Laremy Legel,
Dec 31, 2007
My personal top ten list features comedy, music, thrillers and of course awkward and wordy titles. The list has changed a little bit since the summer, a few new entrants and one film that needed reconsideration. Read on for one man's opinion.
1. Atonement: Am I a sucker for a fastball of an ending? Yes, yes I am. But I also appreciate the care and patience which was poured into this lovely story. For ninety minutes I thought I knew exactly what this was, but then, with a daring usage of Vanessa Redgrave Atonement kicks it into another gear.
2. No Country for Old Men: This is a superbly crafted film, full of wry humor and deadly confrontations. The Coen Brothers are back in fine form. Everything doesn't have to add up smoothly in their world, it just has to be interesting. This is one damn fine work of motion picture art.
3. The Golden Door: I've ordered the DVD to make sure, hopefully I wasn't losing my mind on that warm June night when I enjoyed it so much. The Golden Door offers stunning visuals and a film that evolves with the time period. It starts in the old world and traverses towards the new - all while gaining momentum. It's such a clever little movie that I wonder why no one else has caught on.
4. Reign Over Me: I don't know that I've seen a better portrait of grief in... well, ever. The chemistry here between Cheadle and Sandler is incredible, and I wonder why the world steadfastly refuses to accept Sandler as a serious actor given this and Punch Drunk Love.
5. The Kingdom: You wanna talk about an underrated thriller? You wanna talk about classic one liners to cut the tension? Sorry, was channeling Paul Maguire there for a moment. This flick was what so many trailers promise to be, non-stop suspense with a quasi-plausible plotline. I'll never get why so many people passed here. People, this wasn't a war movie, or a message movie, it was just a "good" movie.
6. Once: The first time I saw Once I thought it was a very good movie. The second time I realized it was top ten movie. It really grows on you. As an Irish musical drama this has no reason to be any good, and I've never seen anything quite like it. But the film comes from the heart, a plucky little underdog, and as such I've got to give it its due.
7. Stardust: This was a love story, a comedy, a fantasy epic... everything rolled into one. This also has one of the most interesting final scenes of the year. No, not battle in the castle, the race to get to Yvaine at the town wall is what I speak of. How many variables were there to that conflict? Five? Six? An evil prince, two witches, a hero, an awful maiden, it was a great build-up to a charming final act.
8. Superbad: This is a legit film. It's damned funny, in unexpected ways, I was lucky enough to get a chance to watch a second time on a flight back from overseas. The unedited version too! Crazy eh? It was a good thing I did - the first time I saw it people kept laughing over the secondary punchlines.
9. Meet the Robinsons: I can't for the life of me figure why this doesn't get Pixar level love. It was easily the best animation of the year, way better than that rat film. Why don't we want innovation? A real story? A few laughs? Sometimes it's as though this microphone isn't even on.
10. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford: There's only one thing not to like here: the awkward title. This film was also the rare instance of a voiceover really working. That, paired with an unconventional ending lands this bad boy in my top ten. When will Casey Affleck start becoming known as "the" Affleck on the acting front? Soon I hope.
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Laremy Legel is the producer of the film.com movies page. He also quite likes calzones.
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