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I have a Top Ten List too.

Did you all know that I have day job that nearly pays the bills? Well I do and it is a museum for Photography and Film. I work in the film section preserving and restoring motion picture films to their original glory. I love all kinds of cinema, but only sporadically have I done a Top Ten List. Making this one was a lot of fun as it reminded me of what was a generally good year for American cinema. I had planned on getting this out a lot sooner than I did but was delayed in my necessity to see There Will Be Blood and Atonement. I made it to Blood, but Atonement remains unseen. I loathe to wait another week or so to get in a screening so I am moving forward with the list.

1Once

Not the best made film of the year, but certainly the one that had the greatest impact on me this year.

2 The King of Kong

The only film I saw twice in one day, and the only film I wanted to see twice in one day.

3 Zodiac

A huge film. The most epic film of the year. Only Gyllenhal is a bit over his head in this one.

4 The Bourne Ultimatum

The whole series is a guilty pleasure, but one that delivers every single time, in every single scene.

5 Michael Clayton

A bonkers performance from Tilda Swinton does not undo what is a very good ‘adults only’ film.

6 I Am Legend

A surprising realistic depiction of the ‘end of the world.’ And a surprisingly melancholy action film.

7 No Country for Old Men

From beginning to end the best told story this year, but I can’t shake the feeling that the Coen’s are still looking their noses down on us.

8 There Will Be Blood

PTA denies himself his greatest muse, Los Angeles, and turns in the best film he has ever made.

9 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days

A little pokey at the beginning, but once they get into that Hotel room it is transfixing.

10 The Darjeeling Limited

My own travels in India play heavily into why this made the top ten. Ultimately, I felt a lot of the Anderson quirk was negated by the otherworldness of its location. Plus, I am a sucker for Train films.

Honorable Mention - The Close But No Cigar List:

A Mighty Heart, Control, Eastern Promises, Gone Baby Gone, Great World of Sound, Into the Wild, Juno, No End in Sight, Sicko, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Lookout.

Not Great but Great Fun:

Live Free or Die Hard, Superbad, Knocked Up, Ocean’s 13, Grindhouse, Hot Fuzz, Shooter, Nancy Drew, Fracture, The Host, The Simpson’s, Stardust.

Meh – Films That Did Nothing For Me:

28 Weeks Later, Before the Devil Knows Your Dead, Harry Potter Film V, Margot at the Wedding, Ratatouille, Sweeny Todd,.

On the Edge of Terribly Great or Just Terrible:

300, American Gangster, Breach, Bug, Music and Lyrics, Smokin’ Aces, Shoot ‘Em Up, Sunshine, Talk to Me, The Kingdom, The Transformers, Year of the Dog.

Hated:

Death Sentence, I Think I Love My Wife, The Heartbreak Kid, Spiderman 3, The Ten.

Discovered on Television:

Garth Mareghi’s Darkplace, Life on Mars, The Sandbaggers.

Not seen – The Ones that Got Away:

3:10 to Yuma, Across the Universe, Atonement, Away from Her, Charlie Wilson’s War, In the Valley in Ellah, Inland Empire, Killer of Sheep, Lars and the Real Girl, Rescue Dawn, Southland Tales, Starting Out in the Evening, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The Mist, The Savages, Youth w/o Youth

Comments

robynmakesstuff said…
Great stuff, Hungry Detective.

Gives me a good to-watch list for spring break (heck, probably not til summer break).

Hope all is swell at THD headquarters,

-robyn
1:31 PM
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