Top 5 Movies of 2007 (So Far)

On Filmspotting #170, we count down our Top 5 Movies of the Year So Far with the help of guest critics Michael Phillips from the Chicago Tribune and Scott Tobias from The Onion AV Club.

The one movie that made all 4 lists: Knocked Up

The movie that made 3 lists: Once

Movies that made 2 lists: Rescue Dawn, Black Snake Moan, Zodiac

What would your top 5 be? 

Re: Top 5 Movies of 2007 (So Far)

this is a little hard for me because i have only gone to the movie theater only a few times this year but i do watch a lot of rented dvds(most of the rentals i have seen were theatrically released 2006);

the few dvds i have seen released this yr. that  are my faves are:  black snake moan(2007) ,last king of scotland(2007), shooter(2007)saw this in the theater,  and hot fuzz(2007)just saw it couple hrs. ago, and bourne ultimatum(2007)

has any one else seen bourne ultimatum and thought it was great? But the the best from this trilogy of movies will always be the original The Bourne Identity (2002)

Re: Top 5 Movies of 2007 (So Far)

5. Knocked Up - For laughs, I think I'd go with The 40 Year Old Virgin over this, but this is a much better film.  Until they fail me, I will see anything Judd Apatow writes/directs and anything that Seth Rogen even so much as visited the set of.

4. Hot Fuzz - I had high expectations and they were met.  If I had a softer spot for balls-out action movies than I do for zombie flicks, this would replace Shaun of the Dead for me. 

3. 28 Weeks Later - I seem to be comparing each movie to another movie but it's for good reason.  This was a big surprise to me.  I may still prefer the original but the new director managed to make a more harrowing film than the original.  28 Days Later was great fun and lots of scares.  28 Weeks Later managed to make me wish that the film was over, not because I thought it was bad but because it was so intense.  The script could have made a mess of a movie (especially with it being so heavy-handed in its message) but Fresnadillo's directing makes it something great.  Destined to be a lost gem, isn't that right, Sam? ;)

2. Grindhouse - Hopefully sometime in the near future, people will realize just how stupid they were to avoid this movie.  It deserved to be as big of a hit as everyone was expecting it to be.  But only shortened attention spans and lowered expectations have anything to do with the underperformance of this film; most three-hour, R-rated movies make about as much as Grindhouse did.  Still the most fun I've had at the movies in ages.

1. Ratatouille - Pixar's finest film.  I'm saying it.  The animation was gorgeous, the characters well-drawn and voiced even better, and the screenplay is so wonderfully done.  No one making animated films in the world can touch Brad Bird, with the obvious exception of Hayao Miyazaki.  This is a movie I would get into a fistfight over.

Re: Top 5 Movies of 2007 (So Far)

I am quite upset that 'Once' played in my town for less than one week - muscled out to make room for 'Transformers'... I would think it unfair to make a top five list until I see that and 'Rescue Dawn'.

However, the film I was most impressed with so far this year was 'Hot Fuzz'... the screenplay of that one was so dense and smart, I was blown away (no pun intended).

Re: Top 5 Movies of 2007 (So Far)

THE list, which is, of course, my own, and then my reactions to your lists:

(THE NEXT FIVE, 6-10) "Sunshine" (which may be moving up, because I have been infected by it, can't stop thinking about it), "Pirates 3" (that's right! It's brilliant. And, for the record, NOT for the masses, as evidenced by the pure hatred of the convolutions of the plot by my parents, siblings, and all their friends), "Spiderman 3," "Hot Fuzz," and "Waitress."

Am I being more than generous to Spidey and Capt. Jack? Maybe. But I still say the movies are at least attempting to do a lot of really great things.

 I REALLY thought I was going to find "Black Snake Moan" at #1 for both you Adam, and Sam. I am stunned! This movie does EVERYTHING right. Worry no longer that Sundance skewed your perceptions. I've seen it twice and it holds up. Now. About these lists. If I have to apologize for "Spidey 3," in my 6-10 (SO FAR), then we've got a long and drawn out argument to have about "The Namesake" being anywhere near number 1. This is a mess of a movie. It practically redefines schlock!I've prepared a Gore-esque power point presentation of why it sucks so completey outside after the first 40 minutes. However, I am sortof behind, as I have yet to see "Zodiac," "Once," or "Rescue Dawn." Can't wait to catch up on those.

Re: Top 5 Movies of 2007 (So Far)

My list is pathetic owing to the dearth of movies I've been able to see in their natural habitat so far.   It consists of the only 4 that seem to have made it above my internal standard of entry-level goodness to be considered  (haven't seen Knocked Up, Once, The Host, Waitress, Away From Her, Sunshine, Zodiac, Rescue Dawn, etc.):

4. The Lookout

3. Ratatouille

2. Black Snake Moan

1. Grindhouse

Yupatuwah:

 I REALLY thought I was going to find "Black Snake Moan" at #1 for both you Adam, and Sam. I am stunned!

Disappointing to me, and I can without qualification say I think very highly of Adam's and Sam's takes on films in general, is the refusal to include Grindhouse in the top 5 "because it includes Planet Terror".  Who else has or is even close to releasing an even remotely equivalent adrenaline-pumping cinematic experience this year (or even within the last 2+ years)?

There is no way Planet Terror is such a detriment that the total Grindhouse experience could fairly be kicked out of the running.  If movie ranking had fouls (and I was ref'ing), this team would be hobbled by yellow cards.

Re: Top 5 Movies of 2007 (So Far)

Re: Top 5 Movies of 2007 (So Far)

5.  Grindhouse

4. Sunshine

3. Hot Fuzz

2. Knocked Up

1. SuperBad

 SuperBad is going to knock a lot of people for a loop with how funny it is. Funnier than Knocked Up, in my opinion.

Re: Top 5 Movies of 2007 (So Far)

adamkemp:

Grindhouse wasn't "kicked out of the running" ... it was just knocked out of my top 5 because of Planet Terror. It was probably my #6.

Seriously?  You thought Grindhouse was great except for Planet Terror?  That's so unusual.  Almost everyone I've spoken with about it thinks that Planet Terror was the best part whereas Death Proof was the weaker of the two.  I guess I'm inclined to agree with them.  Although I thought the whole thing was great fun.

What was it about Planet Terror that didn't measure up to the rest of the experience for you?

Re: Top 5 Movies of 2007 (So Far)

Most of the critics' evaluation of the two pictures hold up "Death Proof" as a film that can stand on its own as a peer among the films it was paying homage to whereas, as one of the folks on Filmspotting described it, "Planet Terror" comes off as "mere pastiche" closer to satire of the films it was working with.  Adam and Sam had similar views, as I recall.  I remember Adam also being distracted by the Tarantino scene and everything that followed it to the closing scene.

To me, this is kind of an academic or technical evaluation of the two pictures individually and not a consideration of the Grindhouse release.  From my point of view, it kind of ignores the actual movie experience you get from the two together with the trailers and everything.  I literally cannot remember being so charged up and excited by what was happening on the screen in the last couple years, and I just couldn't imagine how an effort this unique and exciting could get snubbed out of a top 5 for the year so far.  I also haven't seen many of the pictures in everyone's top 5, but I'd be surprised if Grindhouse could get pushed below a #5 spot.  Could be wrong, of course.

Anyway, all this list stuff is kind of silly to get very worked up over at the end of the day, but I was mainly surprised to hear critics starting to use borderline dismissive language about Grindhouse "because of Planet Terror".