Carrick's Top Ten Films of 2007

Well, even though I still haven’t seen all five Oscar nominated-movies for Best Picture, I figure I should just put this up now before the Oscars are already old news and no one gives a crap about anyone’s top ten list any more.

As I mentioned on last year’s list, this is NOT my opinion as to what, objectively speaking, I think the best movie is. That’s what the Oscars are for. That’s what Roger Ebert’s top ten list is for. That is NOT what the top ten list of some random nobody in Los Angeles is for. There’s absolutely no point in my simply reiterating the best movies according to everyone in the world. No, the only original thing I can offer is the list of movies according to which were my FAVORITES: the ones that spoke to me as an individual, the ones that I got something out of, the ones near and dear to my heart, and through that expression, perhaps pique your interest in the ones you overlooked or knock some sense into you over the ones you bought into the hype for.

Top Ten Favorites (in very loose order)

10. Superbad – REALLY REALLY smart, well-crafted screenplay. Loved the Judd Apatow genius for turning a sex-crazed teen comedy into one with heart—into a coming-of-age odyssey with the friendship between the two main characters being the real core of the story... And funny to boot! And great, saturated cinematography.

9. Hairspray – This is seriously the happiest movie ever made. Seriously, you can’t stop smiling when you’re watching this thing—and I was even in a bad mood when I went to see it. I do tend to like musicals, but I wasn’t initially excited to see this one (I even balked at seeing the stage show when I was in NYC), so I feel that makes me unbiased. The songs are fantastic, however, and I’ve been meaning to get the album... Good morning, Baltimore!!!!

8. 300 – I know, I know: 300 in your top ten?!?! What are you, some sort of teenaged boy from the midwest?! But yes, it’s true: I LOVED this movie. Part of that may have to do with the fact that I saw it on opening weekend in a PACKED house, complete with cheering and jeering, but even besides that, I found the whole testosterone-fueled ideology behind it refreshingly inspiring. I also admired how closely they stuck to the original Thucidydes text (monsters and all) and, of course, loved the crazy green-screen design elements (the oppressively somber background, the paint-spatter of blood, etc.).

7. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly – I laughed, I cried... Jesus this movie is intense. It really pulls off an amazing feat, too, because you go into it thinking oh god, here we go, yes, it’s tragic, I get it—but because it’s so damn FUNNY, and the director quite literally puts you in the place of the main character, it wins you over, and as soon as it does, plows over you mercilessly.

6. No Country for Old Men – I liked this movie—at the same time so very Coen-ie, also very much not: I literally felt like I was watching a mash-up of Raising Arizona and Fargo, but without dipping into the rapid-fire banter they lean into so much. Don’t get me wrong—I love their crazy banter—but at the beginning of this movie, I was wondering if I was going to get yet another tongue lashing of the usual Coen brothers wit, and was just pleased to find that that’s not the only style they can do. The cinematography was quintessential Coen brothers, but I’m just fine with that. And Javier Bardem was SO CREEPY!! There’s just something inherently WRONG about that haircut.

5. The Band’s Visit – Really a damn shame this didn’t qualify for best foreign film; it might have had a really good chance. For those of you who haven’t heard of it, it’s an Israeli film that won all the Oscar-type awards there. Such interesting art direction, such weird and ponderous directing in general, fantastic sub-plots that leave you heart-broken in the end. A really subtle examination of “life”...

4. Sicko – As I mentioned in regards to An Inconvenient Truth last year, the real-life implications of this movie are so intense that it’s hard to rate it as a movie, let alone put it in the same list as 300. Nevertheless, it is a movie, and in terms of how well in delves into the unspeakable horrors of the health care system of this country, it excels tremendously. While some people praised this film over others of Michael Moore for his stepping out of the limelight a bit, I actually missed him in the first two-thirds. I know he had to—he’s gotten enough shit for his volatile presence in his documentaries, and this was too serious a subject not to—but I guess I’m just the only person in the world who actually enjoys his snarky commentary....

3. There Will Be Blood – Some people bag on this movie for being too slow or something, but I think that like Lawrence of Arabia and Barry Lyndon, there are times when being slow is an asset. The cinematography was beautiful enough and the plot tense enough to sustain such ponderousness. I suppose it got oppressive at times, but not enough to make it not be one of the best movies of the year. I just loved how it was such a damn AMERICAN story (e.g. total rehash of Citizen Kane, Absalom, Absalom!)—how these tough men barged into the land and forged a country, yet became totally empty as a result... And Daniel Day-Lewis...I mean, come on. His performance in Gangs of New York is seemingly identical to this one, but this is such a damn better movie that he gets a greater opportunity to shine.

2. Hot Fuzz – This is not just, obviously, a HILARIOUS movie, but also an incredibly well-crafted script, beautiful cinematography, and an incredibly lovable main character. The end was not only a fantastic, hugely surprising twist (at least to idiotic me), but also incredibly relatable: yeah, it would be nice if you could knock off those awful actors in community theater!! And the purity of the main character and his dedication to being such a damn good cop made him admirable, inspiring and thus easy to root for. I guess I just feel that this movie will have a more lasting influence on me and my work than any other film I saw this year.

1. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead – The most unjustly ignored movie of the year. I was HORRIFIED to find that it got ZERO nominations. It’s an outrage. I don’t understand. I will never understand. How can a movie for which the Ebert review starts off something like “I hesitate to tell you anything about this movie and just wish I could tell you to run, RUN to the theater and see it” could be so cruelly dismissed. Lumet should’ve gotten a director’s nom, Masterson one for best screenplay, and Philip Seymour Hoffman best actor. It is such a tightly woven Greek fucking tragedy.

Ones You May be Confused About Their Not Being Included in the Above List

Juno – I just found the dialogue and the main character irritating to no end. All I learned is that Jason Bateman is SOOOOO CUUUUUUUTE!!!!!! OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!!! (The foregoing is not, unfortunately, facetious.)

Atonement – I am shocked that this has even been considered for anything instead of being ignored as much as Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead. Okay, so the cinematography and set design are great; ok, good job, guys. And Christopher Hampton—I’m gonna let you off the hook just because I like you so much (for writing Dangerous Liaisons), but really, what were you doing wasting your time with such shit material like this? I’m sorry, I just didn’t get the point: some bitch falsely accuses a guy of something—which was just plain irritating—and then tries to atone for it, but never really gets the chance to do so before they die. Sounds more like a short story than a movie, which MAY explain why this stretched out blob was so FUCKING BORING.