Here's a really great compilation of nearly 300 Top 10 lists from critics for 2008: MCN Awards Watch: The Awards Scoreboard

Wall.E is #1 with 162 mentions and Dark Knight is #2 with 134 mentions. Actually, the top 5 films on that list is what the Oscar nomination list SHOULD look like. Dark Knight, Wall.E, Slumdog Millionaire, Milk, and The Wrestler were all tremendous films. Far better than The Reader which is waaay down on the list at #32.

Yes, the Oscars have strayed further and further away from mainstream tastes. And that's dumb and narrowminded of them. They seriously need to stop awarding films that they think have the appearance of being artsy fartsy "high art" cinema. But then again, mainstream audiences need to get up off their ass and try actually watching some of the smaller budget and non-blockbuster films. It's kinda sad to me that more people have watched Mall Cop than Milk.

There should be a happy medium between the two extremes.