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° Listed below are
the 34 films from last year's version (January 2009) that
have fallen off this year's 21st Century's Most Acclaimed Films
listing. |
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About a Boy |
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Paul Weitz & Chris Weitz |
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2002, 101m, Col, Germany-USA-France-UK, Drama-Comedy |
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"It's funny, moving and true, and it respects the audience's
intelligence as much as the characters'. That combination, no
matter the movie's label, deserves to be treasured." - Marc
Caro, Chicago Tribune |
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Selected by Carrie Rickey, Richard Schickel, John Powers, Mike
Clark, Thomas Doherty. |
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Amazon
metacritic |
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Atonement |
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Joe Wright |
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| 2007,
123m, Col, USA-UK-France, Drama-Romance-War |
| "No
two-hour film could ever capture all the riches of McEwan's
masterly novel. But Wright and Hampton's Atonement comes
tantalizingly close, while adding sensual delights all its own." -
David Ansen, Newsweek |
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Selected by Roger Ebert, Nathan Rabin, Keith
Phipps, Peter Brunette, J.R. Jones. |
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Amazon
metacritic |
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Away from
Her |
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Sarah
Polley |
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| 2006,
109m, Col, Canada-UK-USA, Drama-Romance |
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"Rarely has love at any age been depicted so honestly on screen.
For such a fully realized portrait to be created by a
28-year-old first-time director is even more remarkable." -
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post |
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Selected by
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Roger Ebert, J.R. Jones, V.A. Musetto, Dana
Stevens. |
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Amazon
metacritic |
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Battle in
Heaven |
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Carlos Reygadas |
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| • Batalla en
el cielo (original title) |
| 2005, 97m, Col,
Mexico-France-Germany, Drama |
| "Reygadas'
radical rejection of filmmaking conventions is at first
off-putting, but he's able to elicit remarkable performances
from the cast of non-professionals while building tension that
will hold viewers' attention." - V.A. Musetto, New York
Post |
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Selected by
Michael Atkinson, Peter Keough, J. Hoberman,
Peter Brunette, Ed Gonzalez. |
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Amazon
metacritic |
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Before the
Devil Knows You're Dead |
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Sidney Lumet |
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| 2007,
117m, Col, USA, Crime-Drama-Thriller |
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"Compact, nasty, and altogether wonderful, a tale of
brotherly greed and New York comeuppance that shows an old dog
dusting off old tricks using new technology." -
Ty Burr, The Boston Globe |
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Selected by
Phillip Lopate, Peter Keough, Keith Phipps, Robert Koehler,
Jeffrey M. Anderson. |
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Amazon
metacritic |
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Brick |
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Rian Johnson |
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| 2005, 110m, Col,
USA, Mystery-Drama |
| "A Big Sleep with underage
bozos, a Maltese Falcon where the stuff that dreams are made of
rests in the lockers of a well-worn high school, Brick is a
remarkable oddity, audacious and engaging." - Michael Sragow, Baltimore Sun |
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Selected by Scott Tobias,
Keith Phipps, Mike D'Angelo, Mark Jenkins, Jeffrey M. Anderson. |
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Amazon
metacritic |
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Broken Flowers |
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Jim Jarmusch |
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2005, 106m, Col, USA-France, Drama-Comedy |
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"Funny, bittersweet, its understatement yielding surprising
depth charges, Broken Flowers is a triumph of close observation
and telling details." -
David Ansen, Newsweek |
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Selected by
Ty Burr, Kent Jones, Chris Fujiwara, Edward
Crouse, Donna Bowman. |
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Amazon
metacritic |
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Bus 174 |
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Felipe Larceda & José Padilha |
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| • Ônibus 174
(original title) |
| 2002, 119m, Col,
Brazil, Documentary |
| "Tense, engrossing, and
superbly structured, Bus 174 is not just unforgettable drama but
a skillfully developed argument." -
J. Hoberman, Village Voice |
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Selected by John Anderson,
Stephen Hunter, Scott Tobias, A.O. Scott, Jason Anderson. |
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Amazon
metacritic |
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Che |
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Steven Soderbergh |
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2008, 257m, Col, Spain-France-USA, Biography-Drama |
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"Che looks dazzling, whether the camera is weaving
through a battle or trying to bore into Che's haunted soul. Del
Toro stands up to
Soderbergh's relentless
scrutiny." - Peter Travers, Rolling Stone |
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Selected by Amy
Taubin, J. Hoberman, Patrick McGavin, Nathan Lee, Glenn Kenny. |
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Amazon
metacritic |
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Chuck & Buck |
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Miguel Arteta |
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| 2000, 95m, Col,
USA, Drama-Comedy |
| "Manages to be not only
consistently droll but cumulatively poignant and even scary." -
J. Hoberman, Village Voice |
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Selected by Nigel Andrews,
Gerald Peary, Owen Gleiberman, A.O. Scott, Mark Caro. |
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Amazon
metacritic |
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Chunhyang |
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Im Kwon-taek |
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| •
Chunhyangdyun (original title) |
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2000, 120m, Col, South Korea, Romance-Drama-Musical |
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"Im Kwon
Taek's exquisite Chunhyang brings to the
screen one of Korea's most cherished folk tales, a timeless
romance in which the lovers are challenged by differences in
class." - Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times |
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Selected by
Jonathan Rosenbaum, David Sterritt, Chris Fujiwara, Ian Bernie,
Tadao Sato. |
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Amazon
metacritic |
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The Day I
Became a Woman |
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Marzieh Meshkini |
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| • Roozi ke
zan shodam (original title) |
| 2000, 77m, Col,
Iran, Drama |
| "What you're not prepared
for in Marziyeh Meshkini's astonishing debut film is the way its
central image instantly leaps into the pantheon of world cinema
with a rightness and an urgency that glue your eyes to the
screen." -
Jay Carr, Boston Globe |
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Selected by David Sterritt,
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Michael Atkinson, Jay Carr, Robert Koehler. |
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Amazon
metacritic |
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The Deep
End |
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Scott McGehee & David Siegel |
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2001, 100m, Col, USA, Drama-Crime |
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"Exquisitely made with a mesmerizing sense of style, it shows
the wonderful things that can happen when traditional material
is both handled with care and adroitly updated." - Kenneth Turan,
Los Angeles Times |
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Selected by Richard Schickel, Kenneth Turan, B. Ruby Rich, David
Ehrenstein, Jay Carr. |
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Amazon
metacritic |
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Dirty Pretty
Things |
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Stephen Frears |
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| 2002, 97m, Col,
USA-UK, Thriller-Drama |
| "This is a film that
insinuates itself deeply into our awareness. It's that rare pulp
story with something on its mind, an unnerving, socially
conscious thriller with a killer sense of narrative drive." -
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times |
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Selected by David Ansen,
Philip French, Stephen Hunter, Ann Hornaday, Carla Meyer. |
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Amazon
metacritic |
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Faithless |
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Liv Ullmann |
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| • Trolösa
(original title) |
| 2000, 153m, Col,
Sweden-Norway-Finland-Italy-Germany, Romance-Drama |
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"82-year-old
Ingmar Bergman takes one of the
most painful, shameful episodes of his own life and, writing for
director Liv Ullmann, transmutes it into magical, brilliant
artistry." -
Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune |
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Selected by Richard Schickel, Manohla Dargis, Gerald Peary, Chris Chang, Stephen Holden. |
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Amazon
metacritic |
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The Five
Obstructions |
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Jřrgen Leth &
Lars von Trier |
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| • De Fem
benspćnd (original title) |
| 2003, 90m, Col-BW,
Denmark-Belgium,
Documentary |
| "Part of what hooks you to this
movie is how Leth outsmarts his taskmaster, and how the two men
have divergent, almost incompatible aesthetic ideals." -
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe |
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Selected by John Anderson,
Kenneth Turan, Richard Corliss, Ron Stringer, Justine Elias. |
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Amazon
metacritic |
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Land of the
Dead |
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George
A. Romero |
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| 2005, 93m, Col,
USA-Canada-France, Action-Horror-Thriller |
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"One of the enormous pleasures
of genre filmmaking is watching great directors push against
form and predictability, as
Mr.
Romero does brilliantly in Land of the Dead." -
Manohla Dargis, New York Times |
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Selected by Dave Kehr, Chris
Fujiwara, Tom Charity, Scott Foundas, Mike D'Angelo. |
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Amazon
metacritic |
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The Life
Aquatic with Steve Zissou |
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Wes
Anderson |
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| 2004, 118m, Col,
USA, Drama-Comedy-Adventure |
| "An exquisitely evocative
movie that elevates rueful melancholia to a superpower." -
Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times |
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Selected by David Ehrenstein,
David Sterritt, Steven Rea, Carina Chocano, Mike D'Angelo. |
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Amazon
metacritic |
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The Magdalene
Sisters |
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Peter Mullan |
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| 2002, 119m, Col,
UK-Ireland, Drama |
| "A stirring, emotionally
galvanizing film, not only due to its shattering subject matter
but thanks to Mullan's spot-on eye for casting and fluid,
uncoercive style." -
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post |
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Selected by Owen Gleiberman,
Michael Wilmington, Ty Burr, Gerald Peary, V.A. Musetto. |
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Amazon
metacritic |
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Me and You and
Everyone We Know |
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Miranda July |
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| 2005, 91m, Col,
USA-UK-Japan, Drama-Comedy |
| "Performance artist Miranda July
hits a grand slam as the writer, director and star of her first
film. It's a moonbeam romance laced with startling wit and
gravity." -
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone |
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Selected by Alice Lovejoy, Ed
Park, David Edelstein, J.R. Jones, Nathan Rabin. |
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Amazon
metacritic |
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Michael
Clayton |
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Tony Gilroy |
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| 2007,
119m, Col, USA, Drama-Thriller |
| "At
once spare and dense, chilly and thrilling, literate and
visceral, it feeds in gray areas, teasing ambiguities and
conundrums out of shadows and making strengths of
inconclusiveness and uncertainty." - Shawn Levy, Portland
Oregonian |
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Selected by
David Sterritt, Michael Atkinson, Saul Austerlitz, Peter
Brunette, Mark Olsen. |
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Amazon
metacritic |
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Mysterious
Skin |
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Gregg
Araki |
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| 2004, 105m, Col,
USA-Netherlands, Drama |
| "Explores both prepubescent
and teen sexuality with an honesty that may make some people
uncomfortable, which is a sign of its potency, and a badge of
honor." -
David Ansen, Newsweek |
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Selected by David Ehrenstein, A.O. Scott,
Kevin Thomas, B. Kite, Ed Gonzalez. |
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Amazon
metacritic |
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| The Proposition |
| John Hillcoat |
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| 2005, 104m, Col,
UK-Australia,
Drama-Crime-Western |
| "Directed by John Hillcoat, this Aussie
feature perfectly re-creates the charbroiled landscapes and
cruel psychodrama of the old Sergio Leone westerns, with John
Hurt particularly fine as a raging old mountain goat." -
J.R. Jones, Chicago Reader |
| Selected by Andrew O'Hehir, Lisa
Schwarzbaum, J.R. Jones, Graham Fuller, Sean Axmaker. |
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Amazon
metacritic |
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Rabbit-Proof
Fence |
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Phillip
Noyce |
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| 2002, 93m, Col,
Australia-UK, Drama-Adventure |
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"Noyce
uses his Hollywood craft to unfold this primal, powerful story,
he has an epic feel for the harshly beautiful Australian
landscape and he gets wonderfully natural performances from the
three girls." -
David Ansen, Newsweek |
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Selected by
Ty Burr, Ann Hornaday, Shawn Levy, James
Berardinelli, Joe Morgenstern. |
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Amazon
metacritic |
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Ray |
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Taylor Hackford |
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| 2004, 152m, Col,
USA-UK, Musical-Drama-Biography |
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"Bursting at the seams with
music,
Taylor Hackford's
ambitious film provides a good sense of the pioneering
entertainer's extraordinary journey and brings it to life with
plenty of colorful detail." - Todd McCarthy, Variety |
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Selected by Owen Gleiberman,
Michael Wilmington, Joe Morgenstern, Richard Corliss, Joel
Siegel. |
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Amazon
metacritic |
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Reprise |
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Joachim
Trier |
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2006, 107m, Col, Norway-Sweden, Drama |
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"Reprise is kissed with the breath of French New
Wave sensibility, sweet with verve and a love of forward
movement. The mood of joy in the midst of youthful pain is
enhanced by the freshness of the first-time lead actors." -
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly |
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Selected by
Gerald Peary, Chuck Wilson, Nathan Rabin, Mark Jenkins, David
Fear. |
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Amazon
metacritic |
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Shattered
Glass |
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Billy Ray |
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| 2003, 95m, Col,
USA-Canada, Drama |
| "An astute and surprisingly
gripping drama not only about the ethics of magazine writing,
but also, more generally, about the subtle political and
psychological dynamics of modern office culture." -
A.O. Scott, The New York Times |
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Selected by Michael Sragow,
Gerald Peary, Stephen Hunter, Mick LaSalle, Noel Murray. |
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Amazon
metacritic |
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Southland
Tales |
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Richard
Kelly |
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2006, 144m, Col, Germany-USA-France, Comedy-Drama-Science
Fiction |
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"Funny, audacious, messy and feverishly inspired look at America
and its discontents." - Manohla Dargis, The New York Times |
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Selected by J. Hoberman, Kent Jones, Mark Peranson, Mark Olsen,
Rob Nelson. |
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Amazon
metacritic |
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Spider-Man 2 |
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Sam Raimi
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| 2004, 127m, Col,
USA, Action-Fantasy-Science Fiction |
| "The filmmakers smartly
counter heavy drama with goofy comedy, mining a rich vein of
humor in the juxtaposition of the mundane and the superheroic." -
Nathan Rabin, The Onion A.V. Club |
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Selected by
Michael Sragow, Roger Ebert, Mike Clark, Chris
Kaltenbach, Peter Brunette. |
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Amazon
metacritic |
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Springtime in
a Small Town |
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Tian Zhuangzhuang |
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| • Xiao cheng
zhi chun (original title) |
| 2002, 116m, Col,
China-Hong Kong-France, Romance-Drama |
| "This erotically charged drama
may not be quite as great as the original, but it's an amazing
and beautiful work just the same." -
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader |
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Selected by Chris Fujiwara,
J. Hoberman, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Kent Jones, Doug Cummings. |
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Amazon
metacritic |
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The Station Agent |
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Thomas McCarthy |
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2003, 88m, Col, USA, Drama-Comedy |
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"Its charming story of the delicate intersection of three highly
individual lives is the kind of completely personal yet
universal film that the festival and the entire independent
movement came into being to celebrate." -
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times |
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Selected by
Jami Bernard, Peter Brunette, Ann Hornaday,
Ruthe Stein, Megan Lehmann. |
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Amazon
metacritic |
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Syriana |
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Stephen Gaghan |
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| 2005, 126m, Col,
USA, Thriller-Drama |
| "Takes off with the
lightning speed of a thriller, the gonzo force of frontline
journalism and the emotional wallop of a drama that puts a human
face on shocking statistics." - Peter Travers, Rolling
Stone |
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Selected by Carrie Rickey,
Roger Ebert, F.X. Feeney, Cynthia Fuchs, Saul Austerlitz. |
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Amazon
metacritic |
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Time of the
Wolf |
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Michael Haneke |
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| • Le Temps du
loup (original title) |
| 2003, 113m, Col,
France-Austria-Germany, Drama |
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"Haneke
demonstrates profound insight into the essence of human behavior
when all humility is pared away, raw panic and despair are the
order of the day, and man becomes more like wolf than man." -
Scott Foundas, Variety |
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Selected by Michael Atkinson,
Manohla Dargis, Robert Koehler, Leslie Camhi, Saul Austerlitz. |
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Amazon
metacritic |
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Va savoir |
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Jacques Rivette (182) |
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| 2001, 154m, Col,
France-Italy-Germany, Romance-Drama-Comedy |
| "Va savoir doesn't so much flow as wander, trailing off into drama
one minute, slapstick the next; it tries your patience, but ever
so gently, masterfully." - Manohla Dargis, LA Weekly |
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Selected by David Sterritt,
Chris Fujiwara, David Ehrenstein, Elvis Mitchell, Chris Chang. |
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Amazon
metacritic |
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Plus, films that exited
(and have not returned) from the January 2008 list: The Motorcycle Diaries (Walter
Salles), Cold Mountain (Anthony
Minghella), Junebug (Phil
Morrison), A Scanner Darkly (Richard
Linklater), Lovely & Amazing (Nicole
Holofcener), Hedwig and the Angry Inch (John
Cameron Mitchell), The Others (Alejandro
Amenábar), The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
(Tommy Lee Jones), Whale Rider (Niki Caro),
Bamboozled (Spike
Lee), The Barbarian Invasions
(Denys Arcand),
The Quiet American (Phillip
Noyce), Little Children (Todd Field), The
Darjeeling Limited (Wes
Anderson), The Savages (Tamara
Jenkins), Ali (Michael
Mann), Cowards Bend the Knee (Guy
Maddin), La Ciénaga (Lucrecia
Martel), The Saddest Music in the World (Guy
Maddin), The Return
(Andrey Zvyagintsev),
Solaris (Steven
Soderbergh), Lantana (Ray
Lawrence), The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the
Politics of Fear (Adam Curtis), Day
Night Day Night (Julia Loktev). |
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