2008

Movie - date - theater

July
125. *Swing Time - 23 - Film Center
— The Dark Knight - 21 - Evanston
124. #Lawrence of Arabia - 20 - Music Box
123. The Dark Knight - 19 - River East
122. #The Leopard - 17 - Film Center
121. My Winnipeg - 16 - Music Box
120. Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson - 16 - Century Centre
119. Encounters at the End of the World - 14 - Music Box
118. Tell No One - 14 - Century Centre
117. *Top Hat - 8 - Film Center
116. Hancock - 6 - Evanston
115. Mongol - 3 - Evanston
114. #Fallen Angel - 2 - Film Center
113. *Monsieur Verdoux - 1 - Film Center
112. War, Inc. - 1 - Century Centre

June
111. #Loves of a Blonde - 30 - Cinematheque
110. Get Smart - 29 - Evanston
109. #Laura - 28 - Film Center
108. WALL-E - 27 - 600 North Michigan
107. Up the Yangtze - 26 - Music Box
106. The Duchess of Langeais - 25 - Century Centre
105. #Rocco and His Brothers - 24 - Film Center
104. #Kiss of Death - 23 - Film Center
103. #Love Sick - 23 - Film Center
102. #Thieves’ Highway - 19 - Film Center
101. The Incredible Hulk - 17 - Evanston
100. #Occident - 16 - Film Center
99. The Fall - 8 - Century Centre
98. Shotgun Stories - 7 - Film Center
97. #Nightmare Alley - 6 - Film Center
96. Bab’Aziz: The Prince Who Contemplated His Soul - 4 - Film Center
95. Reprise - 4 - Century Centre
94. Roman de Gare - 3 - Century Centre
93. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - 2 - Evanston

2007

Movie - date - theater

December
136. The Savages - 28 - Evanston
135. *City Lights - 27 - Music Box
134. Youth without Youth - 27 - Century Centre
133. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - 26 - Evanston
132. Juno - 21 - Century Centre
131. Starting Out in the Evening - 21 - Music Box
130. The Walker - 20 - Pipers Alley
129. The Golden Compass - 19 - Evanston
128. Grace Is Gone - 19 - Webster Place
127. Beowulf - 18 - Logan
126. Romance & Cigarettes - 17 - Music Box
125. Atonement - 14 - Century Centre
124. Margot at the Wedding - 14 - Evanston
123. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead - 11 - Century Centre
122. I’m Not There - 9 - Century Centre
121. *Blade Runner - 5 - Inwood

2006

THE BEST: Pan’s Labyrinth; Army of Shadows; The Prestige; The Queen; Neil Young: Heart of Gold; Brick; Inside Man; Children of Men; Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story; The Lives of Others; United 93; Akeelah and the Bee; An Inconvenient Truth; World Trade Center; The Fountain; Sweet Land

VERY GOOD: Clean; Volver; Block Party; The Proposition; The Notorious Bettie Page; Little Miss Sunshine; The Departed; Paprika; Marie Antoinette; Tsotsi; L’Enfant (The Child); Sophie Scholl: The Final Days; Monster House; Old Joy; Fateless; Cars; A Prairie Home Companion; Cavite; The Heart of the Game; Idiocracy; Flannel Pajamas; Letters from Iwo Jima

ALSO GOOD, IF NOTHING SPECIAL: Casino Royale; Lemming; Half Nelson; Glory Road; Shortbus; Babel; Little Children; Rocky Balboa; Perfume: The Story of a Murderer; Le Petit Lieutenant; The Good Shepherd; Bubble; The Pursuit of Happyness; Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan; Find Me Guilty; Down in the Valley; Duck Season; 13 Tzameti; The Dead Girl; The Good German; A Scanner Darkly; Factotum; Stranger Than Fiction; The Last King of Scotland; Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World; Why We Fight; Running Scared; Eight Below; Thank You for Smoking; Wah-Wah; Strangers with Candy; Favela Rising; My Country My Country; Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles; The Bridesmaid; A Good Year; Come Early Morning; Fast Food Nation; Game 6; Wordplay; Darwin’s Nightmare

DOESN’T SUCK: Don’t Come Knocking; 16 Blocks; The Devil Wears Prada; The Painted Veil; Notes on a Scandal; Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos; Jesus Camp; Apocalypto; V for Vendetta; Ask the Dust; The History Boys; Venus; Joyeux Noël (Merry Christmas); Lonesome Jim; Friends with Money; Art School Confidential; Sketches of Frank Gehry; Peaceful Warrior; Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man; The Illusionist; All the King’s Men; Renaissance; Curse of the Golden Flower; The Science of Sleep; Infamous; Deja Vu; The Nativity Story; Winter Passing; Breaking and Entering; Mission: Impossible III; Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest; The Da Vinci Code

SUCKS: Days of Glory; Lady Vengeance; Miami Vice; Drawing Restraint 9; Hollywoodland; Copying Beethoven; Catch a Fire; Factory Girl; Flags of Our Fathers; The Descent; X-Men: The Last Stand; Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus; God Grew Tired of Us; Trust the Man; Hard Candy; Superman Returns; Dreamgirls; The Break-Up; The Lake House; Firewall; Night Watch (Nochnoi Dozor); Blood Diamond; The Architect

REALLY BADLY SUCKS: Unknown White Male; Lady in the Water; Bobby; Miss Potter; Man of the Year; Poseidon; The King; La Moustache; For Your Consideration; Inland Empire; Running with Scissors

The full list is after the jump…

2005

In order of preference:

BEST: The Constant Gardener, Good Night and Good Luck, Cache (Hidden), Batman Begins, Grizzly Man, 3-Iron, Me and You and Everyone We Know, The Squid and the Whale, Oldboy, The Boys of Baraka, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, Millions, Nine Lives, Syriana, Brokeback Mountain, The White Countess, The Beautiful Country

ALSO GOOD: Breakfast on Pluto, Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, A History of Violence, The Beat That My Heart Skipped, Corpse Bride, Last Days, Cronicas, Capote, The 40 Year-Old Virgin, Wedding Crashers, Munich, Junebug, Ushpizin, Duma, Kingdom of Heaven, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Tropical Malady, Sin City, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, In Her Shoes, Pride & Prejudice, Oliver Twist, Downfall, The Thing About My Folks, Kung Fu Hustle, Match Point, Gunner Palace

INTERESTING BUT FLAWED: Memory of a Killer (The Alzheimer Case), Stay, Shopgirl, The Family Stone, The New World, The Interpreter

NOT BAD: Cinderella Man, Layer Cake, Crash, Murderball, Broken Flowers, The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, March of the Penguins

THUMBS SIDEWAYS: North Country, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Proof, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Mad Hot Ballroom, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Fun with Dick and Jane, The World’s Fastest Indian, The Ice Harvest, Bee Season

WELL-MADE AND WELL-ACTED, BUT RIDICULOUS: Yes, Hustle and Flow, My Summer of Love

MOSTLY BORING: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, The War Within, Occupation: Dreamland, Elizabethtown, The Aristocrats, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Mrs. Henderson Presents, The Brothers Grimm, The Upside of Anger, Flightplan, Jarhead, An Unfinished Life, King Kong, The Matador, Rent, Casanova, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Legend of Zorro, The Libertine

BAD: Transamerica, Walk the Line, Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist, The Island, Where the Truth Lies, Domino, The Producers, War of the Worlds, Must Love Dogs, Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, Fantastic Four, Secuestro Express