This is the thread where we discuss matters pertaining to the detrius that accompanies the "End of the Year in Cinema" -- 2007

Then there are these.

It's going to take a committed effort to wait until December to start this thread from here on out.

Apparently, I'm ready to end the year before it even started for me.

Eric - did you get the webmail i sent you?

i am a big fan of the frames, but i wouldn't have much interest in once.

i can't say that i saw any particular memorable movies this year that were made this year.

Yep, it worked. I will write you back later today.

That my top 3 most memorable "movies" of the year were each about two minutes long -- the three Grindhouse trailers -- is my movie year in a nutshell.

good stuff.

i pretty much agree w/ darraghmac. the only thing i loved from 2007 was INLAND EMPIRE even though i found swathes of it very flawed. my highlight of the year was definitely the new print of Distant Voices, Still Lives.

"Away from Her" was easily my least favourite film of the year.

xpost

2007 stands out as a year that i used to catch up on movies that i really should have seen before and didn't.

last night was serpico with a pizza. the other option was stardust. easy really.

next week- dirty harries, maybe french connections again. i'm in a hard boiled 70's cop place right now.

i'd watch stardust over serpico!

it may come to that yet, my local video store isn't all that.

There are five films that loom very large for me:

INLAND EMPIRE
Into The Wild (which I saw last night am still sort of shaking from)
The Namesake
The Science Of Sleep (wasn't released in the UK till this year)
The Heartbreak Kid (I am probably alone here, but I don't get why. So much more interesting than all those Judd Apatow gang comedies)

i am a big fan of the frames, but i wouldn't have much interest in once.

This is beserk. His awful music was the thing that spoiled Once for me. If you like The Frames, you should definitely see it.

I'll go and see Anna M. next week, which I hardly know anything about, but which for some reason I have a funny, positive feeling about making my favourites of the year. 2007 has been a really great year for me. So many films made such a deep impression on me.

2007 may end up going down as the year 1990s auteurism went down hard. I skipped theatrical showings of new movies from David Fincher, Wes Anderson, David Cronenberg, et al.

Industry crisis!

went down hard for YOU, blogger-in-exile!

I was 'chuffed,' as our Brit friends say, that I wasn't allowed to vote for Killer of Sheep, but that Inland, a 2006 work, made the Stylus list 2 years in a row.

also, I steered clear of Once even before Eric dissed it, bcz someone wrote it's "the film equivalent of a John Mayer song, but that's not a bad thing."

Hey, I blogged a couple weeks ago and might again before the end of the month.

thx; one gets out of the habit of checking!

Better, but even I'm surprised by Children Of Men at #2.

ugh, not better. Forget my disgust at Before Sunset & Y Tu Mama -- I like You Can Count on Me, but one of the decade's best???

Also, they screwed Munich in the scoring.

How so?

I guess I merely meant that Mulholland isn't a totally embarassing #1 like Once.

Dr Morbius, "chuffed" means "pleased", you know?

just the reverse of what I'd remembered in my morning coma; thx, Alba. Pissed, then (the US meaning).

jaymc did the math on the Stylus scoring, I should have put it in a LOL thread. (in brief, it was on 2 lists including a #1)

Jed has stolen my thoughts upthread re: Inland Empire and Distant Voices - by a mile my two cinematic highlights of 07.

Too many films I haven't seen and will likely catch on DVD – that's why I didn't vote in the Stylus thread. Away From Her and ....Barley are two faves, but hardly top five material.

From that Stylus thing:

take your crush to see Once. Just remember to thank me when you’re rounding third base.

Ew. What was that he was saying about cynicism?

EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

"When you're rounding third base, think of me!"

THE David Holmes?

Death Proof but not Planet Terror = List Can Eat Its Own Ass

With Death Proof it’s different, because I just don’t think while it’s on.

evidently!

from the Variety article:

"2007 was an incredibly strong year for independent film," said Michelle Byrd, exec director of IFP. "Ranging from the small gems produced on micro-budgets to extraordinary films from specialty divisions, the nominees all share the type of creative vision and risk-taking that are a hallmark of independent film."

I prefer to round third base after Fight Club.

Giving my credit paydowns and Hollywood and indieland's piss-poor 21st-century track records, I am going to repertory and museum fare more than ever.

oh, those daredevil conglomerate specialty divisions

http://animatedtv.about.com/library/graphics/ralph.jpg

Yay! I'm a specialty division!

Thanks to speciality divisions, we'll NEVER miss a little sunshine.

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/MMPO/MyBigFatGreekWedding.jpg

no one wants to bet vs. Once securing that Little Sacchaine Pill That Could best picture nomination, right?

I wasn't mad about Once but I don't think it's fair to call it saccharine.

If we're talking Oscar predictions, Hal Holbrook in Into The Wild looks odds-on to win best supporting actor. He deserves it, too.

yeah, he should've won for Wild in the Streets.

i saw one of those wild on! specials, i didn't think the acting was that good in it.

Alba, looking forward to seeing "Into The Wild" - i wasn't sure if i was going to check it out but i definitely will now.

Stevie T - i'm so glad we agree!

I like You Can Count on Me, but one of the decade's best???

Yes.

I've seen practically nothing this year but am hoping to catch up soon. I think I'm gonna see Before the Devil Knows Your Dead on Friday. And Away From Her is sitting atop my DVD player, waiting for me.

[You're]

There is nothing that has even the whiff of innovative/adventurous cinematic tehnique in YCCoMe, which disqualifies it from that level of praise. It's the old "film-imitates-lit-fiction" template.

i saw before the devil... last night. god i hate ethan hawke.

I agree with everything in your post, Dr. Morbius, except "which disqualifies it from that level of praise." I found the acting marvelous.

I usu hate Hawke too, but less so when he plays rogues -- Hamlet, the guy in Tape. I'll be seeing that Lumet Monday it seems.

no one wants to bet vs. Once securing that Little Sacchaine Pill That Could best picture nomination, right?

I predicted that a couple months ago, stopped a month ago when I realized how completely, irreparably insignificant the movie is, and am now back to predicting it again.

You have Hilary Clinton, I have "humanist" movie-tracts.

well, hating an anti-humanist like HRC is a lot more noble!

(is there a hunch that will keep you away from Away from Her too?)

No, at least that one didn't win Palme.

oh so you're using Cannes like a Rex-Reed-O-Meter, now?

No, more like Rosenbaum.

You must've been real excited when Michael Moore won a few years back, right?

not particularly, tho he makes good-enough screeds. I liked the speech better than F9/11.

On that, we can agree.

I am an Eminem fan tho! (at least the first 3 albums)

On second thought, that woman whose son died in Iraq did make me tear up. So F9/11 was better than Chats perchés, at least.

Will you never shut up?

LADIES, LADIES

we're just doing vintage Siskel-Ebert (w/ extra helpings of bitch)!

Morbs, you and I finally have a shared favorite film of the year, and Eric reminded me why I was mistaken to change the channel one Saturday afternoon in November when Red Dawn was playing.

I am an Eminem fan tho! (at least the first 3 albums)

o_O

the 4th is better than the 3rd, btw

yes

Gone Baby Gone on my Netflix queue, all set for next week. Boy, am I gonna be upset if it's Oscar prole-bait.

maybe I miscounted MM albums, I'm not a "muso."

I have Black Book from the library.

Senses of Cinema's World Poll:

http://www.sensesofcinema.com/

The International Cinephile Society?

http://www.awardsdaily.com/?p=1363

Finally saw Gone Baby Gone. The first two-thirds are so gripping that it makes the last implausible 30 minutes more offensive. Amy Ryan pretty good (best line: "I feel like 9-11 now") but everyone except a muted Michelle Monaghan was terrific.

Casey Affleck does all kinds of tricks with that gurgled voice of his. What strange screen presence.

I actually felt kinda the opposite - the opening hour or so was fantastic, then it felt needlessly oppressive and dull for a little stretch in the middle, then pulled out a surprisingly effective ending. I didn't mind Monaghan except that she was a little too conspicuously more attractive than all the other women in the film.

Also the audience I saw it with roffled when Morgan Freeman's character made his first appearance on the TV press conference.

And yes Affleck was great to watch, as was Harris.

Gone Baby Gone was pretty great until the big quarry scene and from the following narration on things got gradually more and more off key. By the time Casey Affleck is ranting at Morgan Freeman it gets into serious stfu territory.

-- da croupier, Saturday, December 8, 2007 5:01 AM (2 months ago) Bookmark Link

SO OTM. this movie sucked and was endless after the first 40 minutes

my fav line was that the mother's alibi involved her going across the street to see Wife Swap, her fav show

also, SPOILER i guess
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there was a moment somewhere abt that 40 minutes in mark where i was like there better not be some gay the cops are in on it twist or im gonna wreck some shit

As far as movies that try to redeem hokey thriller material with that old Strained Seriousness, GBG is at least leagues preferable to Michael Clayton.

Also, wau this thread passed the 1K mark.

man i will take everything about michael clayton over gone baby gone

There's nothing in GBG as egregious as Tilda Swinton's sweaty 'pits.

Or the entire plot of Clayton.

johnny crunch, did you really think Ed Harris would be cast as a virtuous cop?

yeah i guess not. there was too much backstory coming out abt his character & the goatee just made him look dubious.

I hope you Film Comment reader got your poll ballots in.

(except nrq)

wow, glad I missed the Indie Spirits -- a Junofest. and the not-too-funny guy from The Office hosting.

i'm a contributor, dogg.

I'm glad I didn't know.

FC readers poll -- same top 3 as crix, Gone Baby Gone is highest non-critic entry, Barleyup 11 spots.

http://www.filmlinc.com/fcm/poll/07extendedma.html

Alpha Dog is great....realllly great.

EVERYONE SHOULD GO WATCH IT. IT'S STARTING IN, LIKE, 20 MINUTES ON SOME MOVIE CHANNEL. (is there really no thread about this movie?)

I'm Not a Puppy, Not Yet a Dog

I just watched it a second time. I kinda think they should have ended it w/ SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER fat SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER sharon stone

right before maybe. surely someone else loved this?

Michael Sicinski top 17:

http://academichack.net/2007topten.htm#2007

Yet one more prompt for Eric to view I'm Not There.

http://tedpigeon.blogspot.com/2008/08/year-that-was-year-that-is-cinema-2007.html

Is the point that his list isn't affected by end-of-year hype? Cause most of those movies he chose were pretty much the same ones being forced down everyone's throats during critics' awards season.

Most Lars and the Real Girl comments seem to lead here...Not what I thought it was going to be--I expected a comedy, not a somewhat morbid mood piece. I could never really accept the film's central conceit, the idea that the whole town would play along, but other than that, some nice moments. I remembered Paul Schneider from All the Real Girls--he's really good, not sure why he doesn't get bigger parts or more attention. Kelli Garner and Emily Mortimer very good too. Gosling, I don't know--kind of mannered.

The Muriels' 10-years-later poll ... Zodiac tops.

http://www.murielawards.org/07anniv.html

1. Zodiac (dir. David Fincher) [193 points / 30 votes]

2. There Will Be Blood (dir. Paul Thomas Anderson) [193 points / 28 votes]
3. No Country For Old Men (dirs. Joel and Ethan Coen) [174 points / 27 votes]
4. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (dir. Andrew Dominik) [71 points / 11 votes]
5. Death Proof (dir. Quentin Tarantino) [62 points / 10 votes]
6. I’m Not There (Todd Haynes) [48/8]
7. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu) [34/6]
8. Silent Light (Carlos Reygadas) [33/5]
9. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Julian Schnabel) [31/5]
10. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Tim Burton) [30/6]

Kind of a shit year, actually.