Foreign Jackass said:
Most of David Lynch's movies are completely depraved, useless meanderings. I almost wish Ebert would have panned Mulholland Drive (which I kinda enjoyed) so that Lynch fans would be even more pissed at him.
I don't always agree with Ebert, but let's just say he's the one single critic I agree with most of the time (let's say, 70-75%). His reviews are always informed, and well-written. You may not like his opinion, but you'd have a lot of trouble convincing me that Lynch has fulfilled the destiny he looked like he was going to have with Eraserhead.
And here I thought I was the only one who didn't like David Lynch's movies. Mulholland Drive couldn't have been more boring to me if it tried...and it tried damn hard.
Anyway, I don't have any qualms with what Ebert picks. Like other people said, he's well-informed and he can back up his choices, and frankly I use them more as a loose guide to check out movies I may have overlooked rather than a list to bang my head against. His list last year had me watching a number of films that do what most mainstream movies don't do: leave an imprint. Spider-Man 2 may have been bland filler to me, but then so is Halo 2 and that game has been hailed up and down by every game critic. I just can't get wound up by these things any more, as I fall almost entirely into the minority opinion every time.
I really couldn't say what were my favorite movies this year so far since I have no idea as to exactly what all has been released this year (is there a site that lists movie releases for an entire year?), but Eternal Sunshine and Sideways are probably two of the better filsm I've seen thus far. A lot of the more lower key movies I've seen recently, like Closer and Kinsey, have been comparably weaker than the type of artsy movies that get released this time of year, at least compared to last year. I'm still waiting for the Austin theaters to get Aviator, The Assassination of Richard Nixon, The Sea Inside, A Very Long Engagement, and so on. It's too early for me to weigh in on anything at this point.
As for City of God, the DVD initially was available around February of this year but was recalled for some reason or another and then released later on around August I believe. It was beautifully shot but the story didn't do anything for me.
