1. There Will Be Blood
2. 4 motnsh, 3 weeks & 2 Days
3. Juno
4. Blades of Glory
5. Superbad
6. Across The Universe
7. Children of Men
8. No Country for Old Men
9. Atonement
10. Harry Poter
11. Siperman

As I rushed to Blockbuster to return some films, I noticed that both Margot at the Wedding and In the Valley of Elah will be released on DVD this Tuesday. These will probably be the last films I see before finalizing my list.

I want to re-encourage everyone who hasn't to submit their list of their choices for the "Best Films of 2007." Don't forget that the deadline to submit lists is this Thursday so that I can have the results up before Oscar Sunday and so we can get it on the main Metacritic site as well.

Alright. I'm submitting my list. I may revise it if I get a chance to see In the Valley of Elah and Margot at the Wedding before the deadline. I think my list offers some interesting moments. Two documentaries, two musicals (one of which topped the list), two pregnancy comedies, and a Ryan Reynolds film.

Enough talk, here's my much ballyhooed list:

1. Once - Who knew the most magic on-screen moment in 2007 would be an impromptu jam session in an Irish music store?

2. Juno - Haters can say what they want about the "too-cleaver" dialog. No other movie packed such an emotional punch while making me laugh my ass off.

3. Michael Clayton - Tom Wilkinson's performance is crazy good. This also gets my vote for most memorable line of 2007: "I am Shiva, God of death."

4. There Will Be Blood - Despite the flawed story, Paul Thomas Anderson continued his trend of bucking convention and reaching new cinematic heights in the film. Daniel Day Lewis was also riveting as the film's anti-hero.

5. Sicko - I had my doubts, but this simply the most disturbing and heartwrenching film I've seen in 2007.

6. Gone Baby Gone - Who knew the Affleck brothers had it in them?

7. 3:10 To Yuma - The year's best Western with two titanic performances by Russell Crowe and Christian Bale.

8. Knocked Up - I don't think I've ever laughed harder. Sure it's a pregnancy comedy, but the moments of male bonding between Rudd and Rogen were absolute gold.

9. Charlie Wilson's War - Along with this year's underrated The Hunting Party, this really gets you thinking about U.S. foreign policy, and how history is destined to repeat itself. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is baddass as usual.

10. The King of Kong - The ultimate good vs. evil showdown.

11. Across The Universe - Visually, the best movie of the year. It also features some pretty good songs written by these four guys from Liverpool.

12. The Nines - The A.V. Club put this in the genre of "Cinematic Mindfuck", and that's probably the best way to describe this bizarre film that tells three intersecting tales featuring the same three actors in three different roles all examining the nature of reality and existence.

The Rest of the Best:

Zodiac
The Hunting Party
The Hoax
The Lookout
No Country For Old Men
Sweeney Todd
Superbad
Hot Fuzz
Sunshine
Grindhouse
Ratatouille
Eastern Promises
The Bourne Ultimatum
Ocean's 13

The Worst:

1. Pirates of Carribean 3
2. Spiderman 3
3. Live Free or Die Hard

Nice list Eric and I agree with you on a lot of your choices. I haven't seen Sicko yet but I will probably check it out, as well as the other documentary on your list.

I also thought 3:10 to Yuma was a very good film. If you liked Casey Affleck in Gone Baby Gone, then you should see him in The Assassination of..., it was a very good year for him. It also seems like he is a much better actor than his older brother.

And finally, cheap shot, but I'd be embarrassed even stating that you saw the three films in your "worst" category. However, two of those will probably be on the monkey's "best of" list.

quote:

Originally posted by FragileKidA:
I also thought 3:10 to Yuma was a very good film. If you liked Casey Affleck in Gone Baby Gone, then you should see him in The Assassination of..., it was a very good year for him. It also seems like he is a much better actor than his older brother.

I'm not sure how much acting Casey had to do in Gone Baby Gone. He basically played a mumbling guy with a thick Boston accent and an affinity for track jackets. The only difference between his character and the real Casey Affleck was that only one of them was a detective. Good flick though.

I also forgot to include Black Book in my "Rest of the Best" section. That film also gets an award for best use of nudity. Sorry Viggo.

well I saw The Diving Bell and the Butterfly the weekend before last and I felt like I should amend my top 10 list.

1. The Lives of Others
1. The Diving Bell and The Butterfly
3. Once
4. Charlie Wilson's War
5. There Will Be Blood
6. SuperBad
7. Before the Devil Knows you are dead
8. Juno
9. Knocked Up
10. Michael Clayton
11. No Country for Old Men
12. Into the Wild

Sorry if the tie complicates stuff, guess I have a soft spot for foreign films.

I updated my list to add "Across the Universe" and "Assassination of Jesse James".

Against my better judgment, I'm making my list out of what I've actually seen from last year because a friend of mine really wanted me to! I feel I MUST let you know I haven't seen "Sweeny Todd", "No Country for Old Men", or "There Will Be Blood" (among other highly anticipated and critically acclaimed films) because I normally wait for DVD Blu-Ray for dramatic pictures. For my theater experience, I prefer loud action flicks where you CAN'T hear a friggin' cel phone or snack munchin'! Also, explosions are pretty on the big screen. So please don't ridicule my list. I don't really think these TRULY are The Best of 2007, only The Best of What I've Seen So Far from Last Year.

1."Black Snake Moan"
2."GRINDHOUSE"
3."Superbad"
4."Hot Fuzz"
5."Hitman"
6."I Am Legend"
7."Live Free or Die Hard" Aaaaahhhh, Bruce Willis...
8."300"
9."Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End"
10.Ummmmmm...Oh! I can't in good conscience put the rest I've seen on here! There's NO WAY they could make The Best... even by default! Not that the rest are all terrible flicks that I'm ashamed to have seen (okay, a few are), but they couldn't be anywhere near "The Best". "Alright", maybe, but not "Best".

I really enjoyed "Black Snake Moan" for the quiet little movie that it is, but it just proved to me I never wanna see films like this in the theater because I had an entire row of teenaged girls behind the wife & I and they were just a chattin' and laughin' away. But a good movie!

THIS LIST WILL CHANGE ONCE I'VE CHECKED OFF MY "MOST ANTICIPATED..." LIST FROM LAST YEAR!

See? I told ya it would change. I forgot all about "Superbad"!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Monkey_Boy,

quote:

Monkey_Boy Jedi
Posted 18 February 2008 01:00 PM Hide Post

Against my better judgment, I'm making my list out of what I've actually seen from last year because a friend of mine really wanted me to! I feel I MUST let you know I haven't seen "Sweeny Todd", "No Country for Old Men", or "There Will Be Blood" (among other highly anticipated and critically acclaimed films) because I normally wait for DVD Blu-Ray for dramatic pictures. For my theater experience, I prefer loud action flicks where you CAN'T hear a friggin' cel phone or snack munchin'! Also, explosions are pretty on the big screen. So please don't ridicule my list. I don't really think these TRULY are The Best of 2007, only The Best of What I've Seen So Far from Last Year.

1."Black Snake Moan"
2."GRINDHOUSE"
3."Hot Fuzz"
4."Hitman"
5."I Am Legend"
6."Live Free or Die Hard" Aaaaahhhh, Bruce Willis...
7."300"
8."Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End"
9.Ummmmmm...Oh! I can't in good conscience put the rest I've seen on here! There's NO WAY they could make The Best... even by default! Not that the rest are all terrible flicks that I'm ashamed to have seen (okay, a few are), but they couldn't be anywhere near "The Best". "Alright", maybe, but not "Best".

The movies on your list are completed unexpected!

While I don't agree with any of the movies in terms of what I like, I have to admit I'm impressed how bold you are and that you really are a person who could probably relate to the movie-going public. Somebody who likes a movie for going to a movie's sake. You probably "enjoy" movies a lot.

quote:

Originally posted by tabuno:
you really are a person who could probably relate to the movie-going public. Somebody who likes a movie for going to a movie's sake. You probably "enjoy" movies a lot.

And that's exactly why we love him here and why I twisted his arm to post his list.

It seems to me this year's crop of nominations is movies that are ultra-violent, void of emotion, oddly scripted, and mean-spirited. Maybe I'm just not in touch with the "mainstream". Be that as it may, these are my picks for the real best films of 2007. I have to say The Academy was completely off the mark this year. To see the nominations, you'd think that it has been the worst year for movies!

01. GONE BABY GONE
02. MOLIERE
03. THE HOAX
04. TALK TO ME
05. THE LIVES OF OTHERS*
06. LA VIE EN ROSE
07. THE KITE RUNNER
08. ONCE
09. SWEENEY TODD
10. WAITRESS
11. ZODIAC
12. STARDUST


P.S. And why wasn't BEOWULF nominated for best animated film?!

*Apologies if "Live Of Others" isn't a 2007 film. It's hard to tell with these foreign films and their US release dates.

I haven't seen that many 2007 films, and most of what I saw was disappointing. But here are five films that were very good:

1. Ratatouille
2. Once
3. Juno
4. There Will Be Blood (if the ending hadn't gone over the top, I could have ranked it higher)
5. Waitress

I still haven't seen Persepolis, Atonement, or The Kite Runner. And Netflix still hasn't sent me 3:10 to Yuma. If they send it this week, I may update this, but otherwise this is it.

I'm hoping to rent "In the Valley of Elah" and "The Assassination of Jesse James" this weekend, and then post my list. Blockbuster only got less than a dozen copies of Jesse James (always rented out when I buzz in), and the other rental chain in town didn't bother to pick up any copies. And dammit, Zooey's in this flick!

quote:

Originally posted by crazed:
And dammit, Zooey's in this flick!

Yeah, I was thinking about that when I saw it. Her cameo at the end is pretty sweet and in one scene where she sings and dresses risqué, I thought, "Yeah, crazed will love this."

But the deadline is this Thursday mister, so you better hurry!

quote:

Originally posted by tabuno:
You probably "enjoy" movies a lot.

Actually, I love the crap outta movies! Like I said, I haven't seen the dramatic movies that I wanna because I wait for DVD with those. I knew this list would probably get some strange stares, but hey, what should I have done? Just went with the crowd and included the ones I haven't seen (even if I'm sure I'm gonna love 'em regardless)? I just prefer big budget blockbusters in a theater setting to-- well... any other genre out there. As I told Frag, I wouldn't have seen "Black Snake Moan" if it wasn't for the fact that I was going in for a surgery within a few days and "300" wasn't in theaters yet. It was the only movie I was interested in at the time and I HAD to go to the theater one last time just in case this operation didn't go all that well. I'd be able to rest in peace knowing I had checked off at least ONE of my "Most Anticipated Films of '07"!

quote:

Originally posted by FraggleRockA:
And that's exactly why we love him here and why I twisted his arm to post his list.

Awwww. You're sweet for sayin' that... but now you see why I didn't wanna make one from what I've seen! I knew the list wouldn't be one people would say "I agree with every choice". Heck, I knew people probably wouldn't even agree with more than 1 or 2 of 'em, if that. "Best of the Year" lists don't usually contain very many action pictures and with the kinda movies on other people's lists, I KNEW there would be at least 1 post that basically asked "WTF?"

Two Thumbs up to Monkey_Boy!!!

quote:

Originally posted by FragileKidA:

quote:

Originally posted by crazed:
And dammit, Zooey's in this flick!

Yeah, I was thinking about that when I saw it. Her cameo at the end is pretty sweet and in one scene where she sings and dresses risqué, I thought, "Yeah, crazed will love this."

But the deadline is this Thursday mister, so you better hurry!

This Thursday?!?! I thought the deadline was the 23rd.

quote:

Originally posted by crazed:
This Thursday?!?! I thought the deadline was the 23rd.

You're right. I made the mistake of stating that the lists would be due on the 23rd when I thought it was a Wednesday (I was erroneously looking at the January calendar) so I can't change it to the 21st just because of my own foolish oversight.

Lists will be due by the end of this Saturday, the 23rd. I will revise everything and post the final results sometime during Sunday before the big show. I hope many more people participate.

That's cool, FKA. Hopefully Blockbuster will have a copy of Jesse James and other recent arrivals in stock this Friday.

quote:

Lists will be due by the end of this Saturday, the 23rd. I will revise everything and post the final results sometime during Sunday before the big show. I hope many more people participate.

Awesome, that gives me some time to check out a few more films. I like my list so far, but I have still yet to see Atonement, Away From Her, The King of Kong, No End in Sight, Lust Caution, Darjeeling Limited and so many others