I said on Twitter that their lists are like herding cats — kind of all over the place. You could never really say that you could nail down either of them, taste wise. They seem to like all sorts of different films, obscure and mainstream alike.
I couldn’t see them ranked but on their slideshow I grabbed what I could — in alpha order:
AO Scott
Bridesmaids
Cedar Rapids
The Descendants
A Dangerous Method
The Future
The Help
Incendies
Le Quattro Volte
Meek’s Cutoff
Mysteries of Lisbon
Tuesday, After Christmas
Tree of Life
War Horse
Warrior
Weekend
Young Adult
Manohla Dargis
Bridesmaids
Contagion
A Dangerous Method
Hugo
J. Edgar
Le Quattro Volte
Melancholia
Moneyball
Mysteries of Lisbon
Of Gods and Men
Poetry
The Skin I Live in
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Warrior
And Stephen Holden’s:
1. ‘THE DESCENDANTS’ In Alexander Payne’s second-best movie (after “Election”) George Clooney gives his most complex and compelling screen performance (he even weeps) as Matt King, a wealthy Hawaiian landowner who learns of his wife’s infidelity while she is on life support after a boating accident. With his two daughters in tow he travels from Oahu to Kauai to confront her lover, a married, high-flying real estate broker.
The movie, adapted from a novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings, is rich with Hawaiian lore as Matt argues with his relatives over whether or not to sell his family’s valuable coastal property. A pitch-perfect study of middle-aged male angst and family conflict, with some sharp comic moments, “The Descendants” is one of the most adult American films ever made about love, money, betrayal and the ties that should bind but sometimes don’t.
2. ‘OF GODS AND MEN’
3. ‘THE TREE OF LIFE’
4. ‘MARGIN CALL’ In J. C. Chandor’s taut, concise corporate thriller, inspired by the fall of Lehman Brothers, a stock analyst discovers information that could destroy the company if it doesn’t act immediately and dump billions of dollars in toxic assets. This devastating portrait of greed, panic and malfeasance in high places has the strongest performances in years by Jeremy Irons and Kevin Spacey. It offers a grim picture of the ruthless pecking order at an investment bank whose leaders don’t understand the destructive financial instruments they wield with a callous disregard for everyone but themselves.
5. ‘MELANCHOLIA’
6. ‘WE WERE HERE’
7. ‘INCENDIES’
8. ‘A DANGEROUS METHOD’
9. ‘CERTIFIED COPY’
10. ‘MONEYBALL’
RUNNERS-UP
1. ‘TAKE SHELTER’
2. ‘YOUNG ADULT’
3. ‘RAPT’
4. ‘POETRY’
5. ‘A SEPARATION’
They both put WARRIOR on the list. Now? lol Come on. This is like the worst birthday present ever. I coulda used some help last week. XD Don’t get me wrong I’m happy it finally made a list, never mind 2, but I just feel like it’s too late to influence anything. *sigh*
So happy Young Adult made some lists! It’s been popping on quite a bit. Glad to see critics embrace a film that is truly one of a kind. Hopefully some of that momentum can go into Theron’s Oscar push… she NEEDS to get in. I will be devastated if Close gets the spot over Theron.
Just a heads up:
MERYL STREEP will be giving a rare television interview on 60 Minutes (for those of you in the US) this Sunday evening, December 18.
Any love for Weekend is cause for celebration in my book
Nice to see the love for Mysteries of Lisbon. How did Portgual not select it as its foreign language Oscar entry??
Tony was not a fan of DRIVE though he did say it was impressive technically.
Edward Yang’s “A Brighter Summer Day” was made over well a dozen years ago. Why did it show up on this list? To pay homage to “the Dead”?
How could A.O. Scott not include Drive on his list. He said it’s one of the year’s BEST films, yet thinks those other 20 including Warrior and The Future are better? O.o
Well, I’m certainly more than happy to see that two of the three listed “Incendies.”
I also like the love for “Le Quattro Volte.”
How, though, could A.O. Scott have listed the truly awful “Cedar Rapids?”
Well its good too see some ADM love! I wish there was more all around!
Loving the love for “Le Quattro Volte”.
So happy to see “Warrior” here. It might be the one completely satisfying film I’ve seen this year. Almost overwhelmingly moving, too.
@scott
From the look of the lists, I can’t tell what their criteria was. Maybe they drew names from a big bowl?!
A Dangerous Method, The Future, Warrior and Weekend all getting love from the NY Times? That makes my day. If any of them had made room for Shame it would have made my week.
Yay for “Warrior.” It’s my favorite film of the year so far.
All three Times’ critics have A Dangerous Method on their lists, which surprises me since it’s such a flawed film.
A lot of the really big critics keep mentioned J. Edgar as the year’s best!
Sasha, the slideshow just contains some of their movies. Their actual lists are part of the accompanying article.
Scott’s Alphabetical 20
“Bridesmaids” (Paul Feig)
“A Brighter Summer Day” (Edward Yang)
“Cedar Rapids” (Miguel Arteta)
“A Dangerous Method” (David Cronenberg)
“The Descendants” (Alexander Payne)
“The Future” (Miranda July)
“The Help” (Tate Taylor)
“Incendies” (Denis Villeneuve)
“Into the Abyss” (Werner Herzog)
“Margin Call” (J. C. Chandor)
“Meek’s Cutoff” (Kelly Reichardt)
“Mysteries of Lisbon” (Raúl Ruiz)
“Le Quattro Volte” (Michelangelo Frammartino)
“The Tree of Life” (Terrence Malick)
“Tuesday, After Christmas” (Radu Muntean)
“War Horse” (Steven Spielberg)
“Warrior” (Gavin O’Connor)
“Weekend” (Andrew Haigh)
“Winnie the Pooh” (Stephen J. Anderson and Don Hall)
“Young Adult” (Jason Reitman)
Dargis’s alphabetical 22
“Abracadabra” (Ernie Gehr)
“Aurora” (Cristi Puiu)
“The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu” (Andrei Ujica)
“Bridesmaids” (Paul Feig)
“Contagion” (Steven Soderbergh)
“A Dangerous Method” (David Cronenberg)
“J. Edgar” (Clint Eastwood)
“Le Havre” (Aki Kaurismaki)
“Hugo” (Martin Scorsese)
“Melancholia” (Lars von Trier)
“Moneyball” (Bennett Miller)
“My Joy” (Sergei Loznitsa)
“Mysteries of Lisbon” (Raúl Ruiz)
“Of Gods and Men” (Xavier Beauvois)
“Poetry” (Lee Chang-dong)
“Le Quattro Volte” (Michelangelo Frammartino)
“The Return” (Nathaniel Dorsky)
“Seeking the Monkey King” (Ken Jacobs)
“The Skin I Live In” (Pedro Almodóvar)
“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” (Tomas Alfredson)
“Voluptuous Sleep” (Betzy Bromberg)
“Warrior” (Gavin O’Connor)
Apparently a score of 90 on Metacritic isn’t good enough to make the list?