First off, I'd like to apologize for that vomit of a post that precedes this one.

Now, mainly for the benefit of Jacob Shoaf, I present my top 5 films of 2007. I may eventually update this into a top 10 but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.




1. No Country For Old Men (Joel and Ethan Coen)

From start to finish, this one just plain does it for me. One of my most anticipated of the year, it was no real surprise to see it bring home the Oscar for Best Picture. Great performances from Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin, but I think most will agree that the Spaniard with the creepiest hair cut ever, Javier Bardem, stole the show as Anton Chigurh. I've said before and will stick by my prediction that Chigurh is one of those characters that people will still be talking about in 50 years. His presence in the film is haunting and I think I will probably remember the coin flip scene in the convenience store for a long time to come.



2. Michael Clayton (Tony Gilroy)

I thought, going into it, that this film would be good. I was surprised by how good it really was. For a legal thriller, it had lots of character. I thought this was a great performance by George Clooney in the title role. Any other year, I think he'd have been a major contender for the Oscar. It is great to see him progress from the company clean up man to the state you find him in when his life is in danger. Without ruining anything, one of the best endings I've seen in a while.



3. There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson)

The movie itself was quite good. Daniel Day-Lewis was magnificent. His performance was so commanding and so good, I think the movie as a whole may not get as much of the credit. PTA paints the life and exploits of Plainview so well, portraying his downward spiraling life and relationships. After seeing TWBB, I knew that Day-Lewis was a lock for the Oscar. No upset this year.



4. Eastern Promises (David Cronenberg)

As good of a mafia/organized crime drama as any in the last decade. I love Naomi Watts anyway. Add her in with a great performance from Viggo Mortensen (can you say: naked fight scene?) and that's a pretty good film for me. I'm not sure if I liked Eastern Promises more than A History of Violence, but I wouldn't mind seeing Cronenberg and Mortensen team up again.



5. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Tim Burton)

Sweeney Todd is one of the best stage to film adaptations yet. Rather than creating a movie that looked and felt like it truly just belonged on the stage (ie: The Producers and Rent), Burton's completely transformed the stage version into a real, dismal, engrossing feature. In my opinion, it is easily his best work yet. Depp delivers a great performance and is surprisingly good with his vocal performances. Burton plays with colors (or lack thereof) so wonderfully both in the ridiculous blood that makes it hard to really be grossed out and in the bright and sunny contrast during the 'By The Sea' number. Very good :)


Okay. So that's my top 5. My apologies for a very amateur feel to the little blurbs, I'm far from a movie critic or reviewer, so these are just some observations from a normal guy who got to see a few pretty good films this year.

A few secondary awards:

Honorable Mention: The Darjeeling Limited, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Juno, Superbad, Bourne Ultimatum

Breakthrough Performance of the Year: Casey Affleck, Assassination of Jesse James

Best Soundtrack: Once

Best fight scene: Eastern Promises