The Best (and worst) of 2007

I would call 2007 a great film year for me. I managed to see almost all the films that I wanted to see, and I feel like I can come up with a legitimate Top 10. So, without any extraneous material, I give you my Top 10 of 2007:

10) Away From Her - Tears flowed freely during this tender love story. Sarah Polley’s first feature feels like she has been making movies her whole life.

9) Juno - A teen pregnancy comedy/drama that does everything right and shows how standard material can be elevated to something more using wit and insight.

8) Michael Clayton - A mystery that unfolds slowly and surely. It kept me guessing until the final moments when it all wrapped up perfectly.

7) Diving Bell and the Butterfly - An innovative, creative, and heart-wrenching film based on a story that most thought could never be filmed.

6) Day Night Day Night - A small, brutal film that examines what state of mind a person must be in to be a suicide bomber.

5) Sunshine - Beautiful, invigorating sci-fi. Tightly scripted, scientifically believable, and intellectually satisfying.

4) After the Wedding - A film from Denmark that has enough drama for a Lifetime movie, but through deft directing, writing and acting, it transcends with ease, and delivers.

3) Zodiac - Fincher really proved himself with this surprisingly layered 70’s time-capsule.

2) There Will Be Blood - I can talk forever about this movie. Sheer perfection in every way.

1) Once - I have to go with my heart this time. Few movies have ever given me as much pleasure as this one.

And to end on a sour note, in my opinion the worst film of the year is Tarantino’s half of Grindhouse. He completely missed the point of drive-in sleaze. Instead, he delivered the dead-on-arrival Death Proof that spent far too much time talking about nothing and didn’t even take place in the seventies.

So, another year of film in the books. 2007 wasn’t half bad. Hopefully, 2008 will bring some wide releases of independent and foreign films to theaters.

That’s if the current studio system lets them. Écrasez l’Infâme!