Top Ten of 2007

by Brian Zitzelman

10. Michael Clayton -

After gaining years of praise as the screenwriter for the mega-successful Bourne series, Tony Gilroy stepped into the directing chair with Michael Clayton, a walloping, tense drama. Aided by a marvelous cast, including Tilda Swinton, Sydney Pollack, Tom Wilkinson and headed by George Clooney, Gilroy turned what could have easily been a cookie-cutter Grishamesque tale into a rich character piece that knew how to turns its screws too. A thoroughly impressive debut feature and further proof that Clooney deserves to be as famous as he has become.

9. A Mighty Heart - Few people seem interested in dramas set in recent history, let alone those of a sincerely tragic nature. Even more people seemed unwilling to accept Angelina Jolie as anything but a sensual sex goddess, often fully armed with a 9mm. Those willing to try both had Michael Winterbottom's A Mighty Heart, the story of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl's final days. Winterbottom imbued his picture with energy, keeping the melodrama at bay, focusing much of the film on the dire search for Daniel Pearl, while keeping an honest heart with Jolie's performance as the pregnant wife Mariane. Jolie has simply never been better. Her performance is natural, scared, passionate and human. A tough watch but a powerful one.

8. Eastern Promises - David Cronenberg seems intent on building a new legacy as of late, forging a career as a slightly mainstream filmmaker who keeps his quirks and singular unique vision in hand, just telling stories of a slightly less oddball nature. Eastern Promises, his follow up to the phenomenal A History of Violence, is the director's second time around with Viggo Mortensen, arguably the best duo working in cinema these days. The movie never lets up without being overbearing, Cronenberg unleashes a series of dark, disturbing visual flourishes, crescendoing with the overnight classic Russian bathhouse fight. Mortensen is a towering figure on screen and the fact that he makes you forget about the always sublime Naomi Watts is a feat in and of itself.

7. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street -

The two feel right for each other, don't they? Tim Burton. Sweeney Todd. Thankfully, they found coincided after all these years as Burton weaves a tight, sinisterly bombastic musical out of Stephen Sondheim's beloved show. Few director can create as vivid a world as Burton and here, he unleashes a bloody, cold London, whose morals are as meager as the quality of ingredient's in Mrs. Lovett's pies. Johnny Depp, Burton's go to guy, seethes, screams and sings his heart out, an enchanting presence that is the actor's best work in years. Of course, a musical is only as good as its songs and Sondheim's are as witty and romping as they come. You'll hum along, even as you shield your eyes.

6. The Savages - Tamara Jenkins returns to the screen with her searingly good The Savages. A stark, bitter picture at times, Jenkins' movie is propelled by a trio of lovely performances. Philip Bosco's portrayal of a father with dementia is almost haunting, a lovable man who clearly has done some horrific things and continues to have a vicious temper. Philip Seymour Hoffman, who continues to amaze, is sad but content, occasionally crying at breakfast but unflinching in his desires to finish his book, despite any seeming interest in it by others. Finally, there is Laura Linney, an actress who may have never been better than as Wendy Savage. Linney's Wendy is a heartbreaker, constantly making the wrong decision, a mix of naivety and optimism, that glows all the brighter when surrounded by the film's Philips. At its best, The Savages is the finest combination of drama and comedy since Sideways. A confident, smart picture that makes one beg for Jenkins to not leave us for so long again.

5. Juno -

In a solid year for comedies, Juno was the funniest, wittiest and sharpest of them all. Pitch perfect, from Jason Reitman's soft touch, to Diablo Cody's uproarious script to a to die for cast, Juno was littered with memorable moments. The movie may teeter on cloying and cutesy, and clearly for some it is those things. However, I found Juno to be a tender round of laughs, that made me clap in joy, root on the titular character and ready to weep tears of glee. Ellen Page, following up her breakout performance in 2006's Hard Candy, is the girl many claim to unbelievable but is thankfully real, the smart-ass optimist cynic, who has more brains than most but is as likely as any other high schooler to fall prey to emotions over their head. It is a sensational feat of acting and writing. Michael Cera, the MVP of comedy for 2007, sings a bunch too, so what else could one ask for?

4. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - A grand, epic bout of filmmaking, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford slowly sinks itself into your veins, drawing you closer into its astoundingly gorgeous, eerie hands. For all its subtleties, Andrew Dominick's second film packs a vigorous punch, leaving one almost breathless at its achievement. Casey Affleck gives maybe the performance of the year as Robert Ford, fighting his anger, disappointment, fear and admiration in each glance towards his hero Jesse, a solid Brad Pitt. Roger Deakins' cinematography is hair-raising, driven to an even higher level by the sensational score of Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. Dominick's ability to draw tension from the slightest of movements, especially in the film's final hour, is miraculous, given the picture's title. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is a bold piece of cinema whose praise will likely only grow in the years to come.

3. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - The first 20 minutes or so grab you and will not let go would be an accurate description of Julian Schnabel's The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Schnabel opens his film stuck behind the eyes of a paralyzed body. The almost lifeless frame is that of Jean-Dominique Bauby, Elle magazine's one time editor, now living life where all he can truly do for himself physically is blink. His mind is fine, however. As cliche and expected as it may sound, what takes place in Schnabel's movie is a powerful experience. Not so much a triumph of the human spirit but an acceptance of it, its failures, dreams and abilities. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is not a film experience that will quickly leave your head and neither would you want it to.

2. No Country for Old Men - Possibly the finest American filmmakers of the past 20 years released perhaps their pinnacle effort to date in No Country for Old Men. The Coens, whose ability to draw humor out of the harshest of situations, are in top form adapting Cormac McCarthy's grizzled tale, creating an anxiety ridden picture that keeps one guessing, using natural thriller rhythms against the viewer. Josh Brolin and Kelly Macdonald are splendid, Tommy Lee Jones is flawless and Javier Bardem is as frightening as humanly possible. Where the film takes the extra step is its portrayal of violence, its brutality, senselessness and its arbitrary nature, and how one reacts to it. The Coens lay it all on the table, bare for all and let the naked truth be seen. A pulse pounder without equal.

1. Once -

Simply put, no movie came out in 2007 that sat with me longer, made me reminisce about it as frequently or bask in its pleasures as frequently as Once did. Two people meet, they chat, they long for one another and they sing. Once's story is plain but writer/director John Carney's telling of it is glorious to take in. Great romantic cinema makes one ache for two characters to hold each other longingly and Glen Hansard and Marketa Irgolova's lovers are exactly that, poignant and earnest in their feelings. The songs propel each emotion further with Hansard and Irglova's voice's achingly speaking their true feelings to which they are unable to say otherwise. A no-budget picture has not been this mesmerizing in years, nor has a love story been this rapturous. Once echoes the rhapsodies and pitfalls of falling for someone, a special and miraculous picture.