Best movie of 2007 so far.....

AloysiusK said:
Waking up every morning and reading about the consequences of war in the news is enough to make me wanna stay away from movies that sensationalize war to make money for the rest of my life.

I don't get an adrenaline charge or bloodlust from watching people kill eachother in cool ways.

I suppose having a father who was in Vietnam cured me of my desires to see mass violence promoted as an entertaining vehicle of escapism. Reductionism, in regards to the effects of war, is irresponsible and consternating in 2007.

Everybody who like this movie always uses the word "cool" to describe it, or they'll say it is so much fun. This is a movie about masses of people dying in brutal ways, right? It is supposed to be based on a historical event? Something tells me that if we there to actually witness the event that we would not have the same reactions.
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A friend of mine said the same thing regarding Saving Private Ryan. He refused to see it for a long while. He said that he can't accept Hollywood making money off the death of people. In the end he watched the movie once and never watched it again.

While I respect his view I don't agree with it at all. If we were only to make or watch movies that are based on sanatized fiction than that would close us off from real world matters and issues. One things movies about war can do is to make us realize the brutality in the world and gives us a deeper picture than a newstory can ever give.

Although Saving Private Ryan and 300 are polar opposites in regards to how they portray war they both make the plight of those who took part real for many people who were not there.
 
Here we go, in no particular order

Best Movies:
1. Hot Fuzz (come on, no one put this yet?)
2. Knocked Up
3. Zodiac
4. Rescue Dawn (I saw it last year sometime, but it wasn't released theatrically till this year)
5. Superbad

Worst movies I saw this year:
1. THE INVASION (this one is in order, I hated this movie with a passion)
2. Death Sentence (passable, but since I don't get around to seeing many films in theater, this one is near the bottom of the list)

Movies I Still Really Want to See (If they are out already or out before the end of the year):
1. 3:10 to Yuma
2. Assassination of Jesse James
3. Into the Wild
4. Eastern Promises
5. No Country for Old Men
6. There Will Be Blood
7. Darjeeling Limited
8. American Gangster
9. 30 Days of Night
10. I'm Not There
11. Charlie Wilson's War
12. Sweeny Todd

Whew, got quite some catching up to do (or waiting, depending on the film)
 
I agree and am surprised at that take AloysiusK

Best films thus far ?

Grindhouse , Hot Fuzz and 300

Still need to see 3:10 to Yuma; love James Mangold.

-

Transformers ? Bleh; my seven year old liked it I guess. I wasn't into it as a kid and don't get it as an adult. Kind of gay.
 
BryantStanton said:
Worst movies I saw this year:
2. Death Sentence (passable, but since I don't get around to seeing many films in theater, this one is near the bottom of the list)
quote]

Did you happen to see Dead Silence? It's by the same director and sucks as much as dropping an ice cream.
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"If we were only to make or watch movies that are based on sanatized fiction than that would close us off from real world matters and issues. One things movies about war can do is to make us realize the brutality in the world and gives us a deeper picture than a newstory can ever give."

So 300 is giving us a real world depiction of war and the people involved? Just because a film is violent and brutal and is based upon a historical event does not mean that it has any social value.

Films like 300 seem to sanitize all complexity or nuance from their adrenaline packed product to appeal to our most base and hyperbolic instincts, stylizing beheadings in slow motion meant to make us cheer or groan with excitement.

The reduction of races is also offensive as the Onion put it:

"On first glance, the terms couldn't be clearer: macho white guys vs. effeminate Orientals."

On a side note, I remember going to see a film at one of the big multiplexes. As we we're waiting to get in the audience from 300 let out. They were coming out of this war movie and they we're jacked with excitement. Smiling, chatting, and saying badass, etc.

This is what disturbs me. The film is not appealing to our sympathetic nature in regards to war or our brain, it is pointed at our heartrate like a videogame. Sure, war obviously will get your heartrate going, but it will also depress the living hell out of you if you talk to people who have experienced it. The majority of the time they aren't even willing to talk about because it is too painful to share.
 
Capt Quirk said:
I don't know about that... anytime you have 300 warriors that can hold off an army of thousands for days, I'd say that was pretty cool. I tend to root for the underdog.
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Yeah...except it didn't really happen like that. The film was pretty good for what it was.

2007 has been a year of films that don't quite hit the mark for me. Simpsons, Bourne, Breach...all good films, but not as good as I had hoped they would be.

Superbad was pretty good...better than I expected. Rocky Balboa (which came out in late December of 2006) was actually okay, too...probably because I wasn't expecting too much in the first place.

I was looking forward to Michael Clayton, but have heard mixed things, and I don't know what to expect from The Darjeeling Limited since opinions seem to be all over the place, but maybe I'll end up enjoying them.

I really hope No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood are going to live up to the expectations I have of them. It's nice to have something to look forward to.
 
Nobody saw "Lust, Caution"? It's on circuit now.

For me, it has the same kind of Greek tragedy feel to it that Crouching Tiger did. But this one focused on the characters more.

It's slow, not much happens and it has graphic sex. But to me, the acting, writing and directing is staggeringly good. I was deeply moved.

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com
 
mjjason said:
A friend of mine said the same thing regarding Saving Private Ryan. He refused to see it for a long while. He said that he can't accept Hollywood making money off the death of people.
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Well I hope he doesn't watch or read the news either, cause that's how they make their money.

I don't think there's any question that the best movie of the year so far has been "Once". It's the only movie with any sort of heart. After that I'd probably pick "Into The Wild", with reservations. But the movie was ambitious, original, and didn't pull any punches, which is rare to see in any film these days. My surprise pick for number 3 is "Meet The Robinsons". For whatever reason, those writers tapped directly into my sense of humor. The bad guy in that movie was hilarious.

Why anybody likes 300 or Transformers is beyond me. 300 is basically a stylistic ripoff of the Matrix set to computer-generated backgrounds. I never for once felt I was watching a movie. I felt like I was watching a video game. Transformers.... oh god. To me that might have been the worst movie in the past five years. It literally seemed like they just showed up every day and said, "okay, what are we going to do today?"
 
Once is playing right near me. I'll go see it tonite.

Some good 2007 films:

Away From Her
No End in Sight
Zodiac
 
If it is based on a North American release date then The Lives of Others destroys most of the competition.
 
Zodiac isn't about violence and it doesn't exploit it when there is a violent episode. The episodes are not fun to watch. Fincher went to great lengths to retell the history of the murders in painstaking detail. He consulted with a surviving victim, who was actually on set and used many of the exact locations that the murders took place so that he could keep the integrity of history as uncompromised as possible. He even find actors for very small roles who look and act exactly like their historical counterparts.

I don't have the time or space to list how devoted Fincher was in telling this story EXACTLY like it happened. He even rebuilt the entire SF Chronicle floor to be inch for inch the same as it was during the 1970's.

Zodiac does not use violence to get people to buy tickets. It is about obsession, character, and bureacracy amongst other things. Also, I cannot remember any slow motions of death sequences for visual titillation or trying to get the audience to get excited about a kill. Whenever there is violence in Zodiac it is motivated, very real, and not a cheap thrill.
 
I loved 300 for the same reason that Capt Quirk stated. 300 against a never ending foe. A king who will fight for his peoples freedom. Thats what I loved about it. I loved the slow mo too.

Originally Posted by AloysiusK
Waking up every morning and reading about the consequences of war in the news is enough to make me wanna stay away from movies that sensationalize war to make money for the rest of my life.

I don't get an adrenaline charge or bloodlust from watching people kill eachother in cool ways.

I suppose having a father who was in Vietnam cured me of my desires to see mass violence promoted as an entertaining vehicle of escapism. Reductionism, in regards to the effects of war, is irresponsible and consternating in 2007.

Everybody who like this movie always uses the word "cool" to describe it, or they'll say it is so much fun. This is a movie about masses of people dying in brutal ways, right? It is supposed to be based on a historical event? Something tells me that if we there to actually witness the event that we would not have the same reactions.
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I hate the idea of war in real life though. To see a movie like 300 reaffirms in me that in real life I don't wish it upon anyone, nor any nation.
 
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jpeck said:
If it is based on a North American release date then The Lives of Others destroys most of the competition.
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Was Lives of Others this year? I'd definitely put that at the top so far then. Children of Men would have made it too, but I saw it last december on limited release so I spose it wouldn't count for seeing this year.
 
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