The Best Movies of the Decade (so far): My Ballot

You may remember the other day I mentioned that The Dissolve had asked me and other critics to contribute ballots to their poll of the best films of the decade (2010-2014). (You can see the master list, with write-ups, of Nos. 50-26 here. Nos. 25-1 are right here.)

For those interested, I decided to publish my ballot below.

Doing some quick number-crunching, I see that 10 of my Top 20 films ended up in the overall Dissolve Top 50. If some of my picks surprise you, well, they surprised me, too -- but I decided to go by instinct and not overthink my choices. If nothing else, this will help give me a guide for "Best of the Decade" lists in about four years, which will be here quicker than you think.

1. Inside Llewyn Davis
2. The Turin Horse
3. The Master
4. Boyhood
5. City of Life and Death
6. Lourdes
7. Shutter Island
8. Elena (the Andrei Zvyagintsev film)
9. It's Such a Beautiful Day
10. The Social Network
11. The Clock
12. Compliance
13. Let the Fire Burn
14. Blue Is the Warmest Color
15. Shame
16. Leviathan (the Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Véréna Paravel film)
17. Upstream Color
18. Take Shelter
19. Room 237
20. Before Midnight

Sundance 2015 Preview: 10 Must-Sees

Calling a festival preview a selection of "must-see films" is always risky. None of us have seen them, so how do we know if we truly must see them? So for purposes of accuracy, let me just say that the piece I wrote for Deadspin highlights 10 films I'm most curious to check out while at Park City. They run the gamut from horror-documentaries to the latest from the filmmaker of Compliance. Here they all are.

'Compliance': Let the Debate Begin

I've been raving about Compliance since Sundance. At last, the film is finally opening in theaters, and I expect a wide range of opinions on this divisive, terrific movie. For Deadspin, Will and I debated the movie's merits. (He doesn't like the film so much.) You can read our conversation here.

Back Stage: The Best Movie Weekend of the Year?

Now that I have your attention with my needlessly hyperbolic headline, I do think there are plenty of worthwhile film options available to you this weekend: everything from the unnerving Compliance to the warmhearted Robot & Frank to the winningly macabre ParaNorman to the intriguing Side by Side. This week's Screen Grab column for Back Stage lays out all the new releases.

Sundance 2012: Ranking the Best and Worst of the Festival

And so we come to the end of another Sundance film festival. All in all, I saw 32 films, including a couple I checked out at Toronto last year that also played in Park City. Here's my ranking of what I saw, from worst to best...

Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie
Red Lights
Lay the Favorite
Goats
Wish You Were Here
LUV
Wrong
Chasing Ice
For a Good Time, Call...
Mosquita y Mari
Celeste and Jesse Forever
The End of Love
I Am Not a Hipster
Black Rock
For Ellen
The Invisible War
The Surrogate
The Imposter
Smashed
The House I Live In
Beasts of the Southern Wild
The Words
Gypsy Davy
Sleepwalk With Me
Wuthering Heights
Simon Killer
Your Sister's Sister
Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present
Safety Not Guaranteed
Room 237
28 Hotel Rooms
Compliance

You may notice that Beasts of the Southern Wild isn't as high on my list as it is on many other folks'. I think it's a good film, if a bit overpraised. You also may notice I missed several films that won prizes as last night's awards event. What can I say: There's only so much time, and you can't screen everything. But you can be sure I'll be doing some catchup over the next several months.

Sundance 2012: 'Compliance' review

I had been impressed with Craig Zobel's first film, Great World of Sound, but nothing prepared me for what he would do next. That would be Compliance, which debuted Saturday at Sundance and caused quite a stir in the audience. I can understand the volcanic, angry response, but I think it's completely misguided. I reviewed the film for Screen International, and I worked hard to avoid the word "masterpiece," although I think the movie gets pretty darn close to earning that designation.