Ebert votes 'Juno' best film of the year

[93curr]

1. Juno
2. No Country For Old Men
3. Before The Devil Knows You're Dead
4. Atonement
5. The Kite Runner
6. Away From Her
7. Across The Universe
8. La Vie En Rose
9. The Great Debaters
10. Into The Wild

Wow. I only saw the top three, as the others struck me (based on reviews and advertising) as being overly emotional and sentimental. Maybe I'll give a few of them a chance when they show up on cable.

And, for the record, I liked 'No Country' more than 'Juno.'

[Yankee8156]

I know in the past Roger has said he dislikes compiling these kinds of lists (which makes me wonder why he does it year in and year out), and I have to agree with that sentiment. It's too difficult to rank movies that are too different to compare. Juno and No Country For Old Men are both excellent movies, but do they warrant comparison?

[pdenny]

JUNO may become the first film with Michael Bluth and Dwight Schrute to ever to win the Oscar! :D

[shokhead]

IMO, a pretty poor holiday movie season.

[Solaris]

Of that list (a pretty predictable one) I've only seen No Country For Old Men, but I thought it was the best made, best acted, best directed and best written film I've seen all year. Of course, I've seen some REAL turkeys in the past twelve months!

[Dudley Morris]

2 and 3 were both excellent, esp. 2. I'm now reading the book, and it's incredible how faithful this adaptation is - the dialogue and the sherriff's "internal narratives" (which preface the chapters) were transferred to the screen almost completely without alteration.

[Macman]

I'm really looking forward to seeing Juno, mainly because its star, Ellen Page, lives in Halifax and there's a ton of Oscar buzz about her.

[Jimbo]

I still have a few to see, but Juno is my favorite film of 2007, so far.

Zodiac is #2, didn't make Ebert's list at all.

[pblmow]

"Eastern Promises" is a movie that I liked just as much as "No Country For Old Men", and Viggo Mortensen gives a great performance. I hope that the release date, which was earlier this year, won't cost it votes.

[pblmow]

I also think "Breach" was a great movie from earlier this year... Chris Cooper gives another great performance.

[davenav]

It's as good a list as any. I guess he does it because it's expected of critics to compile one each year.

I put No Country At the Top of my list, with most of his choices in there, but in different order. The second half of the year has been pretty rich, IMO, with excellent films.

[wayneklein]

Personally, I hate top 10 lists simply because it assigns some sort of "value" to films. If I recall, "Blade Runner" never made the Top 10 Films of 1982 nor did any worth while genre film.

Films I've enjoyed List on the other hand, well, maybe that's OK.

For that:

No Country For Old Men
Eastern Promises
Once
The Mist (Yeah I know lots of folks hate this film because of the bleak ending)
Breach
The Bourne Ultimatum
3:10 to Yuma
Zodiac

Haven't seen Juno yet so maybe it'll make my list. Atonement is also on my short list so I have at least two slots open...

[pblmow]

This was another good one:
Gone Baby Gone -- Directed by Ben Affleck. With Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Freeman

[Macman]

I saw Juno last night and loved it. Smart and funny with great writing. And Ellen Page definitely lived up to all the hype.

[tommy-thewho]

I just saw Juno last night also and thought it was very well done... Lot of cool and different music in it.....

[Drew]

Personally, I hate top 10 lists simply because it assigns some sort of "value" to films. If I recall, "Blade Runner" never made the Top 10 Films of 1982 nor did any worth while genre film.



I remember seeing Siskel & Ebert when Blade Runner came out and one of the them gave it a marginal thumbs up (for special effects) and one of them gave it an outright thumbs down. As a matter of fact, I don't remember a single outright positive review of Blade Runner when it was released back in the day.

[CusBlues]

BTW, how is Ebert doing? I haven't read anything about him lately and I never seem to have time to read his site.

[Macman]

BTW, how is Ebert doing? I haven't read anything about him lately and I never seem to have time to read his site.

He's unable to speak, but is hoping surgery will restore his voice.

[Steve Litos]

BTW, how is Ebert doing? I haven't read anything about him lately and I never seem to have time to read his site.

He's still the main movie critic for the Chicago Sun Times. So in a sense he's doing what he's been doing since 1967...getting paid to go see movies and offer his opinions about them.

I don't know about you guys but that sounds like the best job in the world.

[phallumontis]

Just got back from seeing Juno and loved it. Michael Cera and Ellen Page were both excellent. Cera seems to be forever typecast as the shy, awkward adolescent guy, but he does it so perfectly that I don't mind. My only beef was the soundtrack. A little too cutesy/scenester for me, though I did like the references to Sonic Youth, The Stooges, etc...Overall, a great film that became more and more human as its characters developed and its plot unfolded.

Still, No Country for Old Men is the best film I've seen this year, and the best I've seen in a long time. Next up...There Will Be Blood. Can't wait to see it.

[hal9000]

No Country For Old Men should be number one...what an incredible movie.

[JohnG]

I thought Atonement was deadly dull. My wife dragged me to it last night and then she proceeded to fall asleep half way thru it. :D

If it wouldn't have caused a problem I wish I could have snuck out to another movie.

[Jamie Tate]

We saw Juno yesterday and absolutely loved it. The first few minutes looked like it was going to be tragically hip but it turned out to be a very funny and intelligent movie. We were both very surprised and relieved.

We also loved No Country for Old Men but I could tell everyone in the theater hated it. There were some pretty nasty comments made as people left the theater. I guess I should move to a blue state someday. :laugh:

[Downsampled]

This was another good one:
Gone Baby Gone -- Directed by Ben Affleck. With Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Freeman

Yes, holy cow, how could that not make anybody's top 10? A really fabulous movie, I thought.

It's a shame how quickly movies drop off the radar -- and it seems like it's getting worse. Awards and lists seem more like "Best of the Last Three Months".

Zodiac was great too. Worthy of a nomination or two, at least for some technical awards.

I thought Atonement was not very good. This surprised me, because it's not the kind of movie I generally dislike. I am braced to endure seeing it plastered all over the various awards and lists, though.

[yesstiles]

It's a shame how quickly movies drop off the radar -- and it seems like it's getting worse. Awards and lists seem more like "Best of the Last Three Months".

Yeah, remember when we were growing up and movies stayed at the theaters literally for months? A month or two for a modest money-maker and many months for a hit. I remember Beverly Hills Cop lasted seven months at the mega-plexes. :eek: Now movies come and go in a flash.