My favorite films of 2007
My Favorite Films of 2007
1) Into the wild – Marvelous exploration of a young man whose idealism and yearning to connect with nature led to a tragic end.
2) Black Friday – Anurag Kashyap’s objective yet passionate study of the endless cycle and futility of violence.
3) Atonement – A tremendously cinematic realization of a very literary novel.
4) Zodiac – Fincher shifts gear from his usual hyper-stylistic filmmaking to deliver a slow-burning 70s style epic crime drama on men who investigated the mystifying serial killer, Zodiac and how this investigation turned into an equally mystifying obsession.
5) Gone Baby Gone – another superb crime drama that’s measured in pace but explosive in its impact.
6) Ratatatouille – Pixar can do no wrong but Ratatouille exceeded even their lofty standards. Simply loved the homages to old-school Disney cinema that were sprinkled throughout Ratatouille.
7) The Bourne ultimatum – the best action film I have seen in years. It has the kind of ferocious action Bollywood should be emulating, not the slo-mo dated Matrix-type stuff that even Hollywood is not doing anymore.
Superbad – hilarious and surprisingly moving.
9) Johnny Gaddaar - I think the makers of Race should see Johnny Gaddaar to understand how to make a cracking thriller. But they are too busy counting their dollars, pounds and rupees.
10) 3:10 to Yuma - great enterainer with terrific performances. This is the type of film that can revive the dead western genre.
rockstar, I am talking about the first week. not the total. maybe I am overestimating!
yes, if the release is on ...
good analysis here jay 
4Cr/2Cr was possible. If it gets close to 30Cr it is a worthwhile grosser. 
Nice report Jay. I too was expecting more in week 1 after some of the reporting. I think 4 crores ...
Perhaps I should put this here...sorry for duplication of comment:
http://img2.freeimagehosting.net/image.php?56a8775eb9.jpg
http://img2.freeimagehosting.net/image.php?c09a076ea0.jpg 
Comment by Simply Som on 10 May 2008:
Nice list, Henry!!
you have not seen “No Country For Old Man” and “There Will Be Blood”!!!??
Comment by henry on 10 May 2008:
Som I have seen both films but found them underwhelming. The performances are exceptional though in both films.
Comment by Qalandar on 10 May 2008:
I have yet to catch a number of the films on your list, but of the ones I have seen, I would have to agree with som that this is a terrific list. I also agree with your Hindi choices: probably the best Hindi films of the year along with Blue Umbrella (did you count that as 2007, or did you simply feel it didn’t make the cut?)
Zodiac and 3:10 are two genre films at or about the “peak” of their respective genres (3:10 is a bit further from the peak, but it’s probably the best of what is possible at this late date as far as the Western is concerned)…
Comment by henry on 10 May 2008:
Q, I would probably put Blue Umbrella and TZP in my Top 15. And you are absolutely right about Zodiac, frankly I can’t find a single flaw in it.
Comment by Simply Som on 10 May 2008:
Agree with your choice of hindi films, the two are certainly the best from last year.liked what you said in short of JG, not just Abbas-Mustan there are many in Bollywood who are trying their hands in thriller should learn from Raghavan.
BTW there are some other notable films like The Diving Bell And Butterfly, The Savagaes,Away From her, Rescue Dawn,Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead which i have enjoyed immensely and do believe these are some of the best movies to have come out in 2007.
Knocked up,Hairspray and Juno are also good entertaining movies.
Comment by Simply Som on 10 May 2008:
the dark and intense,subtle yet brutal realistic crime tale “Eastern Promises” is also damn good, should not be missed at any cost.
Comment by akshay shah on 10 May 2008:
Som: Will check out EASTERN PROMISES…thankd for the reccomendation! I LOVED A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE!
Comment by rks on 10 May 2008:
Apart from “Atonement” and “Into the wild” I agree with all. With these two, though I liked them I have other movies which I rate higher.
Comment by satyam on 10 May 2008:
Great list Henry except that I didn’t much care for Bourne (not a fan of the franchise in general) and didn’t like Atonement at all (barring one shot).
Comment by satyam on 10 May 2008:
Also I haven’t seen Superbad and don’t plan to. Just not my cup of tea.
Comment by satyam on 10 May 2008:
Incidentally I quite like Atonement, the novel.
Comment by Jesse on 10 May 2008:
Thanks for this Henry. Agree with your Hindi choices here. Johnny Gaddar is indeed the sort of direction I’d like to see our films go into, but I just don’t see it happening any time soon.
Comment by sheeru on 10 May 2008:
nice to see your post bro…Man I haven’t seen Into the Wild…I always say Imma rent it but I forget…big Penn fan here hahahaha…I did see Johnny Gaddhar which you and Akshay both recommended…but honestly bro I didn’t like that film…I disliked the lead actor as well (Neil Mukesh).
Comment by don123 on 11 May 2008:
Good list Henry. But just one point about Zodiac. The movie makes a strong case for Arthur Allen as the chief suspect. But you may know that Allen was ruled out by DNA testing.
Maybe the director should have included that, or maybe I missed it.
Comment by rockstar on 11 May 2008:
nice list ,
will add some my personal fav, in hollywood:
on ganster flick: american ganster( just for master perfornce of washington and crowe), eastern promises ( some to nasty violent scenes but vigo mortenseen and the story rocked big time)
action: ocean 13,blood diamond,
comedy: juno , historical:appolocalypto , antonment was not bad
comedy: juno , liked persuit of happiness to ,
Comment by rockstar on 11 May 2008:
will add manorma six feet under and blue umbrella, apart from all crtical commercial sucess in bollywood last year
Comment by rockstar on 11 May 2008:
and no offence there will be blood was to boring though lewis gave outstanding performance
Comment by goodfella on 11 May 2008:
Nice list, henry. I really disliked Atonement, though. I think Bourne and Zodiac would certainly be on my list. I think if I limited myself to mostly American films (didn’t catch much beyond this in 07) my list would read, in no order:
Eastern Promises, The Bourne Ultimatum, Zodiac, The Counterfeiters, Superbad, There Will Be Blood, The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Persepolis, We Own The Night, Michael Clayton.
Comment by Fari on 11 May 2008:
Atonements first half was lovely. The second half was a big letdown.
I found 3:10 to Yuma thoroughly enjoyable. Christian Bale and Ben Foster were perfect in their roles.
I wish Hollywood would make more westerns.
Gone Baby Gone was somewhat of a disappointment for me. Probably because I read such glowing reviews. It was good but somewhat predictable in that I figured out Morgan Freeman’s role pretty quickly. Casey Affleck was very impressive though.
The Lives of Others is such a solid drama. Highly recommend.
Comment by henry on 11 May 2008:
That’s an interesting list, Goodfella but I disliked We Own the Night and Michael Clayton. They are just too generic in my opinion with nothing new to offer. I haven’t seen Counterfeiters yet but have heard a lot of great things about it.
There is definitely no love for Atonement on this forum. I think Joe Wright superbly visualized Ian McEwan’s tricky plot.
Comment by henry on 11 May 2008:
Fari, The Lives of Others is one of the best films I have ever seen but I think it was a 2006 release.
Comment by goodfella on 11 May 2008:
Won’t argue on the visuals on Atonement, but as a piece of dramatic work, I found it stagey and tedious. We Own the Night and Michael Clayton may not have a lot of “new” things to say (though I could argue that point on the former, which I think was truly underrated) but I thought they were both superb examples of a more classic approach to Hollywood genres. I really liked the writing in Michael Clayton and as for We Own The Night, I liked just about everything, and in my view it made for a far more compelling crime drama than Gone Baby Gone, whose ending I found so very poorly constructed (I’m speaking specifically of the bar scene with the masked intruders)…
Comment by Simply Som on 11 May 2008:
Did not think highly of “We Own The Night”, in fact a pretty mediocre attempt by James Gray.apt title for the movie would have been “We Own The Cliches”.the dialogues in particular suck and some very stereotypical characterizations.
“The Counterfeiters” and “The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” are very good indeed.
Comment by henry on 11 May 2008:
2007 was a fine year for Hollywood but I think 2008 will be even better. Some of the most interesting directors are coming out with new films this year:
Spielberg (Indiana Jones 4)
Nolan (The Dark Night)
The Coens (Burn After Reading)
Ridley Scott (Body of Lies)
David Fincher (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
Clint Eastwood (The Changeling)
Sam Mendes (Revolutionary Road)
Edward Zwick (Defiance) - I am a big fan of Blood Diamond and Glory.
Charlie Kauffman, the brilliant screenwriter, makes his debut with Synecdoche, New York. Only this guy can get away with such a puzzling title.
What a year this is going to be.
Comment by Pranav on 11 May 2008:
My favorites of 2007:
American Gangster, Eastern Promises, We Own the Night, In to the Wild, Assasination of Jesse James, No country for Old Men, Gone Baby Gone and Juno. Didn’t care for SuperBad.
Comment by Simply Som on 11 May 2008:
“There is definitely no love for Atonement on this forum”
I did like Atonement a lot.It was a good period piece that is wrapped into a compelling emotional story.the movie was of great sophistication and moral ambivalence.It was very cleverly structured and this adds to the understanding of why certain decisions by certain people are taken leading to a series of events which pull you the viewer along to a quite superb climax!The movie was visually arresting, beautifully filmed with an exquisite art-house flavor,from the dream-like elegance of the British country house to the brutal inferno of the Dunkirk beaches and not to forget the amazing chemistry of the actors which made this a believable film and truly brought the characters to life.
Comment by henry on 11 May 2008:
Wonderful thoughts Som, completely agree. I loved that Joe Wright has not made a wordy film, a trap many filmmakers fall into when adapting novels, but a cinematic one. As you mentioned, there is of course the stunning 5-minute unbroken shot of the war-torn Dunkirk beach and beautifully shot scenes in the Victorian house. Another great ‘cinematic’ scene was the one where Briony is returning home dejected in a train after Cecilia and Robbie have refused to forgive her. Suddenly, we see the train passing through tunnels, switching between light and darkness and the noise of a typewriter rapidly clicking starts in the background. I read this scene as an apt visual metaphor for Briony’s tragic condition. No matter how much she tries to come out into the ‘light’ through atonement, the ‘darkness’ created by her web of lies will never escape her.
Comment by henry on 11 May 2008:
Sherru bhai you gotta see Into The Wild. But how come you didn’t like Johnny G? The movie is slick and superbly directed.
Comment by akshay shah on 11 May 2008:
“Edward Zwick (Defiance) - I am a big fan of Blood Diamond and Glory.”–Henry im a huge fan of COURAGE UNDER FIRE too!
Comment by Fari on 11 May 2008:
I found the first half of Atonement very compelling but the second half a disappointment.
Knightley’s character is essentially abandoned, as her experience in the ensuing years is barely given screen time. McAvoy’s story hints that he suffered in prison but we’re never really sure why because all we see are his efforts to return home.
Most of all I never felt Briana’s atonement. She’s remorseful and feels she can’t do enough to atone for her actions yet there was no further interaction between the 3 or deepening of the conflict.
I liked the setup but thought the second half should have been more compelling.
Joe Wright knows how to make a beautiful film but I think as with with his adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, he fails to do justice to the characters.
Comment by mgs on 11 May 2008:
nice list here…
mine would b a bit diff…in no particular order.
Eastern Promises, in to the wild, The Bourne Ultimatum (one of my fave franchise and this was the best of the 3), There Will Be Blood, The Assasination of Jesse James, Michael Clayton, no country, 3 10 to yuma, before the devil knows you’re dead, and black friday.
wouldn’t add this to the list but i enjoyed stardust as well…michelle pfeiffer might have something to do w/ it.
“Gone Baby Gone was somewhat of a disappointment for me. Probably because I read such glowing reviews. It was good but somewhat predictable in that I figured out”
agree w/ this.
“I did see Johnny Gaddhar which you and Akshay both recommended…but honestly bro I didn’t like that film…I disliked the lead actor as well (Neil Mukesh).”
i liked the movie but i would agree that it’s a bit overrated…not as good as people make it out to be.
i usually am disappointed watching a movie after hearing glowing reviews.
felt the same way about juno and iron man. they’re were good but not as good as people make them out to be.
on the other hand recently caught saawariya (which got horrible reviews) and i thought it was actually pretty good and wasn’t as bad people made it out to be. the movie looks awesome. i think it could have been much better w/ a few changes.
if i could find my list of hindi movies i put up some time back…i’d prob add saawariya somewhere to it. and recently caught heyy baby which i would add to prob my list of worst movies.
Comment by akshay shah on 11 May 2008:
MGS: glad you liked SAWARIYA..I liked this movie quiet abit too..just for the music, visuals and Ranbir’s performance!!
Heres my review: http://aakshayshah.blogspot.com/2007/11/akshay-shah-reviews-sawariya-hindi-2007.html
A.Shah
Comment by akshay shah on 11 May 2008:
AMERICAN GANGSTER left me somewhat underwhelmed overall, though still worth a watch for Denzel’s tour-de-force performance. I saw SUGAR HILL over the weekend, neat gangster flm in vein of GHULAM and PARINDA..worth a watch for a knockout performance by Wesley Snipes back in the day when he did quality stuff(NEW JACK CITY).
BODY OF LIES has a knockout cast with Leo and Crowe…
Pitt should be a knock out in Finchers next too!
Didn’t know Eastwood had a film this year.
A.Shah
Comment by mgs on 11 May 2008:
nice review akshay. i liked sonam’s perf. a little more than u and ranbir’s a little less than u…but not by much. i found him (prom mroe teh character) a bit annoying when he was being overly “happy go lucky” type of guy. the whole boxing scene when the first meet…then some of the scenes were a bit cheesy like the hugging scene w/ lillypop and him.
slb should have made the two lead characters 17 or 18…b/c in a couple of scenes ranbir’s character seems obnoxious.
but over all i enjoyed the movie.
Comment by mgs on 11 May 2008:
akshay i felt the same as u about american gangster…but i had sky high expectations. i like crowe’s performance a lot too.
pitt also has the cohen bros’ movie w/ clooney…which should pretty good.
what do damon and hanks have coming up?
Comment by sheeru on 11 May 2008:
cant wait for the Changeling man…big fan of Eastwood Directed films here…I think Angie will give on oscar worthy performance this time around…I BELIEVE IN U ANGIE HAHAHAHA.
Comment by akshay shah on 12 May 2008:
Mgs: Yeah, agree that the characters should’ve been shown younger…nonetheless underrated film!
I felt disapointed by Crowe in American Gangster…Denzel for me just RIPPED UP the screen, but I have a huge bias towards Denzel:-)!
Hanks: Last I heard is working on Ron (RANSOM, APOLLO 13) Howards next movie ANGELS AND DEMONS. Also signed Barry Levinson’s movie but EMPIRE said thats a while away…
Matt Damon has THE GREEN ZONE-CIA thriller by Paul Greengrass-sounds wicked. Steven Soddenbergh’s political thriller THE INFORMANT, and Eastwoods THE HUMAN FACTOR…with Freeman playing Nelson Mandela…OSCAR 2009 HALLELUJAH!!!!
Comment by mgs on 12 May 2008:
thanks for the info on hanks and damon.
i liked angels and demons better than da vincci code so maybe the movie will b better too.
damon’s got a good lineup too. i hope they start the 4th bourne movie w/in a year or two.
hasn’t shekhar kapur been working on a mandela movie w/ freeman for over 8 years now?
good to see eastwood’s got two movies coming up.
“I think Angie will give on oscar worthy performance this time around”
i thought she was pretty awesome in the daniel pearl movie as was irrfan khan. if the movie had done better i think at least one of them would probably have gotten an oscar nomination.