OVP: Previously, in 2007

2007: A Look Back

I have officially finished all of the 2007 OVP films, and you know what that means-it's time to kickoff our eighth Oscar Viewing Project series!  Yes, we are returning to a different time, when Hillary Clinton was the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination (hopefully it goes better the second time around), when Daughtry and The Duchess were tearing up the charts, when Venus Williams was still the dominant Williams sister (picking up her fourth title at Wimbledon), and New Horizons was starting a quixotic mission to take photos of Pluto (which of course we'd see this past year).  And of course, we remember the movies...

Box Office

This is what the Top 10 at the (Domestic) Box Office looked like:

1. Spider-Man 3

2. Shrek the Third

3. Transformers

4. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

6. I Am Legend

7. The Bourne Ultimatum

8. National Treasure: Book of Secrets

9. Alvin and the Chipmunks

10. 300

I saw a surprisingly small amount of these movies (which are weirdly heavy on third installments in filmic series, aren't they?), having caught all of the Top 5 and The Bourne Ultimatum but little else.  I'm not really disappointed in this fact, however (though 300 has probably warranted a view considering its place in pop culture lore after this surprise hit).  Other $100 million hits that I missed included Wild Hogs and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (I regret nothing), while Oscar was relatively stingy in rewarding the massive hits in 2007, as only Juno was a Best Picture nominee that crossed the $100 million mark, though Ratatouille and American Gangster both did very well with Oscar and hit that milestone. 

The Films I Missed

While I've seen all of the Oscar nominees, I haven't seen every film in 2007.  In addition to the Box Office champs I listed above, I missed a couple of films that got cited by precursors.  The Great Debaters, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Love in the Time of Cholera, Bee Movie, and Grace is Gone never made it to my viewing list (and unless someone in the comments wants to convince me otherwise, I think I'm good missing all of these) but did make it at the Globes.  Additionally The Kingdom scored with SAG and This is England and Control both made it at the BAFTA's, but I didn't catch them.  Any of these you think I should make a point of prioritizing one of these movies?  Share your thoughts in the comments!  And starting tomorrow, we'll be getting into the films that did get nominated and where my ballots would be cast.