Best of 2007 - Ten (Fifteen) Best Films of 2007

Wow! 2007 was a great year for movies!! I tried my best to make this a top ten list. However, I just had to break down and extend it to fifteen (plus, there is a tie so I guess, technically, it's sixteen). I know there are a few strange choices on here but guess what? I love strange movies. So, here's my list...

15. Away From Her
What a lovely, beautiful, pleasure of a movie! Actress turned director Sarah Polley shows wonderful restraint and promise as a director. There are great supporting performances from Olympia Dukakis and Gordon Pinsent. Of course, it's the beautiful Julie Christie who steals the entire show. She's just breathless to watch. This film is a little bit tragic, a lot heartbreaking, but ultimately beautiful.

14. I'm Not There
This film is downright amazing. It's a vision in black and white and color and drenched with Bob Dylan music. The movie is like a dream, lots of random images and scenes that all are somehow cohesive in a way that is impossible to explain. The movie surely isn't for everyone but there wasn't a movie all year that was more unique, more stylish, more ballsy than I'm Not There. Cate Blanchett is perfection times ten.

13. TIE: Waitress and Juno
Two of the sweetest movies of the year - without being corny or cheesy in the least. Waitress is a little more romantic and old school. Juno is a little more hilarious and hipster cool. Both feature fantastic performances from young women - Keri Russell knocks it out of the park as a small town Southern waitress at a pie shop who gets pregnant and isn't so happy about it. Ellen Page is the titular Juno, a smart ass fast talking hilarious sixteen year old who finds herself with child. Both come to the perfect conclusions - neither of which are cheesy in the least. These movies don't settle. In the end, you can't resist their unique charm.

12. Superbad
Superbad is, for sure, the funniest movie of the year. The cast is perfect - Michael Cera (who had a GREAT year), Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse (no one will forget McLovin for a long time), Bill Hader and Seth Rogen. It's not the best directed film. It's not particularly ground-breaking or thought provoking or whatever. But, it is a cult classic. It's hilarious and enjoyable. It's bonafide bad ass.

11. Black Snake Moan
Craig Brewer was responsible for my absolute favorite movie of 2005 (Hustle and Flow - HOLLA!) but this year he just missed the top 10. Still, Black Snake Moan is terribly original and terribly interesting. Where else can you see Christina Ricci chained to a radiator for most of the movie wearing little more than a half shirt and a pair of undies? If that doesn't strike your interest, I'm not sure what else will. Ricci and Samuel L. Jackson are fearless in their roles. In an industry where everything is predictable, this movie is a breath of fresh air.

10. Zodiac
When this David Fincher helmed film is at its best, it's reminscent of The Silence of the Lambs and other classic thrillers. When it's at it's worst, it's still interesting, well acted, well directed and better than half the stuff that came out this year. Sure it's long but it's worth the journey. There's really not much that could have been cut from the story. So the long running time is justified (plus, I just love a good three hour + film). Zodiac is really the kind of movie that sticks with you. It has the perfect combination of police procedural and nerve-racking suspense.

09. Gone Baby Gone
Attention Ben Affleck - All is forgiven! I forgive you for all the brainless action films you've done. I forgive you for the whole JLo debacle. He's created a really solid, well done film with performances that are simply great. Ben's little brother Casey (who is a better actor - I've always liked him more anyway) stars and we more or less watch him grow up in front of our eyes. At the beginning, he's all baby faced and pure. By the end, he seems harder. Amy Ryan is, of course, getting all the praise and awards. I loved her performance - but really not THAT much. Still, this movie is emotional, heart wrenching, haunting and intense.

08. Grindhouse
Seeing Grindhouse in theaters was like attending an event. It wasn't just a movie. There was so much more to the experience. I hated that they released them seperately on DVD but whatever. Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez have created the perfect double feature. Rodriguez' Planet Terror is typical Rodriguez: Explosions and sex, tons of humor and men (and women) jumping over things while shooting multiple guns at bad guys. Rose McGowan has a machine gun for a leg!!! (Brilliant). But it's Marley Shelton and, especially, Freddy Rodriguez who steal the show with their ultra bad ass coolness! Planet Terror was my personal favorite of the two. However, Death Proof was great as well! Sure, the first half hour or so is completely indulgent. (And Tarantino is an IDIOT for deleting the lap dance scene with Vanessa Ferlito and Kurt Russell from the theatrical version). But once Tracie Thoms, Zoe Bell and Rosario Dawson take the screen, the movie becomes downright awesome. Even if you didn't see it in theaters, netflix both and watch it as a double feature!

07. Alpha Dog
There's a mood and energy that director Nick Cassavettes easily captures and portrays that makes this movie so far removed from any cliched studio product geared toward the teenybopper set. The film is honest and genuine and has a lot of unexpected heart and soul. To say these kids (a great young cast including Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster, Anton Yelchin, Justin Timberlake, Shawn Hatosy, Christopher Marquette etc) are stupid is a huge understatement. But that's the point. This is a story about a bunch of people who make one bad decision after another until it spirals so far out of control that these kids have no idea how to get out of the mess they created. It's really the kind of movie that sucks you in, entrances you and then hits you over the head with a baseball bat.

06. Bug
Bug is a slow-burning, calculating, deliberate movie that sets a steady pace and includes wonderful dialogue and performances from Ashley Judd and, especially, Michael Shannon. The final act is intense and creepy and really makes you think. This movie definitely isn't for everyone and it's hard to talk about without giving something away (which I refuse to do), but Bug is totally worth the crazy, tripped out journey.

05. Once
This film is honest and beautiful, spectacular and full of great, great music! It's really just a simply and lovely little film that is impossible, yes, IMPOSSIBLE to not love! It doesn't disappoint in any way, shape or form. Glen Hansard and Marketa Iraglova are ADORABLE, talented, lovely people. The movie is filmed beautifully and it's just a feel-good movie that is not mushy in any way. The comedic moments are realistic and relatable. It's not too sentimental but it is simply a great story about unconsummated love and a beautiful friendship.

04. Eastern Promises
David Cronenberg's work always makes you feel uncomfortable. It's that thin line between what is the necessary amount of violence and what is just a bit too much that he walks perfectly. Eastern Promises is subtle, almost subliminal, so you find yourself thinking about it months later without even realizing it. Cronenberg's storytelling technique is clinical, almost. Nothing in a Cronenberg film appears on-screen without a reason. He's the film equivalent to Hemingway - his stories are deceptively simple with an unflinching eye. They have a calm surface that hints at the labyrinth that rests beneath the surface. And Viggo Mortensen! My Lord. What a fantastic performance. He's a bad ass if there ever was one. That naked knife fight just seals the deal.

03. Atonement
Atonement is really a film that begins only after it ends. So, after you finish watching it, you sort of have to relive it all over again and replay everything to understand exactly what just happened. I'm not sure the storytelling is completely coherent (I had some minor problems with the ending) but it almost doesn't even matter. It's an epic, beautiful, well told love story. The music is fantastic (pianos and typewriters). The plot is so perfectly mapped out. The story is based on a perfect, masterpiece of a book and the script doesn't stray too far from that basic outline. The direction is great. The performances are all top notch - Knightley, the three Briony's, and, especially, James McAvoy. But, really, what makes this film, for me, is that 5 minute shot. That perfect, beautiful, mesmerizing, jaw dropping shot that roams and searches the Dunkirk beach. In those 5 minutes this film goes from being solid and great to becoming a masterpiece.

02. No Country For Old Men
Joel and Ethan Coen have crafted a masterpiece. It's almost more than a movie. It's more like art work. It's a beautiful and violent western drama. It's slow-moving and character driven. It's violent and bloody and absolutely beautiful. There's humor aplenty but it's tough and gritty, for sure. This is a thriller that doesn't skimp on the thrills. The three leads are all perfect - Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones and Javier Bardem. Bardem steals every single second of the movie. He has created one of the best villains ever put on the screen and he gives the best performance of his career and of the year. His portrayal is one of unrelenting evil. There are moments in this film that are so perfect. The film as a whole, as well, is close to perfection. One of the two films I gave an A+ to this year.

01. Into the Wild
This was the other. It was difficult deciding between the two. Like No Country, Into the Wild is a beatuifully shot film with stunning performances (Emile Hirsch, Hal Holbrook, Catherine Keener). Like No Country, I call it a masterpiece. Unlike No Country, Into the Wild INSPIRES ME! This is the absolute rarest of films - it burrows into your soul. This is the kind of film that you just know will live with you forever. There is no forgetting this story, this film. The film is almost beyond words for me. There is almost too much beauty, too much tragedy, too much unexplainable perfection to try to capture in a paragraph or two of clumsy words. Hirsch's performance is so powerful and astonishing and all encompassing that I will be PISSED OFF if he isn't at least nominated for an Oscar. To look at him in his final few moments on screen is painful. This story is inspirational and the movie is perfection. Thank you, Sean Penn.

I Know Who Killed Me, rethinking Eastern Promises

I Know Who Killed Me - There's so many things I could say. Re: Lindsey Lohan, I know who killed my career. Re: the movie, I know I want my money back. I know I wasted two hours of my life on this crap. There's just so many ways to use this title. The title, itself, is at least interesting, which is more than I could say for this disaster of a movie. A friend of mine claimed it was worse than Captivity. It's her worst film of the year. I wouldn't go that far. I mean, yes, it's awful in every sense of the word. But I think Captivity is still slightly (just slightly) worse. Anyway, where to start when ripping this movie to shreds? Let's start broad: horrible acting, terrible script, bad camera work, ridiculous plot. Specifically: Lohan works at a strip club where numerous women are topless and yet she never takes her bra off (at one point she is even wearing a sheer bar with pasties ON THE TOP OF IT. Seriously). I mean, I could care less about seeing her naked (because, really, we've all seen it before, more or less), but if you are playing a stripper and you don't want to do nudity, you might at least have to imply nudity with some well placed hands or helpful camera angles. The twists in the movie are ridiculous. I won't ruin them because they aren't worth being ruined. It's not a decent premise and it's poorly executed. It seems they tried to cash in on the "torture porn" genre (man, I hate that term) and cash in on the obsession with Lindsey Loahn but they failed in every sense of the word. Someone should tell casting directors that Lindsey isn't really famous for being an actress. She's famous for being in magazines all the time falling down or doing something while drunk or high or whatever. It takes every bad cliche about thrillers and uses them to the point where this whole big mess of a movie becomes comical. Characters come and go for no reason. Scenes cut away to some other random scene that doesn't really follow any sort of logical thinking. If you have half of a brain, you can probably predict the killer. The final thirty minutes is just plain hilarious! Laugh out loud funny, for sure! I don't think I laughed this much since Superbad. But, you know, Superbad is supposed to be funny. Also, I understand there was probably a meaning to the whole 'blue' motif but really, it's just a bit much. I wouldn't even recommend this movie so that you could see Lindsey do a pole dance. I mean, go watch Natalie Portman in 'Closer' or even Rose McGowan in 'Grindhouse' instead. It's really just a total disaster.

Grade: F

Eastern Promises - So, thanks to the wonders of illegal downloading and a friend, I got to watch Eastern Promises again. I remember the first time around, I enjoyed it quite immensely but I didn't necessarily love it. Well, I changed my mind and I do, indeed, love it. It's great the first time around but I really just loved it even more the second time around. It's quite simply an amazing film. Even now that I've seen two of the best films of the year: Into the Wild and No Country For Old Men, I think Eastern Promises is right up there with them. The movie promises and delivers. David Cronenberg's work always makes you uncomfortable. It's that thin line between what is the necessary amount of violence and what is just a bit too much that he walks perfectly. Eastern Promises is subtle, almost subliminal, so you find yourself thinking about it months later without even realizing it. You find yourself thinking, "Well, Josh Brolin was great in No Country For Old Men... but Viggo was better a few months ago." Cronenberg has this uniquely clinical storytelling style that is undramatic visually and completely realistic. Nothing in a Cronenberg film appears on-screen without a reason. He's almost the film-making equivalent to Ernest Hemingway. It's deceptively simple with an unflinching eye. His films have a calm surface that still manages to get under your skin and hints at the labyrinth that rests beneath the surface. And Viggo. Well, like I said last review, the naked knife fight may not make Academy voters want to nominate him but he deserves it either way. On second viewing, I think his work in this movie is better than nearly every other performance I've seen this year (with the exception of Javier Bardem in No Country For Old Men and maybe, maybe Tommy Lee Jones in In the Valley of Elah). I don't usually change grades. I usually like to stick with my gut. But I'm going to make an exception here.

Grade: A-

Good Luck Chuck, Eastern Promises

Good Luck Chuck - When you say to yourself, "Wow. This movie is a waste of Jessica Alba's talent," you know there is something wrong in the world. Why, you ask? Well, Jessica Alba really has no talent unless looking hot is a talent. And it's very, very sad when even the tiny, little, itty bit of talent that she possesses is wasted in a movie that's so bad I can't even believe it was made. Some ideas are good and the execution is so bad that the movie becomes bad as well. This movie is just a bad idea. It's got bad execution, bad script, bad performances, bad EVERYTHING. The movie follows Charlie (Dane Cook - his character is only really called Chuck, like, twice during the whole movie) who gets hexed at a Spin the Bottle / Seven Minutes in Heaven party because he won't show his penis to the goth girl. The hex? Well, every girl that sleeps with him will find the man of her dreams right after dumping him. While Charlie's annoying best friend Stu (Dan Fogler - who may be the single most annoying / unfunny person in the history of cinema) thinks this hex is really a blessing, Charlie disagrees. Especially after he meets clumsy but cute Cam (Alba) at a wedding and falls for her instantly. Blah, blah, blah, stupid jokes, bad plot points and cliche writing ensue. I don't really think I laughed once during the entire movie. I think I would find a root canal funnier and more entertaining than this movie. It's almost torturous it's so bad (although not quite as bad as Captivity... because, really, that's just hard). This movie is literally one of the worst romantic comedies I have ever seen. It is neither romantic nor funny in any remote way. Jessica Alba plays a clumsy girl and it seems like every scene she is in is set up so that she can walk into something or trip over something or do something else stupid. And her acting? My lord. The only thing worse than her acting is Dane Cook's acting. Is his "acting career" over yet? News flash - Dane Cook is NOT funny. I don't hate the guy because he's a Boston Red Sox fan and I like anyone who likes the Sox but seriously - he's not funny. AND he's not a good actor either. The movie is very misogynistic but I won't even talk about that because even if I wasn't a feminist, I would still hate this movie. Do yourself a favor and see any movie other than this. Even if the movie is not a comedy, it will still surely be funnier than Good Luck Chuck.

Grade: F

Eastern Promises - Here's the thing about David Cronenberg: He's violent to the point of being too violent. There's a line where violence stops being realistic. Cronenberg is about thirteen steps past that line. And guess what? I love it! Here's the thing about Viggo Mortensen: He's the only man that I find uncontrollably sexy who I think is capable of mass murder. One minute you want to sleep with him and the next you think he might slit your throat. And guess what? I love it! And here's the thing about a Cronenberg / Mortensen collaboration: It's dangerous, unpredictable, violent, terrifying, witty, intelligent and just plain entertaining. A History of Violence made my Top 10 list last year and while I don't think Eastern Promises is quite that good, its still solid. The film follows Mortensen as Nikolai, a Russian driver to the Russian mafia living in London. He has a close relationship with Kirill (Vincent Cassel), the son of the head fo the Russian mafia. This leads him on an inside track to the mob. Meanwhile there's sweet mid-wife Anna (Naomi Watts) who is investigating the case of a dead fourteen year old girl who died giving birth and who has ties to the Russian mafia. There's a lot of unexpected heart and soul here which culminates with a lovely scene between Mortensen and Watts. There's a lot of humor and a lot of subtle acting which juxtaposes nicely with the slightly over the top violence. Viggo's performance is perfect and Oscar worthy (Will he get nominated? Probably not. The nude knife fight might be a bit much for some people... not for me though). The movie drags a bit at times but over all it's a good, solid film. And guess what? It's a million times funnier than Good Luck Chuck!

Grade: B-