Michael Wilmington was a movie critic for the LA Times from 1984 to 1993, and, in 1993, he was elected Vice President of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. In 1993, Wilmington was named the lead movie critic at the Chicago Tribune. While at the Tribune, Wilmington won or shared two Peter Lisagor awards for arts criticism. He was also the the on-air movie critic for cable channel CLTV, where he was nominated for two other Lisagors. Wilmington left the Tribune in 2007. In 2008, he became movie and DVD critic for Movie City News.
1. Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King
2. Master And Commander
3. Mystic River
4. Seabiscuit
5. Chi-hwa-seon
6. The Magdalene Sisters
7. City Of God
8. Finding Nemo
9. Together
10. In America
In November 2009 Telegraph film critics David Gritten, Tim Robey and Sukhdev Sandhu compiled a list of 100 films that defined the noughties. The list will surprise some but, as the title suggests, it appears that the ranking order is stressing the importance of the films to their time rather than which they consider the best. For example, Saw is placed at 14th presumably because it was at the forefront of the horror/torture genre that became so prominent and not because it’s a brilliant example of 21st century cinema while there have been far funnier and cleverer films than Kocked Up but the film is a prime example of the New American Comedy that was brought in by director Judd Apatow.
Having come up with their own personal lists, five of the AV Clubs film writers Nathan Rabin, Keith Phipps, Noel Murray, Tasha Robinson and Scott Tobias arrived at a consensus for a combined list of the best 50 films of the 00’s. There are a number of things that stand out about the list, Spike Lee’s 25th Hour placed 2nd? While some of the very best foreign language films of the 21st century are missing such as Let the Right One In and The Lives of Others. We also have The Two Towers as the only representative of Peter Jackson’s LOTRs trilogy and yet, in my opinion, its The Fellowship of the Ring that really brings Tolkien’s world to life with its surprisingly strong characterisation and real emotional power.