Stop-Loss (Kimberly Peirce, 2008)

8 years have passed since the release of director Kimberly Peirce’s last film, Boys Don’t Cry, and according to her co-writer Mark Richard there were “no less than 65 drafts” of the script for Stop-Loss since that time. So I ask you… how can it still feel like the writing was left so unpolished? The tone is too inconsistent, and characters seem to have the ability to appear anywhere within the United States almost overnight, on top of which a key part of the film is dedicated to a 1500-mile road trip to make a phone call? There’s a lot of problems and frustrations that come out of Stop-Loss, but the most frustrating thing is that it’s still a pretty good film in spite of them (and with some alterations it could have been a great one). The largely underrated Ryan Phillippe stars as Brandon King, a staff sergeant in the army that is finishing up his service. On the day he’s supposed to get out, the army ‘Stop-Losses’ him, effectively extending his service past the day he signed up for and forcing him to take another tour in Iraq. It’s at this point Brandon goes rogue, knocking out a few guards and making a B-line for D.C. to talk to a senator friend in the hopes of getting him out of this shameful “backdoor draft” loophole. This must have seemed like a great plot, filled with the best of intentions, but when you factor in the female road trip partner (his best friend’s girl, of course) it starts to feel like MTV jammed in the character and road trip in the hopes of spicing things up and making it more marketable. Luckily they made the right casting decisions because not only is Phillippe dependable in the lead role, but Joseph Gordon-Levitt makes every scene he’s in worthwhile. And Peirce fills the film with scattered moments of brilliance, mostly related to the soldiers dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder (scenes involving a front lawn trench and a firing squad of wedding gifts in particular). It’s these scenes you’re ultimately left wishing for more of… and what could have made Stop-Loss truly great.

Vantage Point (Pete Travis, 2008)

Theoretically a hot button film about the assassination of the President of the United States as viewed from eight different perspectives, Vantage Point has little to say… and shockingly even less to show. It’s a gimmick film, a story that continually rewinds backwards in order to tell a different story. Unfortunately it’s also one that’s been done before (and better) in films such as Hero, Run, Lola, Run and (I presume because, alas, I still have not seen it) Rashomon. Here the gimmick is used for no real purpose, because no matter how many times director Pete Travis retreats back to the beginning… we end up seeing the same damn footage time and time again. There is the bare minimum amount of story development here (one time through and you’ve got it) and Travis routinely picks the most inopportune time to implement his trick – right around the time we feel like we’re, you know, getting somewhere. Worse yet, there are no characters to the story. The secret service agent played by Dennis Quaid (awful) is the most fully-formed, but only because he’s the only one with an actual backstory. Everyone else is defined by how they’re costumed… Matthew Fox (Quaid’s partner), William Hurt (President), Forest Whitaker (tourist/cameraman), etc. Character motivations are barely considered, the film takes place in Spain (for what purpose we’re unsure), no one acts well and needless to say… it opened at #1 at the box office.

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (Chan-wook Park, 2002)

Chan-wook Park’s Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is undoubtedly the work of a very talented – if still developing – director. Sure, Park has not yet perfected the craft (he still sometimes pushes things too far by allowing time for stylized shots that don’t do much other than look cool or visual jokes that just don’t work), but the reason why Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance ultimately succeeds is because of the details in Park’s filmmaking and his ability to breathe fresh life into these scenes. Moments such as when our lead character Ryu remains frozen in motion, standing in a knee’s worth of water, while transfixed on the lifeless body of a girl floating in the lake are spellbinding and show the patience that is far too infrequent in films today. Here the story centers around Ryu, a deaf-mute boy who is desperate to find a kidney donor for his dying sister. He does everything he can think of, trying to donate his own and even buy one off the black market, but all that he manages to do is get himself robbed (they even take his kidney). When a donor is finally found, Ryu no longer has the money for the surgery and in an act of easily-persuaded desperation (from a revolutionary-minded friend), he decides to kidnap and ransom his former boss’ child to get it. From there the film heads full steam into a revenge-fueled bloodbath, entirely without sympathy or forgiveness. And in a moment of story structure genius, the focus of the film switches to the father of the little girl, abandoning our kidnappers at just the moment they become irredeemable. These are largely ‘good’ people that get caught up in something heinous, but can there be mercy? Was it not Gandhi that said, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind?” Maybe in some blood-soaked, bash-your-head-in-with-a-baseball-bat way, this is saying the same thing? There are no happy endings for the vengeful-hearted.

The Sound of Music (Robert Wise, 1965)

Admittedly drowning in classic songs and centering around a performance that might as well be Mary Poppins comes to the hills of Salzburg, Austria (the ever affable Julie Andrews nearly turned down the role due to its obvious similarities to that musical), I’ll admit the Best Picture-winning and AFI-favorite The Sound of Music baffled me for about two hours and twenty minutes. The film is egregiously overlong and for long stretches of time it plays out like a family sitcom (I wouldn’t be shocked if “The Partridge Family” isn’t at least partially modeled after the Von Trapp family). That’s not to say there aren’t genuinely funny moments in the film, or that the singing is bad… because it’s not, there’s a reason these songs caught on with audiences. But there are so many corny moments dedicated to these characters that it’s hard to stick with them and some of the songs have not aged well (“Sixteen Going on Seventeen” for one). The story itself plays out poorly, as a prospective nun, Maria (Andrews), is sent by her abbey to be the governess for the seven children of a widowed naval officer (Christopher Plummer). For the next one hundred and forty minutes the story revolves around how the children at first try to get rid of and then bond with the governess, while we also see the increasing relationship between the naval officer and Maria. Most of this involves scenes with the children (or adults) dancing around, spouting off showtunes. Then, finally, in the last forty minutes director Robert Wise gets down to raising the stakes… because up until that point you’d hardly realize that this takes place in Austria as it’s about to be overtaken by Nazi Germany. The remaining forty minutes speed by in comparison, but make the film feel like it had its head buried in the ground from the start. Why focus on singing children when Hitler is coming over those hills and honestly, how long does it take to solve a problem like Maria?

Note: This is one of the funniest bits of trivia I’ve ever come across while looking up a film. Courtesy of IMDB. “Christopher Plummer intensely disliked working on the film. He's been known to refer to it as "The Sound of Mucus” and likened working with Julie Andrews to, "being hit over the head with a big Valentine's Day card, every day." Nonetheless, he and Andrews have remained close friends ever since.”

The Dead Zone (David Cronenberg, 1983)

Proof that the director can make a film worthwhile, David Cronenberg creates a pervading atmosphere of gloom in The Dead Zone that is reminiscent of John Carpenter’s Halloween, though not quite as memorable. The story is about Johnny Smith (Christopher Walken), a nerdish-looking school teacher who gets in a car accident after a date with the woman he has professed he’ll marry, a fellow teacher by the name of Sarah (Brooke Adams). Then 5 years pass, with Johnny having slipped into a coma. Sarah gets married. And - being a Stephen King adaptation - somewhere along the line of recovery and teaching his muscles to walk again, Johnny discovers he has the ability to foresee someone’s death through touch. Cronenberg has a strong sense for what translates as ominous in a film, and some of the more visual elements such as the scenes of Walken ‘flashing’ into the future are haunting and remarkable. Ultimately this gift leads Walken to meet Martin Sheen’s sermonizing Senatorial candidate Greg Stillson, a man who believes it’s his destiny to lead the world into a nuclear holocaust. At this point the movie poses its moral conundrum, “Knowing what would happen in the future, if you could go backwards in time to kill a Hitler-type character, would you?” It’s a fascinating thought, one that gets presented far too late into its running time, but is somewhat of an easy decision… I mean would Johnny really allow the apocalypse to happen? But besides some plot issues (the flow of the film is not great), Cronenberg has fashioned a thriller that holds up, and is one of the better uses of Christopher Walken’s talents that I’ve seen. Most directors don’t seem to know what to do with his unique talents and seem content to simply use him as a supporting character… like a spice being added to a soup. Here, he’s the whole meal.

Reservation Road (Terry George, 2007)

Too many unhappy coincidences undermine what could have been a solid drama here. Terry George, the director responsible for 2004’s excellent Hotel Rwanda, gets trapped beneath his own happenstance on Reservation Road. In Hollywood it’s never enough to just have a straightforward storyline such as a hit and run accident and its ramifications… instead we have to have overlaying storylines tying the main characters together at every plot point. Why isn’t it enough to see the suffering family (Joaquin Phoenix, Jennifer Connelly, Elle Fanning) try to piece their lives back together in the aftermath of the accident, while we subsequently get the perpetrator’s story (Mark Ruffalo)? Well, regardless, what does transpire in Reservation Road is solid craftsmanship leading to a whole lot of Hollywood hooey. The tale unravels at a fine pace and the acting is solid, but what keeps drawing you out of the story is its insistence on fashioning Hollywood moments that keep its main characters in scenes together without letting everyone in on all the information. After the death of his 10-year-old son, Phoenix leads his own fatherly investigation, while the man responsible (Ruffalo) starts to feel a whole lot of guilt, maybe because all his scenes tend to resemble one another? Plus Jennifer Connelly is almost entirely wasted in the nagging wife role (does anyone write for females nowadays?). The one fascinating stance the film does take is to not completely condemn Ruffalo’s character… but in doing so, and by showing Phoenix’s deteriorating mindset, by the end you’re almost rooting for Ruffalo to get away and is that really the point they’re trying to get across?

The Mist (Frank Darabont, 2007)

For a B-movie about a mist filled with swarms of killer insects, The Mist can’t seem to keep its mouth shut. When the aforementioned mist descends upon a small town in Maine, Thomas Jane and Marcia Gay Harden are amongst the largely brain-dead people trapped in the local grocery store. Then a man comes running out of the haze, blood dripping from his nose and making claims about being attacked. From there on out we’re sitting side-by-side with a small community of grocers, locals and the stray military officers, fodder for our creature feature appetite. Jane plays our ‘heroic’ leading man, who apparently can’t be bothered to spend time with his own son and instead drops him off with the women (what good are they fighting enormous insects anyway, right?). But the fascinating thing about The Mist isn’t its disregard for parental responsibilities, but its insistence that the only thing scarier than an apocalyptic mist with supernatural monsters is a right-wing conservative nutbag. That would be Mrs. Gay Harden, who already has the propensity for going over-the-top but here is over the damn moon. Her religious zealot Mrs. Carmody is a one-note horror, preaching on about the end of the world and how the mist is “God’s will” while behaving in such a cruel manner she’d make Anton Chigurh blush. And she never shuts up! Director Frank Darabont provides her with so many speeches to prattle off, ones that stretch on for seemingly endless amounts of time, that by the end of them you can only conclude the filmmaker is begging the audience to wish for her demise. Honestly the only thing I found redeeming is Toby Jones’ grocery store clerk Ollie. Not only does this shlumpy, dough-boy rescue hoardes of people (and entire scenes) all by himself, but his reaction to finding out there are creatures in the fog is to crack open a beer, tell his boss off, and then proceed to gun down some deadly mist creature baddies. Now THAT’S a hero.

Extreme Measures (Michael Apted, 1996)

“If you could cure cancer by killing one person, wouldn’t you have to do that?” says Gene Hackman far too late into the running time of Michael Apted’s Extreme Measures. He bellows his lines with an air of entitlement and a matter-of-factness that convinces you – that at least to his own mind – everything he’s doing is morally ‘right’ (the guy would have made a killer debate team leader). Unfortunately, the meat of Tony Gilroy’s script is all buried in the tail end of it. The rest is your typical, paint-by-numbers thriller with Hugh Grant playing Guy, a doctor who has a patient with unusual symptoms (spasms, nakedness) die on his watch. Unable to let it go, Guy finds the body has disappeared when he goes to investigate the death further. From there on you get the usual assortment of creepy characters that all seem to be possibly complicit in the crime, a few chase scenes, some character assassination and a surprisingly well-organized group of all-knowing homeless men to disperse clues when called upon. Until the moral questions posed in the final reel, the reason to see this film (or at least the reason I searched it out) was to see Hugh Grant do something other than a romantic comedy. He’s capable here… but always seems to be more comfortable delivering the comedic lines. So much like the movie, it's no surprise.

Days of Heaven (Terrence Malick, 1978)

If not the most beautiful film ever made, it’s easily one of them. The painterly, ruralistic images of Terrence Malick’s film are astonishing. But too many seem to qualify this movie as only being pertinent for it’s cinematography; while there isn’t nearly enough credit given to its story. A meditation - with Malick is there any other kind? - on money, love and life and the importance of all three. Richard Gere stars as Bill (and in typical Malick fashion he probably had a page’s worth of dialogue to work with), a factory worker who in the haste of a fight kills a man. When he realizes what he’s done, he flees with his young sister Linda and his girlfriend Abby in tow. They hop a train and start referring to Abby as his other sister, as Linda says "to avoid questions." The three of them end up on a Texas wheat farm, one with a gothic mansion on the hill, a symbol of the life that Bill so desperately longs for: wealth, money, stability. Once there, the owner of the mansion (Sam Shepard), a man Bill has overheard has less than a year with which to live, starts to take a liking to Abby... and Bill pushes her towards him, thinking they can exploit the situation to set them all for life. It's an Indecent Proposal-like storyline, told by an artist and it has a romantic quality as seen through the eyes of the younger sister. Only a child could highlight the good times and the bad, told mostly through its voiceovers, with a sweet and naive degree they alone seem to see so perfectly.

Serpico (Sidney Lumet, 1973)

There’s an overwhelming weight to Serpico, Sidney Lumet’s early 1970's cop masterpiece. The weight of corruption, of that cold stare you get when someone doesn’t like you and wants you to know it, and of trying to do what’s right when besieged by a division cracking with moral decay. Pacino’s Frank Serpico is very much trapped in the grimy, realistic world that Lumet has set out before him, the New York City police department. He’s an honest "plain clothes" cop (he has the best wardrobe in movie history), one that doesn’t take money and actually tries to lock up the bad guys... and on numerous occasions he makes it known that all he wants is "to do my job." But he’s surrounded by cops on the take, who release criminals and skim money as if it’s a benefit of the job and distrust a police officer that dares not to. Meanwhile everyone he turns to for help seems pathetically impotent or flat-out uninterested. The subjucated performance that Pacino gives here is on par with his best ever (yes, it’s Godfather good). He’s a bundle of fraying nerves, often spilling over into his personal life and keeps him detached, from women, from anyone. The further invested he gets into exposing the corruption, the more eyes that seem to be watching him, the less anything seems to change. Or as Pacino puts it, "The laundry just keeps getting dirtier."

Lost - S4, E8: "Meet Kevin Johnson"

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Season 4, Episode 8 - "Meet Kevin Johnson"

La Dolce Vita (Federico Fellini, 1960)

La Dolce Vita is a revelation upon your first viewing; namely the beauty of it and its ability to surprise and shock you (the film was banned in Spain until 1981). It’s all about stretching for something more… the perfect woman, the perfect job, the perfect life (the film’s title, after all, translates to “The Sweet Life”). You can see the religious themes (a flying Christ statue from the opening shot is not exactly hiding the fact) and its views on love and life spread through the main character. That would be Marcello, a reporter disinterested in the “maternal love” his girlfriend Emma professes for him and who shows glimpses of becoming the man that his father is, a lecherous creature who never grew up and longs for the days of past conquests. But Marcello is cursed to always want what he doesn’t have, something new, exciting or even just something else, and to be too afraid to take the necessary steps to do anything about it. He doesn’t want to be with Emma but he’s unable to leave her and his attempt to write a book is pathetically dismal. His job itself might be the curse’s source, one that keeps him mingling with beautiful women and important people but never quite being one himself. There is no quintessential story arc to the movie, just a series of events that transpire with Marcello there to cover them. It’s unique and decadent, showy and natural, and if I’m to take Alexander Payne’s word for it (he does the film’s introduction), it only gets better on repeat viewings.

Enchanted (Kevin Lima, 2007)

The perfect movie… if you’re a 10-year-old girl. And admittedly not a bad one even if you’re not. Enchanted does a pretty good send-up of the classic Disney cartoons by starting out in animation and transferring the story – and the gags – into live action (it gets a good deal of humor out of the situation too). Still it’d be nothing without the commitment of its actors, as both Amy Adams and James Marsden nail the doe-eyed, childlike nature of their characters. The sweetness of seeing Adams’ costumes made out of curtains and the dashingly heroic Marsden shrug off killing Dempsey’s character with a simple “Oh, okay” after finding out he’s a ‘friend’? Great stuff. Unfortunately the entire last act is a complete washout and Susan Surandon nearly spoils the whole thing. Forget New York City, I want to go back to Andalasia.

In the Screening Room - Michael Winterbottom's 24 Hour Party People

Session 016 - 24 Hour Party People

Who saw it and what are your thoughts on it?

RIP Anthony Minghella

1954-2008

Jumper (Doug Liman, 2008)

Jumper is a cool concept that never got developed past the idea stage. The ability to transport, to ‘jump’ from place to place simply by thinking about it is a clever origin for a story, but I feel like somewhere along the line (whether it was the writers, the producers or the director himself) someone fell in love with the act of doing it more than having to account for it. Which basically means that we get to see upwards of a thousand teleports (dude even teleports from one side of the couch to the other just to get the remote control), without once seeing a coherent plotline. Instead we get a weak backstory/love interest and some ludicrous war between Jumpers and an apparently Jumper-racist Samuel L. Jackson (evidently back to picking up paychecks for having strange haircuts and appearing menacing after a couple fine performances in 2007 in 1408 and Black Snake Moan). Worse yet, Hayden Christensen is cast in the lead and somehow fails to register a solitary emotion within 90 minutes of screen time. With such films as The Bourne Identity and Swingers behind him, the usually reliable director Doug Liman should have known better. This is the bomb that everyone thought Mr. & Mrs. Smith was.

The Great New Wonderful (Danny Leiner, 2006)

Characters throughout The Great New Wonderful feel stifled and jilted, unable to emote or react as they slog through their mostly ordinary, mundane lives. They jockey for position in the business world, try to manage unmanageable kids, meet with therapists and flirt with romance in their later years… all really to little effect. It’s a film entirely dedicated to life in a post-9/11 world, though it never actually refers to the terrorist attacks by name or even directly discusses the incident. Instead, it suffices to have slow motion shots of the New York skyline, characters staring out of windows at nothing in particular and title cards referencing “September 2002” just so you know what you should be thinking about. It does manage to create a sense of interweaving storylines in spite of the fact that these characters rarely, if ever, cross paths, and has some competent acting (with a nice Stephen Colbert cameo), but it isn’t enough. There’s nothing memorable about The Great New Wonderful. It has nothing to offer and nothing to say... except that if you send your troubled kid away, your sex life will improve dramatically! That's enough to make anyone want to pick up a chair and hit someone.

Lost - S4, E7: "Ji Yeon"

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Season 4, Episode 7 - "Ji Yeon"

Paranoid Park (Gus Van Sant, 2008)

Much in keeping with the other simplified, minimalist films that Gus Van Sant’s artistic bender has brought out (Gerry, Elephant, Last Days), Paranoid Park is cloaked in beautiful images, slow motion shots, sparse dialogue and with hardly a plot to be found. This one revolves around a skater park, known by its users as “Paranoid Park,” and a death (a possible murder) that takes place on the train tracks nearby. The story unfolds in fragments, parts of the whole story being transcribed into a notepad by our almost expressionless protagonist Alex (non-actor Gabe Nevins that Van Sant found for the part). He walks around almost entirely in a funk, the type of attitude one has when he needs to get something off his chest and can’t find someone to confide in. The film itself even plays like a murky haze, with moments of piercing sounds and conversations stripped of dialogue. Who is responsible and the ramifications of the situation aren’t what matters, what matters is telling the story, getting it out there.

Cassandra's Dream (Woody Allen, 2008)

Whereas Sidney Lumet’s Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead received an extraordinary amount of praise for a similar storyline, Woody Allen is getting far too little credit for Cassandra’s Dream. Nearly as good and even more suffocating, Cassandra’s Dream tells the story of two brothers (Ewan McGregor, Colin Farrell) desperately in need of money who turn to their wealthy uncle (Tom Wilkinson) for help. But their dear old uncle Howard is in need of a favor himself and enlists the boys to “take care” of a meddlesome employee who plans to testify against him. Is the temptation of money, of success and of helping family enough to justify murder to these two? Farrell gives a twitchy, anxious performance unlike any other performance I’ve seen from him and McGregor finally has a role that corresponds well to someone coasting by on charm alone. Before the deed is even done, there’s a “Tell-Tale Heart” like aspect to this film that’s uneasiness will settle like a pit in your stomach. In a good way.

Good Luck Chuck (Mark Helfrich, 2007)

I had such low expectations for this film that it actually might have exceeded them. However, that still doesn't mean the film is any good... it's just not as bad as I thought it'd be. The film relies solely on Dane Cook to carry it. It does have Jessica Alba in the cast also... but she acts better on the poster than in the movie and only proves again that she should never be used anywhere outside of Sin City. Cook meanwhile does okay in the lead role, managing a few laughs here and there, while not really doing anything to distinguish himself either. The one aspect of the film I did like, which is a real rarity amongst 'sex comedies' is Cook's longing for a relationship and to have real love (most of the air-headed males in these types of comedies would be content with the chorus line of girls marching into his bedroom). It almost makes the film appear sweet... until the next crude joke comes along to snap you out of it. Also, what's with the penguins?

Dan in Real Life (Peter Hedges, 2007)

This film had one of the worst ad campaigns for a film all year, a campaign that actually tried to make the film look stupider than it actually is. I guess dumb plays, but Dan deserved better. The cast alone - especially Steve Carell - muster enough heartfelt sentiment that the film works simply through its actors. It's an interesting enough story about a single father raising three girls who happens to fall for his brother's new girlfriend (before knowing who she was). It also isn't the type of pandering comedy where someone has to get hurt every fifteen minutes to strangle laughter out of the audience. Unfortunately, it does have a very conventional, paint-by-numbers script (the type where you can predict every plot point at least fifteen minutes ahead of time) and a surprising over-reliance on family interaction (what family goes on vacation and then proceeds to do crosswords, exercises and talent shows together?). Still, it's no where near the empty-headed chore I was expecting.

Must See Movie of the Month: March 2008

Who else wants to see it and what are your "must see's" of the month?

Other Notables:
The Bank Job, Doomsday, Funny Games, Drillbit Taylor, Paranoid Park, Snow Angels, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, Married Life, CJ7, Dr. Suess' Horton Hears a Who

Lost - S4, E6: "The Other Woman"

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Season 4, Episode 6 - "The Other Woman"

Best of 2007: The Year in Review

With the 80th Academy Awards ceremony now in the bag and No Country for Old Men proclaimed as the best picture of 2007, here is your chance to offer your own choices for the "Best of 2007."

The list can be as long as you'd like, but try to include at least your top 10 films of the year (this is “The Film Script’s” one diversion from our top 7 lists). Then after you list your top films of the year, you can also include honorable mentions, a list of films you missed that you would still like to catch up with, best performances and even worst of the year if you’d like. Anything really.

Personally I'm going to comment on the top ten individually and then maybe post my "'07 Misses" and "Best Performances" in the comments section, but it's up to you what you want to talk about and how you want to do it.

For now, let's put 2007 officially in the books...

---------------------------

Well, before I even get into my own "Best of 2007" list, I'd like to publicly apologize to the filmmakers of '07. Early on in the year - for good reason I still say - I criticized the lack of quality films that had been released all the way up through June (this syndrome has already started to have a similar effect on me in 2008, with only a handful of releases this year even piquing my interest).

I understand that the serious Oscar contenders are usually reserved for late in the year, but still… I didn’t expect the season to be so outrageously back-loaded. Only 1 of the films on my Top 10 list was even released to a wide audience before August. This studio tactic really leaves you scrambling at the end of the year trying to catch up with all the quality releases before the Oscar telecast – and who wants to go into the Oscars not having seen most of the films up for nominations?

But that’s a different topic, now on with the list –

#10 Gone, Baby, Gone
Starting at 10 and working my way on down, Gone, Baby, Gone was the type of hard-boiled crime pic that I honestly didn’t think Ben Affleck had in him until the trailer debuted. And even that didn’t prepare me for the moral questions and resonance that you’re left with. Not flawless, but easily the best debut feature of the year.


#9 Juno
Juno meanwhile was probably the most purely enjoyable and ‘fun’ film all year (although there was a handful of other worthy choices too). After a rocky start, the film really blossoms into a wonderful story about coming to be the person you should be. Invitations to the Oscar party, at least for Best Picture, might have been a little much but it also doesn't deserve the backlash it's been receiving recently.


#8 Eastern Promises
Eastern Promises I might have marginally overrated upon my first viewing (I moved it down my list a notch or two when I had to finalize the placements), but it’s still a moody little movie that guts you… by sticking a knife in you and everyone else on screen. A rock-solid follow-up to A History of Violence. Keep Viggo and Cronenberg working together.


#7 I'm Not There
The film with the most experimental soul of the year, I’m Not There does a pitch perfect job of trying to portray a man that refused to be pinned down. It ranges all over the place and takes six actors to do the trick, but director Todd Haynes still manages to make it all seem so easy and seamless.


#6 The Bourne Ultimatum
The Bourne Ultimatum marked what was supposed to be the end of the Jason Bourne saga and it went out with a bang, sending up the previous pictures and continuing the razor sharp scriptwriting from Tony Gilroy. Rumors of a fourth Bourne feature have already started… and are welcome.


#5 Zodiac
Released so long ago that it was completely and unjustly overlooked by the Oscars, Zodiac has David Fincher back in the serial killer realm stubbornly refusing to follow any of the paths that he himself helped to establish in Se7en. The film is all dead ends and clues that lead no where… and somehow puts the audience into the same mindset as its protagonist.


#4 The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
At least Zodiac found a Fincher audience though, because The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford was the best film that absolutely nobody saw, in spite of the presence of Brad Pitt as Jesse James. The melancholy nature of its storytelling and epic length surely had something to do with it, but this a lovely and beautiful film to watch unfold. And what’s so striking is that it’s a tragedy for every character involved.


#3 There Will Be Blood
Paul Thomas Anderson continues to amaze. In There Will Be Blood he throws out all of the stylistic choices he had previously relied on in films like Boogie Nights and Magnolia, instead going for a much sharper, direct tale of a greedy, sociopathic oil man. I’ve never seen a film that captures and exudes the personality of its main character more.


#2 No Country for Old Men
Another Coen Brothers’ masterpiece, and rightfully chosen as the Best Picture of 2007 from amongst the contenders, No Country for Old Men does a lot of the same things that Zodiac does, manipulating a proven, familiar story into something more. What elevates it towards being the best picture of the year, besides its brilliant acting and directing, is the lost soul embodied in Tommy Lee Jones character. It’s through him the Coens show the horrible, indefinable nature of evil in the world and make the point hit home.


#1 Into the Wild
Into the Wild. The best film of 2007. I’ve been praising it from the minute I walked out of the theater and haven’t stopped since (it’s also the movie I’ve passed along to friends more than any other to try to get the word of mouth spreading). In a year when there were so many dark and brooding films, it’s refreshing to see a movie that is so enthralling and life-affirming captured so well. It’s a film about the need for human interaction, about connections and friendship, about living your own way and finding your own path and director Sean Penn just portrays it perfectly. He captures not only the relationships and the scenery, but the spirit of Christopher McCandless’s journey. Easily my #1.

And the runners up that barely missed my list –

11. Knocked Up
12. Ratatouille
13. Superbad
14. The Lives of Others
15. No End in Sight
16. Death Proof
17. Once
18. Atonement
19. The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
20. The Wind That Shakes the Barley
21. The Lookout

And the rest of the films I found worthwhile in 2007 –

B+ Breach, Lars and the Real Girl, Hot Fuzz, Talk to Me, Waitress, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, Grindhouse, The Hoax, Away From Her, The Darjeeling Limited, Rescue Dawn, Reign Over Me, 3:10 to Yuma, Control

B Michael Clayton, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Black Snake Moan, 28 Weeks Later…, The Savages, American Gangster, Reno 911! Miami, The Simpsons Movie, Stardust, I Am Legend, Mr. Brooks, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Bug, Charlie Wilson’s War, The Namesake, Black Book, Wristcutters: A Love Story, In the Valley of Elah, Sicko, A Mighty Heart

B- Sunshine, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Alpha Dog, Lucky You, Ocean’s Thirteen, Margot at the Wedding, Live Free or Die Hard, I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With, First Snow, Persepolis, The Kingdom, Paris Je T’aime