The Sweet And Sour: 2007
It's time for The Candyman to hand out meaningless recognition to the best (and worst), the sweetest and sourest, films of 2007. It should be noted that as of the time of this posting, I have seen around 50-60 films this year. In the grand scheme of things, this is not a lot. There are many I still need to see, and plan on seeing, including several critical favorites (like No Country For Old Men and Juno, to name a few). So like all such lists of subjectivity, this is far from complete. However, given the circumstances (I spent the whole summer working and was out of the country in the fall), I think I did okay. So without further ado, here are the notable films of 2007.
Best Action Film: Live Free or Die Hard - If only all movies that are the fourth in a franchise were this good. It's not a perfect film, but it's much better than expected, and the action scenes are probably the best and most over-the-top of the series. He fights a fighter jet in an eighteen-wheeler for crying out loud!
Runner-Up: Grindhouse, Shoot 'Em Up
Best Comedy: Knocked Up - I love Judd Apatow. It's just as funny as The 40 Year-Old Virgin, and still has all the heart that's missing from most sex comedies. I've seen it about three times now, and it's still just as enjoyable as it was the first time.
Runner-Up: Superbad
Best Drama: Reign Over Me - The two leads carry this movie on their shoulders, and Sandler gives arguably the best performance of his career. It's funny, it's sweet, and just might get you misty-eyed.
Runner-Up: American Gangster
Best Documentary: Lake of Fire - The best presentation of the abortion issue I have ever seen. Fifteen years in the making, it's surprisingly objective and does an excellent job of revealing how abortion is a fundamentally unique and gray issue, and there are no easy answers.
Runner-Up: For The Bible Tells Me So
Best Animated Film: Ratatouille - Duh. It's Pixar.
Runner-Up: The Simpsons Movie
Best Foreign Film: Lust, Caution - I saw the edited Chinese version and I still enjoyed it. Tony Leung is the man.
Biggest Surprise: I Am Legend - I wasn't expecting much, and what I got instead was the most intriguing zombie/mutant film in years. Smith spends the majority of the film alone with no one to act against but a dog, and it works. The writing and directing is superb, gradually revealing more and more about the protagonist's fractured psyche. Finally, a post-apocalyptic movie where I actually genuinely care about the main character! The ending is one of the worst of the year, but the rest of the film makes up for it, and we can always hope for a director's cut with an alternate one.
Runner-Up: Live Free or Die Hard
Biggest Disappointment: Spider-Man 3 - I've said enough about this in my review. It could (and should) have been so much more!
Runner-Up: Shrek 3, Rescue Dawn
Most Overrated Film: 3:10 to Yuma - It's a good movie, but not as fantastic as most critics seem to think.
Runner-Up: 1408
Film That Deserved Better: Black Snake Moan - It's far from perfect, but for some reason I really liked this movie. Maybe it's the strong spiritual undertones, the great music, or Sam Jackson's superb performance, but whatever it is, this movie deserved a lot better. With a budget of only $15 million, it made only made $4 million its opening weekend and will probably barely break even. You'd think a movie with Samuel L. Jackson and a scantily-clad Christina Ricci would at least make its money back. This coupled with the box-office failure of Grindhouse only confirms to me that the reason Hollywood is becoming less and less original is because whenever it does take a risk with edgier films, we don't pay to see them. How can we blame them for turning around and giving us the crap our money says we want?
Runner-Up: Grindhouse
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood) - Quite possibly the best performance of the decade (or the past few decades, for that matter). Day-Lewis is Daniel Plainview; who knew such a despicable character could be portrayed to such perfection? Even when he talks about milkshakes it's chilling!
Runner-Up: Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises), Tony Leung (Lust, Caution), Adam Sandler (Reign Over Me)
Best Actress: Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone) - I almost completely forgot about Amy Ryan. She's so good that she doesn't stand out - when I was watching her on screen I almost forgot she was there. You don't question that she's a grieving mother who happens to be awful at raising kids, you just assume it, and focus on the other actors around her. If that makes any sense.
Runner-Up: Helena Bonham Carter (Sweeney Todd)
Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood) - He directs Daniel Day-Lewis' finest performance and has produced the best film of the year, and possibly the decade. If this is a sign of things to come, he will go down in history with people like Kubrick and Spielberg as one of the greatest directors of all time. Give this guy an Oscar!
Runner-Up: Tim Burton (Sweeney Todd), Ben Affleck (Gone Baby Gone)
Worst Film: Blood and Chocolate - Other than an interesting (if not terribly impressive) process of transformation, this werewolf romance has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. The acting is awful, the script is atrocious, and even the special effects are sub-par. How hard is it with technology nowadays to make someone's eyes change colors convincingly? I mean, come on!
Runner-Up: Ghost Rider, Shooter
Best Film: There Will Be Blood - This is the kind of film that will be studied in universities for decades to come. Everything from the writing to the acting to the cinematography to the structure is near-perfect. In fact, if it wasn't for a slightly under-developed subplot and some unclear characterization, this could potentially gain the status of "classic" in the vein of The Godfather and Citizen Kane. It's that good. Its exploration of what happens when capitalism and religion are taken to the extreme, and both the conflict and dependence they have for each other, is thought-provoking and stunning to watch unfold. This is a film that demands multiple viewings; I'm still trying to process everything.
Runner-Up: Grindhouse
And those are my "awards", so to speak, for the year. Feel free to post your picks and comments as well. It's time to look forward to 2008, and what will hopefully be a spectacular year for movies. On that note...
Most Anticipated Film of 2008: The Dark Knight
Best Action Film: Live Free or Die Hard - If only all movies that are the fourth in a franchise were this good. It's not a perfect film, but it's much better than expected, and the action scenes are probably the best and most over-the-top of the series. He fights a fighter jet in an eighteen-wheeler for crying out loud!
Runner-Up: Grindhouse, Shoot 'Em Up
Best Comedy: Knocked Up - I love Judd Apatow. It's just as funny as The 40 Year-Old Virgin, and still has all the heart that's missing from most sex comedies. I've seen it about three times now, and it's still just as enjoyable as it was the first time.
Runner-Up: Superbad
Best Drama: Reign Over Me - The two leads carry this movie on their shoulders, and Sandler gives arguably the best performance of his career. It's funny, it's sweet, and just might get you misty-eyed.
Runner-Up: American Gangster
Best Documentary: Lake of Fire - The best presentation of the abortion issue I have ever seen. Fifteen years in the making, it's surprisingly objective and does an excellent job of revealing how abortion is a fundamentally unique and gray issue, and there are no easy answers.
Runner-Up: For The Bible Tells Me So
Best Animated Film: Ratatouille - Duh. It's Pixar.
Runner-Up: The Simpsons Movie
Best Foreign Film: Lust, Caution - I saw the edited Chinese version and I still enjoyed it. Tony Leung is the man.
Biggest Surprise: I Am Legend - I wasn't expecting much, and what I got instead was the most intriguing zombie/mutant film in years. Smith spends the majority of the film alone with no one to act against but a dog, and it works. The writing and directing is superb, gradually revealing more and more about the protagonist's fractured psyche. Finally, a post-apocalyptic movie where I actually genuinely care about the main character! The ending is one of the worst of the year, but the rest of the film makes up for it, and we can always hope for a director's cut with an alternate one.
Runner-Up: Live Free or Die Hard
Biggest Disappointment: Spider-Man 3 - I've said enough about this in my review. It could (and should) have been so much more!
Runner-Up: Shrek 3, Rescue Dawn
Most Overrated Film: 3:10 to Yuma - It's a good movie, but not as fantastic as most critics seem to think.
Runner-Up: 1408
Film That Deserved Better: Black Snake Moan - It's far from perfect, but for some reason I really liked this movie. Maybe it's the strong spiritual undertones, the great music, or Sam Jackson's superb performance, but whatever it is, this movie deserved a lot better. With a budget of only $15 million, it made only made $4 million its opening weekend and will probably barely break even. You'd think a movie with Samuel L. Jackson and a scantily-clad Christina Ricci would at least make its money back. This coupled with the box-office failure of Grindhouse only confirms to me that the reason Hollywood is becoming less and less original is because whenever it does take a risk with edgier films, we don't pay to see them. How can we blame them for turning around and giving us the crap our money says we want?
Runner-Up: Grindhouse
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood) - Quite possibly the best performance of the decade (or the past few decades, for that matter). Day-Lewis is Daniel Plainview; who knew such a despicable character could be portrayed to such perfection? Even when he talks about milkshakes it's chilling!
Runner-Up: Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises), Tony Leung (Lust, Caution), Adam Sandler (Reign Over Me)
Best Actress: Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone) - I almost completely forgot about Amy Ryan. She's so good that she doesn't stand out - when I was watching her on screen I almost forgot she was there. You don't question that she's a grieving mother who happens to be awful at raising kids, you just assume it, and focus on the other actors around her. If that makes any sense.
Runner-Up: Helena Bonham Carter (Sweeney Todd)
Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood) - He directs Daniel Day-Lewis' finest performance and has produced the best film of the year, and possibly the decade. If this is a sign of things to come, he will go down in history with people like Kubrick and Spielberg as one of the greatest directors of all time. Give this guy an Oscar!
Runner-Up: Tim Burton (Sweeney Todd), Ben Affleck (Gone Baby Gone)
Worst Film: Blood and Chocolate - Other than an interesting (if not terribly impressive) process of transformation, this werewolf romance has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. The acting is awful, the script is atrocious, and even the special effects are sub-par. How hard is it with technology nowadays to make someone's eyes change colors convincingly? I mean, come on!
Runner-Up: Ghost Rider, Shooter
Best Film: There Will Be Blood - This is the kind of film that will be studied in universities for decades to come. Everything from the writing to the acting to the cinematography to the structure is near-perfect. In fact, if it wasn't for a slightly under-developed subplot and some unclear characterization, this could potentially gain the status of "classic" in the vein of The Godfather and Citizen Kane. It's that good. Its exploration of what happens when capitalism and religion are taken to the extreme, and both the conflict and dependence they have for each other, is thought-provoking and stunning to watch unfold. This is a film that demands multiple viewings; I'm still trying to process everything.
Runner-Up: Grindhouse
And those are my "awards", so to speak, for the year. Feel free to post your picks and comments as well. It's time to look forward to 2008, and what will hopefully be a spectacular year for movies. On that note...
Most Anticipated Film of 2008: The Dark Knight
posted by Andrew Johnson at 10:08 PM
2 Comments:
Something tells me you'll be changing your list after you see Juno, There Will Be Blood, and No Country for Old Men (I've only seen No Country - waiting for the other 2 to hit the cheap theaters!). Interesting that you pick Helena Bonham Carter for best actress - many reviewers name her as one of worst cases of bad casting of the year!
There were no actresses that really jumped out at me this year. Other than her first song in the film (which I couldn't understand), I thought Helena Bonham Carter overall did a pretty good job.
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