Best of 2007: The Movies

[EdgarDiazRocks]

That time of year kids!

 

This season my ability to see a lot of stuff was way down due to other time constraints and I have yet to see No Country for Old Men, which I imagine i'll love, but three movies do stand out to me as being great if not fantastically original.

 

Hot Fuzz

The Lookout

Sunshine

Oddly, all three movies are more exposition on other films (Point Break, Memento, 2001), but all three surpassed the concepts unlike a Eli Roth or Tarrantino mess . . .

 

Also i'll eat my hat if Joseph Gordon-Levitt isn't the best actor working today. George Cloony will win all the awards for Michael Clayton (not without some merit) but put alongside his Brick performance, Gordon-Levitt's work in The Lookout is magnificent.

[TURBO]

Live Free Die Hard

 

Love these movies, all of them!

[Katuluu]

Rough Top 10 for the year:

 

1-The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

2 - The King of Kong

3 - This is England

4 - Zodiac

5 - Hot Fuzz

6 - No Country for Old Men

7 - The Orphanage

8 - Margot at the Wedding

9 - Lake of Fire

10 - Eagle vs Shark

 

 

Big pickup in quality of what was released during the second half of the year. My list could easily go 20 deep as I am leaving off some very good films like The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Day Watch, Rescue Dawn, Sunshine, Brand Upon the Brain, and Daft Punk's Electroma and plenty of others that I am forgetting at the moment.

 

The Lookout sucked. I mean, if you like telegraphed "mysteries" maybe that will strike your fancy....

[And That]

Zodiac was easily my favorite movie of 2007. No Country For Old Men, Heima, Rescue Dawn and Hot Fuzz were also up there. I haven't seen Sunshine yet, but will when it comes out on DVD in a few weeks. And what, no mention of Balls of Fury yet?

 

Edit: Durrr... I completely forgot about Knocked Up and Away From Her. Away From Her would be #2 behind Zodiac. I'm also looking forward to Juno and There Will Be Blood.

[EdgarDiazRocks]

The Lookout sucked. I mean, if you like telegraphed "mysteries" maybe that will strike your fancy....

 

which ones aren't? like i said, there's nothing "new" about it, except you really feel for that kid because he makes you BELIEVE he's just not right in the head.

 

4 - Zodiac

 

This was my spectacular failure of the year. Ambitious, well made, solid as hell. Just didn't do it for me. I wanted more of a Picnic at Hanging Rock feel i guess.

 

I will say your review of Knocked Up was spot on, tho. Both it and Superbad left a sour taste for me.

 

Also, exactaly how can you have a movie called Superbad and not play James Brown's Suberbad in it? The world wonders.

 

Edit: And I must say with regards to Rescue Dawn, Werner Herzog is the modern day equivalent of Stanley Kubrick for me. I see why he's a good director, his films are very well crafted, they just aren't my kind of films. If that makes any sense.

 

It works much better with Kubrick, as his demonstrable cold detachment is pretty much the antithesis of Kuroasawa's humanism.

[TURBO]

wow, I haven't even heard of most of those movies, I must be out of touch...

 

I rarely go to theatres anymore though.

[bacon06]

300 anyone? Probably the manliest movie I've ever seen. It is my new all time favorite. Saw it in theaters, bought the special edition DVD and even the soundtrack. It really gets me pumped up.

[burniebrewer]

I didn't go to a single movie this year and the only two new movies I saw (via Netflix) were Knocked Up and Superbad.

[stoops17]

I really enjoyed Hot Fuzz, haven't been to any other movies this year except big box office ones like Live Free Die Hard, Transformers & 300, which I enjoyed too, but they give you exactly what you expect.

[Team Canada]

I'm also looking forward to Juno and There Will Be Blood.

 

Ditto. Also, I'm not positive it was 2007, but My Best Friend (Mon meilleur ami) is great. Also enjoyed Fuzz, Away from Her, Kong, and Clayton. Mixed on Eagle vs Shark, it had moments but seemed like Napoleon (which I love) except weirder. Or perhaps an adult version of ND would be an accurate description.

 

[sgtcluels]

wow I missed a fair amount of movies this year. But I will say, Javier Berman deserves wining best supporting actor. He was awesome in No Country for Old Men.

[nBo Baseball]

Here are the ones I rated "8" and above on Internet Movie Data Base:

Live Free or Die Hard=8

300=8

Knocked Up=8

The Heartbreak Kid=8

Eastern Promisses=8

Zodiac=8

Transformers=8

Beans Holiday (From Me and Coop's Ratings)=8

Shooter=8

Fantastis Four Rise of the Silver Surfer=8

Ditsurbia=8

 

That's all I got for now Me Brewer Fan Peeps http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[Katuluu]

except you really feel for that kid because he makes you BELIEVE he's just not right in the head.

Ahh, kinda like those Mariner teams in the 80's. Now I see why you like it. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif I will agree Gordon-Levitt does a great job. But coming off of Brick I was just hoping for something ... else, for lack of a better word, from him.

 

Superbad was alright, better than Knocked Up. But outside of the opening credits and "These Eyes" their wasn't anything memorable about it. Just more recycled Apatow.

 

Herzog appeals to me because his passion is so plainly evident on screen. He's about as visceral a filmmaker as you'll find, and I just admire the hell out of him for it.

 

[Team Canada]

Eastern Promisses=8

I forgot about that one. When I saw the trailer I completely wrote it off, but the movie itself was much better.

[EdgarDiazRocks]

Herzog appeals to me because his passion is so plainly evident on screen. He's about as visceral a filmmaker as you'll find, and I just admire the hell out of him for it.

 

On the good side, I feel similarly about Tom Tykwer and Michel Gondry. Even when their results are bat-ass crazy.

 

But really when the Grizzly Man started crying over "poor Mr. Fox!" . . . all I could think was "Come on you stupid bear, at him already and get this over with!" I

 

And the next believable female character the Apatow crew comes up with will be the first. Sure the dorky kid who can't speaks to a girl just shows up and gets offered some action from a cute girl . . . really? You know most of us dorky kids had to work our ASSES off for that . . .

 

And I'll have you know that with Harold Reynolds and Mark Langston on the team, those M's did plenty of selfless charity work if not win. Sure every cute intern in the front office had to dive behind a desk in fear of "surprise hugs", but these are the trade offs you deal with.

[And That]

My favorite goofy Herzog quote from Grizzly Man:

 

"I believe the common character of the universe is not harmony, but hostility, chaos and murder."

 

Bears, man. Just bears.

[Principessa21]

300 anyone? Probably the manliest movie I've ever seen. It is my new all time favorite. Saw it in theaters, bought the special edition DVD and even the soundtrack. It really gets me pumped up.

I thought the opposite. I was waiting for "It's Raining Men" to play during the credits.

My favorites this year:

No Country for Old Men

Knocked Up

Once

Eastern Promises

Hot Fuzz

Wind the Shakes the Barley

Planet Terror

La Vie en Rose

 

And I'm sure I'd add Juno and There Will Be Blood. I don't think they'll be a favorite but I'm looking forward to seeing Persepolis and Diving Bell. I thought there were a lot of good films this year, I could easily make a list of 20, but then again I looove movies.

 

ETA: I can't believe I forgot about Harry Potter. Definitely a favorite, maybe even #1.

[Menotti80]

300

The Bourne Ultimatum

SAW 4

Disturbia

Ratatouille

[DuWayne Steurer]

Out of the movies I saw this year (that came out this year), I'd have to say Hot Fuzz, No Country, and Harry Potter 5 were probably the "best". Maybe not necessarily the most enjoyable (go ahead, rip on me, I had fun watching Transformers).

 

I loved Hot Fuzz, the wife hated it, but she's always said she doesn't like British humor. I was prepared to hate Harry Potter (my wife loves the books and the movies, so I got dragged into it). Not that the first 4 were bad, but like EDR and Rescue Dawn, HP just isn't my type of film. Surprisingly grown up, and as far as special effects and action sequences, the wizard battle at the end certainly has to rank right up there with any of the technical wizardry any of the other movies has to offer.

 

Oh I also thoroughly enjoyed Live Free or Die Hard.

 

 

 

Biggest disappointment of the year for me goes to the Simpsons Movie. A few "chuckle" moments, but devoid of everything that made the series great for about the first 6-7 seasons. Please let this series go away before it gets to the "boy, this stuff really sucks" stage!!!

 

 

EDIT: We saw Ratatouille at the theater, (Much to my dismay) and much like Harry Potter, this one really surprised me. Good film.

[Team Canada]

I seemed to have blocked all the blockbusters from my mind. Ratatouille was solid, though not my favorite, and I enjoyed Bourne too. I agree that Simpsons was a major disappointment. My fond memory from that movie was Homer and Spiderpig.

 

And I thought HP5 was awful. But then again, it's one of my least favorite of the books too. Nothing happens. Sirious trips and falls into a magic death trap. Worst. Death. Ever.

[TerraceReserved]

In no particular order:

 

Bourne Ultimatum

Superbad

Disturbia

No Country for Old Men

Knocked Up

 

A quick side note on No Country.... I still have it up there becuase the core of the movie was awesome. But seriously, I couldn't of even imagined a worse ending. I won't spell it out becuase on here for fear of spoilers, but that was the most unsatisfying ending I've ever seen. Ever.

[Roscoe Chill]

A quick side note on No Country.... I still have it up there becuase the core of the movie was awesome. But seriously, I couldn't of even imagined a worse ending. I won't spell it out becuase on here for fear of spoilers, but that was the most unsatisfying ending I've ever seen. Ever.

 

I would have to agree to a point. I didn't even catch it all because of the snoring from a lady sitting behind me. I like No Country For Old Men, but I really thought I'd love it. And I did love it at the beginning....it just didn't match the expectations I had going in when it was all said and done.

[pogokat]

Due to becoming a parent, movies were few and far between this year, but No Country for Old Men was old school Coen, and for that, I was happy...I also drove a couple hundred miles to see The Darjeeling Limited, which i felt was definitely better than bottle rocket and the life aquatic

[RobertR]

Here's my top 10 of the year, of what I've seen.

 

Pan's Labyrinth

No Country For Old Men

Children of Men

The Lives of Others

Ratatouille

Zodiac

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Hot Fuzz

Black Book

Gone Baby Gone

 

I'm still hoping to see Once, Sweeney Todd, Persepolis, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Atonement, and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. And, yeah, I know Pan's Labyrinth, The Lives of Others, and Children of Men were technically 2006 films, but they didn't open in Milwaukee until 2007.

 

For the record, I really like the ending to No Country For Old Men. I understand why people might be upset because the narrative that was set up was suddenly derailed, but that seems to me to be the whole point. How do you deal with the randomness/capriciousness of fate which doesn't hew to any notions of morality/justice? Closest I can get to discussing it without spoilers.

 

Robert

[iluvlamp]

The only two movies I really loved this year was Pan's Labyrinth (just breathtakingly great) and Knocked Up (very funny and touching).