Here's his annual list of the year's best, with commentary. I wish I would have loved Me and You and Everyone We Know as much as others did. I found it to be a marginally good film.

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1. Crash: Much of the world's misery is caused by conflicts of race and religion. Paul Haggis' film, written with Robert Moresco, uses interlocking stories to show we are in the same boat, that prejudice flows freely from one ethnic group to another. His stories are a series of contradictions in which the same people can be sinned against or sinning. There was once a simple morality formula in America in which white society was racist and blacks were victims, but that model is long obsolete. Now many more players have entered the game: Latinos, Asians, Muslims, and those defined by sexual orientation, income, education or appearance.

America is a nation of minority groups, and we get along with each other better than many societies that criticize us; France has recently been reminded of that. We are all immigrants here. What is wonderful about "Crash" is that it tells not simple-minded parables, but textured human stories based on paradoxes. Not many films have the possibility of making their viewers better people; anyone seeing it is likely to leave with a little more sympathy for people not like themselves. The film opened quietly in May and increased its audience week by week, as people told each other they must see it.

2. Syriana: Stephen Gaghan's film doesn't reveal the plot, but surrounds us with it. Interlocking stories again: There is less oil than the world requires, and that will make some rich and others dead, unless we all die first. The movie has been called "liberal," but it is apolitical, suggesting that all of the players in the oil game are corrupt and compromised, and in some bleak sense must be, in order to defend their interests -- and ours.

The story involves oil, money and politics in America, the Middle East and China. The CIA is on both sides of one situation, China may be snatching oil away from us in order to sell it back, and no one in this movie understands the big picture because there isn't one, just a series of tactical skirmishes. "Syriana" argues that in the short run, every society must struggle for oil, and in the long run, it will be gone.

3. Munich: Stephen Spielberg's film may be the bravest of the year, and it plays like a flowing together of the currents in "Crash" and "Syriana," showing an ethnic and religious conflict that floats atop a fundamental struggle over land and oil. Working from a screenplay by Tony Kushner, Spielberg begins with the massacre of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympiad of 1972, and follows a secret assassination team as it attempts to track down the 11 primary killers. Nine eventually die, but not before the Israeli (Eric Bana) who leads the team loses his moral certainty and nearly his sanity, and not before the film sees revenge as a process that may have harmed Israel more than its targets.

The film is not critical of Israel, as some believe, but a more general mourning for the loss of idealism in a region marching steadily toward terrorism and anarchy. In defending itself, can Israel afford to compromise its standards -- or afford not to? Spielberg doesn't have the answer. He has the courage to suggest that some of Israel's post-Munich policies have not made it a better or safer place.

4. Junebug: At last, a movie about ordinary people. Or put it this way: Phil Morrison's "Junebug" was the best non-geopolitical film of the year. In simply human terms, there was no other film like it. It understands, profoundly and with love and sadness, the world of small towns; it captures ways of talking and living I remember from my childhood, and has the complexity and precision of great fiction.

The story, written by Angus MacLachlan, involves Alessandro Nivola and Embeth Davidtz as Chicagoans who return to North Carolina to visit his family: His mother (Celia Weston), mercilessly critical of everyone; his father (Scott Wilson), who has withdrawn into his wood-carving; his brother (Benjamin McKenzie), who loves his wife but has been brought to a halt by his demons and shyness, and the pregnant wife (Amy Adams), who is a good soul.

"Junebug" is a great film because it is a true film. It understands that families are complicated, and their problems are not solved during a short visit, just in time for the happy ending. Families and their problems go on and on, and they aren't solved, they're dealt with. There is one heartbreaking moment of truth after another, and humor and love as well.

5. Brokeback Mountain: Two cowboys in Wyoming discover to their surprise that they love each other. They have no way to deal with that fact. Directed by Ang Lee, it's based on a short story by E. Annie Proulx and a screenplay by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana. In the summer of 1963, Ennis (Heath Ledger) and Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal) find themselves one night on a distant mountainside suddenly having sex. "You know I ain't queer," Ennis tells Jack after their first night together. "Me, neither," says Jake. But their love lasts a lifetime and gives them no consolation, because they cannot accept its nature and because they fear, not incorrectly, that in that time and place they could be murdered if it were discovered. Oh, what a sad and lonely story this is, containing what truth and sorrow.

6. Me and You and Everyone We Know: The previous films have waded fearlessly into troubled waters. Miranda July's walks on them. It's a comedy about falling in love with someone who speaks your rare emotional language of playfulness and daring, of playful mind games and bold challenges. July writes, directs, and stars.

In her first film, she trusts a delicate sense of humor that negotiates situations that would be shocking if they weren't so darn nice. Can you imagine a scene involving teenage sexual experimentation that is sweet and innocent and not shocking at all, because it's not about sex but about what funny and lovable creatures we humans be? And when have you seen a woman seduce a man not with sex but with unbridled and passionate whimsy?

7. Nine Lives: Rodrigo Garcia's film involves nine stories told in a total of nine shots. It is not a stunt. Most audiences will probably never notice that each scene is told in one shot, although they will sense the tangible passage of real time. The best story involves Robin Wright Penn and Jason Isaacs as two former lovers, now married to others (she pregnant), who meet by chance in a supermarket and during a casual conversation, realize that although their lives are content, they made the mistakes of their lifetimes by not marrying each other. Stating this so boldly, I miss the subtle sympathy that Garcia has for all of his characters, who are permitted those tender moments of truth by which we learn what a tease life is -- so slow to teach us how to live it, so quick to end.

8. King Kong: A stupendous cliffhanger, a glorious adventure, a shameless celebration of every single resource of the blockbuster, told in a film of visual beauty and surprising emotional impact. Of course, this will be the most popular film of the year, and nothing wrong with that: If movies like "King Kong" didn't delight us with the magic of the cinema, we'd never start going in the first place.

Peter Jackson's triumph is not a remake of the 1933 classic so much as a celebration of its greatness and a flowering of its possibilities. Its most particular contribution is in the area of the heart: It transforms the somewhat creepy relationship of the gorilla and the girl into a celebration of empathy, in which a vaudeville acrobat (Naomi Watts) intuitively understands that when Kong roars he isn't threatening her but stating his territorial dominance; she responds with acrobatics that delight him, not least because Kong has been a gorilla few have ever tried to delight. From their relationship flows the emotional center of the film, which spectacular special effects surround and enhance, but could not replace.

9. Yes: An elegant Irish-American woman, living with a rich and distant British politician, makes eye contact with a waiter. Neither turns away. Their sex is eager and makes them laugh. They are not young; they are grateful because of long experience with what can go wrong. He was a surgeon in Lebanon. Sally Potter tells their story in iambic pentameter, the rhythm of Shakespeare. The dialogue style elevates what is being said into a realm of grace and care.

Joan Allen stars, and has ever a movie loved a woman more? To recline at the edge of the pool in casual physical perfection is natural to her, disturbing to him. They realize they cannot live together successfully in either of their cultures. A third place is required. Their story is told in counterpoint with the bold asides of a cleaner (Shirley Henderson) who notes that for all their passion they shed the same strands of hair and flakes of skin and tiny germs as the rest of us, and must be cleaned up after. Bold, erotic, political, and like no other film I have ever seen.

10. Millions: The best family film of the year is by the unlikely team of director Danny Boyle and writer Frank Cottrell Boyce. Nine-year-old Anthony Cunningham and his 7-year-old brother, Damian (Lewis McGibbon and Alex Etel) find a bag containing loot that bounced off a train and is currently stuffed under their bed. With limitless imagination and joy, the film follows the brothers as they deal with their windfall.

Oh, and Damian gets advice from saints, real ones. St. Francis of Assisi, his favorite, provides advice that Anthony is sure will get them into trouble. Despite how it sounds, this isn't a "cute little film." The director makes hard-boiled movies, the writer has worked at the cutting edge, and this is what a family film would look like if it were made with the intelligence of adults.

M&Y&EWN is a piece of shit.

And Ebert has lost it for me, lately.

VoicesCarry said:

I like him a lot, and I still think he's a relevant critic, but he's softened in the past few years.

And Me and You... - the best part about the movie was the internet conversation about poop. Yep, a poop joke was the best part of a movie everyone raved about.

RipHer2Shreds said:

I can't get over some of his dumbass reviews of the past few years. And he got really pompous, so much so that he couldn't hire a real critic to spar with on his damn show - instead he got Roeper.

VoicesCarry said:

I can see why they hired him. He's got a lot of the same tastes and temperament as Gene Siskel. I never thought he was the greatest critic, but he knew and loved film. Roeper is a fanboy who's appropriate for something like aintitcoolnews.com or something similar, but that's it.

RipHer2Shreds said:

Ok, about SHITTY CRITICS, aintitcool takes the cake.

I suppose I will never forgive him for the **1/2 Gigli review (you know he would've given it *** had he been allowed to by his editor). And then watching him DEFEND THE DIALOGUE on national TV, with Roeper actually winning was pathetic - and all because he likes himself some ethnic ass. I mean, really! "No, Roger, People don't talk that way." Holy shit, I just agreed with Richard Roeper.

VoicesCarry said:

I was sort of tempted to rent that for something different but it's pretenious bullshit, isn't it? Can't critics ever like a light comedy (my favorite type of movies)?

He lost me a while back but I still like watching the show and value his opinion although I found "Crash" (the only movie listed that I've seen) to be sort of forced...not real.
[Edited 12/18/05 19:31pm]

I haven't made my year-end list yet, but I'll get back to you. There's still time to take in a few more.

I love Ebert!!!

VoicesCarry said:

I remember going on AintitCool once to look at reviews and was thinking "WTF". I never went back.

RipHer2Shreds said:

I agree that was the best part. That scene really broke through toward transcendence. And while I like the film a lot, I agree, it fell short of something...maybe because the ending was weak. But some great material nonetheless. I liked when she wrote "fuck" on the windshield and the soundtrack sang "fuck" "fuck" in angelic tones. I also liked the walk down the block. It was all pretty funny actually.

CalhounSq said:

Well, if this is his list, he's not bad at all. for Ebert!

he sucks. I read his review on suburban commando, didn't claim why he hated it. Didn't he write valley of the dolls?

thesexofit said:

No...he wrote (with the director) the similar (and I'm sure less noteworthy) "Beyond The Valley Of the Dolls" (apparently, originally titled "Hollywood Vixens"...dirty!).

VinnyM27 said:

He wrote it, but less noteworthy? I dunno. It rivals the camp of the original.

"Millions" is so wonderful! I highly recommend it.

RipHer2Shreds said:

Well I think more people probably saw and know about the original. Not sure which one is more liked....or hated!