2007 Retrospective

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Yep, it’s that time again (no, not THAT time). Time to look back on what I liked and hated for the year 2007 in the world of movies. I may adjust this list slightly after seeing some of the last films of 2007 that I haven’t seen yet. Then again, maybe I won’t. Also, not all of these will link to my review, as I never managed to get around to writing said review. So sit back, relax and make yourself a Twinkie-wiener sandwich cause here we go…

Best Picture:

For quite some time, Pirates 3 was at the top of my list. I adjusted 3:10 To Yuma above it recently. I also saw Juno recently, which immediately took the lead. And to add to the 11th hour tweaking, I then moved Zodiac up my list a handful of positions. My full list for the year is here. Honorable mentions go out to Hot Fuzz, Bridge To Terabithia, Ratatouille, The Bourne Ultimatum, Harry Potter & The Order Of The Phoenix, 1408 and Lars & The Real Girl.

Juno
A last minute champion for the category, this Jason Reitman directed dramedy is spot-on. It’s razor sharp dialog is dropped into a perfect blend of comedy and character drama. And if all that wasn’t enough, it is flawlessly performed by a brilliant cast. After only two films (Thank You For Smoking being the first), Jason Reitman is quickly climbing my list of favorite directors.
3:10 To Yuma
We got something of a rebirth of the western genre this year along with The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford. This is definitely my favorite of the two. From James Mangold’s solid direction to a well adapted script and excellent production quality, it’s rounded out by a number of great performances.
Zodiac
I liked this movie a lot the first time I saw it, but it was on subsequent viewings that I truly appreciated how amazing it is. As an avid movie goer, it actually takes a bit of deprogramming to really grasp the true brilliance of the film. While it’s a crime drama, it really works to not only downplay the corner cutting of the genre, but to examine the process more than the actual crime. The more I watch it, the more I realize just how refined and perfectly crafted it truly is. Then again, this is a David Fincher directed film, so none of that should really come as a surprise in the end.
Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’s End
I take a lot of heat for how much I liked this third (and hopefully final) film in the Pirates franchise. I liked the second movie, but thought it wasn’t quite up to par with the excellent first film (frankly, I think this third one actually makes the second one a bit better in retrospect). The true heresy I’m often accused of is the fact that I like this third film the best of the three. I’m sorry, but I do. Deal with it. It’s so much fun from start to finish. Everyone is having a blast, and it shows. The production of the movie is nothing short of insane. I saw it multiple times in the theater, and I’ve watched the Blu-Ray disc a number of times (and dug through plenty of behind-the-scenes materials). It’s just as fun each time I watch it.
Michael Clayton
It wouldn’t be a best picture list without at least one character drama, so here we go. That’s not to say that I picked it for that reason. This is a remarkably subtle character film. One that I thoroughly loved. From the relaxed (but careful) pacing to the nuanced performances, it works spectacularly.

Best Actor:

Some notable runners up include Geoffrey Rush (Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’s End), John Cusack (1408), Christian Bale and Russell Crowe (3:10 To Yuma), Tommy Lee Jones (In The Valley Of Elah), Tom Hanks (Charlie Wilson’s War), Chris Cooper (Breach, and The Kingdom for that matter), Jake Gyllenhaal (Zodiac and Rendition), Casey Affleck (Gone Baby Gone), Gordon Pinsent (Away From Her), Simon Pegg (Hot Fuzz), Adam Brody (In The Land Of Women), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (The Lookout), Kurt Russell (Death Proof), Samuel L. Jackson (Black Snake Moan) and Will Smith (I Am Legend), Ethan Hawke (Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead), Christian Bale & Steve Zahn (Rescue Dawn) and of course Bruce Willis (Live Free Or Die Hard).

Philip Seymour Hoffman (Charlie Wilson’s War, not to mention Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead)
Hoffman’s performance as Gust is hilarious, but somehow still feels reel. Anybody who can ground a character that outlandish is a genius.
Johnny Depp (Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’s End)
Depp gets to really pull out all the stops on his career defining, totally whacked out character of Captain Jack Sparrow. That sequence in Davey Jones’ locker is beyond insanity, and great.
George Clooney (Michael Clayton)
Clooney brings a very subtle and nuanced performance to this excellent film that is all manner of subtle.
Matt Damon (The Bourne Ultimatum)
Like Depp’s performance as Jack Sparrow, Damon gets to keep refining his performance as Jason Bourne in this third and best entry in the franchise.
Ryan Gosling (Lars And The Real Girl)
Gosling continues to impress in his performances, and this is probably the best of his career so far. His ability to keep such a crazy role sympathetic and real is an achievement.

Best Actress:

Runners up go to Molly Shannon (Year Of The Dog), Charlize Theron (In The Valley Of Elah), Michelle Monaghan (Gone Baby Gone), AnnaSophia Robb (Bridge To Terabithia), Reese Witherspoone (Rendition), Claire Danes (Stardust and Evening), Angelina Jolie (A Mighty Heart), Jennifer Garner (The Kingdom), Meg Ryan and Kristen Stewart (In The Land Of Women), Carly Shroeder (Gracie), Natalie Portman (Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium), Toni Collette (Evening) and Rose McGowan (Planet Terror).

Ellen Page (Juno)
I quite liked Page in her performance as Kitty Pride in X3 (she’s the third actress in the role in as many films), but I didn’t completely pay attention to her by name as an actress to keep an eye on. That all changed once I’d seen Juno. This is a star-making performance, plain and simple.
Christina Ricci (Black Snake Moan)
Ricci has always been a talented actress, often times choosing roles that few others would take a liking to. This is a powerhouse performance, and 110% absolutely fearless. I can’t imagine that any of Ricci’s acting peers were anything but impressed by this performance.
Jodie Foster (The Brave One)
Foster brings a real, raw edge to this particularly nuanced character. The role wouldn’t work with most actresses, and Foster is certainly one of the best choices to have gone with.
Kerri Russell (Waitress)
It’s nice to see talented actress Keri Russell getting some more prominent roles lately, and this is a big career moment role for her. It’s perfectly charming, but has some particularly nice performance moments.
Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton)
This actress that I can’t help but continually keep thinking resembles Cate Blanchett still manages to put forth some particularly distinguished performances. This role of a corporate exec getting further and further in over her head, making one choice worse than the last, gives the actress some very subtle and great material to work with.

Best Director:

Honorable mentions to go Gabor Csupo (who proved he actually can be part of something worth watching after all with Bridge To Terabithia), Brad Bird (Ratatouille), Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Ultimatum – getting his incompetent filming style mostly under control), David Yates (a fine director for Harry Potter & The Order Of The Phoenix, and surely a good choice for the next film as well), Edgar Wright (who strikes gold again with Hot Fuzz), Jon Kasdan (yet another talented Kasdan, who directed In The Land Of Women) and sadly the late Adrienne Shelley (Waitress).

Jason Reitman (Juno)
After directing the fantastic Thank You For Smoking as his debut film, Juno proves that Reitman (son of legendary comedy director Ivan Reitman) is one of the new generation of directors most worthy of keeping an eye on.
David Fincher (Zodiac)
The master director comes through yet again with a gorgeous piece of directing in Zodiac, paying attention to every last detail and giving this mysterious piece of history a really well produced presentation.
James Mangold (3:10 To Yuma)
Continuing his jumps from genre to genre, James Mangold puts in a fantastic entry into yet another genre. I always look forward to see the films he directs, and I definitely look forward to his next.
Robert Zemeckis (Beowulf)
Zemeckis is one of my favorite directors, and his continued experimentation with 3D rendered films is certainly worth keeping an eye on. This retelling of the old poem is edgy and very engaging. It’ll certainly be interesting to see where James Cameron takes this technology with his next big step in Avatar.
Gore Verbinski (Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’s End)
Verbinski continues the insanity with this all-stops-removed mega-production. There’s nothing in this movie that is simply produced/directed. It must have been one minute of insanity after another to just keep this monstrous production on schedule, let alone making it work. Verbinski proves that he’s as capable as any of the busiest military commanders, keeping all this in check and ended up so completely successful in the end product.

Best Supporting Actor:

Other honorable mentions go out to Albert Finney (Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead), Jeff Daniels (The Lookout), Ed Harris (Gone Baby Gone), Peter Fonda (3:10 To Yuma), Sam Rockwell (The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford), Samuel L. Jackson (1408), Peter Sarsgaard (Year Of The Dog), Jason Bateman (Juno) and Alan Rickman (Harry Potter & The Order Of The Phoenix).

Ben Foster (3:10 To Yuma)
William Hurt (Mr. Brooks)
JK Simmons (Juno)
Alan Tudyk (3:10 To Yuma, and also Death At A Funeral)
Nathan Fillion (Waitress)

Best Supporting Actress:

Honorable mentions go out to Emily Mortimer (Lars And The Real Girl), Cheryl Hines (Waitress), Amy Adams (Charlie Wilson’s War), Adrienne Shelley (Waitress), Allison Janney (Juno), Caroline Dhavernas (Breach), Meryl Streep (Rendition), Demi Moore (Mr. Brooks), Laura Linney (Breach), Zooey Deschanel (Bridge To Terabithia) and Lena Headey (300).

Julia Stiles (The Bourne Ultimatum)
Jennifer Garner (Juno)
Merrit Wever (Michael Clayton)
AnnaSophia Robb (The Reaping)
Angelina Jolie (Beowulf)

Best Screenplay:

Honorable mentions go to Breach, Charlie Wilson’s War, Year Of The Dog, Gone Baby Gone, Black Snake Moan and Mr. Brooks.

Best Film Score:

As anyone who knows me will tell you, I’m a film score fanatic. So, needless to say, this is an important category for me. Honorable mentions go out to Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium (Alexandre Desplat & Aaron Zigman), Live Free Or Die Hard (Marco Beltrami), Ratatouille (Michael Giacchino), Bridge To Terabithia (Aaron Zigman), The Reaping (John Frizzell), Alien Vs. Predator: Requiem (Brian Tyler) and Rush Hour 3 (Lalo Schifrin). My full list of film score preferred order for the year can be found here.

Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’s End (Hans Zimmer)
Zimmer caps off this franchise with a powerhouse score, filled with a surprising amount of thematic material. His new “Hoist The Colours” theme is brilliant, and integration of countless themes from previous franchise entries is amazing. I love this score.
The Bourne Ultimatum (John Powell)
While it’s not quite the masterpiece score that the first two Bourne films had by Powell, this is still darn close. Powell redefined the action movie score with his first Bourne score, and he continues to add levels to the genre.
3:10 To Yuma (Marco Beltrami)
Beltrami continues to impress with this amazing western score. Featuring his usual combination of grand scale and intimate thematic material, not to mention his unique sense of orchestration, this score works particularly well.
Beowulf (Alan Silvestri)
This is Silvestri’s umpteenth collaboration with director Robert Zemeckis, and their continued work is great, as always. Silvestri gets to really go over the top with some of the action cues, which work very well in the film and particularly well on CD by themselves.
Harry Potter & The Order Of The Phoenix (Nicholas Hooper)
Director David Yates brought along unknown composer Hooper with him to this fifth film of the franchise. And his score is a wonderful addition to the also-great film. I look forward to his score for the next film, also to be directed by Yates.

Best Sound:

This is one of the tech categories that’s typically dominated by big budget studio productions. Honorable mentions go out to 300, Transformers, Alien Vs Predator: Requiem, I Am Legend, 30 Days Of Night, The Bourne Ultimatum, 1408, The Kingdom, Resident Evil: Extinction, Hot Fuzz, Ratatouille and The Reaping.

Best Cinematography:

Another big-budget dominated tech category. Again, no individual write-ups. Honorable mentions go out to 1408, I Am Legend, Sunshine, The Kingdom, Transformers, 3:10 To Yuma, The Reaping, 300, Alien Vs Predator: Requiem, Black Book, American Gangster, Hot Fuzz, Wind Chill, The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford, No Country For Old Men, The Golden Compass, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street and National Treasure: Book Of Secrets.

Best Visual Effects:

Now here’s a category that’s almost always dominated by big budget films. Honorable mentions go out to Zodiac, Alien Vs Predator: Requiem, Beowulf, 1408, The Reaping, The Mist, Resident Evil: Extinction, Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer, Spider-Man 3, Stardust and The Golden Compass. I’ll give one last honorable mention to I Am Legend, but only partially. While the city environment effects were some of the best of the year, the creature effects were easily some of the worst of the year.

Best Main/End Titles:

One of my biggest movie fan nerd aspects is my love of a good title sequence (yes, I sit through the end credits on every movie, too). As always, I’m sure to have forgotten about some of the cool ones for the year. Honorable mentions for ones the that I can remember as cool go to Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, The Reaping, 300, National Treasure: Book Of Secrets, Nancy Drew, Death At A Funeral, Superbad, The Invasion, 30 Days Of Night, Death Proof, Mr. Bean’s Holiday and Alien Vs Predator: Requiem.

The Kingdom
The strikingly designed and edited opening title sequence is not only one of the most engaging title sequences you’re likely to see, it’s one of the single most educationally packed and interesting handful of minutes ever put on film. This is hands down the best title sequence of the year, period.
The Bourne Ultimatum
The end title sequence for this film continues to enhance the stylized approach to the end title sequences for the franchise. This time, it’s a different performance of Moby’s “Extreme Ways,” which is the song used for the end titles in all the movies of the franchise. This newest one features some very cool and active illustrative animation.
Juno
Like the movie, the opening titles are a work of charm and simplicity. It’s hard to not find the sequence completely endearing.
Bridge To Terabithia
The opening titles of this fantastic film are a wonderful composite of nice cinematography inter cut and overlayed with some nice illustration inserts.
Ratatouille
Like Brad Bird’s previous PIXAR film, The Incredibles, the end titles of Ratatouille are a great piece of styled animation set to composer Michael Giacchino cutting lose with a jazzy and aggressive music suite.

Best Trailer:

Another of my geekiest moviegoer qualities is the love of a good trailer. Honorable mentions go to Alien Vs Predator: Requiem (particularly for the “Silent Night” music usage in lead up to the Christmas release of the film – trailer link), TMNT (trailer link), The Simpsons Movie (trailer link), Beowulf (trailer link), Hitman (trailer link), Live Free Or Die Hard (trailer link) and I Am Legend (trailer link).

300 (trailer link)
The sleek design and effects work in this film actually lends itself better to usage in the trailer than in the film itself. And it sure does make for a very cool trailer at that.
The Hills Have Eyes 2 (trailer link)
This is definitely an example of a trailer being better than the film. This is such a cool trailer. Proof of how they should be done.
Grindhouse (trailer link)
Like the film it advertises, the tongue is planted firmly in cheek with the retro exploitation horror film style. Lots of fun.
Sunshine (trailer link)
Sleek editing showing off the cool cinematography and effects work is blended with some excellent usage of Clint Mansell’s fantastic score Requiem For A Dream.
Resident Evil: Extinction (trailer link)
Carrying on the tradition of starting a trailer to make it look like a commercial (similar to the aging cream commercial opening of the second film), this one opens as an ad for Las Vegas. After a bit, one realizes what they’re really looking at.

Best Poster:

One last category of my movie nerd nature, we have my favorite posters for the year. Honorable mentions go to Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’s End (poster link), Juno (poster link), Stardust (poster link), The Brave One (poster link), 300 (poster link), Resident Evil: Extinction (poster link) and The Reaping (poster link).

30 Days Of Night (poster link)
3:10 To Yuma (poster link)
Zodiac (poster link)
Planet Terror (poster link)
Alien Vs Predator: Requiem (poster link)

Best Fight Scene:

This ain’t a category I wouldn’t normally do, nor care about, but this year saw some really cool fight scenes.

The Kingdom – Jennifier Garner vs the kidnappers
The Bourne Ultimatum – Matt Damon vs the hitman
Harry Potter & The Order Of The Phoenix – Michael Gambon vs Ralph Fiennes
300 – Gerard Butler mowes down the enemy in the long, effects-driven tracking shot
Transformers – Prime vs Bonecrusher

Special Awards:

Funniest first meeting of two characters – Tom Hanks and Philip Seymour Hoffman in Charlie Wilson’s War
Craziest structural assembly – The insane amount of re-editing and reworking that went into 1408, making stuff like the director’s cut on DVD nothing more than a different version of the movie
Best voice over – Juno, hands down. Though the “letters to baby” in Waitress makes for a good runner-up
Best messing with the studio logo – Ralph singing along standing in the 20th Century Fox logo in The Simpsons Movie. Zodiac’s use of old WB & Paramount logos is a good runner-up.
Best morally ambiguous ending – Gone Baby Gone‘s dysphoric ending
Most unnecessary action scene – Live Free Or Die Hard‘s F35B final action scene
Best integrated use of music score – Natalie Portman’s habitual playing of her composition with her fingers on any surface in Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium
Movie that works far better than it really should, thanks to a talented director – Nancy Drew
Best documentary – The King Of Kong. Then again, Zodiac is close enough…
Biggest screw up in the final act of an otherwise awesome movie – Sunshine. I Am Legend is a good runner-up.
Most over-rated movie – 300
Worst dialog of the year – Transformers. Anything outside of the action scenes just plain sucked.
Most annoyingly “musical” film – Sweeney Todd, which could otherwise make for a cool dramatic film.
Dumbest single moment in any movie – At the end of the big ride of Nic Cage & Sam Elliot leading up to the big fight finale in Ghost Rider, Elliot’s character simply says, “OK, I have to go now” and leaves for no reason.
Cast member/actor I felt most sorry for – Ryan Reynolds, who had both a great performance and a good character, lost amidst the otherwise pile of steaming crap that is Smokin’ Aces.
Most embarrassing piece of completely genre-stereotyped treacle – Fred Claus. Whoever wrote that script should go back to flipping burgers.