We count down this year's best films
By MSN Movies Contributors
Welcome to the second annual MSN Movies' Top 10 films poll. We are continuing
our, ahem, long tradition of presenting 10 viewpoints from 10 critics that add
up to some sort of hodgepodge representing the best movies of 2008. The method
is simple: 10 critics vote for their 10 favorite films. Films are assigned
points based on their ranking -- and ta-da: What develops is a list that no one
is happy about but sure causes much heated debate -- at least among ourselves
and hopefully with you as well.
I have no doubt that this year, you'll have plenty to say. See, it was a
weird year at the movies. As in, outside of a few splendid titles, Hollywood
stunk up the joint. Why? Remember that writers' strike? Turned out to not be
good for anyone, movie-goers included. Instead, to find great movies, you had to
look outside of what Hollywood was offering and span the globe or duck into
art-house theaters. And because of this, the voting in this year's poll was all
over the place. Forty-four films received votes, but only two films were voted
as No. 1 (compare that to last year, when "No Country for Old Men" steamrolled the competition, earning
six No. 1 votes). This year's voting was much tighter (forcing us to do more
math. We hate math.), and the titles selected are more obscure. How obscure?
Four of the top 5 are foreign-language films, whereas the fifth is a small,
independently produced film that, nonetheless, will probably loom large come
Oscar time. Last year, studios dominated our top 10. This year, they only
produced three of our top titles.
So, what I'm trying to say is this: You may not have seen (hell, you may not
have heard of) some of the titles on our list ... and some won't open for
several weeks. But do yourself a favor and seek them out. Many are calling 2008
a horrible year for movies (especially because 2007 was one of the best years in
recent memory). However, there were many great titles if you looked in the right
places. We hope these essays explain why these films are fantastic and thereby
encourage you to discover them.
At the end of the gallery list, we've included links to either send us an
e-mail with your own list of top films or sound off on our message boards.
Ultimately, we hope this list inspires you to check out these terrific films. --
Dave McCoy, MSN Movies
Next: No. 10 movie of 2008
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