Top Ten Movies

Ebert's list of top 10 2007 movies was very helpful this Christmas vacation. I can now offer my own opinion on each of the ones of his I saw.

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead

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The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

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Into the Wild

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Juno

I give this one 3.75 out of 4 stars. The only reason I don't give it 4 stars is that like man other reviewers, I think it was over-written in the first act, more or less. I had trouble really believing Juno, and her peeps, spoke that way so effortlessly. Had that part been toned down a bit - taking out every other clever, wry comment, for instance - I think the entire movie would've worked perfectly. Because when we got into Act 2, I started crying and didn't stop crying until the movie ended. I thought the soundtrack was breathtaking, and I absolutely loved Michael Cera in it. I actually liked him better than Ellen Page, but whatever, they were both fantastic. It went from being a movie "about" teen pregnancy, to a movie about friendship, maturity, love, and the challenges of parenting and marriage. Or rather, it wasn't really "about" those things as much as those were the setpieces in a really endearing story.

Knocked Up

4 out of 4 stars, no question. I'm proud of Ebert for putting that on his top ten list, because I remember him not putting 40-Year-Old Virgin on the top ten list, even though I thought it also was one of the best films of the year. I like this genre, personally, in which I put movies like American Pie, and 40-Year-Old Virgin. Vulgarity and humanity mashed together like play-dough. What's not to like? Knocked Up was a very sweet film, and the ensemble in it just absolutely love each other and bring out the best in each other, which I imagine ain't easy. Some of the best acting was by some of the secondary character actors, I thought - like the really tall guy who kept hitting on Katherine Heigl's sister in the film. I thought he brought a lot to each scene, and it was funny to see his shameless flirting. I doubt Rogen and Apatow have many more of these up their sleeves, but together they managed to make some fantastic films, of which Knocked Up is a classic.

Michael Clayton

My wife and I watched this last night in our hotel room. I give this one 3.75 out of 4 stars, too. To say it is one of the best legal thrillers ever made, which is I seem to remember one of the ways Ebert described it, is true and not true at the same time. It's definitely a thriller, and since the characters are lawyers, I guess you could call it technically a "legal thriller." But legal thrillers really are more about the courtroom - The Verdict or A Few Good Men or even Jagged Edge, for instance. This is more in the vein of The Firm than those other films, because this one uses lawyers as both heroes and villains, and sets the large, corporation that is covering up a major pollution problem with a fertilizer that causes cancer in farmers (particularly small farms in cold regions). But, it's not like The Firm because The Firm had more of a traditional MacGuffin kind of thing going on, whereas Michael Clayton requires the viewer to keep track of very specific, and at times, complicated, details regarding a firm's plot to cover up the damages created by their product. So, my 1/4 of a decimal point off is partly due to confused expectations - or rather, from probably having too narrow of a view of the genre in the first place, and from relying so much on Father Robert's descriptions in shaping my expectations. But all in all, it was incredibly tense and well done. The main villain in the film is consistently haunted by her vocation and what she must do for the company, even if it means murder, and she always seems like she is about to throw up. That's kind of how I felt the entire time - extremely tense, like something bad was about to happen. But even when that bad thing does happen, I already knew it was going to happen, because it's one of the first scenes (the story is told in a non-linear fashion), so why was I so nervous and anxious? I have no idea, but I was. Terribly even. I also thought it was interesting that so much attention was given to details that, in other movies, is often glossed over more quickly. Like, for instance, what's at stake for the law firms. Or, the weightiness of a deposition gone bad. Or, the moral culpability of the individual employee in a corrupt law firm, when she decides to go very far in covering up evidence that would destroy the company. Or even the difficulty in hiring an assassin, or how difficult it is to assassinate someone. All of it is treated surprisingly realistically, which I guess I didn't realize what that meant before. All in all, though, I loved it and especially loved George Clooney in it. He's a phenomenal actor, I think. He was much better with his facial expressions and a more minimalist acting than I'd seen him do before.

No Country for Old Men

Already reviewed. But, absolutely brilliant. Probably the best of the bunch, if you ask me. Of the films I've seen, I think it's Best Picture for 2007, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Actor assuming the psychopath is nominated for that (which he definitely should be).

Ratatouille

What a great movie. Brad Bird's great. Great storyteller, full of compassion, insight, intelligence. I love him. I did not love this as much as The Incredibles, because I didn't always feel like it worked as well. But, I also love superheroes more than food, so I can't dismiss the idea that that is the reason. Still, I did love it.

The Savages

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There Will Be Blood

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