Movieguide and The Top Ten Lists

Following the success of my post the other day on movieguide's coverage of the Golden Globe Awards, I thought I'd come back and tackle a few of their '10 best films' lists. First up we have this list for the Top 10 films for mature audiences of 2008 (I've thoughtfully put the Rotten Tomatoes consensus in brackets to help you judge, as well as comments from me where I felt they were necessary...):

• 10. Henry Poole Is Here (37%)
• 9. Marley & Me (61%)
• 8. Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys (51%)
• 7. Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (10%. Also, this is the film that believes evolutionary theory caused/causes fascism, the holocaust and such things as abortion and eugenics. Little surprise they liked it really. Oh, and its 97 minutes of anti-evolution, pro-christian lies.)
• 6. The Day The Earth Stood Still (I heard that it was a pile of festering manure, hence its 21%)
• 5. The Longshots (41%)
• 4. Changeling (62%)
• 3. Valkyrie (61%)
• 2. Gran Torino (80% At last! A really good film!)
• 1. Iron Man (94% But with an average of 7.4/10, is it really film of the year territory?)

Right, whilst I agree that Gran Torino is right up there, pretty much the entire rest of the list is complete and utter drivel. Where's The Dark Knight? Or Slumdog Millionaire? Or The Wrestler? In Bruges, Revolutionary Road, The Reader and Frost/Nixon are all ignored in favour of dross like Expelled. I mean, Iron Man was a good way to spend a couple of hours, but best film of the year? Not by a long shot.

Now, let's see what crap they put in 2009's list:

• 10. The Blind Side (67%)
• 9. Confessions of a Shopaholic (23%)
• 8. Invictus (76%)
• 7. Julie & Julia (65%)
• 6. Knowing (33% It is so much worse than that though...)
• 5. Star Trek (94%)
• 4. The Stoning of Soraya M. (58%)
• 3. Taken (58%)
• 2. Terminator Salvation (32%)
• 1. The Young Victoria (76%)

Now, this list is nowhere near as bad as the previous year's, but where is The Hurt Locker, or District 9? Or A Single Man or An Education? Inglourious Basterds? Precious? Up In The Air? A Prophet? There are so many great films not included, yet tripe like Knowing, Confessions... and Terminator make the grade?

Finally, we have their favourite mature films of the last decade:

• 10. The Family Man (52%)
• 9. Fireproof (40%)
• 8. Evelyn (65%)
• 7. Gods and Generals (8%. You've really excelled yourself here)
• 6. Batman Begins (84% Ah. A good film in this list at last...)
• 5. The Queen (97%)
• 4. The Patriot (You would like this... But it's still only 62%)
• 3. Spiderman/Spiderman 2 (89/93%)
• 2. The Lord Of The Rings (92/96/94% But if these are only 2nd then what's...)
• 1. The Passion Of The Christ (Oh, Jesus. I should have known it would be you... 50%)

I could list every single film from the noughties that should be in this list before most that are, but I would be here for hours, so I urge you to put forth your own suggestions in the comments area!

I daresay I shall be back soon enough with their list of 2010's films, so keep those eyes peeled! As an added bonus, they're constructing a list of the best 100 films ever, so when that's complete I can have a go at that too...