Movies of 2007

It sends chills down your spine. The closing shot ends and the credits start to roll. If you love film at all, your completely breathless when the movie ends. In all honesty, it's the best film of the last 10 years, without a doubt.

Basically every single shot in the movie serves a significant purpose and not one of those shots are ever boring or repetitive. The cinematography helps make that happen. Robert Elswit is a genius and deserved the oscar he received, bringing immense beauty to the movie.

The musical score is also something to praise greatly. Every piece of music fits perfectly into place into every single scene. The story is amazing anyways, but with the music in the right places, it feels like the whole movie transcends the boundaries of normal film making.

It's obvious that Anderson gets his influences from the greats, like Kubrick and Altman; but his own style mixed with his influences help craft a superb movie that is easily his most ambitious work to date.

And of course the performances. Oh D-Day. You are spectacular. I could easily say he's my favorite actor ever, but I have not seen him in enough movies to truly justify that claim. However, whoever he portrays he doesn't just play another character, he IS that person. But mostly anybody with a love of film already knows all about Daniel-Day Lewis so there's no point in explaining anymore. The inclusion of a phenomenal supporting cast along with the man carrying the movie himself, adds even more to an already modern day masterpiece.

If I ramble, I don't mean to. It's just that this movie can seriously not get enough praise. I've watched the movie now for a 2nd time, and it's so much better this time around. Moving on from here, I really don't know what P.T. Anderson can do to top himself. It's obvious though that he has a knack for superb story-telling and directorial skill. Anything he does is gold. Can't wait to see what he comes out with next.

Christopher McCandless: If we admit that human life can be ruled by reason, then all possibility of life is destroyed.

Review to be continued later...

It's a shame this didn't get an Oscar nomination, though I'm really not surprised. There's a great cast and a great screenplay but not something that would instantly click with most people. Another Fincher classic alongside Fight Club and Seven.

Another great Bale film. I had no expectations going into this, so maybe that was why I was so blown away. But really, what else could you possibly expect from Bale?

Wes Anderson has finally proven to me he is an amazing director. The man is a creative genius.

This is ridiculously funny, if you don't see it, your missing out on life.

Better than A History of Violence.

We're janitors Barry, and one of us needs to have the broom to sweep things up!

I came in expecting to be disappointed, but the end result was not that at all. I'll admit, it becomes cliche ridden at times, and Denzel gets ridiculous later on as well, but the entertainment was consistent throughout and you almost never get bored, except at certain points (I mean it's almost 3 hours long and a Scorsese film this is not). So come in to this movie looking for entertainment, not substance.

I don't really know what to say. It's one of the best musicals I have ever seen. And Rickman is amazing as always.

One of the most overlooked films of 2007. The acting is strong, even when the story tends to not stray from the predictable.

The 2nd half is significantly better and has much more humor. The beginning was just too British for me, I guess.

Oh my God. If I had known Paul Haggis had written/directed this movie, my opinion of it from the get go would have been completely different. And that is the reason why I am now able to appreciate the moving story, despite it's numerous flaws, to the fullest. Paul "Overly blunt" Haggis has yet to prove he is an amazing director, however it is apparent that he has honest intentions in the films he tries to make. He really does make things overly blunt, with plot moments where your like "Well yeah I know America and the Iraq war is fucked up, thanks for the heads up Paul!", yet the predictability of it all sometimes is not a burden as this is not a movie that is supposed to surprise you. Just make you understand and care. But I have to admit the one true saving grace of the movie has to be Tommy Lee Jones. Without his performance, the movie probably would have felt like another Crash, or something along those lines. But it's not. The fact that Tommy has given two Oscar-worth performances in one year is outstanding, including this and No Country For Old Men, and proves he is truly a great actor. He puts his heart and soul into what could essentially just could have been an old-hardened war vet who feels sorry for himself that he encouraged son to join the Army. But once again that is not the case. His Oscar-nomination was well deserved, despite the fact that the film at many times does not live up to his performance. One day Paul Haggis will probably get it right, but until then, at least he has In The Valley of Elah under his belt that provides one of the best performances of the year, other than Daniel-Day Lewis, of course.

Walk Hard is like a flawed science experiment by the mastermind of Judd Apatow. The fact that he was attempting to do a spoof, much like the Scary Movies, was a reason to be afraid. However, Apatow tends to steer away from most of the mindless stupidity the fore mentioned spoof movies usually consist of and make a fairly decent film. The talent is all there (i.e. John C. Reilly, Jenna Fischer, etc.), but Apatow never really finds his harmonious note, like his former works, The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up. Besides the horrendous first 15 minutes, you'll most likely be entertained with some random moments of true genius and comedy shining through.

When you have two of the greatest actors to ever live in a decent movie, you can't help but love it. Only for their performances though, Rob Reiner you sap.

Definitely better than his previous screen adaptations (Go, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), but doesn't live up to the potential he has. A little too ambitious for his own good and done better by other people, the whole existentialism thing (The Truman Show, etc.), but it's still entertaining and worth the watch. Also, Ryan Reynolds performance is really captivating and well done.