Top Ten and Analysis of 2007

[Sxottlan]

I'll admit that I'm embarrassed to be posting this now. It's the latest my list has ever been. My off-time is increasingly fragmented between different things and since I now write for a living, it's often not what I want to do when I'm not working.

But enjoy anyway!

My personal theory that odd-numbered years are always better than the even-numbered years continued to appear valid in 2007. Rarely did I encounter a truly poor film and most of the films that I was looking forward to rarely disappointed. I'd even go so far as to say that 2007 was the best year for film since 2001. The interesting thing is that back at the beginning of the year, I hardly any titles on a list of anticipated films. So many of the movies that made my list were not overly hyped more than a few months in advance.

As for personal film habits, not much changed for me in 2007. Only took in one documentary at the theatre and while I finally moved into my first apartment, the number of movies I rented remained very low. When it comes to personal likes and dislikes, I'm finding that I have zero desire to see straight-up dramas anymore. It's not that I find drama bad so much as whenever I see a trailer for a drama, it always seems so manipulative and cloying. There were a handful of those this year, but it doesn't look like anyone else went for them either (Rendition, Reservation Road, Lions for Lambs & The Kite Runner).

Some trends I noticed from the year:

"Go West young studios!": One of the most positive developments in 2007 was the resurgence of the western. Or at least, pseudo-westerns: films set in the west that could just as easily been set in the 19th century. While TAOJJBTCRF failed at the box office, it got some Oscar love and the remake of 3:10 to Yuma was a commercial success. Other films like No County for Old Men and There Will Be Blood, while not exactly in the same time period, still were evocative of westerns.

A Spring in Our Step: The spring of 2007 was about one of the best spring movie season that I can ever remember. I'm growing to enjoy this season more at the theatres, namely because expectations are usually non-existent coming off the awards season. However, film geeks were in heaven with the line-up from internet favorites last spring. Films like Zodiac, 300, Grindhouse, Hot Fuzz, Inland Empire all came out in quick succession (as well as Blades of Glory for this Will Farrell fan). It stands in stark contrast to spring 2008, which has been a generally dismal movie season.

[Sxottlan]

The Bottom 10: These movies really were few and far between this year.

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Jason Behr wakes up the next morning and discovers that he's slept with Dragon Wars!

1.Dragon Wars: * Or D-War if you want to get personal. Incoherent to the point of laughter, this Korean import seemed to pride itself on filming in Los Angeles albeit a Los Angeles with about seven people in it (must be set in the same film universe as Crash then). The direction is just terrible. For example, a previously established character wanders into frame, breaks up an assault on a woman, and wanders out of frame without a word and without any actual shots of his face. Brilliant. Top if off with an unexplained and apparently unnoticed trip to some fantasy land like Mordor at the end and you've got yourself the worst film of 2007.

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Swing and a miss.

2. Pathfinder: *1/2 Made under the mistaken impression that it was a horror film, this dull historical adventure provides next to no real thrills. Directed by Rob Zombie-wannabe hack Marcus Nispel, the film treats the Indians as the cliche spiritual-types outmatched by Vikings portrayed as ridiculously monstrous creatures. Somewhere under all that iron and animal fur was Clancy Brown, but going in disguise in this particular film probably wasn't that bad an idea. The once Eomer and future Doctor McCoy, Karl Urban is pretty forgettable here. Despite being set in what I assume is northeast America, we get repetitive chases across massive mountain ranges and not one, but two chases through the same caves. Economical!

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Jet Li cashes his paycheck for starring in War.

3. War: *1/2 Act of Congress just didn't have the same ring to it. I was about ready to make a declaration of war myself against this, the 2007 occupant of the Jason Statham Chair at the University of Crappy Movies. A fairly dull cop flick that seemed to sell itself on the action its two leads are known for and ultimately had little of either. There is a twist towards the end that is kind of interesting, but had absolutely no set-up. It is then followed by another twist that leaves us rooting for absolutely no one. Was that just an attempt at moral ambiguity?

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Doctor, it burns when I...well, do pretty much anything.

4. Ghost Rider: ** Any inspiration in this film ended at the casting of hippie icon Peter Fonda as the devil. The rest of this comic book adaption is a choppy mess. There's a growing sense as the film progressed that it was built around just a couple of visually stunning moments and really nothing else. Witness the moment when new and old Ghost Riders ride side by side to the climatic battle only for the old one to turn around and leave right away. I've always liked Nicolas Cage and I liked him and Fonda here, but Eva Mendes needs to quit acting..like..right now. I also hate any movies that don't get news broadcasting right and this one failed miserably.

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Get away from her you bitch!

5. Alien Vs. Predator: Requiem: ** Okay, so that line isn't uttered in the film, but that's about the only thing from the previous films not recycled for this ridiculous sequel (and I actually liked the first film). This film just has a nasty streak: children and pregnant women are skull-fucked by the microwavable aliens who grow to maturity in roughly ten seconds. Not that we really care about the humans. The only character we remotely sympathize with is the sheriff who knows he's in over his head (and is pointlessly killed off with half the town by the military). The film feels like a cover band's album of someone else's greatest hits: witness the attack on the national guard ala Aliens. Thrill as the deputy is pointlessly skinned and hung from a tree ala Predator! Marvel at the woman cast apparently due to the fact that she looks and sounds like Ellen Ripley in a scene where she's driving an armored car. Shake your head in disgust as a character tells someone to "Get to the chopper!" and they're serious! These are not clever homages. They're just ripped off wholesale.

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It's been how long since I last appeared in a worst films of the year list?

6. Next: ** Who would have foreseen two Nicolas Cage films in my top worst films of the year? Maybe the main character of Next would have. Then again, if this list were anything like the movie, it would end at #2. Yes indeed, the movie engages in one long red herring before backtracking and then just ends before any real conclusion to the story. The thing is, I don't think I really need to see any more of this film. At this point I can't even remember who the bad guys were or what their motive was. Jessica Biel continues to insist upon starring in films and she's pretty bad here. Even Cage and Julianne Freakin' Moore don't seem to know what they're doing here.

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I fold.

7. Smokin' Aces: ** Well this was just an ugly little movie..and rather kind of boring. There were a few scenes here and there that were exciting and of course, you had Matthew Fox from Lost in what had to be an intentionally bad wig. But there were just a few too many leaps I guess we're supposed to make in this film about assassins hunting for a mob snitch, like a guy who can make realistic masks of other people on the fly and then for some reason doesn't just shoot the target. Probably because if he had, the movie would have ended half an hour earlier. And what was up with the ADD kid with the septic eye? Anyone? Anyone? When the film tried to get all serious at the end, I just wanted to chuck something at the screen. Where the hell does this movie get off thinking it can do that?

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Whatever.

8. Stardust: ** Meh. The very definition of flat: a fantasy film that really doesn't feel all that fantastical. Little moments served to confuse rather than entertain in this film. Why post a guard at a gap in a stone wall when the wall is only a few feet tall to begin with? If the bland hero barely knows the evil witch, how did he know where to find her? And we're talking about a pretty dense hero here, who quickly becomes unsympathetic when he casually enslaves a woman to give her to another woman as a gift. Thankfully, a classic montage unbelievably makes him into an action hero! Much of the film's attempts at humor also fail. What I hate most about fantasy films that the best ones like LOTR avoided is all the contrived rules and regulations the characters must jump through for things to happen and it drove this film into the ground.

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Ever get that over-rated feeling sometimes?

9. Knocked Up: ** Call this more indifference to what everyone else was going nuts over. I watched this unreasonably long film and, instead of offensive like I thought it would be, I just found it boring and dull. It wasn't particularly funny and the girl's sister was mostly obnoxious. Most inexplicable of all was how the lead characters have a drunken night together, but apparently have real chemistry afterwards. I must have missed the part where they discover that they actually liked each other.

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Alice's mime training finds surprising use in real life situations.

10. 28 Weeks Later: ** This one is a frustrating. It aims higher than the original, but in doing so, it stumbles even more glaringly on the dumb cliches that often sink films of this kind. The set up is pretty fascinating, but then characters have to commit some pretty stupid mistakes to get the zombie ball rolling again. Like the army not locking a backdoor to their emergency shelter so one can get in. Or how it's all precipitated by the cliche Dumb Kids Doing Dumb Things (TM) or even that said dumb children are observed on a monitor clearly breaking out of the green zone, but then no one goes to get them until after they've found the thing that will lead to another outbreak. C'mon!

[Sxottlan]

Now, because I've fallen so far behind, and I really didn't feel like recapping every single film I saw in 2007 to begin with, I'll break from my usual format for some quick highlights:

-Most Disappointing Film of 2007: Elizabeth: The Golden Age: Well, a fairly vestigial film that is never able to escape the shadow of its predecessor, especially as it continued the Catholic conspiracies against Elizabeth (which don't seem to have much to do with the plot to begin with). Funny how they have the queen all done up in battle armor only to then not do anything during the actual battle with the Spanish armada.

-Most Surprising Film of 2007: Hot Rod: Well, it wasn't that great. But it hadn't looked like Andy Samberg's theatrical lead debut was worth seeing in theatres. I waited until long after it had come to DVD to rent it and found it a film in the vein of the early Adam Sandler films that were, you know...actually funny and just slightly surreal. Cool beans!

-Second Most Surprising Film of 2007: Live Free or Die Hard: It kind of peters out at the climax, but this four installment coming so very long after the the rather forgettable third film is actually quite thrilling with fluid camerawork and some rather inventive action scenes.

-Most Undeservingly Overlooked Film of 2007: The Darjeeling Limited: As much as I enjoyed this film, I admit even I continue to overlook this film. It was lost in the fall award season shuffle, too early a release to be remembered later on, despite great performances and mise-en-scene.

-Most Overrated Film of 2007: Knocked Up: As stated above.

-Best Trailer of 2007: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

Now if I may steal a page from what I believe is MSNBC with the ten most memorable moments in time from the films of 2007 in no particular order:

1. Ben Wade and his underling exchange a silent glance in 3:10 to Yuma. In that instant, the loyalty of Wade's gang of loyal dogs evaporates and then turn on him. So Wade puts them down like dogs.

2. The most heartbreaking moment of any film in 2007: in The Darjeeling Limited, we watch a man desperately race to catch a train in India only to fall behind at the last moment. We realize we're not just seeing someone miss a train, but also perhaps lose their life.

3. During the silent prologue of There Will Be Blood, we get such a great sense of complete isolation. Daniel Plainview is miles away from anyone and deep in a hole. We sense as the film progresses that perhaps that was when he was the most content. His subterranean contentment implies he's something other than human.

4. A husband in Away from Her cross-country skiing looks back at him home and sees the lights slowly go out, a great metaphor for how his strong marriage to his wife is disappearing through the fault of no one but a terrible illness.

5. In a chilling scene in Live Free or Die Hard, terrorists use footage of our past presidents to assemble a ransom note and then mess with people by using CGI to make it look like Congress blows up just for the hell of it.

6. A car stops and the people inside look up at the colossus moving across the landscape. At that point, they realize just how insignificant the human species has become (was always?) in The Mist.

7. Another generally silent prologue, this time as we watch Robert Neville go hunting for food through the wild brush of Times Square in I am Legend. A very evocative and visually stunning sequence.

8. The camera moves past the light held by Jesse James into total darkness in TAOFFBTCRF. We hear the train before we see it as then an ominous light comes around the corner. Then amazingly, the train comes right up to the camera and starts pushing it down the tracks.

9. An apparent "missing reel" moment cuts from a love scene at a restaurant to the place on fire, generating one of the biggest laughs of the year in Grindhouse. Then the characters all just happen to refer to scenes in that reel, but we're kept in the dark.

10. Realizing that Spider-Pig was more entertaining than all of Spider-Man 3.

[Sxottlan]

Honorable Mention: Five films that came close, but get some lovely parting gifts:
1. The Bourne Ultimatum
2. Grindhouse
3. Gone Baby Gone
4. The Diving Bell & the Butterfly
5. 300

Now on to the top ten films of the year in reverse order:


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10. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: Directed by Tim Burton ***1/2

"Forget my face boy."

Here is Burton's most tragic film. Kind of a shame that the music almost gets in the way of the ripping good yarn. "Epiphany" is the only song really memorable all this time later, it's bombastic rage punctuated by a powerful refrain about salvation amidst a bloodlust for vengeance. Burton's usual visual panache is the perfect companion to such feeling, his most visually decadent film since Sleepy Hollow. What rather wonderful about the film is how, while it initially takes glee in the throat-slitting (just about the last act of violence that still really bothers me on film), it quickly turns hollow. He doesn't literally do it to himself, but Todd basically eviscerates himself with one killing too many and we're reminded how everyone in the film is a grotesquery of their former selves. It's most telling how he doesn't even realize it.


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9. The Darjeeling Limited: Directed by Wes Anderson ***1/2

"It's a train. How could it be lost?"

At times, I have attributed my disinterest to The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou due to the last high fever I had when I saw it in theatres. Still, I've never felt like revisiting that film. I didn't suffer from any delirium when seeing The Darjeeling Limited, which is perhaps Wes Anderson's most emotionally up-front film. Something like accepting death is not exactly new by any stretch and the metaphor of the train ride is pretty clear, but Anderson's shot compositions (filled with his trademark trinkets and such) and the humor of the disaffected trio of brothers are always just this side of too precious. There's fantastic camera work as well as long scenes take place within the confines of a small train compartment, yet it amazingly turns around and moves up and down to catch all the action. The movie does drag on a little too long though.


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8. Hot Fuzz: Directed by Edgar Wright ***1/2

"Everyone and their mums is packin' round here!"
"Like who?"
"Farmers."
"Who else?"
"Farmers' mums."

This film features probably the script of the year, namely, as in the dialogue above, in how it takes the figurative and makes it literal. A little love letter to their favorite action films, Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright wrote a film that expertly puts together a feasible conspiracy plot...and then expertly takes it apart for a silly slapdash plot and it works. Hints and comments sprinkled throughout the film help set up the twist at the finale, showing how some people just can't get over the little things. Perhaps because in a town that size, that's all they have. Nick Frost gives one of the must under-appreciated performances of the year as the puppy dog partner to Angel. He makes him want to be a better cop and it's endearing. He fully knows he's the sidekick, because just about the only way he can express true feeling is by imitating a scene from a movie.


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7. Ratatouille: Directed by Brad Bird ****

"Anyone can cook."

Despite a small vein of smugness, Brad Bird's latest is an enjoyable romp with more lasting power than The Incredibles (as decent a movie as that was). Visually decadent, the film is a wonderful detailing of a person's artistic drive. That need to create. I regularly feel it, but can never seem to articulate it. Remy can, and it's done wonderfully through comedy stretching from the absurdity of the plot through the slapstick chases through the rendered streets of Paris. Everything builds to a particular bite of the titular food that is just about perfect and completely changes your point of view of one character. I was concerned this would be the least accessible film from the people at Pixar, the climax being a discussion about the role of critics in art, but I'm glad it found an audience.


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6. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford: Directed by Andrew Dominik ****

"They didn't know how their father made his living, or why they so often moved."

Something interesting happens halfway through this, the most gorgeous film of 2007. At first, Robert Ford is genuinely creepy in his adoration of the killer Jesse James. We just don't like him. Then, by the time the film ends, we find our sympathies reversed and we're not sure when it happened. It's not as sudden as a Hitchcock film, but a more gradual shift. No, it's not like Jesse James is as monstrous as Daniel Plainview or Anton Chigurh. He is, in fact, clearly human and that makes him just as frightening if not more so. He grows erratic and paranoid enough to the point that while the Ford brothers were idiots to fall in with the James gang, they have our sympathies. The film was also adept at capturing the burgeoning celebrity culture of America. It bears down on Robert Ford so much that by the end, even though we saw him living in fear of his life, he regrets killing him even though there was no other option at the time. Unsettling.

(Character limit? To be continued...)

[Sxottlan]

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5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Directed by David Yates ****

"Deep down, you know you deserve to be punished."

Five films in and now things are really moving. Of course, The Empire Strikes Back was the fifth film in technically too, so The Order of the Phoenix is in good company. Will it last as long? Many of the themes are certainly similar. Both are now my favorite films of their respective series. Both reveal how little difference there can be between our "heroes" and "villains." Witness Professor Umbridge, just about the most foul person in the series so far, and she's technically one of the good guys. Or how Harry uses one of the unforgivable curses and it's treated rather matter-of-factly. Revealing just how much The Goblet of Fire was padding and stalling, the action really ramps up with one of the best duels since the Star Wars films. I was initially unsure about Yates, but he displayed a unique style. I particularly loved his use of hand held cameras during the finale. Can't wait for the next one. Still have to read it though.


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4. Paprika: Directed by Satoshi Kon ****

"One please."

Satoshi Kon is one of my favorite directors, especially among new directors this decade. And his winning streak continues with Paprika, a film that doesn't plumb the depths of the human psyche as much as his previous works. However, neither is it as straightforward as his wonderful Tokyo Godfathers. What it does share in common with his works like Millennium Actress is his psychedelic dreamscape brought to vivid life as the subconscious and the internet seem to blend together. The villain has a perfectly valid point: perhaps there are places that science should just simply not go, namely our subconscious (imagined here as an ever marching parade without anyone in control).


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3. There Will Be Blood: Directed Paul Thomas Anderson ****

"If I say I'm an oil man, you will agree..."

Funny how that sounds more like a command than a request for consensus. Considering the character of Daniel Plainview, I guess we shouldn't be surprised. Beginning and ending the film under ground, Plainview is an animal clambering to the surface like the oil he covets so much. One of the most fascinating questions to debate is if there is any real humanity to the character. The presence of H.G. makes us believe there is, but as the film progresses, I grew to believe that he saw the child more like a pet or a piece of property. Another advantage to ply potential business partners with. Yet when someone pretends to be his relative, then he gets mad. P.T. Anderson's camera captures Plainview's rise to power without much comment. Even in the final bloody act, neither Plainview or Anderson seem much concerned, although the director's cut to black leaves open to debate if the character realizes the double meaning of saying, "I'm finished."


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2. Zodiac: Directed by David Fincher ****

"This can no longer be ignored."

Alas, Fincher's latest was indeed a film that was ignored. An impeccably recreated period piece and police procedural, the film's deliberate pacing also creates a dream-like absorbing feel despite the attention to realism. The film spans decades, and every jump forward almost deals the viewer a physical blow because as another day passes, it's less likely that the Zodiac killer will be found. Fincher continues a phenomenal streak of success, intentionally putting the breaks on the kind of genre that his Seven helped start all those years ago now. It was also simply fascinating watching the era when print was very much alive and the sometimes excruciatingly slow way information is exchanged by those investigating the case.


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1. No Country for Old Men: Directed by Joel & Ethan Coen ****

"And in the dream I knew that he was goin' on ahead and he was fixin' to make a fire somewhere out there in all that dark and all that cold..."

What a film! It has just about everything that I love in movies. A gentle and understanding, but not snarky, sense of desolation both visual and internal. Black humor and the occasional exchange of gunfire. Straight forward, but beautiful cinematography. Memorable characters, but no so loopy to call attention to themselves. A little narrative gamble that shifts the focus on the film's real character hidden in plain sight.

The Coen Brother's triumphant return to form is at times as thrilling as any action film and then at times as haunting as any mood piece. Its a truly fascinating combination. Some movies you get over time. It's nice to see one that you connect with every step of the way in real time. There was perhaps no moment finer this year than to watch Sheriff Bell accept his irrelevance, listen to his beautiful remembrance of a dream the night before, the sudden cut to black and recalling the huge smile on my face. Just as joyous an experience as watching the film was watching its successful crossover to mainstream popularity. Kind of a silly thing I know, but it nice to see.

2007 Total Films: 73
Positive (*** to ****): 49
Average (**1/2): 14
Negative (Zero Stars to **): 10

Strangely enough, that's the exact number of films I saw in 2006.

See you next year! Which is to say, this year. But it won't get written until next year.

[Spinal]

"This can no longer be ignored."


Awesome line. Or maybe it was the delivery.

[DrewG]

Haha, I love how Nic Cage managed to grab not one, but two spots on your Bottom 10 list.

[Sxottlan]

The thing of it is, I really like him. But his choices lately...

And the balding forehead mullet look from his next one makes him look rather freakish.

[DrewG]

The thing of it is, I really like him. But his choices lately...

And the balding forehead mullet look from his next one makes him look rather freakish.

He isn't looking to improve with Bangkok Dangerous either...I saw the trailer like a week ago and I already completely forgot about what the hell it was about.

I think it really sucks that Nic Cage chooses these roles...obviously a lot of people hate him for being born into his profession with Coppola and everything but the guy can act, Leaving Las Vegas really is one of my favorite performances ever.

[Rowland]

4. A husband in Away from Her cross-country skiing looks back at him home and sees the lights slowly go out, a great metaphor for how his strong marriage to his wife is disappearing through the fault of no one but a terrible illness.I groaned at this. Did the voice-over really need to explain the metaphor for us while we were watching it? :rolleyes: Possibly the clunkiest moment in the movie, barring the embarrassingly inappropriate Iraq War jab.

[balmakboor]

I don't know if it was worth the wait to find out that you placed the same three films at the top as pretty much everyone else, but, yes, those three films are pretty amazing. I'd flip-flop #2 and #3 and move Darjeeling Limited up to #4.

[Spinal]

Honorable Mention:

5. 300


Speaking of things that can no longer be ignored.

[DSNT]

Good list .. and no worries about being late. I'm still a week or two from finalizing mine, and I used to post them every January like clockwork. Life intervenes.

[SirNewt]

No Michael Clayton eh?

[Sxottlan]

I enjoyed Michael Clayton, a well-done legal (corporate?) thriller. Great acting all around. I guess I can see the comparisons to the thrillers of the 1970's, but didn't make that direct correlation. I was kind of surprised at all the nominations for it, but agree with Swinton winning.