

Hallick says ...

Sorry, but at this point, any more critics lists are just white noise that proves that if you're patient and look hard enough you'll find almost any movie made this year somewhere on a top ten list.

And just listing names of movies in numerical order is effing tedious. Tell me something a little more nuanced and interesting than the "coming soon" board at Blockbuster for christ's sake!

comment #8

Craig Kennedy says ...

Well, that blurb certainly isn't going to show up in any advertisements for the movie but what's wrong with having a difficult time with a movie but still admiring it and hoping to give it another chance later on?

One of my favorite movies is Wings of Desire. Put me to sleep the first time I saw it.

First time I tried red wine? Hated it.

Does everything need to be instantly gratifying? Is there that much entertainment in the world that we can't give something a chance to grow on us?

comment #9

actionman says ...

"i'll just throw this out there, but i think arguably the best performance i saw by an actor all year was colin farrel in 'miami vice,' which was also probably my favorite film so far this year. totally locked in and believable as a haunted badass. really mesmerizing to watch. colin farrel has been the star of my favorite film of the year two years in a row (the new world)."

now that's what I'm talking about, right on!

comment #10

EDouglas says ...

"You walked out on them so your opinion is essentially meaningless."

BULL. SHIT. David Lynch wasted two hours of my life and I actually returned for the last 15 minutes of the movie and got absolutely nothing out of that either. Granted, it was my third movie of the day and I was starving (which never helps my mood) but I gave the movie an hour more than I should have. Mulholland Drive was overrated, too, and this is someone who has seen many, if not all of Lynch's movies in theatres going back to The Elephant Man. The guy has lost it and yet film snobs can't seem to give up the ghost, making a big deal out of nothing to make it seem like something.

I'll take The Fountain over Three Times any day of the week. At least there was a story there that allowed the viewer to figure out the connection (whereas Three Times had none). Beautiful? Sure... but that's just the beauty of the country and times, nothing really created by the vision of the director.

comment #11

EDouglas says ...

"Does everything need to be instantly gratifying? Is there that much entertainment in the world that we can't give something a chance to grow on us?"

This is a good question, and true, there is a chance that with enough viewings I'm sure I could get something out of those movies, but you have to remember that I'm a working writer who tries to watch a wide variety of movies, but I also have to write about them and when I feel like my time is being wasted on nonsense like I was with Inland Empire, I'm not going to think "Oh, this will grow on me".... I gave IE one more hour and it didn't grow on me. It just got more irrelevent and pointless. Heck, when I attended the press conference afterwards, I almost wished that i could have seen the movie that Lynch and Dern were talking about because that one sounded really cool.

comment #12

Craig Kennedy says ...

Truly, you probably would've hated Inland Empire even more if you'd stuck around for all 179 minutes, but my point is we'll never know because you didn't. Your opinion of the film is totally valid, but it means nothing to me personally because you didn't really see the film.

Luckily for you, you don't give a crap about my personal opinion, nor does anyone else.

You saw a film buy a guy who has lost it. I saw a film from a guy who was invigorated by the possibilities of moving pictures, especially when they're of Laura Dern. Self Indulgent? Massively. Utterly unconcerned with anyone in the audience? Probably. Fascinating? Yes. I was never bored during the whole 3 hours.

A difference of opinion is just that and I don't want to dismiss your reaction to the individual films (I admit Three Times was a watch checker and I might find I totally hate it a second time around...I loved The Fountain too by the way), but I stand by my defense of this list in all of it's intellectually snotty glory. Anything that asks that movies be smarter rather than dumber is a positive thing, even if you don't agree with all of their examples.

comment #13

T. S. Idiot says ...

I am thrilled there are critics in this poll courageous enough to vote for eccentric or unpopular choices like The Good German and Lassie. Also pleased to see the well-deserved support for Casino Royale and for Ray Winstone's great performance in The Departed. I am shocked, however, that only two voted for The Aura, not only a great film but the sort of thing one would expect this bunch to go apeshit over.

comment #14

Argen says ...

"Three Times was glacially slow and I had a hard time with it, but it was beautiful and I can't wait to see it again on DVD."

"Am I the only one who thinks something is terribly wrong with this statement? Maybe it's just weird..."

In what sense? There's nothing weird about it in and of itself.

comment #15

jeffmcm says ...

Hey Edouglas, you've hammered the final nails into the coffin containing your credibility.

comment #16

p.Vice says ...

Who's Dennis Lin?

comment #17

EDouglas says ...

"Hey Edouglas, you've hammered the final nails into the coffin containing your credibility."

Right, jeff, like anyone needs your approval to have any credibility. Last time I checked David Poland is doing just fine without it. All that matters to me is my editor, the site that pays me and the readers of that site. If I recommended Inland Empire and they wasted their money on it, I'm the one they'd be mad at. Let the pretentious art-school wankers read Slate or Cinematical if they need boring and meaningless movies recommended to them.