TOP 10 2007

Started by modage, January 01, 2008, 04:06:10 PM

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modage



1. THERE WILL BE BLOOD
The reason I go to the movies.  After waiting for this film for more than 2 1/2 years I was worried there was no way it could live up to my expectations.  And it didn't, it completely circumvented and surpassed everything I thought this film might be.  Paul Thomas Anderson proves he is more than just my favorite writer/director, but probably the greatest filmmaker working today.  Daniel Day Lewis owns every frame of this film.  A hundred times better than anything else I saw this year.  I've seen it twice and I can't wait to see it again.



2. KNOCKED UP
The funniest movie of the year.  Judd Apatow moves closer to fulfilling the promise of Freaks & Geeks on the big screen by adding more heart to the comedy.

3. RATATOUILLE
Brad Bird pulls off another miracle.  I want to move to Pixar's Paris.

4. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
Thank God the Coens are back!  While it's not my favorite of their films this sparse thriller reminiscent of Blood Simple and Fargo certainly absolves them of their past sins.



5. ZODIAC
An engrossing, frustrating film that was not at all what I expected but is an exciting new direction for Fincher.

6. JUNO
A very sweet, surprisingly poignant movie.  Credit Jason Reitman for hitting exactly the right tone balancing the stylized dialogue with the tender moments.  Avoids cliches, never becomes too sitcom-y and the cast is great all around.

7. GRINDHOUSE
I watched the extended Planet Terror the other night and it really just does not work without an audience. The extra scenes only slow the film down so I can only imagine how poorly Death Proof suffers from the extra weight.  However seeing the full Grindhouse experience in the theatre with an audience was an incredibly fun kickass night at the movies.



8. SUPERBAD
The 2nd best Apatow/Rogen film of the year really captured my high school experience.

9. THE DARJEELING LIMITED
While it can't touch his earlier work, I still enjoyed Wes latest film.  It's good, but not quite funny or touching enough to be great.  He is officially in a rut.

10. SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET
The cast is great, the ending is brutal and bleak, and the story seems tailor-made for Burton, who delivers his best film since Sleepy Hollow.

NOTABLE: 300, 3:10 To Yuma, The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Black Book, Black Snake Moan, Control, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Hot Fuzz, I'm Not There, Son Of Rambow.

STILL NEED TO SEE: Across the Universe, Atonement, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Charlie Wilson's War, Eastern Promises, Gone Baby Gone, Lust Caution, Margot at the Wedding, Michael Clayton, Once, Persepolis, Southland Tales, Stardust, The Golden Compass, The Mist, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Youth Without Youth.
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

Astrostic

#1
Top 10
1. Syndromes and a Century
2. There Will Be Blood
3. No Country For Old Men
4. I'm Not There
5. Zodiac
6. Ratatouille
7. Hairspray
8. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
9. Persepolis
10. Once



cinemanarchist

as seen in "So Far This Year Vol. 5"

1 There Will Be Blood
2 Into The Wild
3 Zodiac
4 Diving Bell and The Butterfly
5 The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
6 No Country For Old Men
7 Southland Tales
8 This Is England
9 Michael Clayton
10 Helvetica
My assholeness knows no bounds.

samsong

1. there will be blood
2. i'm not there
3. brand upon the brain!
4. persepolis
5. no country for old men
6. exterminating angels
7. ratatouille
8. flanders
9. the assassination of jesse james by the coward robert ford
10. superbad

elected to leave secret sunshine and flight of the red balloon off until they get us releases.

Pozer

#4











Jeremy Blackman

I've actually seen most of what I want to see, but I'm only comfortable with a top 5 right now. I'll do a top 10 when I've really seen everything.

1. There Will Be Blood
2. Across the Universe
3. Sicko
4. 28 Weeks Later
5. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

w/o horse

1.  Exiled. 

And I don't intend this to be a kind of kitsch selection.  I mean this film, for me, eleminated once and for all the genre/proper art film line.  Whatever the difference can be defined as has simply become an unimportant consideration.  This movie's just plain fucking great and I keep thinking about it.  Triad Election might be a 2007 pick too and it'll probably wear with less severity than Exiled.

2.  Brand Upon the Brain!.

If you saw it with the live narrator and foley crew you know what I mean.  What other cinema experience did I have as memorable as that one?

3.  Eastern Promises.

My initial post (after seeing the film) in this film's thread is still my final reaction.  For me it was like:

4.  No Country For Old Men.

Which I now pretty much see as for the Coen canon what I see Eatern Promises being for the Cronenberg canon.  Switch these two around if you want.  I just saw Eastern Promises first.  I think the extent of No Country's departure from recent Conen material amplifies the ambitions of the film, like you can call it a return to form for them, while Spider wasn't even that far back and I really liked Spider.  But what these films obviously share is an appreciation of tone mood pacing suspense and genre deconstruction.  They're both fucking excellent at it, I don't mean to compare them sorry.

5.  We Own the Night.

And I kind of mean in a kitsch way but not entirely.  It did some things really, really well but it retreaded a lot of ground.  It was deliberately heading somewhere without resorting to off-the-wall absurditing like a Running Scared or Shoot 'Em Up (the plot logistics exempted).  I liked Vacancy too though so. . .but p.s. I think this film is a thousand times more imaginitive and playful than American Gangster or Michael Clayton and that's the last I'll say about that.

6.  The Darjeeling Limited.

He's getting better and better.  I've posted about this.

7.  I'm Not There/Persepolis/The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

Some people have been beating these films down for me and because I can't properly defend all the accusations I can't honestly say they're amazing but they're equally genuine and compassionate and rewarding.  I want to not forget these films.

8.  Paris, je t'aime.

Maybe like some people have a romantic soft-spot for Paris.

9.  The King of Kong/Crazy Love/Lake of Fire.

I really enjoyed these documentaries this year.  I'm finding much less subjectivity when it comes to documentaries.  It's well made or it isn't, it's successful or it's not.  These work.

10.  Fido.

It'd be higher but I sense diminishing enjoyment.  Appropriatley like films with this tone that don't have as outrageous of a concept.  It's cool but limiting to create a fantasy around an already exaggerated and possibly ficticious tv-made image of 50s America.  Black Snake Moan might be the Southern equivalent of this.
Raven haired Linda and her school mate Linnea are studying after school, when their desires take over and they kiss and strip off their clothes. They take turns fingering and licking one another's trimmed pussies on the desks, then fuck each other to intense orgasms with colorful vibrators.

pete

word up without a horse.  if exiled wasn't on my 2006 already, I'd wear that shit proudly.  it's weird that they pushed Triad Election when it was a sequel to Election (or maybe just two halves of a movie).  Election was pretty effing great, and it felt more relevant to the world-at-large.  You definitely have to see that.  That one was on my 2005 list.
"Tragedy is a close-up; comedy, a long shot."
- Buster Keaton

brockly

1. there will be blood
i havent seen this.

2. zodiac
a perfect movie. what makes it so amazing for me was what fincher and whoever wrote the screenplay achieved here. its a drawn out, comprehensive rundown of the zodiac case that doesnt bow to any genre and doesnt make any attempt at sensationalism but is still consistently captivating and filled with moments that are completely unforgettable (the murder at the lake, the interrogation, the breakfast). its a most mature and downright horrifying study on human darkness. finchers direction is masterful in every frame. i consider this one of the best movies ever made.

3. no country for old men
right from tommy lees amazing opening monologue i was in this movies grip. the coens use genre and audience expectations against them to create a powerful, haunting masterpiece.

4. inland empire
this movie is a wank. a big, wonderful wank that had me in a 3 hour trance in which lynch was in full control of my emotions. it kicked my ass like no other movie ever has.

5. eastern promises
any flaw in this awesome film is a product of its screenplay, cronenbergs direction is immaculate. i love the alien london cronenberg creates, home to this fancy, appealing russian restaurant where these disturbing and evil things are happening. conenbergs taken a good screenplay and turned it into something great.

6. the darjeeling limited
i didnt like it as much as life aquatic (which i liked waay more than most people), but its never the less another great film from wes. even tho it sometimes feels like he's remaking the same movie, his films are evident that hes really growing emotionally, and thats always rewarding to watch.

7. knocked up
very funny, very moving. a near-perfect comedy.

8. ratatouille
great, but i was hoping for a little more from bird and pixar. the fact this isnt in the top 5 makes it a slight disappointment.

9. bourne ultimatum
i really like greengrass and this movie embraced everything ive come to love about his style.

10. superbad
fucking hilarious, plain and simple.

theres so much i still have to seen. namely: lust caution, across the universe, into the wild, atonement, walk hard, sweeney todd, juno

pozer, wats the 3rd movie on ur list?

Pubrick

word up brockly.. uh, up to number 3.

Quote from: brockly on January 06, 2008, 06:58:54 AM
pozer, wats the 3rd movie on ur list?

the lives of others.

i still can't believe you guys are serious!

i'm so glad all of pete's favourite movies can be found in the bargain bin.
under the paving stones.

brockly

Quote from: Pubrick on January 06, 2008, 08:26:18 AM
Quote from: brockly on January 06, 2008, 06:58:54 AM
pozer, wats the 3rd movie on ur list?

the lives of others.

havent heard of it, or half the movies on w/o horses list. :yabbse-sad: i need to start downloading this shit (if it can be found).

Quote from: Pubrick on January 06, 2008, 08:26:18 AM
word up brockly.. uh, up to number 3.

fuck u.

Pubrick

Quote from: brockly on January 06, 2008, 08:41:37 AM
Quote from: Pubrick on January 06, 2008, 08:26:18 AM
the lives of others.

havent heard of it

it only won the academy award for best foreign film last year, and it's been available on dvd for the last 5 months in aus. the rest hav also been released theatrically to notable attention in cinephile circles, except sweeney todd, which is already forgettable without even seeing it.

Quote from: brockly on January 06, 2008, 08:41:37 AM
fuck u.

no hard feelings. INLAND EMPIRE was a PIECE of SHIT.

that's all.
under the paving stones.

brockly

Quote from: Pubrick on January 06, 2008, 08:47:56 AM
Quote from: brockly on January 06, 2008, 08:41:37 AM
Quote from: Pubrick on January 06, 2008, 08:26:18 AM
the lives of others.

havent heard of it

it only won the academy award for best foreign film last year, and it's been available on dvd for the last 5 months in aus.

i dont follow awards. awards piss me off. i usually come here to find out about shit. i must have missed the thread.

Quote from: Pubrick on January 06, 2008, 08:47:56 AM
the rest has also been released theatrically to great recognition if you're a movie fan, except sweeney todd, which is forgettable already without even seeing it.

really? even exile, brand upon the brain, we own the night.. fido?? im behind this year. stay tuned for my real top 10 sometime in 2009.

Quote from: Pubrick on January 06, 2008, 08:47:56 AM
no hard feelings. INLAND EMPIRE was a PIECE OF SHIT.

that's all..

go fuck urself.

Pubrick

Quote from: brockly on January 06, 2008, 09:00:07 AM
i dont follow awards. awards piss me off. i usually come here to find out about shit. i must have missed the thread.

well maybe you should stop watching the nickelodeon kid's choice awards and start paying attention to real awards, because evidently you would familiarise yourself with great films that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Quote from: brockly on January 06, 2008, 09:00:07 AM
Quote from: Pubrick on January 06, 2008, 08:47:56 AM
the rest has also been released theatrically to great recognition if you're a movie fan, except sweeney todd, which is forgettable already without even seeing it.

really? even exile, brand upon the brain, we own the night.. fido?? im behind this year. stay tuned for my real top 10 sometime in 2009.

exileD was released in may on dvd and yes i've seen it in the bargain bin along with Election. but i (and you, i thought) was talking about pozer's list, which had none of the titles you've mentioned.

Quote from: brockly on January 06, 2008, 09:00:07 AM
go fuck urself.

i said no hard feeligs.  cunt.
under the paving stones.

brockly

Quote from: Pubrick on January 06, 2008, 09:14:08 AM
Quote from: brockly on January 06, 2008, 09:00:07 AM
i dont follow awards. awards piss me off. i usually come here to find out about shit. i must have missed the thread.

well maybe you should stop watching the nickelodeon kid's choice awards and start paying attention to real awards, because evidently you would familiarise yourself with great films that might otherwise go unnoticed.

i was partly sarcastic. i follow awards to an extent. usually ignore oscars tho.

Quote from: Pubrick on January 06, 2008, 08:47:56 AM
i (and you, i thought) was talking about pozer's list

nah..
Quote from: brockly on January 06, 2008, 08:41:37 AM
havent heard of it, or half the movies on w/o horses list.

Quote from: Pubrick on January 06, 2008, 08:47:56 AM
i said no hard feeligs.  cunt.

im sorry i told u to go fuck urself.