[Lucien21]

So what was you top 10 movies of the year.

Here are mine.

10 = Superbad

A Gross out teen comedy about 2 inseparable friends who are on the verge of college and come up with a plan to get laid before leaving high school. Using the fake id of a friend they plan to buy booze for a party the popular kids are throwing.

The comedy is seriously crude as you would expect from 2 high school boys whose mind is all about sex, It’s also hilarious as they get upto various hi-jinks in their quest for booze. It’s also a pretty touching exploration of friendship between 2 young boys on the verge of growing up.

The outstanding performance is from the 3rd wheel Fogall whose ID moniker McLovin’ causes most of the laughs as he gets a ride with a couple of geeky cops on a surreal trip through the night.



10 = Knocked Up

Made by the same people that made Superbad and with just as much gross out (the crowning scene was particularly gross) and swearing. This time it is more for grown ups as a slacker and a TV floor manager have a one night stand and she ends up pregnant.

Can the one night stand last for a lifetime.

Katherine Heigl is superb as the pregnant TV manager in a hilarious look at relationship and pregnancy.


9. The Lookout

Joseph Gordon Levitt shone last year in Brick and this year starred in The Lookout a Memento type crime thriller. A star ice hockey player at high school he was the local hero. One night while celebrating and showing off to his girlfriend he is involved in a car accident that kills 2 friends seriously injures the girlfriend and leaves him with a brain injury.

So present day he suffers from frequent mood swings and memory lapses. The only job he can hold down is a cleaner at a local bank, his love life is non existent and he lives with a blind man (the brilliant Jeff Daniels).

Praying on his memory problems and frustration a local thug talks him into help rob the bank he works in.

Not as good as Brick or Mememto, but some superb acting by Levitt holds it together as he gets deeper and deeper into trouble.

8. The Last King of Scotland

It's the 70's and a young cocky, niave and newly qualified Doctor heads to Uganda to help the poor and have some fun and adventure along the way.

He arrives just as a coup takes place.

Starts off working in a poor medical clinic, but after he meets the charismatic new president of Uganda after an accident he gets the offer to be his new personal physician.

Problem is the new president is Idi Amin, despot dictator and mass murderer of 300,000 Ugandans.

It's an excellent film which is part documentary about Amin and part made up thriller about the Doctor. It seems to sit well together by some outstanding acting performances.

Forest Whitaker in particular is blindingly good as Amin, in turns charming and extremely likeable and at time barking mad and psychotic.

Well worth seeing and an well deserved Oscar for Mr Whitaker.


7. Half Nelson

Dan Dunne (Ryan Gosling) teaches in a poor school where his unusual approach engages the pupils. But out of school, frustration fuels his drug habit. One night troubled student Drey (Shareeka Epps) chances upon him while he’s high, and a bond is forged.

Ryan Gosling is superb as the inspirational school teacher/ crack addict who teaches radical politics to his preteen kids. He is equally matched by the young Epps who set him on the road to redemption via an unusual friendship.


6. In the Shadow of the Moon

A wonderful documentary about Nasa’s Apollo missions and the struggles to reach the Moon. With interviews with most of the surviving astronauts who walked on the moon (of the 12 only 9 remain alive) and new footage of the missions this is an informative and fascinating journey.

The most notable omission is the reclusive Neil Armstrong who has shunned the publicity ever since he was the first man on the moon lead to a media circus round his life.

A reminder of the braveness and daring that launch the human species to the furthest man has ever travelled. A reminder of a time when the world could set a goal and overcome all adversary to achieve that goal while most of the world cheered them on.

[Lucien21]

5. The Bourne Ultimatum

The final act of the Bourne Trilogy sees Jason Bourne finally start to piece together his fractured memory, the CIA determined to keep him quiet once and for all as he searches for the meaning of Treadstone.

The best action blockbuster movie of the summer in a summer of disappointing threequals.

It picks up exactly where Supremacy left off and treats us to a worldwide hunt through Russia, London, Tangier and New York.

Matt Damon is convincing as the action star Bourne, the fight scenes are brutal, the action unrelenting and the storyline brings the series full circle.

Superb.

4. Ratatouille

A delightful movie. A small country rat with a penchant for haute cuisine instead of garbage moves to Paris and helps a clumsy young man become a chef.

Weird plot, but Pixar has previous made cars, toys and fish lovable but Rats must have been a hard sell. Maybe not Pixars best movie, but certainly in with a shout.

Directed by the best animation director (Brad Bird - Iron Giant/Incredibles) in the business Ratatouille will leave you with a great big smile on your face by the end of the film.

3. Zodiac

David Finchers latest movie is a Docu-drama about the lives of 3 men, from 1968 to the early 90's, who were obsessed with identifying the "Zodiac" killer or living in fear (Robert Downey Jnr). It most follows Jake Gyllenthal's character who was a cartoonist at the SF Chronicle and eventually cracked the last cypher and wrote 2 books speculating on who the killer was.

The "Zodiac" was never caught and claimed to have killed 37 people from 1968 - 1974 (Although the police think it was only 5 fatalities) he rose to fame due to his letters to the local paper and the cypher he included in the letters. He was also the inspriation behind the "Dirty Harry" film which is featured in the movie at one point.

It's a slow paced movie that is more or less a forensic examination of the evidence and suspects in the Zodiac case as seen from the perspective of the Jake Gyllenthaal character. However I was griped from start to finish.

There are some spectacular scenes in the movie especially the basement scene with one of the suspects. Some nice visual shots, like the overhead shot of the goldengate bridge in fog, overhead shot following a taxi through the streets or the time lapse construction of the Transamerica Pyramid when it jumps forward in time. It also does an excellent job with the 70's atmosphere.

Some great performances from everyone in the movie.

Overall a superb film.

2. The Assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford

A Western Based on the fictionalised story of the last days of Jesse James it sees Brad Pitt as the eponymous outlaw and Casey Affleck as Robert Ford a Jesse James stalker who joins the gang to meet his hero.

It is a beautifully shot movie, superbly acted by both leads (Affleck in particular is amazing Oscar material). Brad Pitt as the paranoid outlaw jumping at shadows who maybe knows that the end is coming is cool, scary and at times pitiful.

It's not an action movie and the action sequences are few and far between. It's mostly a dissection of a folk hero and the man who killed him.

Brilliant

1. No Country for Old Men

The Best Coen brother movie since Fargo and imo the best film of the year (There will be Blood isn’t due out here until February).

Texas, 1980. Hunting in the desert, Llewellyn Moss (Josh Brolin) comes across the wreckage of a drug deal gone wrong and takes the cash — without counting on the man sent after him, an implacable killer (Javier Bardem) intent on recovering the loot at any cost.

Adapted from the Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name it is hauntingly beautifully shot but very bleak movie about violence and the evil of money.

Superb performances from Brolin as the loser who thinks he can keep $2million in drug money, Javier Bardem as the deadpan psychotic killer, with a weird hairstyle and a twisted morality, hired to find the money and Tommy Lee Jones as the old weary sheriff on the verge of retirement due to the increasing bloodlust he sees in the world.

A distinct lack of music ups the tension on most scenes, most memorable the scene when Brolin waits in the hotel room for the killer to show up.

It is a bleak violent movie with a downbeat ending that will not be to everyone’s liking. A mostly philosophical ending with very little resolution that bravely leaves you making your own mind up about soulless nature the modern world.

Brilliant.

[lumi]

I've only got a top seven, because that's all the 2007 movies I've seen.

7. National Treasure: Book of Secrets

6. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

5. The Bourne Ultimatum

4. Michael Clayton

3. Hot Fuzz

2. No Country for Old Men

1. The Darjeeling Limited

[Aj_]

Granted, this shows my limited 2007 flim experience, but nevertheless here's my top ten:
10. Planet Terror
9. Hot Fuzz
8. Ratatouille
7. Zodiac
6. Death Proof
5. Stardust
4. The Bourne Ultimatum
3. Eastern Promises
2. Knocked Up
1. Atonement

[Henke]

Hmm, I have to really think about what movies came out last year. I watch movies all the time, both old and new ones, so it's hard to keep track.

As of now I can only think of 8 movies I though was interesting 2007.

8. 300

7. Beowulf

6. Day Watch

5. Death Proof

4. Planet Terror

3. Arn - The Knight Templar

2. Eastern Promises

1. Apocalypto

Although I haven't seen Rescue Dawn yet and I have high hopes for that one. I have heard good things about No Country for Old Men but I haven't seen that one either.

[Ninja Dodo]

"Arn" was good, then? I'm looking forward to seeing it cause I've read the books...

Not sure I can come up with a top 10 but I really enjoyed Hot Fuzz, 300 and Ratatouille.

[Henke]

Originally Posted by Ninja Dodo

"Arn" was good, then? I'm looking forward to seeing it cause I've read the books...

I've read the books too and the movie is great. At times (especially in the beginning) it's to fast paced (it's more of a summary then actual storytelling). But that problem should disappear when the TV-version comes out which is much longer. Hopefully they will release a Directors Cut too since they had to cut a fairly large part of the movie to get a lower age-rating. Hopefully they will release the TV-version as a Directors Cut on DVD.

[Ninja Dodo]

In that case I'll probably wait for the TV version. I'm not usually a fan of extended cuts, but I'm even less a fan of the summary style of book adaptation. Glad to hear it turned out good though. It covers all of the last two books if I'm not mistaken? (not counting part four of the trilogy)

[Henke]

Originally Posted by Ninja Dodo

In that case I'll probably wait for the TV version. I'm not usually a fan of extended cuts, but I'm even less a fan of the summary style of book adaptation. Glad to hear it turned out good though. It covers all of the last two books if I'm not mistaken? (not counting part four of the trilogy)

The first movie covers the first book and like half of the second one. The second movie includes the rest (with the fourth one excluded).

I was actually at many of the sets, filming and doing interviews. The production company I'm working for is making a documentary about the movies which will hopefully be shown on swedish television (maybe in other countries too depending on if we manage to sell it). It was pretty fun to see how they worked on such a big movie production. Hopefully I will be the director next time I'm on a set like this.

[Harald B]

an unmentioned favorite of mine:

The Prestige
A movie about reckless ambition. Two magicians locked in neverending competition sabotage each other in ways that get increasingly elaborate, dangerous, and immoral -the early ruse reinserting a bullet that should be removed is mere child's play compared to the insane schemes concocted later on. Nothing else matters to them but their mutual obsession.
The great thing about this movie is how it makes the insanity tangible and gets you disturbed and bewildered, especially when Tesla gets involved (not going to spoil that part). It's quite a rollercoaster ride, and as the intro suggests you'll have to pay close attention if you want to pierce the important plot points yourself before they get revealed. But like a good magic trick, not understanding all that goes on doesn't hurt and may well heighten your enjoyment of the show.