Ben Lyons posts his top ten of 2008 list in the video below on the E! web site. All in all, a pretty decent top ten list--mine would probably be about 2/3 the same and in a different order. Of the ten, I have seen all but one--Miracle at St. Anna, which got a 33% on the Tomatometer. Of the rest, the one that does not belong in the top ten--much less number one!--is The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I'll have my review of that one posted tomorrow. The biggest crime, though, is that he did not include two of the best movies of the year: Synecdoche, New York, and Doubt, which he gave "Skip it" and "Rent it" ratings, respectively.
The video is below, followed by the full list in case you don't want to watch Ben.
By the way, what's up with the Mr. Rogers sweater? I was at Target the day after Christmas and saw these things and thought "Who would wear that?" Now I know . . . Sorry to go all Mr. Blackwell, you should see the crap I wear . . . Anyway, here's the list.
10. In Bruges
9. Miracle At St. Anna
8. The Reader
7. Let the Right One In
6. Frost/Nixon
5. The Dark Knight
4. The Wrestler
3. Milk
2. Slumdog Millionare
1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
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5 comments:
Ben Lyons would give a rave review to Pink Flamingos on the sole basis that he had his picture taken standing next to the dog shit before Divine ate it. Consequently, Ben Lyons reviewing skills leave the same after taste.
Giving a "skip it" rating to "Doubt" and "Synedoche, New York" is not something that's bad in and of itself since those films may very well be mediocre (after all, Kaufman's latest film is considerably less popular with cinephiles than his three other major films.) In any case, I'm starting to feel sorry for Mr. Lyons. He shouldn't have that job but the level of ridicule directed at his way is almost painful to witness.
It all started to go downhill with Roeper, to be frank, someone who uses his argumentativeness to cover up the fact that he's an airhead.
Look up the review Ebert and Roeper did of "The Fellowship of the Ring." Roeper has absolute disdain for the film and dismisses the whole LOTR cinematic undertaking.
A year later he reverses gears and gives a glowing review to the arguably WORSE "The Two Towers." Why? Because he didn't have the backbone to stick to his guns and maintain his unpopular stand. Hell, it sounded like even Ebert himself was forcing himself to give those films a positive rating despite not being all that enthusiastic about them.
In short, Lyons is merely the culmination of a trend that Ebert and many other critics had a part in.
Hey Scott, I don't know how you felt about Ben Button but I personally thought it was a meandering and uneven piece of cinema. Everytime I could finally be interested in Benjamin's story it would pull me out with those Old Cate scenes in the hospital. It is beautifully shot and the production values are quite amazing but it felt like Fincher didn't know what type of film he wanted in the end.
Dan - I totally agree! My review of Buttons is going up later today.
I'd give a thumbs down to Doubt myself, allthough, as with everything else, I admit I could be wrong about it.
Meryl was just bad in it. Campy, over the top, unconvincing as a nun, just bad. Even her New York accent was bad. She reminded me of Pauline Kael's jab that Meryl Streep is an actress that only acts from the neck up.
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