It is the time of season when film critics the world over list their top ten films of the year. Don't expect mine anytime soon. I’ll be displaying mine around January or February, when I get the opportunity to watch the films that finally get released to my low-end-of-the-totem-pole city.
If you enjoy reading film reviews, then you probably have a film critic that you follow and read, because you trust their judgment on what constitutes good film-making.
Of all the film critics, I faithfully read Roger Ebert. And I have to admit that when he was paired with Gene Siskel, I followed Siskel more than Ebert. Siskel was the champion of films and tales with a humanist bent. Ebert seemed more the conservative. And I say this not in a way to paint Ebert in a bad light. For I have always liked Ebert.
But after Siskel’s sudden passing from brain cancer, Ebert transformed. Or, maybe I did. Somewhere along this change, Ebert’s reviews became poignantly meaningful to me. His grasp of history, U.S. and global politics, religion, social sciences, psychology, and of the human struggle is simply impressive! But I love Ebert’s reviews because they aren’t just about the film but also of the time the film makes a print upon history. Like Siskel, he too is a great champion of and for the good of humanity. Writing this off the cuff, I am kicking myself for not keeping a list of some of my favorite Ebert reviews. Some, reviews that come immediately to mind are: Mystic River, Ponette, Red, The Incredible Lightness of Being, Being John Malcovich, Bringing Out the Dead, Titanic, Schindler’s List, Hotel Rwanda, Crash, American Beauty, Eyes Wide Shut, to name a slight few.
What I am trying to say is that if I could pick a writer that exemplifies a humanitarian, it would be Roger Ebert.
To read Ebert’s top ten films of 2005, click here.
You may be asking: What films are making the top ten lists the most this year? For this information, I like to use Metacritics website. According to their compiled list of critics top ten lists, the most acclaimed films of the year are the following (in order of most occurrences, followed by how many number 1 rankings they received, for example 3/1 indicates that the film had 3 number 1 rankings):
Brokeback Mountain (19 - 2/1)
The Squid and the Whale (16 - 3/1)
Munich (15 - 1/1)
A History of Violence (13 - 3/1)
King Kong (10 - 1/1)
Grizzly Man (9 - 1/1)
Capote (9 - 1/1)
* There are a number of other films that have received recognition on the top ten lists. To see how they rank up to these most acclaimed films, click here.
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