I need to see Synecdoche still, I've loved most of Kaufman's work so its worth a shot, though it looked kind of unpleasant and depressing from the trailers.

Tree of Life is a justified choice on Ebert's part. It reminds me a lot of 2001: Space Odyssey in that it attempts to capture the entirety of human existence, and is more concerned with theme and vision than telling an actual story (though I found the family/growing up stuff remarkably reminiscent of my own childhood memories). I don't know that it would go on my personal list, it's not as tidy of a movie as 2001 and could use some editing, but I suspect it will climb higher as I get older.

Really curious to see some of the others on his list though, I've sadly seen almost none of them. If any of them are half as good as Apocalypse Now it'd be worth the effort.

What?!

No Casablanca...?

^ What he said.

I've recently come to love Citizen Kane. When you go in expecting the Best Movie Ever, it may be disappointing. But watch it without that baggage, and I think it works really really well.

Ya Herzog's one of the coolest people on the planet. I could listen to him just talk poetically for hours.

I despised Tree of Life. As much as I liked the "Creation" sequence, the movie as a whole was total bullshit. If Malick had made a 45 minute space porn IMAX film, I would have forked over the cash. I'm just glad I only paid a buck for it at Redbox.