Saturday, December 27, 2008

The Films of 2008: Combined MCN + indieWIRE Lists

I've combined the Movie City News tabulation of year-end critic lists (Dec 25 version) with the indieWIRE Critics' Poll to come up with a more comprehensive tally of critical favourites for 2008.

This is a dumb list for three - make that four - reasons.
1. There are a number of critics whose lists have been included in both the Movie City News and the indieWIRE polls, so their votes are counted twice.
2. Movie City News gives 10 points for a first-place movie, while indieWIRE gives 15. A tenth-place mention gets 1 point from MCN, but 5 from iW. So the indieWIRE list gets weighted more heavily.
3. This is not the final MCN scoreboard.
4. Who cares, anyhow?

Still, for the little it's worth...

The Films Of 2008 Meta-List
(Total points = MCN + indieWIRE)
Boldfaced titles are likely Soul Food Movies

1 . Wall-E ( 837 : 469 + 368 )
2 . Christmas Tale ( 633 : 179 + 454 )
3 . Flight of the Red Balloon ( 586.5 : 91.5 + 495 )
4 . Milk ( 573 : 368 + 205 )
5 . Happy-Go-Lucky ( 541 : 195 + 346 )
6 . Wendy and Lucy ( 533 : 167 + 366 )
7 . Dark Knight ( 507 : 351 + 156 )
8 . Rachel Getting Married ( 495.5 : 228.5 + 267 )
9 . Synecdoche, New York ( 462 : 172 + 290 )
10 . Wrestler ( 447.5 : 255.5 + 192 )
11 . Paranoid Park ( 436.5 : 101.5 + 335 )
12 . Let the Right One In ( 422 : 185 + 237 )
13 . Slumdog Millionaire ( 418.5 : 314.5 + 104 )
14 . Still Life ( 396 : 66 + 330 )
15 . Silent Light ( 381 : 71 + 310 )
16 . Waltz with Bashir ( 371 : 88 + 283 )
17 . In the City of Sylvia ( 324 : 68 + 256 )
18 . Man on Wire ( 323.5 : 158.5 + 165 )
19 . My Winnipeg ( 319 : 71 + 248 )
20 . Edge of Heaven ( 305 : 102 + 203 )
21 . Curious Case of Benjamin Button ( 293.5 : 206.5 + 87 )
22 . Hunger ( 280 : 82 + 198 )
23 . Ballast ( 233 : 56 + 177 )
24 . Che ( 221.5 : 75.5 + 146 )
25 . Gomorrah ( 188 : 56 + 132 )
26 . Reprise ( 185.5 : 44.5 + 141 )
27 . Duchess of Langeais ( 184 : 24 + 160 )
28 . The Visitor ( 173 : 123 + 50 )
29 . Frost/Nixon ( 171 : 140 + 31 )
30 . Encounters at the End of the World ( 162.5 : 61.5 + 101 )
31 . Class ( 153 : 62 + 91 )
32 . Frozen River ( 143.5 : 85.5 + 58 )
33 . Woman On The Beach ( 140.5 : 18.5 + 122 )
34 . France, La ( 132.5 : 29.5 + 103 )
35 . Trouble the Water ( 129 : 28 + 101 )
36 . Standard Operating Procedure ( 124.5 : 38.5 + 86 )
37 . Before I Forget ( 124 : 19 + 105 )
38 . Vicky Cristina Barcelona ( 122.5 : 55.5 + 67 )
39 . In Bruges ( 120.5 : 86.5 + 34 )
40 . 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days ( 119.5 : 51.5 + 68 )
40 . Burn After Reading ( 119.5 : 42.5 + 77 )
42 . Last Mistress ( 114 : 17 + 97 )
43 . Exiles ( 108.5 : 24.5 + 84 )
44 . Frownland ( 106 : 20 + 86 )
44 . Order of Myths ( 106 : 30 + 76 )
46 . Gran Torino ( 100 : 45 + 55 )
46 . Revolutionary Road ( 100 : 81 + 19 )
48 . Momma's Man ( 94 : 21 + 73 )
48 . Secret of the Grain ( 94 : 24 + 70 )
48 . Tell No One ( 94 : 49 + 45 )
51 . Chop Shop ( 93.5 : 29.5 + 64 )
52 . Romance of Astrea and Celadon ( 84 : 0 + 84 )
53 . Doubt ( 83.5 : 68.5 + 15 )
54 . Ashes of Time Redux ( 82 : 19 + 63 )
55 . Mister Lonely ( 79.5 : 25.5 + 54 )
56 . Reader, The ( 77 : 77 + 0 )
57 . I've Loved You So Long ( 75 : 75 + 0 )
58 . Changeling ( 74.5 : 37.5 + 37 )
59 . Boarding Gate ( 73.5 : 13.5 + 60 )
60 . Tropic Thunder ( 70 : 42 + 28 )
61 . Boy A ( 68.5 : 10.5 + 58 )
62 . Razzle Dazzle: The Lost World ( 68 : 0 + 68 )
63 . Shotgun Stories ( 65 : 14 + 51 )
64 . Witnesses ( 62 : 9 + 53 )
65 . Pineapple Express ( 61 : 38 + 23 )
66 . Alexandra ( 60 : 13 + 47 )
67 . Be Kind Rewind ( 58.5 : 12.5 + 46 )
68 . Iron Man ( 57.5 : 57.5 + 0 )
69 . My Father My Lord ( 57 : 13 + 44 )
69 . Up the Yangtze ( 57 : 4 + 53 )
71 . Silence Before Bach ( 53 : 16 + 37 )
72 . Mary ( 52 : 0 + 52 )
72 . Pool ( 52 : 18 + 34 )
74 . Cadillac Records ( 51 : 22 + 29 )
75 . Funny Games ( 50 : 22 + 28 )
75 . Taxi to the Dark Side ( 50 : 15 + 35 )
77 . W. ( 48.5 : 9.5 + 39 )
78 . Dear Zachary: A Letter To a Son About His Father ( 48 : 31 + 17 )
78 . I Can No Longer Hear the Guitar ( 48 : 0 + 48 )
80 . Summer Palace ( 47.5 : 12.5 + 35 )
81 . Band's Visit ( 47 : 16 + 31 )
82 . Fengming: A Chinese Memoir ( 44 : 12 + 32 )
83 . Other Half ( 42.5 : 11.5 + 31 )
84 . Opera Jawa ( 42 : 11 + 31 )
85 . Profit Motive and the Whispering Wind ( 41 : 0 + 41 )
85 . Snow Angels ( 41 : 17 + 24 )
87 . Redbelt ( 40 : 13 + 27 )
88 . Fall, The ( 39.5 : 39.5 + 0 )
89 . Speed Racer ( 38 : 19 + 19 )
90 . Unforeseen ( 37 : 0 + 37 )
91 . Love Songs ( 32 : 0 + 32 )
91 . State Legislature ( 32 : 0 + 32 )
93 . Stuck ( 28 : 0 + 28 )
94 . JCVD ( 27 : 0 + 27 )
95 . My Blueberry Nights ( 26 : 0 + 26 )
95 . Savage Grace ( 26 : 0 + 26 )
97 . Married Life ( 23 : 0 + 23 )
98 . Of Time and the City ( 22 : 0 + 22 )
99 . Battle for Haditha ( 20 : 0 + 20 )
99 . Mad Detective ( 20 : 0 + 20 )
99 . Mukhsin ( 20 : 0 + 20 )
102 . Defiance ( 18.5 : 18.5 + 0 )
103 . Operation Filmmaker ( 18 : 0 + 18 )
103 . Young At Heart ( 18 : 18 + 0 )
105 . I Served the King of England ( 17 : 0 + 17 )
106 . Elegy ( 15 : 15 + 0 )
106 . Heartbeat Detector ( 15 : 0 + 15 )
108 . Secret Life of Bees ( 14.5 : 14.5 + 0 )
109 . Jar City ( 14 : 14 + 0 )
110 . Surfwise ( 13 : 13 + 0 )
111 . Appaloosa ( 12.5 : 12.5 + 0 )
112 . Miracle at St Anna ( 12 : 12 + 0 )
113 . Boy in the Striped Pajamas ( 11.5 : 11.5 + 0 )
114 . Australia ( 11 : 11 + 0 )
114 . Cloverfield ( 11 : 11 + 0 )
114 . Seven Pounds ( 11 : 11 + 0 )
117 . Bank Job, The ( 10 : 10 + 0 )
117 . Bolt ( 10 : 10 + 0 )
117 . Twilight ( 10 : 10 + 0 )
117 . Une Catastrophe ( 10 : 10 + 0 )
121 . U23D ( 6 : 6 + 0 )
122 . Quantum of Solace ( 5.5 : 5.5 + 0 )
123 . Girl Cut In Two, A (Chabrol) ( 2 : 2 + 0 )

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

If you like the play Mourning Dove (PT stage 2008), you should see the movie, I've Loved You For So Long. I won't say why because I don't like spoilers either. You'll figure it out. And it's just an all around darn good movie (French) with some darn good performances, principally Kristen Scott Thomas.