Sunday, February 17, 2008

Movies of 2007


Amidst office arguments over the movie Juno, I thought I would try to summarize what I thought was good and bad about 2007 movies.

Top 3

Eastern Promises – I was just completely engrossed throughout. Viggo steals the show

Michael Clayton – The female opposing attorney and the the guy who goes crazy, both of them are awesome. Clooney is clooney-ish. Some really memorable scenes. [Update: Morteza appropriately points out that there is no way I can justify this in my Top 3. So I guess it is Top 2 until I get to watching those movies on my to-see list]

The Namesake – A great story about first generation Indian immigrants to America. Pretty gut-wrenching and I really enjoyed all of the characters.

Honorable Mention

Persepolis – I really thought the animation traveled well from the graphic novel to the big screen. The music was a definite bonus over the graphic novel version.

Bourne Ultimatum – Best action movie of the year no doubt. Given my general dislike of big action movies these days, this is a surprise for me. Seriously this movie is running about 110 mph. I didn't really like the second one, but the first one was fantastic. I put this one as even better than the first.

Juno – I saw it knowing next to nothing about it and not hearing any of the hype since then. I'll say that it is probably not worth all the hype it is getting, but at the same time I think it is pretty solid. It was not about believability for me.

Sunshine – Just good old fashion Sci-Fi. Had some acting problems, but was by far the best out of an epic quadruple feature in Seattle beating out Simpsons, Sicko and Transformers.

Overrated

3:10 to Yuma – Maybe I wasn't really paying attention, or maybe I don't get into westerns, or maybe this movie really isn't that good.

Zodiac – I liked the style, but at no point during the entire 3 hours did I really care what was happening. Maybe I just don't like Jake Gyllenhall,

American Gangster – and yes I know TI, Common and the RZA are all involved and I'm still gonna call this overrated. Seriously the only scene I really liked was the Anthony Hamilton lounge scene, it reminded me of the Curtis Mayfield lounge scene from Superfly.

Probably just shouldn't have happened

Simpsons - no better than 3 average episodes glued together

Die Hard 4 – Perhaps if Bruce starts rocking some HGH...Sly style...(Rambo 4 was definitely better than this movie)

28 Weeks Later – Another movie that got made because of the Franchise. I guess when you make sure that everyone who worked on the first movie does not work on the sequel you know what you are gonna get...which is absolute crap.

Ones I'm Pissed a Haven't Seen

No Country for Old Men

There Will be Blood

Ratatouille

Rescue Dawn

Lust Caution

Gone Baby Gone

Into The Wild

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days

Teeth

4 Comments:

Blogger Alex Lo said...

I think you could skip Lust, Caution. or at least put it on the end of the list.

7:21 PM  
Blogger Cy Hendrickson said...

No Country for Old Men was definitely the best movie of the year, and one of my favorite movies of all time. It's not even one of Cormac McCarthy's better books, so it will be interesting to see how Blood Meridian and The Road (which will have your boy Viggo in it) will turn out.

American Gangster was no better than an average episode of The Wire. Other than the Anthony Hamilton scene, the only parts I really liked were when Stringer Bell was on screen. He was also pretty much the only reason I saw 28 Weeks Later.

7:06 AM  
Blogger The Tao said...

Ratatouille is the best film on your Haven't Seen list. No Country's fine enough, but its similarity to the book (which was, yes, one of Cormac's lesser efforts) gave me the unfortunate feeling while I was watching it that I'd somehow seen it before. There Will Be Blood was good, though it got a little out of hand at the end and Paul Dano couldn't carry his water. American Gangster did suck. Producers need to stop casting Denzel into these roles that require moral ambiguity, because inevitably he glamorizes whatever profession he depicts.

9:55 AM  
Blogger crash-dev said...

I....Drink....your...MILKSHAKE!!!!! I DRINK IT UP!!!!

9:21 PM  

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