best movies of 2007

[sailor]

i keep hearing how this is a great year for movies, but haven't had a chance to see many. for all you moviephiles out there...when all is said and done, what will have been the best movie of the year? jesse james? gone baby gone? the soon to be released no country for old men? will any of the 2007 movies become classics we're talking about 10-15-20 years from now?

[TheMojoPin]

My personal vote goes to ...Jesse James, by far, right now. I've got passes to a free screening of No Country For Old Men this Sunday, so this could easily change between now and then...but my decision for the year is likely gonna come down to those two. Nothing else is even remotely close.

I don't get the insane amount of Gone Baby Gone love. Don't get me wrong, it's very good...but in the end, it's just another hardboiled cop movie. That's not say those movies can't be excellent, but it doesn't really do anything all that "new." The performances are very good and Affleck shows himself to be a very skilled actor-turned-director a la George Clooney, but I guess I'm just missing what's making people rave over it like it's the best movie all year. I have a feeling a lot of it is people kind of "rooting" for the wole idea of Affleck directing a film.

[LiddyRules]

Too early, far too early. It's only October. But Jesse James is up there for me. Ditto Darjeeling Limited.

[LiddyRules]

Fuck.

Hollywood Union Authorized to Strike

Union Representing Hollywood Film, TV Writers Wins Authorization to Strike

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Members of Hollywood's film and television writers union have overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike anytime after their contract expires at the end of the month.

More than 5,000 members of the Writers Guild of America cast ballots, with 90 percent voting in favor of authorizing the strike, the union said Friday evening. Members voted Thursday.

"Writers do not want to strike, but they are resolute and prepared to take strong, united action to defend our interests," guild President Patric Verrone said in a news release. "What we must have is a contract that gives us the ability to keep up with the financial success of this ever-expanding global industry."

Since July, the guild has been in talks with film studios and production companies represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Both sides acknowledge they have not made progress.

Nick Counter, the alliance's president, said he was not surprised by the vote.

"Our focus is on negotiating a reasonable agreement with the WGA," he said in a news release.

A key issue dividing producers and writers, as well as actors, whose contract expires next June, is compensation for DVD sales and productions that get distributed on the Internet or in other new media formats.

The writers' current three-year contract expires Oct. 31, and their vote gives the union's leaders authorization to call a strike anytime after that day.

Studios and TV networks have accelerated filming of shows and movies and begun stockpiling scripts in case of a strike.

The last strike in 1988 lasted 22 weeks. Losses to the industry were put at $500 million.

[hammersavage]

Into the Wild. An absolutely stunning, amazing movie that needs to be seen on the big screen.

Also Gone Baby Gone, In the Valley of Elah, Michael Clayton, Eastern Promises all spectacular.

best year of film EVER....

[LiddyRules]

Into the Wild. An absolutely stunning, amazing movie that needs to be seen on the big screen.

Also Gone Baby Gone, In the Valley of Elah, Michael Clayton, Eastern Promises all spectacular.

best year of film EVER.... Not better than 94 or 99.

[LiddyRules]

Fuck. So that's why I couldn't find it when I reposted the story. IT was in here.

[TheMojoPin]

best year of film EVER....

Uhhhhhhh...no.

[TheMojoPin]

Into the Wild.

The dude starves to death in an abandoned bus. Foolish hippie.

[sailor]

My personal vote goes to ...Jesse James, by far, right now. I've got passes to a free screening of No Country For Old Men this Sunday, so this could easily change between now and then...but my decision for the year is likely gonna come down to those two. Nothing else is even remotely close.

I don't get the insane amount of Gone Baby Gone love. Don't get me wrong, it's very good...but in the end, it's just another hardboiled cop movie. That's not say those movies can't be excellent, but it doesn't really do anything all that "new." The performances are very good and Affleck shows himself to be a very skilled actor-turned-director a la George Clooney, but I guess I'm just missing what's making people rave over it like it's the best movie all year. I have a feeling a lot of it is people kind of "rooting" for the wole idea of Affleck directing a film.

we're probably going to see gone baby gone tonight. i was reading reviews and it receives WAY better reviews than jesse james so you may be a bit alone on that one. regardless, i can't wait till i get to get to see it as well.

[Bay Ridge Tim]

Ratatouille

(Hey, it is the best reviewed flick on Metacritic)

[TheMojoPin]

we're probably going to see gone baby gone tonight. i was reading reviews and it receives WAY better reviews than jesse james so you may be a bit alone on that one. regardless, i can't wait till i get to get to see it as well.

The sad thing about almost all of the negative reviews for TAoJJBtCRF (*Phew!*) is that the main complaint essentially amounts to "it's too long." That complaint always drives me nuts. Yes, many films do run too long, but this really isn't one of them. I swear, many of these same reviewers would probably make the same complaint about Kurosawa's films, or Terrence Malick's.

Again, GBG is a very good film and I'm going to happily buy it on DVD eventually, but it was nowhere near the movie "experience" I had watching ...Jesse James....

[LiddyRules]

The thing with good movies v. great movies is that often times good movies will get a higher percentage than great movies. Great movies often have a trouble finding their audience, even with critics. So something like Gone Baby Gone can be a great cop movie and do nothing wrong and get people to say "it's very good" but at the end of the day it's just a great cop movie. It's just easier to get more people on the side of a really good movie than it is a great movie because a great movie by its very nature has to be different enough that people will not get it but a great movie will get more passion from its defenders than merely a good one.

Take something like AoJJ or Darjeeling Limited. Their rotten tomatoes scores weren't excellent but that feeling in my chest as Darjeeling Limited was ending made it a great movie. As I let the credits run at the end of Jesse James because I just wanted to sit, immersed in that brilliant score.

I don't know if Gone Baby Gone can do that. I'm going to see it, give it a shot, but I don't know.

[sailor]

just got back from gone baby gone and i loved it.

[thepaulo]

I have a list of about 20 films from this year...but I wasn't planning on throwing it out there just yet.....
My biggest problem is that even the worst film usually has some value and even the best film rarely is perfect....
besides a lot of these films are like apples and oranges and have to be judged for what they are....and sometimes the best films are not given awards because they are too challeneging for a large audience.....but I'm happy with all the films mentioned so far.

[IMSlacker]

Saw Michael Clayton last night. That was a great movie. Wanted to see TAoJJBtCRF, but there weren't any show times that worked for us. Probably will never see Gone Baby Gone because of the subject matter.

[Coach_Mac]

I havn't gotten out to see many movies this year but it's hard to imagine a better one than Into the Wild. Sean Penn....who knew?

[TheMojoPin]

I havn't gotten out to see many movies this year but it's hard to imagine a better one than Into the Wild. Sean Penn....who knew?

Anyone who saw his other 3 films?

[Coach_Mac]

I havn't heard of anything else he directed so I looked on imdb...and I still havn't.

[TeeBone]

Gone Baby Gone

[boonanas]

i liked all the mentioned films but personally Eastern Promises hit me the hardest.

[Furtherman]

I'm behind on my movie watching, but as of right now, Jesse James is my favorite as well.

[Thomas Merton]

The dude starves to death in an abandoned bus. Foolish hippie.


Have you read Krakauer's book? If you did, you would know that Chris was not a "foolish hippie" but an Emory University cum laude graduate who was many things: idealistic, naive, arrogant, intense, contradictory and much more...he died due to eating a lethal potato root which resembled a plant he had been eating. He lived two lives to your one

[TheMojoPin]

Have you read Krakauer's book? If you did, you would know that Chris was not a "foolish hippie" but an Emory University cum laude graduate who was many things: idealistic, naive, arrogant, intense, contradictory and much more...he died due to eating a lethal potato root which resembled a plant he had been eating. He lived two lives to your one

Yes, I read the book. Because I did, I know that Krakuer's book theorizes that he wasn't eating the seeds of a plant that "resembled one he was eating"...it was the same plant. He couldn't eat the potatoes he had been living off of once winter sent in, so he ate the seeds instead. The seeds are "poisonous" because they keep your body from absorbing necessary nutrients and you end up starving to death.

Secondly, don't judge anyone based on this guy. You're talking like his life is some ideal model that is somehow realistic, admirable and applicable to all people. I don't think it is at all. I think he made stupid deicisons that got him killed. I read Krakauer's book as a cautionary tale more than anything else. But yes, because I didn't die alone and miserable in an abandoned bus in the middle of nowhere after completely shutting out the people in my life that care for me, I haven't "lived." Please.

[Thomas Merton]

You make my argument for me...forgive me for not accurately describing the reason for his ultimate demise. You are correct, is was the seeds he ate, not the root. Funny thing is there was no mention in any of the books Chris read that the seeds were poisonous. He made a simple mistake which cost him his life. Until that mistake, he managed to squeeze two amazing years on the road, completely free and real. Sure, he romanticized nature and under-estimated it, but for the fact he couldnt cross the Techlinka river he'd be on a book tour, not Krakauer.

I also teach at W.T. Woodson with many of his former teachers. Your flippant, get an internet message board laugh is an insult to his family and a great kid. Ass

[fezident]

Just saw INTO THE WILD.
I both loved it and kinda hated it at the same time.

(I didn't read the book)


The trailers made it seem as though Chris just wanted to get in touch with nature. As if, maybe he realized that that there's more to life than just junkfood & gadgets. I felt let-down that his motivations weren't that noble or simple. Rather... he was running away from his home life.

The fact that his father had an affair and another child with that mistress just didn't seem like it should "damage his very soul" and "wound him deeply & terribly" and "tear at the very fabric of his painful existence" etc etc.

(that's my opinion now, perhaps the book expounds those reasons more than the screenplay)



I guess what I'm saying is; he had it pretty good. And.. even with the parental turmoil (mother was abused, father was abusive) it just seemed like he packed up and restarted his life for no real reason. His problems were not unfixable. The impetus was merely to make his parents see the errors of their ways. And to exact revenge. To make them worry. To make them wish they'd thought longer & harder about the kind of upbringing they put him through.. Going in... I thought that HE was gonna be the one rethinking things.


Visually, I thought it was a fantastic movie. I hope it wins awards for it's stunning cinematography.
As a STORY, I thought it could've been better.






Finally..... I also liked that it was a cross between a scripted drama and a "documentary". I don't think I've ever seen a movie assembled in this manner. Having the characters occasionally look directly into the camera made it very real for me.

[ryno1974]

I haven't sen into the wild (married, 3 kids, the last thing I saw in the theaters was meet the Robinsons) but I do have a comment about movies and how they are judged. Does it bug anyone else that Hollywood only seems to release the "good" movies in the fall? I mean there are good movies in the summer too (blockbuster action flicks usually) but it seems that as far as critical acclaim is concerned, it is only the last 90 days of the year that matter.

I know this is not a great revelation, but it is annoying none the less.

[TheMojoPin]

You make my argument for me...

So far your "argument" is that you've decided that people you've never met haven't "lived" and their lives couldn't possibly compare to someone who abandoned theirs and everyone that cared about them and then died in the woods. Please point out exactly how I or anyone else have "proven" anything.

Until that mistake, he managed to squeeze two amazing years on the road, completely free and real.

Good for him. People have different standards as to what they consider wise decisions or a life well spent. If you think what he did is great, hey, bully for you, go with it. But don't presume to tell other people who you don't know that their lives are "wasted" or aren't as good as his because they think what he did was ultimately not well thought out and ultimately pretty ridiculous.

I have tons of respect to people who devote their lives to understanding and learning from and ultimately learning from the environment and the nature around us. I have little sympathy for someone who responds to issues in his personal life by abandoning his family and friends without a word to go and "live free" in a wilderness they have relatively little knowledge of.

I also teach at W.T. Woodson with many of his former teachers. Your flippant, get an internet message board laugh is an insult to his family and a great kid. Ass

Who cares if you work with some of his teachers? That somehow negates my opinions? This is a public message board, and the book and film have turned him into a public figure whose actions and life are going to be learned about and evaluated by others. He's not a static figure who means something universal to anyone and everyone...his actions are going to be judged and received differently by everyone that learns about them. In the end, I think what he did was foolish, misguided and ultimately cost him his life and brought suffering to his family. He insulted them already by abandoning them for ultimately pissy little reasons (in the face of what it eventually cost him and then) and then depriving them of his existence by dying in the woods and never telling them he was leaving or why or anything...just nothing until he died.