Upon creating the list that follows this blurb, I kept thinking of how the great Manohla Dargis prefaced her top ten in The New York Times last week:
THE whole point of a Top 10 list, a friend recently scolded me, is to number them. (I was declining to do so.) My friend was wrong, but only because Top 10 lists are artificial exercises, assertions of critical ego, capricious and necessarily imperfect. (I have a suspicion that the sacred 10 is meant to suggest biblical certainty, as if critics are merely worldly vessels for some divine wisdom.) More than anything they are a public ritual, which is their most valuable function. I tell you what I liked, and you either agree with my list (which flatters us both) or denounce it (which flatters you). It’s a perfect circle.
Its difficult to argue with Dargis’ claims, but although these lists are essentially an artificial exercise, they are and always have been a whole lot of fun for me to read and to write, and do provide genuine recommendations to whoever reads them. They are as problematic as any kind of competitive criticism, from the Academy Awards on. Maybe also because they quickly grow outdated. Looking back on last year’s list, I’d already like to rearrange them in hindsight. But I am also reminded of how great this year’s films were. I wonder if the film that was #6 last year would even have a shot at the top 15 in 2007.
So what I’m getting at is this: Ranking, summarizing and thematizing the films of 2007 is an unusually daunting task. And perhaps that is mostly due to its undeniable excellence more than the problems of list-making in itself. This excellence unfortunately makes for about a dozen or more worthy films miss out on the artificial celebration of top tendom. Sarah Polley‘s “Away From Her” and Julian Schnabel‘s “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” are likely the closest calls, both deeply moving (but vastly different) explorations of human illness. While Polley’s quiet intimacy is, in a way, no match for Schnabel’s visuals, both left me in an emotional place only a great filmmaker can bring me. Though many disagree, I loved Noah Baumbach‘s ode-to-dysfunctional-sisterdom “Margot at the Wedding,” and while it might have irritating in its tendency to try soo hard to be clever, Jason Reitman‘s “Juno” is a very challenging film not to adore at least a little bit. Also notable were the fantastic coming-of-age skinhead flick “This is England,” magically animated Iran-France co-production “Persepolis,” and David Cronenberg‘s intense “Eastern Promises,” featuring a truly incredible performance from my Viggo. Even the usually lackluster summer season brought many surprises from Hollywood’s money factory that I have few negative things to say about, from Judd Apatow‘s mainstream comedy classics, “Superbad” and “Knocked Up,” the best threequel ever, Paul Greengrass‘s explosive “The Bourne Ultimatum,” and the definative feel-good film, the shockingly well-pulled off “Hairspray”. And though certainly not feel-good, Hollywood’s other big movie musical of the year, “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” is also quite worthy. While it may not have fulfilled my sky-high expectations, you have to admire Tim Burton‘s vision and Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter‘s demonic energy.
But all those films fall into “also-ran” status (today at least, perhaps in a year’s time repeat viewings will propel them), and the ten that managed to make it exceeded them for a wide variety of reasons.
Year-end articles seem to be highlighting the “I’m gonna keep my baby” trilogy of “Juno,” “Knocked Up” and “Waitress,” the now-unquestionable return of the Hollywood musical, and the plethora of Iraq films (and their overwhelming financial failure). The films I’ve centered out seem to provide an antithesis to these themes: Christian Mingui‘s “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,” the year’s best and most unlikely thriller, rawly portrays abortion in 1980s Romania and reminds women like Juno just how imperative her right to choose is; John Carney‘s truly magical “Once,” which cost just $150,000, managed to show up two of the best big Hollywood musicals in years by proving how innocent filmmaking still can be; Paul Thomas Anderson‘s masterful and intensely ambitious (though not as ambitious as Todd Haynes’ “I’m Not There,” though not nearly as flawed either) “There Will Be Blood,” could be coupled with the Coens’ “No Country For Old Men” and Sidney Lumet‘s “Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead” as 2007’s cinematic triad of greed, each playing homage to Hollywood past to perhaps metaphorically represent today’s society better than any of their contemporary Iraq-themed counterparts, and also showing us three auteurs, each at vastly different stages of their careers, and each at the very top of their game. The rest of my list is quite the hodge podge, from the best Pixar film ever (quite the proclamation) to the dark comic counterpart to “Away From Her” to a misunderstood fable about a man and his sex doll. Together they brought me 12 hours of cinematic bliss, and ranking them brought me yet another.
The complete list (with ordered also-rans after the jump):
1. “There Will Be Blood”
2. “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days”
3. “Ratatouille”
4. “No Country for Old Men”
5. “Once”
6. “I’m Not There”
7. “Zodiac”
8. “Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead”
9. “The Savages”
10. “Lars and the Real Girl”
And, because lists get me off:
11. “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”
12. “Away From Her”
13. “Eastern Promises
14. “This is England”
15. “No End in Sight”
16. “The Bourne Ultimatum”
17. “Persepolis”
18. “Margot at the Wedding”
19. “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”
20. “Juno”
21. “Superbad”/“Knocked Up”
22. “Hairspray”
23. “Control”
24. “Atonement”
25. “Smiley Face”
Honorable Mentions: “The Lookout”, “Michael Clayton”, “Sicko”, “The Darjeeling Limited”, “Gone Baby Gone”, “Waitress” and “The Simpsons Movie”
One of my very favourite blogs, New York Magazine’s Vulture had a very fun group of ‘07 celebrity quotes up today (accompanied by that photo).
My personal favourite:
“I’m the Ali of today. I’m the Marvin Gaye of today. I’m the Bob Marley of today. I’m the Martin Luther King, or all the other greats that have come before us. And a lot of people are starting to realize that now.” —R. Kelly
The rest after the jump
“Who’s Lee King?” —Mel B. when asked her opinion on the Spice Girls’ music leaking on the Internet
“It’s easy, if you’re a poet, to write complex verses like, ‘I’m coming after you like VWXYZ.’ Just think about that. It’s like, ‘Yo, V does come after U! That’s fucking crazy!’ My mind thinks like that all the time, coming up with crazy clever metaphors and rhymery thingies.” —Will.I.Am on his creative process
“That’s a wonderful side effect of leather pants: when you pee yourself in them, they’re more forgiving than jeans.” —Slash on the benefits of being a rock star
“I’m the Ali of today. I’m the Marvin Gaye of today. I’m the Bob Marley of today. I’m the Martin Luther King, or all the other greats that have come before us. And a lot of people are starting to realize that now.” —R. Kelly
“I once sat next to a guy on a plane who complained he didn’t want to take his kid to ice-skating lessons because they were too expensive. He was sitting in first class. I told him: ‘I’m so glad I didn’t have a parent like you.’ My family has always supported me and revelled in my success.” —Reese Witherspoon on why it sucks to sit next to her on a plane
“I would say millions.” —Stevie Nicks, estimating how much money she’s spent on cocaine in her life
”[I] don’t believe there’s any difference between a monogamous and a polygamous relationship. Those are all just big words, like ‘gymnasium.’” —Gene Simmons on open marriage
“Somebody came to CAA with a project [starring] Jackie Chan and wanted to attach Pearl to it.” —Proud father Adam McKay on the attention daughter Pearl received following her performance in Will Ferrell’s viral video “The Landlord”
“Apatow kept saying, ‘Less semen. More emotion.’” —Knocked Up star Seth Rogen on taking scriptwriting advice from director Judd Apatow
“I ordered a Hummer hybrid.” —Noted environmentalist Paris Hilton. Unfortunately, according to a Hummer spokesman, there is no such car
“Laughing and all that dumb shit he used to do — he wouldn’t mess with me because I didn’t fucking play that shit. That’s taking all the attention off of everybody else and putting it on you, like, ‘Oh, look at me, I’m the cute one.’ I told him not to do that shit in my sketches, so he never did.” —Tracy Morgan on working with former SNL co-star Jimmy Fallon
“You will come to in front of your disappointed parents with a face full of Sharpie and the sneaking suspicion that you’ve been teabagged by one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2007.” —John Mayer warns underage drinkers what will happen if they misbehave at future concerts
“People say, ‘Why do you want to put a clothespin on your nuts?’ You know why? Because that’s what I do for a living.” —Aaron Eckhart on Method acting
“Jemaine went to the Viper Room the other night, got to the door and the woman said, ‘$10, please.’ Then somebody turns to her [mimes whispering] and she goes, “$5, please.’ That’s my favorite experience. Not free, but celebrity discount — half-off entrance to a club.” —Bret McKenzie of Flight of the Conchords on how he and partner Jemaine Clement let their celebrity work for them
“I do want to apologize publicly for that tape. Not for the tape … just for hanging out with Scott Stapp.” —Kid Rock on the sex tape he made with Creed front man Stapp and four women
“I thought people were going to come up and say, ‘Your show ain’t funny. And you’re stupid. And you’ve got no chin’ … But they’ve been nice. A couple of times, people were like, ‘Can I hug you?’ Then they stab you with a hypodermic needle.” —Jack McBrayer, a.k.a. Kenneth on 30 Rock, on being recognized on the streets of New York
“How many 83-year-old men get up every morning knowing that they’re going to have a standing ovation sometime during the day?” —Bob Barker on what he’ll miss about The Price Is Right
“My whole mantra is ‘It doesn’t matter how big I get, there’s always the smell of cow shit.’ Because on my first tour, we played all these rodeos, and there literally was cow shit everywhere. But maybe God puts the cow shit there to drive me.” —Kelly Clarkson
“Many, many people did not watch Arrested Development, but the few who did are handing out some nice jobs in L.A.” —Jason Bateman on his recent success
“My husband used to play Halo. He used to have a bunch of SNL writers come over and play Halo. In my apartment they had this thing where they rigged three or four TVs together. They had them on a rolling cart and they’d play, and play online. Then guess what happened? I had a baby. That shut it all down.” —Tina Fey on how women can get their men to stop gaming
“The ride is designed to duplicate the Simpsons home-viewing experience, only at high speed and with lots of screaming.” —Matt Groening on Universal Studios’ 2008 Simpsons-themed ride
“My manager called and said, ‘Do you want to have David Duchovny snort cocaine off your ass in Californication?’ And I said, ‘As long as it’s not my naked ass — yes.’” —Judy Greer on her role as a hooker on the Showtime series
“Ryan Gosling. He was a good kid, good actor. I like him very much. What was the name of the movie? I’ve forgotten it. Fracture.” —Anthony Hopkins on his memorable co-stars and forgettable film titles
“I reckon Martin Scorsese is sitting somewhere in an office in New York and he sees [the title] American Gangster and he’s like, ‘Fuck! And I went with Casino?’” —Russell Crowe
“They finally fired him? Fuck! I was saying forever, ‘He doesn’t speak English, doesn’t anyone see that as a problem?’” —Timothy Olyphant, learning of the firing of Hitman director Xavier Gens
“I sometimes get blamed for the meatpacking district, yes. And I’m sorry.” —Michael Patrick King, creator of Sex and the City
“He insisted that I make a movie, and now four years later, I have now done that! Whatever he tells you to do, you have to do it, because he is the King of the Jews!” —Jerry Seinfeld, who was encouraged by Steven Spielberg to make Bee Movie
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