The Best Movies of the Year

The Onion AV Club has released a list of its picks for best movies of the year. Five writers compiled their lists to come up with a common one. While I usually love the AV Club and think their taste is impeccable, I have a few bones to pick with the list.

Here is the annotated list:

10. Surfwise: This documentary about a surfing family piqued my interest a little when NPR's Fresh Air did a story on it a while back, but it didn't sound interesting enough to pursue. Now I'll have to see it. It's on "Watch it Now" on Netflix, so I'm sure I'll be checking it out over break.

9. Wendy and Lucy: This lo-fi film from the director of the oddly resonant "Old Joy" stars Michelle Williams, who is becoming one of the most interesting actresses in movies these days. It's not out on DVD yet, and, of course, it hasn't made it to Spokane theaters.

8. Man on Wire: I don't see all the critical acclaim this film is getting. It's a pretty standard documentary about a guy who illegally tightrope walked between the twin towers in 1976. It has some great footage, but it's a pretty slight film...heck, it even includes an extended re-enactment. Only Errol Morris can get away with that.

7. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days: A stellar film. In my top five of the year.

6. Paranoid Park: Arthouse garbage. Nearly unwatchable and pointless. I have no clue what reviewers see in this film. Karyn, Rob and I watched it together, and we could barely make it through. Even though it's an hour twenty long, it feels twice that length.

5. Milk: From the same director who brought us Paranoid Park, but this one actually looks good. I'm going to see this in a theater over the break.

4. The Dark Knight: It was good.

3. Synecdoche, New York: My favorite film of the year. It's nearly impossible to sit through comfortably, but it attempts to say something important in a wildly inventive way.

2. Rachel Getting Married: It's on my queue....

1. WALL-E: This one was quite a shocker. I'll be watching this one over break

See the entire annotated list here.