Best Movies of 2007..... So Far [R]

Discussion in 'Movies, TV and Music' started by TheSlipperyOne, Sep 4, 2007.

  1. sch2383

    sch2383 New Member

    Feb 14, 2003
    Northern Virginia
    I saw an advanced screening of No Country For Old Men on Monday and it was really really good.
     
  2. Via_Chicago

    Via_Chicago Member

    Apr 1, 2004
    Bay Area, California
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Uh, that won the Palmes D'Or at Cannes...in 2006.

    More on topic, Ratatouille is very good. I don't consider Black Book a 2007 film, so it doesn't make my list.
     
  3. Ghost

    Ghost Member+

    Sep 5, 2001
    I saw American Gangster last night. I now have a film to root against in the Best Picture race. It's not bad, just very listless. It's a 45-minute story turned into an epic. To go to an old debate around here, Ridley nowadays is clearly not as good as his brother. He takes about four shots to do what he should do in one or two.

    Juno's OK. Not brilliant. But good.
     
  4. TheSlipperyOne

    TheSlipperyOne Member+

    Feb 29, 2000
    Denver
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    I think that's been his MO for the past 15 years.
     
  5. Ghost

    Ghost Member+

    Sep 5, 2001
    For people watching Gangster to see what I mean, watch the scene in the dance club when Russell Crowe is trying to recruit the guy to his special task force. Back and forth between the two men at the table. To the dance floor. Back to the table. Back to the dance floor. Could someone just yell cut already?
     
  6. Via_Chicago

    Via_Chicago Member

    Apr 1, 2004
    Bay Area, California
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Well, I've revised my opinion and just decided to go with newish movies (new, meaning it received American distribution in 2007) for my 2007 list (I've finally seen just about every movie I wanted to see before making such a list):

    1. The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford (Andrew Dominick, 2007) - More reminiscent of Kubrick's BARRY LYDON than of the film's supposed influence, Malick's DAYS OF HEAVEN, ASSASSINATION wryly reconstructs an historical portrait of Jesse James. But this is a portrait so full of intentional contradictions that, like James himself, it ultimately leaves us confused and disoriented, with James always on the periphery, too distant for us to truly ascertain his real nature. While much has been made of Casey Affleck's fine performance, it is Pitt who makes the film, demonstrating the power of screen gravitas, as his distant, removed performance draws us closer and closer to James, but all the while pushes us further away from truth. Beautifully photographed by Roger Deakins, and expertly shot and edited by Dominick, ASSASSINATION constructs an historical narrative that, in its wry narration, contradictions, and fragments, resembles Herodotus's sprawling "Histories."

    2. Zwartboek (Paul Verhoeven, 2006) - Paul Verhoeven's films generally divide people into two camps. There are those who go along for the ride and appreciate Verhoeven's understanding of craft, genre, and the inherent limitations of his material (see ROBOCOP, SHOWGIRLS, STARSHIP TROOPERS). Then there are those who irrationally hate Verhoeven for what he is not, completely serious (see above films). ZWARTBOEK is exactly the kind of film that the latter camp actually liked, but for mostly the wrong reasons. Indeed, it is Verhoeven's most serious film since at least 1980 and SPETTERS. Nevertheless, it is also a remarkably wry play on genre conventions, and Verhoeven consistently (and gamely) upends our expectations. Even as the film becomes deadly serious in its second half, there is a constant shift in tone and mood, reminiscent of the best American historical melodramas of the 1940s and 1950s. What Verhoeven has done here is crafted a supremely entertaining historical picture that also manages to transcend its genre and its audience expectations, revealing an emotionally urgent and deeply heartfelt film at its core.

    3. Zodiac (David Fincher, 2007) - The Zodiac murders retain their powerful hold upon the popular imagination precisely because they have never been solved. With ZODIAC, director David Fincher captures this collective unease by projecting our own feelings of helplesness upon the various characters that populate the film, and particularly, upon the unwitting victims of the Zodiac's crimes. The murders, each performed by a different actor portraying Zodiac, and each creepier and more disturbing than the one before, are the only glimpses that Fincher offers of the Zodiac himself. The majority of the film, in contrast, is devoted to the police/journalistic investigations of the crimes. Fincher provides us with an almost painful amount of detail (all the while providing a remarkable contrast to Siegel's DIRTY HARRY, and Calahan's complete lack of procedure), but all in the service of this sprawling narrative. The effect elevates ZODIAC from standard police procedural into a meditation on the nature of media, crime, and our endless fascination with what we cannot solve or comprehend.

    4. INLAND EMPIRE (David Lynch, 2006) - While this doesn't even near the soaring heights of his 2001 masterpiece MULHOLLAND DR., INLAND EMPIRE is an incredibly engrossing, frightening, and haunting cinematic experience. Here, Lynch eschews the beautiful, silken textual atmospheres of that film for a harsh, grainy image. This decision has its own impact on the aesthetic of the film, conveying an almost surveillance-like effect to the viewer. It is as if we, the audience, are active voyeurs to Lynch's thoughts, nightmares, and brain functions. Of course, this film's "narrative," if it can be said to have a narrative at all, is as fragmentary and confused as anything Lynch has made. The effect, rather than bewildering though (my first viewing of MULHOLLAND DR. was limited by my mostly futile attempts to understand its narrative logic), is liberating. It allows us to view the film without pretense or expectations; to accept Lynch's imagery and piece together the film according to our own logic. It is a film that exists primarily as a vehicle for mood, and the mood here is one of pure existential horror. Why are we so frightened when there are essentially no characters and no plot to activate our normal (read, conventional) sense of fear and identification? The answer lies in the mise-en-scene itself, since every frame virtually imperils its figures, isolating them to the periphery of the frame and forcing us to anticipate something just beyond our line of sight - layering over all of these images a dense soundtrack of perpetual dissonance that lingers constantly in the brain, practically activating our fight-or-flight response. INLAND EMPIRE is discomforting, magnetic, frightening, and never, ever boring.

    5. Lady Chatterley (Pascale Ferran, 2006) - Based on Lawerence's lesser-known version of his well-known Lady Chatterley's Lover, Pascale Ferran's French adaptation is loose and airy, a very earth-bound adaptation that manages to convey the stages of female sexual longing better than almost any other film I've seen. Indeed, Ferran's female sensibilities bring a much-needed warmth and delicacy to the sexual relationship between Constance and Parkin, the real driving force of the film's narrative. The film's length allows Ferran and Marina Hinds (who wonderfully portrays Constance) the time to develop Costance's slow yearning for sexual contact. Likewise, Ferran finds eroticism and sexuality in many of Parkin's daily chores - the building of a bird cage, the picking of a flower, etc. This earth-bound sexuality contrasts wonderfully with the stuffiness of Costance's home (and Ferran wisely chooses to stay away from the upper-class problems associated with the home that we find in Lawrence's novel), thus equating bourgeois values with sexual repression and Parkin's working-class simplicity with openeness and generosity. The beautifully full-figured Hinds and the scruffy, snub-nosed Coullo'ch make an unlikely couple, but one of the most lovely I've seen in cinema in recent years.

    6. Ratatouille (Brad Bird, 2007) - As delightful as any American film I saw this past year, RATATOUILLE proved once again that Pixar can (almost) do no wrong. Here they bring modern computer animation to its apotheosis (although from what I've seen, this year's WALL-E looks like it very well might even outdo its predecessor), with beautiful animation, cut together superbly by animation director Brad Bird (his IRON GIANT is a landmark in modern American hand-drawn animation). Remy's story may be slight, even a little bit silly, but it postively crackles with love, joy, and wit. It's the kind of film that makes you forget about everything for a little while, and it's one of those rare reminders of the old-fashioned pleasures of cinema - a charming little story, well-told, perfectly paced, and expertly crafted - the kind of film that Hollywood pumped out by the barrel when it was still known as the "dream factory." A masterpiece.

    7. Linda Linda Linda (Nobuhiro Yamashita, 2005) - The story at the center of this charming Japanese dramedy sounds like the stuff of a bad "indie" film (you know the kind): an all-girl teenage rock band needs a new lead singer only days before the school festival. And, in typical "indie" fashion, their new lead singer is a quirky outsider (a Korean, played beautifully by Du-na Bae, one of the world's finest young actresses) who brings the in-fighting group together just in the nick of time. But the miracle here is that Yamashita's film doesn't come across as pretentious, smug, hip, or self-satisfied. On the contrary, LINDA LINDA LINDA is a simple thing, so in love with its characters and the gentle cadences of their life that it almost forgets that there's a story there at all. For nearly two hours we're privy to the private lives of these four young women as they struggle with music, boys, schoolwork, and each other. Like the great Yasujiro Ozu, Yamashita is content to let his simple long-take set-ups tell the story for him, and each scene demonstrates the tremendous love he has for these girls and the actresses that play them. This lovely film is aided tremendously by a low-key score by ex-Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha and of course, that catchy titular song.

    8. Eastern Promises (David Cronenberg, 2007) - Sometimes there is something to be said for a film that is simply a supremely crafted example of its genre. Critics bemoaned EASTERN PROMISES's lack of "substance," comparing it unfavorably with Cronenberg's previous A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE. The two are, in many ways, companion pieces to one another, but why is it that EASTERN PROMISES needs to be loaded down with heavy meaning? Put simply, EASTERN PROMISES is a film with a good, but not great script, that transcends its genre trappings through David Cronenberg's meticulously structured and crafted direction. Indeed, the much-ballyhooed "naked fight," in which Viggo Mortensen fights off a couple of thugs in a Turkish bath, completely in the nude, is so amazingly crafted that I stuck around just to watch it a second time. As in A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, every movement here is meticulously choreographed and detailed, and Viggo gives a masterclass in acting, all snearing physicality, that transports the film immediately into cinematic bliss. Ultimately, EASTERN PROMISES does feel like something of a trifle, but Cronenberg's direction is so assured, and Mortensen so spellbinding in his role, that one can't help but feel that they're watching something truly great, even if the end result doesn't quite equal the sum of its parts.

    9. Southland Tales (Richard Kelly, 2007) - Producers have always managed to find a way to make Richard Kelly's films inadvertently better. This realization shouldn't come as a surprise to those of us who enjoyed Kelly's original theatrical cut of DONNIE DARKO but who were largely distraught when we saw that the changes he made in his director's cut stripped the film of many of its greatest virtues. Similarly, I have no desire to ever see a "director's cut" (presumably the nearly three hour cut that he premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006) of his sprawling, bizarre SOUTHLAND TALES. Immediately after seeing this film, I was mostly of two minds. Fresh in my mind of course were all the scenes that I hated, but the next day, most of this had filtered away and I was only left with the greatness. And indeed, there is greatness in this film, but to see it you have to ignore the shameless stunt casting, the hackneyed dialogue, the pathetic homages, and Kelly's immature treatment of gun violence. That seems like a lot, but there are pleasures galore here. This is the kind of go-for-the-moon/everything-but-the-kitchen-sink filmmaking that has largely disappeared from world cinema. The colors practically burst off the screen. The acting straddles the line between self-conscious parody and utter banality. The moods and tones constantly change from comedy to tragedy (often at the same time!). Yet, despite, or perhaps because, of all of this, the film works. This even despite the stupidity of the "satire," which is really just the kind of screenplay your average first-year philosophy major (with a penchant for Thomas Pynchon and Umberto Eco) might write. There's a moment near the end of the picture that even Kelly can't sabotage (although he tries), wherein The Rock, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Mandy Moore dance amidst a blinding blue light as the music of Moby blares behind them, creating an effectively haunting ambience that conveys the inner turmoil of the characters and the finality of the film's impending conclusion - this is the kind of ambience that the original DARKO had in spades.
    So please, please, please, MGM, if you're out there, never give us a director's cut of this whacky near-masterpiece.

    10. There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007) - There is certainly much to admire in THERE WILL BE BLOOD, one of two major critical darlings in 2007. However, the film so earnestly strives to be one of the "great American films" that it forgets completely what made it such an amazing picture to start. Astonishingly though, the film does have some eerie structural parallels to Shakespeare's Richard III. Early on, Day-Lewis's Plainview earns our begrudging respect for his remarkable ability to adapt his character to his situations and to those he is forced to interact with. However, once he achieves his power, as in Shakespeare's play, he quickly devolves and spirals into madness, losing whatever sympathy we might have had for him in the process. However, this comparison flatters Anderson's film since it assumes that the film has a natural story arc as does Shakespeare's play. This is a mistaken assumption, specifically because once H.W. pratically disappears from the story, the film absolutely loses its moral clarity and focus. Before this, the film was very much about the nature of progeny and its relation to capitalism. However, once H.W. disappears the film's focus is muddied, and Anderson attempts to rectify this with the appearance of Plainview's brother. However, that story arc just doesn't fit in with the mood and tone that Anderson had previously created. Where before his mise-en-scene was electric - horrifying, troubling, and unsettling in equal measure - it is now surprisingly subdued, and the film begins to skid to a rapid halt. Despite my qualms with this and the film's apparently nihilistic ending, there are some very noteworthy apsects: Johnny Greenwood's magnificent score, Day-Lewis's awe-inspiring lead performance, Robert Elswit's beautiful photography, and the aforementioned early mise-en-scene all elevate this daring, ambitious film above its many faults.
     
  7. Ghost

    Ghost Member+

    Sep 5, 2001
    Via, explain the Lyndon-James parallels. I think I know what you're getting at, but I want to make sure and see where you go with it.

    Eastern Promises .... watching Cronenberg is like watching a movie made under glass. I got past that with AHoV, but couldn't here. I thought Watts was great in this. I thought her generosity of spirit was holding it together until the film unwisely shifted away from her. Viggo's whole deal just didn't interest me all that much. Some of the things that were supposed to be shocking (the homoeroticism, the big twist) just didn't have much bang for me.

    There Will Be Blood, I think, is the most difficult film to get a handle on. It's left a lot of different impressions. Everyone seems to have a different take on it. I had a similar problem with the brother segment ... it felt disjointed (so much so that some assume it's a dream), and kind of a flat way to achieve what it set out to achieve. Everyone seems to love the score, but I think Nick Cave and Warren Ellis' one for JEsse James is better and more effective.

    Marina Hinds .... babe who can act. She's in one segment of Diving Bell, which is where I've seen her.
     
  8. Via_Chicago

    Via_Chicago Member

    Apr 1, 2004
    Bay Area, California
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    In Lyndon, the narrator commens on action we often see explicitly detailed on the screen. James, similarly, does this. However, both films aren't doing this to achieve some glib "historical" effect, but instead commenting on how history operates within cinema - in both films, the tone, as well as the content of the narration, is integral to understanding both sound and image onscreen. Lyndon is more concerned with historical/literary adaptation than James is, but the latter film is distinctly concerned with how myth, legend, and history all interact (this is where the casting and performance of Pitt is huge, IMO) in the cinema. In other words, it's almost a more straightforward (and more distant) version of Ford's Liberty Valance.
     
  9. SirManchester

    SirManchester Member+

    Apr 14, 2004
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    I wish I had time to do a thorough write up and I may get to come back later but in the meantime, Via, you've inspired me to do my own top ten list. I love and hate these things when critics do them, but it's always interesting to see, so here I go:


    1. The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford (Andrew Dominick, 2007)
    2. Inland Empire (David Lynch, 2006)
    3. Eastern Promises (David Cronenberg, 2007)
    4. Before The Devil Knows You're Dead (Sidney Lumet, 2007)
    5. There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007)
    6. Ratatouille (Brad Bird, 2007)
    7. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu, 2007)
    8. Into the Wild (Sean Penn, 2007)
    9. Once ( John Carney, 2007)
    10. The Mist (Frank Darabont, 2007)
     

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