Lists and awards, 12/27.

"This was an exceptional year for documentaries and an unusually strong one for foreign-language releases, but in my judgment pretty tepid for American indie narrative features," writes Andrew O'Hehir, introducing his list for Salon. "I'm not as sold on the whole low-budget American realism wave as some critics and filmmakers are." His #1: A Christmas Tale: "Even I think this is too predictable: the reigning champ of European art film at the top of the list. But just go and see Arnaud Desplechin's home-for-the-holidays flick, which brings together a bitterly divided family in the uncharismatic northern French city of Roubaix (the director's hometown), and tell me it's not a masterpiece."

Matt Riviera: "Not the best films of the year. In some cases, not even in the top 100. But these are my most memorable film watching moments of 2008."

At Screengrab, Paul Clark lists his "Favorite Movie Moments" and Phil Nugent adds comments and clips to his alphabetical top ten.

The BBC gathers some of "the most memorable quotes from the world of entertainment uttered during 2008."

Screen indexes its reviews of "the key films of the year."

Rolling Stone rolls out its "Best of 2008" package.

Guardian Review readers chime in on their books of the year; so do Daily Beast contributors.

The Literary Saloon rounds up half a dozen "Year-in-review articles."

Rex Sorgatz, keeper of the list of lists, names his top 35 albums of 2008.

Online listening tip #1. Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo discuss the films of the year.

Online listening tip #2. James Rocchi and Kris Tapley discuss all this year-end list-making.

Posted by dwhudson at December 27, 2008 8:56 AM