So know that this list will be revised, if applicable, when I do see those films, and I'll link back to it when appropriate. I ended up seeing over fifty films released last year, depending on how you count it (I say count February to January, since this month is all about seeing art-house award contenders that hadn't made it here yet). And with very few exceptions, they were all pretty much a good time. Whittling it down to 20 was hard.
The latter half of the list:
21. Ratatouille
20. Paprika
19. Stardust
18. Juno
17. Gone Baby Gone
16. The Darjeeling Limited
15. American Gangster
14. The Bourne Ultimatum
13. 3:10 to Yuma
12. Knocked Up
Pretty self explanatory runners-up. I'm obviously not as high on Juno as other countdown makers, but it's still a great film in a crowded year. Paprika is the only thing to make the list that I missed in the theater- otherwise I saw most of this list on the first weekend I could.
11. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
The only film in all of 2007 that I saw more than once in theaters, so it leapfrogs The Bourne Ultimatum and Knocked Up from the Summer Countdown for the ten-spot. I never would have predicted, based on the first two films, that I'd eventually be as stoked for first-day midnight showings of the Harry Potter series as I was for Lord of the Rings, but the last three films are right up there with any other famous trilogies. Can't wait until November.
10. Atonement
After I saw Atonement, I read the Ian McEwan novel (normally something I'd have done first), and to my surprise still preferred the film. It was able to cut very efficiently through a beautiful, but plodding novel, and maintain a tense energy throughout.
It's not really as "Oscar"-ish at it seemed at first glance, which is not necessarily a bad thing. It eschews redundant pining and melodrama for a twist that is both satisfying and heart-wrenching at the same time. In a slower year, I wouldn't have hesitated so much to put it into my Best Picture nominees.
9. ZodiacAs I am now reminded, January through March is not the best time to go to the movies (unless you're Dave, who's seeing Cloverfield this weekend and Rambo(?) next weekend, he tells me. I felt like I had to share this with you). This is the only representative from the Mid-winter and Spring months of 2007 on this whole list- The Namesake, Reign Over Me, Hot Fuzz, and The Host are all in the twenties for sure, but still.
Robert Downey, Jr. steals the show in David Fincher's moody, atmospheric procedural not-quite-a-thriller about the unsolved Zodiac killings in San Francisco. Jake Gyllenhaal does a workmanlike job as a cartoonist obsessed with the case, but never really solidifies this picture into an awards contender. Between this and what I hear is a bland turn in Rendition (I didn't see it), we're still waiting for you to capitalize on the potential you showed in Donnie Darko, Jake.
8. Rescue Dawn
Christian Bale eats live worms. For real.
7. Michael Clayton
A heart-pounding, throwback thriller that has stuck in my memory so well I might go see it again once they re-expand it next weekend (so far, the Clayton and No Country teams are positive enough about multiple Oscars noms that they've planned the Awards rerun expansions already. If Into the Wild makes it into the final five, they'll probably re-up that as well).
6. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
True story: right before I went to see this with Nicole, we had lunch at Boston Market and I ordered a chicken pot pie. Yeah.
5. Away From Her
Bought it on DVD, and it still holds up. Further information (from my parents, who watched it on my fervent recommendation) has revealed to me that the K. D. Lang song that plays over the credits is a classic Neil Young song.
So maybe they chose it to appeal to the presumably older than I am target audience of this Alzheimer's centered drama. So what- the Ray LaMontagne song from the trailer is still a better fit, I way.
4. There Will Be Blood
Basically the shortest three hours I spent in a movie theater this year. Between the score, the visuals, and the utterly ridiculous badassness of Daniel Day-Lewis, an instant buy on DVD. And it's a shoe-in for a Best Picture nomination on Tuesday, to boot.
3. Once
I know, I know, this was runner up to Away From Her on my list four months ago. What can I say? I'm not paid enough for this to not change my mind about things. Watching it on DVD, I realized what an efficient, brilliant film it turned out to be for the budget.
And they say nothing elevates a film like the right soundtrack, but this is really a case of a brilliant soundtrack elevating a bootstraps indie film to an instant classic. It's a shame that only two songs ("Falling Slowly" and "If You Want Me") are eligible for the Best Original Song Oscar, and that's the only place that Once has a shot at showing up in.
2. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
(See review)
1. No Country For Old Men
Sure, pick the most lauded film of the year, Duncan. Way to go out on a limb. What can I say? You can't argue with two Coen brothers, a Pulitzer-winning author, two badasses and a complete psychopath.
Most Overrated film of the year:
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
When I caught up with this one, I remembered vaguely the premise and that it got outstanding reviews. And while the execution is there, and the cast is more than able (Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Marisa Tomei's breasts, Ethan Hawke, and Albert Finney), it's just a miserable film about misery for the sake of misery. Much like the similarly lauded but god-awful House of Sand and Fog, I can just never get behind sad people with bad luck doing horrible things to each other.
Plus, 83-year old Sidney Lumet decides to fracture the timeline of this film with completely jarring and useless Tarantino cuts, which recur until you just start wishing for the thing to end. Maybe the critics were just so proud of him for managing to shoot a whole film without soiling himself that they gave him a free pass.
Best Guilty Pleasure: Across the Universe
Who doesn't like a good sing along? I have no intention of buying Julie Taymour's cheesy, goofball Beatles collage movie (maybe as a gift), but I did pick up the soundtrack to blast in my car.
It's been such a strong year for musicals/music-related pictures I thought the Academy might dust off the "Best Musical" category and nominate Across the Universe, Once, La Vie En Rose, Hairspray, and Sweeney Todd.
Omissions:
I never had the effort to see Into the Wild (which would be an inspiring yarn of natural connection and individualism if (spoiler) its protagonist didn't starve to death in an abandoned van in Alaska(end spoiler)). And that's the only film in the running for Best Pic I haven't made it to, except for Diving Bell as I mentioned. I could really care less about The Great Debaters (I was on the Chess Team in high school. The Debate Team was a bunch of nerds) or The Bucket List. I didn't ever really feel the need to see La Vie En Rose or A Mighty Heart, because I'm not into French music or bad French accents. And there was too big a part of my mind that thought Lars and the Real Girl sounded too much like a National Lampoon's movie (the crappy ones, with Paris Hilton in them for five minutes) to take seriously.
Otherwise I saw just about everything, which is way too many for someone who doesn't get paid to.
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