Forget the AFI List, this is the real deal: the Sight and Sound critics' poll of the greatest movies of all time has been announced. This poll is conducted once every decade, and it's usually considered the gold standard of movie lists. This is the one that matters. I'm especially excited about it because the list has been a milestone for me in many ways: it was reading an article about Roger Ebert about the Sight and Sound poll when I was about seven years old that really started me thinking about movies, canons, and all sort of issues, so the announcement of this decade's list has sentimental significance for me in more ways than one. I'm also slightly disappointed that I'll have to wait another ten years for the possibility of participating in the next poll, either as a writer or director....

Without further ado, the critics' top ten are:

1. Citizen Kane
2. Vertigo
3. The Rules of the Game
4. The Godfather I and II
5. Tokyo Story
6. 2001: A Space Odyssey
7. (tie) Battleship Potemkin
7. (tie) Sunrise
9. 8 1/2
10. Singin' in the Rain

On the official Sight and Sound site, you can also see the directors' top ten, and perhaps best of all, the individual top ten lists of 144 critics and directors, including Cameron Crowe, Sam Mendes, Quentin Tarantino, etc., which is fascinating stuff.

(Typo fixed, NJS)