Finally watched their debut, having DVRed it while on vacation. Contrary to how I remembered them separately with Roeper as fill-ins, together these guys are wayyyy better than the Bens!! No comparison whatsoever.
There's actually some natural cross-talk, very little pretension, some passion. It's a breath of fresh air, even though Scott is more than a little wooden in his delivery. I liked his clever disjointed review of The Burning Plains, or whatever it was called.

Instead of dedicating one show to the Best of the Decade, A.O. and Michael are revealing their picks week by week. This week (10/25 for me), they revealed their #10 movie of the decade.

A.O. Scott:

Michael Phillips

Both of these movies are in my Top 10 of the decade so no argument from me so far.

This was the first episode I've watched since the change in hosts. Is the online only review a new feature?

Yikes. Well, I guess there's no reason for me to tune in to see the rest of those lists.

*shrug* save for the redneck family, I didn't think MDB was all that bad. Minority Report is my favorite sci-fi flick of the decade.

I think they did it once before. They seem to be trying out several new segments like this, all of which work to varying degrees--especially compared to the At the Movies that was right before they came on.

Overall, I enjoy this almost as much as I did with Roeper and guests. Nothing will probably ever be as good to me as Ebert and Roeper (or Siskel), but the current format and hosts are a close second.

Neither film would be in my Top 25. Off to a predictable start.

I was scratching my head at the selection of Minority Report. That wouldnt even make my top 10 Sci-fi of the last decade.

I totally agree with Minority Report and Million Dollar Baby - both are terrific examples of their genre, with director's working at the top of their game. Minority Report especially gets slammed for no reason and is totally underrated IMO.

I like Minority Report. It's a good movie. Top 10 film of the DECADE?? Not even close.

I haven't thought about my own list, but it'll easily include "Synecdoche, New York", "Mulholland Dr.", and "Hable Con Ella".

Underrated...perhaps, but I agree with Scott about the ending just letting the movie off the hook. It's what keeps the film from being great in my opinion.

I thought MDB was one of the best performances of Clint Eastwood's career, and I don't mind it in any decade top ten list.

Overall, I really enjoy this updated version of the show. I'd missed intellectual criticism in the last year (I gave up on Ben & Ben after a couple of weeks).

Update on Michael and A.O.'s Top 10:

A.O.'s #9 is Spike Lee's 25th Hour.

Michael's #9 is Robert Altman's Gosford Park.

Neither movie makes it into my Top 50, let alone 10, but they did encourage me to seek out the director's earlier works.

Number eight

A.O. Scott - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Michael Phillips - Mulholland Drive

My opinion...I agree with Scott; that would be in my top ten as well. I disagree with Phillips. I appreciate Mulholland Drive, and I think Naomi Watts in absolutely sensational in her career making performance, but I just don't get Lynch enough to rate it that highly.

I LOVE The 25th Hour, so I was thrilled to see that get some recognition. Gosford Park I could take or leave. Eternal Sunshine would also probably be on my list and while I really LIKE Mulholland Drive, it definitely wouldn't rank on even my top 25 list.

Mulholland Drive was good, but it was no Blue Velvet.

After seeing their #8 and #9 picks, I have to retract my earlier statement. 25th Hour is a terrific film that sort of got lost in the shuffle. Gosford Park is my favorite Altman film.

I wonder how many foreign films will make their lists.

I agree with Michael Phillips in the view that Mulholland Dr. is David Lynch's 3rd masterpiece (along with Blue Velvet and Eraserhead) and really like how it twists together the Hollywood "dream" and the disappointing reality of someone trying to live that dream.

(And I think it's funny that when I wrote a brief review of it online some 6 years ago or so, I even titled the review "David Lynch's Third Masterpiece" ).

Bold is the most recent entry.

The Top 10 of the Decade lists so far:

A.O. Scott:

#10: Million Dollar Baby
#9: 25th Hour
#8 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
#7: 4 Weeks, 3 Months and 2 Days

Michael Phillips:

#10: Minority Report
#9: Gosford Park
#8: Mulholland Drive
#7: United 93

2 of these are on my Top 10 with a 3rd just missing out and all 8 movies so far would get 4 stars in my book. I'm waiting for a title that I would vehemently disagree with.

Mulholland Drive is in my top 5. While it keeps in tune with David Lynch's love of The Wizard of Oz () it feels totally unique and imo, is still the best character study of the decade.

A long overdue update and Michael and A.O.'s Top 10 of the Decade:

Michael Phillip's Top 10 so far:
#10 Minority Report
#9 Gosford Park
#8 Mulholland Drive
#7 United 93
#6 Zodiac
#5 Y Tu Mama Tambien
#4 Once
#3 Climates

A.O. Scott's Top 10 so far:

#10 Million Dollar Baby
#9 25th Hour
#8 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
#7 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
#6 The Best of Youth
#5 Where the Wild Things Are
#4 The Pianist
#3 Brokeback Mountain

Brokeback narrowly missed my Top 10 of the decade even though it was #3 on my Top 10 of 2005 behind Munich and Batman Begins.

I have Best of Youth coming tomorrow via Netflix.

A.O. and Michael announced their #2 picks:

A.O.: A.I.

Michael: Ratatouille

I would love to see or hear a show where these two debate A.I., which I think is Spielberg's most underrated work. I agree with Michael about the ending. I think the movie should have ended when

Zeke, then you missed the whole point of the film...totally. I always says this, but if you watch A.I. as a Mecha fairy tale, then everything falls into place, and you know why there is that extended coda at the end.

He now works for Reelz and he does a weekly segment each Tues on Hollywood Dailies with DVD reviews.


I don't understand why Scott and Phillips don't do a segment each week on the new DVD releases?

With the addition of the "RENT IT" recommendation in their movie reviews, they sort of cover that ground already.

Roeper will also have his own movie show on Starz.

People actually want Roeper back?! He was the beginning of the show's downfall ... when it first started dumbing down toward the Bens. I like what I'm seeing from Scott and Phillips, a return to more thoughtful criticism. I don't enjoy the new show as much as I enjoyed Siskel and Ebert, but it's a big step in the right direction.