It seems nearly all of last year's best movies ("Half Nelson," "Children of Men," "The Departed") were bleak, bleaker and bleakest. Not this year: 2007's top films couldn't be more diverse, with plenty of the requisite emotional anguish mixed with lots of white-knuckle suspense, laugh-out-loud comedy and, yes, a rat cooking like he wants to win "Top Chef."
With that, here's a look at 2007's best, an especially impressive crop in a very strong year.
Matt's top 10 movies of 2007
Sorry, 'Wild Hogs' did not make the cut
By Matt Pais, Metromix
December 14, 20071. "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters"
Even if you hate video games, this is one of the all-time great accounts of human nature and what it means to win and lose in life—and at Donkey Kong. In 80-some lightning-quick minutes, Seth Gordon's "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters" profoundly chronicles the rivalry and the different motives between the longtime Kong record-holder, the sincerely conniving Billy Mitchell, and his challenger Steve Wiebe, a nice guy and family man who just wants to come in first at something for once in his life. The movie reveals the competitive video game community to be an alternate universe that still runs on truth and lies, triumphs and failures, integrity and manipulation. It also speaks volumes about what the spirit of competition says about everyone, and while Donkey Kong becomes a surprisingly fitting metaphor for everyday chaos, challenges and accomplishments, the movie does what a truly rewarding doc—and any movie, really—should do: It's about what it's about, but it's really about so much more than that.
2. "No Country for Old Men"
More than a decade after "Fargo," the Coen Brothers return to serious, violent financial pursuits with a vengeance in this bloody, brilliant and beautiful piece of genre perfection. Javier Bardem is bone-chillingly scary as a psychopath doing anything and everything to retrieve $2 million in missing drug money that's stolen by a Vietnam vet (Josh Brolin) on the run. Shot by cinematographer Roger Deakins—who's also responsible for "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," see below—"No Country" looks as good as its villain is bad, with a wise and weathered Tommy Lee Jones on hand as a sheriff fully aware that he can't keep pace with all the speedy and spontaneous crime out there. The film manages a dark sense of humor and an eerie stillness that lingers long after the last bullet has been fired.
3. "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
Can a movie successfully adapt a book that was written by a paralyzed man who's only able to move one eyelid? Somehow director Julian Schnabel ("Before Night Falls") does the unthinkable and brings to life the story of Elle editor Jean-Dominique Bauby (a terrific Mathieu Almaric), who in 1995 suffered a massive stroke that left him paralyzed and speechless but able to communicate through blinking. It's as powerful and unsentimental as movies get, with an endearing, sometimes-funny optimism and refusal to pity Bauby or let the viewer off easy. By the end of "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," you'll feel like you've seen some of the worst and best feelings that life can bring, captured by an unforgettable film that can both crush you and give you wings. It’s the rare example of a challenging, emotionally wrenching piece of visual artistry you'll actually want to watch more than once.
4. "Away From Her"
Of all the feelings actors need to express, the love that exists—or existed—between two people may be the one of the most difficult to convey. Gordon Pinsent plays a man forced to put his wife (Julie Christie) of 44 years into a nursing home due to the onset of Alzheimer's disease, and both stars are wonderfully real while they age gracefully and he loves unconditionally. The movie is a stunning directorial debut for actress Sarah Polley ("Dawn of the Dead"), with not a wasted moment or a line spoken without complete understanding for the difficulty of holding onto something that can no longer be held. "Away From Her" is the year's most heartbreaking film and proof that someone you love never truly goes away.
5. "Ratatouille"
A rat has a heightened sense of taste, a sophisticated palate and a desire to become a cook. Out of this delightful contradiction comes the clever, funny and gloriously animated "Ratatouille," Disney/Pixar's kid flick for adults with creativity and imagination that exceeds "Toy Story." The voice work is spot-on and chosen to benefit the character, not because of their Hollywood names: Patton Oswalt as Remy the rat, Ian Holm as villainous chef Skinner and Janeane Garofalo as French cook Colette are particularly tasty, and the real treat is Peter O’Toole, so droll as a stuffy dining critic who may or may not rediscover why he wanted the job in the first place. Written and directed by Brad Bird (“The Incredibles”), "Ratatouille" is a giddy concoction that's both comically agile and remarkably sweet, and the whole thing goes down like the most satisfying meal you've had all year. Simply: a delectable dish, prepared with love.
6. "Superbad"
The familiar set-up of high-school kids about to graduate gets a raunchy rejuvenation with "Superbad," a movie with so many big laughs you may pull a muscle in your cheeks. Yes, it's not the classiest brand of comedy, but it's one of the most authentic-feeling high school movies ever, with Michael Cera and Jonah Hill providing plenty of fear, awkwardness and hormones as best friends enjoying a wild night out not long before they'll depart to different colleges. The perfectly cast Christopher Mintz-Plasse is McLovin', a hilarious testament to all that is fun and geeky and exciting and dangerous about being a teenager. "Superbad" is also a really nice story of friendship that happens to be funnier and more sincere than everything Ben Stiller and Dane Cook have done in the last 10 years combined.
7. "The Orphanage"
I didn't understand the hoopla over Guillermo Del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth," but the unnerving Spanish fable "The Orphanage," which Del Toro produced, delivers everything that "Pan's" failed to. You'll jump like you haven't in years and marvel at the haunting power behind this tale of a woman raising a terminally ill adopted son in the orphanage that she grew up in, and the spooky things that happen after he claims to befriend a boy who died when his mom was a little girl. You'll struggle to remember the last time a movie made your teeth chatter while "The Orphanage" packs an emotional wallop about parents and children, tragedy and hope. If it’s been a while since a movie has given you nightmares, now's the time to break out the nightlight.
8. "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"
Low on gunfire and high on atmosphere, this gorgeously shot and thought-provoking Western proves to people tired of the same old shootouts and themes that the genre has some fight left in it. A very unsettling Casey Affleck is Robert Ford, an admirer of Jesse James (Brad Pitt), who eventually becomes the legendary outlaw's killer. Don't worry that the title of this two-hour-and-forty-minute drama gives away the ending. The pleasures of "Jesse James" aren't in the actual demise of a famous criminal but rather in James' heroic presence while alive and the mythic iconography attached to both Ford and James after the latter's death. The movie is sloooooooow, but it’s a compelling and unconventional example of a story that deserves to take its time.
9. "Michael Clayton"
It's easy to forget that George Clooney isn't just a charmer who graces magazine covers and floats along with the breeze in the "Ocean's" movies. In "Michael Clayton," a juicy thriller that knows that the best tension comes from whispers and not screams, Clooney finds subtle fragility in a man close to breaking. He delivers an Oscar-worthy performance as a legal "fixer" suffering a crisis of conscience, as he tries to clean up a mess stemming from a $3 billion class-action suit. The movie at first seems like a traditionally complicated legal drama but proves to be a terrifically acted—with excellent supporting work from Tom Wilkinson and Tilda Swinton—and crisp, precise study of people trapped on a moral battlefield. And one man chasing the magnificent stillness of a few moments away from the chaotic life he might not be able to fix.
10. "Once"
Don't you dare call it a "musical." This wonderful ode to the music that only human connection can bring out of us is filled with songs, but not in a big-choreographed-dance-number kind of way. Whittling down the pizzazz and flair of conventional music movies into an aching tale of new musician friends (Glen Hansard, Marketa Irglova) who collaborate on a demo, "Once" deals in the splendor of making beautiful music together, and no, that's not a euphemism. This is a movie about how it feels when someone who surprises you teaches you to surprise yourself. It doesn't concern itself with traditional romantic will-they-or-won't-they nonsense or inevitable happy endings, but you can't help but love the way "Once" makes the world look: tough and painful, but full of potential and ready to burst with feeling and kindness at any moment.
Honorable mentions: "Gone Baby Gone," "The Bourne Ultimatum," "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days," "Ocean's Thirteen," "Zodiac," "Eastern Promises," "Summercamp!," "In the Shadow of the Moon," "Interview," "Juno."
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Geoff's top 10
See what Metromix movie critic Geoff Berkshire 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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