Year in Review - The Best Films of 2007

Okay I'll admit, there are still a couple major contenders I have yet to see - There Will Be Blood (which doesn't screen for critics here until Jan. 17) and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. But with my deadline looming and 2008 getting older by the day, it's time to publish my list of the top ten films of 2007. A full write-up will be published in The Dispatch on January 10. Revisions will be made here as necessary.

10
MICHAEL CLAYTON
Dir. Tony Gilroy; R

9
LUST, CAUTION
Dir. Ang Lee; NC-17
8
BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD
Dir. Sidney Lumet; R
7
RATATOUILLE
Dir. Brad Bird; G
6
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
Dir. Joel Coen, Ethan Coen; R

5
ZODIAC
Dir. David Fincher; R

4
SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET
Dir. Tim Burton; R

3
THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES
BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD
Dir. Andrew Dominck; R

2
THE LIVES OF OTHERS
Dir. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck; R
1
INTO THE WILD
Dir. Sean Penn; R

HONORABLE MENTIONS
ONCE (Dir. John Carney; R)
IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH (Dir. Paul Haggis; R)
CONTROL (Dir. Anton Corbijn; R)
I'M NOT THERE (Dir. Todd Haynes; R)
THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY (Dir. Ken Loach; Not Rated)
ATONEMENT (Dir. Joe Wright; R)
LA VIE EN ROSE (Dir. Olivier Dahan; PG-13)
LADY CHATTERLEY (Dir. Pascale Ferran; R)
PARIS JE T'AIME (Dir. Olivier Assayas, et al; R)
THE GREAT DEBATERS (Dir. Denzel Washington; PG-13)

TOP 5 DOCUMENTARIES
1. NO END IN SIGHT (Dir. Charles Ferguson; Not Rated)
2. SICKO (Dir. Michael Moore; PG-13)
3. GOD GREW TIRED OF US (Dir. Christopher Dillon Quinn; PG)
4. FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO (Dir. Daniel G. Karslake; Not Rated)
5. THE TRIALS OF DARRYL HUNT (Dir. Ricki Stern, Ann Sundberg; PG-13)


And once more, for the record, my top ten films of 2007 are:

1. INTO THE WILD
2. THE LIVES OF OTHERS
3. THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD
4. SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET
5. ZODIAC
6. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
7. RATATOUILLE
8. BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD
9. LUST, CAUTION
10. MICHAEL CLAYTON
Email Post

Comments

Anonymous said…
Lol, I have only seen 5 out of your top 10, sad no? And out of those 5, 3 of them landed up in my top ten. Great list though, it's nice to see Into The Wild on top, over picks like No Country For Old Men, which one could easily place at the top of their list.
2:54 AM
Anonymous said…
Oh, and Lives of Others was almost on my 2006 Top Ten List, as I thought it was the 11th best film of 2006, I guess it was released in 2007 in the USA?
5:49 AM
Mattie Lucas said…
There is a lot of confusion over when "Lives of Others" was released. It's official US release date was 2/8/07, but it received a one week Oscar qualifying run in LA in December. But it is showing up on many critics' top ten lists for 2007. I debated for a while on whether to include it or not, but I deferred to the wisdom of Entertainment Weekly and The New York Times, who both included it on their 2007 lists. In the end, I went with the official release date.
2:26 PM
Post a Comment

Popular Posts