TOP TEN: Films of 2007

It hasn’t actually been a bad year for film at all. Infact, it’s been a really good year… only marred by the crappy summer blockbusters and sequels which truly disappointed us all. Films like SPIDER-MAN 3, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 3, TRANSFORMERS and THE SIMPSONS MOVIE were awful and perfect examples of movies made for no reason than a financial opportunity.

Take away the big budget tentpoles and you’ve got a superb year. When movies like STARDUST, RATATOUILLE, KNOCKED UP, HOT FUZZ and GONE BABY GONE haven’t made the list and I’m happy with what I have but I’ve still not seen THERE WILL BE BLOOD, SWEENEY TODD, MICHAEL CLAYTON and ACROSS THE UNIVERSE yet, you know it’s been a good 12 months.

So here it is. My Top Ten movies of 2007, the one’s that keep me excited and the reason why I run a movie news site and don’t just watch my DVD’s of HITCHCOCK, LEONE, FELLINI all day…

10. BEOWULF

I know, I know. I was going on about how crappy BEOWULF looked for months but when I did eventually end up seeing it, WOW. I was amazed by it. The CGI-motion capture technique was actually the ONLY way this tale of man vs. monster could have been told on screen and I found myself haunted, moved and excited by this fantasy epic like nothing in the genre since LORD OF THE RINGS.

I think what this film has going for it over THE GOLDEN COMPASS and ERAGON, is how it went almost exclusively for the adult audience. This a grown up fantasy movie with very dark themes and the best damn chemistry of the year between a CGI Ray Winstone and CGI Angelina Jolie.

It’s a shame the trailers weren’t great and this movie ended up being a financial blip for Robert Zemeckis, but it’s a absolutely terrific movie. Don’t miss it when it comes out on DVD.

9. EASTERN PROMISES

I love David Cronenberg’s movies and his recent career is absolutely fascinating isn’t it?

This is the second best directed film of the year and Cronenberg’s best film he has ever shot. The way he uses Howard Shore’s haunting musical score as an operatic tragedy that just flows into the film when you least expect it and there’s just something amazingly fascinating about the way he has made this gangster flick.

It’s THE GODFATHER with Russian characters and superb sub plots with great performances and convincing accents from Viggo Mortensen and Naomi Watts.

The cinematography, the tone, the faces, the performances and Cronenberg still managing to make us wonder about morality, the image of the body, family loyalty all mixed with his unique way of shooting violence. Even though it’s an efficiently cold film that wants you to stay away from these characters, I think I will soon become addicted by this flick.

8. GRINDHOUSE

If we are talking about my favourite cinematic time in 2007, then GRINDHOUSE would absolutely be number one. This was easily the best time I had in a darkened room this year, seeing two kick ass movies back to back. The atmosphere of the fake trailers, the scratchy reels, the fake advertisements, etc.

Read my original review of GRINDHOUSE.

Read my review of the extended and international cut of DEATH PROOF.

7. BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD

83 year old Sidney Lumet? I’ve never seen such a movie full of life from a veteran director who is remarkably still experimenting here with a play on the crime drama and film narrative. It feels like a debut film from a fresh new director, not a veteran who gave us the classic Henry Fonda movie 12 ANGRY MEN all the way back in the 50’s.

This masterpiece is told in a fascinating non-linear narrative where your allegiance changes with every passing scene. It’s basically a tale about how wrong a crime can go… and how far our sense or right or wrong can be pushed when your on that downward spiral to the end.

6. ONCE

I have yet to really talk about ONCE. I saw it pretty late in the day, when I got sent the DVD of this movie and I knew very little about it. I did remember reading someone’s review somewhere where they mentioned it was an incredible achievement for a movie made for next to nothing but apart from that, I went into it pretty cold.

It’s not really like any movie I have ever seen before. It is reminiscent I guess of BEFORE SUNRISE but without the dream-like dialogue between two people who accidentally meet on a train that could only take place on film.

ONCE is possibly the most inspirational film of the year, an Irish musical about a guy whose a talented musician who can busk on the streets but he hasn’t got the balls to record anything in a studio to distribute it. A polish girl goes up to him, and a romantic spark happens but this isn’t a romantic film per say… it’s more a film about two people with a connection and who both find inspiration from each other to go out and strive for the life they want to lead.

5. AMERICAN GANGSTER

American Gangster covers very little new ground in the gangster genre but it does all the old good bits well and is given to us by a superb director in a slow-building and easy to follow way. It’s almost like a classic ‘post-modern’ gangster flick, a movie about a genre… and the elusive search for happiness and the American dream. What lengths would we go to be happy in life… and is money, fame, good morals or our family the thing we should strive for?

Wonderful movie.

Read my original AMERICAN GANGSTER review.

4. ZODIAC

I’ve become just as obsessed with this movie as the characters in it are obsessed with tracking down the mysterious killer of 1970’s San Fransisco who murdered several victims and played with journalists and the cops on the case, before disappearing into obscurity without warning or reason.

ZODIAC is David Fincher’s quiestest film yet. He’s gone from this “cool” visual style that almost started it’s own generation in the 90’s with ALIEN 3, SE7EN, FIGHT CLUB and then PANIC ROOM has been replaced by a Fincher who has gone for an total colour and tone.

ZODIAC doesn’t as much feel as if you are in the 70’s but it feels as if you are watching a film made in the 70’s and that’s a terrific complaint to Fincher and his cinematographer.

I still have problems with the movie, but Fincher’s absolute obsession with this tale and the way he has crafted together this little masterpiece should be commended.

Read my original review of ZODIAC.

3. 3:10 TO YUMA

Not really a surprise is it? I do love my Westerns, and when you have a team-up of two of my favourite actors working today along with the director of the awesome movies COP LAND and WALK THE LINE, blended with the writings of Elmore Leonard… there was no way this was going to fail.

3:10 TO YUMA is the first Western for decades that manages to mix exhilarating action sequences, a chemistry between two acting Gods and a tale that is true to the morality of a Western.

And for those who thought that the ending didn’t make any sense. You weren’t watching it intently enough. Shame on you. This is an incredible film.

Read my original review of 3:10 TO YUMA.

2. THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM

You know, I never thought all that much of the first two BOURNE movies. The first one was a pretty decent thriller, which came around at the right time (when BOND was struggling) but the second one… despite it’s bigger ambition, I couldn’t get past the way Greengrass shot it.

Too shaky, too sick-inducing. It’s reputation got worse in my mind when it was the single film that seemed to begin a trend that would continue through a number of action blockbusters where you just couldn’t tell anything that was going on and was meant to be exciting… but it was a little dumb.

It’s like having a porno where the camera is always moving and you have no focus or point of reference. I’ve seen some sex scenes (THE JACKET) where at shots you can’t even tell if it’s a man’s body or a woman’s body you are looking at. How is that suppose to arose a feeling, and THE BOURNE SUPREMACY was spoilt by this for me.

But I tell ya, THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM hit me hard and kicked me to the fucking ground. I loved it. A 70’s spy movie updated to the modern era, with Matt Damon truly beginning to show his acting chops and putting in the performance of his career right here.

Read my original review of THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM.

1. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

Perfect movie. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN is the coldest movie of the year but it’s the one that will suck you in from Tommy Lee Jones’ magnificent opening monologue and won’t let go of it’s release of you until you’ve been taken on the most exciting but methodically paced cat-and-mouse movie I think I’ve ever seen.

The Coen Brothers have adapted Cormac McCarthy’s novel into a work truly of their own and not since MILLER’S CROSSING all those years ago have I actually been truly satisfied with a work of theirs. Indeed, I’m more than satisfied.

I want to go back out and watch this movie on repeat 5 times running.

Perfect pacing, writing, script work and you talk about a movie which plays with filmic conventions and morality.

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