Top 11 Films of 2007

The following snippets are not my own. Although the top 11 films are very much my own. I wrote a review for almost every single one of these films this year, so I dont want to go rehash everything I said. Therefore, I will use little lines of other reviews in which I agree. Which is sort of obvious, because I dont write as well as these.


1. Into The Wild


The beauty of Into the Wild, which Penn has written and directed with magnificent precision and imaginative grace, is that what Christopher is running from is never as important as what he's running to. A genuine odyssey: a journey to self-knowledge.


2. Atonement


An unforgettable examination of a host of dark impulses. Nothing comes easily in Atonement, especially its ending, which, both happy and tragic, is as wrenching as it is genuinely satisfying.


3. Superbad


For pure laughs, for the experience of just sitting in a chair and breaking up every minute or so, Superbad is 2007's most successful comedy.


4. Things We Lost In the Fire


Emotionally challenging and honest. Berry gives a riveting performance, but as a deeply decent man trapped in a hell of his own making, Del Toro gives the kind of career performance Berry gave in "Monster's Ball."


5. The Great Debaters


A triumph. Unapologetically old-school, in both the literal and metaphorical meanings of the term, Debaters overlays the story of social underdogs onto the familiar template of the stand-and-deliver saga, the staple of sports inspirationals like "Rocky," "Invincible" and "The Karate Kid."


6. Grindhouse


This monumentally pointless movie is best summarized by a line from Planet Terror: "At some point in your life, you find a use for every useless talent you have." Rodriguez, Tarantino, and Co. aim for nothing more noble than to freak the funk, and it's about godd--- time. Go wasted, go stoned, go without your parents' permission. In paying homage to an obsolete form of movie culture, Grindhouse delivers a dropkick to ours. (What a fucking fantastic review that is.)


7. Enchanted


It’s the sort of buoyant, all-ages entertainment that Hollywood has been laboring to revive in recent years but hasn’t managed to get right until now, and the glue holding it all together is the incomparable Adams (an Oscar nominee for 2005’s Junebug), who gives the kind of blissful screwball performance that seemed to go out of fashion after "I Love Lucy" left the airwaves. (Another fantastic blurb. Why cant I think of these?)


8. Knocked Up


Ultimately, what makes Knocked Up a terrific film--one of the year's best, easily--is its relaxed, shaggy vibe; if it feels improvised in places, that's because Apatow trusts his actors enough to let them make it up as they go, like the people they're playing. The very opposite of a storybook romance, and also the very model of a great comedy for our values-driven time. (Ugh, another awesome line.)


9. Hairspray


A feel-good musical that, for a change, actually makes you feel good. With its wisecracking screenplay, period-perfect pop score, and Shankman's splashy choreography, this may be the funniest, dancingest screen musical since "Singin' in the Rain."


10. Sweeney Todd


Burton brings his signature visual style, and a pair of stock players for his stars, into this film adaptation, but he wisely follows Sondheim's lead, letting the music and spirit of the original piece show the way. An evil masterpiece.


11. Gone Baby Gone


Powerful stuff - a movie that derives its plot twists from moral conundrums rather than from narrative sleight of hand.