Chicago Reader, 2005:
The World (Jia Zhang-ke)
Not on the Lips (Alain Resnais)
A History of Violence (David Cronenberg)
Ten Skies (James Benning)
Tropical Malady (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
Howl’s Moving Castle (Hayao Miyazaki) & Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Tim Burton)
Yes (Sally Potter) & Capote (Bennett Miller)
Michelangelo Eye to Eye (Michelangelo Antonioni) & Saraband (Ingmar Bergman)
Broken Flowers (Jim Jarmusch) & Me and You and Everyone We Know (Miranda July)
The Girl from Monday (Hal Hartley) & 2046 (Wong Kar-wai)
Chicago Reader, 2006:
Cafe Lumiere (Hou Hsiao-hsien) & Three Times (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
Army of Shadows (1969, Jean-Pierre Melville) & Statues Also Die (1953, Resnais/Marker/Cloquet)
The War Tapes (Deborah Scranton) & Iraq in Fragments (James Longley)
Cuadecuc-Vampir (1970, Pere Portabelle) & Warsaw Bridge (1990, Portabella)
Find Me Guilty (Sidney Lumet) & Half Nelson (Ryan Fleck)
Citadel (Atom Egoyan) & The Power of Nightmares (Adam Curtis)
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (Tommy Lee Jones) & The Illusionist (Neil Burger)
Ask the Dust (Robert Towne) & Hollywoodland (Allen Coulter)
Moments Choisis des Histoire(s) du Cinéma (Godard) & My Dad Is 100 Years Old (Maddin)
Fast Food Nation (Richard Linklater) & Bobby (Emilio Estevez)
DVD Beaver, 2006:
1. 6 Films de Luc Moullet (Luc Moullet, 2006), Blaq Out; multizone NTSC
2. Stephen Dwoskin: 14 Films (Stephen Dwoskin, 2006), RenardFilms; code free PAL
3. Onde Jaz O Teu Sorrioso? (Pedro Costa, 2006), Assirio & Alvim; region 2 PAL
4. A Canterbury Tale (Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger, 2006), Criterion; region 1 NTSC
5. Martin Arnold: The Cineseizure (Martin Arnold, 2006), Index; code free PAL
6. The Red and the White (Miklos Jansco), Second Run; PAL region unidentified
7. Entuziazm (Dziga Vertov, 2006), Edition Filmmuseum; code free PAK
8. Michel Brault: Oeuvres 1958-1974 (Michel Brault, 2005); National Film Board of Canada; NTSC region unidentified
9. Paris Nous Appartient (Jacques Rivette, 2006); BFI; PAL region 2
10. The Oyster Princess + I Don’t Want To Be a Man (Ernst Lubitsch, 2006); Kino Video; NTSC region 1
Chicago Reader, 2007:
Casa de Lava & Where Lies Your Hidden Smile? & Colossal Youth (Pedro Costa)
India Matri Buhmi (Roberto Rossellini)
Out 1 & Out 1: Spectre (Jacques Rivette)
Bamako (Abderrahmane Sissako)
The Silence Before Bach (Pere Portabella)
Black Book (Verhoeven) & Ratatouille (Bird/Pinkava) & Honeydripper (Sayles) & Blade Runner: The Final Cut (Scott) & I’m Not There (Haynes) & In the Valley of Elah (Haggis) & The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Dominik) & The Dead Girl (Moncrieff) & Inland Empire (Lynch) & Letters From Iwo Jima (Eastwood) & Margot at the Wedding (Baumbach) & Starting Out in the Evening (Wagner)
Away from Her (Sarah Polley)
My Brother’s Wedding (Charles Burnett)
Private Fears in Public Places (Alain Resnais)
Offside (Jafar Panahi)
Film Comment, 2007 (ranked):
Black Book
Bamako
Colossal Youth
Away from Her
My Brother’s Wedding
Private Fears in Public Places
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Offside
In the Valley of Elah
I’m Not There
Film Comment, 2008 (alphabetical order):
24 CITY (JIA ZHANG-KE)
MOMMA’S MAN (AZAZEL JACOBS)
MY WINNIPEG (GUY MADDIN) OF TIME AND THE CITY (TERENCE DAVIES)
THE ORDER OF MYTHS (MARGARET BROWN)
LES PLAGES D’AGNES (AGNES VARDA)
PROFIT MOTIVE AND THE WHISPERING WIND (JOHN GIANVITO)
RR (JAMES BENNING)
THE SILENCE BEFORE BACH (PERE PORTABELLA)
TROUBLE THE WATER (TIA LESSIN & CARL DEAL)
DVD Beaver, 2008 (best DVDs or box sets):
1. Intégrale Jacques Demy (box set); Arte Video, region 2
2. The Long Day Closes (Davies, 1992); BFI, region 2
3. Georges Méliès: First Wizard of Cinema (1896-1913); Flicker Alley, region 1
4. Satantango (Tarr, 1994); Facets Video, region 1
5. L’argent (L’Herbier, 1928); Gaumont Columbia Tristar, region 2
6. Mélo (Resnais, 1986); Kino Video, region 1
7. White Dog (Fuller, 1982); Criterion, region 1
8. Judex (Franju, 1963); Masters of Cinema, region 2
9. The Horse Thief (Tian, 1985); Chinese Follow Me, region 1
10. The Delirious Fictions of William Klein (box set); Criterion, region 1
Miradas de Cine, 2008 (15 favorite 40s films):
Christmas in July
The Shop Around the Corner
The Thief of Bagdad
Citizen Kane
Cat People
The Magnificent Ambersons
Day of Wrath
Heaven Can Wait
The Seventh Victim
Ivan the Terrible
The Best Years of Our Lives
Monsieur Verdoux
The Shanghai Gesture
Spring in a Small City
Late Spring
overrated:
His Girl Friday
Casablanca
Shadow of a Doubt
It’s a Wonderful Life
On the Town
5 best westerns, Kevyn Knox, The Cinematheque, 2008 (in chronological order):
The Naked Spur (Anthony Mann, 1953)
Johnny Guitar (Nicholas Ray, 1954)
Wichita (Jacques Tourneur, 1955)
Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks, 1959)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (John Ford, 1962)
DVD Beaver, 2009:
1. Fritz Lang, The Complete Fritz Lang Mabuse Box Set (Masters of Cinema), region 2/PAL
2. various, Gaumont Treasures, 1897-1913 (Kino Video), region 1/NTSC
3. Vera Chytilova, Daisies (Second Run), region 2/PAL
4. John Huston, Wise Blood (Criterion), region 1/NTSC
5. Kent Mackenzie, The Exiles (Milestone), region 1/NTSC
6. Hiroshi Shimizu, Travels with Hiroshi Shimizu (Eclipse), region 1/NTSC
7. Guy Maddin, Careful (Remastered ahd Repressed) (Zeitgeist Films), region 1/NTSC
8. Don Weis, I Love Melvin (Warners Archive Collection), region 1/NTSC
9. John Ford, Wagon Master (Warner Home Video), region 1/NTSC
10. Terence Davies, Terence Davies Collection (BFI), region 2/PAL
Film Comment, 2009 (ranked):
24 City
Wild Grass
Helsinki, Forever (Peter von Bagh )
The Beaches of Agnes
Of Time and the City
Me and Orson Welles
Lowlands (Peter Thompson )
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
The Sun
The Hurt Locker
Cahiers du Cinéma (2009, best of the decade, ranked):
Yi Yi, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, The Circle, Waking Life, The Mad Songs of Fernanda Hussein, Où gît votre sourire enfoui?, *Corpus Callosum, Pas sur la bouche, Howl’s Moving Castle, Pistol Opera, Los Angeles Plays Itself, The World, Michelangelo Eye to Eye, Bamako, The Silence Before Bach, Black Book, Of Time and the City, RR, Les Plages d’Agnès, Helsinki, Forever