Best Movies of 2007 — Page 2

I'm just catching up on the 2007 films this week. Last night I saw I'm Not There and Dan in Real Life. Didn't like I'm Not There. Today we see Juno.

Worst film so far-Hairspray.

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It's funny because alot of the films that I saw are actually the ones that weren't really liked much, but I think my favorites of the year have been...

Sweeney Todd
Zodiac
Hairspray
Pirates of The Caribbean: At World's End
Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix

Those are the only ones that I really enjoyed. I haven't seen alot of films though. I'd like to see Juno.

I only hated one film this year and that was Epic Movie.

There are still too many movies I'm trying to catch up on. I still have to see Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, The Savages, Margot at the Wedding, There Will Be Blood, The Lives of Others, Michael Clayton, Charlie Wilson's War, Persepolis, Waitress, American Gangster, etc. I'm SO behind!

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Updated On: 12/30/07 at 03:59 PM

15. Fred Claus

Updated On: 12/30/07 at 07:44 PM

You have a hard time deciding don't you?

Am I the only one who liked Reign Over Me?

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Updated On: 12/30/07 at 09:18 PM

In no particular order:

1. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
2. Juno
3. Sweeney Todd
4. Hot Fuzz
5. Michael Clayton
6. Waitress
7. Charlie Wilson's War
8. Oceans 13 (yeah I said it)
9. There Will Be Blood
10.The Savages

The Kite Runner should be on the list.

"
Best Supporting Actress (Drama)
Vanessa Redgrave, Atonement "

This NEEDS to happen!!! She was brilliant.

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My picks:

The list I put up a few days ago wasn't quite real and, therefore, here is my actual list:

1) THERE WILL BE BLOOD - Yes, it is true. The best film of 2007 is Paul Thomas Anderson's magnum Holland's opus THERE WILL BE BLOOD. He begins by combining his own chocolate-flavored writing skills and raspberry nougat direction and pushing them to their hilt so that they coalesce into a force unlike any you have ever seen. It zips through the cosmos, up and down galaxies, fries open the universe, and then broils it.

Meanwhile, on Neptune, Daniel Day-Lewis is pouring all of his spirit, his body, his being, his soul, and his talent into a bowl and pouring that mixture onto a pancake griddle. It fries and fries to a golden brown; sizzling and wizzling as it grows crispier and crispier. Before it burns, it suddenly grows wings and flies up into the air and joins Comet Anderson where it finds it is truly among good company. Years go by and it blossoms into the Best Male Performance Of This Year.

By the end of next week, I will have seen this film three times within the space of two weeks. And I will gladly see it three (or four. or five. or six. okay, I draw the line at six.) times more. Everything about this movie, from the wordlessnessnessness of the opening twentale minutes to the mega-chocolate-easter-bunny that melts in your ears courtesy of Jonny Greenwood to the pitch-perfect performances from the supporting actors. Everyone realizes that they're in Daniel Day-Lewis' s shadow but refuses to let that intimidate them and beat them down.

2) NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN - No Country For Old Men is like seeing the Trix Rabbit finally eat the cereal that he so enjoys. Here are the Coen Brothers at the height of their powers, after mistakenly leading the populace of the world into thinking that they had, perhaps, lost said powers in the impenetrable thickets of THE LADYKILLERS and the deadly poison of INTOLERABLE CRUELTY (I actually liked those two films but the populace disagrees). They bring to life the world of Cormac McCarthy in a way that none thought possible, especially Mrs. Esther Newberry of Scranton, Pennsylvania who will be going home with the "Jeremy's Review of NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN Door Prize" this evening.

The brothers realize that the book is so cinematic already that they are content to follow the text like the bovine perspiration on the upper-lip area of Dinah-Moe Humm. Which is, to say, nearly exactly. This is not desperation but necessity. The book is so good already that the brothers will just let it speak for themselves. Howeverwell, that doesn't stop them from meticulously placing small nuggets of their own dialogue here and there such as a funny line about the love between a bone and an arm.

3) I'M NOT THERE - Todd Haynes takes a pretentious film-student idea and ends up making one of the best films of this year. Bob Dylan does not tickle my fancy as hard as he tickles others, but he lived a truly interesting life and his influence is large. By splitting him up into six different fragments and intertwining them all together, Haynes makes a biopic unlike any you have ever seen. He concentrates on the myth and legacy of this crazy crazy crazy man and THAT is the way it should be.

Best line reading of the year: "YER NOT TAKIN' MUH KIDS!" - Robbie (Heath Ledger)

4) ATONEMENT - This book was a hard nut to crack. But crack Joe Wright does indeed as ATONEMENT is the sort of high drama I thrive on. The camerawork is showy and flashy and yet subtle and calm. It's the perfect balance. I wish life's tragedies were this well-filmed.

It features one of the best performances by a child I've seen in a while. Overall, the acting is tremendous. Keira Knightly may not be stretching herself but she does her thang quite wellz. James McAvoy is great. And yet everyone is eclipsed by Saorsie Ronan whose performance as Young Briony is so koo you can see the flames shooting off of the screen.

5) RATATOUILLE - By now, Pixar is so consistently great that you just kind of take them for granted by now. And that may be why RATATOUILLE seems a bit forgotten even though everyone agrees that it is right-kidney-lickin' good. Brad Bird's work here is as good as it has ever been as he combines the wicked zesty comedy he brought to THE SIMPSONS with a healthy beating heart and body fat for warmth. The animation is so convincing that you actually end up slapping yourself when you walk out of the theater for drooling over computer generated food.

6) MICHAEL CLAYTON - Like Bob Dylan and taxes, legal thrillers just don't ****up mine ears. And yet MICHAEL CLAYTON did. Not only is it a great thriller within that realm, but it's a fine puzzle as well. I cannot believe this was the debut of Tony Gilroy because it displays the confidence and the assured hand of a veteran. Hopefully, this will be the beginning of a beautiful friendship between ass and seat and eyes and screen.

7) HOT FUZZ - The best spoof film since the heyday of ZAZ is this buddy-cop-movie parody from the Edgar Wright/Simon Pegg/Nick Frost team which I hope keeps making comedies like this forever. It's that rare action comedy where both the action AND the comedy are equally as badass. Usually one overpowers the other and the result is boring action and good comedy or unfunny comedy with cool action. Or neither. HOT FUZZ, simply put, is just ****ing awesome and easily the best comedy of 2007 in a very crowded field.

ZODIAC - David Fincher is usually so flashy. But he keeps the flashes down, if not completely off, for this film which tracks the futile pursuit of the ruthless Zodiac killer. All the facts are slanted in the direction of Robert Graysmith's theory so that the film has somewhat of a conclusion to appease the masses, but I didn't care because I was completely engrossed throughout. It is a long movie but it deserves every single minute. And Robert Downey, Jr.'s supporting performance is awesome.

9) SWEENEY TODD - Tim Burton's Gothic masterwork and his best film since Ed Wood. It is simply just a pleasure to look at but, working from Stephen Sondheim's operetta-like musical, it's a pleasure to listen to as well. The performances are all top-notch, focusing more on the acting and the inhabiting of the character than on the singing, which is how it should be. Tim Burton is also willing to risk death at the hands of Sweeney Todd's more idiotic fans by making judicious cuts to the musical because not all of it will work onstage. As a result, it feels more realistic and emotional than it would have had he not made it so intimate. It's dark melodrama at its nasty best.

10) CONTROL - Anton Corbjin's chronicle of the life and death of Ian Curtis, the lead singer of Joy Division, has really grown on me in the past few weeks. Like I'M NOT THERE, it's so different from the usual biopic that it's almost worth seeing just for that. Corbjin does not pass judgement on Curtis, nor does he lionize him. Everything rolls as if being watched by an observant janitor who refuses to do anything. "Come up with your own conclusions about Curtis" as opposed to "Wasn't Ray Charles/Johnny Cash/Weird Al such a GREAT human beingwell?"

THE RUNNER - UPS

EASTERN PROMISES - The most low-key film Cronenberg has ever made. Its brilliance is almost not noticeable upon its first viewing. Its a slow-burn methodical thriller that, while not up to the standard of Cronenberg's best, is still a damn good movie. It does, however, have the best action sequence of any film released this year for sure, in my opinion.

KNOCKED UP - JUNO got all of the attention but KNOCKED UP was definitely the funnier of the two and certainly the better movie. At this point, the Judd Apatow crowd of freaks and geeks have DECLARED (LOLZ!) their adulthood and are beginning to breed. Apatow chronicles this phenomenon with equal parts humor and heart or, as I like to call it, a "Hheart".

PAPRIKA - Anime brilliance from the twisted mind of Satoshi Kon.

CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR - Sorkin and Nichols took the right approach in turning this into a subtle dark comedy about a very serious issue instead of a bombastic drama that rubs its agenda in your face.

SUPERBAD - Probably the best high school film I've seen in years. In true Apatow-produced fashion, it feels a lot like the long-lost Freaks and Geeks movie unearthed from the belly of a whale.

GRINDHOUSE - The best movie theater experience of 2007. 'Tis a shame I can't bring it home with me in my lil' pocket.

BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD - An intense crime movie that gives way to an even more intense family drama. With not one moment of humor in its running time, BTDKYD is pure intensity from start to finish.

AMERICAN GANGSTER - Damn good gangster film. Great acting and great sense of time and place. Bring on Blood Meridian, Ridley!

jane austen's book club was one of my favorites this year (I don't think anyone mentioned it) cheesy romance but it made me giggle....

Juno's soundtrack nearly ruined it for me.

I think I've perfected my list...for now.

1.) Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
2.) Juno
3.) Atonement
4.) Persepolis
5.) No Country for Old Men
6.) There Will Be Blood
7.) Michael Clayton
8.) Lars and the Real Girl
9.) Ratatouille
10.) In the Valley of Elah


Definitely going to change my list soon because I haven't seen a few movies that are major contenders...I also really liked the movie THE NINES although I wouldn't call it one of the year's best. It was really fantastic though and definitely worth catching on DVD