Roger Ebert Lays Down His 20 Best of 2008
Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on December 7, 2008
Despite the fact that our own Cole Abaius recently penned an article entitled Roger Ebert is Wrong About the CelebCult, we here at FSR are actually very big fans of Mr. Ebert. He is, in fact, the person we would all someday like to be, at least when it comes to his ability to be continually insightful and invariably interesting. So when Ebert drops his 20 Best Films of 2008 list on his website we have no choice but to cover it.
Why 20, you might ask. As Roger explains, it was because 2008 was just too good a year for movies to limit his list to just 10 titles. ” I am violating the age-old custom that film critics announce the year’s 10 best films,” he explains. “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. And 2008 was a great year for movies, even if many of them didn’t receive wide distribution.”
In his list of 20 Ebert lists a few films that you will recognize and a few others that you are soon to discover. Always a champion of the little film, Ebert doesn’t shy away from making his list one that is as diverse as it is interesting. Check out the full list 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
To read Ebert’s full commentary on the entire list as well as see which film’s earned honorable mention, head over to his page at The Sun Times. As for what I think of Ebert’s list, it is too early to say. There are a few films here that will certainly have a chance of making my ‘best of’ list for this year, including The Dark Knight, The Fall and Rachel Getting Married. And there are several that I will be seeing this coming week, including Milk and Revolutionary Road. Therefore I’m in no position to comment difinitively just yet. That said, Roger’s list includes a really interesting range of films, all of which are definitely worth a look.
Read more articles by Neil Miller
