The creation, dissemination, and response to such lists have become marked by pettiness, pomposity, and preening—at least in the film blogosphere, which has become filled with these attitudes in general. I think the two standard tracks are to pick obscure films to validate how avant garde one is or two pick mainstream films to prove how one is not afraid to be labeled bourgeois by the effete and ineffectual critical consensus.

Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Three Monkeys was one of my Top 10 of 2008. It is streaming for free at The Auteurs on Sunday, April 26, 2009.

And here is a link to my review at Looking Closer Journal.