Peter Travers' Best-of List is "A White-Knuckle Thrill Ride!"

Thursday, December 11, 2008 at 2:03AM
Colin Boyd in Critics, Lists

Rolling Stone critic Peter Travers has released his picks for the best films of 2008, and there are no major surprises here. It's a safe list, but that doesn't mean it's not representative of some of the year's best films.

Even though these rankings are hard to argue with en masse - there will always be omissions, of course - Travers is hardly my favorite critic. I mean, he's no Pete Hammond, no Earl Dittman. But he says things like "pulse-pounding" and makes references to where on your seat the movie will put you.

I have at least two DVDs (A Prairie Home Companion and Whale Rider) that feature his standard quote whore blurb, "There's magic in it." He also used it this year with Bottle Shock. Oh, and he said of this summer's Sex and the City, "Snap out of it, guys, you just might learn something. Sarah Jessica Parker is funny, touching and vital." Wow. Really?

Anyway, here's the list, and I'll leave it to you to comment away. I actually love over half of these movies, although I would certainly change the order around.

Milk
Slumdog Millionaire
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
WALL-E
Revolutionary Road
The Visitor
Doubt
Rachel Getting Married
Man on Wire

Article originally appeared on (http://www.getthebigpicture.net/).