Steve Magnum's Top Ten For 2007
Hey everyone! Welcome to my top Ten Films of 2007 countdown. This year, though, D_Davis requested that we also list our least favorite film of the year. So not only do you get our top ten films, but you also get our pick for worst film of the year at no extra charge. That’s right! Pretty sweet bonus, eh? Ok, enough with the intro, let’s get this show rolling along. First off, I’m getting the worst one out of the way so I can get to the fun stuff. Without further ado, I present…
The Worst Film That I Viewed This Year: Superbad (2007) – If this film had been all about the nerdy character: Fogler/McLovin and the two cops who taught him about adulthood, I would have loved it. In fact, I might have put it in the top ten. But instead we get that fun story sharing screen time with Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, and their troubled friendship. I’m not saying that this film was terrible, but it WAS the worst film that I saw all year.
1) Hot Fuzz (2007) – This homage/parody of buddy cop films by Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright and Nick Frost was without a doubt, the most entertaining film I’ve seen all year. They put so much cop movie trivia in this film that you have to watch it at least twice just to catch all the references. And did I mention that it’s funny? Whether it’s lampooning “Lethal Weapon” or parodying “Point Break” bashing on “Bad Boys II”, Pegg and co. delivered laugh after laugh after killer action sequence. And I loved every second of it.
2) Transformers (2007) – I admit it. I was a Bay-hater. When he was announced as director, I was one of those people saying “This film will suck!” and “Michael Bay is destroying one of the last great vestiges of my childhood!” However, I’m thrilled to say that I was wrong. Oh, so very wrong. Bay made a movie that, while separate from the original Transformers G1 continuity, was very faithful to the source material. And, with the exception of two incidents of bathroom humor and the death of a certain Autobot, this was one of the best cinematic adaptations I’ve ever seen. And since it can’t be said enough, this film would not have been even a quarter as cool as it was without the voice of Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime. Score one for fandom! So I guess what I’m trying to say is “Thank you Michael Bay.”
3) You Kill Me (2007) – This is a hit man comedy with heart (as cliché as that sounds). But it’s not just about the jokes. The writers, Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely, crafted a story that was more about the difficulties in life and our ability to overcome those than it was about the jokes (but those were pretty good too). The narrative focused on Frank (Ben Kingsley), a hit man for the Polish mafia in Buffalo, New York and his battle to get his life back on track through sobriety. When he fails to kill a rival mob boss, his uncle (who also happens to be his employer) sends him to San Francisco (and AA) to sober up. Kinglsey, Tea Leone, and Luke Wilson all give us amusing, interesting, multi-faceted characters that make the story all the more enjoyable. What I found really enjoyable, was that unlike some hit man comedies, Frank doesn’t try to get out of the business as he sobers up. Instead, he uses his sobriety to become even better at his chosen profession. This was definitely not your typical comedy flick, and I enjoyed it all the more for that fact.
4) Kill Bill (2003/2004) – An epic like no other. This tale of bloody revenge (crafted by Quentin Tarantino and Uma Thurman) pays homage to numerous cinematic greats while etching its own place in the cinematic pantheon of awesome action films. And while I may never be a Tarantino fan, I am a fan of this film and I appreciate all of the detail and hard work that went into it. (For more of my thoughts on this film, please see my ten-part write up in the “Films” section of our website.)
5) Charlie Wilson’s War (2007) – After writer/director Aaron Sorkin’s brilliant series “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” was cancelled after only one season, he went back to making cinema (he wrote “The American President” and “A Few Good Men”). And he crafted this little gem about the end of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Whether or not all of it is true is something I’ll ponder later. For now, I just enjoy the film for what it is: an entertaining morality tale about the defeat of “evil” through subterfuge and secretive tactics as well as the missed opportunity to aid those in need once it was all over.
6) Ocean’s Thirteen (2007) – Danny Ocean’s gang is back, but this time it’s personal. I loved that this film returned the gang to their Ocean’s 11 roots (I know how weird that sounds. It felt weird to write it). After the misstep that was Ocean’s Twelve, this film gave us a fun, mind-bending heist flick with a great amount of humor to boot. And it even revealed the infamous Bobby Caldwell.
7) Sanjuro (1962) – The second film featuring the nameless samurai drifter that we first saw in “Yojimbo” was a much more light-hearted tale than its predecessor (much of that is due to the film’s bumbling samurai wann-bes). But it ended on a much more somber note as Sanjuro and the opposing samurai face off. Still, the final battle is interesting and poignant as it shows that even when our hero does something good, death is always with him.
8) Shoot ‘Em Up (2007) – This testosterone-charged flick was just a good hour and a half of mindless fun and melodrama. Sometimes you just need a film that gives you that. Clive Owen is immediately likeable as the hero and the way he and Paul Giamatti play off each other is comparable to an ultraviolent Bug Bunny and Yosemite Sam.
9) Letters From Iwo Jima (2006) – Clint Eastwood’s historical epic that chronicles the Japanese side of the assault on Iwo Jima is tragic, brutal, and heartbreaking. But it did what few other American films have ever done. It showed the perspective of the Japanese soldiers. It gave them humanity. It made you care about them (especially in certain cases) and it showed you that they weren’t all willing to blindly follow the orders of their Emperor. But while it was a powerful and moving film, I hope that I never see it again. Some of those disturbing images of war will be burned in my mind until the day I die.
10) War (2007) – Jet Li. Jason Statham. Two names that should conjure up all kinds of images of martial artistry. You’d think that pairing them together in an action film would give us all kinds of awesomeness. And it does to a degree. But there was so much untapped action potential for this film.. Which is why it lands at #10 on my list.
