Toronto Star Film Critic Peter Howell's 2001 in 50

Peter Howell is one of Toronto's finer film critics. I sense he's also a film nerd, something I've long felt isn't necessary when reviewing the motion picture form -- film to film. A more reasonable approach might be to have your average newspaper's food and art critics team up and decide what does and what doesn't work on the silver screen.

2001: A Space Odyssey is, to this food and art critic, one of the great pieces of cinema. Mr Howell feels the same way, as he's noted a few times in his column over the years. "50 things you probably didn't know about 2001: A Space Odyssey", his latest piece about Stanley Kubrick's space and humanity opus, is something to behold.

Ranking "the top films" from 1 to 10 feels goofy to me. While it's fun to list what you think are cinema's greatest, the idea of picking an exact order from such a large litter is ultimately an exercise in futility. I have a hard enough time ordering a burger and fries.