Fred's Top 10 Movies of 2007

For the first time since the 2004 Awards Season, I am able to hand in my Top 10 List the week the Oscars come out. When I was in school I was notoriously late with my term papers, because while I love to write, HAVING to write can be a chore. But this year's crop of movies is the best in quite a while and writing about them was a pleasure. While there were no classics, picking a Top 10 List was pretty easy.

I saw 95 movies that were released in 2007 including most that could conceivably be on anyone's Top 10 List, minus the Iranian/French cartoon Persepolis. I saw Atonement Saturday and while I understand why it's been nominated (English manner movies will always get nominations no matter how uninteresting they are--see Howard's End), I do not agree with the hoopla surrounding it. Other big names like Once and There Will Be Blood did not make my list and the reasons for those omissions will be in their own reviews, which will be appearing shortly.

But when all is said and done, my list features only films that I personally loved and some that would never show up on any other year-end list. So hopefully, if you haven't seen some of these gems, you'll be inspired to rent them out.

Here goes:

First of all, the Actor of the Year has to be Josh Brolin, who is in FOUR of my favorite movies. In American Gangster he's a dirty cop, in In the Valley of Elah he's a jaded chief of police, in Grindhouse he's a doctor who becomes a zombie and in the best role of his life, in No Country For Old Men, he's a handyman who steals money from drug runners and then has to run himself. I think his scene with the pitbull in the Rio Grande alone is worth the price of admission.

1. Sicko (Special Edition) ---In 2004, I believe I named Fahrenheit 911 the Best Movie of that year and Michael Moore again wins the prize. I saw it on my birthday and while you wouldn't think a documentary on health insurance would be a fitting way to spend the anniversary of my birth, I came out of that theatre with a new consciousness. What the movie talks about is not the 50 Million Americans who don't have health care coverage, but the 250 Million who do and get screwed by those health insurance companies. Does Moore play fast and loose with the facts sometimes, maybe. But there's no denying that we are a sick country and we're only getting sicker and until Barack Obama, few politicians were bringing this up as a national crisis. I have health care coverage and always have, but it wouldn't take much for me or my wife to lose it. And we both know that what coverage we have is not as good as it was 10 years ago. Michael Moore is definitely the Upton Sinclair of our generation and for those who don't know, Sinclair is the old writer who made sure you don't eat blended rats in your hot dogs.

2. No Country for Old Men ---No Country would have been Number One, but the Coen Brothers screwed up the ending. The first 1:30 is so good that I could barely breathe while watching it. Then the last 20 minutes don't just fall apart, but are so bad and aimless you almost think the Coens messed it up on purpose. Why is it so hard for modern day directors to finish a movie? To give an ending, some closure. Writers and directors 10 times more talented than they have prided themselves on great endings, but so many times now the endings are either weak or non-existent. A favorite among directors nowadays is to have the actor look into the camera, the screen turns black and the credits roll and you get a large groan from the audience. I have a friend who dismissed my review of this movie when it came out, without seeing it first, and said, "Oh you just want a happy ending." That's not true, some of my all-time favorite movies had a very sad ending, but they ENDED. When he finally saw it, he didn't like the ending either, but he didn't like the whole movie, so it was impossible to gauge his reaction. But I've read it in other places. People hate the ending to this movie. The Sopranos Finale's ending might be 21st Century cool, but people hated it then and many still hate it now. For other directors to copy it will not curry those people's favor.

3. Across the Universe (Two-Disc Special Edition) ---At times corny, but overall a beautiful movie. The most magical of the year. Director Julie Taymor took a premise that Robert Stigwood destroyed 30 years ago with the Sgt. Pepper movie (starring the Bee Gees) and made it into a treasure. Actors portray a story that is pieced together out of the lyrics of Beatles songs and sing the songs in radically new ways, all against a background that explodes with color and psychedelia and makes the movie and the viewer come alive. The ending gave me goosebumps and that rarely happened this year. Probably the most amazing thing about the film was how it took Beatles songs that I normally don't like and rearranged them in ways that made me love them. Dear Prudence is one example. I realized for the first time that like Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen maybe the Beatles were the kind of songwriters who should have let other, better singers do their songs.

4. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days [Theatrical Release]----A young woman in 1980s Communist Romania goes through the most stressful day trying to have an abortion. Terminating a pregnancy was illegal there back then and getting caught would mean prison for both her and the doctor. But her day isn't half as bad as it is for her best friend, who is the way more responsible one forced to run around their horrible town making sure it all happens without any glitches. Last half is filmed like a suspense thriller, with a jumpy handheld camera and your heart will be pounding.

5. Michael Clayton (Widescreen Edition) ---Speaking of pounding hearts, this movie contains two scenes that not only made me jump out of my skin and seat, but made the old woman next to me yelp. A lawyer who is entrusted to fight a major lawsuit for a weed killer company has a breakdown, but mostly a huge attack of conscience and has to be wrangled in by the firm's "janitor," Michael Clayton. George Clooney does such an incredible job playing Clayton, because it fits his screen persona to a tee. That super cool Danny Ocean way he has of making everyone around him feel like things are going to be alright. The fact that in order to make these things go alright, you have to commit some white collar crimes is something that eats at "Mickey's" conscience. This movie had a good ending, although I'm not sure I completely bought it, but at least they tried. Veteran director Sydney Pollack plays the chief of Clayton's firm and with that supple voice of his, turns his usual winning manner into a microcosm of corporate evil. Tilda Swinton as the weed company's "hitman" is so overcome with nerves she literally has to smell her own fear.

6. Reign Over Me (Widescreen Edition) ---Most moving film of the year. First fictional movie that dealt with a family member of one of those lost on 9/11. Adam Sandler does incredible work as the shattered widower who was once a top NYC dentist, but is now just a crazy rich hobo. Don Cheadle plays his old roommate from college that has made it his life's work to bring this man back among the living. First half has so many great laugh lines that when the tone changes in the second half it seems abrupt, but very appropriate. I won't lie, I cried for like the last 40 minutes of this movie.

7. Bridge to Terabithia (Widescreen Edition) --Speaking of crying at movies. Holy Crap did this movie take me by surprise. Billed as some kind of Narnia-type film, it's anything but. An 11 year old boy and the same age girl who lives next door become best friends and through their imaginations build a wonderful kingdom in the woods near their house. But then something horrible happens in real life and the movie switches gears rapidly. From that point onward my friend Paul and I started tearing up and I believe many of the fathers in the theatre did as well. It wasn't for the sad thing that happened so much, as for the crazy way the other characters handled it. My wife on the other hand who sat between us was not moved. She laughed at Paul and me, but as I look at it from a distance I believe it might be a boy thing. Like how grown men weep over the final scene of Field of Dreams. It wouldn't even occur to a woman.

8. In the Valley of Elah --Tommy Lee Jones plays two great roles this year, both in Texas. In No Country, he's the sheriff out looking for the bad guy and the good guy with the money, but that's chicken feed compared to his role here as a former MP, out looking for his missing son home from Iraq. While Susan Sarandon has the relatively easy part playing the outwardly worried mother, it's Jones who does the hard work of playing both a strong military man and a father who has tremendous love for his boy. When a soldier arrives at his door with news, Tommy interrupts the soldier to apply a small piece of toilet paper to his shaving cut. It's a minor detail, but informs the character in two ways. One that he's a retired but strict military man who will not let another soldier see him be unkempt and two that it gives him a chance to gain his composure before he hears the news he expects. The final scene of this movie is right on target and the film is a great comeback for Paul Haggis, the man who made the much inferior Crash.

9. Superbad (Unrated Widescreen Edition)---The funniest comedy of the year made by the comedy factory that is Judd Apatow (40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up). This film was written by two guys while they were still in high school. Their idea? To make a movie that kids their age would want to see and 15 years later they did it. While it takes place in modern day high school it has an ageless quality that makes it familiar for anyone who's been a teenager in the last 30 years. One thing that is a bit different is the filthy way the young characters speak. I mean I knew guys who spoke like that then, but in this movie all the boys speak like that. What language? Where's the soap? LOL. There are so many great scenes and funny lines, but my favorite might be by the drunk redheaded girl at the party, "McLovin is going to take me to Hawaii." I won't explain it, you'll just have to see it.

10. Juno ---I saw the coming attractions and said to myself, "Okay cutish independent comedy with sitcommy characters." Then it started getting all this attention from critics around the country and I thought maybe the trailer wasn't accurate. Don't forget last year Little Miss Sunshine got a similar amount of attention. Slapping an independent tag on a comedy gives it a hands-off coda it might not necessarily deserve. So I saw Juno and really enjoyed it. It's very funny at times and very moving at other times and has a certain level of realism that holds the whole thing together. But.... But I'm sorry, it's a cutish independent comedy with sitcommy characters. Diablo Cody, which is such a stupid stage name, wrote this movie in a manner befitting a 1940s screwball comedy. Star Ellen Page could easily be replaced by Rosalind Russell as the quick-talking sharpie who has Cary Grant wrapped around her fingers. She has so many cool, look-at-how-clever-I-am lines that I don't buy it. Do you remember being 16? You are unmolded clay. You may be intelligent, but you are not yet quick-witted. In high school there were the smart girls who were shy and quiet and the not so smart girls who had a lot to say but little of it worth listening to. No one, NO ONE, I mean No One spoke like Juno does in this movie. And the idea that a teenage girl experiencing something as stressful as an unwanted pregnancy would be this glib about it is Nonsense. I realize it's a comedy, but it's supposed to be a comedy based on truth and if you can't believe the truth, it makes the comedy less effective.


Honorable Mention:


Grindhouse Presents, Planet Terror - Extended and Unrated (Two-Disc Special Edition)--If Quentin Tarantino had kept up his end of the bargain, this movie would have made my Top 10. The most fun idea of the year. Make a double feature that resembles the crappy cinema of the '70s. Robert Rodriguez got it perfect with missing reels, a scratched print and cheesy effects, but Quentin made a modern-looking film with nothing cheesy about it. In fact, Quentin's Death Proof is way overwritten with too many asides to things only he cares about. But what saves this whole project are the incredibly funny and disgusting sneak previews in the center of the double feature. My favorite--Thanksgiving. One word--SICK!!

Waitress (Widescreen Edition) ---Three comedies in one year about unplanned pregnancies. (I found Knocked Up pretty funny at times, but totally unbelievable and really a smack against women, which surprised me considering its creator is Judd Apatow.) Of the three this has the most likeable characters, but call me old-fashioned, I just wish the main character played by Keri Russell didn't have an affair with her married doctor. If they were both miserable in their marriages I wouldn't give it a second thought, but coming on to a happily married man cheapened the film for me a little. Andy Griffith though is fantastic as the town's grouchy old rich man.

Sunshine ---We just don't get many good science fiction movies anymore, in fact we don't get many at all. But this mix of Alien and 2001 was a great surprise this summer. An international crew is sent on a possible suicide mission to save the Earth by reigniting the dying sun. Made by the people who brought you Trainspotting and 28 Days Later, they put the same kind of edge into this tale and draw another great performance out of Cillian Murphy. The final confrontation is filled with muddled camerawork, but I'll excuse it for its perfect ending.

Nanking ---Devastating documentary about one of the most covered-up episodes in World War II history. The Rape of Nanking, as its book is appropriately called, was a period of time when a debased Japanese Army conquered the shipping town of Nanking, China and all the peasants who were too poor to escape. While the men were tortured and killed, the women and girls suffered repeated attacks from their savage captors. Many of the victims are still alive to tell their tales and do in this film, but what really disgusted me were the interviews with the 80-year old Japanese soldiers who recall their atrocities with laughter and smiles. This movie would have been in my Top 10 except for the unnecessary use of American actors to portray the roles of the Westerners, who stayed behind to protect these Chinese people from the Japanese. If they had just used their voices while showing archival footage it would have been fine, but mixing in their real faces in actorly guises alongside the real heartbreaking faces of the victims seemed like bad taste.

28 Weeks Later (Widescreen Edition) ---If there was no 28 Days Later this movie would be one for the record books. But while it lacks the original's new twist on an old genre, it makes up for it with its own amount of shocks and pulsating scares. About 6 months after the original, the refugees who left London are brought back to live among the ruins of their rage-ravaged city. Watching out for them is the American Army. When things go bad the Army turns bad. The carnage is heavy and crazy, but nothing matches the jaw-dropping scene from the beginning of the movie. It is such a colossal nightmare, I was sure it could only be a dream sequence, because no one would truly act that way. It wasn't and it sets the stage for what kind of movie you are about to witness.

American Gangster 2-Disc Unrated Extended Edition---Denzel Washington can walk through a role and still come up smelling like roses. He can play Frank Lucas in his sleep and at times almost does, but he rouses himself up for some wicked scenes. Russell Crowe does his best Popeye Doyle in the part of Richie Roberts. A cop who is dead honest on the job, but cheats on his wife incessantly. He is the much more interesting character here and his desire to bring down Frank Lucas doesn't jibe with how he treats him once he catches him. That's the filmmakers' fault. You can't portray Frank Lucas as a demon to his own people and then treat him like a misunderstood black executive.

The Bourne Ultimatum (Widescreen Edition) ---Jason Bourne does not make a bad movie. This is definitely the most exciting of the three with the stylized action from the first mixed with the documentary style of the second for an eye-popping, heart-stopping thrill ride. Unlike the first two though there are some bullshit moments that defy the law of physics, but overall a great time. Unlike the first two the background story is less compelling and seems more of the same from number 2, but you do get three Oscar-caliber actors to play CIA bad guys here--David Strathairn, Albert Finney and Scott Glenn.

Eastern Promises (Widescreen Edition) --Viggo Mortensen puts on a great performance as a Russian gangster working in London, who wrestles with his conscience when a mysterious baby connects the gang with a strong-willed woman on the outside. Everybody is great here, from Naomi Watts to Vincent Cassel to Armin Mueller-Stahl, and writer director David Cronenberg stages one of the most hard-to-watch fight scenes with the naked knife fight in the sauna. But then ends the movie with a Sopranos-black screen, which I'll say again is a cop out.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly---Usually not my type of movie, but the story of the editor of the French magazine, Elle, overcome with a paralyzing stroke, is told with such great humanity and an unexpected sense of humor that this film is definitely a winner in my book.

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead ---Albert Finney is great as the father of two loser sons, played by Ethan Hawke and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Hawke is his usual slimy self as the weaker, sniveling brother who robs his parents' jewelry store. Hoffman is miscast as the tougher brother who has to use the jewelry heist money to pay off some big white collar crimes. Hoffman can play sniveling with the best of them, but when he plays "tough" you can see the man behind the curtain. Final scene was way overdramatic for a movie that tries to keep it real.

300 (Two-Disc Special Edition) ---Is it a great movie? No. But it has to be acknowledged for being one of the most creative achievements in 2007. Tells the story of the Spartan War in graphic novel style, with live actors mixing it up with an entire CGI background. Visually mesmerizing and outrageously violent. Fun while it lasts.


The Freditor