Duff’s Favorite Movies 2007

I went to 57 movies in the theater in 2007 (full list here). (Technically more if you count the ones I went to twice, which I don’t.) I’d say that’s higher than recent years but certainly not my BEST year.
The BEST movies I saw in 2007 were:
1. Grindhouse
2. Juno
3. A Mighty Heart
4. No Country for Old Men
5. American Gangster
6. Control
7. Blackout
8. In the Valley of Elah
9. The Bourne Ultimatum
10. Gone Baby Gone
If I were to add to that list, the movies I ENJOYED the most in 2007, I’d have to add:

  • Music & Lyrics
  • Hot Fuzz
  • Sweeney Todd
  • JUMP!

If I were to add a foreign films category, I’d have to add:
  • The Lives of Others
  • Pan’s Labyrinth
  • La Vie en Rose

I saw a bunch of bio pics this year, some done traditionally (“La Vie en Rose” – Edith Piaf; “Control” – Ian Curtis) as well as less traditional ones (“The Last King of Scotland” – Idi Amin [not REALLY a bio pic but feels like one]; “I’m Not There” – Bob Dylan). I saw 7 not-likely-to-see-these-elsewhere flicks at the Chicago Film Festival and some ’70s flicks on the big screen thanks to the Chicago Humanities Festival.
I saw great performances in movies that I didn’t love (George Clooney in “Michael Clayton”; Claire Danes in “Evening”; my boyfriend Joaquin Phoenix in “We Own the Night”; Will Smith in “I Am Legend”) and great performances in movies I thought were good but just didn’t beat out others on the lists above (Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Charlie Wilson’s War”; Casey Affleck in “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” [as well as in aforementioned “Gone Baby Gone”; Casey Affleck was really a standout performer for me this year!]; Viggo Mortenson in “Eastern Promises”). I saw sweet movies that weren’t great but were still enjoyable (“Dan in Real Life”; “Catch and Release”; “Stardust”). I went to sequels (“28 Weeks Later”; “Pirates 3”; “Oceans 13”). I really liked a couple documentaries ([the aforementioned] JUMP! and Helvetica) and it was good to see Alien-like sci fi return to the theaters (“Sunshine”) as well as Westerns, dang I’ve missed those (“3:10 to Yuma”; aforementioned “Assassination of…”).
I did NOT like some movies that were highly praised by others:
  • Margot at the Wedding (worst movie of the year)
  • The Lookout
  • Knocked Up
  • The Walker (second worst of the year)

And thought some were OK, but didn’t live up to the hype:
  • Waitress
  • Once
  • Transformers

There are reviews up on Snip, you can search by name or sort by “watchin”.
And 2008 has started off quite nicely with “Atonement” being a movie that would have been very high on my 2007 list had I seen it before the end of the year.