Roger Ebert picks the 20 best movies of 2008
Posted Monday, December 8, 2008 at 2:56 PM Central
by Tim Briscoe
It's December so we're starting to get deluged with year-end Best of 2008 lists. Film critic extraordinaire Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times joins the party with his 20 best films of this year.
As Mr. Ebert writes on his site, he's picked twice the usual amount of movies for a year's best list. He also hasn't ranked them. Instead, choosing to list them alphabetically -- a move equal parts noble and bothersome.
Here are his selections for 2008. We've also included the DVD status of each -- an ETA of the movie's DVD release, if you will.
- Ballast (Estimated on DVD for March 2009)
- The Band's Visit (Now on DVD and Blu-ray)
- Che, Part I and II (In theaters this Friday. Probably on DVD in May)
- Chop Shop (Now on DVD)
- The Dark Knight (On DVD/Blu-ray tomorrow, Dec. 9)
- Doubt (In theaters this week with a DVD release expected for May)
- The Fall (Now on DVD/Blu-ray. See our review.)
- Frost/Nixon (Just opened in theaters. Probably on DVD in April.)
- Frozen River (On DVD Feb. 10)
- Happy-Go-Lucky (Should be a March DVD release)
- Iron Man (Now on DVD/Blu-ray)
- Milk (Another April DVD, most likely)
- Rachel Getting Married (Anticipated for March)
- The Reader (In theaters this Friday; on DVD next April or May)
- Revolutionary Road (Opens theatrically next weekend; probably on DVD in May)
- Shotgun Stories (Now available on DVD)
- Slumdog Millionaire (Should be a March DVD)
- Synecdoche, New York (Expected in February)
- W. (Just announced for DVD/Blu-ray on Feb. 10)
- WALL-E (Now on DVD and glorious Blu-ray)
In addition, Ebert picks five documentaries for the year. Again, with our ETA.
- Encounters at the End of the World (Now on DVD and Blu-ray)
- I.O.U.S.A. (Anticipated in February)
- Man on Wire (On DVD tomorrow, Dec. 9)
- Standard Operating Procedure (Now on DVD/Blu-ray)
- Trouble the Water (Should be a Feb. DVD)
Of the 25 choices, I'm ashamed to say I've only seen three -- Happy-Go-Lucky, Iron Man, and WALL-E. (Yes, the one guy who has not yet watched The Dark Knight.)
What about you? How many of these fine films have you seen this year? What would you pick as your best of 2008? Let us know.