While it's true that 2007 is far from over,December is the prime month for reviewing the best and the worst of the year. With that in mind,here is the official LRG list of Best Movies of '07,that I've classified according to the format in which I saw them in.
I was originally planning to highlight only the films that I watched in theaters but that really didn't seem right to me. With such a strict limit,that leaves out quite a few good movies and since most folks catch up on current flicks via DVD,it only makes sense to add those rental finds in. So,without further delay,let's get on with the show:
FAVORITE FUNNY FLICKS AT THE MULTIPLEX
I saw Hot Fuzz on my birthday this year and it was truly a real treat and a half. Simon Pegg and company(the brilliant Brits who brought us Shaun of the Dead) teamed up with a few new faces for a hilarious parody of buddy cop action films,set in a small out of the way village in England where mysterious deaths always seemed to be easily declared "accidents" by the local police.
Hot Fuzz didn't get the fan love that SOTD did,which is a shame. Lots of folks missed out on enjoying some great laughs and wild shootouts that would've made Jerry Bruckheimer pea green with envy:
I didn't have high expects for Knocked Up,but it turned out to be a damn fine film about fumbling your way into family life and dealing with the consequences of adulthood(it also has some good Doc Brown jokes,too).
It's a very much a boy's club of a film but KU has two strong female performances from Leslie Mann(writer/director Judd Apatow's offsceen spouse)and Katherine Heigl,who kicks quite a bit of ass,in a non violent but lethally verbal way:
VIVA LA EXPLOITATION!
As one of the few who did venture out to see Grindhouse in it's double feature format last spring,I really wish that it had been released on DVD that way. I know that eventually there will a "special edition" set(hopefully with the mock trailers included!)released,which is the only reason that I've been holding off on getting the two separated films for my video library.
That being said,I must confess to preferring Planet Terror over Death Proof. As much as I adore Tarantino's wordplay,Planet Terror was alot more rock n' roll and filled with a good number of memorable lines as well. Not to mention a chick with a machine gun leg:
I'm not a big Rose McGowan fan by any means,but she was amazing as Cherry Darling,one of the most unlikely heroines to grace the silver screen:
Death Proof had it's share of thrills and chills,even if it took some time to get where it was going. Kurt Russell was charmingly evil as Stuntman Mike and it was cool to see Zoe Bell riding the top of that car.
There are fans who find Death Proof to be the "superior" of the two films,but it's really just a matter of opinion. While both were juicy junk food delights,I felt that Planet Terror was more of the high octane cinematic ride than Death Proof claimed to be:
SOMETHING A BIT MORE LADYLIKE
While I missed Becoming Jane(which is due on DVD before Valentine's Day of '08),I did find the time to indulge in The Jane Austen Book Club,a lovely adaptation of Karen Joy Fowler's ode to art imitating life and love. One of my favorite characters in the film was Prudie,played to perfection by Emily Blunt,the prim and proper miss who was drawn to shake up her marriage with a throughly imprudent affair:
REEL MOVIE MAGIC
To cap off a great year for Harry Potter fans,Order of the Phoenix was available for viewing in IMAX 3-D. The story was strong enough without it but the 3-D was a nice little bonus that made watching the finale all that more fun. And regardless of what ever certain people feel about the headmaster of Hogwarts after Rowling's revelation of his personal inclinations,you can't deny that Dumbledore's got style:
MOST DISAPPOINTING FILM OF THE YEAR
Spiderman 3 was a weak film but I didn't realize how bad it was until I watched the second Fantastic Four movie,Rise of the Silver Surfer(courtesy of Netflix). Sorry,folks but the FF follow-up really had a better flow and much much tightly connected storyline than Spidey 3 did. Also,it was more entertaining to watch FF:ROTSS at home than to check out the underdeveloped and over convoluted multi-tiered pile of subplots that collapsed like a poorly made cake on a Food Network Challenge on route to the judge's table.
Don't get wrong,I was amused by Peter Parker's Venomous dance routines and some of the fisticuffs but in the end,the guys at How It Should Have Ended have it right:
BEST DVD DISCOVERY
To end things on a positive note,I was happy to finally see Black Snake Moan on DVD after hearing so much about this bizarre take on love,loss and emotional pains that heal best when shared with others. This was a movie so good that Justin Timberlake was actually tolerable to watch and gave a decent performance to boot. One of the highlights of the movie was any scene where Samuel L. Jackson got to sing. Not everyone can swear and sing with true authentic style and soul:
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