By Aaron 1/10/2008

So I kept putting off writing my favorite movies of 2007 list and now it’s almost immaterial. But it is of marginal material. Since most people’s fascination with lists has probably run out, I decided to go all in on one movie, and explain why it was the “best” movie of 2007. If you read my rant on favorites over on my other blog (you’d be one of two people), you would know that I prefer to write about “favorites” because “best ofs” are subjective. So take that with a grain of salt, but I still think Juno was the best movie that came out in 2007. You should also contextualize that with the fact that i saw A HUNDRED AND SEVENTY FIVE movies this year. Probably more because I didn't start keeping track until may. Sure, that includes movies I saw in theatres and on dvd, but everyone just talks about the theatrical releases on these lists. And while Juno is my favorite there, it is also the favorite for ALL the movies I saw. If you're curious about what other flicks I saw, click on the 2007 Favorite Movies article at the bottom.

So now I will dispense with the competition, beginning with the long shots.

Across the Universe and I’m Not There
Too abstract. I mean, much of what I’ve heard is that if you were blazing, Across the Universe was barely tolerable. And I’m Not There doesn’t really seem to pass the novelty test. Sure Blanchett was great, but she wasn’t in the movie long enough to carry it. At the very least, Juno had a great actress in addition to a great movie. And it was funny when you were cold sober.

Michael Clayton and Zodiac
Too old. Does anyone remember Zodiac? Sure I loved the flick, but it wasn’t the top dog, it was kind of long for that. And Clayton just pulled a new suit on an old failed Travolta adaptation, A Civil Action for a blasé new suspense thriller. While Clayton was pretty good, it didn’t have the energy originality that Juno did. You can read Bob’s Clayton review HERE.

American Gangster and Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
Too yawn. Gangster went through the motions as Scott seemed unable to inject any of his touches, a la Gladiator or any spark into this boring Harlem Godfather tale. Devil got the hype but that seemed to mostly come from people with tunnel vision who only saw about an eighth of the screen, the part of the screen with Philip Seymour Hoffman in it. Granted his performance was extremely intense, movies aren’t good just because they have great acting. If that were true Godfather 3 would stomp Citizen Kane every time. Juno on the other hand kept you guessing, and had all around great acting paired with great everything else. You can read AJ’s Gangster review HERE. You can read Bob’s Devil review HERE.

Knocked Up and Superbad
Too funny. Knocked Up tried for seriousness but it was hard to take it’s seriousness very seriously. I mean, LOOK at Seth Rogen. Then LOOK at Katherine Heigl. As the realism slips away, so does much of the movie’s charm. Frankly, I never thought Knocked Up was better than Superbad. And with Superbad, you never have time to stop laughing and realize that the movie’s focus on a single day crushes a lot of the movie’s scope and power. Unlike Juno which covers a whole year and manages to work in some serious character development – for several characters – in between some great laughs. Whether or not this was the year of the R-Rated comedy, a PG13 flick did a lot more with story, and plot, then either of these two flicks. You can read my Superbad review HERE.

Gone Baby Gone and Eastern Promises
Too serious. I really liked Affleck’s directorial debut but he piggybacked a little bit on a Lehane story that came off as a better take on Mystic River. That type of “originality” will lose to Juno everytime. Eastern Promises was too damn blood thirsty to beat the all around PG13 goodness of Juno. You can read my GBG review HERE.

Atonement and Waitress
Too close. Both these flicks suffer a little from the same beating Blanchett got. While both were great, powerful films, their strengths, strong women characters, were largely absorbed by Juno. I’ve already raved about Atonement, but the last half REALLY let me down, while Juno finished strong, leaving me extremely happy. Waitress was kind of a downer, and it’s entirety just did not appeal to me. Hey, like I said, somethings are subjective. And when it comes to that, Juno’s killer soundtrack was an easy tiebreaker. You can read my Atonement review HERE.

No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood
Too intense. No Country was another movie like Atonement where the first half was nearly perfect and then disappointed me at the end. It had distinctive turning points that were pretty close to sharp turns. Sometimes that’s nice, but with a movie like No Country that was so flow oriented, it really took away from it. Juno was able to utilize periods of time like trimesters (you think?) that gave the movie structure. I didn’t get to see There Will Be Blood, but I can guess that it’s intensity and power (especially from Daniel Day-Lewis) knocked you down instead of putting a smile on your face like Juno did. You can read my No Country review HERE. You can read Bob’s Blood review HERE.

It was something so much more. It not only told a story that struck a chord with me (no, I’ve never been in Paulie’s situation, thank you very much smart-ass). It captured a bunch of different feelings that seemed true and powerful. I don’t think a lot of movies really get to the level of being true AND powerful. Most movies can be powerful in some way. No Country could get your heart pumping, Atonement could break your heart, Gone Baby Gone could cut your heart out, and Superbad could make you laugh till your heart hurt. But they weren’t that true. Sure I wrote about Superbad and said I loved how they talked because we actually talk that way and I said that Juno’s dialogue was too smart for high schoolers. But I liked that. Maybe Juno had an unfair advantage because it is the only movie on this list that I have seen twice. But it was also the only movie I WANTED to see twice. I tried watching Superbad again, but it felt different, it wasn’t as good. Sure, you might come to a conclusion that the Coen’s turned in a great movie, or that Daniel Day-Lewis was simply unbelievable, but do you really LOVE those movies? Are they near and dear to you? Or did they just make you go wow. Because Juno did both, easily.

You can read my Juno review HERE.


Other 2007 Favorites:
Albums
Songs
News
Movies

Could “Avatar” Win Best Picture?

By Brett Hogan

Last week, the trailer for James Cameron’s sci-fi experiment “Avatar” debuted. While initially unimpressed with the teaser, I began to wonder: Could this film win best picture? 

Buzz has been generating for this movie for years. Years. The technology to make this movie didn’t exist when Cameron conceived it, so he invented it. When is the last time you heard of a director spearheading the invention of anything? The casting started in 2005. Most movies these days, even epics, are done in half that time. I could go on. 

The most important thing to take away from all of this is that people are saying this will be the future of movies. Now, I don’t agree with the idea that CGI will become more prevalent than it already is. But I do believe that this will set the bar miles higher for sci-fi. I mean, that is what Titanic did. And that won some awards if memory serves.

I’ll bet you’re asking yourself, how can you even suggest that a film like this will win Best Picture when the initial trailer was nothing better than visual stimulation? Well, there are a couple of reasons. First, the Academy has expanded Best Picture to ten films. This doesn’t guarantee anything other than improved chances for most films on the cusp.

Second, after last year’s Oscars debacle, which saw the best film of the year, “The Dark Knight,” not only get shafted in awards but nominations as well, the Academy is pulling out all the stops to appease those with the loudest voices in the film industry, the fanboys. Now, the Academy probably didn’t lose anything because of that other than some viewers of the award show. Perhaps if people are again outraged with the winners or nominees, the heads of the Academy would lose their jobs. So this is all about the Academy protecting itself, which is not so outrageous.  

Third, there is an economic motive here. I’ve heard this film will cost $190 million, not counting the R&D costs associated with Cameron’s inventions or the cost of getting 3-D cameras into every theater in the country. The Academy will do everything in its power to get people into the seats and make this the next “Titanic” or “The Dark Knight.” But the Academy doesn’t have much power, besides nominating and awarding, so they will slap the “Nominated for Best Picture” moniker onto every commercial and print ad to get the people who didn’t believe the critics to relent and see this movie.

Of course, all of this is pure conjecture, and no revolutionary film (Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, etc.) has ever won the Best Picture category because it changed the game. Except maybe Titanic. But still, could this movie actually win? My answer is no but a nomination is certain and who knows what could happen from there. We’ll know more come February 2010.