The Ten Best Films of 2007

The Number 10 Movie of the Year:

Sunshine

Directed by: Danny Boyle

Written by: Alex Garland

Starring: Cillian Murphy, Rose Byrne, Chris Evens, Michelle Yeoh, and Hiroyuki Sanada

Distributer: Fox Searchlight

Country: UK

Language: English

Rating: R

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Date released: 7/27/2007

Date seen: 7/30/2007

Worldwide Box Office Gross: $31,944,352

# of Oscar nominations: 0

# of Golden Stake Nominations: 6 (Art Direction, Score, Editing, Original Screenplay, and Trailer)

# of Golden Stakes Won: 1 (Most Underappreciated)

I usually reserve my number ten slot for a film that I think has been over looked and underappreciated;  something that might not quite be better than some of the honorable mentions, but which should have gotten more support from the public in general.  Danny Boyle’s Sunshine is a perfect example of this.  Space movies usually come in two forms: films trying to be 2001: A Space Odyssey, and films trying to be Alien.  Sunshine, to me, is a film that manages to bridges that gap and effectively become both an intelligent sci-fi movie and a gripping thriller.  It has become a polarizing movie and I can see why some people are a bit hesitant to embrace it, but I truly think it belongs among 2007’s best.

The Number 9 Movie of the Year: Zodiac

Directed by: David Fincher

Written by: James Vanderbilt

Based on the book Zodiac by Robert Graysmith

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr., and John Carroll Lynch

Distributor: Paramount

Country: United States

Language: English

Rating: R

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Date released: 3/2/2007

Date seen: 3/2/2007

Worldwide Box Office Gross: $84,785,914

# of Oscar nominations: 0

# of Golden Stake Nominations: 6 (Use of Pre-Existing Pop, Set Piece, Sound, Art Direction, Cinematography, and Poster)

# of Golden Stakes Won: 0

I was a bit disappointed when I saw Zodiac in theaters, it just didn’t grab me the way other Fincher movies do when I saw it the first time.  I was much more impressed this second time now that I knew what to expect.  The first hour and forty some minutes of this are great, and not just the murder scenes but also the investigation while the trail is still hot.  Why so low on the list? Well, there comes a point when the film flashes forward four years, this is when I sort of start to lose interest along with everyone aside from Graysmith.  I ultimately didn’t find Graysmith or his obsession as interesting as a lot of other people do.  I found his amateur detective work somewhat lame, and I was unimpressed by the little bit of circumstantial evidence he found.  By the end I was unconvinced of Arthur Leigh Allen’s guilt.  Still, when this movie works it works it works so well that I’m willing to forgive that it loses a little steam toward the end.

The Number 8 Movie of the Year:

The Bourne Ultimatum

Directed by: Paul Greengrass

Written by: Tony Gilroy, Scott Z. Burns, and George Nolfi

Based on the novel The Bourne Ultimatum by Robert Ludlum

Starring: Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, David Strathairn, Joan Allen

Distributor: Universal

Country: United States

Language: English

Rating: PG-13

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Date released: 8/3/2007

Date seen: 8/3/2007

Worldwide Box Office Gross: $442,730,920  

# of Oscar nominations: 3 (Editing, Sound, Sound Editing)

# of Golden Stake Nominations: 6 (Fight, Chase, and Sound)

# of Golden Stakes Won: 3 (Set Piece, Editing, and Action Film)

It’s often hard to place an action film in the same league as many of the films that find their way onto top ten lists.  However, action films rarely work as well as The Bourne Ultimatum, the final installment of the Bourne series.  It was easy to take the first two Bourne films for granted, but it became evident that this was one of the rare film series that got better as it went forward.  Ultimatum had the best fight, best car chase, and best cat and mouse chase of the entire Bourn series.  Following the great United 93, Paul Greengrass’ handheld style had been stewed to perfection, and it made Ultimatum that much better than Supremacy.   Jason Bourne is the action hero for the 21^st century, and after the disasters that were Live Free and Die Hard and Rambo, I’m beginning to think I’m ready to abandon the old school of action cinema.

The Number 7 Movie of the Year:

Once

Directed by: John Carney

Written by: John Carney

Starring: Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová, and Bill Hodnett

Distributor: Fox Searchlight

Country: Ireland

Language: English

Rating: R

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Date released: 5/16/2007

Date seen: 7/13/2007

Worldwide Box Office Gross: $16,148,695  

# of Oscar nominations: 1 (Original Song)

# of Golden Stake Nominations: 2 (Musical Performance and Soundtrack)

# of Golden Stakes Won: 0

This charming independent film is by far the lowest budget movie on my top ten list.  The film looks at an unnamed street musician who, by chance meets an unnamed woman.  Both parties are in long distance relationships, but they soon form a very close platonic bond that never quite turns into a full blown romance.  The characters here have a deep love and passion for the music they make, which is well written acoustic pop.  It’s sort of hard to explain the appeal of this micro-budget pseudo-musical.  It’s a film that’s more about a feeling than a plot and you leave the theater more happy then you went in.

The Number 6 Movie of the Year:

The Wind That Shakes the Barley

Directed by: Ken Loach

Written by: Paul Laverty

Starring: Cillian Murphy, Padraic Delaney, and Liam Cunningham

Distributor: IFC Films

Country: Ireland

Language: English

Rating: R

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Date released: 3/16/2007

Date seen: 9/14/2007

Worldwide Box Office Gross: $22,881,000

# of Oscar nominations: 0

# of Golden Stake Nominations: 2 (Original Screenplay and Under Apreciated)

# of Golden Stakes Won: 0

This film won the Palm D’or at last year’s Cannes film festival, beating out such films as Pan’s Labyrinth and Babel, but then was only given a miniscule release before falling into relative obscurity.  This movie definitely deserved more widespread recognition, as it is a great piece that works on many levels.  This film works on one level as a great history lesson, on another level as great human drama, and the film also works on one further level as an allegory for the state of world affairs today.  This is one of the best films on the subject of the conflicts in Ireland and a great entry into the Ken Loach cannon.

The Number 5 Movie of the Year:

Juno

Directed by: Jason Reitman

Written by: Diablo Cody

Starring: Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jason Bateman, Jennifer Garner, and J.K. Simmons.

Distributor: Fox Searchlight

Country: United States

Language: English

Rating: PG-13

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Date released: 12/14/2007

Date seen: 12/14/2007

Worldwide Box Office Gross: $126,804,297

# of Oscar nominations: 4

# of Golden Stake Nominations: 4 (Original Screenplay, Supporting Actress, and Funniest Film)

# of Golden Stakes Won: 1 (Best Actress)

What looked like a cookie cutter indie comedy turned out to be a genuinely charming, smart, and funny piece of work.  Many will remember the film for its witty dialogue by Diablo Cody, and that alone may have made a memorable movie, but there’s a lot more here than that.  The film has great, well developed, and highly likable characters that you really feel like you know at the end.  The viewer has a different perception of all these characters by the end, which is an underappreciated elements of Cody’s beloved screenplay.  Also a major factor in the film’s success is the amazing cast that manages to sell this material, and the director who manages to keep this all from going off the rails.

The Number 4 Movie of the Year:

Diving Bell and Butterfly, The

Directed by: Julian Schnabel

Written by: Ronald Harwood

Based on the book Le Scaphandre et le Papillon by Jean-Dominique Bauby

Starring: Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie-Josée Croze, and Max Von Sydow

Distributor: Miramax

Country: France

Language: French

Rating: PG-13

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Date released: 11/30/2007

Date seen: 12/26/2007

Worldwide Box Office Gross: $8,339,339  

# of Oscar nominations: 4

# of Golden Stake Nominations: 5 (Make-Up, Cinematogrophy, Adapted Screenplay)

# of Golden Stakes Won: 2 (Cameo & Foreign)

“The Diving Bell and Butterfly” is a very intimidating title, I know.  It sounds like the title of a very pretentious movie, but that’s not what this is at all.  The film tells the true story of Jean-Dominique Bauby, a man who suffered a debilitating stroke at the prime of his life that left him paralyzed head to toe, only able to control one eye.  Bauby could have given up hope, but instead he got a new lease on life and with the help of an assistant wrote an entire memoir by blinking as the alphabet is read to him.  This celebration of life could have easily turned to a saccharine exercise, but Julian Schnabel and Ronald Harwood managed to turn it into a beautiful work of art.

 

The Number 3 Movie of the Year:

No Country for Old Men

Directed by: Joel and Ethan Coen

Written by: Joel and Ethan Coen

Based on the book No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy

Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, and Kelly Macdonald

Distributor: Paramount Vantage

Country: United States

Language: English

Rating: R

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Date released: 11/21/2007

Date seen: 11/22/2007

Worldwide Box Office Gross: $83,407,469

# of Oscar nominations: 8

# of Golden Stake Nominations: 5 (Set-Piece, Editing, & Adapted Screenplay)

# of Golden Stakes Won: 2 (Villain & Supporting Actor)

For me, the Coen Brother’s films have been hit or miss.  I’m not a huge fan of those comedies they seem to be making all the time that star John Turturro, John Goodman, and Steve Buscemi (The Big Lebowski is the exception that proves the rule); however, I always love their darker films like Blood Simple and Fargo.  The newest film from the Coen brothers, No Country for Old Men, fit well into that second category. The film had brilliant suspense scenes, deep themes and great acting.  I liked the film so much that I read the Cormac McCarthy novel it was based on, which was a little disappointing, it turns out the film is a nearly word for word adaptation of the novel and that slowed down my enthusiasm for the film a little.  Still, this is an awesome movie that deserves all the praise it’s gotten.

The Number 2 Movie of the Year:

Into the Wild

Directed by: Sean Penn

Written by: Sean Penn

Based on the book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

Starring: Emile Hirsh, Catherine Keener, Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt, Vince Vaughn, Hal Holbrook

Distributor: Paramount Vantage

Country: United States

Language: English

Rating: R

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Date released: 9/21/2007

Date seen: 10/12/2007

Worldwide Box Office Gross: $37,606,908  

# of Oscar nominations: 2

# of Golden Stake Nominations: 5 (Soundtrack, Editing, Cinematogrophy, Supporting Actress)

# of Golden Stakes Won: 1 (Adapted Screenplay)

I went into this Sean Penn directed film with fairly low expectations, I was pretty much ready to hate the film’s main character and generally not take any of it very seriously.  To my shock and awe I found myself caring for the film’s main character and his odyssey of self discovery.  The film is perfectly structured, the film manages to perfectly organize a somewhat non-chronological narrative into a cohesive whole.  The film is very well photographed, there’s beautiful scenery to be found here.  The cast is great all around, Hirsh perfectly balances naiveté and likability and the supporting actors all manage to make an impression with very little screen time.  Arthur Miller once had the brilliant idea to make a tragedy about a common man, here Penn and Krakauer have made the first tragedy about a dipshit.

The Number 1 Movie of the Year:

There Will Be Blood

Directed by: Paul Thomas Anderson

Written by: Paul Thomas Anderson

Based on the book Oil! by Upton Sinclair

Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Dillon Freasier, and Paul Dano

Distributor: Paramount Vantage

Country: United States

Language: English

Rating: R

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Date released: 12/25/2007

Date seen: 1/4/2008

Worldwide Box Office Gross: $35,657,000

# of Oscar nominations: 2

# of Golden Stake Nominations: 6 (Set-Piece, Cinematogrophy, Adapted Screenplay, Poster)

# of Golden Stakes Won: 2 (Score & Actor)

Choosing a number one film this year is harder than it usually is.  Often I’ll see the year’s best film and know it instantly, but this year I really needed to go to great lengths to decide between the top three.  Eventually I went with the most ambitious, and some would say most flawed, of the three and I’m standing by my choice.  Here, Paul Thomas Anderson has gone to another league of film mastery and accedes his already very high standards.  At this film’s center is a virtuoso performance by Daniel Day-Lewis, this performance is among the best of the decade.  The film There Will Be Blood most seems to remind me of is Apocalypse Now, like that film this is a wildly ambitious piece of work that seems to bring filmmaking to a new level.  Also like Apocalypse Now this has an ending many feel goes over the top, but which really just brings all the film’s themes to their logical endpoint.    

 

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