Pinner's Top Five Movies Of 2007

[Movie Pinner]

2007 was a year when I watched at least 10 movies, and that more than qualifies me to bring you the TOP FIVE MOVIES OF THE YEAR. This list is in no particular order, but there can be no question that during 2007, of all of the hundreds of movies released, including the ten or so that I saw, these are definitely the best five movies of the year.



MOVIE: There Will Be Blood
WHY: A legendary performance, the brilliance of Paul Thomas Anderson's writing and direction, one of the greatest, most jarring, memorable scores in movie history by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead, gorgeous scenery, along with a Kubrickesque sense of the bizarre and darkly comical, all add up to one walloping classic of a movie.


MOVIE: No Country For Old Men
WHY: The Coen Brothers at the very top of their game, featuring unforgettable characters, witty, offbeat writing, palpable, growing tension throughout, and one of the greatest on-screen villians of all time. An adult's movie. The busgirl at Rick's Tavern proclaimed "Don't see Country fo' Old Men. Country fo' Old Men ain't even no movie. That one with Adam Sandler? Chuck and Larry? That was awesome though." Enough said.


MOVIE: Zodiac
WHY: Fincher's "Fight Club" is in my top three all time, but "Zodiac" is his most "mature" film. Spot-on performances and ridiculously well-made, enough so that you actually enjoy watching a movie that 1) is like ten hours long, and 2) you never actually find out what happened. That is a brilliant trick.


MOVIE: Once
WHY: A romantic musical which you don't realize that's what it is until it's over. Tremendously touching and wonderful all the way through, with fantastic music which comes out organically out of the story, not out of characters suddenly breaking into song for no reason. Really not a musical at all, but a movie about musicians, and about a romance so sweet you just wanna hug everyone. I fucking cried at this movie it was so heartwarming.


MOVIE: Sunshine
WHY: The critics can complain that the last 2/3 of this movie "devolves" into a psychodrama/slasher movie, but I think this is missing the point. The main character in this movie is the sun itself, and the movie does a masterful, gorgeous job of making everything else seem small and insignificant when faced with inconceivable power. Which it is. If the ending "devolves", it is because it is a journey into a madness borne of coming face to face with this power. And the fact that it's a direct homage to Dark Star (even including a character named "Pinbacker") of course means that it can do no wrong in my eyes.


There you have it! The FIVE BEST GODDAMN MOVIES OF 2007.

[savvyraven]

I would like to add "3:10 to Yuma" to this list. Just because I know it was his 6th favorite and wanted to see it represented. Besides, it's Christian Bale! He deserves to be on any friggin' list.

[Vitriola]

I have seen one of these movies, have heard of 2 others, but want to see all 5 that I missed! I have been lax on the movie front lately. And by lately, I mean this whole year.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

I didn't see a single one of the movies on Ben's list except Zodiac, which I did not like for some reason towards the end that I can't remember.

Here are the top five movies I saw in 2007. Not sure when they came out, but I saw them for the first time in that year.

5. Planet Terror. When you include the "Machete" part, this was a lot of fun and was totally entertaining.

4. The Prestige. I am a sucker for movies about magicians, and I wish there were more of them.

3. The Fountain. Cursed because the screenwriters did not give us enough reason to care about Hugh Jackman's character, it will nevertheless always influence and affect me, because of the thought of a 500 year old man flying in a bubble to a far away star. CHRIST this is what movies are for. How can anyone watch a movie about relationships, or high school football, or mall rats when movies like this show what is possible to do with a camera??? The scenes in space legitimize the art of movie-making.

2. The King of Kong. The entire movie is manipulated to project a one-sided story that is constantly teetering on the edge of character assassination. It makes several people I am on good terms with on various forums look bad. Its entire premise - that the two gamers who are best in the world at Donkey Kong have a rivalry but don't meet or play each other till the end - is flawed in at least three different ways. But damn if it didn't present an absolutely compelling story that completely changed the hobby of arcade gaming. It is impossible to discuss the history of arcade games at any length without mentioning this film. Sure, the people who made it are probably scumbags - how does that make this film different from any other one ever made? The King of Kong is an absolutely brilliant piece of directing and editing, even though I disagree with how virtually every scene is presented.

Oh, and because the next movie was released in 2006, I guess this is technically the best movie I've seen in 2007.

1. Brick. Film noir transplanted to a different time period is a fucking awesome idea. Holy shit this was great. I have been trying to buy it from the one cent DVD store ever since I first watched it, and I have pretty much sworn off buying movies because I hate corporations so much.

This movie is very close to perfect and very inspiring. I want to create something in the genre of noir that is as good as this. As good as some of the other ones were, it didn't make me instantly want to quit work, quit the Internet and devote six months to something similar in the field of text games. Brick, to me, was life-changing.


The best movie of 2008 will be Get Lamp, and I will buy Ben a copy so it can make his list, too.

[Vitriola]

5. Planet Terror. When you include the "Machete" part, this was a lot of fun and was totally entertaining.
1. Brick. Film noir transplanted to a different time period is a fucking awesome idea. Holy shit this was great.

You should let movies I choose get to the top of the queue more often. Brick was in there for about 11 months.

[Movie Pinner]

I didn't see a single one of the movies on Ben's list except Zodiac, which I did not like for some reason towards the end that I can't remember.

Three of the goddamn five movies you listed for 2007 were released in 2006. And your opinion of Zodiac sucks. Therefore you are DISQUALIFIED.

POWNED!!!

[Movie Pinner]

I would like to add "3:10 to Yuma" to this list. Just because I know it was his 6th favorite and wanted to see it represented. Besides, it's Christian Bale! He deserves to be on any friggin' list.

3:10 to Yuma is better than Sunshine, unless you happen to be me, so it does get an Honorable Mention.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

I didn't see a single one of the movies on Ben's list except Zodiac, which I did not like for some reason towards the end that I can't remember.

Three of the goddamn five movies you listed for 2007 were released in 2006. And your opinion of Zodiac sucks. Therefore you are DISQUALIFIED.

POWNED!!!

Well, I also really enjoyed The Departed. So can you add that to the 2007 list?

[co]

MOVIE: Zodiac
WHY: Fincher's "Fight Club" is in my top three all time, but "Zodiac" is his most "mature" film. Spot-on performances and ridiculously well-made, enough so that you actually enjoy watching a movie that 1) is like ten hours long, and 2) you never actually find out what happened. That is a brilliant trick.

Don't you watch city confidential? They never caught the guy, you're expected to already know that.

[Movie Pinner]

Well, I also really enjoyed The Departed. So can you add--

DEATH!

And co, I know that motherfucker, that's my fucking point, idiot.

[co]

And co, I know that motherfucker, that's my fucking point, idiot.

What a waste of time that movie would have been. The interesting part of the story is the killer and the clues he gave and shit. Who cares about the lives of the stupid cops who couldn't catch the guy or the newspaper hacks who printed shit he sent them.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

I think that was also my objection with the movie. Did they give us enough reason to care about Jake Gyllenhall's character? Barely. Hardly.

I don't think it's a failing of movies, necessarily, but I see a lot of movies just assume I should give a shit about the characters because hey... they are in a movie. It's like when George Costanza was asked why people would watch the TV show he was developing with Jerry. "...Because it's on... TV?" he said. Same thing.

More interesting would be crime fiction, I think, where they are inspired by Zodiac. But I guess they did that in the Clint Eastwood movie Scorpio.

And the movie purports that they did have a really good suspect by having that one guy ID whatshisnuts at the airport at the end.

2007 was a pretty bad year for movies. You know what, I didn't love Zodiac, but even as flawed as it was, it probably WAS one of the top five movies of 2007. Take a look at my list - if it had been the top ten movies of 2007 instead of 5, I'd have had to include the Maltest Falcon, Star Wars and Godfather Part II to prop up 2007.

Eat balls, 2007! And I hear 2008 and 2009 will be even worse because of the writer's strike thing.

[Movie Pinner]

2007 was a pretty bad year for movies.

And you feel qualified to state this based on seeing none of them? If all 2007 gave us was There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men, it is still one of the best years in American cinema's history. Those two are destined to live forever on many people's all-time lists.

Get real.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

And you feel qualified to state this based on seeing none of them? If all 2007 gave us was There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men, it is still one of the best years in American cinema's history. Those two are destined to live forever on many people's all-time lists.

Get real.

Yeah, I bet those two movies were awesome. Fargo II and Magnoia: The Reckoning. WHEEEE!

Anyway, congrats again, you were right. I would need to see those two movies before saying what I said. And because you enjoyed them so much, I WILL see them. You are having a positive, tangible effect on two people and however many dozen cats are in front of the TV when those two films go on.

I hope this brings you grimfaced joy.

[hygraed]

The only movie I saw in 2007 that I would put on a list like this is Juno.

[Freddie]

hygraed, how would you describe the "magic" of The only movie I saw in 2007?

[hygraed]

I didn't notice any "magic."

[Movie Pinner]

The only movie I saw in 2007 that I would put on a list like this is Juno.

I seen Juno. I thought Ellen Page was magnificent, and it was definitely the best movie ever written by a stripper that I've ever seen, but other than that, didn't you find it just, you know, "nice"?

I had heard all this effusive praise, and while it was certainly a fun enough little movie, gosh, it sure wasn't something that made me think "wow, that was really something". It wasn't something. It was just a quirky little comedy with an excellent young actress at the fore.

It was no Little Miss Sunshine, I'll tell you that.

[AArdvark]

And not once did see a mention for "Ethel the AArdvark Goes Quantity Surveying"

Surely no movie list would be complete without that hidden gem.





THE
POWNED
AARDVARK

[Movie Pinner]

See, this is the fucking problem with this place. I start some interesting shit about movies or fat ignorant sports fans or guys with giant heads, and one or more of you douchenozzles comes on and ruins it with your "clever" retorts.

THE KIDS ARE PLAYING THEIR TAILS OFF, AND THE COACHES ARE SCREWING IT UP!!!