It's
here! That's right, the oft-delayed portion of
the blog that will cover my cinematic experiences
and other film related news is finally ready.
I originally wanted to get this part of the site up
before 2007 ended, but I couldn't figure out a way
to avoid having it take too much time away from the
music portion of the blog. Fortunately though,
I realized that much like the podcast, this part of
the site will just be a little something extra for
those of you who drop by often. It won't be
updated daily, so if you want instant movie news as
soon as it happens then you won't get it here.
Nope, this area is going to serve as an aggregator
of sorts for bits of information that I think you
might be interested in. Every Sunday you'll be
able to drop by and browse a bunch of links and
musings on material that I've come across during the
week. In addition to that I'll also be posting
up reviews of screenings and such that I attend.
Clearly, it will be far from formal. But, if
you're reading this then you probably already know
that formal isn't a word that really matches this
site. I ramble about music I think you'll
like, and here I'll be doing the same about films I
think you might be interested in. I hope
you'll find it useful in some way or another.
Now, for the first entry into this section I decided
to run down my favorite films and such of 2007.
This way you'll have at least a slight idea as to
what kind of stuff will be reported back on.
Next week I'll lay down my most anticipated flicks
of 2008. Read on.
- My Top 25 Of
2007 -
25.
Sunshine
24. The Mist
23. Ocean's 13
22. The Bourne Ultimatum
21. American Gangster
20. Atonement
19. Ratatouille
18. Rescue Dawn
17. No Country For Old Men
16. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet
Street
15. Superbad
14. Charlie Wilson's War
13. The Darjeeling Limited
12. Knocked Up
11. 3:10 To Yuma
10. Hot
Fuzz
Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright make me
laugh. It will be far too long before they get
together and do something again. Here's hoping their
own projects like Run Fat Boy Run and Ant-Man
turn out well.
09. Gone
Baby Gone
Who knew that the best movie starring
an Affleck would come from Casey and not Ben? Better
yet, who would have guessed that Ben would be the guy
responsible for directing it?
08. The
Orphanage
Guillermo Del Toro is a smart man who
knows talent, and this is definitely proof of that.
Coincidently, the film also provides enough evidence to
warrant my fear of children.
07. Eastern
Promises
If David Cronenberg and Viggo
Mortensen want to work together forever then I'm perfectly
OK with that. The two of them are masterful at taking
seemingly normal people and swiftly adding intrigue and
danger into their lives.
06.
Stardust
This is as close as the world will ever get to
the whimsical ways of the Princess Bride. It's really
too bad that it's been pretty much overlooked on every
single list around.
05. Control
An incredibly compelling story about a
brilliant artist. I really liked how the movie avoided
being just a Joy Division-centric experience and instead
focused on Ian Curtis' personal turmoil in dealing with his
health and sudden fame.
04. 300
I'm not sure how anyone could not have
a good time with Zack Synder's balls-to-the-wall action romp.
I don't know if the guy will be able to do what needs to be
done with the Watchmen, but his work with the
Spartans gives me hope that it will turn out well.
03. Juno
Every year a movie with a ton of heart
comes along and slaps a huge smile on my cynical face.
This was it. Don't be surprised if Ellen Page soon
takes over the universe.
02. Talk To
Me
If you can't remember when radio made
a difference in people's lives then Don Cheadle will remind
you with his amazing work as Ralph Waldo Petey Greene.
01.
Grindhouse
If you're thinking that I'm a little
bananas for placing this at number one then I completely
understand. After all, the three hour, dual-picture
showing bombed in theaters and had fans of Rodriguez and
Tarantino crying for the directors to get back to "real"
movies. For me though, Planet Terror and
Death Proof did more than just entertain me. The
two flicks inspired me to check out what inspired them, and
thus opened my eyes to gems like: Django, Coffy,
The Great Silence, Big Doll House, Cannibal
Holocaust, 5 Fingers Of Death, Dirty Mary
Crazy Larry, and Fight For Your Life. How
often can you say a movie did the same for you? Not
often, I would assume, and that's why Grindhouse is
at the top of my list.
- My Bottom 3 Of
2007 -
03.
Rush Hour 3
I know Brett Ratner, Jackie Chan and
Chris Tucker did this solely for a paycheck, but they could
have put a little effort behind it. I mean, copying
and pasting jokes from the first two movies is just sad.
02.
Spiderman 3
This should be in my
favorites list, but for some reason they decided to turn
Peter Parker into a dancing, emo-enthused idiot. I'm
fairly certain there will never be another film that will
cause me to throw up in mouth as much as this one did.
01. The
Brothers Solomon
I hated Spiderman 3
more than you'll ever know, but this is number one.
What do you think that says about it?
- This Year's
Flick That I Didn't Get -
The
Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
For months I've been trying
to figure out exactly what people love about this movie and
I haven't been able to do so. I thought that they
squandered an infinitely interesting story with clumsy
narration and an awkward plot structure. Everything
felt out of place and unorganized, so for the eternity that
it was onscreen I couldn't wait for Ford to go ahead and
shoot James. Somehow, I doubt that's what I was
suppose to be feeling.
PS - I'm still working on catching the
Savages, I'm Not There, Into The Wild, Michael Clayton, Dan
In Real Life, There Will Be Blood, A Mighty Heart, Across
The Universe, Once, and a few other "acclaimed" efforts.
So, if you're wondering why they're no where to be found in
my year-end list then you now know it's because I have
yet to see them.
-
John Laird -
-
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