Top Ten Films of 2007, So Far

Now that the year is officially half-over, I thought I’d take stock of the first six months. This is really just a snapshot of what I feel right now, and these may be ordered differently or eliminated altogether by the time I make a year-end list. For now, I think the most significant aspect of this list is that there are 10 movies that I actually feel comfortable putting on the list. That’s not to say that I think these are all great films, but they’re all worthwhile.

I’ve included links to the official Gone Elsewhere reviews.

1. The Wind That Shakes the Barley (Ken Loach); review by Nick
2. Ratatouille (Brad Bird)
3. Once (John Carney); review by Jackrabbit Slim
4. Golden Door (Emanuele Crialese)
5. The Host (Bong Joon-ho); review by Nick
6. Offside (Jafar Panahi) – I never reviewed this. It’s an Iranian film about women trying to sneak into a soccer game, since by law they are not allowed to attend. I was surprised by the playful attitude the film had given its subject matter. It’s a lot of fun to watch, especially considering that it’s basically a social protest film at the core.
7. Killer of Sheep (Charles Burnett) – I didn’t properly review this either. It was actually filmed in 1973, and spent some time on the festival circuit in the late seventies, but didn’t get a real theatrical release until this year. At first, I was distracted by technical issues, but eventually I got into it.
8. Knocked Up (Judd Apatow); review by Jackrabbit Slim
9. The Namesake (Mira Nair); review by Jackrabbit Slim
10. Bug (William Friedkin)

Best and Worst of 2006

Jumping the gun on this a little bit, since there are still a few movies out there that are technically 2006 releases. But I thought I’d do the hard work of ordering more than 130 movies now. But first, a few comments on the year that was (a month and a half ago):

–If things continue on their current course, I’ll remember 2006 as the year that the bottom fell out of the Dallas independent film market. So many movies that didn’t play here, that I thought would have in previous years. Of the film’s on indieWIRE’s Critics Poll, four of the top ten and six of the top 20 have yet to play here. I realize that this sounds like a silly complaint to those who don’t even have stuff like Pan’s Labyrinth playing near them, but it really bothers me all the same.

–2006 was the Year of the Decent. As you’ll see from my year-end list, I found a lot of movies that I was at least OK with, and I saw very few that I strongly disliked. Of course, this is mostly because I try to avoid things that I think I’ll hate – there’s no Little Man or Hostel to be found on my list. But in general, I didn’t feel like a lot of films really let me down.

–On the other hand, nothing really knocked me out, either, except for the top two films, and one of those was made over 30 years ago (but not released in the US until 2006, so it’s eligible for the list as far as I’m concerned). Last year, there were 5 that I thought were truly exceptional (see that list here).

And thus, without further ado, the best films of the year (subject to change, but unlikely to do so):

1) Pan’s Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro)
2) Army of Shadows (Jean-Pierre Melville)
3) The Prestige (Christopher Nolan)
4) The Queen (Stephen Frears)
5) Neil Young: Heart of Gold (Jonathan Demme)
6) Brick (Rian Johnson)
7) Inside Man (Spike Lee)
8) Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón)
9) Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story (Michael Winterbottom)
10) United 93 (Paul Greengrass)
11) Akeelah and the Bee (Doug Atchison)
12) An Inconvenient Truth (Davis Guggenheim)
13) World Trade Center (Oliver Stone)
14) The Fountain (Darren Aronofsky)
15) Sweet Land (Ali Selim)

Clink “Link” for the rest of the year, meticulously ordered by preference. SPOILER: Running with Scissors was my least favorite. END SPOILER.

VERY GOOD (20): Clean; Volver; Block Party; The Proposition; The Notorious Bettie Page; Little Miss Sunshine; The Departed; Marie Antoinette; Tsotsi; L’Enfant (The Child); Sophie Scholl: The Final Days; Monster House; Fateless; Cars; A Prairie Home Companion; Cavite; The Heart of the Game; Idiocracy; Flannel Pajamas; Letters from Iwo Jima

ALSO GOOD, IF NOTHING SPECIAL (39): Casino Royale; Lemming; Half Nelson; Glory Road; Shortbus; Babel; Little Children; Rocky Balboa; Perfume: The Story of a Murderer; The Good Shepherd; Bubble; The Pursuit of Happyness; Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan; Find Me Guilty; Down in the Valley; Duck Season; 13 Tzameti; The Good German; A Scanner Darkly; Factotum; Stranger Than Fiction; The Last King of Scotland; Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World; Why We Fight; Running Scared; Eight Below; Thank You for Smoking; Wah-Wah; Strangers with Candy; Favela Rising; My Country My Country; Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles; The Bridesmaid; A Good Year; Come Early Morning; Fast Food Nation; Game 6; Wordplay; Darwin’s Nightmare

DOESN’T SUCK (31): Don’t Come Knocking; 16 Blocks; The Devil Wears Prada; The Painted Veil; Notes on a Scandal; Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos; Jesus Camp; Apocalypto; V for Vendetta; Ask the Dust; The History Boys; Venus; Joyeux Noël (Merry Christmas); Lonesome Jim; Friends with Money; Art School Confidential; Sketches of Frank Gehry; Peaceful Warrior; Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man; The Illusionist; All the King’s Men; Renaissance; Curse of the Golden Flower; The Science of Sleep; Infamous; Deja Vu; The Nativity Story; Winter Passing; Breaking and Entering; Mission: Impossible III; Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest; The Da Vinci Code

SUCKS (22): Lady Vengeance; Miami Vice; Drawing Restraint 9; Hollywoodland; Copying Beethoven; Catch a Fire; Factory Girl; Flags of Our Fathers; The Descent; X-Men: The Last Stand; Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus; Trust the Man; Hard Candy; Superman Returns; Dreamgirls; The Break-Up; The Lake House; Firewall; Night Watch (Nochnoi Dozor); Blood Diamond; The Architect

REALLY BADLY SUCKS (10): Unknown White Male; Lady in the Water; Bobby; Miss Potter; Man of the Year; Poseidon; The King; La Moustache; For Your Consideration; Running with Scissors

50 Lost Movie Classics

The English Guardian newspaper recently ran an article listing 50 lost movie classics – not only because they’ve been underrated but that many of them haven’t even been released on DVD as yet. Below is the list of titles (as well as director and year of release) – I’ve added comments to the ones that I’ve seen:

1 Salt Of The Earth Herbert Biberman, 1953

2 Petulia Richard Lester, 1968 (fully deserving of appearing here. Terrific film that benefits from repeat viewings and more then any other film I’ve seen presents an excellent portrayl of what life would’ve been like in the hippie centre of San Francisco at its peak in 1968.)

3 The State Of Things Wim Wenders, 1982

4 Newsfront Phillip Noyce, 1978 (Also deserving of an appearance here. Doesn’t get the kudos that other Australian films of its era do (probably because its less pretentious) but is very entertaining and manages to capture an accurate snapshot of Australian life in the decade after WW2).

5 Fat City John Huston, 1972

6 I Wanna Hold Your Hand Robert Zemeckis, 1978

7 The Swimmer Frank Perry, 1968 (Like ‘Petulia’, another unjustly neglected film from 1968. Brillantly done and insightful with a superb performance by Burt Lancanster, who handles the pysical aspects of the film despite being over 50 when the film was being made.)

8 Under The Skin Carine Adler, 1997 9 The Front Page Lewis Milestone, 1931

10 The Damned Joseph Losey, 1961

11 Ace In The Hole Billy Wilder, 1951 (Saw this many years ago. Very well done and ultra-cynical in the traditional Wilder style but I wonder whether this would hold up as well today in these far more cynical times, especially when journalism is regarded in such a low esteeem.)

12 The Beaver Trilogy Trent Harris, 2001

13 Top Secret! Jim Abrahams, David and Jerry Zucker, 1984 (Don’t really think it deserves a place in here. It’s pretty funny and has some classic bits (best of all is when they’re in the cow disguise) but it’s slow and sluggish early on, and only really gets going once the ‘Blue Lagoon’ character joins in.

14 Bamboozled Spike Lee, 2000

15 3 Women Robert Altman, 1977

16 Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me David Lynch, 1992

17 Let’s Scare Jessica To Death John D Hancock, 1971

18 The Low Down Jamie Thraves, 2000

19 A New Leaf Elanie May, 1971

20 Quiemada! Gillo Pontecorvo, 1969

21 The Hired Hand Peter Fonda, 1971

22 Safe Todd Haynes, 1995

23 Housekeeping Bill Forsyth, 1987

24 Le Petomane Ian MacNaughton, 1979

25 Lianna John Sayles, 1982

26 Bill Douglas Trilogy Bill Douglas, 1972-78

27 The Parallax View Alan J Pakula, 1974 (The template for how a paranoid/conspiracy thriller should be made. While Pakula’s ‘All The President’s Men’ is probably a better film overall, I’m personally biased to this film and how it’s made – one of my favourite films of all time, let alone most underrated). 28 Babylon Franco Rosso, 1980

29 Dreamchild Gavin Millar, 1985

30 Ride Lonesome Budd Boetticher, 1959

31 Breathless Jim McBride, 1983

32 The Day The Earth Caught Fire Val Guest, 1961

33 Less Than Zero Marek Kanievska, 1987

34 Day Night Day Night Julia Loktev, 2006

35 Tin Cup Ron Shelton, 1996

36 The Ninth Configuration William Peter Blatty, 1980

37 Cutter’s Way Ivan Passer, 1981 (Admirable in many ways, but bleak, depressing and not particularly entertaining and not a film I’d want to watch again).

38 Save The Last Dance Thomas Carter, 2001

39 The Mad Monkey Fernando Trueba, 1989

40 Cockfighter Monte Hellman, 1974

41 The Narrow Margin Richard Fleischer, 1952

42 Terence Davies Trilogy Terence Davies, 1984

43 Wise Blood John Huston, 1979

44 Robin Hood Wolfgang Reitherman, 1973

45 Two-Lane Blacktop Monte Hellman, 1971

46 Beautiful Girls Ted Demme, 1996

47 Millions Danny Boyle, 2004

48 Round Midnight Bertrand Tavernier, 1986

49 Jeremy Arthur Barron, 1973

50 Grace Of My Heart Allison Anders, 1996

Any underseving entries in there? I haven’t seen it but ‘Tin Cup’ I would’ve thought was the classic ho-hum Costner effort that saw his career decline so rapidly during the 1990s. And the Disney version of ‘Robin Hood’ has generally been seen as symptomatic of their decline during the 1970s. Any others that deserve a mention under this category?

Nick’s Best of 2006

It’s getting to be the end of the year, so I thought I’d start summarizing.

All in all, I’m surprised. There’s been a lot more good stuff released this year than I thought before I began the list. Little Miss Sunshine caught me by surprise, but it is hands down excellent.

There are some bigger fishes I have gotten around to yet (Letters From Iwo Jima, An Inconvenient Truth, Marie Antoinette, Borat), and some I’ve seen but just forgotten to mention, but I’ll probably be completing the list all through next year.

Classics: Children of Men, Pan’s Labyrinth, United 93

Great: The Prestige, The Proposition, Brick, Half Nelson, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, Little Miss Sunshine, The Fountain, Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story, The Departed, The Queen, The Lives of Others, V for Vendetta

Very good: Babel, Inside Man, Cocaine Cowboys, Election 2: Harmony is Virtue, Stranger Than Fiction, The Squid & the Whale, Boys of Baraka, The Host, Tsotsi, Casino Royale, Why We Fight, Monster House, Talladega Nights, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, Crank, Thank You for Smoking, Running Scared, The Banquet

Good: Perfume, The Good Shepherd, 13 Tzameti, The Last King of Scotland, The Devil Wears Prada, Volver, After the Wedding, Dark Horse, Mission: Impossible III, Election: Triad Elections, Slither, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Miami Vice, Find Me Guilty, Accepted, Nacho Libre, Storm, Brave Story, A Scanner Darkly, Akeelah and the Bee, Cars, Ice Age: The Meltdown, Over the Hedge, Click, Friends with Money, The Matador, The Pursuit of Happyness, Deja Vu

Flawed: Superman Returns, The Good German, X-Men: The Last Stand, Art School Confidential, The Illusionist, Lucky Number Slevin, Sophie Scholl, 16 Blocks, Fast Food Nation, Shooting Dogs, A Good Year, Idiocracy, La Moustache, Falkenberg Farewell, Fearless

Bad: The Break-Up, Just My Luck, World Trade Center, Silent Hill, Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, The Sentinel, Underworld: Evolution

Horrible: Da Vinci Code, Running with Scissors, Hostel, Poseidon, RV

Notable performances: Steve Carrell (Little Miss Sunshine), Shareeka Epps (Half Nelson), Michael Sheen (The Queen), Ah-Sung Ko (The Host), Rob Brydon (Tristram Shandy), Yeong-ae Lee (Sympathy for Lady Vengeance)

Best and Worst of 2006

A running log of 2006 releases that I’ve seen. Not necessarily in order of preference:

BEST (15): Pan’s Labyrinth; Army of Shadows; The Prestige; The Queen; Neil Young: Heart of Gold; Brick; Inside Man; Children of Men; Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story; United 93; Akeelah and the Bee; An Inconvenient Truth; World Trade Center; The Fountain; Sweet Land

VERY GOOD (20): Clean; Volver; Block Party; The Proposition; The Notorious Bettie Page; Little Miss Sunshine; The Departed; Marie Antoinette; Tsotsi; L’Enfant (The Child); Sophie Scholl: The Final Days; Monster House; Fateless; Cars; A Prairie Home Companion; Cavite; The Heart of the Game; Idiocracy; Flannel Pajamas; Letters from Iwo Jima

ALSO GOOD, IF NOTHING SPECIAL (39): Casino Royale; Lemming; Half Nelson; Glory Road; Shortbus; Babel; Little Children; Rocky Balboa; Perfume: The Story of a Murderer; The Good Shepherd; Bubble; The Pursuit of Happyness; Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan; Find Me Guilty; Down in the Valley; Duck Season; 13 Tzameti; The Good German; A Scanner Darkly; Factotum; Stranger Than Fiction; The Last King of Scotland; Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World; Why We Fight; Running Scared; Eight Below; Thank You for Smoking; Wah-Wah; Strangers with Candy; Favela Rising; My Country My Country; Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles; The Bridesmaid; A Good Year; Come Early Morning; Fast Food Nation; Game 6; Wordplay; Darwin’s Nightmare

DOESN’T SUCK (32): Don’t Come Knocking; 16 Blocks; The Devil Wears Prada; The Painted Veil; Notes on a Scandal; Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos; Jesus Camp; Apocalypto; V for Vendetta; Ask the Dust; The History Boys; Seraphim Falls; Venus; Joyeux Noël (Merry Christmas); Lonesome Jim; Friends with Money; Art School Confidential; Sketches of Frank Gehry; Peaceful Warrior; Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man; The Illusionist; All the King’s Men; Renaissance; Curse of the Golden Flower; The Science of Sleep; Infamous; Deja Vu; The Nativity Story; Winter Passing; Breaking and Entering; Mission: Impossible III; Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest; The Da Vinci Code

SUCKS (21): Lady Vengeance; Miami Vice; Drawing Restraint 9; Hollywoodland; Copying Beethoven; Catch a Fire; Flags of Our Fathers; The Descent; X-Men: The Last Stand; Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus; Trust the Man; Hard Candy; Superman Returns; Dreamgirls; The Break-Up; The Lake House; Firewall; Night Watch (Nochnoi Dozor); Blood Diamond; The Architect

REALLY BADLY SUCKS (10): Unknown White Male; Lady in the Water; Bobby; Miss Potter; Man of the Year; Poseidon; The King; La Moustache; For Your Consideration; Running with Scissors

MADE ME WANT TO KILL MYSELF:

The “Made Me Want to Kill Myself” category will hopefully remain empty. Nothing I saw would have made it in there last year, since I usually skip movies that look like strong candidates. But I thought I’d include it just in case. After all, you never know when a Spanglish or a Pay It Forward will come along.