I'm always interested in Ebert's picks even when I don't agree with them. He turned me on to the amazing "Dark City" (his #1 pick of 1998), and I totally agree with his pick for 1999 ("Being John Malkovich") and 2000 ("Almost Famous"), but his 2001 pick ("Monster's Ball") wasn't in my top 10 for the year. I don't agree with his odd take on the "LOTR" movies and sometimes he picks bizarre choices ("Harry Potter" four stars, "Spider-Man" 2 1/2??). Yet for my money he does a good job in the unenviable position of America's highest-profile movie critic. Anyway, here's his 2002 picks -- a surprising choice for #1 indeed I thought!

10. "The Quiet American"
9. "All or Nothing"
8. "Spirited Away"
7. "Invincible"
6. "Y Tu Mama Tambien"
5. "13 Conversations About One Thing"
4. "Far From Heaven"
3. "Adaptation"
2. "City Of God"

and Ebert's #1 pick is...

"Minority Report" (honest!)

The complete article can be found at http://www.suntimes.com/output/eb-fe...y-ebert29.html

(I'm not cutting and pasting the article here because I don't want to be sued by the Chicago Sun-Times copyright police; if someone else wants to put it here, feel free tho )

I liked Minority Report but the Spielber ending kept it out of my Top Ten.

I didnt like Spirited Away. I went in expecting a lot more than I got. I was just bored.
Far From Heaven and Y Tu Mama Tambien are on my lists.
Very curious about Adaptation and a few of those I havent even heard of which is surprising for me.

Did he do a worst list too?

I like Ebert's lists too. I often vehemently disagree with him, and sometimes I'm appalled at the clear bias he shows towards some films, never even giving them a chance ... and he is as ignorant of and arrogant against television franchises as anyone on the planet ... but hey ... I'm not going to agree with anyone on everything, and more often than not, he doesn't take the safest road. He'll go out on a limb and proclaim a film like Dark City to be the best of the year; he's not ashamed to give a thumbs up to a film like Wild Things because the sex scenes gave him the hot; and he uses his position in the spotlight to give some exposure to really good films that the general public may otherwise be unaware of.

Anyway, interesting list. Some REALLY good films on there. A little for #1, and other than that, he definitely steered clear of some larger exposure films that I think are pretty worthy. Still, a solid list.

das

I am so glad he put Minority Report at #1. Quite honestly, it may very well be my #1 film of the year as well.

I also love this film.

I haven't seen a lot of the "Oscar contenders" or any other film on his 10 best list so I won't say it is my favorite,

but of what I have seen this year, MR is easily in my top 3.

Minority Report #1.Great choice.I saw it in theaters and thought it was excellent.I haven't seen alot of films in 2002 but this one is gotta be one if not the best of the year.

The NY Times lists are here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/29/movies/29AOSC.html

Talk to Her and Spirited Away make strong appearances

Roger Ebert in my book is A god in movie riview. I'm not always agree with all his reviews, but I DO like his point of view when reviewing movies. That's a great choice to put Minority Report as #1 movie of 2002, and Adaptation, ... Far from Heaven, ... Y tu mama tambien, ... Spirited Away. Wow. EBERT, YOU RULE !

WTF? Did I miss the boobies in Minority Report?

Actually this is a pretty good list.

Along with another statement or two in this thread, I too enjoy Ebert's reviews overall, even the ones that I disagree with, like Star Trek: Nemesis. I enjoyed the flick, and I thoroughly enjoyed his review of it, picking on all the normal stuff of the Star Trek world....chanelling power to the shields here, and all the pseudo-science babble.

Another good example would be Armageddon. If I remember correctly, he gave it one, maybe one and a half stars, and ripped it apart fairly well in his review. I agreed with just about everything in that review, but I still enjoyed the movie anyway.

Minority Report was a really cool movie, as was Adapation for completely different reasons.

In addition, as someone else pointed out, Ebert will draw my attention to movies I might otherwise have not even noticed, such as Dark City. An incredible flick...although I have yet to listen to the commentary he did for the DVD. I've heard his commentaries are incredibly impressive...so I do look forward to hearing his sooner or later.

Thumbs up for Ebert, even when he seems to have his up his backside.

Minority Report sucks!!!!!!

please no thread craps!

And yet Ebert's review of Nemesis made me respect his opinion again. Truer words have never been spoken in any of his more recent reviews.

Is this list typical of Ebert? all those films are independent but not Minority Report which is a mainstream movie.

me too... I was thrilled that he put it there! I've only seen 29 films from 2002 so far, with a list of over 90 more to definitely see before making my list, but Minority Report is far and away the best I've seen this year, and the only film I've given a 10/10 to.

BTW, here's a great site with a ton more lists and a great place to start to make a list of your own for what else to see! http://www.moviecitynews.com/awards/top_10/index.html And yup, Ebert's the only critic they've got listed so far to put MP #1!

I love reading well-thought-out negative reviews for movies I enjoy. At one point or another, I have checked out all of my favorite movies on Amazon and IMDb, and I always skip over the two sentence reviews and the gushing reviews and read the negative reviews that are a few paragraphs long. I've recently begun checking out Rotten Tomatoes as well. I always search for a movie I like, and I always will only read the negative reviews.

If I don't like a movie, then I want to forget about it. And if I do like a movie, I don't want to hear other people echo my sentiments.

Intelligent constructive criticism is a great thing.

I've seen Y TU MAMA, 13 Conversations and FAR FROM HEAVEN and I thought that all of them were very good films.


I also loved MINORITY REPORT except that it was a little complex at times and made me have to think.

I prefer to be spoonfed a generic plot with an "as usual" outcome like most American movies.

The only movie I saw on his list is Minority Report, and I just saw it on DVD on Christmas.

I put very little faith in critics, I just want to know what the movie is about and who is in it. A few clips always helps.

Lets remember how much he dogged Star Wars when it 1st came out and then changed his tune once everyone in the world went to see it and loved it.

I rarely listen to commentaries anymore, but Ebert's commentary on both Dark City and Citizen Kane have made me appreciate both of those movies all the more (if that's possible with an all-time classic like Kane).

Well, I'm not sure you're correct on that one. Ebert has always loved and praised the original Star Wars trilogy. He certainly never dogged it as far as I know.

There's his end quote from his Star Wars review. Here's a link to his review.

http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/ebert_.../starwars.html

4 stars. Hardly the review of someone who hated the film, then changed his review to reflect audience opinion. Ebert doesn't do that anyway. Look at his TPM review. A lot of people didn't care for it, he liked it quite a bit, judging by his 3 1/2 star review.

I'm happy he listed Minority Report #1 as well. It's a gutsy, bold pic and one I don't disagree with. Definitely one of my Top 2. Quite frankly, I like it when critics sometimes go against the flow and make a bold choice. Going with the safe and popular route gets old and stale.

Er...?

Okay, this might be a bit off topic, but I've also enjoyed Ebert's commentaries on Dark City and Citizen Kane and I'm wondering... has he done any other commentaries? Somehow I doubt it, but short of Return to the Valley of the Dolls I'd buy maybe any disc he did a commentary for.

Flame away

Those are the only two he's done so far. And Citizen Kane came out like a year ago, right? I'm surprised we haven't seen any more.

You're just absolutely wrong. I can't understand people sneering at the "Spielberg endings" in A.I. and Minority Report.

These are two of the most challenging movies released in recent memory. The ending to Minority Report is ostensibly happy for the characters, but it's much more complex than you seem to understand.

Dismantling Precrime may be good for the precogs, but their condition, however undesirable, prevented hundreds of murders.

While Spielberg is known for manipulating emotions, and tugs those strings at several points in both A.I. and in Minority Report, he has created very open-ended intellectual puzzles in these films. These films implicitly raise questions and never answer them.

Minority Report does not judge Precrime, and thus, this is only a "Spielberg ending" if you define that as an ending which is ambiguous and challenging.

I've always been surprised at people saying "A.I." has a "Spielberg" ending -- if anything, it's almost a David Lynch ending. It's incredibly sad and dark when you think about it, with only the outward appearance of happiness

Minority Report...................Hummmmmmmm.........

Looks like another Hollywood insider afraid to test the wrath of Steven Spielberg. Roger Ebert made a good career move at the risk of whatever credibility he still has as a critic