Favorite Movies of 2007
Now that we’re almost halfway through 2008, I thought I should finally get around to posting my favorite movies of 2007. As always, my favorite movies usually deal with questions of religion and death because that seems to be the only way for me to feel that a movie is dealing with something close to the totality of human experience.
annaschmidt's FAVORITE MOVIES OF 2007 (alphabetical)
3:10 to Yuma
American Gangster
Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The
Charlie Wilson's War
Grindhouse
Into Great Silence (2005)
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
Rescue Dawn
There Will Be Blood
Honorable Mention: Hot Fuzz, Superbad
MOST OVERRATED MOVIES OF 2007
6) AWAY FROM HER
- Directed & written for the screen by Sarah Polley
Certainly not bad but awfully Canadian, which is to say kind-of bland. At one point, our Alzheimer’s victim (who talks likes she’s trapped in a very-writerly short story) says her disease is like a house where all the lights are turning off one-by-one. Then she looks at a house and the lights turn off one-by-one. Deep.
5) 300
- Directed by Zach Snyder
The “love it or hate it” movie of 2007. I loved the trailer but felt the movie was only “okay.”
4) THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
- Directed by Paul Greengrass
I liked the comically unnecessary editing and camerawork, but otherwise I still don’t get the wide appeal of this icy and inhuman trilogy.
3) RATATOUILLE
- Directed & co-written by Brad Bird
More anthropomorphized animals, more not-quite-soulless but largely impersonal computer animation from Pixar or DreamWorks or whoever the hell they are, more telling kids to “just be yourself!”
2) TRANSFORMERS
- Directed by Michael Bay
Really, it’s hard to pick on this movie. It promised to be loud, stupid, and overlong, and it delivered on being loud, stupid, and overlong.
1) JUNO
- Directed by Jason Reitman
Contrived, overwritten, and self-congratulatory. What bollocks.
FAVORITE MOVIES OF 2007
9 - 14)
AMERICAN GANGSTER
- Directed by Ridley Scott
Slick and engaging, if shallow, 1970s epic.
GONE BABY GONE
- Directed & co-written by Ben Affleck
Neatly-assembled mystery-plus-moral quandary combo.
HOT FUZZ
- Directed & co-written by Edgar Wright
Tee-hee. A delightfully unapologetic anti-social fantasy. Except for “NCFOM,” film editing was nowhere as important as in this movie.
MICHAEL CLAYTON
- Directed & written by Tony Gilroy
Mainstream and middlebrow, yes, but I liked it.
PERSEPOLIS
- Directed & co-written by Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi
I loved the animation and storytelling, but there was something slightly condescending and incomplete about the opening sections in Iran that kept me from loving it.
ZODIAC
- Directed by David Fincher
As complicated as “JFK” but without the flashbacks.
8) THE HOST
- Directed & co-written by Joon-ho Bong
Carnivorous mutated fish monster on the loose brings an estranged family together. I love Korea.
7) EXILED
- Directed & co-written by Johnnie To
Oh hell yes. Gorgeously shot in the part of Macau that used to be a Portuguese colony, it even looks like a spaghetti Western. Hitmen spare an old friend-turned-target, and the screenplay has a kind of insane clockwork perfection as things keep getting worse and worse for them.
5 & 6)
AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE COLON MOVIE FILM FOR THEATERS
- Directed & written by Matt Maiellaro
and
THE SIMPSONS MOVIE
- Directed by David Silverman
The two best animated films of 2007, one a conventional story of a hero’s journey, sharply-cut and snappy, the other a bizarre anti-narrative set where the avant-garde meets frat boy humor.
4) THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD
- Directed & written for the screen by Andrew Dominik
In one of many years without a Terrence Malick movie, this will do nicely.
3) THERE WILL BE BLOOD
- Directed & written for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson
Deeply insane and probably flawed parable of the two great pillars of American culture: that old time religion and greed. It begins with screaming music of what appear to be alien hills, then cuts to a solitary man digging a hole, then cuts back to the screaming mountains - as if man and land were conversing. Truly, its milkshake brings all the boys to the yard.
2) INTO GREAT SILENCE
- Directed & written by Philip Groning
An experiential documentary about a year in the life of an Alpine monastery, offering no history, theology, or explanation of the monks’ activities.
1) NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
- Directed & written for the screen by Joel & Ethan Coen
A merciless story about the inevitability of death and the hope / remorse of a beyond, told through merciless cutting, brutal gunfights, and minimalist one-on-one scenes.
DIDN’T GET TO SEE:
Houston is several Guy Maddin movies behind. It makes me want to throw up.
annaschmidt's FAVORITE MOVIES OF 2007 (alphabetical)
3:10 to Yuma
American Gangster
Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The
Charlie Wilson's War
Grindhouse
Into Great Silence (2005)
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
Rescue Dawn
There Will Be Blood
Honorable Mention: Hot Fuzz, Superbad
MOST OVERRATED MOVIES OF 2007
6) AWAY FROM HER
- Directed & written for the screen by Sarah Polley
Certainly not bad but awfully Canadian, which is to say kind-of bland. At one point, our Alzheimer’s victim (who talks likes she’s trapped in a very-writerly short story) says her disease is like a house where all the lights are turning off one-by-one. Then she looks at a house and the lights turn off one-by-one. Deep.
5) 300
- Directed by Zach Snyder
The “love it or hate it” movie of 2007. I loved the trailer but felt the movie was only “okay.”
4) THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
- Directed by Paul Greengrass
I liked the comically unnecessary editing and camerawork, but otherwise I still don’t get the wide appeal of this icy and inhuman trilogy.
3) RATATOUILLE
- Directed & co-written by Brad Bird
More anthropomorphized animals, more not-quite-soulless but largely impersonal computer animation from Pixar or DreamWorks or whoever the hell they are, more telling kids to “just be yourself!”
2) TRANSFORMERS
- Directed by Michael Bay
Really, it’s hard to pick on this movie. It promised to be loud, stupid, and overlong, and it delivered on being loud, stupid, and overlong.
1) JUNO
- Directed by Jason Reitman
Contrived, overwritten, and self-congratulatory. What bollocks.
FAVORITE MOVIES OF 2007
9 - 14)
AMERICAN GANGSTER
- Directed by Ridley Scott
Slick and engaging, if shallow, 1970s epic.
GONE BABY GONE
- Directed & co-written by Ben Affleck
Neatly-assembled mystery-plus-moral quandary combo.
HOT FUZZ
- Directed & co-written by Edgar Wright
Tee-hee. A delightfully unapologetic anti-social fantasy. Except for “NCFOM,” film editing was nowhere as important as in this movie.
MICHAEL CLAYTON
- Directed & written by Tony Gilroy
Mainstream and middlebrow, yes, but I liked it.
PERSEPOLIS
- Directed & co-written by Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi
I loved the animation and storytelling, but there was something slightly condescending and incomplete about the opening sections in Iran that kept me from loving it.
ZODIAC
- Directed by David Fincher
As complicated as “JFK” but without the flashbacks.
8) THE HOST
- Directed & co-written by Joon-ho Bong
Carnivorous mutated fish monster on the loose brings an estranged family together. I love Korea.
7) EXILED
- Directed & co-written by Johnnie To
Oh hell yes. Gorgeously shot in the part of Macau that used to be a Portuguese colony, it even looks like a spaghetti Western. Hitmen spare an old friend-turned-target, and the screenplay has a kind of insane clockwork perfection as things keep getting worse and worse for them.
5 & 6)
AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE COLON MOVIE FILM FOR THEATERS
- Directed & written by Matt Maiellaro
and
THE SIMPSONS MOVIE
- Directed by David Silverman
The two best animated films of 2007, one a conventional story of a hero’s journey, sharply-cut and snappy, the other a bizarre anti-narrative set where the avant-garde meets frat boy humor.
4) THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD
- Directed & written for the screen by Andrew Dominik
In one of many years without a Terrence Malick movie, this will do nicely.
3) THERE WILL BE BLOOD
- Directed & written for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson
Deeply insane and probably flawed parable of the two great pillars of American culture: that old time religion and greed. It begins with screaming music of what appear to be alien hills, then cuts to a solitary man digging a hole, then cuts back to the screaming mountains - as if man and land were conversing. Truly, its milkshake brings all the boys to the yard.
2) INTO GREAT SILENCE
- Directed & written by Philip Groning
An experiential documentary about a year in the life of an Alpine monastery, offering no history, theology, or explanation of the monks’ activities.
1) NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
- Directed & written for the screen by Joel & Ethan Coen
A merciless story about the inevitability of death and the hope / remorse of a beyond, told through merciless cutting, brutal gunfights, and minimalist one-on-one scenes.
DIDN’T GET TO SEE:
Houston is several Guy Maddin movies behind. It makes me want to throw up.