An Incredible First: Film Blogger Changes Top Ten List! Has New Number One Film For 2011

Earlier today on Twitter I confessed that as a wee lad my family went to see the Harlem Globetrotters play and I rooted for the other team. I was unclear on the concept. Today I have not youthfulness to excuse a more recent embarrassment: I've gone and changed my top ten films list for 2011 published only a few days ago. It is, as Groucho Marx would say, the most unheard of thing I ever heard of.

I've not only never done such a thing in over 20 years of making top ten movie lists, I have almost never looked back years later and realized that with the passage of time I've come to admire a lower ranked film more than the number one film I'd picked. This is actually odd considering how our tastes change over the years. Something that moved us deeply ten, even five years ago may not seem so all fired great today. By the same token that film we merely liked may suddenly take on new meaning to us. Yes, people change over time. But a few days?

I have no explanation. I watched Melancholia for the second time and not only thought it magnificent and better than anything else released the past year, but quickly consider it among my favorites of all time. I wrote about it yesterday. Total passage of time between first and second viewings was 48 hours.

So Melancholia has leapfrogged The Artist, Midnight in Paris and Of Gods and Men, the latter two I've seen twice. I'd like to let the makers of those three films know that the luster of their fine films has not diminished because they are sliding down a notch.

Initially I was going to keep secret my change of heart. But then the whole business is rather silly anyway. Top ten lists stand as personal statements of an individuals taste. Their primary benefit is to alert readers to movies that they may not have seen or been hesitant about. When I see a respected reviewers list I look for commonalities and ideas about what I might like to see.

I do not feel that I am violating the public trust by going back and changing my top ten list.  Especially since I am offering this confession. First, I've been open about it and second I'm, for the most part, pretty darn consistent about such things. I knew you'd understand.