Best of the Year

I've seen a lot of movies this year. Not many that were released during 2007, because going to the theater all the time is just too expensive, and movies are like food - get it free when you can. (In case anyone is a nerd like me, and interested in these nerdly details, I've noted how I saw each movie, to the best of my recollection.)

Anyway, instead of picking the best of what's come out this year, and therefore inadvertently dismissing the many films I haven't seen, this is a list compiled from the films I have viewed, for the first time, during the past twelve months, no matter when they first came out. They are in no particular order, and are not ranked, though some of them have been chosen over others for specific reasons.

The Dead Girl (free; rented with coupon)
Okay, so they're not ranked, but this is definitely my favorite. Every aspect of filmmaking on display here is what the cinematic medium is all about. The acting, lighting, writing, direction...a true and brilliant use of the craft, across the board. This would make the list no matter what, because it's just that strong, but it's also deserving of any recognition I can give it because it hardly received any earlier. Limited release, very little promotion, passed over by all the big awards and many small ones...it's shameful how an incredible movie like this fails to garner the attention it deserves. I strongly recommend renting the DVD. If you believe in the great power of little movies, you won't be disappointed.

Pan’s Labyrinth (half-price; rented with coupon)
Really, it's El Laberinto Del Fauno, but that's okay. It's still amazing. Guillermo Del Toro has created an exceptional faerie tale, brilliant and moving and entertaining and astoundingly beautiful to look at. I generally don't like to call creative and artistic people "genius", but he really is. I wish I'd managed to get out to this one in the theater, and see it on the big screen, but beauty is beauty wherever you see it, and Del Toro continues to amaze me.

Michael Clayton (free; ticket purchased with movie pass)
I have to admit that there isn't a lot about this movie that really sticks with me. I wasn't moved or amazed by it like I was with the first two on this list, and it isn't a movie that I couldn't wait to buy or see again. But it is one of the few movies I saw in the theater, and part of an even smaller group I saw in the theater and truly respect. There is nothing about this movie that is bad or wrong or doesn't work. The script is extremely well-written, and all the main actors give more than a movie-star performance; they get way down deep into their characters. It's a very high-class style of filmmaking we don't really see anymore, and that's something I miss. It's the kind of thing Sam Mendes has been doing, and the kind of thing Todd Field is trying to do but totally misses the mark. So, while Michael Clayton doesn't make the same kind of impression on me that other great movies have, it's such a strong film that it's absolutely worth seeing, and definitely belongs on this list.

Hot Fuzz (full price matinee - worth it!)
It's extraordinarily difficult to craft a piece of entertainment that parodies the very form and genre it embraces, while making sure it is in fact entertaining in its own right. Last Action Hero tried and failed; these guys have done it twice in a row. They've actually made successful examples of the lousy movies they parody. It's quite a feat, and I don't think there's anybody out there doing a better job of it. Aside from Team America: World Police, is there another movie that manages to be an awesome movie yet parody the crappy ones that are just like it? Hmm...

Planet Terror (free; rented with coupon)
I separate this from Death Proof, which I also really like, because it should stand on its own...and besides, I never saw Grindhouse in the theater as a double feature. I saw them separately on DVD. Oh well. But, like Shaun of the Dead, it takes the zombie B-movie into a near-impossible realm where ridiculous ideas are not ridiculed but celebrated for their ridiculousness, and makes it work. Robert Rodriguez mines those horrible low-budget shlockbusters for all their cliches, all their exploitations, and corrals them into a fun-as-hell flick that never gets old. It's a movie with no real artistic merit, no philosophical meaning, nothing to add to the history of cinema...and it doesn't want any of those things. The Dead Girl has those things, which is why I love it; Planet Terror is the other kind of great movie: the kind that is good at being bad.

For movies that are bad at being bad, and worse at being good, or just plaid old not-good-at-all, tune in again soon for my list of the worst movies I've seen this year. The aforementioned Todd Field may put in an appearance or two. Nothing personal, Todd; I just think your movies suck. But here's five more movies that don't suck:

Honorable Mention (bottom five of the top ten)

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (full price midnight show...a friend invited me; I'd never turn her down...yes I have a friend)
I'm not much for sequels, and I hated the first two (both of which I also saw for the first time this year, on DVD), because they look & feel fantastic but fail to tell a decent story. With this one, they finally got it all together. Love the story, love the spectacle. Too bad I had to see the others to have any clue what was happening in this one.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (free; ticket purchased w/ entertainment card acquired through reward points)
Same deal. The other four never quite managed to take the story from the book and tell it properly on film. This one stands on its own. It's also the first Harry Potter movie I've seen in the theater; I had an afternoon free, and the entertainment card, and nothing else was playing I was remotely interested in. Good thing this turned out to be the first of the series I didn't feel like fast-forwarding!

12 Angry Men (free; borrowed from library)
Don't know why I'd never seen more than a few clips of this...a bit dated, but it's a classic for a reason. The brilliance of Lumet's filmmaking techniques on display here is undeniable.

Yojimbo (Netflix...so not free, but certainly inexpensive overall)
Again, it's a classic for a reason. Nobody can tell such a contained story the way Kurosawa did. People have tried to copy and/or remake what he accomplished, but those that haven't screwed it up still don't have the touch.

The Godfather Part III (free; borrowed from library)
I don't know why this has such a bad reputation. Is it as good as the first two? Of course not. But it's still compelling, still a fitting end to the series. For some reason Sofia Coppola has always been a scapegoat; she really wasn't so bad. She's not a true actress, so she was basically acting natural, which is exactly what was called for in the character. It's just different from what people are used to seeing. The only scene that actually made her look bad was a scene with Al Pacino in which they both had to loop several minutes of dialogue, and looping always sounds bad, even with experienced actors. So give the girl a break.

There were a number of movies that didn't make the list but were also really good movies. You've got to rule something out, right? Some of this has to do with expectations (such as a sequel that rises well above its predecessors), or it may be an extra bit of appreciation I feel...a personal affection that causes me to praise it at the expense of omitting others. In the words of my favorite author, Kurt Vonnegut Jr...so it goes.

Next time: wow, did that movie SUCK!!!