Top 15 of french magazine Télérama :

1. Valse avec Bachir (Ari Folman)
2. Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Woody Allen)
3. Un conte de Noël (Arnaud Desplechin)
4. Hunger (Steve McQueen)
5. Entre les murs (Laurent Cantet)
6. A bord du Darjeeling Limited (Wes Anderson)
7. Le silence de Lorna (Luc & Jean-Pierre Dardenne)
8. There will be blood (Paul Thomas Anderson)
9. Les plages d'Agnès (Agnès Varda)
10. Home (Ursula Meier)
11. L'heure d'été (Olivier Assayas)
12. Séraphine (Martin Provost)
13. Juno (Jason Reitman)
14. La vie moderne (Raymond Depardon)
15. Into the wild (Sean Penn)

Slant:

Ed Gonzalez
1. Rachel Getting Married
2. In the City of Sylvia
3. The Witnesses
4. Standard Operating Procedure
5. Summer Palace
6. Encounters at the End of the World
7. Mukhsin
8. My Father My Lord
9. Let the Right One In
10. Happy-Go-Lucky

Nick Schager
1. Synecdoche, New York
2. Flight of the Red Balloon
3. Boarding Gate
4. Reprise
5. The Dark Knight
6. Dear Zachary
7. Chris & Don
8. Encounters at the End of the World
9. The Strangers
10. August Evening

Bill Weber
1. Still Life
2. The Witnesses
3. My Winnipeg
4. Standard Operating Procedure
5. Milk
6. Woman on the Beach
7. Up the Yangtze
8. In the City of Sylvia
9. WALL-E
10. Profit motive and the whispering wind

Andrew Schenker
1. The Duchess of Langeais
2. Still Life
3. In the City of Sylvia
4. The Romance of Astree and Celadon
5. Wendy and Lucy
6. Profit motive and the whispering wind
7. My Winnipeg
8. Paranoid Park
9. Happy-Go-Lucky
10. Boarding The Gate

Wow, the past two posts you've made with those critics have so many movies I've never heard of.
Most of the usual suspects are gone, what is the Duchess? It's gotten 2 #1s out of the latest posts and many mentions.

I don't get these lists. they reflect personal tastes instead of awards prognoses. what gives?

their critics top 10 films of the year. What isn't to get?

Post of the day.

Slant always hits it out of the park.

lol

Clearly nothing.

They're still playing within the rules.

I want to see someone drop Harold and Kumar 2/Hamlet 2/Pineapple Express/Tropic Thunder/etc/ on one of these lists. This was probably the best year ever for "R comedies" and they won't get a single mention.

AV Club

1. WALL-E
2. Rachel Getting Married
3. Synecdoche, New York
4. The Dark Knight
5. Milk
6. Paranoid Park
7. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days
8. Man on Wire
9. Wendy and Lucy
10. Surfwise

More detailed ballots at the link.

Rex Reed (The New York Observer)

1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2. Revolutionary Road
3. Rachel Getting Married
4. The Reader
5. Slumdog Millionaire
6. Frost/Nixon
7. Milk
8. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days
9. The Visitor
10. Good

Sara Vilkomerson (New York Observer) no particular order

The Visitor
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
The Dark Knight
Revolutionary Road
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Burn After Reading
Rachel Getting Married
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

Reed's senile.

4 Months was a great film.

I'm eager to see Good, but then again, I'm a whore for Viggo.

Lisa Schwarzbaum (EW)
1. WALL-E
2. Milk
3. The Dark Knight
4. Waltz with Bashir
5. Gomorra
6. Wendy and Lucy
7. Trouble the Water
8. Happy-Go-Lucky
9. Man on Wire
10. Tropic Thunder

Owen Gleiberman (EW)
1. The Wrestler
2. The Dark Knight
3. Rachel Getting Married
4. WALL-E
5. Momma’s Man
6. The Edge of Heaven
7. Burn After Reading
8. The Class
9. Milk
10. Tell No One

MSN Critics:

MSN top 10

1. "A Christmas Tale"
2. "The Wrestler"
3. "In Bruges"
4. "The Edge of Heaven"
5. "Let the Right One In"
6. "The Dark Knight"
7. "Pineapple Express"
8. "WALL-E"
9. "Wendy and Lucy"
10. "Slumdog Millionaire"

Sean Axmaker

1. "A Christmas Tale"
2. "The Edge of Heaven"
3. "Milk"
4. "WALL-E"
5. "Let the Right One In"
6. "The Dark Knight"
7. "The Fall"
8. "Standing Operating Procedure"
9. "My Blueberry Nights"
10. "Rachel Getting Married"

Gregory Ellwood

1. "The Dark Knight"
2. "The Reader"
3. "Slumdog Millionaire"
4. "Frost/Nixon"
5. "Let the Right One In"
6. "The Wrestler"
7. "U2 3D"
8. "Vicky Christina Barcelona"
9. "The Wackness"
10. "Boy A"

Jim Emerson

1. "Pineapple Express"
2. "In Bruges"
3. "Wendy and Lucy"
4. "The Edge of Heaven"
5. "A Christmas Tale"
6. "Let the Right One In"
7. "Chop Shop"
8. "Che"
9. "The Fall"
10. "Shotgun Stories"

David Fear

1. "Happy-Go-Lucky"
2. "Ballast"
3. "The Secret of the Grain"
4. "Man on Wire"
5. "Waltz With Bashir"
6. "WALL-E"
7. "Let the Right One In"
8. "Gomorrah"
9. "The Edge of Heaven"
10. "The Duchess of Langeais"

Richard T. Jameson

1. "The Edge of Heaven"
2. "A Christmas Tale"
3. "I've Loved You So Long"
4. "Wendy and Lucy"
5. "Let the Right One In"
6. "In Bruges"
7. "Changeling"
8. "WALL-E"
9. "A Girl Cut in Two"
10. "Tell No One"

Don Kaye

1. "The Dark Knight"
2. "The Wrestler"
3. "Dear Zachary: A Letter to A Son About His Father"
4. "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
5. "Let the Right One In"
6. "A Christmas Tale"
7. "Milk"
8. "The Burrowers"
9. "Iron Man"
10. "Synedoche, New York"

Dave McCoy

1. "In Bruges"
2. "The Wrestler"
3. (tie) "Rachel Getting Married" / "I've Loved You So Long"
4. "Pineapple Express"
5. "WALL-E"
6. "Happy-Go-Lucky"
7. "A Christmas Tale"
8. "Let the Right One In"
9. "Man on Wire"
10. "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"

Kim Morgan

1. "The Wrestler"
2. "In Bruges"
3. "Pineapple Express"
4. "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
5. "Synecdoche, New York"
6. "Slumdog Millionaire"
7. "Standard Operating Procedure"
8. "The Dark Knight"
9. "Let the Right One In"
10. "The Foot Fist Way"

Kathleen Murphy

1. "The Edge of Heaven"
2. "A Christmas Tale"
3. "In Bruges"
4. "I've Loved You So Long"
5. "Wendy and Lucy"
6. "Let the Right One In"
7. "WALL-E"
8. "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
9. "Vicky Christina Barcelona"
10. "Towelhead"

James Rocchi

1. "Che"
2. "The Wrestler"
3. "Slumdog Millionaire"
4. "Milk"
5. "Reprise"
6. "Ballast"
7. "The Dark Knight"
8. "Man on Wire"
9. "Funny Games"
10. "Waltz With Bashir"

...but it was released in 2007 - - why does it keep showing up year after year?

Pineapple Express!

Yes, November 2007 OS but it didn't come here till' Jan 23. So that's why it's counted as an 08 Film here. Or at least most people still consider it an 08 movie here.

TDK had a big surge on criticstop10.com. It's #2 now.

Wall-E still well ahead of everything.

good to see In Bruges still getting love

At criticstop10.com The Wrestler moved into the Top 5 at #4, even ahead of Slumdog Millionaire.

I think the current Top 5 will actualy remain (maybe not in the same order) with Milk, Slumdog, TDK, WALL-E andf The Wrestler being in it.

I hope Let the Right One In can break into the Top 10.

As for the most #1 spots, The Dark Knight and Slumdog Millionaire share that now, but I think/hope that at the end, TDK will prevail there.

David Ansen (Newsweek)

1. Let the Right One In
2. Encounters at the End of the World
3. Wendy and Lucy
4. Frost/Nixon
5. Man on Wire
6. Silent Light
7. The Wrestler
8. Tropic Thunder
9. WALL-E and Waltz with Bashir

Wendy and Lucy is making a REALLY strong showing. Could it be a last minute player in screenplay/actress?

Yay for Let the Right One In. I think it will make the critics' Top 10 this year. Too bad the studio doesn't push it more. It would have had a chance at a screenplay nom.

IndieWIRE's 100 Critics Poll

Film Comment's Best Films of 2008

1. Wendy and Lucy Kelly Reichardt, U.S. 580
2. Flight of the Red Balloon Hou Hsiao-hsien, Taiwan/France 564
3. A Christmas Tale Arnaud Desplechin, France 557
4. Happy-Go-Lucky Mike Leigh, U.K. 538
5. WALL·E Andrew Stanton, U.S. 534
6. Still Life Jia Zhang-ke, Hong Kong/China 521
7. Paranoid Park Gus Van Sant, France/U.S. 465
8. Waltz with Bashir Ari Folman, Israel/France/Germany 424
9. My Winnipeg Guy Maddin, Canada 406
10. Milk Gus Van Sant, U.S. 356
11. Let the Right One In Tomas Alfredson, Sweden 351
12. The Duchess of Langeais Jacques Rivette, France/Italy 335
13. The Class Laurence Cantet, France 334
14. Synecdoche, New York Charlie Kaufman, U.S. 297
15. Hunger Steve McQueen, U.K. 289
16. Silent Light Carlos Reygadas, Mexico/France/Netherlands 286
17. Ballast Lance Hammer, U.S. 283
18. Man on Wire James Marsh, U.K. 282
19. The Exiles Kent Mackenzie, U.S. 257
20. Gomorrah Matteo Garrone, Italy 253

Their top of undistributed films is more intriguing, though. Both lists are very similar to IndieWire's.
Link

I just watch Still Life yesterday..

I don't know. I think the calculated acting hurts the whole film a lot. And it kind of pulled back the pacing a lot. Maybe I just don't get it what it was trying to do with all its freezing acting.