2007 - A Year In Review

As far as I'm concerned, these were the best movies of 2007:

1. Black Book
2. The Bourne Ultimatum
3. Ratatouille
4. Interview
5. Gone Baby Gone
6. Juno
7. I'm Not There
8. There Will Be Blood
9. Enchanted
10. This Is England



In terms of awards specifically (I'm talking about awards in general, because as far as I'm concerned this is the year the Oscars have lost any credibility), these are the people I would nominate (note that throughout this post, I consider Black Book eligible, since it was released in the US in 2007):

Best Director

Todd Haynes, I'm Not There
The Coen Brothers, No Country For Old Men
Brad Bird, Ratatouille
Paul Greengrass, The Bourne Ultimatum
Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell & The Butterfly

Best Actor

Brad Pitt, The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
James McAvoy, Atonement
Benicio del Toro, Things We Lost In The Fire
Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood

Best Actress

Sienna Miller, Interview
Carice Van Houten, Black Book
Marion Cotillard, La Vie En Rose
Ellen Page, Juno
Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: The Golden Age

Best Supporting Actor

James Marsden, Enchanted
Javier Bardem, No Country For Old Men
Nick Frost, Hot Fuzz
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson's War
Homayon Ershadi, The Kite Runner

Best Supporting Actress

Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There
Michelle Monaghan, Gone Baby Gone
Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
Michelle Pfeiffer, Hairspray
Samantha Morton, Elizabeth: The Golden Age

Best Original Screenplay

Diablo Cody, Juno
Brad Bird, Ratatouille
Adrienne Shelly, Waitress
Shane Meadows, This Is England
Tamara Jenkins, The Savages

Best Adapted Screenplay

Steve Buscemi, Interview
Ronald Harwood, The Diving Bell & The Butterfly
Aaron Sorkin, Charlie Wilson's War
Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood
John Logan, Sweeney Todd

Best Score

Dario Marianelli, Atonement
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis, The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Ford
Michael Giaccino, Ratatouille
John Greenwood, There Will Be Blood
Clint Eastwood, Grace Is Gone

Best Song

"Falling Slowly", by Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova, Once
"Guaranteed", by Eddie Veder, Into The Wild
"Pop! Goes My Heart", by Adam Schlesinger, Music and Lyrics
"Le Festin", by Camille, Ratatouille
"How Do You Know?", by Alan Menken & Stephen Schwartz, Enchanted

Best Cinematography

Janusz Kaminski, The Diving Bell & The Butterfly
Roger Deakins, The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Ford
Seamus McGarvey, Atonement
Robert Eltswit, There Will Be Blood
Darius Khondji, My Blueberry Nights
Best Animated Film

Ratatouille
Bee Movie
Persepolis
Beowulf
The Simpsons Movie
Best Documentary

Sicko
Manda Bala
In The Shadow Of The Moon
Taxi to the Dark Side
The King Of Kong: A Fistful Of Quarters

Best Visual Effects

Beowulf
The Golden Compass
Transformers
I Am Legend
Spider-Man 3

Best Editing

The Bourne Ultimatum
I'm Not There
The Diving Bell & The Butterfly
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Best Foreign Language Film

Lust, Caution
The Diving Bell & The Butterfly
La Vie En Rose
4 weeks, 3 weeks, 2 days
Triad Election

Best Makeup

I Am Legend
Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End
La Vie En Rose

Best Costume Design

Albert Wolsky, Across The Universe
Marit Allen, La Vie En Rose
Colleen Atwood, Sweeney Todd
Patricia Norris, The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Ford
Jacqueline Durran, Atonement


Best Art Direction

Sarah Greenwood, Atonement
Patricia Norris, Martin Gendron and Troy Sizemore,The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
Dante Ferreti, Sweeney Todd
Carlos Conti and Karen Murphy, The Kite Runner
Jack Fisk, There Will Be Blood


The other categories - such as sound or sound editing - I could never claim to know enough about to "nominate" anyone, so I'll leave them be without insulting all the people involved by pretending I have any knowledge about the matter.

I won't ramble on and on either, but in terms of overrated films, performances, and other bits of business of the year...

1) ATONEMENT - A masterpiece of a novel, it became a film that looked gorgeous, had the best score I've ever heard in a year, and was technically flawless. The only problem with it? It's dull, it's got no rhythm, and worst of all, no heart. As one reviewer of the film put it in the Guardian, how does it feel to watch a film where "only the lawns are real"?

2) MICHAEL CLAYTON - Seriously. If this was the 90s, this would just be your run-of-the-mill John Grisham thriller everyone goes to see on a date and forgets about a minute later. Sidney Pollack being Sidney Pollack, Tom Wilkinson being Tom Wilkinson, and George Clooney being a slightly overweight George Clooney in a plot that's way too intertwined for its own good. Doesn't deserve any of the award noms and wins it's been getting.

3) OVER-COMPLEX PLOTS - That would be you, Michael Clayton, Pirates Of The Caribbean and other films that think "not underestimating the audience" means "having plots that don't make any fucking sense". How about being emotionally challenging, rather than logically challenged?

5) JULIE CHRISTIE - A fine actress if there ever, ever was one. But her performance in Away From Her is slightly above average at best - predictable, straightforward, theatrical, she plays "the complexe woman with Alzheimer's" the way any Broadway actress (or James Woods, if he were a woman and this were a made-for-TV movie) would. Not exactly worthy of all the kudos she's been getting, and don't even mention the Oscar she's probably gonna get (which, in my humble opinion, shall be akin to her beating Marion Cotillard up in a back alley and robbing it from her). Away From Her itself is little more than a Lifetime movie - a good Lifetime movie, but still a Lifetime movie - directed around obvious metaphors and indicating of emotions. If you want to reward the film's connection to the audience, reward the one person involved whose work is actually down right impressive - Gordon Pinsent, who proves why he's a national treasure in Canada.



And that's the year for me. Overall, it was one of very few great films (Ultimatum, Ratatouille), a few mind-blowing performances that shall unfortunately go overlooked (Sienna in Interview, Marion Cotillard), a ton of disappointments (Live Free & Die Hard, Atonement, American Gangster, Charlie Wilson's War, nonsensical Academy rules for who's eligible for nominations), and a handful of really good, interesting, challenging films, be it in style or content or tone or all of the above (Once, I'm Not There, Interview, Gone Baby Gone).

2008's got a lot of great stuff lined up - so here's to a great year in film.

GONE selected for First Sundays Comedy Film Festival in NY!

Gone, directed by Mary Kerr, will be screening at the First Sundays Comedy Film Festival in New York on February 3rd, as part of First Sundays' second show of 2008!

Mary's film premiered in October at the St. John's International Film Festival in Canada, and for its second public screening will be "coming home" to downtown Manhattan. First Sundays is a festival Mary and I both really like and respect, insomuch as its very goal is to promote and nurture up-and-coming comedy talent, and so it's a real kick and honor to have Gone play there.

In the past films selected for First Sundays have gone on to play at both Cannes and Sundance, and be picked up by HBO, Cinemax and Comedy Central - which doesn't necessarily mean we presume we'll get similar honors, but that, at the very least, Gone is likely to play in great company, which is always a privilege.

The screening will take place on February 3rd at 7pm at the Pioneer Theatre on 3rd St (between A & B) in New York City - check out www.firstsundays.com for more information and to buy tickets (which are $10 apiece). 

Another big hand to Mary - who shot this film nearly 2 years ago now, as the absolute FIRST thing she ever directed (for real), and now, through sheer perseverance, is getting it OUT THERE!

2007 Year In Review Is Coming...

I just want to give every film a fair chance when I lay out who I think is worthy of award nominations, and since I have yet to see Sweeney Todd, I Am Legend, Before The Devil Knows You're Dead, American Gangster, The Kite Runner, Juno, No Country For Old Men, Charlie Wilson's War, Persepolis, The Savages, There Will Be Blood or Into The Wild, I'd be biased writing up a list now.

I can guarantee three things, though:

a) I'll have seen all these films in the next ten days
b) I'll write up and post the people I think should be nominated for Oscars (regardless of hype or self-serving Academy rules, and based solely on merit perceived by yours truly) BEFORE the Oscars come out with their nomination
c) Away From Her's not gonna be anywhere in there, unless I choose to make a Most Overrated category (where it'll be able to rub shoulders and chat with Michael Clayton. Sorry, George.)

On another note, isn't it lovely to see how supportive of each other everyone in Hollywood is? Harvey Weinstein hates everyone and everyone hates him (we knew that), but this year's shown us Warner Bros. not standing behind their Superman Returns team, not because of the quality of the film but because of a few million dollars it didn't take in at the box office; the whole industry sabotaging its own award shows (well done, I'm sure the people for whom it's the one and only time they ever get a nom will remember the event with joy); David Letterman and Tom Cruise screwing solidarity to the wind and making a pact with the opposite side (less so true for Letterman, after all the man is both a writer and a producer); Jay Leno pulling off PR stunts in support of striking writers and staff, before firing his whole staff, then re-hiring his own staff under jeers, and then screwing aforementioned writers by breaking their strike rules and writing his own monologue the night he returned on TV; the heads of the Writers Guild proving that most unions, even though they have their members' interests at heart, tend to forget that about a few days of negotiations and drown it under a fat jelly of greed (c'mon, guys. We're with you on the whole internet-and-DVD revenue thing. But the reality TV and animation writers thing? That's just pure Fat Cat™).

Then we have the aforementioned Academy, which, for some reason, decided to cut Beowulf off from being nominated in either the Best SFX or Best Animation categories (guys! This is the film people will remember in history books as having launched two major film technologies. It was decently reviewed, it made great money at the box office, and like it or not everyone involved took massive chances in making it. But you think Shrek The Third is worthier, that's cool with me.); and then decided to cut off Harry Potter and Spider-Man 3 from SFX nominations, solely based on the contention that, as sequels which have known success in the category before, they can't have a spot. Now, what the fuck....? Fine. Then call Peter Jackson and get those Return Of The King golden boys back. Nevermind the fact that Pirates: At World's End DID get a nomination (despite not really innovating on anything, other than some of their water tricks, which were in NO WAY as innovative as impressive as the work everyone did on Spidey with Flint Marko's sand body), or that The Bourne Ultimatum (an otherwise amazing movie, and in my opinion one of the two best of 2007 with Ratatouille) is eligible for the award instead - which, as far as I'm concerned, is the Academy hypocritically making up for not having a Best Stunt category, which is where Bourne clearly deserves recognition and victory.

Then we have poor Lives Of Others, in which no one had ANY interest whatsoever while it was being made or screened, barely scraped together a distribution deal... but then went on to win an Oscar, and the NEXT morning (literally), Harvey W. and Sidney Pollack announced they were remaking it. Graceful, respectful of the art, full of vision and risk-taking...what can I say. Give these guys a statue already!

Then we have Peter Jackson throwing principle to the wind and agreeing to New Line making a Hobbit film with him only exec producing (read, he went from "They've fucked me over, and I won't give in until that's proven as fact and I receive my due!" to "Oooooh, payoff. Ok."). We also have David Cross gloriously ranting away about his role in Alvin & The Chipmunks (a film I thought was nowhere near as evil as a lot of other crap that comes out every year, and which the two kids I went to see it with thoroughly enjoyed), essentially bashing the whole concept of the film and saying, in so many words, that he did it to pay for his summer cottage. Kind of destroys the whole "edgy, in-your-face comic" vibe you've got going, Dave. We've got Paramount getting gigantic egos on the strength of their great 2007 year (and what looks like an equally terrific slate in 2008), and taking the opportunity to bash every single one of their talent along the way, robbing them in the dark and claiming the credit for good, successful movies resides not with the people who make them, or the people who are in them, but them, the executives - the people who greenlight them. This went from pinning the Iwo Jima/Flags Of Our Fathers disappointment on Clint Eastwood (one exec saying, essentially, "if the famous guy had been IN the movie, it woulda made money." Right. Sure. Kids, these days - what they want is Transformers and an 80-year old cowboy fighting in the Pacific.) to everyone at Paramount actually taking the stand that, "Steven Spielberg? Yeah, we don't need him." IT'S STEVEN SPIELBERG, YOU FUCKING MORONS. Now, granted, David Geffen might be playing them for his own benefit. But hey, you know what? If a man's only strategy is to make you look like you disrespect Steven Spielberg, and he succeeds, then you're pretty much fucked anyway.

We've seen Brett Ratner, who followed up one craptastic movie with another Rush Hour poop fest, be rewarded with a slew of new high-profile projects (from a Hugh Hefner biopic, to a Chris Rock-Eddie Murphy comedy, to a film about the Rat Pack centered around Frank Sinatra's then valet, George Jacobs). To thank the brainless studio heads who, for some reason, are keeping his career out of the morgue (someone's got some dirt on someone else here, I'm telling you), Brett went ahead and cast Chris Tucker as George Jacobs. Well done. When people think about the Rat Pack, they think Vegas, smooth, cool, crooning, partying, roughness, manhood - a high-pitched voice, rubber face, no-talent asshole is obviously the best way to go here.

We had Katherine Heigl, whose career was catapulted forward thanks to Knocked Up, go around and do the promotion for the film as enthusiastically and fervently as possible; before turning around and saying, essentially, that she thought the film was a bit shit, and all the boys involved (and the material) incredibly sexist. Now, love, I kind of agree with you, but that's a tad hypocritical, isn't it? Kind of like chewing off the hand that feeds you, spitting it out, and taking a dump on it, to be honest. We also had Sienna (whom I otherwise LOVE with all my heart) perfect the art of gushing hypocrisy - naming My Life As A Dog as her favorite film while shooting with Dog director Lasse Hallstrom on Casanova, and now, after promoting and cheering for Factory Girl all through its promotional rounds, coming out and bluntly saying "oh, no, the movie's terrible." A hint here, Sienna: us filmgoers don't mind being done over a barrel. We do appreciate it, though, when you guys refrain to point it out. Or at least wait until the end of your career, when you're a respected actress in your 50s with two divorces and three Oscars behind you, to reveal it in a tell-all interview, by which point we won't take it as hypocrisy and betrayal anymore, but as inspiring old cooter honesty. Seriously.

In the wider industry, we've seen Radiohead put up songs online for fans to buy for free in exchange for a donation, then seen Radiohead get fucked up the bum because most fans just downloaded the songs for free and gave zip-all as a donation (what did you expect, guys? People have no moral fiber. Especially not when they're sitting alone at their computer and no one can judge them.). We've seen people get sent to jail for downloading and piracy, but whenever I'm in New York, I know exactly which subway station to go to to find a Chinese woman, her two kids and their rug covered in DVD knock-offs - and they never seem to be bothered by anyone.

Hollywood™ - Where film is a business, and backstabbing and hypocrisy are an art