It's February 20th — the perfect time for me to give you my list of 2007's top movies!
Seriously though, I wanted to see as many of the late-year movies that didn't get released until the new year before the Oscars, and with the ceremony coming up this Sunday, I figured I'd already seen everything I was going to see from last year. (Stay tuned for my Oscar picks and my much-anticipated 2nd Annual Oscar diary.)
Although I've been saying that TV has surpassed movies in terms of quality, this was such a strong and deep year for movies, that I just could not contain my list to the top 10. Also, I forgot about one movie I wanted to include after I'd already compiled my original 10, so I bumped it up to 11.
Before the main event, let's get to some honorable and not-so-honorable mentions:
MOVIE I KINDA LIKED THAT NO ONE ELSE LIKED
The Invasion: Maybe it's because it was the fourth movie I saw in the theatre in a single day, so I was a little delusional, but I thought this was a mostly tight, effective thriller with an underused Daniel Craig, but a strong lead performance by Nicole Kidman.
MOVIE I KINDA HATED THAT EVERYONE ELSE LIKED
Superbad: I liked the McLovin' bits, and there were definitely some funny lines, but I just could not stand Jonah Hill's lead performance — the shrillest, most irritating work of the year. He'd just scream as loud and as profanely as he could. Also, Michael Cera has taken to delivering the same performance every single time out. Writer/star Seth Rogen and co-writer Evan Goldberg admitted that they started writing this script when they were 13 — it shows.
(DIS)HONORABLE MENTION
I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry: This was the worst movie I saw this year (at least "Ghost Rider" was packed with unintentional comedy. According to this movie, gays are to be made fun of and discriminated against, until Adam Sandler feels their pain, and shows us that they're not that bad.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Michael Clayton/Eastern Promises: Both featured incredibly strong (and Oscar-nominated) leading performances which are probably career highs for George Clooney and Viggo Mortensen, respectively. I thought "Promises" supporting players were underrated, and both films were expertly directed by filmmakers (Tony Gilroy in "Clayton" and David Croenenberg in "Promises") fully in charge. Both also featured excellent nude shower fight scenes. Ok, maybe only one of the films had that last one.
3:10 to Yuma/American Gangster: It's the Russell Crowe special as he matched up against two of the very best in the business (Christian Bale and Denzel Washington). Both movies were highly entertaining but slightly flawed, falling just short of greatness.
Atonement: Solid acting, great scenery. I had issues with a major plot point in the movie, few films finished stronger this year.
Gone Baby Gone: Amy Ryan earned her Oscar nomination and Casey Affleck was an underrated lead. Ben Affleck's directorial effort also had solid supporting turns by Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman and wins the "What would you have done" award after the choice the protagonist makes near the end.
Grindhouse: The experience of seeing the two movies ("Planet Terror" and "Death Proof") together, with the fake trailers sandwiched in between was one of the most fun this year, and probably better than each movie separately.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: I'll give it it's props for adapting the longest (and arguably most beloved) Harry Potter book into a mostly tight movie that was only slightly confusing if you hadn't read the books, but thoroughly satisfying.
Enchanted: Amy Adams gave the most appealing performance this year (it's a damn shame she wasn't nominated for an Oscar), and the "That's How You Know" sequence was one of the most fun times I had at the movies last year.
THE TOP 11
11. Stephen King's The Mist: No seriously, I'm not kidding. This was the best horror movie of the year because it bypassed extensive gore (ala the Hostel and Saw sequels) and focused on characters and low-key but effective special effects. There's nothing scarier out there than when a large group of people start losing their damn minds.
10. Zodiac: One of the year's best thriller and the winner of the most disturbing and shocking death (the picnic scene). Though it drags a bit in the last third, strong performances by Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr. and Mark Ruffalo, as well as flashy (but not "in your face flashy") direction by David Fincher still make it one of the year's best. It's really a procedural disguised as a serial killer movie.
9. Knocked Up/Hot Fuzz: Ok, so I'm REALLY cheating and putting 12 movies in my top 10, but these two HAVE to share a spot. Though they're different in style (one's a raunchy sex dramedy, the other's a hilarious action movie parody), they each have great chemistry between their two lead characters, as well as many, many colorful supporting players, and they're the year's funniest movies — even if they're each about 15 minutes longer than they should be.
8. There Will Be Blood: When I first saw it, I admired this movie a lot more than I LIKED it. The more I think about it, the more I like it. No matter what, it remains an impressive achievement by director P.T. Anderson, but I still feel like it dragged a bit in the last quarter, and that it was completely carried in sections by soon-to-be two-time Oscar winner Daniel Day Lewis and Paul Dano.
7. Once: One of the most unique movies of the year in that it mostly rewrote the rules of the musical, by having the lead characters not break into song. Instead, they organically sang to each other and naturally propelled the plot (and their growing affection for each other) forward. Although some of the music can get to be similar-sounding and the movie is thin on actual plot, the "Falling Slowly" and "When Your Mind's Made Up" are two of the most powerful sequences of the year. Can't wait to see Glen Hansard and Marketa Iglova sing "Falling Slowly" at the Oscars.
6. Juno: During the first 10 minutes, I was afraid this movie was going to quickly go off the rails with its overly quirky cute soundtrack and hipster dialogue. Fortunately, writer Diablo Cody and the underrated work of director Jason Reitman toned things down. Still, the success of this movie is in no small part due to a starmaking performance by Oscar nominee Ellen Page, who created a character for the ages — a young, smart, funny, vulnerable, scared, sarcastic girl (imagine that). Also have to mention the work of Jennifer Garner, J.K. Simmons, Allison Janney and others for injecting each of their characters with heart.
5. The Bourne Ultimatum: The best action movie of the year. It stood out if for no other reason that it chose to forsake a gigantic special effects budget and relied on terrific choreography which resulted in the best fight of the year (the climax of the rooftop shape) and the tensest sequence period (the Waterloo station scene). Matt Damon's performance was also underrated, and the ending to the movie was a perfect way of bringing things in this successful trilogy full circle.
4. No Country for Old Men: For the first three quarters, this was the most effective thriller I'd seen in years. Sure Javier Bardem is about to win his first Oscar for playing the most memorable villain in recent years, but the movie was also helped by solid turns courtesy of Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones and Kelly MacDonald. And about that WTF ending? Like most people I was completely baffled, but this movie won "The Prestige" award for movie I wanted to see again immediately after it ended, so I could try to decipher what I'd just seen. That's gotta be worth something.
3. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: Damn, if Tim Burton can't get a Best Director Oscar nom for this, I don't see when it's going to happen. He adapted one of the most beloved musicals to his signature style making a movie that was grand, over-the top and operatic, but also funny and full of genuine emotion. He also got the most out of actors (Johnny Depp, Helene Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Sacha Baron Cohen) in a musical who don't necessarily sing.
2. Dan in Real Life: Yeah, yeah, it might be a light (maybe even cheesy) romantic dramedy, but I don't care because I loved this movie. I loved me some Steve Carell (this guy can do almost anything), and it was refreshing to see a movie where the people on screen had a genuine affection for each other, even if they did tend to screw things up. I also loved the little (admittedly probably unrealistic) details like the crossword puzzle competition and the family talent show. Who WOULDN'T want to hang out with this family? I mean, this movie even made Dane Cook likable!
1. Ratatouille: When I saw it in June I thought it was the best movie I'd seen all year, and nothing I saw after it really changed my mind. The movie had tons of heart, imagination and a great message that, "not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere." (Anton Ego's speech at the end was absolutely one of the year's highlights). It was also very funny and ingeniously written and directed by Brad Bird (those sequences with Remy making his way across the human world are as expertly choreographed as anything you'll see). Who cares if it was just a cartoon?
That's it, that's my list! What was your favorite movie of the year? Also, feel free to agree with my choices or tell me how wrong I am.
Seriously though, I wanted to see as many of the late-year movies that didn't get released until the new year before the Oscars, and with the ceremony coming up this Sunday, I figured I'd already seen everything I was going to see from last year. (Stay tuned for my Oscar picks and my much-anticipated 2nd Annual Oscar diary.)
Although I've been saying that TV has surpassed movies in terms of quality, this was such a strong and deep year for movies, that I just could not contain my list to the top 10. Also, I forgot about one movie I wanted to include after I'd already compiled my original 10, so I bumped it up to 11.
Before the main event, let's get to some honorable and not-so-honorable mentions:
MOVIE I KINDA LIKED THAT NO ONE ELSE LIKED
The Invasion: Maybe it's because it was the fourth movie I saw in the theatre in a single day, so I was a little delusional, but I thought this was a mostly tight, effective thriller with an underused Daniel Craig, but a strong lead performance by Nicole Kidman.
MOVIE I KINDA HATED THAT EVERYONE ELSE LIKED
Superbad: I liked the McLovin' bits, and there were definitely some funny lines, but I just could not stand Jonah Hill's lead performance — the shrillest, most irritating work of the year. He'd just scream as loud and as profanely as he could. Also, Michael Cera has taken to delivering the same performance every single time out. Writer/star Seth Rogen and co-writer Evan Goldberg admitted that they started writing this script when they were 13 — it shows.
(DIS)HONORABLE MENTION
I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry: This was the worst movie I saw this year (at least "Ghost Rider" was packed with unintentional comedy. According to this movie, gays are to be made fun of and discriminated against, until Adam Sandler feels their pain, and shows us that they're not that bad.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Michael Clayton/Eastern Promises: Both featured incredibly strong (and Oscar-nominated) leading performances which are probably career highs for George Clooney and Viggo Mortensen, respectively. I thought "Promises" supporting players were underrated, and both films were expertly directed by filmmakers (Tony Gilroy in "Clayton" and David Croenenberg in "Promises") fully in charge. Both also featured excellent nude shower fight scenes. Ok, maybe only one of the films had that last one.
3:10 to Yuma/American Gangster: It's the Russell Crowe special as he matched up against two of the very best in the business (Christian Bale and Denzel Washington). Both movies were highly entertaining but slightly flawed, falling just short of greatness.
Atonement: Solid acting, great scenery. I had issues with a major plot point in the movie, few films finished stronger this year.
Gone Baby Gone: Amy Ryan earned her Oscar nomination and Casey Affleck was an underrated lead. Ben Affleck's directorial effort also had solid supporting turns by Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman and wins the "What would you have done" award after the choice the protagonist makes near the end.
Grindhouse: The experience of seeing the two movies ("Planet Terror" and "Death Proof") together, with the fake trailers sandwiched in between was one of the most fun this year, and probably better than each movie separately.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: I'll give it it's props for adapting the longest (and arguably most beloved) Harry Potter book into a mostly tight movie that was only slightly confusing if you hadn't read the books, but thoroughly satisfying.
Enchanted: Amy Adams gave the most appealing performance this year (it's a damn shame she wasn't nominated for an Oscar), and the "That's How You Know" sequence was one of the most fun times I had at the movies last year.
THE TOP 11
11. Stephen King's The Mist: No seriously, I'm not kidding. This was the best horror movie of the year because it bypassed extensive gore (ala the Hostel and Saw sequels) and focused on characters and low-key but effective special effects. There's nothing scarier out there than when a large group of people start losing their damn minds.
10. Zodiac: One of the year's best thriller and the winner of the most disturbing and shocking death (the picnic scene). Though it drags a bit in the last third, strong performances by Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr. and Mark Ruffalo, as well as flashy (but not "in your face flashy") direction by David Fincher still make it one of the year's best. It's really a procedural disguised as a serial killer movie.
9. Knocked Up/Hot Fuzz: Ok, so I'm REALLY cheating and putting 12 movies in my top 10, but these two HAVE to share a spot. Though they're different in style (one's a raunchy sex dramedy, the other's a hilarious action movie parody), they each have great chemistry between their two lead characters, as well as many, many colorful supporting players, and they're the year's funniest movies — even if they're each about 15 minutes longer than they should be.
8. There Will Be Blood: When I first saw it, I admired this movie a lot more than I LIKED it. The more I think about it, the more I like it. No matter what, it remains an impressive achievement by director P.T. Anderson, but I still feel like it dragged a bit in the last quarter, and that it was completely carried in sections by soon-to-be two-time Oscar winner Daniel Day Lewis and Paul Dano.
7. Once: One of the most unique movies of the year in that it mostly rewrote the rules of the musical, by having the lead characters not break into song. Instead, they organically sang to each other and naturally propelled the plot (and their growing affection for each other) forward. Although some of the music can get to be similar-sounding and the movie is thin on actual plot, the "Falling Slowly" and "When Your Mind's Made Up" are two of the most powerful sequences of the year. Can't wait to see Glen Hansard and Marketa Iglova sing "Falling Slowly" at the Oscars.
6. Juno: During the first 10 minutes, I was afraid this movie was going to quickly go off the rails with its overly quirky cute soundtrack and hipster dialogue. Fortunately, writer Diablo Cody and the underrated work of director Jason Reitman toned things down. Still, the success of this movie is in no small part due to a starmaking performance by Oscar nominee Ellen Page, who created a character for the ages — a young, smart, funny, vulnerable, scared, sarcastic girl (imagine that). Also have to mention the work of Jennifer Garner, J.K. Simmons, Allison Janney and others for injecting each of their characters with heart.
5. The Bourne Ultimatum: The best action movie of the year. It stood out if for no other reason that it chose to forsake a gigantic special effects budget and relied on terrific choreography which resulted in the best fight of the year (the climax of the rooftop shape) and the tensest sequence period (the Waterloo station scene). Matt Damon's performance was also underrated, and the ending to the movie was a perfect way of bringing things in this successful trilogy full circle.
4. No Country for Old Men: For the first three quarters, this was the most effective thriller I'd seen in years. Sure Javier Bardem is about to win his first Oscar for playing the most memorable villain in recent years, but the movie was also helped by solid turns courtesy of Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones and Kelly MacDonald. And about that WTF ending? Like most people I was completely baffled, but this movie won "The Prestige" award for movie I wanted to see again immediately after it ended, so I could try to decipher what I'd just seen. That's gotta be worth something.
3. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: Damn, if Tim Burton can't get a Best Director Oscar nom for this, I don't see when it's going to happen. He adapted one of the most beloved musicals to his signature style making a movie that was grand, over-the top and operatic, but also funny and full of genuine emotion. He also got the most out of actors (Johnny Depp, Helene Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Sacha Baron Cohen) in a musical who don't necessarily sing.
2. Dan in Real Life: Yeah, yeah, it might be a light (maybe even cheesy) romantic dramedy, but I don't care because I loved this movie. I loved me some Steve Carell (this guy can do almost anything), and it was refreshing to see a movie where the people on screen had a genuine affection for each other, even if they did tend to screw things up. I also loved the little (admittedly probably unrealistic) details like the crossword puzzle competition and the family talent show. Who WOULDN'T want to hang out with this family? I mean, this movie even made Dane Cook likable!
1. Ratatouille: When I saw it in June I thought it was the best movie I'd seen all year, and nothing I saw after it really changed my mind. The movie had tons of heart, imagination and a great message that, "not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere." (Anton Ego's speech at the end was absolutely one of the year's highlights). It was also very funny and ingeniously written and directed by Brad Bird (those sequences with Remy making his way across the human world are as expertly choreographed as anything you'll see). Who cares if it was just a cartoon?
That's it, that's my list! What was your favorite movie of the year? Also, feel free to agree with my choices or tell me how wrong I am.
2 comments:
What about I AM LEGEND?? I thought that film was completely over-looked as was Will Smith's totally watchable performance. Who didn't cry when he said goodbye to his family?!?!
First off, thank you for reading, oh anonymous person.
I liked "I Am Legend", and particularly Will Smith's performance. I think that's as strong of a performance as you're going to get in a big blockbuster movie like this.
However, the movie almost completely fell apart in the last third as soon as ***SPOILER ALERT*** he ran into those other survivors. Everything from there on out was kinda crappy to me. And when a movie has a strong start, but a weak ending it tends to leave a worse taste in my mouth than if it had a slow start, but strong ending (sort of like "Atonement").
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