I'm not usually one for complaining about what a horrible year it was for movies. If you're an avid moviegoer—either out of professional obligation or sheer fandom—it's never that hard to come up with a list of favorites. Yet even allowing for my generally optimistic outlook, 2007 was a standout year in film.
Capping a best-of list at 10 required some painful omissions. But it's tradition, so we'll go with it. (I did manage to slip an extra title in and still play by the rules, thanks to a certain double feature.)
Unlike my colleague Matt, my list is heavy on bleak artistic visions with only a few rays of sunshine for good measure. The brightest comes in at #1. Make of that what you will, and please, don't let the darkness get you down. Great art is always inspiring, even in its harshest incarnations.
Geoff's top 10 movies of 2007
In praise of demon barbers, child prodigies and one heck of a rat
By Geoff Berkshire, Metromix
December 14, 20071. "Ratatouille"
The team at Pixar are the only people in Hollywood seemingly dedicated to improving on both a technical and creative level with each consecutive effort. It doesn’t always work (last year gave us the woeful “Cars”), but they outdid themselves on “Ratatouille,” the sharpest and most refined offering yet from the studio that produced “Finding Nemo” and “Toy Story.” Writer-director Brad Bird utilizes all of animation’s best qualities for a visually dazzling story of a rat who helps a lowly kitchen employee become the toast of the Parisian food scene. With a clear appreciation of fine food, sophisticated farce and heart-stopping romance, this might be the first release from Disney animation made to appeal to adults even more than children. It’s going to be one tough act to top.
2. "There Will Be Blood"
As foreboding as its title assures, “There Will Be Blood” burrows deep into the pitch-black soul of oil pioneer Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) and emerges as a beguiling contradiction in terms: an intimate epic. Every frame of cinematographer Robert Elswit’s first-class camerawork befits an expansive multi-character examination of early 20th-century America, but writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson’s perfectly rendered film never bothers with anything or anyone beyond the sociopathic Plainview. The singular focus reaps a multitude of riches, starting with Day-Lewis in the performance of the year. Of course it all goes back to Anderson, whose remarkable mastery of his craft places him firmly in the ranks of Great American Directors. Aren’t we lucky he’s only 37?
3. "No End in Sight"
Charles Ferguson made the directorial debut of the year with an insightful and, yes, important documentary about the mistakes made in the build-up and aftermath of the American invasion of Iraq. In a year when American moviegoers flatly rejected numerous films about Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East (in truth, most of them weren’t worth catching), a scrupulously researched account of what went wrong over there probably didn’t seem very inviting. But the brilliance of Ferguson’s film goes beyond academic rigor to encompass a brisk 100-minute running time, an appealing assortment of knowledgeable talking heads and a non-dogmatic approach that calmly states the facts while building to a conclusion of devastating outrage.
4. "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street"
The year’s best musical is also the year’s best horror movie. Only a twisted genius like Tim Burton could pull it off. With invaluable assists from Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and one of the year’s strongest ensemble casts, Burton delivers righteous cinematic justice for legendary composer Stephen Sondheim’s masterpiece of vengeance. Burton’s bleakly beautiful aesthetic has never felt more purposeful than it does when matched with the technical and psychological complexity of Sondheim’s score; it’s an electrifying combination of filmmaker and source material. I’d list every one of the crew members worthy of individual praise, but there’s not enough room here for the entire end credits scroll.
5. "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead"
A contemporary tragedy worthy of the ancient Greeks makes for a potent mix with the urban grit of director Sidney Lumet in "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead." Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke turn in powerhouse performances as two very different brothers desperate for their piece of the American dream. Their bad decisions illuminate the excruciating inevitability of fate, and their middle class malaise provides the film with a subtle layer of political anger. Told through a captivating series of rotating flashbacks (Lumet is in peak stylistic form at the age of 82) and further bolstered by a strong supporting cast including Albert Finney and Marisa Tomei, it’s a hell of a movie with a title to match.
6. "No Country for Old Men"
Unpredictability is the hallmark of any film by the brothers Coen, and the surprises never let up in their adaptation of novelist Cormac McCarthy’s 1980s-Texas-set crime thriller. Although it bares a resemblance to two of their best known films, the Oscar-nominated “Fargo” and their debut “Blood Simple,” no previous Coen effort is as dark or as thrilling. As the trio of men at the center of the story, Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones and an instantly iconic Javier Bardem embody three vastly different sides of human nature. Whether you want to hold the film up for analytic scrutiny or simply enjoy the jolts from its surface-level suspense, it works in perfectly unpredictable Coen fashion.
7. "The Savages"
The ties that bind siblings can be painfully destructive—see movie #5 on this list—or surprisingly healing, as they are in “The Savages,” writer-director Tamara Jenkins’ uncommonly perceptive dramatic comedy. Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman are at their best as an estranged sister and brother who reunite to deal with a father (a fearless Philip Bosco) ravaged by dementia. Beginning with her terrific original screenplay, Jenkins carefully builds a foundation of sincerity and rich humor to support an ultimately grand and moving portrait of what it takes to survive life’s messiest turns.
8. "My Kid Could Paint That"
What begins as a precious documentary about a 4-year-old abstract painter snowballs into something else entirely when accusations arise that the little girl may have had assistance creating her art. Things only get more provocative as filmmaker Amir Bar-Lev becomes a part of the story he’s documenting. Is it out of necessity or narcissism? The film provides no clear answers, only questions about the nature of art, truth, and the role that any storyteller—be it a novelist, filmmaker, reporter, or documentarian—plays in shaping a story. The result is truthiness in action, and a buried treasure deserving of a larger audience.
9. "Grindhouse"
In case you missed it (and, unfortunately, many did), “Grindhouse” was a two-for-one spectacular of ‘70s trash nostalgia. Robert Rodriguez’s sci-fi zombie gorefest “Planet Terror” and Quentin Tarantino’s female empowerment slasher/car chase flick “Death Proof” unspooled double feature style, complete with fake trailers helmed by film geek favorites Edgar Wright, Eli Roth and Rob Zombie. The films have since been brutally severed for DVD release, but there’s always hope that one day the complete “Grindhouse” experience will be available again. Until then we’ll have to make due with fond memories of a rare theatrical event.
10. "Rocket Science"
It’s a premise that would be equally at home in a frat-boy-friendly Hollywood comedy or a condescending hipster indie: a teenage stutterer named Hal Hefner joins his high school debate team to impress a girl. Instead, writer-director Jeffrey Blitz (he of the genius spelling bee documentary “Spellbound”) exhibits a fondness and understanding for his quirky characters that places his work in the same cinematic space as the films of Alexander Payne. A lack of stars may have hurt at the box office, but Reece Daniel Thompson’s smart and funny performance as Hal deserves a place in the high school movie hall of fame.
Honorable mentions: “Away From Her,” “Rescue Dawn,” “Juno,” “Black Snake Moan,” “Michael Clayton,” “Waitress,” “Black Book,” “Into the Wild,” “In the Valley of Elah,” “Eastern Promises,” “Lake of Fire,” “The Bourne Ultimatum,” “Enchanted,” “Great World of Sound,” “The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters.”
Matt's top 10
See what Metromix movie critic Matt Pais selected as the best of 2007.
Geoff's bottom 10
See what Metromix movie critic Geoff Berkshire selected as the worst of 2007.
Matt's bottom 10
See what Metromix movie critic Matt Pais selected as the worst of 2007.
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