Around this time every year, without fail, film critics across the country trot out their year-end retrospectives on the highlights of the past 12 months, usually in the form of a top-10 list. It is time-honored ritual, as critics love the chance to laud popular films from the past year as well as inform readers of great films they may have missed. Of course, the idea that there are 10 movies every year worth celebrating above all others is more than a bit arbitrary, and even famed critic Roger Ebert has moved away from a formal top-10 list to a top-20 list this year, which is a number no less capricious.In truth, year-end recaps should be a chance for critics to celebrate those films that are truly great, films which will be remembered long after the year's awards are handed out. Each year there are a huge number of bad films, a bunch of very good films, but only a select few great films. Perhaps there are 10 of them in a year, but perhaps there are five or 15. So without further ado and in no particular order, here are my picks for the seven best films of the year, the seven films I feel elevate themselves from the pack to achieve greatness.



This year was one filled with violent movies, from the sheer brutality of this year's crop of superhero movies to the now almost routine violence of Saw V and other like-minded horror movies. Therefore, it is somewhat ironic that a film about wrestling is easily the most brutally violent.

Starring Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler tells the story of an over-the-hill wrestler clinging to the sport even as his body fails him. To call Rourke's one of the best performances of the year does not nearly do it justice, as Rourke inhabits the character's every breath, every movement; you don't feel like you are watching an actor's performance, but rather the movements and actions of an old wrestler whose body is breaking down. Though painful to watch at times, The Wrestler is perhaps the year's most fully realized film, effectively telling the character's story without resorting to cinematic trickery or Hollywood melodrama.



Slumdog Millionaire, in contrast to the documentary-style aesthetic of The Wrestler, is a film that is heavily stylized with a story that moves about a mile a minute. At its core it is a love story, but Slumdog Millionaire is much more than the romantic plot we see in countless movies each year. It is also a story of overcoming extreme poverty, a crime saga and even, at one point, a Bollywood musical. It is a film that defies description, one that is without question one of the most unique and best pictures of the year.



If Slumdog Millionaire is defined by the wild exuberance of its storytelling, The Visitor is a film characterized by its restraint. Written and directed by Todd McCarthy, the filmmaker behind the 2003 Sundance Film Festival hit The Station Agent, The Visitor tells the story of Walter Vale, played with admirable moderation by Richard Jenkins.

Walter is a college professor teaching in the suburbs of Connecticut who has become depressed and complacent in his life since his wife's death years before. When prompted to attend a conference in New York on world economics, it is only with great reluctance that he agrees to return to the apartment he and his wife used to share. Something goes awry, though, when he finds his supposedly long-vacant apartment occupied by an illegal immigrant couple.

While I won't reveal the twists and turns the story takes from there, the relationship between the characters slowly grows as layers of Walter's personality are revealed. The writing is nothing short of remarkable, as McCarthy's script manages to be universally relatable while also feeling highly personal. While it may not be one of the flashier pictures released this year, The Visitor is surely one of the best.



Much like The Visitor, Jonathan Demme's Rachel Getting Married boasts a remarkably restrained yet emotionally powerful script. Written by Jenny Lumet, daughter of great filmmaker Sidney Lumet, the film's script is revelatory, centering on flawed characters without ever judging them for their shortcomings.

The picture is about a family coming together for the marriage of Rachel (Rosemarie DeWitt), one of two sisters. While Rachel tries to keep her life and her wedding together, younger sister Kym (Anne Hathaway), having just checked out of rehab, is determined to shake things up. Hathaway's character undoubtedly steals the show in the film, and one must commend her for what is easily her best performance to date. Also, the film's realistic, home movie-style aesthetic perfectly suits its script, leading to a film that is something of an instant masterpiece.



Looking back at 2008, it is strange to realize that in a year during which the national conversation was so clearly dominated by the presidential election, there was only one film that truly dealt with politics in a relevant way. That film is Milk, the story of an openly gay San Francisco city supervisor whose story became a symbol of gay rights in this country. While Milk is a film that could have been made in any year, the character's speeches emphasizing hope and change take on added meaning seen through the lens of our nation today. The movie features stellar performances from Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch and Josh Brolin, among many others.



It seems like every year around this time, Pixar's latest animated feature makes it onto numerous critics' "Best of the Year" lists. Last year it was Ratatouille, while in past years movies like Toy Story or Monsters, Inc. achieved critical acclaim. These films are deceptively simple on the surface yet complex upon closer inspection, managing to please both those looking for a fun and lively story but also those looking for a little more depth. Thankfully, this year Pixar's filmmakers have managed to completely outdo themselves with their latest release, Wall-E.

Equal parts adventure, science fiction and romance, WALL-E tells the story of the last robot on a long-abandoned Earth. Its science fiction inspirations are obvious, with references to Stanley Kubrick's 2001 and the Alien series. But perhaps less obvious yet more important is the debt it owes to silent film stars, particularly Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin was the king of using only facial expressions to convey complex emotions, and Pixar has absorbed this impressive ability and used it to perfection with the largely silent main character, WALL-E. And, even if the film does have a few slip-ups in its second half, it has moments so revelatory, so exuberantly beautiful that the movie is elevated beyond mere animated entertainment into true artistry.



Finally, The Dark Knight is without a doubt the film which will go down as the most important, if not the best, film of the year. Looking back at the phenomenon surrounding its release, the most remarkable thing is not that a film about a man dressing up like a bat made nearly a billion dollars worldwide, but rather that a film as unsparingly dark as The Dark Knight made any money at all. Of course, much of the hype surrounding the film focused on the tragic death of the far-too-young Heath Ledger. His performance instantaneously has become legendary, as he is perhaps the most fearsomely sadistic character to set foot onscreen since Alex, the protagonist of A Clockwork Orange.

Yet even more remarkable is that the film seems to identify as much with the Joker's views of the world as it does with Batman's; a noteworthy scene near the film ends shows the Joker suspended upside down, and the audiences watches with a mix of glee and terror as the camera itself turns upside down, changing our perspective so that the Joker now appears upright. It is an astonishing moment, the point at which the character's viewpoints are legitimized, as if in the world today perhaps the Joker's view of chaos and anarchy is the only true way of understanding things.

While the film has a number of outstanding aspects, it is its willingness, and perhaps even eagerness to promote divergent and downright scary views of the world that separated the film from the countless other superhero films that emerge every year.