Weekend lists.

Doug Cummings's top ten, listed alphabetically, includes The Romance of Astreé and Céladon, "a genuine delight, full of [Eric] Rohmer's witty treatises on love and fidelity, as well as his bumbling, superficially eloquent characters who have to depend on serendipity simply to fathom the intricacies of their own hearts."

Also at filmjourney.org, Robert Koehler: "This is a long list because it was a great year. And it was a great year because we're in the midst of a new golden age for world cinema - of which this list is submitted as proof."

"The best new movie I saw in the last twelve months was Private Fears in Public Places by the now 85-year-old Alain Resnais," writes Duncan Shepherd, introducing his overview of the year in the San Diego Reader.

"2007 was a year in which the greatest uncovered story on the movie beat - the transition from analog to digital filmmaking - continued to be uncovered and continued to shape the kind and quality of films being produced," writes Dave Kehr after listing 20 favorites in alphabetical order. "I think the digital revolution is most obvious in the sudden resurgence of animated films, the genre best positioned to take advantage of the new technology. For Robert Zemeckis, the digital environment of Beowulf provided a way to create some of the most breathtaking and expressive camera movements since the passing of Otto Preminger; for Brad Bird, Ratatouille was the occasion for some marvelously precise, classical decoupage, quite different from the frenzied cutting that has characterized so many of the new live-action digital films."

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford tops Christopher Orr's list - but wait, there's more. He's come up with a slew of extra categories that are just a whole lot of fun. Most of them come in pairs, e.g., "The 'Wow, I Had a Hell of a Year' Award: Philip Seymour Hoffman (Charlie Wilson's War, The Savages, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead)" and "The 'Damn, My Year Was Crap' Award: Clive Owen (Shoot 'Em Up, Elizabeth: The Golden Age)."

Also in the New Republic, Jed Perl on " a half a dozen remarkable books about the visual arts published during the year."

"[A]rt cinema isn't dead," announces Steve Erickson and offers his list for Gay City News as proof. His #1: Syndromes and a Century.

Matthew Clayfield lists the highlights of his year.

"In composing a list of my 10 favorite nonfiction films of the year, I realized that the ten films that I name as honorable mentions could have easily have been a top 10 in another year. And that too would have been a more than decent year." AJ Schnack's list is in alphabetical order.

"To a degree, documentaries marked my year in film; Jia Zhang-ke's Useless was one, Heinz Emigholz's Schindler's Houses another, but I was particularly moved by Steven Okazaki's White Light/Black Rain, a somewhat conventionally structured but illuminating study of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki," writes MS Smith. "Few documentaries of this event are as important or as thoughtful."

A great batch of Top 5s from Francis Cruz: new and older Filipino films; new and older films from elsewhere. Also: Lav Diaz's Death in the Land of Encantos "is simply one great film, arguably the greatest film of 2007."

Top tens in the Washington Post:

• Stephen Hunter's #1 is No End in Sight: "This look at the Iraq war demonstrates for all the kook-fringe documentarians how far you can get on scrupulous reporting, non-conspiratorial analysis, penetrating interviews and a fair overview."

• "Because it's poetic, profound and perfect," Ann Hornaday puts The Diving Bell and the Butterfly at the top of her list.

• Desson Thompson goes for Zodiac: "David Fincher's film is a police procedural a la Picasso - all of the known cliches rendered in a penetrating, startling new light."

And Jen Chaney lists "seven exceptional DVD moments from 2007."

At the top of Chris Barsanti's list: This Is England.

Otto Preminger's Daisy Kenyon tops Mike D'Angelo's "2007: My year in repertory."

At ScreenGrab:

• "I'll be happy to go along with the prevailing wisdom that 2007 was an especially rich year for film," writes Leonard Pierce, who also goes along with many who deem No Country for Old Men the year's best film. His #2: Brand Upon the Brain!

• Scott Von Doviak holds that "these year-end top ten lists should be handled like the Hall of Fame: there should be a five-year waiting period in order to avoid any embarrassing blunders." But he's game and goes for I'm Not There.

• "[I]t's tough to put my finger on what exactly makes Zodiac such a masterpiece," writes Paul Clark.

• Phil Nugent goes for There Will Be Blood, a "triumph of personal filmmaking, epic scale division."

"This year's list wants to stop at nine, so I will oblige it," writes Dan Sallitt. But he's got a lot of honorable mentions - grouped hierarchically.

"The author-screenwriter teams behind Atonement, [Into the Wild], No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood and Zodiac have been named finalists for the 2008 USC Libraries Scripter Award," notes Jeffrey Wells. "The winner will be announced 2.2.08 at a gala ceremony at USC's Edward L Doheny Jr Memorial Library, with Jason Alexander emcee-ing."

"The Online Film Critics Society have also spoken," sees Nathaniel R, noting that their list of nominees is "nearly identical." Switch out Wild for Juno, and there you have it.

"The recently formed Houston Film Critics Society - of which I am a member - has announced its very first list of year-end accolades," announces Joe Leydon. They go for No Country for Old Men but tag Tim Burton as best director.

Inland Empire tops Pat Graham's list of 30 favorites.

David Pratt-Robson considers some "favorite, underrated films of the year that probably will not be making the top 10 list."

Rick of Coosa Creek Mambo writes up a few of the year's highlights.

Tasha Robinson's "Favorite Movie Year: 1986."

At Koreanfilm.org, Darcy Paquet looks back on the top news stories for, yes, Korean film, in 2007.

Looking ahead to 08 in the UK: Geoffrey Macnab in the Independent and Jason Solomons for the Observer.

The Edge Annual Question for 2008: "What have you changed your mind about? And why?" Brian Eno's answer is excellent, by the way.

More lists at Arthur: Steve K, Ben Blackwell, Tracy Nakayama & Jeremy Yoder, John Payne, Steve Aylett, Arik Roper, Zach Cowie, Paloma Parfrey and Eden Bakti.

Online listening tip. At Lance Weiler's Workbook Project, Scott Kirsner and Woody Benson discuss the year in digital media.

Posted by dwhudson at January 5, 2008 9:12 AM