Posted: 01/28/08

Del's Best and Worst Films of 2007
by Del Harvey
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Many of my conspirators here at Film Monthly will tell you that I am sadly overlooking two of the year's best films; There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men. I must argue that, for me, that is not the case. While each held some modicum of enjoyment, ultimately both films, for very different reasons, failed to entertain. As much as I enjoy a good character study, I found the message behind the low budget indie Starting Out In The Evening to be far superior to that of the bigger budgeted and starkly brutal There Will Be Blood. Similarly, while I have always enjoyed the brothers Coen for their tongue-in-cheek displays of cinematic insouciance, they have always maintained a fine respect for storytelling; something they failed to recall when adapting Cormac McCarthy's book to film. Which is why both Zodiac and Atonement are far superior adaptations and thus made my Top Ten list.

The Top Ten (In order of preference)

1.        Once

2.        La Vie en Rose

3.        Snow Cake

4.        The Host

5.        Michael Clayton

6.        Juno

7.        Starting Out in the Evening

8.        Zodiac

9.        Ratatouille

10.    Atonement

 

Runners Up (In order of preference)

1.        Enchanted

2.        Gone Baby Gone

3.        My Best Friend

4.        Eastern Promises

5.        Exiled

6.        The Lookout

7.        Atonement

8.        Live Free or Die Hard

9.        The Bourne Ultimatum

10.    28 Weeks Later

11.    There Will Be Blood

12.    Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten

13.    Paris, je t'aime

14.    Hot Fuzz

15.    3:10 to Yuma

 

Honorable Mentions (or Good DVD Views)
(In order of preference)

1.        Death Sentence

2.        The Tripper

3.        Transformers

4.        Waitress

5.        Shooter

6.        TMNT

7.        Shoot 'Em Up

8.        Triad Election

9.        Vacancy

10.     Aliens vs. Predator - Requiem

 

Hugely Disappointing (Alphabetical)

1.        No Country for Old Men

2.        Spider-Man 3

3.        Disturbia

4.        Becoming Jane

5.        2 Days in Paris

6.        Evening

7.        Severance

8.        Jindabyne

9.        Fracture

10.    I Am Legend

 

Worst of the Worst (Alphabetical)

1.        Elizabeth: The Golden Age

2.        Ghost Rider (#1 for Nicolas Cage)

3.        Rise: Blood Hunter

4.        Next (#2 for Nicolas Cage)

5.        Hostel: Part II

6.        Evan Almighty

7.        Seraphim Falls

8.        The Astronaut Farmer (#1 for Billy Bob Thornton)

9.        Mr. Woodcock (#2 for Billy Bob Thornton)

10.    Hannibal Rising

 

Del Harvey is a filmmaker, film teacher, and film critic living in Chicago.

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