I love Ebert, and awesome for NF!

But, Knowing? really?

geratongs3000 | December 21, 05:57 CET

Ebert is going a little crazy in his old age. I still love to read his reviews though, and his sensibilities are still 80% in line with mine.

Is Knowing bad?

dispatch | December 21, 06:48 CET

Big Ebert fan even in the days when he and Siskel were together. l definitely want to checkout Trucker with Nate Fillion.

zee | December 21, 06:56 CET

Wow, I've only seen two of those films on either of the lists (Inglorious and A Serious Man.) Disgusted with myself. I do agree with them both though.

And I was also under the impression that Knowing was meant to be a terrible film.

Vandelay | December 21, 11:52 CET

"Knowing" was... okay, at best. It certainly doesn't belong on any best-of list, as far as I'm concerned. The bulk of the movie was fine, then the ending was... weird. My favorite quote about it that I read was this: "'Knowing': Not as bad as you'd feared, nor as good as you'd secretly hoped."

XanMan | December 21, 12:37 CET

Not sure why you'd have to "secretly" hope it was good. Alex Proyas is a fantastic director, with "The Crow" and the stunning "Dark City" on his résumé. Nic Cage is the definition of inconsistent, but he's usually fun to watch.

Or is this part of the whole "embarrassed to enjoy sci-fi" thing? I'd think with "District 9", "Star Trek" and "Moon" amongst the best and/or most watched films of the year people would be happier to shed that negative association.

VaughnOfTheDead | December 21, 13:27 CET

Knowing was excellent, and has much to recommend it, especially when you consider the question it asks and the complexity of the answer to that question it provides. Believe me, I am not fan of Nicholas Cage, but when we saw this, my wife was unable to sleep that night simply from considering the questions it raises. Let me ask one question: Could the wife of the little girl have any other fate? Think about that in the context of the film, and it simply one part of how deep this film goes.

Dana5140 | December 21, 17:28 CET

People are afraid to believe that Knowing is good, I think, because virtually all the critics said it was terrible. Ebert didn't, and he's sticking to his guns, which I like about him. I haven't seen it, but probably will.

I do find Ebert a little too...positive, in his reviews, this year; this sounds like a bit of a strange criticism, but I think that he could stand to be a little more critical, with all the four star reviews he's handing out constantly. But then he gave Star Trek 2.5 stars, which endears him to me greatly (as someone who was mystified by the lavish praise heaped on it). But you can tell he's enjoying movies, and writes about them with passion.

Amusingly, only three of the "mainstream" (and Special Jury Prize) films actually played at my local mainstream theatre--Inglourious Basterds, Avatar and Up in the Air--though a few others played at an independent theatre with just two screens. I've actually only seen IB, The Hurt Locker, Bad Lt., and enjoyed them all; A Serious Man only played during my exam season and was out the day after, even though that's probably the film besides IB I was most looking forward to this year. Grumble grumble.

WilliamTheB | December 21, 23:50 CET

I love Ebert's reviews. I don't always agree with them, but whenever he goes against popular consensus it's usually for a good reason. Will have to give Knowing a try after all, along with quite other films on that list.

MattK | December 22, 00:59 CET

I've seen six of those movies and loved them all, so I would definitely give Knowing a try. But my favorite of the ones I saw was The Hurt Locker. That story & those characters haunted me in a way that most don't.

jcs | December 22, 23:08 CET