2007 in film.

Top ten box-office films of 2007:

1. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
2. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
3. Spider-Man 3
4. Shrek the Third
5. Transformers
6. Ratatouille
7. I Am Legend
8. The Simpsons Movie
9. National Treasure: Book of Secrets
10. 300

What are your top three films for 2007? We will keep a running tally and eventually have some sort of bracket. For me it would be:

1. There Will Be Blood
2. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
3. I'm Not There

What are some of the forgotten gems from the year? What is overrated? What did you discover at a young age and what did you discover later?

YEARS IN FILM • forum.chorus.fm

 

I went with my original list (minus the U.S. release for Syndromes and a Century), but close runner-ups include No Country for Old Men, Zodiac, Hot Fuzz, Water Lilies, Secret Sunshine, You, The Living, Encounters at the End of the World, Shotgun Stories, Silent Light, The Secret of the Grain, Boarding Gate, Up the Yangtze, Cargo 200, Munyurangabo, and the Duchess of Langeais.

2007 will always be special to me because it was the year I really got "into" cinema, driving around aimlessly and then wondering if that new movie from the guys who made The Big Lebowski was in theaters.

 

1. There Will Be Blood
2. Zodiac
3. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

gonna round out the top 10 since it’s such a big year

4. Michael Clayton
5. No Country for Old Men
6. Hot Fuzz
7. Charlie Wilson’s War
8. Superbad
9. Funny Games
10. Gone Baby Gone

 

1. There Will Be Blood
2. Superbad
3. The Ten

 

Crazy good year, just an embarrassment of riches. Several of these movies would have been #1 in another year.

1. There Will Be Blood
2. No Country for Old Men
3. Zodiac

Honorable mentions:

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Superbad
Michael Clayton
4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
Knocked Up
Into the Wild
Hot Fuzz
Ratatouille
The Bourne Ultimatum
Gone Baby Gone
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

 

No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Zodiac
Secret Sunshine

HM: Assassination of Jesse James, Michael Clayton, Superbad, Once, Hot Fuzz, Into The Wild, Lars and The Real Girl, Shotgun Stories, Gone Baby Gone, Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead, 3:10 To Yuma, The Visitor, Timecrimes

Man, what a year.

 

1. Lars and the Real Girl
2. There Will Be Blood
3. Superbad

4. The Mist
5. Bridge to Terabithia
6. Death Proof
7. Into the Wild
8. Rec
9. Ex Drummer
10. No Country for Old Men

Also love Sweeny Todd, Enchanted, Ratatouille, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Import/Export, Secret Sunshine, Eastern Promises, Trick R Treat, Hot Fuzz, The King of Kong, Sword of the Stranger, Elite Squad, Sunshine, Gone Baby Gone, Smiley Face, Atonement, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Planet Terror, Persepolis and Mister Lonely.

 

1. There Will Be Blood
2. Secret Sunshine
3. Lust, Caution

Probably a sweeping victory for There Will Be Blood, and in strong contention as one of the greatest American films.

Secret Sunshine is a powerful and heartbreaking film from Lee Chang Dong, who's a remarkable director, full of pain and grief, about a woman trying to come to terms with two separate losses. A huge performance from Jeon Do-yeon, and the "forgiveness" scene in prison is one of the most transfixing scenes I can recall.

Lust, Caution is Ang Lee's epic historical erotic drama, about espionage and deception, and the screen debut of Tang Wei, who was unfairly blacklisted after this, but recently seems to be getting her career back. If you enjoyed Shang-Chi, but would have wanted to have seen more of Tony Leung's testicles, this is the place to come.

Some great big American films this year including No Country for Old Men, The Assassination of Jesse James, Zodiac & I'm Not There.

From the UK (ish...) there's Eastern Promises, David Cronenberg's film about Russian gangsters in London, featuring a jaw dropping bathhouse fight scene, that basically overshadows the rest of the film. Hot Fuzz, like Shaun of the Dead, I've watched to death, but still reliably funny and quotable. Joanna Hogg's Unrelated, is a satire (ish) about a middle class holiday, and generational divides in Italy, which is painful and awkward.

This year, there's a great documentary about Joy Division, named Joy Division, and an Ian Curtis biopic, Control. Both excellent in their own right, the former more about Manchester and the band as a whole, the latter more about Curtis.

A couple of interesting ones from China, Diao Yi’nan's Night Train, about a woman performing state executions in China, and Li Yu's Lost in Beijing, about a girl working in a massage parlor. Both show the underbelly and darker side of modern, industrialising China.

From Mongolia, there's Desert Dream about a poor farmer who takes in some North Korean refugees, fleeing. Not much dialogue, but a really interesting film. I love Mongolian cinema (even if this one wasn't directed by a Mongolian), try and watch almost anything I can find.

Finally, Persepolis is a brilliant and powerful animation about the Iranian Revolution in the late 70s. An adaption of a graphic novel, it's a fantastic watch.

 

1. There Will Be Blood
2. Michael Clayton
3. No Country For Old Men

Assembling an order for these, as well as leaving out Zodiac/Jesse James, was fucking impossible. Michael Clayton isn’t as accomplished as the other two but I love it so much.

 

This is another standout year both for me personally and for those that enjoy the big hitters that I myself have yet to see. Several solid horror efforts as well and the only time you will see a Harry Potter film mentioned by me, I also have a soft spot for At World's End which is I think is the one I have seen most in that series but regardless this is my top three -

1. The Mist
2. Hot Fuzz
3. 1408

Other contenders for any one of those three spots are in bold with the rest being notable efforts I enjoy; Death Proof, Zodiac, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, 3:10 to Yuma, Michael Clayton, Lust, Caution, In the Valley of Elah, Ratatouille, No Country for Old Men, The Simpsons Movie, Gone Baby Gone, Trick ’r Treat, Planet Terror, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, Sunshine, Live Free or Die Hard, Shoot ’Em Up, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, 28 Weeks Later, Death at a Funeral, Teeth, Vacancy, The Kingdom, and Disturbia.

 

1. There Will Be Blood
2. The Darjeeling Limited
3. No Country for Old Men

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Hot Fuzz, and Zodiac would be top three contenders most any other year for me. Eastern Promises is also very good - anchored by an outstanding Viggo Mortensen performance and a truly intense fight scene. Hot Rod and Superbad are both solid comedies, though it's been a while since I've seen the latter.

 

Order of the Phoenix is the second-best in the series I think. They took the weakest book and did the best they could. And then they did the exact opposite with the next movie.

 

I totally forgot Hot Rod came out in 2007, great pull. What a gem of a film.

 

Probably one of the best movie years of my lifetime, one where I can actually fill out a top 10…

1. Zodiac
2. There Will Be Blood
3. Juno
4. No Country for Old Men
5. Hot Fuzz
6. Death Proof
7. Into the Wild
8. Knocked Up
9. Super Bad
10. Across the Universe

Edit: strong honorable mention to Hot Rod

 

1.There Will Be Blood
2. No Country for Old Men
3. I'm Not There

The Darjeeling Limited has been so what of a comfort movie for me in the past. Of my 2 long term best friends I travel with one is the classic over planner whereas I under plan and go completely off that plan anyway. The tensions that build from being with people in confined spaces for lengthy periods and how unplannable events end up having the most impact.

Secret Sunshine took me off guard, I thought we were going to have a mystery about a kidnapped boy. No, hes dead, we got the caught guy and now you gotta make peace somehow. This is up there with Manchester by the Sea for the best films about grief.

 

1. There Will Be Blood
2. No Country for Old Men
3. Zodiac

My top 3 will probably be a lot of people’s top 3 in some order, so I’ll highlight some of my other favorites from the year.

Water Lillies is Celine Sciamma’s debut and it’s not quite up to par with her best stuff, but it’s strong stuff. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead is the last film to one of our best and most versatile American filmmakers. Into the Wild has always resonated deeply with me since I first saw it. Margot at the Wedding I haven’t seen in awhile but I remember finding really interesting. Superbad, Hot Fuzz, and the Assassination of Jesse James will probably all get deserved mentions. Eastern Promises, Walk Hard, Hot Rod, and Mad Detective are cool.


I saw the Simpsons movie at midnight.

 

i saw the simpsons movie twice in theaters and zero times since

 

INTO THE WILD
Has it really been my favorite movie of all time for the past 14 years?!?! Time flies. Favorite soundtrack too

 

1. There Will Be Blood
2. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
3. No Country for Old Men

2007 will always be a favorite year because I got to see most of these films in a theater for the first time and they were all great theater experiences. There Will Be Blood is easily my favorite theater experience for a new release. Into the Wild was great as well, at the time the book and the film really resonated with me. Crazy that Zodiac doesn’t crack the top 3 but that just speaks to the quality of the year. Michael Clayton is underrated and should probably be discussed more but it’s understandably behind some masterpieces. Eastern Promises and Atonement both had some special moments.
Superbad had so much buzz around it by the time I saw it and it lived up to the hype. Instant classic, I can’t believe that was 14 years ago.

 

It's wild to think about Superbad, Walk Hard, Knocked Up, and Hot Rod all coming out in the same year. Really highlights how badly the "mainstream comedy" genre has collapsed.

 

This is like a Mandela effect year haha. My mind can't comprehend Halloween (Zombie), Knocked Up, Walk Hard and Superbad all coming out in the same year. I'm thinking about the theatergoing experiences, and I feel like I was a different age each movie

 

1. Juno
2. Trick R Treat
3. Paranormal Activity

 

1. There Will Be Blood
2. Hot Fuzz
3. No Country For Old Men

 

1. There Will Be Blood
2. Zodiac
3. Trick R Treat